Biggest Corporate

Scandals

Adam Mihail
International Affairs
3
rd
year student, FSEGA

WorldCom
USs second largest long-distance phone company
Filed for Chapter 11 in 2002
The companys assets were inflated by around $11
billion with $3.8 billion in fake accounts

Jerome Kerviel and the Socit
Gnrale Banking Scandal
French rogue trader, convicted in 2008
Made unauthorized trading in the securities
markets using the banks computers resulted in 4.9
billion losses to the Socit Gnrale funds.

HIH Insurance
HIH Insurance was Australias second-largest
insurance company until it entered into provisional
liquidation in 2001
It incurred losses totaling $5.3 billion
its director, Rodney Adler, was sentenced to four
and half years of jail time


Parmalat
Its founder, Calisto Tanzi was accused of
questionable accounting practices in 2003 when a
14 billion hole was discovered in the companys
accounting records
In 2005, Enrico Bondi relists a reconstructed
Parmalat on the Milan exchange
Swissair
Grounded in 2001 due to a bad expansion move
later acquired by Crossair and liquidation firm
Jurg Hoss.
The Bernie Madoff Ponzi
Scheme
stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier,
convicted in 2009 to 150 years in federal prison
Using a Ponzi scheme, he embezzled over $65
billions from people and companies all over the
world

Bre-X
Canadian mining company, announced the in 1995
the discovery of a large quantity of a gold in a mine
in Indonesia
In 1997, they filed for bankruptcy
Tyco Ltd.
Manufacturing conglomerate that deals with
electronic components, health care, fire safety and
security
In 2005, its CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO
Mark H. Swartz were found guilty of stealing $600
million from the company.

Barings Bank
is the oldest merchant bank in the city of
London, handled the Queens personal bank
and was once the financier of the Napoleonic
Wars.
Collapsed in 1995
Enron
by the use of accounting loopholes, special
purpose entities, and poor financial reporting, were
able to hide billions of dollars in debt from failed
deals and projects.
Filed for bankruptcy in 2001
Bibliography:
http://www.worldfinance.com/home/special-
reports-home/the-parmalat-scandal (12-05-2014)
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/the-10-
biggest-corporate-scandals-in-modern-history-
174301/?singlepage=1 (12-05-2014)
http://list25.com/25-biggest-corporate-
scandals-ever/?view=all (12-05-2014)
http://www.foster.washington.edu/centers/facul
tyresearch/Pages/karpoff-scandals.aspx (12-05-
2014)