An unflattering portrait: A panel probing an accounting scandal at Japan’s Olympus Corp. says an elaborate scheme to cover up $1.5 billion of investment losses was orchestrated by a group of top executives who were “rotten to the core.” The panel also credited the company’s ex-CEO, Michael Woodford, for bringing to light the deception at the camera and medical equipment maker. Woodford, a Briton, was fired in October after questioning the dubious transactions that have become known as one of Japan’s biggest corporate fiascos. Led by former Supreme Court Judge Tatsuo Kainaka, the panel found that as of 2003, Olympus had racked up 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in investment losses dating back to the 1990s. “The management was rotten to the core and contaminated what was around it, creating in the worst sense a group mentality of the typical salarymen,” the report says in a reference to Japan’s culture of corporate loyalty. Read the full story from The Associated Press here.
Snubbed: Verizon Wireless is blocking the new flagship phone running Google’s Android software—the Samsung Galaxy Nexus—from running Google’s in-store payment application, the Wallet. The smartphone is the first to run a new version of Android and is due to be released soon by Verizon. Examinations by Wired and other publications reveal that the international version of the phone has the chip necessary to run Google Wallet. The previous model in the Nexus line, which Google uses to launch new software and features, is sold by Sprint and works with the Wallet. But Verizon is part of a consortium of carriers that is planning its own payment application, and the company says it’s waiting to provide a wallet application until it can provide “the best security and user experience.”
Settlement: The West Virginia coal mine blast that killed 29 men has yielded a wide-ranging and historic $210 million settlement proposal to compensate victims’ families, pay fines and improve underground safety in response to the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in decades, an attorney with knowledge of the settlement told The Associated Press today. The agreement between federal authorities and the new owners of the Upper Big Branch mine includes $46.5 million in criminal restitution to the miners’ families; $128 million to fund cutting-edge mine safety upgrades, research and training; and $35 million in penalties for federal mine safety violations. The settlement does not prevent future prosecutions of individuals on criminal charges in the April 2010 blast. Massey Energy Co. operated Upper Big Branch through a subsidiary at the time of the explosion. The Virginia-based company has since been acquired by rival Alpha Natural Resources, which reached the sweeping agreement with federal officials. Read the full story from The Associated Press here.
