The long-running accounting-fraud case against two former Time Warner (TWX) AOL executives might be coming to a close after many unusual twists including a mistrial for one of the defendants, according to this WashingtonPost.com article.
The case, considered one of the longest criminal trials ever, involves
accounting tricks dating as far back as 2001.
A number of witnesses, of which more than three dozen government witnesses alone testified, recounted how AOL defendants--former business affairs executive Kent D. Wakeford and former Netbusiness unit vice president John P. Tuli--felt the pressure between the proverbial rock and a hard place of their employer on one side and demands from dot-com clients on the other.
Time Warner, who took over AOL, agreed to pay more than $500 million to settle joint civil and criminal charges two years ago.
The five-year statute of limitations expired on former AOL officials who led the business-affairs operation and whose names came up regularly in testimony. David M. Colburn and Eric Keller, were never charged with any crimes. There are rumors that Keller misled investigators in sworn testimony to securities regulators, yet there are few signs of an active investigation.
Read the full WashingtonPost article here.
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