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WorldCom Fraud Doubles
Silvaran writes "No, this isn't a repeat story. WorldCom claims another $3.3 billion accounting error. That's about $7 billion, for those that are counting. Wish I had that kind of cash to miscalculate on my income tax forms." There's also a NYT story. I love how the news outlets are saying, "error", "irregularity", "problem", as if this was all some sort of tragic accident, instead of laying out the obvious truth, "criminal fraud committed with full knowledge it was a crime".
I heard on the radio just last week...that there was a guy who worked at a New York investment research firm (they emphasized that he was NOT a broker/analyst), who said in a newspaper column (I think in the NYTimes) that 25 of the 29 largest telecom/photonics companies in the US were at risk of going bankrupt in the next coming months. He compared it to the early 20th century when there were over 50 car manufacturers in the US, and then after a major car industry meltdown, there were 5 companies which emerged from the dust.
This guy predicted that 25 of the largest telco companies will go down (and this 25 included Nortel, but that's the only name I remember), and NO ONE will rescue them at all, because the only way the other 4-5 companies will have a chance of a healthy life afterwards is if they let the companies go bankrupt (R.I.P.) while the 4-5 remaining companies will buy them up in a fire-sale.
Just wondering if anyone else heard about this prediction...it was just last week I think. I'd also like to get my hands on the article. If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know. I did a bit of Google searching and checked the NYTimes, but didn't find anything. Bad keywords probably.
> I love how the news outlets are saying, "error",
> "irregularity", "problem", as if this was all
> some sort of tragic accident, instead of laying
> out the obvious truth, "criminal fraud committed
> with full knowledge it was a crime".
I suspect that's for the courts to decide - not the press.
I love how the news outlets are saying,
"error", "irregularity", "problem", as if this
was all some sort of tragic accident,
As far as I can tell those are Worldcom's words. The newsies are reporting what they were told. Calling it criminal in a news story would be to run the risk of losing a libel suit as there have been no convictions yet.
While it is pretty obvious that there was criminal fraud, that has not yet been proven in a court of law. Let's not encourage the newsies to inject their opinions into the news any more than they already do.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Would you prefer the media outlets to play judge or jury?
Of course they don't come out and call it fraud. That would be an editorial piece not a solid news piece. Judgement has not been passed by the COURTS, therefore the media does not predict the verdict. Of course we all suspect it is fraud at this point, since they've already been busted before. I'll bet you wouldn't want someone to proclaim you were guilty before you hit the court room, now would you? This is just something to think about for the site that calls themselves "News for Nerds..."
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If you had ever done a "disaster recovery exercise", you would have known that the backup software was not working. Ironically enough, if you had kept some of their discipline, you would not have had this problem.