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Judge Approves $100 Million Dell Settlement
crimeandpunishment writes "It's official. Dell will pay the US government $100 million to settle fraud charges. CEO Michael Dell will personally pay a $4 million fine. A federal judge approved the settlement after Michael Dell assured him the company will deliver on the reforms it promised. Dell was accused of pumping up its profits over five years by improperly using payments from Intel, in order to meet Wall Street targets."
They were charged with fraud for improperly making their company look like it was in better health than it really was. The people "harmed" were the investors. If you want to give it to the people impacted almost all of it will go to large institutional investors who held on to their stocks thinking that the company was hitting its targets. Very few consumers would see a nickel of that money. Besides this is a slap on the wrist for Dell. Their bigger impact has been on their "reputation," but this little episode will be completely forgotten the next time the hit their targets and greed takes over. Business as usual....
Why no jail time? It was a multi-million dollar fraud to bilk consumers and stockholders out of millions. How is this any different than blatant theft.
Shows how much bad thinking is left in Wall Street... when one of history’s most successful computer retailers thinks it’s better to artificially “pump up” its stock prices, rather than increasing its true overall value through better products and better customer service. And as Pikoro noted above, the settlement funds should go towards programs which provide or promote technology for the public good (i.e. pumping up Kno/iPad tablet availability for schools to replace textbooks, or funding a practical, decent, open school admin database), and not going directly into mysterious government coffers where people like defense contractors can get at it, which is doing nothing but *harming* the public good.
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