CEO Nabbed for Identity Theft From Own Employees

BuzzardsBay writes "And you think your boss is a jerk? Check out this VARBusiness story about a tech CEO the feds say was using his employees' personal information to apply for loans and credit cards to the tune of $1 million. Somewhere a whole lot of businesses who bought this guy's managed-services pitch are cringing with the thought of who is taking care of their data now. And 50 employees are gonna have to sweat out their credit reports even as they look for new jobs. Now that's a lousy boss!"

Comments

I'm a bit slow

[Dunbal]

Hang on. And we're NOT talking about Hewlett-Packard here?

Re:I'm a bit slow

[Maddog787]

Just wait - he'll show up in Brazil sipping margaritas with Enron's Ken Lay after his alleged death!

Re:I'm a bit slow

[daem0n1x]

Margaritas are mexican. Maybe you meant caipirinhas?

Re:I'm a bit slow

[Bloke down the pub]

Must do, because it's not like you can get margaritas just anywhere, is it?

Re:I'm a bit slow

[plopez]

and pal around with GWB laughing about what suckers we are.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cp10202006.html

Re:I'm a bit slow

[StikyPad]

In South America, chupacabras sip YOU!

one or the other

[User 956]

Now that's a lousy boss!

Well, he's either a lousy boss, or a very creative criminal.

Re:one or the other

[Starteck81]

Funny how often those two things coincide. In this day and age of corperate America the object is not so much to find a boss that doesn't steal(honest)but one that's doing such a good job of stealing from clients that they don't need to steal from you!

Re:one or the other

[ViciousAndCruel]

He's a lossy boss.

Re:one or the other

[timeOday]

I guess he's not a criminal until convicted, so here's hoping. I'm taking bets on whether his laywer will try to invent some creative legal defense based on his victims' employment contract. "Employees have no expectation of privacy on company-owned computer systems," or "all goods and information produced during the term of employment are sole property of Jackass Inc." you know, those kind of clauses. Or maybe the boss will sue the company for careless handling of personal information in violation of state privacy law (proven, naturally, by the fact that he was able to steal so much $$$). OK, I'm obviously paranoid, but I didn't start out this way, so there must be a reason for it.

Re:one or the other

[jbrader]

The reason you're paranoid is that I'm out to get you. See you soon.

Re:one or the other

[TheGrinningFool]

Note that creative != proficient. He did get caught, after all.

Re:one or the other

[eln]

If he committed the crime, he's a criminal whether he is convicted or not. A suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty, he is not actually innocent until proven guilty.

Re:one or the other

[tehcyder]

If he committed the crime, he's a criminal whether he is convicted or not. A suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty, he is not actually innocent until proven guilty.

I think you missed out a "not", but in any case aren't you confusing legal innocence/guilt with moral innocence/guilt?

Someone is not a criminal (in the eyes of the law) until they are convicted of a crime. If I have murdered someone, but it can't be proved in a court of law, I am not legally a criminal.

evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[victorvodka]

What do you suppose happens to your identity when a dotcom with DBs full of identities are crashing and burning? If there's a chance to patch things up by selling those identities, let me tell you, I've worked for people who would have done so gladly. None of you ever joined Collegeclub.com, did you?

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[fishbowl]

"What do you suppose happens to your identity when a dotcom with DBs full of identities are crashing and burning?"

I expect I still have my identity no matter what.

But, in all seriousness, I'm not worried about ID theft.

You see, I have already destroyed my creditworthiness completely. It's hardly a risk that someone will take my info and get any kind of loan or credit card based on them.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[cptgrudge]

You see, I have already destroyed my creditworthiness completely. It's hardly a risk that someone will take my info and get any kind of loan or credit card based on them.

Security through financial obscurity, huh? I can dig it.

What happens if you ever want to actually get a loan, though?

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[Nataku564]

You steal someone else's identity, of course.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[LindseyJ]

Well there's two basic types of loans any bank will give out. There's the sort where you sit down with an officer and talk about your credit rating and equity and so forth. And then there's the type where you sit down with an officer and talk about the calibre of gun you have under your shirt.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[fishbowl]

>What happens if you ever want to actually get a loan, though?

Well, last time I got laughed out of the bank :-)

Ok, I exaggerate a bit. But I am enormously in debt and I don't think I have ever paid a bill on time in my entire life.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[fishbowl]

"And then there's the type where you sit down with an officer and talk about the calibre of gun you have under your shirt."

I don't understand. I could probably liquidate part of my gun collection, but I'd have to do that through a FFL dealer, not at a bank. And the one piece I have that's worth more than a thousand bucks, would never fit in a shirt anyway.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[Jesus_666]

The trick lies in liquidating the officer instead of the gun. Unfortunately, though, it tends to attract other officers who want to liquidate you instead.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[indifferent children]

but I'd have to do that through a FFL dealer

That's not actually a legal requirement (unless I missed something). I've seen firearms for sale by individuals (not FFLs) at flea markets, in newspapers, etc. Is there a law in your state, or is there a new federal law that sales have to go through FFLs?

I actually like this idea. It would do almost nothing to prevent honest citizens from buying and selling guns, but could make it harder for criminals to buy guns. It could also hamper straw-buyers from buying hundreds of guns and reselling them without background checks or paperwork. ATF could go to a straw-buyer and demand to either see the guns that he purchased, or know which FFL he sold them through.

To keep this requirement from being abused by FFLs, and to keep it from hindering the legal buying and selling by individuals, FFLs should be required to charge no more than a small fee ($5? $10?) to conduct the background check and handle the paperwork.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[kabocox]

You steal someone else's identity, of course.

What about an ID renting business. You have poor credit, no credit or had your ID stolen? No problem, we'll loan you one of ours for a low up front price. You just need to find some folks willing to hand over their info and have your company manage their ID and credit profile. I wonder if credit scores would rise if you suddenly had 1,000-2,000 credit cards and were successfully paying them all off. The bad thing is that I really wouldn't want to try figuring out how you'd file income tax with that main credit cards and various levels of payment.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[LordKronos]

Well, it depends on how you go about "destroying" your credit. There are people out there that apply for tons of credit card with 0% balance transfer offers, take out PILES of cash, and stick it in 100% secure investments (insured bank accounts, treasury bonds, etc) to collect 5% or more in guaranteed interest (which is then withdrawn and paid back before the 0% offer ends). This has the side effect of temporarily trashing your credit, since all of your credit cards are highly utilized.

As long as you anticipate needing no loans in the near future, and you have means to deal with a financial emergency (either having a sizable emergency fund and/or having a large HELOC against your house), this isn't really that dangerous. You simply pay off all your cards, and in about a month your credit score is pretty close to where it used to be. Of course, theres a whole science here in how to get all the credit lines, how to withdraw from them in such away that creditors won't panic and close all your cards on you (which WILL permanently hurt your credit score), and other stuff like that. You need to beware of all the non-obvious consequences too (ex: some car insurance companies will raise your rates if your credit score drops, low credit scores could prevent you from getting a job, etc).

Its one of those things that, even though I've made some good money doing it, I would NEVER EVER encourage someone else to do it, simply because of the high probability of screwing up and the disastrous results that could come from even one simple mistake.

Re:evil CEOs are no worse than dying dotcoms

[fishbowl]

>Is there a law in your state, or is there a new federal law that sales have to go through FFLs?

'Sale' and 'transfer' are distinct transactions with separate rules.

There are Federal and state laws, and the state laws tend to be more restrictive.

Mainly, there is this one, becuase the Federal law controls interstate transfers.
"An individual who does not possess a federal firearms license may not sell a firearm to a resident of another state without first transferring the firearm to a dealer in the purchaser's state."

But most of my collection is pre-1868 antiques anyway. Matchlock, flintlock, muzzleloaders, all are exempt, and not even regulated in my state.

hmm, I suggest these punishments...

[Bananatree3]

These seem a bit more satisfying than simply throwing them in jail

How did he do it?

[Coopjust]

The article seems light on details. Did the guy use some sort of key logger or computer filter, or did he go the low tech route and just use his employee's files from their hiring? Curiosity.

But otherwise, everything is perfectly normal

[sk999]

"Bartlett added that he hoped the Compulinx business could continue uninterrupted despite the CEO's legal woes."

Right.

Re:But otherwise, everything is perfectly normal

[The Cisco Kid]

The board should fire the CEO, or if hes the majority holder, first his ownership should be distributed among the employee's whose identities he stole, then the 'new' board shuld fire him, and feel free to hire a new CEO and continue running the company.

Why be an employee?

[dada21]

1. Incorporate
2. ??? = Work as a subcontracing corporation
3. Profit!!!

(4. -- Don't release ANY legal information to your general contractor)

I've done this for 18 years, and the tax breaks and freedoms are incredible.

Re:Why be an employee?

[hvnarsana]

This is a brilliant idea.. I am reading Rich dad poor dad and the author talks of the exact same thing. Helps you save on anything and you can literally deduct depreciation, etc right ou of your income and pay tax on what's left alone!

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Dunbal]

"screw it" and give up your dream, or you try to find different cash reserves.

      I have a dream about going to the Bahamas for 5 months and living a life of luxury. I figure I need about $500K to do this. It's ok if I rob a bank to finance this, then? I figure a bank is a "different cash reserve".

social security numbers...

[SuperBanana]

The article seems light on details. Did the guy use some sort of key logger or computer filter, or did he go the low tech route and just use his employee's files from their hiring? Curiosity.

Do you have any common sense? Employers are -required- to have your SS # on file as a course of payroll/taxes.

Re:social security numbers...

[Coopjust]

You still need mothers maiden name, etc.

Oh Boy

[billsoxs]

and I thought my boss was a pr#$k. This beats anything he has ever done.

Re:Oh Boy

[idontgno]

This beats anything he has ever done.

That you know of...yet...

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[BadAnalogyGuy]

I'm impressed how you took a post emphasizing the move towards wider availability of capital to entrepreneurs as something socialist.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[BadAnalogyGuy]

That's not what this is about, though. The company needed money to continue in business. Whether it was to pay salaries or to finance acquisitions, the money was earmarked for business purposes, not a 5 month vacation in the Bahamas for the CEO.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Virtual_Raider]

What this guy did is just plain old fraud. IF — however unlikely — he was thinking something along the lines of what you describe, he should have approached his employees and ask them for their support. This "I borrowed without permission" bullshit is just a cynical attempt at reality-engineering to make things appear as something other that theft.

sweat out their credit reports?

[SuperBanana]

And 50 employees are gonna have to sweat out their credit reports even as they look for new jobs

Makes you wonder why the courts don't automatically order credit reports of victims cleaned. The burden should NOT be on the victims, even if it is just a matter of sending a letter to the three agencies with a copy of the court docket or similar...

Fun trivia I learned from the manager at my co-op bank branch today: utility (cable, phone, power, gas, etc) companies have been moving towards a new electronic check cashing system ,where your bank never gets the cancelled check back.

Fun, if you need to prove to a credit reporting agency that you DID in fact pay a bill (or a credit line was not listed on your account) since that involves...drumroll please...sending in a copy of the cancelled checks! Likewise for electronic fund transfers and automatic credit card billing. The deck is stacked even further against consumers, just like how you have to pay to get your report if you don't live in certain states...and even if you get the report for free, you don't get your FICO score...

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[paulthomas]

I believe your bank should be sending you copies of your "canceled" checks or providing them online. My bank does this, and they make it clear that they are for the same purpose as the real canceled checks were back in the days when banks actually shipped paper checks to the fed.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[RobertinXinyang]

It seems that most of the people here on slashdot agree with the American premise that a person with poor credit should not be able to get a job. Use the saps at this company as an example, they were stupid enough to take this job; they deserve to spend the rest of thier lives flipping burgers.

I do not agree with this mindset. However, it seems to be the American way, Social Darwinism at near it's worst.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[operagost]

I work for a company in the financial services industry.

Legislation was passed years ago (Check21) that allows for check imaging to be used as a permanent, legal record of the transaction.

This doesn't explain why the slow-ass banks still take three days to clear your check. We have lightning fast systems and the appropriate legislation, and they are still sitting on your money. Actually, I can explain it: because it benefits them. Unfortunately, Check21 puts very few responsibilities on the banks. They can still hold deposits for 2-7 days even though the electronic transfer happened in mere hours.

Obviously, a consumer-protection amendment to Check21 needs to be made.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[TheLink]

Should make the perp do the letter sending.

Do it to too many and you could be in jail for a very long time sending letters and making phone calls.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[wolfgang_spangler]

The deck is stacked even further against consumers, just like how you have to pay to get your report if you don't live in certain states...and even if you get the report for free, you don't get your FICO score...

Do you know what a FICO score is? It is a measure of credit worthiness designed by a company based on statistics and probability. It is the product that is sold by a company, the Fair Isaac Corporation. It is the opinion of that company how likely you are to pay back a loan. Why do you feel you should be provided with this for free?

What state is not covered by the free credit reporting measure enacted by the government?

Makes you wonder why the courts don't automatically order credit reports of victims cleaned. The burden should NOT be on the victims, even if it is just a matter of sending a letter to the three agencies with a copy of the court docket or similar...

I do like that though, and have often wondered the same thing myself.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[JayBlalock]

Do you know what a FICO score is? It is a measure of credit worthiness designed by a company based on statistics and probability. It is the product that is sold by a company, the Fair Isaac Corporation. It is the opinion of that company how likely you are to pay back a loan. Why do you feel you should be provided with this for free?

Because they are THE company that pretty much everyone turns to for determining this information and you, as a single person, have virtually no recourse against them if their data is wrong or inaccurate. Most of the time you don't even know WHAT they say about you. Because if it IS wrong, you can't do anything TO them. They just say "oops, not our fault!" and blame agencies reporting to them. Even though clearly, with the position of incredible power they hold, there should be some responsibility on THEM to verify the data they're sending out.

Whether they asked for this power or not is absolutely irrelevant. They DO hold the power to prevent millions upon millions of people from purchasing things or today, even getting jobs. Arguably they are, in terms of daily personal effect upon people, the single most powerful corporation in the country.

Yet they have ZERO accountability.

If the solution to this isn't to allow people unfettered complete access to their own credit records, I'm not sure what it could possibly be. Well, besides the dismantling of the company, which at times sounds like the best course of action.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[Shajenko42]

Wow. You realize that credit reports contain incorrect information (and not that infrequently), and yet you STILL assume that they are thieves.

Just... wow.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[Shotgun]

Was watching a show on CNN last night about digital privacy, cameras, et. al.

There's all these gray areas about what is or should be public knowledge and what is wrong with someone sharing what is already in the public domain. Why is it a freedom of speech issue for 'Online Tech Magazine' to be able to review motherboards and tell the world that they suck..but when the company that makes the motherboard turns around and reviews the reviewer, showing everyone the PUBLIC records of the multiple fraud convictions, it's called a privacy issue? The records were made public by law for a reason, were they not?

We came to a simple conclusion, and a simpler solution. It's not the sharing of the information. It's the damn sneaky way they go about sharing it. If my employer requests a background check from Verifact, why the hell isn't Verifact required to tell me what it is telling the employer? That's whispering behind my back, and it considered very rude behavior in polite company. Hell, Verifact already knows where I live (as well as what I had for dinner last night). It wouldn't cost them more than some duplicate copies and a stamp to tell me what they're telling everybody else about me.

The conclusion we drew was that obviously they know their database is full of constantly perpetuated crap, and they don't want the onslaught of customer service calls that they will be battered with when people find out what is being said about them. I call them up, tell them that the information is wrong, and now they are at risk of libel/slander. Before they can just plead, "Heh, it's a mistake. We didn't know." Much more profitable to just dump crap in a database then sell it, than to attempt to exercise due diligence. Which begs the next question: As an employer, what the hell do I want with a background check that is jsut as likely to be full of lies and misinformation than anything else? Before paying one of these companies, the employer should ask if the victim will be given a copy and any chance to correct mistakes.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[orielbean]

But I've been in that spot before, and calling your bank will get you an agent who will fax stuff around to whomever needs it. There are laws on the books that require the bank to document everything, so it is all available there. No worries. Otherwise, I agree with everything else you stated - the deck is stacked high against us.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[Slashdot Parent]

Even when payments are made by automatic draft, your bank can provide proof the payment was made. Ask them about it if you want more information.

Re:sweat out their credit reports?

[Slashdot Parent]

Fair Isaac only invented the FICO algorithm. They don't report anything to anybody.

Your bitching about Fair Isaac is like you bitching at google because your webpage sucks. Google didn't make it suck--you did.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[ScentCone]

I'm impressed how you took a post emphasizing the move towards wider availability of capital to entrepreneurs as something socialist.

But when a system is not re-arranging capital based on a person's ability to impress investors/lendors on the merits of a business plan and other positive things - and is instead risking capital because, essentially, everyone who asks for it gets it (from where, I wonder?)... well, that's socialized business investment/lending.

Massive Installation?

[HockeyPuck]

This cracks me up...

Compulinx also manages a massive IT infrastructure, which includes four data centers, more than 300 servers and a whopping 40 TB of storage.

What is this? One midrange disk array?

I bet if the editor walked into their datacenter they'd find more than 40TB...

Re:Massive Installation?

[rk]

You're right. Criminy, I've got about 10% of this much space on home file servers. 40TB was big 10 or maybe even 5 years ago. Not today, it isn't.

Granted, a terabyte on enterprise class hardware costs a bit more than consumer grade stuff, but still. The little newspaper I work for has almost that much in one chassis in one rack.

Re:Massive Installation?

[PitaBred]

$28K per terabyte? I certainly hope that's in some sort of massive RAID that has 15 copies of the data across the continent at any given time. Or transfers at the speed of RAM.

Re:Massive Installation?

[darekana]

What is this? One midrange disk array?

I bet if the editor walked into their datacenter they'd find more than 40TB...

Is varbusiness.com a porno site?

Re:Massive Installation?

[WuphonsReach]

$28K per terabyte?

Well, that's only $28/GB which isn't too far off once you get into high-level hardware, 20% net utilization (dual RAID-10 arrays plus hot spares), SCSI drives that were probably built a few years ago (36/72GB disks with a higher $/GB), backups, the SAN hardware, etc.

Even a low-end SATA storage unit runs about $2-$3/GB. And with SCSI drives you're typically looking at $6-$8/GB at the low-end with it being pretty easy to get up into the $15/GB range once you include stuff like backups.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[nologin]

... perhaps we should take a step back and look at the reason the CEO had to resort to such tactics in the first place.

I figure either the person in question is either a sociopath or just plain incompetent. Because when a CEO has to resort to such tactics, he/she has already failed to do their job...

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[4iedBandit]

Wait a minute. You want me to have sympathy for the CEO of a company who commited credit fraud using his employees confidential information?

You know, this is really taking the whole victim mentality to the next level of insanity. "It's not his fault really, society forced him to because no one would loan him money." Give me a break!

Theft is wrong. Stealing from your employees is NEVER excusable. Please don't ask me to have sympathy for the crook. Corporations have a myriad of ways to legally screw employees without having to resort to outright theft.

You know, there are some things in the world that really are black or white, right or wrong. This is one of them. Please stop turning everything gray.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[BadAnalogyGuy]

And because of that the employees will be branded as delinquent for the next 7 years.

By all means, throw the guy in jail. What he did was wholly illegal and unethical. However that doesn't solve any problem. Would it not be more prudent to both improve access to capital and provide a minimum level of protection for those hurt by identity fraud?

well at least that solves the old problem:

[circletimessquare]

1. hire lots of employees
2. ???
3. profit!

at least we know what the ??? is now

Re:well at least that solves the old problem:

[Jzor]

This guy had it coming from both ends.

1. Start tech company.
2. Hire lots of employees.
3. ??? 4. Profit!!!
5. Hire more employees.
6. Steal their identity.
7. Profit!!!
8. ???
9. Go to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.


Not only did they have products and services to profit from. This guy squeezed $1 million out of his overhead!

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Holy cow. Way to miss the point.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[wkitchen]

I just think that the system should be set up to reward risk takers rather than banks that refuse to lend. It would go a long way towards improving the economy.

If you removed the risk, they wouldn't be "risk takers" anymore. They'd just be takers.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Danse]

The company needed money to continue in business. Whether it was to pay salaries or to finance acquisitions, the money was earmarked for business purposes, not a 5 month vacation in the Bahamas for the CEO.

He isn't the one that gets to make such calls. He deserves no leniency for his actions. If he had actually made the company successful, it still wouldn't excuse him. If he had a good idea, then he should have been able to get money to finance it. If he couldn't convince people that his ideas were solid and that they would get a return on their money, then he didn't deserve to be running the company. He's like every other schmuck out there that can't launch whatever idea he has. It doesn't give anyone the right, the obligation, or the duty to commit crimes in order to finance their business.

If anything, crimes like these need to have more severe penalties. There's far too much identity theft going on. Anyone caught doing it should be severely punished. White-collar crime in general should be punished much more severely than it is now, if only because it's so hard to build the cases in the first place. It's the same logic they're using for giving out harsh penalties for file-sharers. If the chances of getting caught are low, then the punishment must be more severe to have the desired deterrent effect.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[vga_init]

If risk taking were rewarded, it wouldn't be risk. We reward success, not failure. Asking for rewards before results doesn't make sense. We may reward ingenuity, but not daring.

This reminds me, for some odd reason...

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

Anybody know whatever happened to Scott Draeker? (Or the employee whose credit card was used to make payroll?...)

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[topham]

If I knew who you were, and that you had a position of authority with any company I would submit your name to the local authorities for investigation.
I would also submit your information to your companies accountants and list of some ethical concerns.

There is absolutely no justification for committing fraud (which is what this is) against employees, merely to stay in business.

If a company ends up in that position it may wish to ASK the employees to support the company, but you can't require it!

based on your nickname I expect you simply enjoy playing devils advocate, inspite of the pointlessness in this instance.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Medgur]

They wouldn't be risk takers if the system was set up to consistently reward them, now would they?

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[freedom_india]

How come this doesn't hold good when employees steal money from their bosses? How come these arguments espoused by your Holy Thou not present whenever an employee has stolen from his boss to fund some "Hot idea" to "beat off" VCs?? Am sure you would be recommending "hang until death" for such an employee.... But when it comes to bosses, it is "please give me a break..." kind of plaintive wail from an overworked boss.... Surprising isn't it? There are TWO kinds of citizens really: "one who works for others", and "one for whom others work"... I think we (US) never grew out of the slave-owner mentality.... really. If this were EU or better yet France, am sure the boss's fortune would be seized and distributed to those affected, in addition to him being made "favorite" of Bubba...

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Scarletdown]

While some entrepreneurs in hot sectors have to beat off VCs with their bare hands,

Now there's a mental image I definitely don't need seared into my brain. *** shudder *** They should at least wear latex gloves. :D

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Associate]

This reminds me of an ATM tech years ago. ATM as in Automated Teller Machine. He borrowed several thousands of dollars to bankroll his cocaine business. He had a deal go bad and lost all the money he was going to put back into the machine. Was he rewarded for his risk taking venture? If you count restitution, parole (yeah, no jail time as long as he made restitution payments), unemployment.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[LS]

You fell into a troll's trap and modded insightful. Not bad!

i dont believe it

[allresistanceisfutil]

There is only one word to sum up this story and thats unbeleivable!

Re:i dont believe it

[gsslay]

There is only one word to sum up this story and thats unbeleivable!

Except that's not a word. :)

Come to that, neither is the one before it.

Re:i dont believe it

[allresistanceisfutil]

how come "unbelieveable" is not a word?

Re:i dont believe it

[allresistanceisfutil]

oops i just realized that i spelt it wrong sorry!

Re:I'm REAL slow

[Maddog787]

Just wait - he'll show up in Brazil sipping margaritas with Enron's Ken Lay after his alleged death! See www.escapeartist.com

For your years of great service

[Joebert]

I wonder how many employees were supposed to get an extra large bonus this Christmas.

Put this in your pipe and smoke it!

[welshasp]

I just had to log in and take a crack at this one! One reason I love slashdot is when I read a post that really embodies the gist of it all and cracks me up. It's like taking a baseball bat, dipping it in epoxy and rolling it in crushed glass the way some of you call people on their bulls$%t! It really gets me fired up and makes me feel hopeful for the future. As a matter of fact, I feel slashdot should have a prime time news show! I'm so sick of the tongue biting mass media that gears itself for an eighth grade education level! Who decided that anyways? As for this guy, let's see how he likes sharing a cell with Big Bubba, he fu!@$d up, got caught & whined about it. Maybe Big Bubba will put his arm around him and sympathize in that special kind of way. I say don't cry now, you weren't crying when you were basically being a purse snatcher. And about the courts having credit reports cleared up, why isn't this the case? If we raise enough h#ll and it seeps into enough heads something can be done. I'm on fire and pacing the floor chomping at the bit here!

Re:Put this in your pipe and smoke it!

[welshasp]

Hey, the point is that he is aware that he might get violated. And besides, prisons don't exactly attract the cream of the crop generally.

The name should've given it away

[jigyasubalak]

Now, it can be safely said that his employees weren't so discerning as to
tell a Chalk from Cheese :)

I'm European

[mrjb]

Bring on the evil euro trading blocks >:)

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Dog-Cow]

At a minimum, the CEO should be tortured to death. There is no excuse for what he is alleged to have done. If he is guilty, mere execution is far too lenient.

From reading your posts, you should be joining him in whatever punishment he does receive. Those that rationalize evil are worse than those that do it.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[udderly]

How come this doesn't hold good when employees steal money from their bosses?

This reminds me of when I worked for a Fortune 500 company some years back. The manager of my location *routinely* shaved time off of employee time cards in order to make his wage budget. But this guy would routinely have thieving employees arrested AND would manage to work up a big load of righteous indignation.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[Dunbal]

Whether it was to pay salaries or to finance acquisitions, the money was earmarked for business purposes,

      I am willing to bet that the money was NOT "earmarked" for "business purposes" by these people, umm what do you call them again, oh yeah, the actual OWNERS of the money. This is theft, plain and simple.

      You're trying to say that the end justifies the means. All I did was give you a different "end" to point out the flaw in your argument. According to you: if I kill you in order to help an old lady cross the road, that's ok then.

Not in Germany, either.

[Ihlosi]

You'll be considered an employee as far as taxation goes if more than a certain percentage of your revenue comes from only one general contractor.

If the IRS hasn't figured this little trick out, they're kinda slow.

Re:Not in Germany, either.

[forrestt]

So, make 10 different corporations, and work for all 10.

Re:Not in Germany, either.

[Slashdot Parent]

Why should the IRS care? As long as he's paying his taxes and following the law, there should be no problem with it.

Re:Not in Germany, either.

[tehcyder]

Why should the IRS care? As long as he's paying his taxes and following the law [irs.gov], there should be no problem with it.

It depends what country you are in, but the tax laws for individuals and corporations can vary widely. As an earlier poster said, in the UK it's very hard for an individual to get away with not being an employee nowadays, for example there was a lot of fuss when a previous director of the BBC tried to say he was an independent subcontractor (even though he only worked for the BBC).

And the reason the taxman cares is because you pay a lot more tax as an employee in the UK (almost no deductible expenses for example) plus the employer pays National Insurance of 12.8% on top...

Re:Not in Germany, either.

[Slashdot Parent]

Well, I'm not familiar with UK law, but in the US, as long as you pay all your taxes (including the employer's share), you're golden. The IRS doesn't really give a hoot if it gets its money from you or your "employer" as long as it gets its money in the end.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[indifferent children]

some entrepreneurs in hot sectors have to beat off VCs with their bare hands

This is why I stopped looking for investors and folded my company.

Re:then why the AC post?

[indifferent children]

If you really felt safe, then why did you post as an Anonymous Coward??

Hey, the Coward family has been plagued by their name for years. They thought they were doing the son a favor by naming him "Anonymous".

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[beanyk]

You know, there are some things in the world that really are black or white, right or wrong. This is one of them. Please stop turning everything gray.

I don't know ... there are different opinions on how to spell "grey" ...

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[grimwell]

So, basically you're saying "Don't hate the player, hate the game"?

Tagging gets rather pornographic

[Mr_Perl]

Did anyone else notice this awful pornography in the tagging code?

javascript:tagsOpenAndEnter('06:11:02:0122215', 'asshole','')

Re:Tagging gets rather pornographic

[jo42]

It's only pr0n0graphic if it takes you to a goatse image...

nah, just have an employee meet and greet...

[swschrad]

walk the punk CEO into the first conference room to mingle and meet the first five employees.

carry the punk CEO into the second conference room etc.

put punk CEO into wheelbarrow for the third room etc.

pour punk CEO into a glass and carry him into the fourth room etc.

and on and on until all the employees have had a chance to hands-on with the punk CEO.

the Department of Justice can provide marshals to escort the punk CEO from room to room. just tell them that the punk CEO had the contract to manage their health care....

He's an Alchoholic

[spun]

It's not his fault, he's an addict! That, and some money touched him in a bad place when he was a kid. Now he is just trying to hide it all away to protect the children.

Actually, it's the workers

[Travoltus]

who provide the safe ship and all that.

We make this country, and the CEOs are just parasites who tell us what to do and often get it wrong.

America doesn't need CEOs, and most certainly we do not need corporate personhood.

Doesn't matter

[Sycraft-fu]

A company can claim that you have no expectation of privacy at work, and to a large extent they are right, still doesn't mean they can break the law. Identity theft is a crime period. It doesn't matter how you got the information. For example my parents probably could, if they wished, steal my identity. They have all the relevant personal info like my name, birth-date, address, SSN, mom's maiden name and so on. What's more, they have it all legally. Most of it they know simply by virtue that I'm their kid. However that doesn't mean they can pretend to be me, I'm not a minor they are no longer my guardians. If they applied for a credit card in my name it'd still be identity theft an/or fraud and they'd still go to jail.

Do they own the company now?

[clambake]

Since that money was spent on the company, does that mean the employees are the rightful owners of the company and all it's assets?

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[clambake]

While it may seem wholly inappropriate for a business to use its employees' identities to defraud credit companies into providing loans, perhaps we should take a step back and look at the reason the CEO had to resort to such tactics in the first place. It is deathly hard to get a business loan.

Wow, is that a troll? If no, please provide me with your name, social security number, address and sample of your signature.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[ScentCone]

Socialism is a world of workers, in which all who are able have a responsibility is to contribute to society, but in which (unlike in capitalism) you are guaranteed basic livability (not "pavement to your dreams" as per your propaganda) in exchange.

Ah! I see. And if the guarantee is proving a little hard to deliver, that's when millions of starving workers get slaughtered (a, Stalin, what a gem he was - or that fabulous cultural revolution in China - nothing but guarantees, that was!) or the less "able" are packed up into slave labor camps? North Korea, of course, is a worker's paradise, that way.

What is "basic livability," to you? When you walk in New York (to use your example), which people, exactly are you talking about? Those who don't want to live in the offered shelter, eat the offered food, or accept the offered medical care? "Poor," and unworking people in the US live better than most of the world's population.

all who are able have a responsibility is to contribute to society

And those that have a brilliant idea or the drive to work longer hours at a harder task are thus rewarded by... being a slave to a larger percentage of the people that don't? Or do you solve that problem by not allowing a person who'd like to improve his family's life by working harder to embarass the system by actually being more productive and having something to show for it? Why, that would be evil.

White Collar Crime

[Trojan35]

Historically, White Collar Crime has been given less severe punishments because violence isn't involved. Violent and direct acts are usually more severely punished than non-violent and indirect ones.

This was non-violent (no threats, no weapons, no police chase), but was direct (targeting specific individuals). Plus, it sounded like he intended to pay the money back (not that that excuses it). Should be punished more severely than someone who steals from the petty cash drawer to pay their rent, but less severely than someone who robs a bank.

Re:White Collar Crime

[Danse]

Historically, White Collar Crime has been given less severe punishments because violence isn't involved. Violent and direct acts are usually more severely punished than non-violent and indirect ones.

I understand that. But when we start discussing crimes of theft of identity or fraud on a large scale, you have to also consider the impact it has on others. Looking at Enron, the fraud that they perpetrated caused financial ruin for a lot of their employees and others as well. That deserves a MUCH greater punishment than simply stealing some petty cash.

Then, as I said earlier, there's the logic that they're using to severely punish filesharers. They want the punishment to be enough of a deterrent to make people unwilling to take the chance of committing the crime, even though there's a pretty low chance of getting caught. Whether you agree with it or not, at least some consistency is nice.

Re:It's not what you signed up for, that's for sur

[ScentCone]

I find it hilarious that the only examples of "evil" socialism you can come up with happen to be oppressive totalitarian regimes. That's like using Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as proof that capitalism is "evil".

OK then: show me a nice, rosy, socialist system that would still be providing anything like a workable standard of living if it didn't enormously tax the productivity of people who run the engine of the economy by being capitalists. Such countries live off of their capitalist-minded productivity rock stars despite the socialist weight dragging them down. In countries where they try harder to act more like ideal socialists, you get... hordes of angry, unemployed youths burning cars and buses in the Parisian suburbs. Why isn't socialism providing them with a the nice happy living that it's supposed to?

Mommy's maiden name.

[Slashdot Parent]

That's easier to get than you might think.

You're an employer and

[Travoltus]

you don't realize that theft is a matter of CRIMINAL RECORDS which you can obtain via a background check?

A company putting claims of stuff you stole on a credit report is bullshit - how do you know it's even true? It's a CLAIM, it's not truth, it's not a conviction in a court of law. Any company that puts these things on a credit report is full of shit - if you defrauded a company then take them to court. Chicken shits libel people via credit reports and then use million dollar attorneys to dare them to sue. Honorable people take it before a criminal court judge.

I run a data center for a financial services corporation and I probably manage more people and money than you^squared, and I run a tight ship - apparently, you do not.

Re:You're an employer and

[Travoltus]

Now you've really exposed yourself as a fraud.

You're claiming that someone failing to pay a hospital bill is a thief. That's really good. I don't even need to debate this with you, anonymous coward... you're just a retard.