Former WorldCom auditor Cynthia Cooper continues a conversation about the ethical downfall of the telecom giant in her new book, “Extraordinary Circumstances.” What caused employees at WorldCom to become complicit with the fraud? “Most people don’t wake up and say – I want to become a criminal today. Instead, they venture down a slippery slope one step at a time....

The day Cynthia Cooper’s life changed she was sitting in a hair salon wrapped in tin-foil when she received an angry call from her boss, WorldCom’s Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan As head of internal audit for the telecom giant, Cooper had asked the company’s external auditor, Arthur Andersen about a questionable accounting maneuver.  Sullivan was incensed that she was...

Colman McCarthy, peace activist, and former columnist for the Washington Post wrote a provocative Op-ed (Sanctimony’s Turn at Bat) on Roger Clemens’ appearance last February before a House Committee.  The purpose of the hearing was to discuss Clemens alleged steroid use as outlined in the Mitchell Report. “This is the second time members of Congress have posed as drug-busters cleaning...

John McCarthy is a former knuckleball pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization who, in 1992, started his Home Run Baseball Camp for kids in Washington, DC.  John teaches that“Talent is what you have; effort is what you give,” and there’s no room for drugs in striving to be your best. We had a conversation about baseball’s steroid scandal shortly after the...

“I’m a Congressional Representative who has been accused of using my position to promote business deals in Africa.” ? ? ? “The FBI videotaped me receiving $100,000 in $100 bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Virginia.” ? ? ? “A subsequent raid on my office by the FBI found $90,000 of the cash in my...

When it comes to corruption, the Four Horsemen of the Ethical Apocalypse remain:  Money, Power, Influence and Arrogance. In a 2006 survey that I conducted with Zogby International and the Center for Cultural Studies and Analysis, Americans have decidedly low levels of trust and confidence in its leadership.  “Most Americans,” the Center says, “have moved beyond thinking of violations of honesty...

Okay class, let’s all bow our heads in a moment of silence for the retirement of Robert Montgomery “Bobby” Knight, “the winningest coach in Division I men’s college basketball.” Moment over. I’m now going to say something that will more than likely be anathema to most college basketball fans on the planet:  I’m glad.  Thank God!  FINALLY!! After years of enduring...

Michael Clayton is about a man who’s traded his moral compass for a GPS device fixed on rank and wealth.  That emptiness you see in his eyes comes from the thousand-and-one compromises he’s made in his life until he wakes up one evening to a crisis of conscience. The crisis comes in the form of law partner and friend Arthur...