SEC Won't Punish Global Crossing Founder

[Tab]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have decided against filing civil charges against Global Crossing Ltd. founder Gary Winnick following a probe of its accounting practices, his attorney said on Monday.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had been expected to announce a settlement with Winnick and three other former Global Crossing executives last week, capping a two-year investigation of the international telecommunications company.

Winnick's attorney, Gary Naftalis, said in a statement that the SEC "has determined that no charges should be brought against Gary Winnick. We always believed that the evidence demonstrated that Gary Winnick acted lawfully and properly in connection with Global Crossing."

Global Crossing, which built an intercontinental network of undersea fiber-optic cable in the 1990s, has been the target of an investigation since 2002. After the Internet boom fizzled, the company collapsed in 2002 amid $12.4 billion in debt and questions about its accounting practices
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041213/bs_nm/telecoms_globalcrossing_dc

[Pirate Smile]

1. Here is more:

"The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the SEC's board had overturned a staff recommendation of charges and a $1 million fine against Winnick. The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said SEC Chairman William Donaldson was concerned that Winnick, as nonexecutive chairman of the telecommunications group, had not authorized the inadequate disclosure of certain transactions.

Donaldson and two fellow Republican commissioners overturned a staff recommendation to charge Winnick even though Winnick had tentatively agreed to pay a fine."

I also heard on CNN yesterday that two Democrats on the SEC's board objected to the decision.

[Diane L]

2. And wasn't Global Crossing selling technology

solutions in which he had no intentions of providing?

[SoCalDem]

3. Amazing how eager they are to punish "the little guy" and are so reluctant

to throw the book at the BIGGIES:(..

I guess , from their standpoint, they do not want to burn bridges to rich folks who may be called upon later to support them:(

[Joe_VB]

4. It was a really good company to work for......

Decent bene's,nice pay. I worked for the them for about 15 months.
Then the bankruptcy axe fell.