Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I Did Not Go To Jail

bhorowitz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 195 posts

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#41

Post by EpicEng »

bfe wrote: post #30
Nicholas_C wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Always do and trust own analysis (with an attorney or expert you trust when needed) instead of falling for the lure of "it's fine with these other experts so it should be fine for us." I think the problem arises when you're a CEO/Executive of a company and don't have time to do this yourself.

If someone doesn't have time to make sure the company has a legally compliant options policy, they don't have time to be the CEO.

Except they can't, which is why other people are hired to fulfill those roles. I can extend your argument and say that the CEO should be involved in every detail of the company because, after all, "if the CEO doesn't have time to make sure the company [is doing X properly], hey don't have time to be the CEO."

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#42

Post by gohrt »

This looks one of those cases that could have gone like this:

"Someone proposed an idea that was perhaps technically legal, but obviously failed the sniff test of ethics and spirit of the law. I reminded her of what I repeatedly tell our staff at welcome/training meetings: At this company, we do what is right, for our employees, our customers, our investors, and the public. We don't mislead one to help another. We don't waste time splitting hairs about whether something smells bad or is totally rotten. If we're not proud enough of an action to want to see it on the cover of the New York Times, we just don't do it."

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#43

Post by timmclean »

enjo wrote: post #33
timmclean wrote: post #29

> Why I did not go to jail Summary: I ran an accounting decision that worried me past my excellent lawyer. This makes me wonder, as someone with little legal experience, how can we find lawyers who are truly great at what they do?

This, more than anything else, is why every entrepreneur needs a great mentor.

Turtles all the way down -- how do you know if a mentor is a great one?

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#44

Post by dctoedt »

cperciva wrote: post #16

First, when we started the company, Marc and I agreed that the company’s General Counsel would always report directly to me. This is different than in many technology companies where the General Counsel reports to the Chief Financial Officer. This needs to be in bold 72-point font. Corporate behaviour aligns with corporate structure, and if the General Counsel is subordinate to the Chief Financial Officer, complying…

A few years ago I was approached by a headhunter for a publicly-traded software company about coming on as their general counsel. We had lunch to talk about it; my prior experience in that role was a good match for what they needed.

The search for a general counsel, though, had been commissioned by the CFO, who was politically powerful within the company, and who wanted the GC to report to him. I told the headhunter that, especially because this was a public company, in my view the job would have to report either directly to the board, or to the CEO with a dotted line to the board; I explained why.

The headhunter said he thought that would be a problem but would check. He later let me know that what I'd said had killed the CFO's interest in me. I later saw in the paper that they'd hired someone else, who was reporting to the CFO. Best of luck to them.

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#45

Post by joezydeco »

emhart wrote: post #7
EvanAnderson wrote: post #5

I'm not sure why Ben used a false name for the CFO. One quick search got me her real name, and more details about her eventual indictment.

As this was intended for his book, I assume he wanted to extend her some common courtesy. He makes it clear that she was well liked and, in his opinion, had made mistakes, not committed fraud intentionally. Despite the matter being very public, I think it's reasonable, even kind, not to mention her actual name in this context in his book.

Also eliminates any libel lawsuits if the subject decides what occurred wasn't 100% as-described in the book.

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#46

Post by pjungwir »

cperciva wrote: post #16

First, when we started the company, Marc and I agreed that the company’s General Counsel would always report directly to me. This is different than in many technology companies where the General Counsel reports to the Chief Financial Officer. This needs to be in bold 72-point font. Corporate behaviour aligns with corporate structure, and if the General Counsel is subordinate to the Chief Financial Officer, complying…

I bit OT, but I saw something similar once where the head of QA reported to the director of development. So the guy in charge of QA's annual raise/bonus/etc was himself compensated based on hitting release deadlines. I wonder how people here would have set that up differently.

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#47

Post by CamperBob2 »

rayiner wrote: post #12

Accounting compliance is serious business, for the simple reason that when irregularities cause a company to restate its books and tens of millions of dollars just vanish, it can be very difficult to tell the difference between honest mistake and purposeful manipulation. That said, there is a bit more to the story than revealed in the article. From what I can tell, the criminal charges and jail time was for income ta…

True, and I don't understand why he wouldn't have brought that up. When he wrote

   "The SEC issued Michelle a Wells notice, a letter 
   stating that it planned to recommend enforcement action 
   against her personally. It was not an indictment, but it 
   was a formal investigation, and it would be very 
   distracting. I had to ask her to step down."
... he made it sound like he threw an innocent (as in "until proven guilty") and valued employee under the bus at the first sign of trouble. The way he recounts the story, it doesn't sound like he had a good reason to do that at the time. He went out of his way to make Abrams sound like a victim, even at his own expense, when that apparently wasn't the case at all.

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#49

Post by rayiner »

jey wrote: post #25
cperciva wrote: post #16

First, when we started the company, Marc and I agreed that the company’s General Counsel would always report directly to me. This is different than in many technology companies where the General Counsel reports to the Chief Financial Officer. This needs to be in bold 72-point font. Corporate behaviour aligns with corporate structure, and if the General Counsel is subordinate to the Chief Financial Officer, complying…

What's the supposed rationale for the General Counsel reporting to the CFO in the first place? Isn't a General Counsel supposed to be "general" and not only concerned with financial issues?

Much of what a GC will do in a Silicon Valley company is support the CFO in ensuring legal compliance for finance and accounting. In this context, it can make sense for the GC to report to the CFO. In another sort of company where the legal issues might be more diverse, say a place like Wal-Mart that has complex labor and environmental issues in addition to the financial issues, this structure would be less appropriate.

Re: Why I Did Not Go To Jail

#50

Post by acchow »

Much of the reasoning behind not prosecuting wall street (post MBS meltdown) has been the lack of malicious intent.

But here, we see SV hanged for "mistakes". Wtf?

Post reply on HN