Disney Sues Disney for Voting Records

Roy Disney, formerly a director of the Walt Disney Co., sued the company late last week to compel it to reveal how its employees voted in last month’s shareholder referendum.According to the Los Angeles Times, the former director asked a Delaware court to require that the company provide him with...

By Dave Cook • April 12, 2004

Pre-Trial Tribulations for Skilling

Former Enron Corp. chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling was picked up early Friday morning by New York City police looking for an “emotionally disturbed person” on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, according to the New York Daily News. Officers checked Skilling into New York Presbyterian Hospital....

By Dave Cook • April 12, 2004

The Doubt of the Benefit

Corporate benefits packages may be shrinking, but voluntary benefits are skyrocketing. According to a recent survey, 6 of every 10 companies now offer at least one voluntary, or supplemental, benefit. Employees buy such products—most often some form of life, health, disability, or dental insuranc...

By John Goff • April 12, 2004

Tyco Lawyer’s Trial Delayed

The trial of Mark Belnick, former general counsel of Tyco International Ltd, has been postponed for two weeks, according to Reuters.Prosecutors had sought a delay until late May, reported the wire service, because of worries that the jury pool would be tainted. They were concerned that the “pheno...

By Stephen Taub • April 8, 2004

Lea Fastow’s Plea Deal Falls Apart

Lea Fastow is going to trial after all.A federal judge Wednesday rejected the plea bargain agreed upon between prosecutors and Fastow, a former Enron Corp. treasurer and wife of former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow.As a result, Lea Fastow changed her plea to “not guilty.” Now Lea Fastow i...

By Stephen Taub • April 8, 2004

The Case of the Hold-Out Granny

The trial of two former Tyco executives ended in high drama on April 2nd, as the judge, Michael Obus, declared a mistrial. Dennis Kozlowski, the firm’s ex-boss, and Mark Swartz, Tyco’s former finance chief, had stood accused of looting their employer of $600m, via fraudulent share sales and unaut...

By Economist Staff • April 8, 2004

KPMG Settles Travel-Related Suit

KPMG LLP and its former consulting arm, BearingPoint Inc., have agreed to pay $34 million to settle their part of a class-action lawsuit alleging that they overbilled clients for travel expenses, according to The Wall Street Journal.The plaintiffs had accused the two firms of charging them full p...

By Stephen Taub • April 6, 2004

Another Tyco Trial Looms Next Week

While commentators continue to revisit last week’s mistrial of two former Tyco executives, a former colleague is due in court this week, in anticipation of a trial scheduled to begin next Monday.Mark Belnick, former executive vice president and chief corporate counsel of Tyco International Ltd., ...

By Stephen Taub • April 6, 2004

Ebbers Prosecutors Get on the Same Page

Oklahoma authorities will defer to federal prosecutors in the matter of former WorldCom chief executive officer Bernard Ebbers — even at the expense of losing some counts to the statute of limitations — according to ChannelOklahoma.com.On Friday, not long after Judge Michael Obus declared a mistr...

By Dave Cook • April 5, 2004

Hearing Voices at Proxy Time

The Walt Disney Co.’s annual shareholder meeting this past March made headlines for the unprecedented rebellion of large investors that led Michael Eisner to step down as chairman. But smaller investors had already been debating this topic for weeks, thanks to a new Web site for shareholder activ...

By Kate O'Sullivan • April 5, 2004

Tyco Case a Mistrial, Judge Rules

The judge in the corruption trial of Tyco’s ex-chairman, Dennis Kozlowski, and its former CFO, Mark Swartz, declared a mistrial today after 12 days of deliberations, according to press reports..Citing outside pressure on one of the jurors that left him with no choice, New York State Supreme Court...

By David Katz • April 2, 2004

Prosecutors: Go Light on Lea Fastow

Prosecutors urged a judge not to sentence Lea Fastow for more time than she agreed to under a plea bargain deal, since her conduct did not play a role in Enron’s collapse, according to the Houston Chronicle.Fastow, the wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, is slated to be sentenced next week fo...

By Stephen Taub • April 2, 2004

Former McKesson CFO Indicted for Fraud

An ex-finance chief of McKesson Corp. was indicted on Tuesday for his role in the drug wholesaler’s accounting fraud.The U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted Richard Hawkins on charges of conspiracy and securities fraud. Civil securities fraud charges were also filed against Hawkins by the Securities ...

By Stephen Taub • April 1, 2004

Monsters Inc.

At Forrester Research Inc., analysts get to try out the latest cool technology for themselves: PDAs, Wi-Fi laptops, nifty storage devices. Their jobs also call for reviewing much more mundane technology, like network “sniffing” software and intrusion-detection devices.Testing such tools has led t...

By Russ Banham • April 1, 2004

SEC Settles with Five Specialist Firms

Five New York Stock Exchange specialist firms have agreed to pay $242 million as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged trading abuses.The five firms, which will shell out nearly $88 million in civil penalties and $154 million in disgorgement, also agreed to...

By Stephen Taub • March 31, 2004

SEC Investigating Tyson Foods

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a formal probe of payments made to certain officers and directors at Tyson Foods Inc., including former senior chairman Don Tyson and current chairman and chief executive officer John Tyson.According to the beef and poultry processor, the invest...

By Stephen Taub • March 30, 2004

Tyco Jury Regains Its Focus

Go back and deliberate.Those were the instructions of the judge in the Tyco fraud case, who turned down defense requests on Monday that he declare a mistrial due to unusual press coverage of one of the jurors.“We can’t let what’s in the newspapers dictate what happens,” said New York State Suprem...

By Stephen Taub • March 30, 2004

Pension Funds Taking More Risk

U.S. pension funds are taking on a little more risk in an effort to keep pace with their growing pension obligations. In addition, they are interviewing and hiring new investment managers at an unprecedented rate as they search for innovative strategies, according to a pair of new studies recentl...

By Stephen Taub • March 29, 2004

Tyco’s Twelve Angry Men and Women

Friday was a short day for the Tyco jurors. Perhaps the unusually balmy weekend weather in New York will help clear their heads of the “poisonous” atmosphere in the jury room, as they described it last week in a note to the judge.Another note, sent early Friday afternoon to New York State Supreme...

By Stephen Taub and Dave Cook • March 29, 2004

Food Fight

If only that mad cow in Washington State were the worst beef facing U.S. trade representatives. Sure, it’s payback time for the countries whose meat was once banned here. But the United States has far more countries frothing at the mouth over the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), ...

By Tim Reason • March 29, 2004

Former Dynegy Executive Gets 24 Years

A federal judge handed down a 24-year sentence yesterday under tough new rules intended to punish white-collar criminals.Jamie Olis, once a midlevel executive at Houston-based energy company Dynegy Inc., and two former associates were found guilty last year of disguising a $300 million loan to th...

By Dave Cook • March 26, 2004

Europe Seeks Record Fine for Microsoft

Mario Monti, the European competition commissioner who in the past has blocked a number of large, high-profile mergers, is seeking to fine Microsoft Corp. $613 million for allegedly abusing its Windows monopoly, according to the Financial Times.This would be the highest penalty imposed on a compa...

By Stephen Taub • March 24, 2004

Rigas Family Wins Funds from Insurers

A federal judge awarded $300,000 each to five former executives of Adelphia Communications involved in civil lawsuits, ruling that an insurer cannot unilaterally rescind a directors’ and officers’ liability policy, according to The Legal Intelligencer.“Insurance carriers do not function as courts...

By Stephen Taub • March 24, 2004

Parmalat Accountants on the Defensive

Parmalat’s accountants helped falsify the food giant’s books and failed to blow the whistle on its finances soon enough, stated a document prepared by Italian prosecutors, according to Reuters.Late last week prosecutors identified 29 people and three institutions that they want to put on trial fo...

By Stephen Taub • March 23, 2004

Skilling’s Legal Tab Tops $23 Million

Jeff Skilling is rapidly racking up those legal costs.The indicted former Enron chief executive officer has shelled out $23 million to his lawyers already, according to Reuters.Nonetheless, in Houston, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake let stand a restraining order that freezes $55 million of Skilling...

By Stephen Taub • March 22, 2004