Corporate Crooks

U.S. Corporate Hall of Shame 

As Conrad Black, ex-Hollinger International chief executive officer, reported to jail this month, let’s revisit the list of the most prominent convicted corporate felons.

Bernard Ebbers, WorldCom Communications

John Rigas, Adelphia Communications

Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, Tyco International

Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling and Andrew Fastow, Enron (Lay’s conviction was voided in 2006 because he died at age 64 before he could complete his appeals.)

Joseph Nacchio, Quest Communications

Richard Scrushy, HealthSouth

Martin Grass and Franklin Brown, Rite Aid

Sam Waksal, Imclone

Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (conviction did not involve MSLO, see Imclone case.)

I guess these white-collar criminals must have skipped their business ethics class. These bandits slowly and methodically planned the crimes that wrecked the future of untold numbers of people and inflicted far more damage on society than all street crime combined.

Thank God, justice was served. How many more will there be?