Ethisphere News and Commentary Blog

Ridiculous/Odd

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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Ex-Wellpoint CFO David Colby’s Firing for “Non-Business Nature” Clarified

February 6th, 2008

One day you’re labeled the “best health-insurance chief financial officer for each of the past four years” by Institutional Investor, the next you’re frantically texting “ABORT!!” to one of your many girlfriends/fiancees, hoping that your double life isn’t discovered. Such is the life of ex-Wellpoint CFO David Colby. Colby allegedly carried on relationships […]

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Ocean Plundering Meets the 21st Century

January 23rd, 2008

For several years, Ernesto Tapanes was a simple, ordinary “oceanography survey consultant,” doing contracting work for the treasure-hunting firm Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. One spring day in 2007, however, his life abruptly changed when he discovered an anomaly off the coast of Gibraltar. Upon further investigation, it turned out to be a sunken

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Green Washing at its Best

January 14th, 2008

Stop the presses! Al Gore, the Sierra Club, and environmentalists everywhere are going to need to find a new hobby because global warming has just been stopped. Limousine Eighteen, the international “ground transportation company,” has purchased one hybrid SUV for their fleet of ground vehicles. This was revealed to the world in the […]

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Hormel Sues Campbell over Misrepresentation of “Stew”

October 25th, 2007

Although this story is unique in and of itself, more interesting is what it brought to light: there are actually federal guidelines in place for what constitutes a “stew.” The USDA outlines the official government recipe for beef stew with language that seems better suited for a Monty Python sketch. “The beef stew shall […]

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Swedish Policeman Avoids Donuts, Goes Straight for the Savory Tart

October 17th, 2007

Okay, we love this story. Corruption is rampant in Sweden as police officer demands fruitcake in exchange for solving case of the missing trombone! Ethisphere readers know all about the pervasive problems of bribery and corruption in hotspots around the world such as China (bad), Russia (badder) and Nigeria (baddest).  But who would […]

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USA Today Debunks Enron “Whistleblower”

October 16th, 2007

After investigating a former Enron employee’s high profile whistle-blower story, USA Today discovered she’s not everything she claims to be.

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Judge Rules Against Oklahoma Law Permitting Guns at Work

October 12th, 2007

In a 93-page ruling last week a federal judge threw out an Oklahoma state law forcing companies to allow employees to bring guns to work.

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Hot New Trend Among Canadian Teens: Dousing Your Friends in Body Spray and Lighting Them on Fire

September 28th, 2007

A disturbing, underground pastime among Canadian teens was uncovered on Tuesday after a 14-year-old boy was admitted to a hospital for first-, second- and third-degree burns. What is the new hobby? Covering various objects in body spray, particularly Axe and Tag brands, and lighting them on fire.

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Mesa Airlines CFO Scrambled to Erase Porn, Not Valuable Evidence

September 27th, 2007

Mesa Air Group said on Tuesday that CFO Peter Murnane wasn’t deleting important company data when he used special file-erasing software on his three computers. Rather, he was trying to get rid of pornographic material he had collected on the job.

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New Hair Removal Product Targeted to “Unstoppable” 10-Year-Olds

September 21st, 2007

Church & Dwight Co., Inc., parent company of the Nair line of products, unveiled a new hair removal product earlier this year aimed at 10 to 15 year olds. The product is called Nair Pretty and has been advertised in magazines such as CosmoGirl and Seventeen in order to reach “first-time hair removers.” […]

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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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What do Nacchio and his judge have in common? Apparently, lapses in good judgment.

August 20th, 2007

As reported by local Denver media, Colorado’s top federal judge likes to party.
Now the FBI is involved, and so are allegations of violations of the Judicial Code of Conduct.
Without getting into the sordid details, recently filed court documents show Colorado’s top federal judge, Judge Edward Nottingham, was too drunk to remember how he spent […]

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Oops. FTC fails to effectively redact Whole Foods documents before releasing them

August 15th, 2007

It’s really hard to close the barn door AFTER the cow has left, but that is what the FTC is trying to do. The Federal Trade Commission accidentally disclosed confidential trade secrets of Whole Foods yesterday in a court filing.
At issue was that in trying to protect competitive secrets, court officials […]

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Johnson & Johnson sues Red Cross over…. Red Cross

August 11th, 2007

After months of closed-door negotiating, pharma giant Johnson & Johnson filed a lawsuit Wednesday against The American Red Cross claiming that the Red Cross violated trademark laws by using the red cross symbol on certain commercial products.
Although the American Red Cross was created in 1881, while Johnson & Johnson started using the trademark in […]

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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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When billboards attack… betcha didn’t think of that in your compliance risk assessment didya?

July 31st, 2007

We are filing this one under the category of “Careful Communications” as the Pakistani government is reporting that five people were killed in Kararchi several days ago as a direct consequence of falling billboards in the city which collapsed due to strong winds…
Police confirmed the deaths which were caused when at least twenty billboards […]

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Judge blasts lawyer for keeping 99% of nationwide class action settlement as his fees

July 26th, 2007

We’ve all heard stories of attorneys that charge an arm and a leg (and possibly your first-born) for their services. But N.C. Superior Court Judge Ben Tennille was less than forgiving in his recent criticism of a Sears class action settlement in which attorneys collected almost 400 times the amount that the plaintiffs received. Tennille […]

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Fido discriminates…is the employer liable?

July 26th, 2007

According to Belgian newspaper De Standaard, a Belgian businessman has blamed his discriminatory hiring practices on his dog, claiming that his dog was racist and would bite non-whites.
The 53-year-old Nigerian man told De Standaard he arrived at the Belgian’s wrought-iron business and was immediately confronted by the barking dog.
The Belgian turned the man away […]

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Would you please make some copies, get me a coffee… oh, and make me a baby too?

July 25th, 2007

Hollywood must just go mining in the halls of California’s government political bureaucracy for some of its ideas. The state’s Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (*yawn, we can barely stay awake*) is being sued by Claire Connelly, a former secretary who alleges that the board’s Chairwoman insisted she be a surrogate mother for the […]

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Everybody wins… no, wait we didn’t mean that. No one wins - and we lose. Grrr…

July 20th, 2007

As reported in the Associated Press, a Honda car dealership in New Mexico is in trouble after hiring a direct-mail marketing company which sent out 50,000 scratch-off tickets to local residents as part of a promotion. One of the 50,000 tickets was supposed to be a $1,000 grand prize winner.
The problem?
A typo and proofing […]

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“A” for creativity, “F” for honesty - stock option administrator caught with hand in $6M cookie jar

July 19th, 2007

While the old adage of being caught with a “hand in the cookie jar” might seem appropriate in a stock options fraud case involving Wireless Facilities, this is certainly one of the biggest cookie jars we’ve ever seen. Vencent Donlan has been convicted of embezzling over $6.3 million from the company by - […]

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Did Bear Stearns’ CEO cheat at golf to win a tournament over the 4th of July?

July 17th, 2007

Does anyone need further proof that the private and personal lives of CEOs are now fair game and are being intertwined into discussions around compliance, ethics and governance?
Okay then, here you go…
First of all, CNBC is reporting this morning that Jimmy Cayne, the CEO of Bear Stearns, is being investigated…
Investigated for what? Fraud? […]

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Canadian Supreme Court tosses out case against Dell over mispriced online products

July 14th, 2007

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a 6-3 vote this past week to toss out a Quebec class-action lawsuit against Dell Computer over incorrect prices that were mistakenly posted online.
A Montreal man, Olivier Dumoulin, had filed suit against Dell because the company refused to honor the lower prices for Axim handheld personal digital […]

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Whole Foods’ CEO bashing competitors on Yahoo Message Boards

July 12th, 2007

At Ethisphere, we have long had deep respect for Whole Foods. The company, under the leadership of co-founder and CEO John Mackey, has been at the forefront of many ethical consumerist trends.
The loyalty of customers and employees is unmatched - consumers have proven that they are willing to pay premium prices for groceries at Whole […]

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