Partner, Craig Greene grew up in the manufacturing industry working as a cost accountant and production control supervisor in two large job shops while attending college. While working with a Big Eight accounting firm, he was a senior auditor on several manufacturing industry audits.

Since that time, he and his team members have worked extensively in the steel industry performing fraud examinations and internal audit work both for large integrated mills and mini-mills.

The McGovern & Greene LLP team have worked for several large equipment manufacturers, as well as litigation cases involving small manufacturers.

Fraud Examination Projects

Firm members have worked on many fraud examinations in the manufacturing environment.
The following is a representative sampling of such cases.

Economic Extortion by Senior Vice-President
and Plant Manager
A Senior Vice-President and Plant Manager for a NYSE traded Steel company extorted millions of dollars in corruption payments from vendors and suppliers to his employer that were laundered off-shore. Greene and his team assisted the Company’s internal audit group in performing an extensive investigation of the subject that led to him pleading guilty to taking in excess of $6 million in payments from vendors. The examination also discovered that a Director of Purchasing at the Company’s largest plant was also extorting suppliers for corruption payments.

Bribery and Insurance Fraud by
Mining Plant General Manager
General Manager of a taconite mine in northern Minnesota was convicted of bribery and insurance fraud having received hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit payments and ill-gotten gains from his employer. Greene and his team assisted the Company’s internal audit group in performing an extensive investigation of the subject that led to his conviction.

Bribery by Director of Operations
Greene and his team worked with the State Police and Attorney General’s office in an investigation of a Director of Operations of specialty coating plant. The team was able to establish that the Director of Operations had formed a fictitious company to receive corruption payments from vendors and suppliers. The examination discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars illicitly received by the director of operations.

Embezzlement by Director of Communications
Director of Communications established a fictitious graphics art company that he approved nearly $500,000 in payments to. Greene and his team assembled the documents to establish the loss and the evidence to prove the amount. He subsequently was able to obtain a confession from the corporate miscreant.

Fraudulent Financial Reporting
President of this Manufacturer’s owned western U.S. Distributor had his CFO and accounting managers fraudulently reported inflated earnings to the parent company. Assisting the Company’s internal audit staff, the team performed an extensive examination of the distributor’s records determining that over 30% of the Distributor’s assets had been overstated.

Vendor Fraud
Client’s inspector discovered that a raw materials vendor had been substituting lesser quality goods than that required by the Company. Greene’s team was able to analyze thousands of transactions to isolate the items that had been overcharged by the vendor resulting in a considerable recovery to the client.

Litigation Services Projects

Firm members have provided litigation and expert witness testimony on matters
involving manufacturing companies.
The following is a representative sampling of such cases:

Purchase Price Dispute
M&G was retained to determine if in fact the seller of a manufacturing facility was entitled to a bonus payment based upon a business sales contract. Our examination of business records discovered that the seller’s outside accountant had not prepared the statements in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and manipulated the figures to benefit the seller.

Business Valuations
Team members have performed business valuations of several small manufacturing shops for various litigation matters.

Intellectual Property Infringement
M&G has been retained as a damages expert on a number of intellectual property infringement cases involving manufacturers. Recently, M&G was retained to determine damages stemming from the infringement of trademarks owned by a major manufacturer of automotive performance measuring devices. In another matter, M&G was retained to determine damages to an aftermarket auto parts manufacturer stemming from the theft of trade secrets.

Contract Claims and Requests for Equitable Adjustment
M&G is frequently retained by companies and their attorneys to price and support claims for damages and or requests for equitable adjustment under the terms of contractual agreements and in breach of contract cases. M&G has provided such support to numerous manufacturers including manufacturers of auto parts, aircraft parts, and weapons systems.

© 2010 McGovern & Greene LLP