The Wall of Shame
June 09, 2008
Property owner Wes Johnson, a customer of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., alleges that the mortgage company erroneously reported to credit reporting agencies that Johnson was delinquent on two real property mortgage loans. According to Johnson, the mistake cost him dearly as he was precluded from acquiring mortgage loans and refinancing existing loans, thus causing him to pay higher interest rates on mortgages and lines of credit. Johnson also alleged that existing lines of credit were reduced or canceled due to the mix-up.
The interesting part of the story is what happened after Johnson filed his Fair Credit Reporting Act claim against Wells Fargo. The company contends that Johnson’s claim is supported by several letters he wrote to Wells Fargo on his two laptops, alerting the company to the error and trying to rectify the situation. Wells Fargo asserts that Johnson manufactured the letters only to support his claim and states that computer evidence supports their contention. That evidence, however, is now missing after Johnson reformatted the hard drives on both his laptops, thus overriding any documentation relating to the letters at the heart of the dispute. Johnson claims the reformatting was done of the advice of a computer technician after the computers become infected with viruses and spy-ware. The hard drive reformatting is particularly relevant in this case because the existence and authenticity of the letters is critical to deciding whether Johnson had attempted to inform Wells Fargo of the error.
May 02, 2008
Claiming that she fully complied with Pixar’s own practices, Mather believes there is no ground for legal proceedings. Even if Mather is not found guilty, the suit should serve as a wake-up call for the company to keep better track the authenticity of electronic documents, including stock option grants. Failing to have done so may cost the company a piece of its reputation, as well as the rust of its investors.
February 06, 2008
An 11th grader at Big Springs High School in Pennsylvania caused an Internet controversy when he released a copy of his detention slip showing that he had been punished for using the Web browser Mozilla Firefox in class.
November 01, 2007
While former PruchasePro executive Charles Johnson is currently on trial in U.S. District Court on charges of making improper deals to inflate company earnings, he is staying in the headlines for an earlier case that ended in a mistrial and led to the firing of Johnson’s former attorney, Preston Burton.
June 05, 2007
A lawyer for Best Buy Co. (BBY) has acknowledged that he falsified emails and a memo before turning them over to plaintiffs in a nationwide class-action lawsuit - a development that could prompt the judge to find the company liable for tens of millions of dollars in damages.
May 31, 2007
Technology company Brocade Communications, Inc. faces a $7 million fine from the Securities and Exchange Commission as a penalty for improperly issuing stock options. Brocade is the first company to receive such a penalty and the settlement represents a significant decision among SEC commissioners as to whether companies should be penalized for stock option violations...
May 24, 2007
Joya Williams faces as many as 10 years in prison on the single conspiracy charge in a failed scheme to sell Coke's trade secrets to rival Pepsi for at least $1.5 million. U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester told Williams that he was meting out the long prison term because, “This is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society.”
May 12, 2007
Hyundai and Kia Motors estimated the damage from the IP theft could add up to W4.7 trillion by 2010 in the Chinese market and W22.3 trillion in the global market…
May 11, 2007
Five former and current employees of Korea’s Kia Motors were accused of stealing and delivering 57 corporate secrets to a Chinese automaker. Kia’s lax corporate IT security policies allowed employees to email profitable company secrets to a competitor, contributing to a huge operating loss for the company…
May 10, 2007
R&B singer Waymond Anderson could walk free from jail if an appeal against his murder conviction is successful. The star has spent 13 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder of Robert Wellington in 1993. Defense lawyers claim Anderson was miles from where the killing took place and have submitted statements from two trial witnesses to say they lied under oath. His conviction lies in the strength of electronic evidence seized from his cell phone placing him at the scene, but prosecutors first must prove the authenticity of that evidence or Anderson will be set free…
