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Geeks Take Down Dirty C-Level Executives - With Email

blogs.ittoolbox.com — Two geeks at a small tech startup find out that their CFO and a few other executives are not only planning on selling the company and terminating all the employees, but padding their own pockets with millions and screwing the board of directors/investors. The two geeks take matters into their own hands using linux, postfix and some ingenuity.

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  • drollia, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21very entertaining. To bad that this doesn't happen to Employees more often
    • omnicore, on 10/12/2007, -91/+4Well if I was a CEO or COO or CFO I would take the money and run!
    • plamoni, on 10/12/2007, -3/+71As entertaining as it is, it sounds a little TOO good. Also, the only reason these guys would have even considered such a course of action is they knew their jobs were as good as gone already. Doing something like this is not only something that will get you fired really fast, but also, quite possibly, illegal. At the very least it could get you fired and probably sued.

      Don't try this at home :-)
    • retral, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25(Fact or fiction) still a good read.
    • TheRepublic, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6But they didn't in the end everyone found out and the exec's were fired on the spot.
    • rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18by plamoni:
      "As entertaining as it is, it sounds a little TOO good. Also, the only reason these guys would have even considered such a course of action is they knew their jobs were as good as gone already. Doing something like this is not only something that will get you fired really fast, but also, quite possibly, illegal. At the very least it could get you fired and probably sued."

      Maybe so, maybe no. Most companies have email policies that say that every email using a company email account is the property of the company and misuse of the company's email system is grounds for diciplinary action.

      Using company resources to visit illicit sites and conduct business with illicit sites is usually grounds for termination in of itself, let alone using company resources to backstab the board of investors. The board runs the company, and they can hire and fire cheif-level officers.

      So, you need to look at it from the board's perspective. An employee, through the use of company assets, revealed the mismanagement of company assets of one of your direct hires that you wouldn't have known about otherwise. Apon recieving this information, you fire your direct hire for breaking company policy and basically tring to backstab you.

      It's a no brainer. Not only did the employee reveal the misdeeds of one of your direct hires, the emploee also saved the company.
    • spanner, on 10/12/2007, -7/+15I don't believe a word of this story at all, it smells like an attempt at creating an urban myth.

      No digg from me for fabrications.
    • mDot, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4The story reeks of fiction, but its a good read none the less.
    • longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"Well if I was a CEO or COO or CFO I would take the money and run!" It is because of assholes like you that we have these problems. Have you even heard the words integrity or ethical before?
    • ivachen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5anyone got the porn site working? doesn't work for me.
  • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -8/+32Pretty good. Good time to wear:
    ALL YOUR EMAIL BELONGS TO ME! shirt.
    • ripcrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28"I read your email." shirt avail. at thinkgeek.com
    • panique, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Woulda been funny if everybody showed up on Monday wearing that shirt.
    • cheesalicious, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10All your email are belong to us.
    • hansdg1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3that would pretty much be ownage
    • stokestack, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3It's "E-mail", by the way.
    • Badaudio, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1All your email are belong to we?
  • joebrodie, on 10/12/2007, -38/+15And some people wonder why I hate execs...
    • badnewsblair, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36Who wonders that?
    • PecanHead, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23I do; I was wondering it like 5 minutes ago.
    • Bluezdood, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2LOL! I swear some of the funniest material I've ever read shows up in the comments on digg.
  • teamparadox, on 10/12/2007, -7/+22and how sure we are this is real...not very
    • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Good point, but it is a very geek-empowering story, so let's just assume it's real ;)

      Or you can go rampage on it, Million Little Pieces-style. Your choice.
    • Staryx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It's not whether it's real, but that it helps people...
    • Antimatter3009, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Either way it's entertaining and deliciously twisted. I don't see how you can complain :)
    • panique, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Real or not, it's a "Johnny Appleseed" story. So, be good geeks, read your boss's email and turn them in when they surf kiddie porn and try to screw everyone out of their fair share.
  • Scopitone, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16So shines a good deed in a weary world.
  • thirdplanet, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10I was thinking blackmail, myself.
  • crosenblum, on 10/12/2007, -11/+13I love this story very much...

    See money is one thing, but at the end of the day, doesn't make you happy or fulfilled. Just leaves you demanding more.

    Where as do a good job and be respected in your industry is something you can take to the grave..Well here is a poem that i find put's it better than i.

    To laugh often and much;
    To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
    To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
    To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
    To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
    To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
    This is to have succeeded.

    -Ralph Waldo Emerson
    • acdcbag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23This is not Emerson. This has been misquoted many times. It's a quote from a poem written by Bessie Stanley, supposedly. Not Emerson though. Peace.
    • inotocracy, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5Well, I have to disagree. Money does make you happy at the end of the day; think you'll be smiling if there is no roof over your head or food in your stomach?
    • tankko, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Crap. Money doesn't buy happiness, but what it does buy is security and the freedom to pursue the things that do make you happy.
    • mad1stl, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1@acdoucbag, why correct someone then say "supposedly"? If you dont "know" STFU
    • acdcbag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1mad1stl, google the words Emerson and success. Read my friend, read.
  • SouthernDigger, on 10/12/2007, -8/+15haha @littlepinkpirls.com... classic. Why is it that all fat old exec types are usually sleezballz as well?
    • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -11/+6Self loathing? They really seem to get off on the "untouched" aspect of kiddie porn. I suspect most of them got molested by their fathers at a young age.
  • manumitx, on 10/12/2007, -9/+15You are hired to do a job, and work on projects that may be sold at any time or may be worked on by someone in the future. Bottom line is run your own company or work for yourself.
    • wedgea18, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8Run your own company, self-employment only breeds bondage and no assets.
    • manumitx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7I understand that, however so many people cry about other people above them selling off the work that they have done. Just because you do work does not mean you OWN it. If that is a hard concept for someone to get their head around then they need to develope and market their own software or services etc...
  • FullMetalMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -20/+10At 11:10PM, the CFO sent the following email, which was BCC'd to all non-management employees.

    DATE: Fri, XX XXX 200X 23:10:03
    TO: billing@littlepinkgirls@littlepinkgirls.com
    FROM: cfo@screwedcompany.com
    SUBJECT: MY ACCOUNT

    This is the second time I have written you about my account 'randyboy' being terminated for non-payment. I have re-entered the credit card number (XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX), the expiration date (XX-XXXX) and the CVE number (XXX) and it still will not turn my account back on. I have been a customer for several years, and this billing problem is ridiculous. I demand that you activate my account or refund my $39.99 membership fee for the past two months.

    Holy crap! Our timing was unreal. Every non-management employee now knew :

    1) The CFO was a long-time member of a European pr0n site that featured 17-yo girls in nudie pictures.
    2) The CFO's personal credit card number, including expiration date and CVE number
    3) The CFO was quite pissed about not having access to the site

    ...........WHOWllyfreggincrap!!! This is probably the funniest thing that I have ever seen!

    I don't think that I am digging this enough!
    • johnjreiser, on 10/12/2007, -13/+13I still think this story is fake. Who pays for porn on the internet?

      Seriously though, this worked out too well for them (the evil CFO is also a pervert) and they experienced no reprocussions. Come on.
    • dgritsko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5don't forget, the dude was a total dumbass. this fits perfectly with the context of the rest of the story.
    • Motobike_man, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8you'd be surprised, my CEO once used his account to solicit escort services.
    • kowgod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7A ***** of people pay for porn on the internet. That's why it's such a profitable business, and why young girls all around the world are bought and sold into the industry.

      Youngish geeks might get their porn fix from usenet, but there is definitely a market for this sort of thing out there.
  • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -12/+17Geeks need to take on the role of modern day jedis. Justice is a beautiful thing.
    • barbobot, on 10/12/2007, -10/+39modern day jedis?
      jedis have never existed...
    • Staryx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15@ barbobot

      Not if people in England get thier way.
    • EnricoFermi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1long ago in a galaxy far far away...
    • golgotha, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I can't say that I agree.

      If I were the board, I'd fire the 3 Officers AND the system administrator.

      Face it folks, the sysadmin was being extremely unethical in reading any emails that didn't address the problem of overloading the partition. If a sysadmin accidently found something (like what they did find), they should have notified their next up manager and explain in detail exactly how accidental it was in finding such incriminating evidence.

      Those who don't agree with me probably aren't sysadmins (or at least not an ethical one).
    • Wizard_Prang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The plural of "Jedi" is... "Jedi"
    • superalamar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1odds are good the sysadmin would get fired and drug through the mud...its a moral dilema. the story is pretty obvioulsy BS though....so its all hypothetical.
  • zmigliozzi, on 10/12/2007, -19/+5ah hahaha i would digg this like 23461771123 times more haha.
  • themachina, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Good read, but those IT guys took a pretty big chance. They could've been fired and/or taken to court.

    Not saying a little vigilantism isn't a good thing, but watch your ass...
    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23If it went through, they would have been fired anyway. I don't see the risk there.
    • dougmc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2`If it went through, they would have been fired anyway' ... I do. What they did is almost certainly illegal, and the web page they put up pretty much shows that it wasn't an accident (which would be the best legal defense against charges.) They would get fired ... and then arrested and sued. And they'd probably lose.

      ... and I suspect the authors knew all this, which is why I think the story is a fake.

      That said, working as a sysadmin you do occasionally end up seeing the contents of private emails, even when you go out of your way to do the right thing and not read other people's email (whether policy or disclaimers permit it or not.) I don't know what I'd do if I saw an email like these people claim to have originally seen -- it would be a tough call.

      (Personally, I'd suggest that the executives should never have this sort of conversation in any medium that's as easy to archive (and as often archived) as email.)
    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"the web page they put up pretty much shows that it wasn't an accident.[...] They could get fired"

      And if they didn't do it, where would they be? FIRED!!
    • dougmc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0`And if they didn't do it, where would they be? FIRED!!' ...

      Did you read the rest of the sentence? `... and then arrested and sued. And they'd probably lose.'

      Being fired is bad (but not so bad if you're going to get laid off in two weeks, though it might mean you lose unemployment), but being arrested and convicted on computer cracking charges, and being sued and losing ... that's worse.

      They had a lot more to lose than their jobs. Assuming that the incident even happened, which I doubt.
  • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Yeah...I'm gonna need you to come into work on Saturday and Sunday....
    • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -27/+2*The article compares the CFO to Bill Lumberg from Office Space, I was just quoting the movie*
    • FreakTrap, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10yea, we got it...
  • flinx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18Does anyone else get the feeling that this is just elaborate spam for littlepinkgirls.com? ;)
    • matthewsr2000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8try typing in the address littlepinkgirls.com for yourself and see. . .
  • cannibal, on 10/12/2007, -34/+8Stop insulting them. They are ***** awesome. No one cares how elite you are. These guys got revenge. Now..to murder kevin rose and steal his beer..bwahaha
    • Staryx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22Heh, -2 diggs on the comment above at the time of this writing... Guess that just proves the 11th commandment.

      Thou shalt not plot to murder the creator and steal his beer.
    • panique, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1lol staryx ty
  • sabos, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24 I doubt this is true. It has all the hallmarks of an urban legend. A non-specific, cautionary tale that's appealing to the audience and a the bad guys get it in the end. I don't think so.
    • securitymonkey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21The guy that emailed me this story included the actual company name and several people's names. I had to sanitize it, because I don't like attracting lawyers to my blog - thank you very much. :-)~

      If you read back a few weeks, others have contributed similar types of stories.
  • AstroZombie138, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Funny, but sounds a bit fake to me. Assuming it is true, the admins are also unethical for disclosing his personal email and may have broken the law by doing so. I'm still wondering why every exec doesn't use PGP encryption for these delicate topics.
    • clevershark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14*I'm still wondering why every exec doesn't use PGP encryption for these delicate topics.*

      That guy couldn't even figure out how to get porn without paying, I doubt he has mastered PGP-fu.
    • olliholliday, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5because most execs of technology companies don't know the slightest bit about technology?

      hell our operations manager (on 3x the pay of us coders) was an ex second hand car salesman. We had the car company that had sacked him as one of our clients and they were absolutely amazed that a guy who couldn't even sell a car had been given this job.
    • dallen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8probably because most execs dont know PGP from a PSP
    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It was a company email account and therefore all messages sent belong to the company. Since he is no longer employed there, he can not hold rights to that message.
    • Tweekster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6How is it unethical.

      He had no right to privacy on the company email system.

      He was trying to screw people over, and he is a pervert commiting multiple felonies.

      Yeah, nailing him was sooo unethical, those geeks will certainly burn for that...rolls eyes.
    • madcow222, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The company I work for has the same policy that ccanni1028 brought up. Given that, I don't see where a legal issue would come up. But of course that company may have had different policies.
  • n00854180t, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Just goes to show, it's not really a good idea to ***** with people that control the equipment that runs your business. Though really, getting fired is too good for these "execs". In a better world, they'd have been tortured to death.
    • Rmplstltskn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2That's a bit extreme no?
    • n00854180t, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't know, I honestly don't think it's extreme. Such people tend to suffer some form of anti-social disorder (sociopathy), and don't really contribute anything to society. Just a waste of air, in my opinion.
    • Rmplstltskn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Maybe, but ...torture, that's pretty rough.
    • hammy559, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Like the movie Hostel but the corrupt execs as the victims. They would be thinking things differently when treated with sharp objects. No?
    • hammy559, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0[Duplicate from above]
  • clevershark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Geeks beat suits... gotta love it, if it's true.
  • znelson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18funny, i did the same thing to an ex-girlfriend so I got bcc'd on every mail sent and bounced a copy of every incoming mail. found out about her cheating and beat her to the punch. unfortunately it wasn't a literal "punch".
    • Dhalgren, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Maybe she was cheating on you because she thought you didn't trust her...
    • chrisgac, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I agree with the other reply to your post. It's disgusting that you volated her privacy. I can't believe you're +14. She might have violated your trust but you were equally in the wrong.
    • longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3*****. Most of the time you can tell something has changed if they are cheating, so he was just confirming his suspicion. And by the way, cheating is far worse than snooping.
    • Wizard_Prang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I wonder if those who made the comments on trustworthiness would feel the same if it was the guy who was doing the cheating and the girl who was doing the checking...

      Sauce for the goose, my friends. In my mind, the one excuse for unethical behavior is to expose suspected behavior that is even more unethical. Does that make it right? No... but it does make it understandable.

      Ladies, Geeks are generally superior marriage prospect... but don't lie to one; they know stuff :)
  • spect3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Great read.. not sure how valid it is, but if it is.. good on 'em :)
  • paralax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So the CEO's get 1 year salary even though they were doing underhanded things. Can't you terminate their contracts without compensation when they act against the company's wishes?
    • CaffiendCA, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Depends on the contract, but this would create a nice cause of action for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, etc.
    • spacemanspork, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Remember, that a lot of CEOs that screw companies over get like millions of dollars for severance. To be honest, it's almost GOOD to get fired as a CEO. A lot of them get millions of dollars severance and they easily find another job immediately. :(
    • nogami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's also probably a method of obtaining a "clean break". Sure, the company is out some cashola for getting rid of the idiots, but it also helps to ensure that there's no potential "airing of dirty laundry" that could hurt the company and the execs. In most cases, companies are more than willing to pay what basically amounts to "hush money" to make sure that problems go away and don't come back. There might even be non-disclosure agreements around the termination pay to enforce it.

      N.
  • ImOscar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Great story, but I'm gonna go ahead and wave the BS flag.
  • shirashi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Is this really true?

    Nice story, but seems a little too good.

    I don't know, not so many happy endings to be found in business these days.
    • diggerphelps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Plenty of 'happy endings' in the pron business.
  • d0nkeyBOB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't really care if its valid or not, makes for a good story no matter what.
  • Kitsune818, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Ehh. Yeah, right.. I'd be more inclined to believe that the two who did it would be languishing in lawsuits and/or jailtime. I actually worked at an ISP and ran one of the qmail servers. The bosses mail was full of incriminating stuff.. but no one dared do anything with it.
  • MadKennyP, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I love the postfix.
  • djdole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Personally, I believe any company that is in the process of being purchased should be watched closely prior to the buy-out/merger to prevent such devious actions. (Such as those attempted by the CEO, COO etc, AND those by the IT admins.)

    Wouldn't lining your pockets, as such is described in this story, involve some sort of prosecutable federal fraud against the shareholders?
    • werddrew, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3What they were doing might have been mean and exploitative, but probably wasn't illegal. The company had an idea, some intellectual property, and some employees. Some other company wanted the idea and the intellectual property. All the CFO did was act like a jerkstore in not rewarding the employees for their hard work in making the company desirable to the parent comapny. Mean, but not illegal.
  • Dietrich, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So freaking awesome. I'm glad I work for an honest company.
    • sremick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Most employees think that up until the last minute when their company implodes and the execs are hauled into court.
    • Mantarii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I know that I work for a company that is evil. Not evil at the top, so much, as just collectively evil. They're not very nice people. If it wasn't for these damn golden handcuffs, I'd move onto a company I could trust. One day soon, I'm sure, thing will blow up at a level far above me, and I'll be out of a job.

      The best thing you can do when you work at an evil company is to realize that they are evil. Then you, yourself, can be evil. Self-interest goes a long way at an evil organization.
  • godmode, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Somehow i get the feeling that that email was just wishful thinking. That porn part was paticularly unbelieveable.
  • newAccount, on 10/12/2007, -30/+0I had this fat assed unix geek try to pull this sort of crap at my company, he looked just like your typical fatass perl using doofus, just like that fat slob on "jurassic park". I planted some "cracking scripts" in his dir and called the police on him and got him arrested for hacking.
    • smackfumaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Cracking scripts"? And you even put them in quotes. Mod -10 Lamer
  • karn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I know someone who is an IT auditor, and stories like this are very common. I mean aside from the workers getting back at the boss. Apparently there are lots of corporate takeovers and sales, all employee's are summarily let go after the acquisition. My friends job is to find out whats going on at companies, and make sure information about a sale is not leaked to the employee's. Its all about keeping people in the dark so they don't sabotage the company in the process. Which is exactly what happened. The people who did this may find they have a hard time finding a job in the future if it becomes known that they are a security risk.
  • snowballs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Clever? - yes. Legal? - doubtful. True? - even more doubtful.

    If the CFO of any company, no matter how much of a pre-vert he or she is, has been setup to bcc everyone in the company unknowingly, leads me to believe that these IT guys could minimally be prosecuted for fraud - particularly for essentially intercepting a financial officer's email and sending it out to an "allemps" alias. Example - it is typical that if you disclose earnings information for your company x days before the quarterly earnings statement is released, you'd better hope that you could fall back on a burger flipping career, if you weren't doing time.
    • neozeed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah the SEC doesnt take to kindly to this kind of thing. Somehow I suspect that stealing the email is just that. Either way I would imagine the board adding at least 2 others onto the 3 C** people being tossed.
    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They didn't steal the email. It was sent from a company-owned account, on company-owned mail servers. That email is property of the company.
  • Nasso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0does it matter if its true? :P it is still funny as hell!
  • newAccount, on 10/12/2007, -23/+8the trick here is to run genuine microsoft products that have accountability built in. unix has backdoors that allows your low paid computer plumbers to change things to their advantage. if you run genuine microsoft products you can't fake stuff without leaving audit trails
  • ChileanGoD, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Revenge of the nerds!
  • jeffjonez, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Mildly amusing, but just watch the IT Crowd instead.
    ...oh, and begging for diggs? Lame.
  • DannySpace, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I love it when a geek let's the digital fists fly!
  • MrGeneric, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If they acted in the best interests of the shareholders and the board of directors, and that happened to benefit the company and every decent person employed by it, then they did a good thing.

    But how could they have known for sure that they were doing the right thing in the first place?

    Interesting story and a very sticky question. If it is a true story I am glad it worked out well for everyone, except the corrupt and treacherous CFO. I have seen evil people like that myself, more often than not they get away with their predatory and sociopathic behavior and they hurt a lot of good people.

    • snowballs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The policies of most decent sized (and organized) U.S. companies go something like this.

      Normally when you are hired, you sign a confidentiality agreement.

      In that, usually you have the...

      - don't share confidential information outside of your work scope, or your need to know

      and

      - it is everyone's responsibility to " blow the whistle " or notify any conduct violations, and you will be granted immunity if you do so.

      BCCing everyone in the company outside of the management team is not blowing the whistle nor acting in the best interest of the company. It's retaliation, plain and simple. Most companies don't tolerate that - and even fewer CFOs are worth losing a job (and possibly a career) over.

      Also, if your company is sold or merged or whatever, such discussion about the actual employees not being a transferable asset - well, the fact is they aren't. Typically they would have to minimally re-apply for their positions and hopefully sign confidentially agreements this time around.
    • geekee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"If they acted in the best interests of the shareholders and the board of directors, and that happened to benefit the company and every decent person employed by it, then they did a good thing."

      If the President acted in the best interests of United States citizens, and that happened to benefit the United States and every decent person living there, then they did a good thing (using unauthorized wiretapping without a court order)?!?
    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"and even fewer CFOs are worth losing a job (and possibly a career) over." RTFA. If they didn't do that, they were guaranteed to lose their jobs.

      "Also, if your company is sold or merged or whatever, such discussion about the actual employees not being a transferable asset - well, the fact is they aren't." This is a known fact, but most companies will give you a severance package when you are laid off. It is known that the company did have severance packages, because the CFO got one. The CFO "repeatedly fought off the CEO and COO desire for compensation packages for employees that had been around for at least one year of employment."

      "If the President acted in the best interests of United States citizens, and that happened to benefit the United States and every decent person living there, then they did a good thing (using unauthorized wiretapping without a court order)" This is completely unrelated. That is an overused policy that has a low ratio of positive to negative results. I don't even know how you could think it was somehow related to this.
  • master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7they are lucky that their United States Attorney office decided not to get involved, a friend of mine gotten in a lot of serious ***** for doing something along the same lines. he would have just gotten a slap on the wrist from the company he worked for and been able to keep his job, but the United States Attorney decided to file charges for computer crime and make an example of him. the indictment exaggerates what actually happened

    http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2005_02_16_meydbray.html

    http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2005_11_30_MeydbraySentence.htm

    although had I been in the same situation as these geeks I would have done the same thing



    • FullMetalMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What language is that?!?
    • evilTak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This appears to be totally different - he logged into the mail server two weeks *after* they fired him (good job, network security), deleted a domain, and set up email blocks.
    • master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@FullMetalMonkey - had to rush my comment, we having been having DNS problems at my company and i have been running around all day, i was rewriting part of my comment and didnt look it over.

      @evilTak - "terminated employment" doesnt always mean fired, the HR dept where i work refers to any employee as "terminated" regardless of being fired or leaving on their own accord. roman was still consulting for creative explosions and just had a disagreement with president and he did something immature and irresponible (the way he descirbed it to me). at his trial the president actually testified for romans defense. like i said before the US Attorney office just wanted to make an example of him. he got four month probation and 200 hours community service, plus for his probation he could not touch or operate a computer without the approval of his probation officer.

      so my point was that what these geeks did is technically illegal and they could have suffered a fate similar to romans
  • Continium, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Pretty sure its fake but very entertaining nonetheless. Dugg.
  • vvaduva, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Funny story, but how can a CFO single handed sell a company without the approval of the board and investors? This makes no sense...
    • neozeed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Very true, the board has ownership, while the cfo just does the finances. How could you shop the company without owning it??? The only thing I could think of is that the CFO is also a board member, with a majority stake. But if that were the case, I dont think he would fire himself. Now if he had a minority stake, he could be still bound by the board on rules to sell, as they may have rights to first refusal...

      This story makes no sense.
    • masonreloaded, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They could have easily been manipulating deals, secretly talking to potential buyers, moving assets, into a position that would favor them when a potential takeover went through.
    • scosol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You sound confused- the CFO wasn't accused of somehow selling the company without the board's knowledge- he was accused of being a tight bastard and colluding with the COO and CEO to defraud the other investors through some backdoor deal involved in the acquisition. I've already commented on the utter BS-nature of this story, but another thing to note: "tight bastard" = "good CFO".
  • willhaney, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Fake story, no digg.
  • ascheinberg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2If I were the board, I'd fire, and probably sue, the admins. Who would trust them after that? Aside from it almost definitely violating several laws, it's totally out of line. They hired you, they can fire you. Whether it's dirty or not, and it appears to be, it's still the officers' company to run.
    • thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Personally I'd rather have people capable of taking the initiative and protecting the company rather than the crooks working for me, but hey, that's just me, and I'm not a crook :)
    • n00854180t, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You'd fire the admins for preventing the CFO from screwing the company and making ***** of profit off of its demise, in the process screwing the investors that built it? Good idea. /sarcasm.

      (I submit this comment regardless of the truth/falsity of the story in question.)
    • agimat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1They got their information from reading the CEO's email.

      They should still get fired then sued. duh.
  • bloodguard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3While it's a lovely story and they told it well I'm also throwing down a BS flag. As vvaduva mentioned a CFO can't single handedly barter off a company. Boards of startups are usually made up of the original investors. Any deal that shafted them and/or overly enriched the C-Level execs would be squashed and said execs would be punted into the parking lot.

    And if you sign on as a -strictly salary for work- position you need to expect (and plan for) your company to push you out the airlock once they're done with you. So either move up the food chain (start your own company), negotiate a better contract signing on or always have a plan b company waiting in the wings to jump to.
  • otherland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This is so unethical. It gives a bad name to geeks. These employers were contracted by the company. Most states are fire at will. And employees were all compensated for those 80 hour weeks in their salary.
    Come on, nobody is surprised when a start up gets bought. Would they have done the same if their company was going to go under?
    • thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2lol, salary by definition doesn't compensate for 80 hour weeks. Don't be a drone -- make your future.

      Their play could have failed and I wouldn't feel horrible for them, but it paid off, and they deserve it.
    • otherland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"lol, salary by definition doesn't compensate for 80 hour weeks. Don't be a drone "


      Um, an average yearly salary is higher than an average yearly wage specifically because salaried jobs demand more.
      Get a clue. They don't deserve *****. If they had balls they'd give their names.
    • thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Um, an average yearly salary is higher than an average yearly wage specifically because salaried jobs demand more.
      Get a clue. They don't deserve *****. If they had balls they'd give their names."

      Umm, not anywhere I've ever worked.
    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Salaries are for full-time jobs. In the US, a full-time job is considered 40 hours per week. They were working double that.
  • Sargasso_C, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Someone had trouble selling a film script and sold it on the web instead. I wish people would read critically.
  • macewan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2So if an employee is aware that the CEO or CFO of their organization is acting in an unethical fashion by taking money that should go to the organization or in general goofing around with the organizations money & each other... what would we recommend to an individual in such a situation???

    Ethics & moral behavior seems to be lost on those in charge now days.
  • zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well the story true or not. it was still good.
    Tho I have been on the other end of that story. Working for a dot-com , 80 hour weeks.
    Backdoor deals made with Microsoft of all company's.
    Everyone was dumped and the CEO and CFO running away with a bag of cash.
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