So, the CEO of HealthSouth, Scrushy, was declared innocent today after his company was discovered to have commited nearly $2.7 billion in fraud. Apparently 5 former finance honchos all pled guilty to the fraud. And Scrushy (whose name is oddly reminicent of those elastic hair ties) claimed he didn't know anything about the fraud... and it was all the fault of the finance dudes.
Now, I'm no lawyer, but my layman's understanding of the Sarbanes-Oxley law is that it was specifically designed to prevent CEOs from claiming ignorance in instances like this.
I'm not saying that Scrushy is guilty. I haven't read the facts of the case. But the guy's defense, as it reads in the news, is "I didn't know what was happening. My finance people did it behind my back." I thought that was the whole freakin' point of this law where CEOs are legally liable for the financial statements of the company.
It just seems wrong to me. At least, this is the first CEO who has be found not guilty under this law. Hopefully this won't start a trend.
Relevant links for more info:
Yesterday morning, Dietrich's dad was broadsided by an SUV going 50, who ran a red light. The car was thrown into the air, landed upside down on the sidewalk, on top of some newspaper boxes. Unbelievably, he is completely ok. Just a few scratches. But check out the damage at http://dietrich.ganx4.com/gallery/PopsOldCar/sDSC01241
I swear Volvo must be amazing. My Honda civic suddenly seems so much worse.
I guess by now most people heard about this...
Ex-White House Official to Join Fuel Co.
This kind of thing drives me completely nuts. Here's my short summary:
What the hell is that? First off, why the hell was he appointed to the Council on Environmental Quality? The guy went to work for Exxon! Yeah, Exxon. The company that brings you such fantastic environmental catastrophes as the Exxon Valdez. If you can't remember that one, here are some quick links for reference.
Ok, so maybe the folks in the government would say "well, we didn't know he was going to quit and go to work for one of the biggest pollutors in the world". Fair enough... but he lobbied for the oil companies before he joined the government.
Who reasonably expected this guy to give fair and balanced advice? Did anyone!?!?!? I'm not suggesting that you select some raving Greenpeace person for this kind of position... but come on! At least pick someone who would offer a level-headed analysis.
<deep breath>
This kind of stuff just drives me nuts. I can't wait until I get another chance to vote some sense into the White House.
Finally, I think I've figured out how to stop the freakin' spam on my blog. I've been poking through how it all works, and I still don't understand all of it. But I think I have properly enabled MT-Blacklist to help fight spam in comments and trackbacks. I really hope this works because I am utterly tired of the amount of spam I get here, and it turns me off from blogging in general.