E. Jason Wambsgans
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USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Detroit anchor Hank Winchester, cleared of sexual misconduct, blasts investigation
Days after his attorneys announced he had been cleared in a criminal investigation, Detroit-based broadcast reporter Hank Winchester called the ordeal "the worst nine weeks of my life." Winchester, AGE, who serves as an anchor on NBC's WDIV-TV in Michigan, returned to his podcast "The Morning After with Kelly Stafford & Hank" to shed some light on a scandal that wracked the local news community. "I've lost both my parents. I've had testicular cancer. I've gone through a divorce," the veteran journalist said. "Nothing compares to this." The Aug. 18 podcast appearance marked his first since a local TV station reported that he was being investigated by law enforcement for sexual misconduct and that his home in Beverly Hills, California, had been searched. At a press conference on Aug. 15, Winchester's attorney, Neil Rockind, said he had been "exonerated and cleared," describing his client as "the victim of baseless and unfounded allegations." The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement that same day that the Beverly Hills Police Department had presented their findings, and "it was concluded there was no cause to file any charges against Mr. Winchester." Winchester, an Emmy-winning consumer affairs reporter who has been with WDIV since 2001, spoke candidly about what he called "an emotionally exhausting process." More: Tom Llamas steps up to 'NBC Nightly News' anchor with 'a lot of Cuban coffee' He also talked philosophically about what he has learned from the more than two months he spent mostly at home as the investigation proceeded. "It's an opportunity for me to take a step back and say, like, OK, this happened. What's the lesson? What can be learned? How can it make life better?" he said. "As much as it was insane and horrific and devastating, I have to lean into that, and that's what I'm doing." For her part, Winchester's co-host, Stafford, discussed how angry she has felt about the way he was "painted in the past nine weeks," which she saw as "the complete opposite man you are." "This is where the media has got to do a better job," she said, telling the media to "get on your computers and report the new news.' Despite his negative feelings about the investigation, Winchester said he had "the utmost respect" for police and prosecutors. "I will let you know that there was an allegation that was made against me by someone and police have a responsibility in these situations to investigate allegations," the anchorman said. "But they should also take the time to investigate the person making the allegation." Fired ABC anchor Terry Moran, axed for slamming Trump, reveals next move Calling the ordeal a "dark chapter of my life," he added that the past nine weeks had changed his perspective. "What is important to me today is much different than what was important to me before this started," he said. Winchester, who was placed on leave from WDIV in June, did not address the status of his future at the Detroit NBC affiliate. In a message to the Free Press, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, sent Friday, Aug. 15, via email, WDIV vice president and general manager Bob Ellis stated the station has reached out to Winchester to discuss next steps.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Twenty years ago, my research exposed one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history: It taught me that fraud is everywhere, just waiting to be revealed
Twenty years ago, I published a paper that helped uncover one of the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history. More than 100 public companies were implicated, dozens of executives resigned or faced criminal charges, and billions in earnings had to be restated. I never intended to be a whistleblower. I was simply doing what academics are trained to do: ask questions, follow the data, and let the evidence speak. But what the evidence revealed was staggering: executives at hundreds of companies were manipulating stock option grant dates to enrich their executives at the expense of shareholders. The practice became known as backdating. Now, on the 20th anniversary of that research, I see troubling parallels emerging in other corners of the financial world. A pattern too precise to be chance My journey into this murky corner of corporate behavior began with a desire to understand how executive compensation influenced firm decisions. While analyzing large datasets of compensation and stock prices, I noticed something peculiar: stock option grants often coincided with recent dips in the company's share price. Too often. The pattern was statistically improbable. It was as if executives had a crystal ball, repeatedly receiving options at the most opportune moment. But the truth was more mundane—and more troubling. Companies were retroactively selecting grant dates that coincided with low stock prices, effectively locking in instant, unearned gains. This allowed executives to buy shares at a discount while maintaining the illusion that they had to earn the discount by lifting the stock price. The simplicity of the scheme What made the fraud so insidious was its simplicity. Backdating didn't require complex financial engineering or elaborate cover-ups. It was a quiet manipulation of paperwork—choosing a date in the past when the stock price was low and pretending that was the day the options were granted. That simplicity likely contributed to its spread. There's evidence that individuals on multiple boards passed along the practice. But even isolated executives and directors could easily conceive the scheme, much like someone backdating a check to make it appear they paid a bill on time. Hidden in plain sight What struck me most was that backdating went unnoticed for at least a decade. It was a silent epidemic of opportunism. The option grant data was public. Thousands of participants were involved. Surely some auditors must have seen isolated traces of the fraud. But no one connected the dots. My research, combined with a timely nudge, eventually prompted the SEC to launch targeted investigations. Journalists followed, including a team at The Wall Street Journal with the time, resources, and incentives to pursue the story. Their work earned the paper its first Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Parallels in other scandals I've since seen parallels of backdating in other financial scandals. For example, backdating is not the only fraud that depends on simply picking prices from the past. Bernie Madoff's infamous Ponzi scheme used fabricated trades based on stale prices. Remarkably, Madoff's investors accepted these reports for years, despite the implausibility of the returns. Similarly, the mutual fund late-trading scandal allowed favored clients to illegally trade mutual funds late in the evening at stale prices from the end of the trading day. These cases show how much easier it is to perform well when you can reach back in time and choose a favorable moment to act. Today, I worry that similar dynamics may be unfolding in private equity. Many funds report valuations based on internal or third-party estimates shortly after acquiring assets. These valuations often appear inflated—sometimes even acknowledged as such by the firms themselves. Yet these funds are increasingly included in pension portfolios, exposing everyday investors to risks—and potentially fraud—they may not fully understand. The paradox of corporate fraud That's the paradox of corporate fraud: it's both obvious and invisible. The data is often there. The patterns are detectable. But with silent perpetrators, the deception persists. What gives me hope is that our tools for detecting fraud are more powerful than ever. We have better data, sharper analytical methods, and a growing community of skeptical citizen watchdogs. Because the next scandal won't be stopped by regulators alone. It will be stopped by someone who notices a pattern, asks a question, and refuses to look away. The opinions expressed in commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CBS News
16 hours ago
- CBS News
1 killed, 2 seriously injured in drive-by shooting at repast at Detroit park, police say
A man was killed, and two women were seriously injured in a drive-by shooting at a repast at a park on Detroit's east side Monday night. Detroit police Deputy Chief Arnold Williams said the shooting happened just before 8 p.m. Monday at Latham Playground near Moffat Avenue and Seneca Street, as family and friends gathered after a funeral. Investigators believe a burgundy Chrysler 300 drove by and fired shots into the crowd. Police do not know how many people were in the vehicle, but say it has a flat tire. A man in his early 30s was killed, and two women, both in their late 20s, were in temporary serious condition at an area hospital, Williams said. Police said they found handgun and rifle casings in an alley west of the park, in the street in front of the park, and in the rear corner east of the park. Williams said there could have been more than 100 rounds fired. No homes were shot at. Detroit police are currently looking for witnesses, and an investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call Detroit police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
