GE Misled Public -- Pays $50 Million Fine

(c) 2009 F. Bruce Abel



Topic: GE "Misled" public pays $50mil fine? Posted: Yesterday at 9:01pm
Did you catch the news story that General Electric agreed to pay a $50 million dollar fine for "misleading" the public? I missed it too since it generally wasn't covered in the main media outlets. According to the Director over the Division of Enforcement with the SEC, "GE bent the accounting rules beyond the breaking point."

This is what Enron was doing. Essentially GE gets a pass on this. Why hasn't anyone been arrested yet? If no arrests, how about their credentials questioned? Anyone associated with the oversight, accounting, or reporting of GE's financial statement should have their credentials reviewed. Anyone who failed to recognize and report this type of fraudulent activity is certainly undeserving of such an honorable certification.


Click on my label "GE." That will get you a collection of my comments on GE Capital's misdeeds going back a couple of years, mainly reprising public articles in the New York Times talking about the dangerous derivatives that have not yet been written down on GE's books.

I've been writing about my suspicions re GE Capital and derivatives -- when GE was selling for 55 per share too, let alone lately when their shares are in the tank -- for a long time, back to 1997 or before, when I took time off to go up to Connecticut to visit my friend, a trader, in Grenwich, and to attend the accounting board's rulemaking discussion on amending Rule 157 dealing with "mark-to-market."

1/2 the circular room (looking down at the board who sat in the "pit") was filled with GE Capital (now GE Money) guys.

Couple that with the fact that GE's 10k's were a black box on what the heck GE Capital was doing to make all that money. (Same with Enron).

It's now coming out what was obvious on another score -- that GE managed their earnings every quarter by outright juggling and falsification in GE Capital and other divisions very similar to Enron.