Think about the following statements by the former CEOs of companies that had accounting fraud. CEO Ken Lay, Enron Richard Scrushy, HealthSouth Bernie Ebbers, WorldCom John Rigas, Adelphia QUOTE "Enron was an enormous corporation. How could I have known everything going on everywhere in the company?" "You have torely; you have to trust people. You have to believe. You have to delegate ...signed off on the information based on what was provided to me. And what I was told." "Bernie Ebbers did not know about the accounting decisions of Scott Sullivan to reassign billions of dollars." "John Rigas had a right to trust and rely on professionals and his own staff to get the financials right."

Are the CEOs responsible for knowing what goes on at their companies?

Are they able to find out what is happening?

Are they criminally responsible?

Are they ethically responsible?

Please define what a crime is and state the difference between criminal and civil law.