Also included were university textbooks for his daughter, pornographic videos for his son, plastic surgery for his wife, a burial plot for his mother, prostitutes for his employees, and, for him, a $100,000 American-flag belt buckle encrusted with rubies, sapphires and diamonds.
…His lawyers also defended the hiring of prostitutes for employees and board members, arguing in court papers that it represented a legitimate business expense “if Mr. Brooks thought such services could motivate his employees and make them more productive.”
You'll find the setting explained here. I thank the keen-eyed Daniel Lippman for the pointer.
These are the benefits that come with no-bid military contracts.
Didn’t ya know.
@Jim, Or why there has to be competition in military procurement.
They really needed a picture of that belt buckle.
There was a picture of the belt buckle in the Telegraph’s paper edition but it’s been cropped off in the electronic edition. It’s good to learn what I get for my subscription.
The buckle: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/07/27/nyregion/27SUBFRAUD.html
It solves the one problem of conspicuous opulence. I don’t think that’s the main problem. We are after all reading a sensational story about it. And who could forget the toilet seat and the hammer.
lovely story. DARN those cursed military contractors, anyway!! i’ll bet we’ll never see a story like that about the bankers who got that piddling $500 billion and change in bailout money! huh-UH!!!
1. I didn’t see anything that said it was a no-bid contract. Even the HP post only said it was a “sole source” contract, which, it was claimed, created supply bottlenecks.
2. Why fraud committed by some dude should merit my taxes going up is logic that escapes me.
3. The belt buckle was in the picture accompanying the article.
@Norman Pfyster, Even having dual sourced would have reduced the likelihood of a high price.
Intel v. AMD.
Fred Thompson seems to have it nailed.
Still think it is a procurement issue, although the fact that they caught it gives kudos to an auditor.
More competition in military procurement.
@Norman, re: multiple sourcing: note stated that the problem arose from a bottleneck.
I am not sure if this is the case for modern day tanks… But the history books say this was most definitely the case during WWII.
“One of the many former shareholders who have been tracking the trial is Michael Adair, an accountant in his 60s who says he lost most of his retirement savings, $525,000, when the stock plummeted.
…”I did due diligence and it turned out it was all a lie,† he said in a recent interview. “This is a trial of greed. I’m hoping to get some justice.†”
So, he did his due diligence by investing most of his retirement savings in a single stock?
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