KPMG’s little ‘improprieties’ – fancy word for financial crimes on behalf of the ruling class are summed up in Wikipedia. “Improprieties[edit]
In 2003, KPMG agreed to pay $125 million and $75 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the firm’s audits of Rite Aid and Oxford Health Plans Inc respectively.[42]
In 2004, KPMG agreed to pay $115 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the collapse of software company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV.[43][44]
In 2006, Fannie Mae sued KPMG for malpractice for approving years of erroneous financial statements.[45]
In February 2007, KPMG Germany was investigated for ignoring questionable payments in the Siemens bribery case.[46] In November 2008, the Siemens Supervisory Board recommended changing auditors from KPMG to Ernst & Young.[47]
In March 2008 KPMG was accused of enabling “improper and imprudent practices” at New Century Financial, a failed mortgage company[48] and KPMG agreed to pay $80 million to settle suits from Xerox shareholders over manipulated earnings reports.[49]
It was announced in December that two of Tremont Group’s Rye Select funds, audited by KPMG, had $2.37 billion invested with the Madoff “Ponzi scheme.”[50] Class action suits were filed.[51]
In August 2010, it was reported by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to the Swedish accountancy regulator after HQ Bank was forced into involuntary liquidation after the Financial Supervisory Authority revoked all its licences for breach of banking regulations.[52]
In August 2011, KPMG conducted due diligence work on Hewlett Packard’s $11.1 billion acquisition of the British software company Autonomy. In November 2012 HP announced a $8.8 billion write off due to “serious accounting improprieties” committed by Autonomy management prior to the acquisition.[53][54]
According to an independent panel formed to investigate irregular payments made by Olympus which reported in December, KPMG’s affiliate in Japan did not identify fraud at the company.[55]
In April 2013, Scott London, a former KPMG LLP partner in charge of KPMG’s US Los Angeles-based Pacific Southwest audit practice, admitted passing on stock tips about clients, including Herbalife (HLF.N), Skechers (SKX.N) and other companies, to his friend, Bryan Shaw, a California jewelry-store owner. In return Shaw gave London $60,000 as well as gifts that included a $12,000 Rolex watch.[56] On May 6 Shaw agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He also agreed to pay around $1.3 million in restitution and will continue to cooperate with the government as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.[57] This scandal led KPMG to resign as auditor for two companies.[58]
In 2015, KPMG was accused by the Canada Revenue Agency of Tax evasion schemes. “The CRA alleges that the KPMG tax structure was in reality a “sham” that intended to deceive the taxman.”.[59]
In 2016, the Canada Revenue Agency was found to have offered an amnesty to KPMG clients caught using an offshore tax-avoidance scheme on the Isle of Man.[60]
In 2017, KPMG terminated five partners in its audit practice, including the head of its audit practice in the United States, after an investigation of advanced confidential knowledge of planned audit inspections by its regulator.[61][62] This followed criticism about KPMG’s failure of uncovering illegal sales practices at Wells Fargo or potential corruption at FIFA, the governing international body of soccer.[62] It is reported in 2017 that KPMG had the highest number of deficiencies, among the Big Four, cited by its regulator in the previous two years.[63]
In 2017, KPMG paid a $6.2 million fine to the SEC for inadequacies in its audit of the financial statements of oil and gas company, Miller Energy Resources.[64]
South African complacency and corruption[edit]
In 2017, KPMG was found to be complicit in a business that siphoned billions of Rands (hundreds of millions of USD) out of the South African in collusion with the Gupta family.[65]
The Gupta family company in the mining sector, Oakbay, had been working with KPMG for 15 years prior to the revelations of corruption and collusion in 2016, at which point KPMG decided to stop auditing it. The full impact and financial profit that KPMG received is yet to be determined;[66] however, at least one large company has terminated its services with KPMG due to its relationship with Oakbay.[67]
As a result of rising political and public backlash, KPMG’s senior leadership – including its CEO, COO and others – were dismissed in September 2017.[68] Save South Africa, a civil-society group, accused KPMG and UK PR firm Bell Pottinger of playing a “central role in facilitating state capture”.[69].”
Now if you and I shoflift or blow up an ATM we go to jail, but because KPMG is a corporation it gets away with murder. The murder of kids deprived of health care, of people deprived of housing, education and social services – because it helps corporations to evade and avoid taxes, commit invoice fraud and generally steal from the public
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