Monday, August 05, 2002
And then there was Dynegy
Todays New York Times details the allegations of a former senior exec at the company that he was asked to go along with manipulative accounting:
HOUSTON, Aug. 4 — A former senior executive at the Dynegy Corporation says in a lawsuit that Dynegy fired him last year after he refused to go along with a plan to manipulate the company's profits and losses in the summer of 2000.
Mr. Farnsworth, who was the controller and chief accounting officer at Dynegy from 1997 to early 2001, says in the suit that he was pressured to alter the company's accounting standards so as to hide energy trading losses and bolster profits.
In the suit, Mr. Farnsworth says that top executives at Dynegy asked him to conspire to manipulate the company's results so as to meet profit forecasts and please investors.
Shares of Dynegy, which peaked at $47.50 last November, closed at $2.12 on Friday.
Wow. That's not so good for shareholders or employees. Let's see which politicians Dynegy has been generously giving to for the last two election cycles (as always, from the Center for Responsive Politics):
Oil & Gas:
Top Contributors
Election cycle: 2000
# 20 Dynegy Inc $376,800 18% to Democrats 82% to Republicans.
Election cycle: 2002
# 16 Dynegy Inc $157,432 35% to Democrats 65% to Republicans.
Overall, the Oil & Gas sector contributed $33,889,844 in the 2000 election cycle. Their number one receipient?
1 Bush, George W (R) $1,927,706
Todays New York Times details the allegations of a former senior exec at the company that he was asked to go along with manipulative accounting:
HOUSTON, Aug. 4 — A former senior executive at the Dynegy Corporation says in a lawsuit that Dynegy fired him last year after he refused to go along with a plan to manipulate the company's profits and losses in the summer of 2000.
Mr. Farnsworth, who was the controller and chief accounting officer at Dynegy from 1997 to early 2001, says in the suit that he was pressured to alter the company's accounting standards so as to hide energy trading losses and bolster profits.
In the suit, Mr. Farnsworth says that top executives at Dynegy asked him to conspire to manipulate the company's results so as to meet profit forecasts and please investors.
Shares of Dynegy, which peaked at $47.50 last November, closed at $2.12 on Friday.
Wow. That's not so good for shareholders or employees. Let's see which politicians Dynegy has been generously giving to for the last two election cycles (as always, from the Center for Responsive Politics):
Oil & Gas:
Top Contributors
Election cycle: 2000
# 20 Dynegy Inc $376,800 18% to Democrats 82% to Republicans.
Election cycle: 2002
# 16 Dynegy Inc $157,432 35% to Democrats 65% to Republicans.
Overall, the Oil & Gas sector contributed $33,889,844 in the 2000 election cycle. Their number one receipient?
1 Bush, George W (R) $1,927,706
