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Trash For Cash
From S&Ls to Enron: Bill Black Offers a Primer on CEO Fraud
Excerpt:
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I never tell the accountant to inflate the value. I don't go and hire an accountant by saying, "Hello, I want to commit a control fraud." What you do is say, "Hello, I want someone that is really, really smart. I want your smartest guy. I want someone who is innovative, someone who hustles for my business." We call it accountant shopping. You exploit market pressures. That's how you make it in a big firm. Can you pull in the big clients? These S&Ls were willing to be very good clients and pay you a lot of money.
The way you get an appraisal is you don't tell him or her how big the appraisal has to come in. If it is a new appraiser, you say, "give me a preliminary appraisal orally." And if it comes in at the right number, you say, "great, go do the final." Remember: You get more for a commercial appraisal. The percentage is bigger on bigger projects. Obviously, if they give you the wrong answer you say, "Thanks, don't bother to write it up. We will probably not go ahead with it." And then of course, you go to another appraiser. Pretty soon, as you've probably figured out, you get to the right appraiser.
Whoever was willing to be sleazy, you could send your business to them... |
