Paperworks Stalls Criminal Prosecution

NORTELLost amid Nortel’s bankruptcy proceedings and the dumping of all of its assets is the fact that criminal prosecution against three ex-Nortel executives – Frank Dunn, Doug Beatty and Michael Gollogly – is still happening. The trio were charged by the RCMP in 2008 for allegedly cooking Nortel’s books to trigger a lucrative bonus structure.

The case, however, has been bogged down due to disagreements over the amount of documentation involved – nearly 23 million pages, according to the Financial Post. The Crown has been given until April 1 to organize all these documents so it can be searched by the defendants.

According to the FP, the three executives agreed to go straight to trial without a preliminary hearing. They will be tried before a judge alone of the Superior Court. No date has been set for their trial.

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  • qcboris
    Trivia time....Apart from the connection between Manley's law firm and Dunn, there is another. John Manley's cousin, Tom Manley, was Dunn's right hand man as his deputy until 2001. This period covered the first half of the allegations against Dunn. Dunn and T. Manley had been buddies for many years. Tom Manley left Nortel in 2001 and went through a CFO few jobs, even CFO briefly of Avaya. Dunn obviously wasn't so lucky. I am sure Dunn wishes he had been the deputy. They only shoot sheriffs.
  • protosphere
    http://www.deltek.com/company/boardofdirectors/thomasmanley.asp

    Executive Biography
    Thomas Manley, Director; Chief Financial Officer, Avaya, Inc.

    Thomas Manley joined the Board of Directors in August, 2008 and serves as chairman of the Deltek Audit Committee. Mr. Manley is a software and telecommunications senior executive with more than 25 years of global experience in a variety of leadership roles. He was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer of Avaya Inc., a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services, in July 2008. Prior to this position and beginning in 2001, Mr. Manley was the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Administration of Cognos (an IBM company), a leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions. Before joining Cognos, Mr. Manley spent 18 years with Nortel Networks, most recently as Chief Financial Officer for the High Performance Optical Component Solutions Group.

    Mr. Manley graduated with distinction from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada where he received his B.S. in engineering. He received his M.B.A from Queen's University in Ottawa, Canada.


    ________________________________________________________

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/a-pawn-of-big-business-not-john-manley/article1235372/

    Jul. 30, 2009

    The crash and sale of Nortel comes as a heavy blow to John Manley. He was invited to join the Nortel board of directors in 2004, when the company was in a free fall. Nortel told him he could bring some well-needed credibility. Out of a sense of public service, he agreed.

    Credibility was not forthcoming.

    “I guess some of them thought that when I went on the board, it would change everything.”

    He is angered that the federal government didn't come to Nortel's assistance.

    __________________________________________________________


    http://www.financialpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=1734573

    Think before regulating: John Manley

    As a former politician, John Manley understands that the politically expedient thing for policy makers is to over-regulate in the aftermath of major events -- a financial crisis, for example -- to ensure history does not repeat itself.

    But in his new job as president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the former deputy prime minister and finance minister said it will be his task to persuade policy makers to think before regulating.

    "we have to make sure that regulation is not stupid, that it doesn't lead to a loss of innovation and entrepreneurial-ism, because that is what will ultimately lead the economy to recover and to respond."

    "I don't' think any one argues there should be no regulation. But at the same time you want to make sure that you do it in an intelligent fashion, and that will be the task -- that we don't saddle ourselves with something that may make some superficial sense, but in the long-run they are going to cost us prosperity."

    (look what fraud did to the economy and shareholders and he wants less regulation?)

    In a statement, Gordon Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada CEO and CCCE chairman, cited Mr. Manley's political and business experience as a key reason why he was tapped to succeed Mr. d'Aquino. (as President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives)
    (Wasn't ex-Nortel insider and ex-CFO Currie also an RBC insider?)

    He is currently senior counsel at McCarthy Tetrault, and sits on the boards of Nortel Networks Corp.


    _________________________________________________

    http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/446516

    Fallen Nortel boss busted

    "It's the biggest (financial scandal) in Canada, one of the biggest in the world,"

    McCarthy Tétrault, the law firm representing Dunn, said it expects him to be acquitted.

  • scalppeeler
    So whaddya call that "The brotherhood of dirtbags"?
  • scalppeeler
    John Manley failed Canadian workers at Nortel Miserably.
    He is only interested in Rich Canadians like Dunn who can pay him.
    Poor Canadians or middle class Canadians do not matter to Mr Manley.
    He is either in bed with the rich or bringing in immigrant Canadians of Convenience
    so they can be fed with our tax dollars via the refugee/welfare route.
    He is a Liberal.
  • less
    Stuffing the channel has pretty much been Dunn's solitary trick.

  • longgone
    "Dunn's lawyer, Tom Heinzmann says his client is "living a nightmare that every executive officer dreads."

    a well deserved nightmare.....executives with strong ethical and moral standards have nothing to dread....
  • protosphere
    Dunn's Crys Pay My Legals Fees!

    http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=45162&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10#

    Now, after making himself all but invisible for five years, Mr. Dunn is back - and squealing.

    Dunn, who, at the time of his dismissal was building an opulent multi-million dollar lakefront mansion for himself and his car collection, is claiming that his director's liability coverage was rescinded without cause

    So, did you manage to dredge up a scintilla of sympathy for Dunn from amidst all the ordure? No neither did I. Not even the tiniest glimmer of iron pyrites at the bottom of the pan.

    Chubb rescinded the liability coverage provided to Dunn and Beatty back in 2003 on the grounds that there had been "misrepresentations"

    Perhaps they can take it out of the huge bonuses they arranged for themselves?

    the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and US criminal investigation agencies, continue on their stately way

    SEC and other agencies are alleging Dunn and Beatty were involved in two completely separate frauds.

    For five years, he has been facing this litigation and defending himself from allegations he says are false. And he is presumed innocent."

    Yes, and innocent too are all the Nortel shareholders. Also blameless are the thousands of ordinary Nortel staffers
    as the company's pathetic management fiddled as Toronto burned and their personal bank accounts swelled.

    Lawyer Heinzmann contends that "nobody can defend themselves against the SEC without the insurance that was in place for his protection" and that Dunn "should not have to bear that burden." Oh really? Why not? Lots of other, very much poorer people are having to bear onerous financial burdens because of him.

  • 4merEmployee22
    I wonder how much Mr. F. Dunn is suing Nortel ?

    I would really like to sue Nortel too for my rights of being DEPRIVED,
    but I couldn't affored lawyers fee. Some charges $200 to $500 per hour.
  • 4merEmployee22
    WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF TURNING THIS TRIALS INTO A

    "PUBLIC HEARINGS?" ( shacks!!!....just my wishful thinkin' he he he! )

    Since the RCMP - Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Canada) filed the
    fraud charges against this compnay... doesn't the PUBLIC have the right
    to know what the federal RCMP is charging Nortel for any FRAUD dealings?


  • McBeese
    You guys have too much time on your hands. Why are you still here every day? Nortel is dead and gone. It's time to move on and get a life.
  • 4merEmployee22
    Yes, my friend NORTEL was my Life for 30 years!

    Don't you ever talk about dead relatives? NORTEL was our relative!

    Someone killed her? They wished her to die! Gasping now for her last breath!
  • 4merEmployee22
    I wonder Who will deliver the last Eulogy?

  • less
    Statute of limitations is pretty short in some parts....
  • Zhacknightmare
    Nortel Dead.....Not for the Creditors or those on Pensions or Long Term Disability.

    Hey even for Z, Owens or Strangler NT is still alive as they hope to loot what remains.

    Who are you? Bo Gowan maybe, or an Avaya employee hoping this thing just goes away.
  • less
    Expected verdict: April Fools, fools.
  • protosphere


    http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/446516

    "It's the biggest (financial scandal) in Canada, one of the biggest in the world,"

    Canadian law on white-collar crime remains much laxer than it is in the United States

    If U.S. authorities laid criminal charges, Dunn could resist extradition by arguing we have got a competent process already engaged in the courts, "It's like double jeopardy: We don't want the U.S. to step in here like big brother in this one particular instance."

    McCarthy Tétrault, the law firm representing Dunn, said it expects him to be acquitted. "We are confident that the evidence will demonstrate that Mr. Dunn acted honestly and diligently in the interests of Nortel's shareholders and employees at all times," the law firm said in a statement.

    Canada has long had a name for having a particularly easy-going, laissez-faire attitude to the oversight and policing of its stock markets and has also acquired a reputation for bringing fraud charges that don't stick.




    http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=43356&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10#


    in the case of three former executives of Nortel it has taken more than four years just to frame fraud charges against them.

    Reporting restrictions were imposed

    the Mounties have had a team of 50 investigators working on the indictment. They have examined more than 20 million electronic and paper records as they sought to build a case against the three.
    "It's taken while but we think we've got 'em".

    What's more, in the aftermath of high-profile corporate fraud cases such as Enron, WorldCom and Tyco, while the US authorities moved quickly to make sure that regulations and laws were massively tightened, Canada's white-collar crime laws remain notoriously lax and old-fashioned.

    For reasons that few could understand and none were willing to explain, Frank Dunn, a run-of-the-mill certified accountant of little charisma was, in 1999, plucked from obscurity in one of Nortel's bean-counting departments and promoted to the position of CFO. And then, only a short while later he found himself propelled into the CEO's chair

    in January 2004 it seemed he had confounded the global trend when he announced that that company has made an entirely unexpected but very welcome profit in 2003.Euphoria reigned even as invisible the rot at the heart of the 113 year-old corporation spread.

    The reality was that the profits, the first reported by Nortel for seven long years, were entirely fictitious (it later transpired that they had been falsely inflated by $3.4 billion) but Dunn's bullish words and his immaculate accounts books resulted in the triggering of $13 million in bonus payments to him and his co-defendants.

    Frank Dunn moved quickly to surround himself with all the trappings that his ill-gotten wealth could now afford him. He started to build a grandiose 10,800 squre-foot, six-bedroomed, seven-bathroomed neo-French chateau on a massively expensive 1.6 acre plot fronting on to Lake Ontario.

    It was one of the biggest disasters in Canadian corporate history and had huge knock-on effects around the world, not least in New York where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that has been working with the Mounties on their investigation, is very keen to have Dunn and Co. pop down to New York for a chat.

    However, the chances of them turning up in the US are remote in the extreme. Were the trio to face charges and trial in the US and be found guilty, the punishments they would get would be very much more severe than anything that might be meted out in Canada. Therefore trips down below the 49th Parallel for the three are quite literally off limits for the forseeable future.

    the series of "accounting errors" were "discovered" and through the embarrassing series of forced financial restatements that followed and brought the company to its knees.

    regardless of what, or what doesn't happen to those now charged with orchestrating the frauds that all but destroyed a once great company.

    Amusingly, even as all this is happening, Mr. Dunn is suing Nortel for wrongful dismissal.


    ______________________________________


    Dunn's lawyers:"MaCarthy Tetrault"
    John Manley Nortel board members AND Senior Counsel, McCarthy Tétrault LLP; Former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

    Also:
    http://www.mccarthy.ca/news_release_detail.aspx?id=4584
    McCarthy Tétrault proudly congratulates the Honourable John Manley on his appointment as President and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).
  • yes4aapl
    Look Proto what the article said
    """After years of civil fraud allegations, investigations, lawsuits and multi-million-dollar settlements over the accounting scandal at Nortel Networks Corp., yesterday's move by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police marks the first criminal charges to be laid.""""

    The Star

    Kenneth Kidd Feature Writer

    Published June 20. 2008

    Do you think that Kenneth Kidd should mention $2.7 bill fraud allegation settlement?
    Is it somewhere in his article? What multi-million-dollar he is talking about?
    What about Top Ten List of biggest frauds ever?
    They were Top Ten based on the settlement's size.
    But Nortel has been the biggest fraud ever based on 10 million investors defrauded for $300 bill and 100 000 employees lost their jobs.

    read that
    ===========
    The Era of Mega-Settlements: Seven of the Ten
    Largest Settlements Occurred in 2005-2006
    In 2000, the $3.6 billion Cendant settlement dwarfed
    all prior class action settlements.9 For the next four years,
    no settlement would approach even one-fifth of its size.
    In 2005, however, Cendant lost its title as the largest
    settlement, bumped by the $6.2 billion WorldCom
    settlement. Now, in 2006, with only some of the
    defendants settled, Enron’s $7.1 billion settlement has
    already knocked WorldCom out of the top spot. In
    fact, seven of the ten largest securities class action
    settlements have occurred in 2005 and 2006.
    These mega-settlements share a common feature: they
    are associated with enormous “investor losses.” Investor
    losses—an estimate of what investors lost over a class
    period relative to an investment in the S&P 500—are the
    single most powerful predictor of settlement size.10 Thus,
    while eye-popping settlements have grabbed headlines
    recently, their magnitude is not surprising in light of the
    losses involved.11
    In what will surely be chilling news to non-US issuers
    already wary of being embroiled in US litigation, three of
    the six 2006 settlements on the top ten list, two for Nortel
    Networks of Canada and one for Royal Ahold NV of the
    Netherlands, were by non-US companies. The larger of the
    Nortel settlements exceeds the previous record for a foreign
    issuer, Daimler-Chrysler, by a factor of more than three.
    nera.com 5
    Seven of the ten largest
    securities class action
    settlements have occurred
    in 2005 and 2006.

    link pdf
    http://www.mmc.com/knowledgecenter/BRO_Recent_Trends_SEC1288-final.pdf.
    and some calculations
    here
    Originally billed as a $2.47 billion U.S. deal, the settlement grew to become the fourth biggest in U.S. class action history at $2.7 billion when Nortel insurance companies agreed to pay $228.7 million more. Only the Worldcom, Enron and Cendant deals were bigger.
  • protosphere
    Not only is Manley's law firm defending Dunn, the board traded options for cash yet again, I suspect to diffuse from the original options for cash fraud in that it can happen, and did, and does.

    Nortel's refusing to chase past officers even after repeated requests, refusing to negotiate pay practices in ultimatum settlement they later tanked with revisions for even future periods as a slam dunk sure means to mark-to-market profits, refusal to attend government inquiry until subpoenaed, etc... it was endless

    The fraud settlement was not paid in full as settled or they called "fair". The shares portion tanked to claim mark-to-market profits, caused by wiping out their future post fraud settlement period "triple profits" BS Q205. Guaranteed to tank the stock or what, that they also downplayed. The liars claimed they did not know they would fold when they had bankruptcy Binning on board for around a year after so many insider only CFOs. ...endless

    Endless strong circumstantial events just don't seem to be enough in retarded Canada where they extend liberties from listing largest pension shortfall in bond application to having largest asset a tax credit on books they extended cleaning for half a decade and still isn't right for ambiguities to arise in millions of court documents.

    It was endless, and the point being that the fraud was allowed to be perpetrated by those not at the crime scene (acting as a whole) by extending so many liberties! Little or no regulatory fines for what I call the largest fraud on earth for the level of mass orchestration, rewarding themselves to print paper after fraud settlement they tanked, paying bonuses after bankruptcy while cutting severances, etc., etc., etc, endless ...and as the most sinister corporation on earth by far hands down bar none.

    Too many liberties extended all along to this day, too many powerful people or high profilers, and now too many court theatrics for the largest mass orchestrated fraud on the planet as Owens termed, so "many still there difficult to find". Owens was not as good a shoe-in like as BSc Mikey who defrauds very first day or promotes and golden parachutes to Avaya criminally charged pal after so many abrupt departuress, like slandered ethical Gary, ethics officer, suddenly retired and one of largest bonus recipient legal officer, plea bargained board, etc...endless, what an evil empire

    To be seen to be believed, no where but in Canada my friend, and who is watching, who is listening, who is doing anything about it amid the macro-ambiguities as an army of lawyers try their hand at rewriting the laws of physics. Even increased lawsuit insurance who's premiums get paid first like their legal bills.

    Oh Canada, strong and free? Thank god for Harper's distaste to adgates/airbusgates. Our spoiled and mean spirited provincial and municipal levels legalizing gambling with open season on the most disadvantaged are also as great as a joke as the OSC, and this is where most of Canada's population resides. Toronto burns, even our attorney generals seem to have some great privilege contrary to what they institute. Like EDC exporting jobs, it is endless. There are plenty of reasons for outrage as people are led to slaughter or worse yet suffer all their lives under such tyranny with no change, no protest, no outrage.

    It's a joke of a system past record bank /gov't. profits/surplus as masses saw and see record debt, jobless recoveries only assisted the big guy with no one to leach from now after small business accounted for the economies backbone in better times, before GSTs now HSTs, endless mismanagement and crooked tyranny benefiting too few dishonestly. Honesty and hard work use to be a guarantee to success, now one needs loopholes, and army of layers, or enough political or economic power. Yesteryear's integrity and leaders are dead, their kids are an elite of corrupt and incapable spoiled brats, no better exemplified in analogy to Nortel. Copulate Nortel, they are thankfully gone, like disgraced governments.
  • 4merEmployee22
    What's with this folly of 23 million pages???

    It may be reduced to just 1 page and one quote...

    "Oh yes, we screwed up big time!!! No doubt about it!"
    So sorry Canada. We hope your grandchildren can forgive us?"

    Nortel is history! Business 101 will never be the same!
    Sorry your Honor, we will not have a chance to do it again!
  • TongueInCheek
    What's with this folly of 23 million pages???

    One of the key issues in this whole ordeal was revenue recognition processes. This led to much of the financial restatements as millions of transactions had to be examined and reprocessed to ensure they met with current day revenue recognition requirements. I suspect that many organizations had similar revenue recognition issues, especially with long term services deals, but were never called to revisit the financials.
  • protosphere
    30% of their total sales in revenue recognition sounds pretty steep to me, especially when they trigger lucrative bonuses, in immediate cash than traditional options.

    What other company outside criminal fraud has neared this gravity?

    "The first is a "revenue recognition" scam relating to billing transactions and took place in 2000. The second is an "earnings management" con that took place during 2002 and 2003. Law enforcement agencies allege that the two executives devised and managed a scam that triggered big bonuses."
  • protosphere
    Your honor, we terminated Mr. Dunn for theft of bonuses, hid behind a top military man before hiring a green shoe in who defrauded from day one. We rewrote triple profits for mark-to-market profits, heck we even paid bonuses for financial innovation, or maximizing value after bankruptcy by cutting severances, and even let our board trade options yet again with no better defense than this board member's law firm.

    Does it matter who was at the crime scene now? =) I move the evidence is too detailed and should be ban from public view with our lacking the 5th amendment and SEC fraud charges pending. Have the evidence in 2 months even though it took us years to get it to this stage and make it snappy. And don't hold your breath that Mr Dunn will ever take the stand in this country.
  • happy2b
    It will be another 5-10 years before this case ever goes to trial, by that time it will be somewhere in the back pages of the newpaper or a brief note on the TV news. They will probably all get off on some technicality or something like each divisions accounting practises were so different, no one could fully understand the books, the problems were caused by lower management, not the CEO, CFO, etc.......

    White collar criminals
  • random123
    will the trial be recorded so we can see it?
  • scalppeeler
    I can give you an update a week or so after it ends for 5 Grand.
  • protosphere
    "The Crown has been given until April 1 to organize all these documents so it can be searched by the defendants."

    Nortel's books played musical chairs with product groups and deferred revenues making costs untransparent. This made it impossible for analysts to see how different units were progressing. Yet the crown must organize it easily for the enemy to dispute.
  • 4merEmployee22
    I THOUGHT THAT THIS CASE WAS BANNED IN CANADA?

    SHOULD BE BLACKOUT or WHATEVER?

    Those guys should just be Tasered.... END OF STORY! he he he he!

    How will this case benefit the Pensioners and Retirees? and the Severed
    employees?
  • Zhacknightmare

    I personally lost over 300K on NT Stock, it is without doubt Dunn contributed to my ultimate loss and the demise of the once great company.

    The thing that I could never understand about Dunn was that he was even more uncomfortable than the cretin Z speaking in Public. I sat right behind him once at a conference where he spoke, before his slot he was constantly wringing his hands. Not the actions of a confident CEO.

    Canada needs to change their Laws around Conflict of Interest and Directorships, Manleys company should not be allowed represent Dunn while Manley sits on the Board.

    I do hope someone is looking at Manley share transactions as it is obvious he is in bed with Dunn.
  • bankrupt_bob
    Maybe we should start a 300+ Club?

    "They" say "Misery loves company," don't "they?"

    ;>)
  • fatzoff
    340k here. Dunn is the major reason Nortel stock never recovered. If you remember Nortel was close to $12 CN when the plunged. Mike Z made sure it stayed in the sewer.
    Manley is a two faced filthy liar but what do you expect from a politician.
    With all these losses it still amazes me these clowns are still able to walk.
    I guess Hells Angels or the Mafia never owned Nortel stock.
  • bankrupt_bob
    I'd like to be club treasurer. I need the money. ;>)
  • protosphere
    They were morally bankrupt before financially.

    The entire company acted as a whole from refusing to chase past officers, their timely resigned old board, Nortel and then later Dunn trying to dismiss fraud charges on jurisdictional grounds, the relentless optimism since the 750M bogus profits, ongoing revisions for even future periods creating a humorous restating a restated restatement, ongoing pay practices, reluctance to attend inquiry, a CEO who defrauds from day one while claiming he didn't know after so many insider only CFOs to pro Pavi Bankruptcy Binning, Manley defending Dunn... etc

    It was endless, what changed. For the better anyways. Zero credibility to a zero stock and nonexistent company where even then they loot the corpse while cutting severances.

    Seems like they all worked and work in cahoots to me.

    With their powerful contacts, they may have been able to print even more cash from vapor or have a government them bailout if it wasn't for our new sheriff in town who distances himself from the ad-gate/airbus gate tyranny of the past. Only the meek system vs. their Goliath lawyers in fraud haven Canada remains.
  • less
    Haha - I recall long ago being coached on reading HRs body language whilst slyly transmitting my own non-verbal signals veritably oozing confidence and high moral fiber....

    It could be Dunn was thumb-wrestling with them morals and ethics, but he may also have simply been greatly bothered by having to speak to mere mortals, thinking: "Every dumb question you ask, me wasting my time, is gonna cost you extra, you dull, simpering masses."

    A fewe amongst the simpering masses could use as little $2-3 to tide them over until springtime arrives and a suitable bridge can be found to live under..
  • yes4aapl
    Message for F Dunn and Co.
    Please consider to say the truth and only the truth as the truth will make you happy.
    The trial is not only about Nortel but also about Canada, and about your eternal life.
    It's about country your children and grandchildren will have to live in when you will be gone to heaven. That is the Big Picture.
    messenger


  • less
    First translations are already rolling in:

    Published: January 29. 2010 1:18AM
    The Edinboro women's indoor track and field team will host its first-ever meet when the Al Hall Freedom Games take place Saturday at 11 a.m. at the domed Mike S. Zafirovski Sports and Recreation Center


    "The dead 'n' buried wussies' undue crack-wielding team will boast its last-ever recreational cheat all-fail hedonism shame fake disgrace at high noon, Saturday, centered around doomed Mike Zafirovski's shorts."

  • less
    656 (years) is wrong. Now, 666... 666 sounds more accurate.

    Nobody panic cuz Canada will likely utilize Nortel's own recipe for success and clarity by outsourcing the reading of their 35 mio docs to China, then proofing them in India.

    LSS a la Nortel by its very name guarantees this should take no more than "a lean 6 hours, maxsigmum" at a cost deemed to be a proft by neutral country Macedonia.
    You want waste and profiteering -

    February 3, 2010 4:43 PM EST
    Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) said on Wednesday that second-quarter results beat the street estimates as profit jumped 25 percent and sales rose 8%.

    "Our outstanding second-quarter results exceeded our expectations and we believe they provide a clear indication that we are entering the second phase of the economic recovery," said John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco. “During the quarter we saw dramatic across the board acceleration and sequential improvement in our business in almost all areas." ,
  • protosphere
    By April Fools to disclose a ""staggering" amount of evidence sounds like an awfully short time relative to these kinds of legal proceedings. Who's side is the judge already on having them take 6 years to come to trial and only a few months for the crown to straighten out millions of documents? Sounds like they are creating ambiguities with David and Goliath legal powers at play. If the crown is already this weak and takes a blow, good luck.

    With influential government figureheads on both sides of the border like Owens and Manley, where even John Manley's law firm defends this ex-CEO Dunn for fraud...after the past board timely resigned in plea bargain while denying the obvious red flags, etc... sounds like our traditional kangaroo courts that reward than punish fraud in Canada in full bloom once again. This time with legal power like Greenspan, Manley, etc... against who? Our diligent RCMP with hat in hand, and ex-OSC people on its investigative staff when the OSC is like the fox looking after the hen house?!

    Not much time to April fools and the judge is ruling the information must be accessible, information Nortel refused to make accessible in 2008, just as they were reluctant to chase past officers... or attend a gov't. inquiry until forced. What tyranny.

    Who says there is a competent process in place to argue against double jeopardy criminal proceedings in the USA?!

    Competent my foot! The trials are tainted from a media blackout lacking the 5th amendment to trying to dismiss it on jurisdictional grounds as Nortel tried to pull defending one of the largest fraud's on earth, one won in the USA not here.

    Where is the department of justice who know exactly what to ask for, and never mind these Mickey Mouse toothless Canadian theatrics that even if they were convicted face lax penalty here.

    What a total joke in miscarriage of justice in criminal lies for mega-theft having ruined thousands of lives, but the far from destitute pigs at the trough who stole with intent, worse yet, supported by enormous political, legal, and financial power after exorbitant benefit of doubt and liberties from ongoing revisions to printing even more paper, moving offices, etc., Ebbers and Skilling must be heavily medicated for uncontrollable laughter like I keep saying.

    Database ambiguities? Ha! What's next, expired statute of limitations or OSC support who fined them nothing for the largest fraud in Canadian history? Perhaps a government pardon and all sins forgiven. No wait, Dunn wins his wrongful dismissal case with compensation ahead of the creditors!

    phhhhht, what a farce.... get a new judge and fix the software, there was either fraud or not, never mind the intentional ambiguities with David and Goliath legal powers. get the Dept. of Justice in here, drop the Canadian proceedings and move them to the US where the fraud settlement was viable and would have probably never won here or certainly no where near with as much clout.

    _________________________________


    I'm a RDBMS guru, let me scan and OCR to text, have an army of people proof and re-proof the converted test with refernces to the original material, then develop any search engine they require to summarize the DB/tables with indexes/order for any Set/SQL to intersect data! Even I would need more time than 2 months though and an army of proofreaders to appease the court's ease of deciphering.(and I write these things in a fraction of time than traditional methods)

    I also wish a few DOJ people could fly up to coach the toothless prosecution in what is what here.

    What a joke... the judge calling foul on ill prepared evidence is not good news for the good guys.
  • protosphere
    I am sure this can be dramatically improved on but as a quick thought:

    FIELDS:
    Page Number
    Article:
    Refn to Charges
    Amounts in Numbers Involved (on screen or reports can summarize)
    Person(s) Involved
    Memo Field to pertinent excerpt

    INDEXES:
    Chronological
    Charge
    Parties Involved

    Search Criteria on Indexes and Intersect Tables/SQL/Sets

    Presto... a report at a keystoke
    Nice Neat Summary of a few thousand page essays
    Easy for defense and judge to gleefuly digest,

    Now to enter the data... yikes!
  • cwlh
    How hard can it possibly be to write a search engine for this stuff? Is the problem that Nortel delivered the documents in a graphical rather than textual format? If the documents are in pdf, LaTeX or even Microsoft Word then it surely shouldn't be an insurmountable problem to index them and least by their textual if not semantic content. 40 hours to find the court-defined documents?? How much would Nortel pay me for a search engine?
  • AcrimoniousAl
    I agree with cwlh. 40 hours to find a document seems ridiculous.

    According to the Financial Post "the information is stored on document management software produced for Nortel by Kroll Ontrack". I wonder how much was money paid to Kroll Ontrack?

    Kroll could probably have purchased a GB-9009 and made all the data searchable via a google app and still made a huge profit. See this article from PCWorld:
    "Meanwhile, Google is introducing a new model, the GB-9009, which can index up to 30 million documents out of the box."

  • protosphere
    Nortel wouldn't even pay the tens of thousands to do so but they paid themselves millions for bonuses.

  • bankrupt_bob
    Not hard to search, but it would take a Positronic Brain to organize! And they only have until April Fool's Day to do it!! ;>)
  • exNTII
    you people need a life instead of all these calculations which will accomplish nothing. I can bet Dunn & Co will be free since it is a 2 tier system.

    have a beer on me and enjoy a hockey game.
  • protosphere
    Code then scan each document. (23 million pages!)

    A page per 15 seconds?

    15 seconds X 23M pages = 345,000,000 seconds /60 min = 5, 750, 000 hours /24 = 239,583 days /365 = 656 years!

    How long? ...heh 656 years , never mind 2 months...

    And then multiply this several fold because Optical Character Recognition software is not 100% and must be proofed!

    =)
  • protosphere
    hmmm..100 scanners can do it in 6 years
    so 1,000 scanners can do in just over half a year
    Hence 10,000 scanners running full steam 24/7 can do it in time!
    $200/per scanner = $2M

    1,000 people at 3,000/mo for 2 months = $6M X 3 shits = $18M
    At least another few million for the DB software and debugging, etc....

    Maybe they can do it in time but not for tens of thousands, maybe 10s of millions and several thousand square feet of people scanning under pressure 24 /7 LOL... forget it

    Should have already been done by now, Where's the department of Justice... they wouldn't have needed a fraction of this knowing exactly what to ask for ... who provided the evidence? ex-OSC people now RCMP investigators?
  • TongueInCheek
    Your math is wrong therefore 656 years is also wrong.
    60 seconds x 60 minutes = 3,600 seconds per hour.

    Therefore, there are 31,536,000 seconds per year.

    The math question then becomes, how many OCR Scanners would you need to complete the task in 60 days?
  • protosphere
    What is wrong with my arithmetic?

    15 seconds X 23M pages = 345,000,000 seconds /60 min = 5, 750, 000 hours /24 = 239,583 days /365 = 656 years!

    According to even your calculations. my math still holds water.

    Your painting the stage of 3,600 seconds per hour is correct but this does not differ from my calculations to claim it is wrong. I don't make mistakes =)


    24 hours a day X your 3,600 seconds = 86,500 seconds/day (right?)
    so X 365 days = the exact figure you give me of 31,536,000 when checking my math, where is it "also" wrong in any?

    I was already typing the resolve when you asked how many scanners it would take, adding manpower to the equation. I applaud you for considering the resolve.

    I also appreciate the effort to enlighten should I error so I won't tear a traditional strip... this time. =)
  • TongueInCheek
    Your calculation was:

    15 seconds X 23M pages = 345,000,000 seconds /60 min = 5, 750, 000 hours /24 = 239,583 days /365 = 656 years!

    You did not convert the seconds to minutes before you converted to hours. The math should be:

    345,000,000 / 3,600 seconds = 95,833.33 Hours, not the 5,750,000 hours you stated.
  • protosphere
    You are right, sorry, rash calculation on my behalf.

    They would only need 1,000 scanners running 24/7 or 3,000 running during the days including weekends.

    345,000,000 SECONDS / 60 = 5,750,000 minutes
    5,750,000 MINUTES /60 = 95,833.33 hours
    95833.33 HOURS /24 = 3993 days
    3993 days /365.25 = 10.93 years or a decade

    so,
    If each scanner can scan 4 pages a minute, X60 = 240 pages an hour
    X 24 hours = 5,760 pages a day
    or X 60days = 345,600 pages per scanner over 60 days
    345M pages /345.6k =998.26, say 1,000 scanners running 24/7?


    Thanks for the correction.
  • bankrupt_bob
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