Bonum Certa Men Certa

Did Microsoft Pay Millions of Dollars to Hide Information About Financial Malpractice?

Money on a dark desk



Summary: On the face of it, Microsoft essentially bribes its former CFO to keep quiet about what he knows; the mainstream press reveals some very damning information

THIS morning we wrote about Microsoft tax dodge/evasion which was facilitated by a former Microsoft general manager who is now working for the government. A couple of years ago we also wrote about Microsoft paying millions of dollars for a former employee to keep quiet about financial fraud that he exposed. Charles Pancerzewski was paid $4 million to keep quiet [1, 2]. If his allegations were flawed (which they were not, as there was concrete evidence that the judge accepted and the SEC then stepped in), why would Microsoft shell out so much money for his silence?



According to this new article from CFO.com, Microsoft's previous CFO, who abruptly quit the company a few months ago, mirrors some of the above. Microsoft gave him a gift of $1.9 million. [via Joseph Tartakoff]

The sum, to be paid in two equal installments on December 31, 2009, and March 31, 2010, comes in exchange for promising not to sue or otherwise disparage Microsoft after his departure, the tech giant recently disclosed in its most recent quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Such payouts are often written into employment contracts at the outset of a CFO's tenure as protection from the career risks of making big gambles on corporate strategy. But some experts say Liddell's was out of the ordinary since he did not have an employment contract or other explicit promise of such a sum. In fact, Microsoft's most recent proxy, filed at the end of September, claims its top executives "are not entitled to any payments upon termination of their employment or following a change of control of Microsoft" except under certain conditions that did not apply to Liddell. (Speaking through a GM spokesperson, Liddell said he would have no comment.)

[...]

While that raises questions about why Liddell might have left Microsoft after four and a half years there, at least part of the "quo" is spelled out in the extremely detailed resignation letter Liddell signed, also filed with the SEC.

The letter contained all the standard promises, such as that Liddell would not sue or disparage the company or disclose any of its secrets, but with some language that is highly specific for such contracts.


Wow.

“No reporter worth there salt should have been reporting unaudited numbers. They should have learnt their lesson from Enron.”
      --Oiaohm
Microsoft essentially faked its financial results at the end of last month [1, 2, 3, 4]. This is something that we showed.

As our reader Oiaohm pointed out two weeks ago (in IRC), "Now I know what the problem is. (Unaudited) cannot be entered into sharemarket trackers... Now big question why in 31 days they could not got their reports Audited that is a big thing. I don't know the USA sharemarket audit requirements... Here its use a government and asx approved firm for auditing. Does not cost much as long as you have all you paperwork in order... Problem I have with those MS numbers since they are not audited they can be doing a big E... No reporter worth there salt should have been reporting unaudited numbers. They should have learnt their lesson from Enron."

It looks rather possible that Microsoft is still committing financial fraud. The article above confirmed a long-held suspicion backed by a lot of evidence. It's not far fetched at all for a company that allegedly has orgies and drug parties these days [1, 2]. Perhaps it's time for the SEC to pay Microsoft another visit (as it did some years ago after another case of financial fraud that Microsoft had paid to suppress).

A lot of people blew the whistle on Bernard Madoff but their complaints were repeatedly ignored for Madoff had the reputation of a rich man. Only when he turned himself in did regulators take this seriously. Given that a Microsoft shareholder compared Ballmer and Bill Gates to Bernard Madoff just a year ago, it's probably time to investigate. The "shut up" money that Microsoft paid Chris Liddell ought to be overridden by the law's needs.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

After Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia Android (Linux) Will Dominate Asia Completely
Windows probably peaked in "XP" or "2000"
India: Windows Falls to 50% in Desktops/Laptops and 8% Overall
laptops/desktops fell to 16% of the whole
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.7% "Market Share" This Month
30,000 Microsoft jobs may be eliminated by year's end
Microsoft is in Trouble and Microsofters Know It
"I've been happy on Win 3.11 for years."
Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
 
Last Article From Australia's Sam Varghese Was a Year Ago and It Covered the Release of Julian Assange, Who Will Apparently Come Back as 'Politician'
It'll soon be exactly 12 months
Hungary Seems Hungry for Linux
Windows down by a lot
Like in Europe, Bad News for Microsoft in US and Canada
If it loses those "regions", then what's left?
About 8 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 (in Less Than 5 Months), Now Vista 11 "Market Share" Decreases
Really bad news for shareholders of Microsoft
statCounter Sees Bing "Share" Falling Over 0.5% in One Month, Now Lower Than Before the ChatGPT/Bing Chat Hype
Bing has been part of the mass layoffs for quite some time
Microsoft's Demise is a Global Phenomenon
mass layoffs justified using mindless buzzwords
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux in EU and the UK, All-Time Lows for Microsoft
Combining ChromeOS and GNU/Linux, it adds up to and almost reaches 6%
[Video] New Introduction to Richard Stallman's Contributions Including GNU Emacs, GNU/Linux, and Software Freedom
from the channel previously bullied for supporting RMS
Links 02/06/2025: South Korea to Vote, Russia Blitzed From Within
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025
The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part II: Lying to the IRS is a Big Issue
The OSI of today pretends to be something that it is not
Bloodlust and Love of Blades (Fascination With Murder) Nothing New Among Microsofters
Violence is not a joke and no group is magically entitled to make such "jokes"
Links 01/06/2025: Bird Flu, Food Price Inflation, and Growing US-China Hostilities
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: "Vibe Coding" Turns Out to be a Fraud and Amazon Merits Boycott, Argue Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: "Stardust" and Ideal PC Setup
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, "It's FOSS" Still Promoting Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: Simplification and Networks Everywhere
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 31, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 31, 2025
Google Bribes EFF. EFF Promotes LLM Slop as 'Fair Use'. To GAFAM It's a Low-Cost Lobby Hedge.
So the bribes pay off ("slush fund") and the word spreads
Slopwatch: Fake Text and Images, Financial Bubbles, and Scams in "Intelligent" Clothing
Sometimes what they mean by "AI" is just cheap labour somewhere else, as we discussed in IRC a few hours ago
Why Microsoft is Collapsing (Similar to What's Happening at IBM), As Insiders See It
IBM seems like one heck of a mess
Reliable Computing Means Free (Libre) Computing
Sites that want to promote security ought to deal with the biggest issues
Links 31/05/2025: US Court Orders Sides With RFE/RL, War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/05/2025: ARM Server and power_supply Subsystem
Links for the day
Links 31/05/2025: Slop Stigmatised as Disinformation, Catalyst/Driver of "Death of Communication"
Links for the day
Common Sense 101: Do Not Write Blog Posts Saying You Want to Murder Colleagues (or Yourself)
Only crazy people would think stabbings are a joke
Microsoft Bankruptcy
"Microsoft unit in Russia to file for bankruptcy, database shows"
Techrights Does Not Compete With LLM Slop, It Exposes the Bastards, Plagiarists and Scammers Who Do That
People like Scam Altman, still facing a lawsuit from his own sister for sexual abuse against her
Links 31/05/2025: Microsoft-Connected Builder.ai is a Fraud and US is Purging Students Based on Race/Nationality
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/05/2025: Limmat, Doomscrollers, and Arguments Parsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 30, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 30, 2025