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Fired Worker Calls Microsoft 'a Lawless Place'
,----[ Quote ]
| Calling Microsoft "a lawless place," a
| longtime worker claims in a class action that
| he was fired in retaliation for reporting
| supervisors' misconduct. He claims the company
| "routinely produces and/or condones deficient
| investigations, covers up alleged misconduct,
| mischaracterizes evidence, refuses to preserve
| or provide pertinent facts and data, protects
| the perpetrators and retaliates against
| victims."
|
| Craig Bartholomew worked for Microsoft for 21
| years, he says in his complaint in King County
| Court. He says he was fired after complaining
| that his supervisors had created a
| "dysfunctional environment that was harming
| Microsoft and risking certain of its programs
| and objectives."
|
| "Microsoft has twice tried to cover up what
| really happened, first wrongly claiming his
| termination was a layoff or RIF. Neither was
| or is true," according to the complaint.
|
| According to his complaint: "Microsoft can be
| a lawless place. Courts have found that its
| key executives have violated the law and/or
| sought to circumvent court rulings. Powerful
| employees, because of their perceived value to
| the company, has (sic) been protected.
| Employees who have reported misconduct by
| senior management have been punished or fired
| based on trumped-up charges.
`----
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/02/12/24644.htm
Microsoft Outsources Legal Work to India With CPA Global Deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. has entered into an agreement
| with legal outsourcing provider CPA Global to
| offshore legal work to lawyers in India.
|
| The technology giant began a pilot scheme with
| CPA in October and formally rolled it out at
| the end of 2009. A team of between three and
| five qualified lawyers at CPA are handling
| multi-jurisdictional legal support work,
| including legal research, for Microsoft. The
| lawyers are based in CPA's offices in Gurgaon,
| near New Delhi.
|
| Microsoft has been outsourcing basic
| intellectual property and patent renewal work
| to CPA for five years, using a team of around
| 70 CPA staff. However, the new arrangement for
| general legal work operates separately.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202443819941
Microsoft to outsource general legal work to India
,----[ Quote ]
| Software giant Microsoft will begin
| outsourcing general legal work to India after
| signing a deal with legal process outsourcing
| (LPO) company CPA Global. The news comes as
| CPA outlined plans to expand its Indian
| workforce from 600 to 1,000 by the end of
| 2011, and hinted at opening another
| outsourcing centre.
`----
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/microsoft-outsource-general-legal-work-india
"Government attorneys accuse Microsoft of using its monopoly
position to bully, bribe and attempt to collude with others in the
industry, while illegally expanding and protecting its Windows franchise."
--The antitrust case: a timeline
Recent:
EIM: We refused Microsoft's orgies and paid for it
,----[ Quote ]
| Relations between EIM Computerized
| Technologies Ltd. and Microsoft Corporation
| (Nasdaq: MSFT) have always been sensitive,
| but EIM's statement of defense in a lawsuit
| against the software giant sets a new
| standard.
|
| EIM, was one of Microsoft's largest
| distributors in Israel until mid-2005, when
| their contract expired. In the statement of
| defense filed with the Tel Aviv District
| Court, EIM claims that its relations with
| Microsoft broke down because EIM's
| employees refused to participate in sex and
| drug orgies on a cruise organized by
| Microsoft in May 2005 for its Israeli and
| Turkish distributors.
|
| EIM alleges, "For the pleasure cruise,
| Microsoft, or people on its behalf, invited
| women who provided sexual services for
| money. During this cruise, the Microsoft
| representative encouraged the participants
| in the cruise to party with these women,
| including receiving said services. They
| were also offered banned substances."
`----
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000533636
Microsoft 'offered sex and drugs to distributors'
,----[ Quote ]
| As sales incentives go it's pretty extreme:
| one of Microsoft's Israeli distributors is
| claiming Microsoft offered resellers women
| for sex on a cruise ship.
|
| The distributor, EIM Computerized
| Technologies, made the revelations about
| the alleged activities in papers filed with
| the Tel Aviv District Court.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/01/27/microsoft_offered_ladies/
SEC charges tech firm with $20 million fraud
,----[ Quote ]
| U.S. securities regulators charged virtual reality company 3001 AD
| on Tuesday with bilking $20 million from investors by fabricating
| plans for an initial public offering and falsely claiming support
| from tech giants Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O).
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/smallBusinessNews/idUSTRE58S5U820090929
Related:
Ex-Microsoft boss sentenced
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/371393_msftcourt19.html
Former Microsoft Manager Gets 2 Years In Jail
http://news.portalit.net/fullnews_former-microsoft-manager-gets-2-years-in-jail_1427.html
SEC bans short-selling of 799 financial stocks
,----[ Quote ]
| Short selling involves borrowing a company's shares, selling them, and
| pocketing the difference when the stock falls. It is a legitimate method of
| trading -- it can make markets more efficient and bring in more capital --
| but the government argues that it has widened the scope of the recent
| financial crisis and contributed to the collapsing values of investment and
| commercial bank stocks in particular.
`----
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D939RL7O0.htm
SEC Foresees Rise in Fraud Cases
,----[ Quote ]
| Laying out his priorities, the new enforcement chief for the Securities and
| Exchange Commission in San Francisco said Thursday he expects an upswing in
| fraud cases against public companies.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202424479239
Microsoft's Accounting Under Scrutiny
,----[ Quote ]
| The company has still not made enough information public to provide analysts
| with detailed information on the profitability of its MSN Internet business,
| Mr. Galvin said, adding, ''There's still room for them to obfuscate.''
`----
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E1DC173DF932A35754C0A96F958260
Microsoft - Undeserving of Libertarian Praise
,----[ Quote ]
| One strategy that Microsoft has employed in the past is paying for the
| silence of people and companies. Charles Pancerzewski, formerly Microsoft's
| chief auditor, became aware of Microsoft's practice of carrying earnings from
| one accounting period into another, known as "managing earnings". This
| practice smoothes reported revenue streams, increases share value, and
| misleads employees and shareholders. In addition to being unethical, it's
| also illegal under U.S. Securities Law and violates Generally Accepted
| Accounting Practices (Fink). Mr. Pancerzewski claims he was forced to retire,
| for raising the issue of deferred earnings with Microsoft executives, thereby
| making plausible deniability more difficult for said executives. He has since
| sued Microsoft, who responded by settling out of court, but also sealing the
| records to prevent public disclosure (Fink).
`----
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/8/20/11034/3908
Microsoft Agrees To Refrain From Accounting Violations in SEC Settlement
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has agreed to refrain from accounting violations to settle federal
| regulators' allegations that it misrepresented its financial performance, the
| government announced Monday.
|
| Under a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the software
| giant neither admitted to nor denied wrongdoing. No fine was imposed.
|
| The SEC alleged that Microsoft's accounting practices from July 1994 through
| June 1998 caused its income to be substantially misstated.
`----
http://www.crn.com/it-channel/18819490
"Microsoft Tax," MSN Enters the Black Hole, New Names for NT
,----[ Quote ]
| The lawsuit, filed last year by Mukilteo City Councilman Charles
| Pancerzewski, alleges that he was forced to resign as Microsoft's general
| auditor in January 1996 after working for the company's internal auditing
| department for more than four years. The suit claims that a "significantly
| younger man" with little auditing experience was picked to replace
| Pancerzewski, who was finally forced out because he discovered Microsoft
| might have been violating government regulations. Once Pancerzewski left the
| company he was replaced by the younger man, who his attorneys believe
| was "less prone to raise issues of possible legal improprieties which could
| threaten or embarrass Microsoft or its management.
`----
http://www.msboycott.com/news/98_06_22.shtml
SEC Investigating Microsoft Practices -- Earnings Manipulated, Former Employee
Contends
,----[ Quote]
| "The CFO to whom Charlie was reporting his concerns about illegality was the
| biggest advocate for the very illegality that was going on," Vial argued in
| court a year ago.
`----
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19990701&slug=2969514
Microfraud?
,----[ Quote ]
| THE ALLEGATIONS WERE shocking: For years, Microsoft has systematically
| distorted its profit figures in an effort to consistently beat Wall Street
| expectations and keep its stock price steadily rising. The false reports
| would violate SEC regulations, and amount to outright fraud.
|
| More shocking was the source of the allegations: Microsoft's chief of
| internal audits, Charlie Pancerzewski, who reported directly to the company's
| chief financial officer.
|
| Most shocking of all was what happened to Pancerzewski when he reported the
| suspicious bookkeeping to his supervisors, Microsoft CFO Mike Brown and chief
| operating officer Bob Herbold, in the spring of 1995. Soon afterward,
| Pancerzewskiâwho for nearly five years had received stellar performance
| evaluationsâreceived his first-ever unsatisfactory one, and was eventually
| forced to resign.
|
| Two months ago, Microsoft quietly settled a lawsuit containing these
| allegations, filed in 1997 by Pancerzewski under the Whistleblowers
| Protection Act. The auditor claimed he was wrongfully terminated after
| telling his supervisors that Microsoft might be breaking securities and tax
| laws. The lawsuit made its tortuous way through several rounds of pretrial
| motions until last fall, when US District Judge Carolyn Dimmick denied
| Microsoft's final plea for summary judgment, finding credible evidence that
| Microsoft may have violated SEC rules, as Pancerzewski alleged. Shortly
| thereafter, Microsoft and Pancerzewski settled out of court. Terms of the
| agreement were sealed, but one source who claims familiarity with the case
| says that Microsoft paid Pancerzewski $4 million.
`----
http://web.archive.org/web/20070308032343rn_2/www.seattleweekly.com/1999-01-06/news/microfraud.php
Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days
,----[ Quote ]
| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the
| proceeding said.
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm
Microsoft Office raid in Hungary
,----[ Quote ]
| "Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority
| known as the GVH."
`----
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html
Microsoft exec dumped stock prior to Red Ring announcement
,----[ Quote ]
| To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities
| and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a
| result of an alleged "administrative error." Microsoft has since remedied the
| issue by following the "procedures required of late-filers."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/08/14/microsoft-exec-dumped-stocks-prior-to-red-ring-addresment
Microsoft's Bach sold more stock before Xbox news
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. executive Robbie Bach sold $3 million more in company stock
| during the period leading up to an announcement about a costly flaw in its
| Xbox video game console than previously reported, according to a filing
| Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsofts-bach-sold-additional-stock/story.aspx?guid=%7BBECA3A50-EF33-4161-A111-A43BDC8B0462%7D&siteid=yhoof
Insider Trading Hasn't Affect Microsoft Stock - Yet
,----[ Quote ]
| MarketWatch.com reports that Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's
| Entertainment and Devices division, sold $6.2 million of Microsoft
| stock just prior to announcing that Microsoft was going to have to
| extend XBox 360 warranties to three years because of extensive
| failures. The filings note that this was not part of any
| scheduled diversification or selling program; this was a
| conscious, unscheduled sale by the guy in charge of releasing
| news that could affect the value of Microsoft stock.
|
| [...]
|
| Insider trading is a very serious violation of the law; just
| ask Martha Stewart, who served five months in prison for
| avoiding losses of $43,000 through trades that just had suspicious
| timing (no insider trading was actually proven). This is $6.3
| million that went straight into Robbie Bach's pocket.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070713/40947_id.html?.v=1
[Mandriva CEO:] An open letter to Steve Ballmer
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! Iâm impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their
| mind like this? Itâs pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone.
| How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my
| place, they give it various names, Iâm sure you know them.
|
| Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
|
| Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one.
| You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics
| you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win
| too.
`----
http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/
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