Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Today at Illinoize
Next Post: Veterans’ preference skirted
Posted in:
The scandal swirling around the Hollinger company hit close to home with word Thursday that former Illinois governor Jim Thompson is the target of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
Thompson was on the audit committee of the company which owns the Chicago Sun-Times and several suburban newspapers. Bloomberg News reports Thompson was served with papers warning him that SEC investigators may be close to seeking civil charges against the former governor.
Governor Thompson said by e-mail Thursday that he can’t talk about the on-going investigation. This comes on a day when the federal government lodged new charges against Conrad Black, the one-time head of Hollinger, charges that include obstruction of justice. […]
Former governor Jim Thompson and two other members of Hollinger’s audit committee are reportedly under SEC investigation for supposedly turning a blind eye to widespread fraud at the company.
David Ruder headed the Securities and Exchange Commission in the late ’80’s. He says it almost unheard of to see a corporate board member face this kind of scrutiny.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 1:57 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Today at Illinoize
Next Post: Veterans’ preference skirted
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
This does not mean that Big Jim did anything personally that was illegal. Instead, this could mean that if you are on an audit committee for a major corporation, you had better have due diligence and read/check the audit and ask some questions.
Too many of these audit committees are a rubber stamp for the boards. They are to serve in place of the shareholders and make sure that the corporation is following approved legal accounting procedures.
After the Enron and other scandals ocurred there were a lot of questions as where were the checks and balances inside the corporation to avoid these illegal deals. There was the appearance that the bigwigs could do whatever they wanted and the boards along with their audit committees were too lazy/ignorant/whatever to even bother to take a deeper look into the books.
As long as they thought they were going to make money–and a lot of it–no one looked beyond the balance sheet to read the addenda and foonotes.
This goes on in a lot of corporations–publically traded or not.
Comment by Nearly Normal Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 7:16 am
I lost respect for Big Jim many years ago. As a Republican, when he agreed to lay down with George Ryan I had seen enough to form my own opinion of him. However on this one, he deserves his day in court. At the very least, it would appear that the farmer’s watchdog (Big Jim) was snoozing while the fox was raiding the hen house. The question is 1) whether this watchdog was simply snoozing while on duty or 2) was the watchdog given a few chickens by the fox to look the other way. Was Big Jim simply dumber than a box of rocks or was he paid to be a “rubber stamp” and to look the other way while the fox “looted & scooted”? Neither option is a very good one for your reputation.
Is Big Jim a member on the Board of Directors for any other corporations? If so, please tell me who they are so, as a shareholder, I can immediately sell my stock in them before the Fox strikes again.
Comment by Beowulf Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 8:14 am
Oink, oink, oink
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 8:23 am
When Adlai Stevenson was running against Thompson he said that if Thompson had been a woman he would be pregnant his entire life because he hadn’t learned to say no. It’s nice to know Thompson hasn’t changed.
Comment by Bob Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 8:31 am
Adlai said Those were less PC times. Can you imagine the uproar if that were said today?
As 911 Changed security, so Enron changed Corp. responsibility.
Comment by Pat Collins Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 8:36 am
It will be fun to look back (as I am sure several people are already doing) through Big Jim’s statements as a prosecutor and see how those apply to his current predicament. I am sure they will come up with several versions of “the defendant knew, or should have known” which will be the opposite of his “I could not have known” defense in this case.
Comment by max maxwell Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 10:09 am
It is that attention to details that got him on the 9/11 Commission. Frightening!
Comment by patch Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 10:28 am
Do not fret.
Jim Thompson qas the lead for Altria (Philip Morris) at the Supreme Court
Comment by Truthful James Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 11:13 am
In my opinion he’s been an ‘unindicted co-conspiritor’ is a lot of sleazy deals over 27 years, nice to see maybe chickens coming home to roost.
Comment by Aunt Glabby Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 4:14 pm
Reagan gave Thompson, at a minimum, veto power over US Attorney appointments. He used that to prevent any federal interference in his illegal and unconstitutional patronage system. Delicious irony that after years of being immune for prosecution he may be brought down over snoozin’ on the job … .
Comment by Wat Tyler Friday, Dec 16, 05 @ 5:42 pm
Truthful… he gives me “gas” too.
Comment by The Colonel Saturday, Dec 17, 05 @ 10:11 am