Can someone please help. Thank you!

Evaluating an Ethical Dilemma: Management Incentives and Fraudulent Financial Statements

Netherlands$-$based Royal Ahold ranked among the world$$s three largest food retailers. United States it operated the stop and shop and Gianr Supermarket chains. Its subsidiary, U$.$ S Foodservices, Inc. $($USF$)$ was a leading food distributor for commercial customers. The U$.$S Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission and its Dutch counterparts brought criminal and civil charges against the company and executives from both Dutch parent company and its U$.$S subsidiary for overstating earnings by more than $ $1$ billion. U$.$S officials also brought charges against representatives of U$.$S USF suppliers who provided outside auditors with fraudulent audit confirmation aimed at supporting the fictious numbers. The U$.$S Attorney$$s Office for the Southern of New York described the US based part of the accounting fraud as follows:

Between $2000$ and early $2003,$ USF was of the United States$$ leading distributors of food and related products, supplying customers including restaurants and cafeterias. USF typically purchased the products it resold from a variety of suppliers at a full price. However, the Promotional allowances reduced USF cost of sales and thereby increased the company$$s earnings.

During this time period. Kaiser and others falsely inflated USF$$s earnings by causing USF to record hundreds of millions of dollars in fictitious promotional allowances that had not been earned.

Press Release from the U$.$S Attorney$$s Office of Southern District of New York, December $7,2011.$

Required:

Using news reports and press releases from relevant regulators and prosecutors $($a google search for $$Ahold Accounting Fraud$$ will uncover many documents$),$ answer the following questions.

$1)$ Whom did the courts and regulatory authorities hold responsible for the misstated financial statements?

$2)2)$ Did the company cooperate with investigations into fraud? How did this affect the penalties imposed against the company?

$3)$ How might executive compensation plans that tied bonuses to accounting earnings have motivated unethical conduct in this case?