Freddie Mac Delays Reports by Two Months

Officials at Freddie Mac announced that the company would delay filing its 2005 financials by two months, until May. However, in a press release, the second-largest U.S. mortgage-funding company said it needed the extra time to implement a significant improvement in its method for determining the...

By Stephen Taub • March 10, 2006

Fastow: No Proof Linking CEO to Fraud

Examine our Enron archiveIn his third day on the witness stand, former Enron Corp. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow once again spent a fair amount of time telling jurors how former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was aware of sham deals with off-balance-sheet partnerships designed to boost ...

By Stephen Taub • March 9, 2006

Fastow: Lay Misled Investors, Employees

Examine our Enron archiveAndrew Fastow pointed the finger at Enron Corp.’s former chairman — and began what are expected to be many days of brutal cross-examination by defense attorneys — as the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling played to an overflow crowd on Wednesday.Even HealthSouth Co...

By Stephen Taub • March 8, 2006

Under Patriot Act, Feds Could Bug Boards

When President Bush signs the Patriot Act amendments into law later this week, the civil liberties of people targeted in terrorism investigations will be strengthened. That’s not the case, however, for corporate executives and directors under investigation for antitrust crimes. For them, the amen...

By Marie Leone • March 8, 2006

Daimler Discloses Improper Payments

DaimlerChrysler AG disclosed that it has dismissed or suspended several employees after the company determined that “improper payments” were made in a number of jurisdictions, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, according to published accounts.In a regulatory filing, the automaker stat...

By Stephen Taub • March 7, 2006

The Sweet Smell of Success

Here’s a public relations challenge: You want your company to list on the prestigious London Stock Exchange, as a blue chip stock in the FTSE 100 index, no less. But your tax haven-based company is in the online gambling business; your founders, a Californian husband-and-wife team, made their rep...

By Tony McAuley • March 7, 2006

Fastow Tells How He Sweetened Earnings

Examine our Enron archiveFormer Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow finally took the witness stand at the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.Under direct examination by prosecutor John Hueston, Fastow testified that Skilling approved the use of two off-balance-sheet partnersh...

By Dave Cook • March 7, 2006

Fastow on Deck at Enron Trial

Examine our Enron archiveDefense attorneys continued their efforts to undermine the credibility of prosecution witnesses as the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling resumed on Monday. Andrew Fastow made a brief appearance in the courthouse, although the former finance chief and his attorney,...

By Stephen Taub • March 6, 2006

Alleged Skilling Quote Shocks Courtroom

Examine our Enron archiveIn what could wind up being the turning point in the trial of former Enron chiefs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, a former top executive stunned the courtroom during the last ten minutes of testimony on Thursday when he testified that Skilling told other top executives ”they’r...

By Stephen Taub • March 3, 2006

Chipmaker Charged with Price-Fixing

Four executives of a South Korean supplier of memory chips agreed to plead guilty to price fixing and serve prison time in the United States, according to published reports, citing federal prosecutors.The settlement with the executives of Hynix Semiconductor, the second-largest maker of computer ...

By Stephen Taub • March 2, 2006

High Court Seen Easing up on Antitrust

A Supreme Court ruling issued on Wednesday could hurt small companies as well as further erode some of the 60-year old anti-trust rules, experts say. The case involves the Trident unit of Illinois Tool Works. Although the unit has a patent for printheads—the part of a printer that spreads ink ont...

By Stephen Taub • March 2, 2006

At Enron, a Lie Is a Lie Is a Lie

Examine our Enron archiveWednesday was cross-examination day at the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.In the morning session, Lay attorney Mike Ramsey spent his efforts on the plea deal of Timothy Belden, the former chief trader for Enron Corp. division Enron North America. “You’ve made a...

By Stephen Taub • March 1, 2006

SEC Plan Could Blur Compensation Reports

To the confusion of shareholders, strange rises and dips in the reported compensation of companies’ highest-paid executives could be among the results of the new Securities and Exchange Commission pay-disclosure proposals.In other words, say corporate compensation advisers, an executive could app...

By Helen Shaw • March 1, 2006

SOP at Enron: ”Fast and Loose”

Examine our Enron archiveThree former executives of Enron Corp. division Enron North America — chief accounting officer Wanda Curry, chief trader Timothy Belden, and CEO David Delainey — took the witness stand Tuesday at the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.Curry concluded her testimony ...

By Dave Cook and Stephen Taub • Feb. 28, 2006

SEC Seeks Wider Role in ”Sweep” Exams

Paul Atkins expects that he and his fellow SEC commissioners will be getting more involved in “sweep examinations” that are conducted by the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), according to Reuters.Atkins, who made the remarks during a speech to investment advisers, noted th...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 28, 2006

Securities Firms Bemoan Compliance Costs

Compliance costs on Wall Street have nearly doubled in the past three years, to more than $25 billion in 2005 from $13 billion in 2002, according to a study by the Securities Industry Association.This increase is equivalent to nearly 5 percent of the industry’s average annual revenues, according ...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 28, 2006

Software Squeeze: Patently Wrong?

Is a computer program an invention or an idea? The difference may sound subtle, but for top software publishers it is literally a billion-dollar question. Inventions may be patented, which gives the patent holder legal rights to the core concept of an innovation, while ideas are entitled only to ...

By John Edwards • Feb. 28, 2006

Enron Reserves Not ”Independent”

Examine our Enron archiveWesley Colwell, once a chief accountant for Enron Corp. trading unit Enron North America, testified on Monday at the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling that he, too, finagled the financials.The prosecution’s first witness of the day, Colwell testified that in mid-2...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 27, 2006

Lawyers Seeks Answers to Symbol Mistrial

Attorneys for three former executives of Symbol Technologies Inc., whose case last week ended in a mistrial, are requesting that jurors return to court because they may in fact have found them not guilty, according to Newsday.Chief financial officer Kenneth Jaeggi, senior vice president of financ...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 27, 2006

Power to the Procurement People

Finance chiefs should view corporate procurement outlays as investments rather than costs, suggests a new report — investments in the people who run procurement.Indeed, at the best purchasing departments, staffing leans much more toward the strategic, according to research and consulting firm The...

By Helen Shaw • Feb. 24, 2006

Rieker Cross Takes a Nastier Turn

Examine our Enron archivePaula Rieker, a onetime Enron Corp. corporate secretary who previously served as lieutenant to director of investor relations Mark Koenig, faced toughening cross-examination on Thursday at the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.Bruce Collins, who represents Lay, se...

By Dave Cook • Feb. 23, 2006

Supreme Court Backs Business Arbitration

The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a Florida opinion and given businesses more power to compel customers to take disputes to arbitration.The 7-1 decision was handed down Tuesday, on Justice Samuel Alito’s first day on the bench, though since he had not heard arguments in the case he did not vote...

By Dave Cook • Feb. 23, 2006

Enron’s Rieker Calm During Cross-exam

Examine our Enron archivePaula Rieker, a onetime Enron Corp. corporate secretary who previously served as lieutenant to director of investor relations Mark Koenig, faced cross-examination on Wednesday at the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.The day before, under questioning by the prosec...

By Dave Cook • Feb. 22, 2006

Donaldson, Levitt Diverge on Convergence

Two former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission, William Donaldson and Arthur Levitt, offered differing opinions Wednesday on the benefits and likelihood of international convergence of accounting standards.During a panel discussion that also included former SEC chairmen Harvey Pitt...

By Helen Shaw • Feb. 22, 2006

No Indictments for Class-action Titans

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Los Angeles has no current plans to indict William Lerach and Melvyn Weiss, perhaps the two best-known proponents of shareholder class-action litigation, according to published accounts.However, prosecutors may still indict David Bershad and Steven Schulman, two New...

By Dave Cook • Feb. 22, 2006