Stolen Without A Gun: Confessions from inside history's biggest accounting fraud - the collapse of MCI Worldcom [Hardcover]

Walter Pavlo Jr. (Author), Neil Weinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2007

Walter Pavlo, Jr. was a young MBA rising quickly through the finance ranks at the nation’s second largest telecom company. With a beautiful wife, two kids and a promising career, he epitomized the American dream. Pavlo’s life took a dark turn when he became a willing participant in the company’s efforts to hide from investors and potential acquirers a mountain of bad debt run up by mobsters and other unsavory customers. Encouraged by higher-ups, Pavlo became accomplished at accounting gimmickry. Then the jaded young executive consorted with a colorful scam artist and others to use some of the same ploys he’d devised for his employer to enrich himself at its expense. A ruse born of disillusionment and greed turned into a nightmare for Pavlo after he was caught and forced to choose--rat on his buddies or spend decades rotting in prison. His crimes ultimately cost Pavlo his freedom, family, reputation and self-respect. Only later did he recognize that his original sins were part and parcel of the corruption that led to an historic collapse for his company, his industry and of public confidence in corporate America. With humor and raw honesty, Pavlo and award-winning Forbes senior editor Neil Weinberg use this compelling personal story to portray in intimate detail the pressures millions of white-collar workers face every day.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Stolen Without a Gun reads like an Anarchist's Cookbook of Corporate Crime and illustrates well how an international money laundering scheme works (including how to nest embezzled funds in a series of quasi-legal Cayman Island bank accounts) while telling the personal tale of Walter Pavlo, Jr.... The narrative gives an inside perspective of how a business person could get wrangled into a high stakes game of money laundering. --CORPWATCH.com (November 1, 2007)

The book is a terrific read....There is no better training experience than to hear fraudsters describe, in their own words, how and why they committed fraud. Stolen Without a Gun takes a page from that book. --Journal of Accountancy (December 2007 - Recommended Reading of J of A)

About the Author

<div>Walter Pavlo, Jr. oversaw a $2 billion operation at MCI Communications before being caught embezzling $6 million. Since his 2003 prison release, Pavlo has made his living giving cautionary speeches on his crimes and the environment that bred them. His audiences have included the FBI, universities, professional societies and corporations. He has been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and on ABC's Nightline. Pavlo holds engineering and MBA degrees. Neil Weinberg is a Senior Editor at Forbes in New York. A fifteen-year veteran of the magazine, he has covered Wall Street, telecom and Asia. Weinberg originally profiled Pavlo's crimes in Forbes after receiving a letter from him in prison. In 2006 he received the Overseas Press Club's annual award for the best business story in a magazine. Weinberg holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature and an MBA.</div>

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Etika Books; First Edition edition (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979755808
• ISBN-13: 978-0979755804
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 1.1 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #508,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and enlightening October 23, 2007

By James R. Cannon

Format:Hardcover

Stolen Without a Gun is an insider's look at how, under corporate pressure to show profits and without proper oversight, the temptation to "cook the books" can turn an otherwise hardworking, well-meaning individual to fraud. What's particularly frightening is not only how easily the scheme was executed, but also how close it came to never being discovered. It's also an excellent demonstration of why accounting procedures, as time-consuming and obstructive as they may seem to be at times, are necessary to prevent this sort of thing from happening. I'd recommend this to anyone who works in a high pressure corporate environment.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Greg Kniska September 30, 2007

By Greg Kniska

Format:Hardcover

Stolen Without a Gun reads like a John Grisham novel, but is a true story. From the first few pages I was hooked and the book was hard to put down. Palvo and Weinberg tell the dark story of corporate corruption in such a way that you feel like you are experiencing some of the seedy events that ultimately brought down an entire industry. This is a fascinating financial thriller. Good intentions, power, corruption, greed, conviction and then redemption. This book has it all.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Scary inside look October 19, 2007

By D. Fisher

Format:Hardcover

Written in crime-novel style, this book shows how petty fraud and felony-class crimes alike bloomed at MCI as executives pushed their underlings to put up numbers that kept Wall Street happy. The depth of detail is startling, and could serve as a textbook for all the different ways public companies can cook the books. Required reading for any investor who's fallen in love with a high-flying stock.