Corporate Crime: Stolen Without a Gun

By Nomi Prins, AlterNet. Posted October 3, 2007.

Stolen Without a Gun
2007, Etica Books
By Walter Pavlo, Jr. and Neil Weinberg

Stolen Without a Gun is a compelling, emotion and humor charged, honest account of white collar crime perpetrated within the walls of Walt Pavlo's former employer, the once mighty, MCI WorldCom. With novelistic prose and a plethora of supporting evidence, Pavlo and Weinberg weave the true tale of exactly how corporate corruption, stemming from the competitive need to make profit targets, infiltrates all levels of a company; CEO to middle executive to junior accountant. When Pavlo realizes that orders to 'make the numbers' at MCI rank above ethics to achieve that performance, he decides to embark on some accounting sleight of hand of his own. His scheme to siphon off $6 million for himself is a smaller version of what MCI WorldCom later did to thousands of shareholders in an $11 billion scandal that became the largest bankruptcy in US history.

The unlikely combination of authors - Walt Pavlo, a convicted white collar felon, and Neil Weinberg, an award-winning Forbes senior editor - lend the story texture and perspective. Without striving for sympathy, they tell a non-apologetic tale of one man's journey from being a wide-eyed fresh MBA to discovering the rot beneath the surface of a major American corporation, which becomes his justification for his crimes. Contriving with slimy external telecom wholesalers to embezzle funds from MCI through a web of false accounting entries, bogus companies, and off-shore accounts, Pavlo gets in so deep that his only option is copping a plea with the federal government and enduring the subsequent punishment, pain, humiliation and alienation from his family.

Pavlo took full responsibility for his actions and spent two years in prison. But, like Frank Abagnale's Catch Me if You Can, the way in which Pavlo and his partners perpetrated crimes via dodgy books, last-minute Cayman-Island bound jets, corporate gala golf events and luxury hotel accommodations - gives a fascinating glimpse of fast-lane life set in an atmosphere of willful corporate neglect, before it came crashing down.

Stolen provides insight into how Wall Street performance pressures and mega mergers present opportunities for companies to hide flaws and falsify earnings at multiple levels. It's not just about WorldCom and MCI; it's about every merger, corporate scandal, and greed-inspired fraud. I had the opportunity to ask Walt and Neil about their experiences both living through, and writing, their book:

Nomi Prins: Neil, you've covered your share of white collar crime and scandals during your career, what differentiated Walt's situation for you?

Neil Weinberg:Stories about financial scandals are usually told from afar, through the lens of dry court documents and legalese. In the case of Stolen Without A Gun, Walt and some of the others who committed the crimes were willing to share with me their inside stories of greed, high-living, fear and punishment. It's full of outsized personalities, juicy details and hilarious anecdotes.

They also told me about the pressures they were under to make their numbers, the corruption they witnessed and how they used it to rationalize behavior. In the end, they told a very human story about what prompts ordinary people to commit extraordinary crimes and the huge costs to them and their families.

Walt and his conspirators were not career criminals or born scam artists. They were normal, college-educated white-collar workers who'd never been in trouble and excelled at their jobs. Their story illustrated universal truths about the white-collar scandals that have occurred since and are breaking news almost every day. They have to do with the tone at the top of corporations, the need for companies to balance the quest for profit with ethical behavior and the way bull markets make people gullible and sloppy.

Prins: How do you think sentiments have changed about white collar crime now that firms like WorldCom and Enron are gone?

Weinberg:I don't think a lot has changed since the days of the dot-com bubble and a high-flying WorldCom and Enron. There have been too many waves of scandals since to presume we've cleaned up our act--everything from mutual fund late trading to crooked stock options pricing. Because such scandals keep popping up, and because the housing meltdown is likely to kick the scandal-machine into high gear, I definitely do not think it's possible for the public to move on, even if it wants to.

See more stories tagged with: corporate crime, worldcom, stolen without a gun

Nomi Prins is a senior fellow at the public policy center Demos and author of Other People's Money and Jacked: How "Conservatives" are Picking your Pocket (Whether you voted for them or not).

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »