A corporate collapse typically involves the insolvency or bankruptcy of a major business enterprise. A corporate scandal involves alleged or actual unethical behavior by people acting within or on behalf of a corporation. Many recent corporate collapses and scandals have involved some type of false or inappropriate accounting (see list at accounting scandals).
List of major corporate collapses
The following list of corporations involved major collapses, through the risk of job losses or size of the business, and meant entering into insolvency or bankruptcy, or being nationalised or requiring a non-market loan by a government.
List of scandals without insolvency
- Australia & New Zealand Banking Group scandal involving misleading file notes in the Financial Ombudsman Service (Australia) presented to the Supreme Court of Victoria.
- Australia & New Zealand Banking Group allegations of racial bigotry toward billionaire businessman Pankaj Oswal and his wife. Court was presented with emails where an ANZ staff member comments to ANZ CEO Mike Smith: "We are dealing with Indians with no moral compass and an Indian woman as every bit as devious as PO (Mr Oswal)."
- Australia & New Zealand Banking Group toxic culture. Court case where allegations were made by ex-employees that the bank's senior management tolerated drugs and strip clubs.
- Australia & New Zealand Banking Group alleged manipulation of the Australian benchmark interest rates. ANZ is currently being pursued by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, which filed an originating process in the Federal Court of Australia against ANZ in March 2016.
- BAE Systems bribery scandal related to the Al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia
- Bristol-Myers Squibb accounting scandal
- British Airways, for the "Dirty Tricks" scandal against Virgin Atlantic
- Brown & Williamson, for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes, becoming the leading edge of the tobacco industry scandals of the 1990s, eventually resulting in the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement
- Chevron-Texaco Lago Agrio oil field pollution scandal
- Commonwealth Bank facts uncovered that showed the insurance arm of the bank denied life insurance policyholders despite having legitimate claims, resulting in calls for a Royal Commission into the Australian insurance industry.
- Commonwealth Bank provision of unsuitable financial advice to a large number of customers between 2003 and 2012 and continuous delay in providing compensation to victims.
- Compass Group, bribed the United Nations in order to win business
- Corrib gas controversy Kilcommon, Erris, Co. Mayo, Ireland
- Deutsche Bank, spying scandal
- Deutsche Bank Libor scandal, agreed to a combined US$2.5 billion in fines
- Duke Energy
- El Paso Corp.
- Fannie Mae, underreporting of profit
- Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, part of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy, labor controversies, Firestone and Ford tire controversy
- Forced labour under German rule during World War II, financial enrichment by several major companies
- Ford Pinto, fuel tank scandal
- Financial Ombudsman Service (Australia) scandal involving misleading file notes in the Financial Ombudsman Service (Australia) presented to the Victorian Supreme Court.
- Global Crossing
- Guinness share-trading fraud
- Hafskip's collapse
- Halliburton overcharging government contracts
- Harken Energy Scandal
- HealthSouth reporting exaggerated earnings
- Hewlett-Packard spying scandal
- Hospital Corporation of America
- Homestore.com
- KBC Bank human rights scandal
- Kerr-McGee, the Karen Silkwood case
- Kinney National Company financial scandal
- Lernout & Hauspie accounting fraud
- Lockheed bribery scandal in Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands
- Livedoor scandal
- Luxembourg Leaks. Luxembourg under Jean-Claude Juncker's premiership had turned into a major European centre of corporate tax avoidance.
- Marsh McLennan
- Merck Medicaid fraud investigation
- Mirant
- Morrison-Knudsen scandal. Led to William Agee's ouster
- Mutual-fund scandal (2003)
- Nestlé
- Nugan Hand Bank
- Olympus Scandal
- Options backdating involving over 100 companies
- Pacific Gas & Electric Company, 2017 California wildfires, 2018 California wildfires
- Panama Papers International. Leak of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents pertaining to the bank accounts and companies held by politicians, High-net-worth individuals and other people, some in off-shore tax havens. The focus was Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca.
- Paradise Papers leak
- Peregrine Systems corporate executives convicted of accounting fraud
- Phar-Mor company lied to shareholders. CEO was eventually sentenced to prison for fraud and the company eventually became bankrupt
- Qwest Communications
- RadioShack CEO David Edmondson lied about attaining a B.A. degree from Pacific Coast Baptist College in California
- Reliant Energy
- Rite Aid accounting fraud
- Royal Dutch Shell overstated its oil reserves twice, it downgraded , or about 20 percent of its total holdings.
- S-Chips Scandals, Singapore
- Satyam Computers, India
- 7-Eleven Australia. Allegations of bullying tactics, underpayment of wages and entitlements.
- Siemens Greek bribery scandal, involving cases of bribery on behalf of Siemens towards the Greek Government
- Société Générale, derivatives trading scandal causing multibillion-euro losses
- Southwest Airlines, violations of safety regulations
- SunTrust Banks, "claims of shoddy mortgage lending, servicing and foreclosure practices."
- Tesla, involving "420 funding secured" private buyout scheme resulting in fraud charges against CEO Elon Musk
- Tyco International, executive theft and prison sentence
- Union Carbide, the Bhopal disaster
- ValuJet, loading live oxygen generators into cargo hold of a passenger jet causing a fatal crash
- Volkswagen emissions violations, fraud in diesel motors pollution measurements
- David Wittig "looting" scandals
- Xerox alleged accounting irregularities involving auditor KPMG, causing restatement of financial results for the years 1997 through 2000 and fines for both companies
See also
References
Further reading
External links