Episodes

In the 1990’s, Waste Management was the largest garbage company in the world. What had begun as the dream of a Dutch immigrant had grown into a billion-dollar company over the course of a hundred years. But Waste Management had a dirty secret. Its accounting was nastier than its landfills. Behind the scenes, auditors repeatedly tried to get Waste Management to clean up its act, even giving the company a to-do list for fixing its sketchy accounting. But according to the SEC, the fraud only got ...

Jamie Petrone-Codrington was living the high life. She owned 4 homes, 6 luxury cars, and traveled the world. How did she fund such an extravagant lifestyle? Well, Petrone wasn’t a famous actress, physician, or CEO. She was the director of finance and administration for Yale’s School of Medicine, where she was in charge of purchasing computer equipment. That doesn’t seem like it would be a path to riches. But indeed it was. Petrone was making a fortune, until someone noticed something. She was...

The largest pest control company in the world is Rollins, Inc. Rollins has been very profitable, and its executives say the company is recession-proof. After all, cockroaches and rats aren’t going away. At the start of 2017, Rollins seemed poised for more success. Its earnings had increased for 45 quarters in a row. That’s more than eleven years, which is how long it takes to get a PhD, read War and Peace, or renew your driver’s license. But not everything was as it seemed… Rollins was under ...

Finding a good controller isn’t easy. The controller is responsible for the company’s accounting, so you want someone who is an accounting expert. You also want that person to be reliable, and to possess impeccable integrity. You probably don’t want someone who embezzled money from their last employer. And you definitely don’t want someone who embezzled money from their last TWO employers. “What?!?” you’re probably thinking. “No one would hire someone as controller if they stole millions of dol...

In 2009 Puda Coal was a successful company, with a little over $5 million in profit. But the company was about to expand in a major way. The Chinese government had chosen Puda’s subsidiary, Shanxi Coal, to act as a consolidator of small coal mines throughout the Shanxi province of China. To finance the expansion, Puda raised over $100 million from U.S. investors. But suddenly there was a problem: did Puda actually own Shanxi Coal? Someone claimed Puda’s board chair had secretly transferred the ...

One of the most difficult things about starting a business is getting clients. Customers don’t just walk in off the street and throw money at you, unless you’re a bank, a grocery store, or a gentleman’s club. Even if you’ve got a great product or service, you need to work hard to get customers to say “yes”. But what if you didn’t have to get customers to say “yes”? What if you just sent them a bill? “Don’t be ridiculous,” you’re probably thinking, “companies aren’t going to pay you just because ...

David Brooks had it all. He’d taken a small company on the verge of bankruptcy and turned it into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of bulletproof vests. Those vests were used by U.S. soldiers in the War on Terror, so Brooks was hailed as an American hero, and he made a fortune in the process. There were luxury cars, shopping sprees, vacations on a private jet…Brooks even threw a $10 million party for his daughter, with live performances by Aerosmith and Fifty Cent. But while Brooks’ dau...