What is up with corporate America? You can't pick up a newspaper without reading about some business executive somewhere being investigated, indicted, convicted, or sentenced.
We all know about the Ken Lay et. al trial, which is now in the hands of a jury. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. According to this article, Bank CEO Guilty of Multiple Fraud Offenses, the former CEO and chairman of Hamilton Bank has been convicted on 16 counts of fraud by a Florida jury. Eduardo A. Masferrer "allegedly conspired with other bank officers to fraudulently inflate the institution's reported income and earnings in 1998 and 1999 in order to hide significant losses." He "faces up to 300 years in prison."
Then there's this . . . SynPep Corp., a California-based company, and its president, Chi Yang, have been indicted "for allegedly shipping bogus research material to many corporate and academic researchers." According to this article, Feds charge scientist, Bay Area biotech company with fraud, the indictment includes 13 counts of mail fraud, false statements, and other charges.
Criminal defense lawyers certainly aren't hurting for work. Of course, if business executives spent a little more time listening to their corporate counsel, maybe they wouldn't need to hire criminal defense lawyers. There's a thought . . .
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