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To: velociraptor_ who wrote (31228)	7/17/2001 11:50:59 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 37746

Report: Ex-Sunbeam chief concealed past By The Associated Press NEW YORK — Al Dunlap, the fiery chief executive whom federal regulators have charged with accounting fraud at Sunbeam, was accused of similar misdeeds in the 1970s but hid that history from later employers, The New York Times reported yesterday. In 1976, Dunlap was fired as president of Nitec Paper and subsequently accused by the company's owner of overstating inventory, fabricating sales and covering up a $5.5 million loss, The Times reported. But Dunlap, 63, who went on to gain the nickname "Chainsaw Al" for his brutal cost-cutting at Scott Paper and Sunbeam, omitted his tenure with Niagara Falls, N.Y.-based Nitec from his employment history, The Times reported. He also left out that he had been fired by still another company, Max Phillips & Son of Eau Claire, Wis. Dunlap and Nitec sued one another after his removal, and the matter was resolved when the company agreed to pay Dunlap $50,000, The Times said. Dunlap also sued Phillips, which agreed to pay him $55,000, the newspaper reported. The account was dismissed yesterday by an attorney for Dunlap. "Given the age of the allegations and the fact that they occurred at private companies and were settled, we fail to see what the public interest is in this," said Frank Razzano. Another Dunlap attorney, Donald Zakarin, denied the executive had hidden his past, noting that American Can — which hired Dunlap after Nitec — knew his work history. Dunlap just hadn't talked about that chapter publicly, Zakarin said. "He worked at both places, there's no question about that. Nothing was concealed," Zakarin said. "That's not a circumstance that anybody would want to promote. If you left a job and were involved in litigation, would be you talking it up? I don't think so." The Times said neither Sunbeam nor the federal Securities and Exchange Commission previously were aware of the allegations. "We were shocked when we heard about this," said Jerry Levin, who took over for Dunlap at Sunbeam. "I find it most unusual that anyone could be hired as a chief executive of a major company without having their background thoroughly checked." The SEC alleged in a lawsuit in May that Dunlap and four other former Sunbeam executives broke securities laws to make the appliance company look healthier and ripe for a buyer. Shareholders have made similar allegations in fraud suits and agreed to a $110 million settlement with the Andersen accounting firm after Sunbeam's fall into bankruptcy from a $5 billion market capitalization. Dunlap has called the allegations "totally false." Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company More