Hear about ethics from a convicted white-collar criminal

Featured Events | Feb 16, 2012 | Nicole Gesualdo

So far this year, two whistleblowers have visited Gabelli to talk about business ethics. Now you’ll get to hear from someone who was on the other side of the coin — Walt Pavlo, a businessman who went to federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering.

It’s worth coming to hear his tale:

Date: March 1
Time: 5 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.
Location: O’Hare Special Collections (may change; registrants will be notified)
Register: http://gsb-access.com/student/eventSignup.aspx?eventid=3IR4v/LjXjg=

Mr. Pavlo took a serious wrong turn in his business career after becoming a senior manager in the telecommunications division of then-telecom giant MCI, where he was responsible for the billing and collection of nearly $1 billion in monthly revenue for MCI’s carrier finance division.

Beginning in March 1996, Mr. Pavlo, a member of his staff and a business associate outside of MCI began to perpetrate a fraud involving a few of MCI’s own customers. They defrauded seven customers of MCI over a six-month period, resulting in $6 million in payments to the Cayman Islands.

In cooperation with the federal government, Mr. Pavlo pled guilty in January 2001 to wire fraud and money laundering and entered federal prison shortly afterward. His story highlights the corrupt dealings involving the manipulation of financial records within a large corporation. His case appeared as a cover story in the June 10, 2002, issue of Forbes magazine, just weeks before WorldCom divulged that it had over $7 billion in accounting irregularities.

Since his release from prison, Mr. Pavlo often is invited to speak about his experiences and about business ethics. He aims to educate people, from FBI employees to university students, about the inner workings and motivations behind white-collar crime.

He will appear at Fordham courtesy of the provost’s office. Don’t forget to register!