# Old Boss Convicted....



## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

ghosts of a prior life...

As they say, "What goes around, comes around" and, although I am not one to wish 'badness' on any one, reading the attached article reinforces my belief that even when it seems that the wheels are spinning VERRRRY slowly, "the System" does, in fact, work! Let me explain.....

Many years ago,I worked for the (now defunct) company known as Cabletron Systems. This was a truly sick company, the likes of which I hope none of you will ever experience. I worked for the company for 4 yrs, first as Software Licensing specialist/Sales Contract negotiator within the Legal Dept and then as the Legal Dept. Director (a rather amazing station for a then 30+yr old non-lawyer to find herself in). As the Dir., I reported directly to the Corp. Treasurer & SR VP of Finance, one Robert Barber. After getting alot of rather amazing, GOOD experience (I can find 'good' in just about anything), I got the **** out several months before this worlwide, multi-billion $$$ company was dissolved. There were lots of us who "escaped", but we were all left with varying degrees of some pretty significant psychological scars.

Cabletron was actually 'tri-vested' with 1 of the 3 resulting companies becoming "Enterasys" (cited in the link). Enterasys was run by former Cabletron mgmt, several of whom - including my prior Cabletron boss - are the subject of the above link. Mr. Barber has now been convicted of securities fraud. Gayle Spence, the prior Cabletron Dir of Sales & the individual with whom I worked the closest during my time there is named at the end of the article as also having been convicted under separate action. Now - the specific actions for which they've been convicted occurred at Enterasys....but the same moral fiber ran Cabletron. As I said, it was a SICK company.

Fortunately, I never was "brought into the inner circle" and knew better than to look further than what my role required of me. My gut told me that there was 'stuff' going on, but I was young & inexperienced enough in the ways of the world that I had no real clue what was going on. I was most definately an invisible minnow in a big, dark ocean of sharks. Its quite unnerving to learn now - almost 9 yrs later - that my gut was absolutely right .... I really was surrounded by some abominable activity and immoral behavior. I can't help but wonder "what if...". It feels realy good to know that what goes around really does come around, eventually. There is still NOTHING more important than honesty, trust, and personal integrity!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Way to keep yourself true and honest.









Will these guys ever learn?


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## campmg (Dec 24, 2005)

Being in the finance world myself that story means a lot. There are shades of Enron with off the books partnerships / investments buying equipment (energy) from the "parent" company. Without getting technical, current accounting rules stemming from past abuses require that these types of transactions be recognized.

We have all worked for a bad boss and in this case, a bad company. It's nice to see that they sometimes get what's coming to them.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Judi,

It's good to hear that you were smart enough - and fortunate enough - not to get sucked into this criminal activity. There does seem to be some real similarity with the Enron affair here, and I'm afraid we may have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far. For those that follow the comings and goings of big business in this country, the coming years may prove to be quite interesting!









Happy Trails,
Doug


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## luv2rv (Jun 21, 2004)

Unfortunately this is more common than anyone may have thought and is the key drive behind Sarbanes Oxley.

I remember cabletron - they were a customer of the company I work for and quietly disappeared.









Wayne


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

...and, as you may or may not have noticed in the Article, one of the 2 principles of the former Cabletron and, then, member of the Enterasys Audit Committee...was one Craig Benson...former Governor of NH.

I sat down and cried the day he was elected (5 yrs after I left Cabletron) and, then .... shared a bottle of champaigne the day he was replaced by our current Gov.!!!

Don't know how he's done it (nor do I really want to), but that man is made of Teflon!


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

I think we talked about this over a fire somewhere Judi. My previous place of employment was a pshycological nightmare as well. Again..a sick company....unfortunately for the good people working there, the time will come. Of that I have no doubt.


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## RizFam (Feb 25, 2006)

Unreal








I am a firm believer in, "what comes around goes around" also, Nice Gets Nice.









"We Reap What We Sow. Whatever we sow, no matter what that might be, that is what we reap. Nothing more, nothing less." Sermons From Galatians - We Reap What We Sow (6:7-9)

The Good Guys Get the Bad Guys again!


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

in my last job I got 2 bosses fired for dishonesty. Did I feel good about it? can't say I felt good about them getting fired but I felt good about doing the right thing. The ones who really paid the price were their families. The second one I got fired was so blatant he coded some payables behind my back and sent them in. He wasn't smart enough and the codes were wrong. Payables called me and wanted to know why some car parts for a Beamer were being turned in???? you can guess what he drove. He also coded, are you ready for this??? a fake bill for someoutside work he said we had done. When payables called me to ask what kind of outside work did so and so do for us , I asked WHO? long story short, he loved golf and was in tight with a golf pro. He wanted new clubs. So they created a fake bill from the pro's golf shop about some outside work that was done for us. When the money arrived the pro was giving my boss the money so he could buy new clubs. He also raided our pop machine for coins. He also raided the honesty candy and snack box and never paid. He also turned things into petty cash for reimbursement that was falsified. We happened to also get burglarized one night, I arrived early in morning to find the broken windows and mess. I called him immeditately, (he lived here in town) and he quickly arrived 3 HOURS LATER.Hmmmmm....he turned in a nice insurance claim for his nice camera that was stolen. What camera? we never saw a camera. Ok, here's the kicker..ready? when he left he somehow got hired by a financial consulting firm to handle other peoples money! go figure!


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## CJ999 (Aug 11, 2005)

Wow that last post is over top too!

I remember driving in my carback in the late 90's when the radio station analyst was talking about how much money everyone was making... I remember thinking, "Right now, people are thinking of ways to make money illegallly that haven't been codified into law." I was way to uneduacted in the finance stuff to predict what those tricks might be but the bottom line is that it was ALL ABOUT GREED. Some people are just loosers in nice clothes.


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

CJ999 said:


> Wow that last post is over top too!
> 
> I remember driving in my carback in the late 90's when the radio station analyst was talking about how much money everyone was making... I remember thinking, "Right now, people are thinking of ways to make money illegallly that haven't been codified into law." I was way to uneduacted in the finance stuff to predict what those tricks might be but the bottom line is that it was ALL ABOUT GREED. Some people are just loosers in nice clothes.


the part I forgot is that when questioned about the "outside work", he said, well, he really was paying this guy to hack into the competitors computer................stupid, stupid,stupid.Don't know what was more stupid, that he made it up or that he even remotely intertained the idea of such a thing. Funny, I haven't thought of these things for years and it all comes back to me. He also was getting paid mileage for all the times he drove weekly over to our neighboring plant....until the guy there happened to mention the boss hadn't physically been there in weeks..............
ok, I am done. Don't even wanna think about it anymore!


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## Sluggo54 (Jun 15, 2005)

It isn't just bosses. Several years back we were having a blizzard. It was this time of year, and my neighbors were out of town. They called and asked me to move their car from the drive in back of the house, up the steep grade to the road before the snow made it impossible.

Sure, no problem.

This neighbor was a serviceperson for a major office equipment co. As I got into his car, I knocked his mileage reimbursement sheet off the dash. When I picked it up, I noticed the mileage on the sheet was half again that on the odometer. I guess greed knows no class...

These are the same folks that burned their own house down on Good Friday 2000 and got away with it...

Sluggo


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