GE
Capital overstated Momentive's value in December 2008 to improve its own
balance sheet, he said. Valuing the asset correctly would have reduced
“GE Capital's earnings 100 percent,” in the fourth quarter that year,
according to the complaint.
“Mr.
Gormbley refused to play GE's game and just ‘get along,” according to
the filing. “GE and GE Capital's response was direct, unmistakable and
as subtle as a hangman's noose.”
I am sure there is nothing to this..... Why would GE have overstated
it’s income? The goal was to "manage" the income statement according to
the law suit. That would never happen at GE. Right?? If something like
that did happen it would not have been material. Nothing like the 100%
claimed. Right? The folks at GECC in Stamford are fighting this one
tooth and nails. Their view:
“The
allegations in Mr. Gormbley's complaint are meritless,” Russell
Wilkerson, a spokesman for Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE, said in an
e-mailed statement. “The company will vigorously defend itself against
these baseless assertions.”
GE’s lawyers are going to crush Mr. Gormbley I suspect. Why shouldn’t
they? They have never played fast and lose with accounting have they?
Heaven help us (and GE’s stock) if Mr. Gormbley prevails.
Keep the legal fees rolling in, lest these eagles turn against us.
-profd
GE is about to get some serious ROI for all the shilling they've been doing for Barry O on NBS, CNBS and MSDNC lo these last couple of years.
Great post, Bruce.
I seem to recall GE hiding choo-choo trains they manufactured in a warehouse not long ago, prompting a pussy slap fine. Booked them as sold and delivered, goosed the quarter end ......the usual rationale. An insider ratted them out.
Anyone remember that ?? Buehler, Buehler ??
Found a nice little write-up on that here:
http://acctgprinciples.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-on-ge-fraud-locomotives-on-bridge.html
Some incisive posts here today checkmates.
Affirmative action gravitated from academe to foundations to corpus Architeuthis dux.
To paraphrase someone who owns GE at random:
When the tsunami goes out, we see who is swimming nekkid...
Just think of GE as a tbtf hedge fund that makes jet engines as a sideline.
Someday it will be a good $5 speculation.
Nice post Bruce. We need to realize accouting tricks only change the perception, not the facts. The facts (revenue, expenses, etc.) are real, they can be presented to look good but that doesn't change the end result. Eventually this game comes to an end, if you can't meet payroll it doesn't really matter what EBITA is.
You and your crazy stories, Bruce? GE said it was false, and if there's one thing I know, it's that you can take what GE says to the fuckin' bank.
Like when CEO Jeff Immelt told the WSJ that the dividend was good to go Feb 5, 2009:
http://online.wsj.com/video/ge-immelt-important-to-not-cut-dividends/3DD08ADE-F4D9-4817-AE0D-646AC7F6A6C3.html
GE toed the line on Jeffy's words for THREE WHOLE WEEKS (plus a day), then cut the dividend by 68% Feb 27, 2009.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/02/ge-cuts-dividend.html
OK, ok that's a bad example, but remember when GE declared they didn't need to raise capital? That was March 4, 2009:
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/business/GE_Says_No_Need_To_Raise_Capital_in_Near_Term.html
Well they didn't need to raise capital - FOR FIVE DAYS
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=apizp5OZit38&refer=news
And because they didn't need capital - the FDIC guaranteed it!
Ok, that's a bad example too, but here's the thing Bruce: In order for this whole "recovery" thing to work, you've gotta believe everything GE says.
Don't you get it?
Yo, and don't forget when CEO Jeff Immelt said we (who the f**k is this "we" he's always babbling about, anyway???) were in for the Great Reset after the economic meltdown.
Jeff, you get your sorry ass at the end of the food bank line, y'heah?
Class B directors represent the public.
The public, Bruce, the public.
The concept of representation for "the public" is simply an illusion meant to keep "the public" on "the hamster wheel". No more, no less.
And if you can't believe what GE says, then why is CEO Jeff Immelt a class B director of the New York Fed?
Why, Bruce, why?
I think GE is stretched out. They are going to get whacked by the new accounting lease rules. They have no real net worth. They look like Sun Micro to me (way back). There is just too many shares outstanding. It trades like a sack of cement because there is always a million shares on offer. Of course my view on global growth is not good. So that makes GE a macro short.
I have no idea why Imelt is a director at the Fed. But it is a good question. Let's face it, what is good for GE is good for the Fed. So I would start there to answer this.
Agree on the "too much stock" thesis. I am disappointed though that you clipped a few damaging lines and not the whole piece. You sold the sizzle and not the steak. Whether its 25 or 50 Million it is a rounding error at a company that big. If you are implying this will lead to more issues/ investigations then I guess I get your concern. At least the chaps at Enron told a big lie. If they are cooking all the books they sure aren't executing well at that either.
No real net worth is too kind. Immelt and the Fed; a marriage made in Hell. lying, thieving, market manipulating SOB's get along well together.
Meh. A $50 million fib at worst, it would seem. GECC probably loses that amount between the couch cushions every other Tuesday.
time for a cnbc award winning special
I have not been watching TV. Anyone see CNBC mention this?
UPDATED CHARTS:
http://stockmarket618.wordpress.com
Birds of A Feather?
You may want to check out Boeing Capital Corporation one of these days. Or any leasing company for that matter. That line of business will crash land soon whether due to accounting irregularities, changes in the tax regime or simply from lack of fuel (leverage). Game over.
I hope they check their fuel level before liftoff. Indeed, some say that is a problem i have which could be a problem now that I'm in the process getting my commercial pilots license. no worries though, i tell great stories now in the famous words of Far Side "let's get this baby off the ground."
Someone told me that GE maintains most of its financials in excel sheets...for ease of manipulation and no change controls..
"..GE maintains most of its financials in excel sheets.."
All facetiousness aside, this is actually true.
it has a footnote at the bottom, too. It says "do not hit the send button."
While we're on the subject of GE, has anyone noticed that their cheerleading cable tv outlet has recently had a veritable explosion of African-American guests? I'm not in any way disparaging these gentlemen's contributions (they could hardly be more clueless than their paler brethren, and in fact, some seem much more intelligent), just that it's curious when the only black faces we saw for years were Maxine's or Chuck Rangel's, and now, we're seeing so many new ones.
nope. hadn't noticed a bit.
Govt. is a bird of prey. They, the govt., will allow the cooked book theology to go on for as long as it wants and why not, look at the cooked books of our govt... This is SOP for them, lie, lie about telling a lie, lie to cover up a lie, cover up a lie with a lie to get out of being caught in a lie...................................
The TBTF banks are all insolvent but liquidity is being pumped into the corpse(s) by Benny and the Inkjets.
The accounting fraud (blessed by the Fed and Treasury) will continue until the bankrupt private sector banks have bankrupted the nation.
So instead of chopping off the cancerous limb our political elite has allowed the cancer to spread.
Remocrats or Depublicans, they are all prostitutes for the same pimp.
"Benny and the Inkjets", LOL.
you mean you can do this and still get girls?
GE have been phonies for years, trying to position themselves as a high tech manufacturer when most of their real business is finance.
oh, yeah. gas turbine engines "pretty much run themselves." you probably...no DEFINITELY didn't know this but in the 1950's GE actually built a nuclear powered rocket. Amazingly "they lit that nuclear candle." Ah, a time when "nuking your neighbor in the name of science" was to be expected. I wish I'd had the wonderful opportunity to have lived during this Golden Age.
Amazon
American Eagle
Banana Republic
Belk
Brooks Brothers
Dillard's
GAP
Home Shopping Network
IKEA
JCPenney
Kirklands
Linens 'n Things
Lowe's
Meijer
Mervyns
Old Navy
PayPal
QVC
Sam's Club
ShopNBC
Stein Mart
The Mens Wearhouse
Wal-Mart
http://www.gemoneycards.com/contact_us/retail_partners/index.htmlWasn't Ken Lay saying the same exact line when Enron was accused of accounting fraud? Baseless & without merit my ass.
he's dead now. and Nat Gas collapsed after Enron "cheated" (Yeahhh!) then exploded higher (Boooooo) then collapsed again--(Boo/yeah/okay/maybe i think i need to call me mum.)
GE was the last company that I would have expected. what next? coca-cola maybe? why not cook the books in the other direction? understating profits can have it's virtues.
http://covert2.wordpress.com
It is massively wide spread.
What value does an auditors opinion on your SEC's/Annuals have now ??? ZERO
massively wide spread indeed. a veritible Grand Canyon from what I'm told.
I'll sit back and wait for trish the dick sucker regan to break this story live on the air. I hope she wears the 5 sizes too small motorcycle jacket that she borrowed from hog herrera.
http://gawker.com/160130/blind-item-guessing-game-revealed-unclassy-network-anchors
that's not very nice Liberal Sodomy. And is that the real you? If so I can understand your language you big MEANY.
dont be weedicuwuss jawdge.
Is that oxymoronic, or is it just me?
Beware. Thanks Bruce.
Now there's a surprise!!!
It was well known last year that GECC was bankrupt....ah....the wonders of accounting!!.....And TARP.......
+1
".And TARP......."
That's why this suit will go nowhere. They are on the Most Favored Company list at the US Treasury and the Fed. The only thing that surprises me is why United States Attorneys aren't in there arguing for the defendant.
Wall Street disagrees...and is most displeased.
GE has managed earnings for years. Earnings too high, sell something at a loss, too low, sell something for a profit. Got to keep those earnings growing nicely, not too fast or slow. Can't do that anymore so now they try to cook the books.
This is a national security matter and it all will amount to nothing. The law is on GE's side in this matter. What law? If I tell you, I'll have to kill you.
May 23, 2006 BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2006/nf20060523_2210.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily
Bush did have preemptive tendancies.