Friday, February 16, 2007

More Corporate Miscreants

Most Americans believe in capitalism because they know it offers the most opportunity and individual freedom. That, not class anger, is why regular folks hate corporate leaders who lie, cheat and steal.

I'm no different. But what really drives me nuts is the arrogance and stupidity of the corpo-thieves, something I noted in an earlier post.

Now, I come across the story of Gary Min who pleaded guilty to stealing an estimated $400 million in DuPont technology. There's no evidence that Min tried to transfer the information to anyone, but he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. In contrast, pioneer corporate thief Michael Miliken emerged from two years in prison with $500 million in the bank. That's the dumb part.

Then there's the arrogance factor. According to The Wall Street Journal, prosecutors are considering filing criminal charges against former Broadcom CFO William Ruehle (photo above) who emailed a colleague:

"I VERY strongly recommend that these options be priced as of December 24."

As the newspaper noted: "Broadcom's share price rose 23% between the two dates. The pretense that the options had been granted on the earlier date made them extra valuable."

If nothing else, Ruehle should be convicted of being too lazy to pick up the phone.

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