I was contacted by a reporter from BusinessWeek Online who is writing a story about B2B fraud, specifically fraud related to shell companies. If your company has had experience with shell company fraud and you would like to tell your story, contact me at mmitchell@emailcma.org. The reporter is on a tight deadline and would need to speak to you today or early Monday. Any help with this would be appreciated.
BusinessWeek Online looking for experience with fraudulent shell companies
(6 posts) (4 voices)-
Posted 10 months ago #
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Good morning,
Just a quick comment. On one occasion, I spoke to a reporter without requesting and receiving approval from my employer to do so. My employer was quite displeased.
I would encourage anyone considering speakinig to any reporter about any business related topic to first check with their employer and ask permission to do so.
Best regards
Michael Dennis
Posted 7 months ago # -
Same situation happen to us. Reporter contacted us for comment, things were taken out of context. Following month we updated the employee handbook stating: Employees may be approached or contacted for interviews or comments by the media or
publishing companies. Only people designated by the PRESIDENT & CEO or COO may
comment or share Company policy, events, news or products relevant to the company.Posted 7 months ago # -
I actually discussed a customer bankruptcy filing. JC, would this be covered by your policy?
Thank you
MCD
Posted 7 months ago # -
MCD - yes it is covered in various sections of our handbook and policies. In our non disclosure section it mentions matters of a business nature such as information about trade secrets, proprietary information, business plans, projects or proposals, disbursements, costs, delivery, volumes, contacts and forms, financial statements, pricing, profits, marketing lists, customer lists, and all data regarding customers including payment, credit or sales data, and vendors, plus any business plans on future expansion or business development. Any statements made to outside sources on behalf of the company must be approved by the CEO or COO.
Posted 7 months ago # -
One of my employers, a manufacturer of steel buildings, filed Chapter 11. Payroll was held up, and a lot of our staff were very upset. This was the largest company in the parish, so the local press was camped out at every single exit, waiting for someone to say something.
One of our secretaries, ticked off that her paycheck wasn't going to come on time, made the gross error of talking about it on camera, without permission or authority, saying some derogatory, and reputedly slanderous, things about the owner and his secretary.
It turned out that this caused a panic with some of our vendors, as it made the scene look worse than it was (although it was pretty grim). The owner and most of his inner circle were barred from the property, making it impossible for them to do any of the work to recover the company's finances. The owner lost everything, and a trustee took over, eventually selling the firm to another local businessman. The secretary's name around the company and in the community was "mud", even after she quit a couple of days later.
It's a good object lesson on *why* press relations are closely monitored by businesses, and aren't left to the uninformed or unauthorized.
Posted 7 months ago #
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