A legal defense in which a senior executive claims ignorance of fraudulent or otherwise unlawful practices within their company. Famously coined during the 2005 trial of Bernie Ebbers, founder of WorldCom.
The Enron scandal is a complex case of fraudulent accounting that led to the collapse of the energy giant Enron in 2001, one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history, which subsequently led to significant legislative changes.
A colloquial term for an illegal payment made to secure favorable treatment in the award of a contract.
Stock watering refers to various practices in which a company inflates the value of its assets or exaggerates its profits to issue more shares than justified. Historically notable during the US railway boom of the late 19th century, this practice constitutes fraudulent behavior.
