Military Contractor's Trial: Stock and Awe

The New York Times today provides an outstanding (and appalling) example (allegedly) of misappropriation of funds, as well as outright fraud and theft. The trial of a former executive for a company that makes body armor for the U.S military provides this: $6 million in items that are claimed the executive billed back to the government  

included . . . university textbooks for his daughter, pornographic videos for his son, plastic surgery for his wife, a burial plot for his mother, prostitutes for his employees, and, for him, a $100,000 American-flag belt buckle encrusted with rubies, sapphires and diamonds.

My favorite part: The defendant "has not disputed that many of his personal expenses were paid for by the company, but his lawyers have maintained that the practice was authorized."

Oh, and there was this small additional claim of stock fraud that apparently earned the executive and a cohort $190 million through false claims about the company's success (followed, of course, by a price increase in the stock and a stock sale by the two executives).

This should prove interesting, and regardless of the outcome, probably offensive.

--Joshua Fershee