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US SEC charges eight ex-AOL Time Warner execs
uk.reuters.com — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged eight former executives of AOL Time Warner, now known as Time Warner Inc, in a fraudulent scheme that overstated company advertising revenue by more than $1 billion. Four of the defendants settled with the SEC and the other four are facing fraud-related charges in federal court in NY.
dagorret- 482 diggs
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- LewP, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8I'm glad I made a little bit off of aol before this happened...
- divrekku, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Another one bites the dust!
- dankimberly, on 05/20/2008, -0/+7Yeah that merger was a disaster in the making from the beginning... surprised it took them so long to charge anyone.
- SoIcanDigg, on 05/20/2008, -0/+11"You got nailed!"
- JerodSlay, on 05/20/2008, -0/+17The real crime is all those damn free CDs
- NotOptium, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1We had mountains of them when I worked at the post office. Every single carrier had buckets of them overflowing under their desks and we had a huge cardboard box that could only be lifted with a hand truck--also overflowing--outside. Nobody delivered them but nobody could legally throw them away. I used to play games (frizbee, soccer, etc) with the CDs and cases with some of the younger guys there.
- Yez70, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2I hated the CDs too, I got dozens of them a year in the mail, and I can understand your frustration. But, it really disturbs me that you state: 'nobody delivered them'
Did you pick and choose what mail you delivered?
I'm glad you don't work there anymore. Or maybe it's because you didn't deliver legal mail - I hope you were fired.- NotOptium, on 05/21/2008, -0/+3I was a clerk, not a carrier, so I didn't have to deliver any of them. When I say nobody delivered them, I mean that the bosses would get on the carriers' backs once a week about getting rid of them and they'd all take a few dozen or so out with them. But when you have hundreds of them per week _per carrier_ coming in on top of all the other mail, it's pretty unreasonable.
The biggest complaint was the boxes, and everyone in the place signed petitions to AOL asking them to mail the discs in Netflix style envelopes. Understand that when a carrier walks down a road, they take a few dozen houses worth of mail in their hands. It's difficult to carry that many envelopes and magazines, but definitely possible. But when you add a tin that's wider but shorter than an envelope, and an inch thick (especially considering that amount of mail is measured in inches, not in amount of items), it becomes nearly impossible to get your route done quickly enough to keep your job.
I didn't get fired. I left at the end of the summer to go back to school, then worked in the plant sorting mail the next summer. Plenty of AOL discs there too. So before you try to talk to me as if I'm the cause of a problem that is prevalent in many US post offices, think about where the problem comes from and who could solve it. Also consider that if the carriers HAD to deliver every AOL disc at the same rate at which they deliver all other mail, everyone would get the mail they actually care about a LOT more slowly.
- NotOptium, on 05/21/2008, -0/+3I was a clerk, not a carrier, so I didn't have to deliver any of them. When I say nobody delivered them, I mean that the bosses would get on the carriers' backs once a week about getting rid of them and they'd all take a few dozen or so out with them. But when you have hundreds of them per week _per carrier_ coming in on top of all the other mail, it's pretty unreasonable.
- Yez70, on 05/20/2008, -1/+2I hated the CDs too, I got dozens of them a year in the mail, and I can understand your frustration. But, it really disturbs me that you state: 'nobody delivered them'
- NotOptium, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1We had mountains of them when I worked at the post office. Every single carrier had buckets of them overflowing under their desks and we had a huge cardboard box that could only be lifted with a hand truck--also overflowing--outside. Nobody delivered them but nobody could legally throw them away. I used to play games (frizbee, soccer, etc) with the CDs and cases with some of the younger guys there.
- Surferess, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1You have to be pretty darn creative to bury $1Billion! How could anybody think they could get away with this?
- MaidenFan2358, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2I wonder if the SEC used the same boats from the Bluth sting.
- trer, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Take away their yachts.
- logicalriot, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Enron Part Deux!
- LeeSoong, on 05/20/2008, -0/+3did the US SEC send 80 copies of the charges on cd's ?
- COINTELPRO, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0You mean to tell me that DTV is the cause of all this? My letter complaining about a bill that I don't owe caused you to circumvent the structure of our democracy; taking people jobs away if they even think about using the legal system(which I wasn't). To top it off, DTV charged me that money because of Sprint getting away with it, OH Look! I can block him from being a customer, how sad. You now want to punish me, by keeping me from working for 3 years+, or some other dumb idea. I hope you aren't thinking like this...Quit sending me letters every week DTV. This is what we come down to, a fraudulent democracy, putting people on the street that even dare speak of possibly suing a corporation. Your lawyers were that afraid of possibly dealing with me in court over a $200 bill, that doesn't make sense. You had to cheat, and you did it for nothing since I wasn't going to pursue the matter. You brag about your 'legal' organization in the past and they resort to this?
A collective of paper corporations, circumventing democracy. Quit calling me up, playing the reference games, you know you have access to my personnel file with every company and the government, they will gladly share it with your collective, which they have in the past. References are a way for companies to discourage people suing them. If you want to determine a person performance, ask for a copy of performance reviews. References are a stupid idea for employees. You should use references for hiring a contractor to fix your house, hiring me as an employee, it is a different circumstance. You are not being contractually bound as in hiring a contractor, you can fire at any time, plus you already have the information on my performance. Maybe I should just play along...
- debuffplx, on 05/20/2008, -4/+1NEone know where i can d/l fate x or 1im proggiez?
- flinzo, on 05/20/2008, -7/+0great, i work for AOL, and i have sneaked some clips into this site -;)
http://myvix.com/- Neticule, on 05/20/2008, -0/+2go away spammer
- PolishLogic, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Given the rampant corporate hatred on Digg, I'm surprised that there are so few comments about this story. Especially considering this juicy tidbit from the article:
"It was a very significant fraud and another instance that shows the commission ... is going to be diligent protecting investors," said David Frohlich, an assistant director in the SEC's enforcement division.
In 2005, Time Warner agreed to pay $300 million to settle a related SEC case."
I think a good old "***** TIME WARNER" is in order here. As well as all their corporate holdings. - Ratteler, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1Way to close the barn door after the horses have eaten the children.
- RedStateRetard, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1One of these circles is Ted Turner jumping up and down for joy.
http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
If it's quiet where you are...you can hear him scream"YEEEE-HAH" in the distance. - nydwarf, on 05/21/2008, -1/+1Death penalty!
- poleag, on 05/21/2008, -0/+0wat
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