Sample Worksheet - Fraud / Unfair Business Dealings

[PART I: "Anatomy of a fraud" article]

Read the short article titled ``Anatomy of a fraud'' and respond to the following questions.
  1. What is Kurzweil Applied Intelligence's area of business?
  2. What is an initial public offering?
  3. What is chicanery?
  4. What was the basic nature of the fraud?
  5. What are receivables and why were "soaring receivables" a "telltale signal" of the fraud?
  6. How does the article say that the fraud got started?
  7. How were the auditors fooled?
  8. What was Murray's role in the fraud?
  9. What was Campbell's role in the fraud?
  10. What was Bradstreet's role in the fraud?
  11. What was the role of the ``low-level staffers'' in the fraud?
  12. Who were the direct ``victims'' of the fraud?
[PART II: "Anatomy of a fraud" article]

Read the short article titled ``Anatomy of a fraud'' and respond to the following questions.
  1. Who did the legal system treat most appropriately in the incident? Who least appropriately? How would you change their punishments?
  2. Who was hurt most by this incident of fraud -- KAI itself, person(s) within KAI, stock purchasers, customers, others?
  3. As a ``low-level staffer'' early in your career, how would you handle it the first time you became aware of such a fraud in your company?
  4. Mark all of the positive comments made in the article about Bradstreet's character by people who knew him. What do you think motivated Bradstreet to do what he did? How can you go about trying to avoid the temptation(s) that Bradstreet succumbed to?
  5. Debra Murray turned herself in, gave detailed testimony against a person that she had worked with for nine years, and pled guilty to charges relating to her own role in the incident. Do you believe it was out of noble or selfish motivation? If you found yourself involved in a similar incident, how would you go about trying to handle it better than Murray did?
  6. Re-read the comments made about Bradstreet's character by people who knew him. Would your colleagues' comments about you be this positive? more? less?
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