VW Just One of Many Corporate Fraudsters:
Martin Winterkorn, resigned earlier this week following the mounting pressure that’s been building up around Volkswagen’s now world-renowned emissions scam.
Originally, 482,000 cars were thought to be in violation of US emissions regulations, but since then it has been discovered that more than 11 million VW diesel vehicles have been falsifying readings on their emissions tests. As such, VW’s cars have illegally produced more than one million tonnes of carbon waste every year – that’s 24 times more than Western Europe’s largest power station!
Needless to say, consumers are beginning to look at the company in the same light as the Enron fiasco that took place in 2001, leading VW to believe that its reputation as one of the world’s most reputable brand names is on the verge of collapse.
Volkswagen are expecting to fork out at least €6.5 Billion (AUS$10.29 Billion) in an attempt to win back customer trust – recalling their illegal diesel vehicles, removing the deceitful software and redeveloping their products to ensure that they meet the anti-pollution standards of each country they export their cars to.
We’ll see how that goes.
In the meantime, News.com.au have been kind enough to put together a short list of some of the most iconic cases of corporate fraud in the last 100 years. Ok, one is a little older than 100 years, but it’s still a good case, and each comes with some detailed information that you can sink your teeth into.
The article covers a number of major companies and leading executives including:
- Ford’s 1977 “Pinto Memo” scam, which involved Ford producing a vehicle that carried a major design fault and, despite knowing the associated dangers, released the vehicle to the public.
- Energy giant, Enron, and the way it operated to purposefully deceive shareholders and falsify stock prices as a means to cover up bad debts and profit margins.
- McKesson & Robbins, one of America’s most respected Pharmaceuticals companies, pre-1950, is on the list too, having been run be a fugitive who made millions from selling high-alcohol content medicines to the bootlegger trade.
- A merchant banker, called William Duer, who became the first person in history to cause the stock market to crash through insider trading. He was set to make a fortune through homing in on American debts held by France after the war.
Click here to read News.com.au’s article on the world’s biggest corporate fraudsters.
Can you think of any others that should have appeared on their list?
While most of us will take a comfy back seat to all of this, corporate fraud is still one of the world’s most expensive crimes, millions are lost every year from the world’s more developed countries, let alone the undisclosed millions stolen from people in less-developed regions.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the average cost of corporate fraud to Australian businesses exceeds $8.5 Billion every year. More worryingly still, Ernst & Young’s Global Fraud Survey found that 50% of Australian businesses will experience some form of corporate crime in their lifetimes.
61% of all cases of corporate fraud in Australia result in no recovery for the claimant… why? Because they can’t gather the evidence they need, fast enough.
To prevent your business from becoming a statistic this year, it would be wise to consider the professional services of a specialised Private Investigation firm.
Precise Investigation has been successfully helping Australian businesses and individuals alike to expose fraud, recover losses, locate suspects and carry out effective process serving for three decades. With that experience, it comes as no surprise that our reputable field operatives, backed by a dedicated support team, are regularly sought out to offer specific insurance, financial, benefits and executive investigations to companies based anywhere in Australia.
Call Precise Investigation today on 1300 856 011 for a professional, Private Investigation Service
If you would like to explore our fraud investigation services in more detail before getting in touch with us, please click here.
We can have a professional private investigator pay you a visit at a moment’s notice; whether you’re based in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart or even the more remote areas of Australia, your business is sure to benefit from our
