Ethisphere News and Commentary Blog

Company Property

Naturalized U.S. Citizen Caught Allegedly Attempting to Give Trade Secrets to China

April 4th, 2008

Who says random airport searches don’t work? United States customs officials discovered that Hanjuan Jin, 37, a China-born U.S. citizen, was allegedly trying to leak confidential trade secrets from her former U.S. employer to a China-based rival when they searched her luggage at

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3M Misrepresents Size of Tape

March 31st, 2008

Thanks to a settlement announced last Thursday, 3M Company will have to change the labels of their tape products and pony up nearly $700,000 for allegedly misrepresenting the physical dimensions of their tape by six percent. 3M was accused of mislabeling its products by Fresno, California’s Division of Measure Standards, which brought suit against

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Man Recieves 24 1/2 Year Sentence for Conspiracy to Give U.S. Defense Secrets to China

March 27th, 2008

A whopper of a sentence came in on Monday for the Chinese-born engineer who last May was convicted of conspiring to hand over U.S. military secrets to China. Chi Mak, 67, was given 24 1/2 years for smuggling top secret data, acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S., attempting to violate export […]

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Employee Fined $13,000 for Drunken Hacking

March 25th, 2008

Indiana resident James M. DiBlasio woke up to more than a hangover the morning after a three-day drinking binge. At some point during the 72 hours that he was drunk he managed to hack into the Denver-based server of his employer, Ski.com, and change various data such as flight reservations and contact information. […]

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Alpha Mining Systems Wins $19.7 Million from Trade Secret Theft

February 4th, 2008

A Florida man has been found guilty of dishing out company trade secrets from his former employer, Alpha Mining Systems, to competitors. Alpha, a global manufacturer of industrial mining tires, won a $19.7 million judgment against Sam Vance, the company’s former sales and marketing manager. The judge ruled that Vance gave competitors more […]

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Two Silicon Valley Engineers Indicted for Economic Espionage

September 27th, 2007

Two Silicon Valley engineers set to go on trial for stealing trade secrets had their charges upgraded on Wednesday to economic espionage. Economic espionage, though rarely charged, is the most serious crime under the 1996 Economic Espionage Act.

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Over 80% of Companies Around the World Exposed to Fraud

September 26th, 2007

A new study released by forensic accounting firm Kroll and the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed that a majority of companies around the world are exposed to fraud.
The study says that companies with over $5 billion in revenue lost more than $20 million on average due to fraud-related damages over the past three years. One […]

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Qwest Extends CEO’s Perks to Family

September 6th, 2007

Qwest announced an amended benefits plan for its new CEO Edward Mueller on Friday allowing his wife and stepdaughter use of the corporate jet. The plan was set in place in order to allow Mueller’s stepdaughter to fly between Denver and California where she is finishing high school.
The agreement also gives Mueller and […]

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Using company assets to uncover a cheating spouse is…still a misuse of company assets

August 22nd, 2007

A Michigan forensics scientist is being investigated after she admitted to using state equipment in order to search her husband’s underwear for another woman’s DNA. Ann Chamberlain-Gordon admitted during a March 7th divorce hearing that she used expired chemicals during her free time to conduct the tests, and that the results confirmed the presence […]

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Fidelity National discloses theft of 2.3 million customer financial records by employee

August 22nd, 2007

What happened to the good old days, when employees just raided the supply closet? Fidelity National reported that the personal data of as many as 8.5 million customers was taken by a senior database administrator at the company. The company suggested that this number, up from initial reports from Fidelity of 2.3 […]

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SEC settles charges against IBM for ‘aiding’ fraud at Dollar General…

August 21st, 2007

The SEC announced the settlement of a civil lawsuit against an employee of IBM for aiding Dollar General Corporation’s accounting fraud. The final judgment ordered Kevin B. Collins to pay $95,000 for his role in assisting Dollar General’s violations of various SEC codes.
Collins allegedly proposed to Dollar General to push forward a $10 million […]

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Former Maximus employee indicted for $32 million fraud…

August 16th, 2007

A federal grand jury has indicted a Alan B. Fabian, a Baltimore corporate executive, over allegedly running a scheme that made $32 million in false purchases of computer equipment.
According to prosecutors, Fabian’s alleged scheme defrauded his former employer, the government consulting company Maximus Inc., as well as an equipment leasing company called Solarcom.
Fabian has […]

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Home Depot fires four purchasing managers over kickbacks… part of a larger ethical culture problem?

August 2nd, 2007

Home Depot confirmed yesterday that it terminated four purchasing managers nearly two weeks ago for allegedly taking over $1 million in kickbacks from suppliers.
Reportedly, the three lower-level managers were taking large bribes from flooring vendors out of Asia in return for featuring these vendors’ products in Home Depot stores.
Home Depot is cooperating with law […]

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Bad judgement from an Ivy League Grad… destroys competitor’s trade secrets with hydrogen peroxide

August 1st, 2007

A Long Island man pleaded guilty on Wednesday of conspiring to destroy a rival company’s product. Robert A. Schetty, III, 42, a vice president of Technic, Inc., coordinated an attempt to place hydrogen peroxide in a bath of chemicals used by rival company Rohm and Haas, Co. to test their new electroplating solution. […]

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Casino mogul sues Lloyd’s for $54 million for not covering his clumsiness…

January 17th, 2007

Casino mogul Steve Wynn sued Lloyd’s of London this week saying the insurance company failed to act properly on his demands to pay $54 million in lost value for a Picasso that was damaged when Wynn accidentally poked a hole in the canvas with his elbow.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan sought […]

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