The Ethical Barometer

U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, on terrorist group, Boko Harem, the group responsible for kidnapping 300 young girls because, well, they went to school. Imagine! Terrorist groups without a health plan. On the list of the Barometer’s ethical concerns about terrorist groups, not having a health plan does not a scourge make. I wonder what the secretary thinks about a group that fines those who choose not to have a health plan. Must be a different kind of behavior mandate.

Ron Kaplan, CEO of Trex, as quoted in the New York Times, May 4, 2014, p. BU2.

E-mail exchange between PriceWaterhouseCoopers partner, Thomas E. Quinn, and PwC managing director, Steven R. Williams, on the tax strategy they had helped Caterpillar create. The strategy, which drew both IRS and congressional attention, involved shifting profits to Switzerland through transfer of Caterpillar’s parts sales to a Swiss operation. When Mr. Quinn was asked about the e-mail exchange during congressional hearings on the issue, he responded, “Senator, that was a very poor choice of words.” The hearings came about because the e-mails emerged in a lawsuit filed by a former Caterpillar tax department employee. The lawsuit was settled in 2012. What happens in e-mails never stays in e-mails.

From a 2008 e-mail from Joel Sanders, the former CFO of Dewey & LeBoeuf, to Frank Canellas, the director of finance, about their plan to come up with $50 million in income to meet loan covenants. Mr. Sanders, Stephen DiCarmine (former executive director), Steven Davis (former chairman), and Zachary Warren (former clients relations manager) have been charged with systemic fraud because of an alleged four-year scheme to manipulate Dewey & LeBoeuf’s books to keep the firm going under during the financial crisis. Their e-mails also spoke of “fake income” and “accounting tricks.” By the way, Mr. Canella Continue reading →

Leigh Wilco, a parent at Grady High School, a football power house in Atlanta, where a recent investigation revealed that 14 of the 58 players on the school’s football team used fake addresses to be able to enroll at Grady. A three-month investigation revealed the fraud used by parents to get their children into a school where athletic talent could be more visible. Some students have withdrawn, others have been asked to withdraw, and parents have received tuition bills for the years their children attended the school outside of their geographic boundaries. Yes, by all means, dear parents, blame the school and district for not catching you sooner. Criminal charges are being contemplated. By the way, the trials for 13 Atlanta teachers and administrators on racketeering charges for falsifying test scores in order to earn bonuses are about to begin. There’s something about education in Atlanta.

Bernie Madoff, according to testimony by his former secretary of 40 years, Annette Bongiorno, when she asked how Mr. Madoff was able to find a nursing home for her mother when she had tried for so long without success to locate a place. Ms. Bongiorno took the stand in her criminal fraud trial. She also called Bernie her “hero,” and never questioned backdating records because she trusted him. Calling Bernie her “big brother,” Ms. Bongiorno also explained that Bernie paid for her honeymoon.

Former New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, when he was told by the federal judge presiding over his corruption/bribery trial that he could stand down after testifying for two days. Taking the stand did not appear to have an impact. The jury found Mr. Nagin guilty on 20 of the 21 counts brought against him. In fairness, he was acquitted of one count of bribery. Evidence showed that he accepted money, free vacation travel and truckloads of granite for Stone Age LLC, a business Nagin and his sons owned in exchange for awarding contracts to contractors in the rebuilding of New Orleans, post-Hurricane Katrina. The granite donations are a new touch in the world of government bribes. Sentencing will be forthcoming, and some of the charges carry imprisonment of up to 20 years. Course, that’s not etched in stone.