Thursday, March 17, 2005
Bernie Ebbers Gets His Just Desserts, And There is Pinochet
"Jury finds Ebbers guilty on all counts"
How sweet it is. The former CEO of Worldcom is facing jail time. The jury found him guilty on all charges. He certainly deserved it. I don't believe in hell but I hope that Mr. Ebbers rots--slowly rots--in prison. Let's not forget that for every Bernie Ebbers there are many more who laughed their way to bank and are sitting pretty.
Dan Ackman in Forbes 3/16/05:
"In fact, the Ebbers case is a freak by any measure. Start with the simple fact that he went to trial. Of the 82,910 defendants accused in federal courts in 2004, just 3,393, or 4%, stood trial at all, according to the U.S. Office of Court Administration. Securities fraud cases are also extremely rare: In 2004, there were just 116 defendants whose cases were disposed of in the entire U.S., a remarkably small number considering the number of financial restatements, corporate blowups and dream-state analyst reports in recent years. If you are a CEO among the 116, that's cold comfort, but it's not something you really need to worry about."
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A report in The Guardian,UK, reads: "Pinochet's web of bank accounts exposed"
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Deaths of Prisoners in American Custody (NY Times 3/17/05)
"Now the White House has its own gulag: C.I.A. agents snatch suspects and fly them to places like Egypt and Syria to be strung up in chains and tortured. And The Times reported yesterday that at least 26 deaths of prisoners in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan may be criminal homicides. So it also has its own Soviet-style propaganda campaign."
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Links:
Guardian-Pinochet
NYTimes-Dowd
How sweet it is. The former CEO of Worldcom is facing jail time. The jury found him guilty on all charges. He certainly deserved it. I don't believe in hell but I hope that Mr. Ebbers rots--slowly rots--in prison. Let's not forget that for every Bernie Ebbers there are many more who laughed their way to bank and are sitting pretty.
Dan Ackman in Forbes 3/16/05:
"In fact, the Ebbers case is a freak by any measure. Start with the simple fact that he went to trial. Of the 82,910 defendants accused in federal courts in 2004, just 3,393, or 4%, stood trial at all, according to the U.S. Office of Court Administration. Securities fraud cases are also extremely rare: In 2004, there were just 116 defendants whose cases were disposed of in the entire U.S., a remarkably small number considering the number of financial restatements, corporate blowups and dream-state analyst reports in recent years. If you are a CEO among the 116, that's cold comfort, but it's not something you really need to worry about."
General Augusto Pinochet, one of our former pet dictators
A report in The Guardian,UK, reads: "Pinochet's web of bank accounts exposed"
Deaths of Prisoners in American Custody (NY Times 3/17/05)
"Now the White House has its own gulag: C.I.A. agents snatch suspects and fly them to places like Egypt and Syria to be strung up in chains and tortured. And The Times reported yesterday that at least 26 deaths of prisoners in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan may be criminal homicides. So it also has its own Soviet-style propaganda campaign."
Guardian-Pinochet
NYTimes-Dowd
