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Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2009 (Revised March 2011)

A Letter from Prison

by Eugene F. Soltes

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Abstract

Stephen Richards, the former global head of sales at Computer Associates, Inc. (CA), is serving a seven-year prison sentence for financial fraud. In the case, Richards responds to a number of questions about managerial responsibility and the manipulation of financial performance in a letter written to a graduate student.

Keywords: Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Managerial Roles;

Language: English Format: Print 16 pages EducatorsPurchase

Citation:

Soltes, Eugene F. "A Letter from Prison." Harvard Business School Case 110-045, December 2009. (Revised March 2011.) (request a courtesy copy.)

Related Work

  1. Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | March 2010 (Revised January 2011)

    A Letter from Prison (TN)

    Eugene F. Soltes

    Teaching Note for [110045].

    Citation:

    Soltes, Eugene F. "A Letter from Prison (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 110-059, March 2010. (Revised January 2011.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsPurchase Related
  2. Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2015

    Stephen Richards: Addressing FAQ

    Eugene Soltes

    Stephen Richards, former global head of sales at Computer Associates, addresses frequently asked questions from "A Letter from Prison."

    Keywords: Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Managerial Roles;

    Citation:

    Soltes, Eugene. "Stephen Richards: Addressing FAQ." Harvard Business School Case 116-036, December 2015.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase Related
  3. Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2009 (Revised March 2011)

    A Letter from Prison

    Eugene F. Soltes

    Stephen Richards, the former global head of sales at Computer Associates, Inc. (CA), is serving a seven-year prison sentence for financial fraud. In the case, Richards responds to a number of questions about managerial responsibility and the manipulation of financial performance in a letter written to a graduate student.

    Keywords: Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Managerial Roles;

    Citation:

    Soltes, Eugene F. "A Letter from Prison." Harvard Business School Case 110-045, December 2009. (Revised March 2011.) (request a courtesy copy.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase Related

About the Author

Photo
Eugene F. Soltes
Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration
Accounting and Management

View Profile »
View Publications »

 

More from the Author

  • Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

    Creating Accountability in Afghanistan

    Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes and Grace Liu

    Teaching Note for HBS No. 120-024.

    Citation:

    Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grace Liu. "Creating Accountability in Afghanistan." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 120-030, August 2019.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsPurchase Related
  • Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

    Creating Accountability in Afghanistan

    Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes and Grace Liu

    By early 2019, the United States had contributed $132 billion to the Afghan reconstruction—an amount exceeding the inflation-adjusted cost of the Marshall Plan, which aided reconstruction in 16 European countries after the Second World War. John Sopko, in his role as the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), was in charge of providing accountability for U.S. aid funding. Sopko’s oversight faced severe limitations such as a growing on-budget assistance; pervasive corruption; and lack of transportation, infrastructure, and security for his staff. To fight those odds, SIGAR has implemented multiple strategies with relative success. For example, cultivating a network of sources and informants had allowed SIGAR to save the U.S. over $200 million from a fuel contract bid-rigging scheme. The SIGAR Fraud Hotline had received and reviewed over 3,200 reports. However, with the Afghan presidential elections and peace talks looming on the horizon, Sopko was wondering how SIGAR would have to adapt to a new reality that could potentially be much worse.

    Keywords: auditing; fraud; accountability; Crime and Corruption; Law Enforcement; Governance; Infrastructure; Information; Networks; Strategy; Afghanistan;

    Citation:

    Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grace Liu. "Creating Accountability in Afghanistan." Harvard Business School Case 120-024, August 2019.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase Related
  • Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2016 (Revised July 2019)

    Rajat Gupta

    Paul Healy and Eugene Soltes

    Rajat Gupta, former managing director of McKinsey & Company; a director of Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, and AMR; and a well-known philanthropist, was convicted of engaging in insider trading. The case explores Gupta’s rise and the later legal problems he faced.

    Keywords: insider trading; McKinsey; Ethics; Crime and Corruption; United States;

    Citation:

    Healy, Paul, and Eugene Soltes. "Rajat Gupta." Harvard Business School Case 117-004, December 2016. (Revised July 2019.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase Related
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