The Companies
Two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX exposed a culture of concealment at this aerospace giant.
Boeing
He ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history, defrauding investors of nearly $65 billion.
Enron used this accounting method to book future projected profits as current income immediately.
What is Mark-to-Market accounting
The central ethical dilemma at Boeing was the trade-off between "Speed to Market" and this.
What is Safety
At FTX, the company used this consumer-grade software to manage multi-billion-dollar accounts.
What is QuickBooks
This company claimed to revolutionize blood testing with a single drop of blood using the "Edison" machine.
Theranos
He was the "Effective Altruism" proponent and CEO who diverted FTX customer funds to his hedge fund.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF)
Madoff claimed to use this complex hedging strategy, but in reality, he was just paying old investors with new money.
What is the Split-Strike Conversion strategy
A major lesson from Theranos is that the Board of Directors lacked members with expertise in this specific field.
What is Science (or Medicine/Healthcare)
Madoff’s firm lacked this type of independent third party, which usually holds client assets.
What is an external Custodian
This German fintech darling replaced Commerzbank in the DAX index before admitting €1.9 billion was missing.
WireCard
She modeled herself after Steve Jobs and led Theranos, despite having no medical training.
Elizabeth Holmes
FTX secretly sent customer deposits to this affiliated hedge fund to cover bad trades.
What is Alameda Research
Passed in 2002, this US legislation was a direct response to the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals.
What is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
At Wirecard, the majority of the reported profit was sitting in trustee accounts in this country.
What is the Philippines
his cryptocurrency exchange, based in the Bahamas, collapsed due to a "run on the bank" and commingled funds.
FTX
Along with Ken Lay, he was the CEO/COO of Enron often associated with the "Smartest Guys in the Room."
Who is Jeffrey Skilling?
Wirecard used these entities in Asia to fake revenue and claim high profit margins.
What are Third-Party Acquirers (TPAs)
Wirecard hired private investigators to spy on journalists from this newspaper who were investigating them.
What is the Financial Times
Sherron Watkins is a famous example of this—an employee who reports misconduct internally.
What is a Whistleblower
This Houston-based energy company collapsed in 2001 after hiding massive debts in Special Purpose Entities.
Enron
He was the COO of Wirecard who is currently a fugitive on Interpol’s most-wanted list.
Jan Marsalek
Boeing failed to properly train pilots on this specific software system, which pushed the nose of the plane down.
What is MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System)
This major accounting firm dissolved after being found complicit in the Enron scandal.
Who is Arthur Andersen
A warning sign at Theranos was the culture of this, where employees were fired for asking questions.
What is Secrecy (or Intimidation/Fear)