Another exciting week for those who follow ethics in the news!
MF Global’s Jon Corzine was initially reported to have directly ordered the transfer of $200 million from a client’s account to satisfy an overdraft in one of the firm’s brokerage accounts. A subsequent story indicated that he may have been told the transfer (now said to be only $175 million) was between firm accounts. No wonder the firm and Corzine don’t know what happened to all of that investor money.
Meanwhile, Texas’ state government scored a low D minus for integrity and ethics in a study announced last Monday. Is anyone surprised? But as a relative indicator of where we stand as a country, New Jersey, the highest scorer, received a B plus. No one was ranked as an “A.”
On the data privacy front, Facebook last week condemned a newly reported practice by employers. Some employers have allegedly been asking candidates for the candidate’s Facebook ID and password so that they could review the candidate’s…. Why don’t they just ask the candidate to bring in all their medical records too? No point hiring someone that may be a problem later. Or would that be illegal? I give high marks to Facebook on this one. Their response and stance is right on.
The SEC is apparently beginning an investigation of whether or not certain trading firms are using their relationships with the electronic exchanges to give them an edge over other traders. Nah, that would never happen.
And finally, just to show that no one is immune from financial shenanigans and cover-ups, the Los Angeles Times reported on a lawsuit involving the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), one of the largest religious broadcasting networks in the country. Per the story, a granddaughter of one of the co-founders was fired when she attempted to bring to light all the money that was being spent on family members’ homes and lifestyles, among other financial issues. Remember former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski’s $6,000 shower curtain? These guys allegedly spent $100k on a motor home for their…. dogs! Yipes!
— George Jones
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[…] you think that I am about to attack Facebook, I have previously commended Mark Zuckerberg for defending that privacy. I am referring to the unbelievable requests made by potential employers for job candidates to […]