Tag Archives: olympus

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Crime: Former officials of scandal ridden Olympus have been arrested

February 16, 2012, seven people connected to the scandal ridden Olympus have been arrested in Japan!

Those arrested include an adviser who instructed Olympus executives how to hide $1.2 billion in losses from investors and regulators, and it includes a former Olympus president, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa.

It also includes a former vice president, and a former auditor.  One of the charges is that Olympus filed false securities reports.  At least two of the arrested have already plead guilty!

The scandal at Olympus was revealed by a former executive of Olympus, who was fired for questioning suspicious bookkeeping.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Media Incompetence or Complicity? Olympus not first Japanese company to lose billions, and then try to hide it. It happened before, in the 1990s, but the reporter who was about to blow the whistle was literally sent out of the country.

“If we had published the story, the result for Yamaichi shareholders and people connected with the company might have been very different.”– Shigeo Abe, investigative journalist

Right now the Olympus scandal is still making headlines in Japan.  Partly because many people find it hard to believe that a company could lose so much money on “investments” then try to cover it up with more bogus investments and company take overs.  Yet something similar happened in the mid 1990s, but then it was deliberately hushed up by the Japanese media!

In 1994 journalist Shigeo Abe, and a few other reporters, did some investigating and discovered that one of Japan’s biggest securities firms, Yamaichi, had hidden millions in losses by creating fake companies.  The deception started in 1992.

Shigeo Abe’s bosses at his newspaper didn’t jump for joy at the thought of having such a scandalous story, instead they ordered him to leave the country! (shimanagashi, the feudal practice of sending political troublemakers away)

“The Yamaichi president had called the Nikkei president and pressured him to not run it. He said: ‘If we go bankrupt it will cause chaos in the economy.’ And that was that.”– Shigeo Abe, investigative journalist

He was gone for three years.  It was at the end of that three years that Yamaichi Securities finally went bankrupt, despite the story not being published (there’s a lesson for you who believe in the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” philosophy). Japanese taxpayers got stuck with a debt bill equal to several million U.S. dollars (not to mention the huge losses for stockholders).

Shigeo Abe says what is going on with Olympus is similar. He said the Japanese media knew Olympus was in trouble at least one year before it was reported (guess who reported it first?).  He says nothing in the mainstream media is reported without official consent from the government or corporations: “There are no real scoops in Japanese newspapers. They are almost always authorized leaks.”

As a former TV news producer (six years), I can say the same applies to the mainstream U.S. media.

What happened to Shigeo Abe? He decided that the mainstream media is totally ineffective so he create an independent magazine called FACTA (not to be confused with the so called Fair and Accurate Credit Reporting Act). It was his 100% subscriber supported magazine that revealed the Olympus scandal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Olympus misses deadline, Government raiding corporate offices & executives’ homes

After missing the December 14 deadline to turn over accounting books to government prosecutors, Olympus’s offices, and the homes of Olympus executives have been raided by government prosecutors and police.

Weeks ago Olympus executives made promise after promise saying they would meet the December 14 deadline for making their accounting books public.  Of course they did not keep that promise, not surprising when they ‘lost’ tens of billions of dollars since the late 1990s.

The losses are connected to an investment company that was based in the United States, and run by former Olympus officials.  Apparently it was an elaborate shell game, where investment losses were hidden under the guise of buying out other companies.

The latest reports out of Japan are saying that two Olympus executives have confessed to the crime; former Olympus vice president Hisashi Mori and former auditor Hideo Yamada.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Independent investigation into Olympus scandal over, major losses and cover ups

The independent commission investigating Olympus has submitted their report.  The optic company began losing money, and covering it up in 1998.

Losses totaled more than 100 billion yen (about U.S.$1 trillion by today’s exchange rate)!!!

Olympus accountants began covering up the losses after the Japanese government introduced stricter accounting rules.  The report also named Hideo Yamada and Hisami Mori as playing central roles in creating methods of transferring losses to overseas accounts.

From 2006 to 2008, Olympus conducted a series of corporate buyouts and raised 134.8 billion yen with the intention of making up for the losses. However the bookkeeping shell game is illegal.

Olympus has until December 14 to turn over their books to government auditors, or they will be de-listed from the Tokyo stock exchange.

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Olympus scandal deepens as company officials destroy documents, investigators say lost money went to organized crime, U.S. investor sues

“Olympus was exploited over its cover up totaling losses of 50 billion yen, and since 2000, over 200 billion yen has disappeared into the underground economy.”-leaked Japanese government memo

The New York Times claims to have seen an official memo, from Japanese investigators, which says it is highly likely that the fraudulent investment schemes that Olympus optical company was part of, were done for organized crime.

Investigators say U.S.$4.9 billion of the money Olympus invested, are unaccounted for! This is far more than initially reported.

This info comes as NHK reported that Olympus officials held a press conference in which they swore they were reforming their policies, and that they really are going to make money this year.

But that doesn’t help the fact that a new unnamed source says what we’re hearing is just the tip of the iceberg, because for years Olympus officials destroyed data, to cover up losses involving foreign investments.

Here in the United States a major holder of Olympus securities is so fed up that he’s filed a lawsuit.  Lloyd Graham says Olympus violated the U.S. securities and exchange laws.  Graham holds Olympus securities specifically issued to the U.S. market, called American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of Olympus.

Graham says Olympus officials intentionally hid investment losses, and released false reports on the firm’s finances and earnings for at least five years.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Olympus now under investigation by the British, FBI also invloved. Olympus officials beg banks for more money

Scandal with Japan’s Olympus only gets deeper.  Now the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed they are investigating.

The SFO, located in a building known as Elm House, says they’re getting help from a former Olympus CEO, Michael Woodford.  He’s already turned over corporate documents he kept after he was fired from Olympus last month.  The SFO also confirmed that the U.S. FBI is involved.

This comes as Olympus held an emergency meeting with 40 banks, to  essentially beg them for more money.

According to NHK, Olympus officials swear they’re actually going to make money this year, however overall sales are slightly down from last year.  Olympus stated they will release their accounting books by the government ordered date of December 14.  They will also reveal who’s responsible for the huge losses from securities investments, as well as buyouts of other companies.

NHK gave no indication of how the bank officials reacted to the emergency meeting with Olympus.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Singapore sells off Olympus stocks, dumb U.S. investors holding on

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation announced that it has disposed of almost all of its investments in Olympus.

Singapore held 2% of Olympus stocks.  They are the first major stock holder to announce they were dumping their shares in Olympus.  U.S. Olympus stockholders seem to be waiting for Olympus officials to provide an explanation as to where all their money went.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: United States involved with Olympus scandal, Olympus to be delisted from stock market

Japan’s NHK reporting that the incredibly bad investment deals Olympus made, were influenced by a U.S. financial advisory company.

The company was created in 1997 by former Japanese stock brokers.  The company charged Olympus outrageous mediation fees for their advise on taking over other companies.  Reports say at least U.S.$687 million in mediation fees were paid to what could be a bogus company.

Olympus officials are said to have spent a lot of time visiting their U.S. based, but Japanese run, financial advisory company.

The Japanese Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has ordered Olympus to present accurate financial reports by December 14.  If they do not, Olympus will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.  If you have Olympus stocks, sell, sell, sell!

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Corporate Incompetence: Olympus made extremely stupid investment deal, or was it a conspiracy?

The latest revelation about Japanese camera maker Olympus is that they lost most of their money in what looks like a deliberately stupid stock buy back program.

On November 8 it was revealed that Olympus has been almost broke since the late 1990s, and was cooking their accounting books.  Now we have an explanation of how they finally lost most of their money.

The book cooking was just the beginning.  In 2008 Olympus bought a British surgical equipment maker, Gyrus Group.

Olympus paid a stock brokerage company, located in the tax haven Caribbean island of Cayman, to handle the buyout.  That company was called AXAM.  Total payment to AXAM was 17 billion yen (about U.S.$220 million), in cash and Gyrus stocks.

In 2010, Olympus bought back the stock for a total of 60 billion yen (about U.S.$770 million)!  AXAM closed up shop three months later!

Talk about corporate incompetence, Olympus officials violated the golden rule of investing: Buy low, sell high.  But was it incompetence or a conspiracy?  It’s very suspicious that Olympus used a broker in a known tax haven country, who then closed up shop after Olympus bought back the Gyrus stocks, at grossly inflated prices.

To add to the conspiracy theory, it has just been revealed by NHK in Japan, that Olympus fired its independent accounting auditors when they began to question the company’s accounting books.

In 2009 the independent auditors questioned Olympus officials’ buyouts of three Japanese companies between 2006 and 2008.  All the companies were considered bad investments.  To make it more questionable, the auditors pointed out that Olympus had a yearly revenue of 2 billion yen (about U.S.$30 million), at most.  The three Japanese companies cost Olympus more than 73 billion yen (about U.S.$940 million)!

The Japanese Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission claim it will investigate the Olympus scandal.

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Occupy the World, Corporate Incompetence: Camera maker Olympus never reported losses, for at least a decade!

November 8, scandal for Japanese owned camera and industrial equipment maker Olympus: They deliberately kept losses off their finance books since the 1990s.

More proof that corporations can’t be trusted. The scandal wasn’t the result of Olympus officials confessing, it was the result of a third party investigation!

The losses come from securities investments.  Company officials tried to cover up the losses by blaming it on consulting fees, and the purchase of three smaller companies.

Olympus stock is now crashing on the Japanese stock market.  Olympus Vice President Hisashi Mori was fired for his involvement in the cover up.