Chapter 1: Big Business and Ethics

Ethics is knowing the difference between what’s right and wrong and then exhibiting the appropriate behaviour. Big business should run their companies ethically and abide by rules.

1.      Walkerton-Scandal-Garbage: In May of 2000, thousands of residents of the town of Walkerton, Ontario became ill from drinking municipal water contaminated by Escherichia coli and Campylobacter Jejuni bacteria. Seven people died, while many suffered debilitating injuries.

2.      Bre-X-Gold Scandal: In 1993, a prospector named Michael de Guzman walked out of the jungles of Borneo with extraordinary news: he found gold. During that period, the market value of de Guzman's employer, Bre-X Minerals, went from nothing to $6 billion. The problem: there was no gold. After every one find out of the fraud “De Guzman” through his-self from a helicopter. Days later, the Indonesian Army found de Guzman's body, which they said was badly decomposed and mostly eaten by animals.

3.      Enron: Pretended they were making money, “fixed” the accounting books. Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years.  American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 20,000 staff and was one of the world's major electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion during 2000. It ended its bankruptcy during November 2004, pursuant to a court-approved plan of reorganization, after one of the most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history.

      4.      Erin Brokovitch: American legal clerk and environmental activist, who, despite the lack of a formal law school education, or any legal education, was instrumental in constructing a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993.  The case alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium in the southern California town of Hinkley. The case was settled in 1996 for US$333 million, the largest settlement
     ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in US history. Brockovich's law firm received 133.6 million dollars of this settlement, and Brockovich herself received a two million dollar bonus from the action. There's a movie that explains much more http://viooz.co/movies/3511-erin-brockovich-2000.html

      5.      Bernard Madoff: He is the former non-executive Chairman of the   NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S. history. On December 10, 2008, Madoff's sons told authorities that their father had confessed to them that the asset management unit of his firm was a massive Ponzi scheme. The following day, FBI agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. After being found guilty, Madoff was given a suspended sentence of 150 years in prison for making one of the biggest scams in history, the amount of which is estimated at something like 50,000 million.