United Health's former CEO pleads ignorance

Zac Bissonnette — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:40:00 EST

In an effort to get a shareholder class-action lawsuit related to options backdating at United Health (NYSE: UNH) dismissed, former CEO William McGuire is claiming that, gee, golly, he just didn't know much about them fancydangled options. He's just a doctor!

The Star Tribune reports that his lawyers have filed a brief stating, in part, that "Dr. McGuire has no formal training or degrees in finance, accounting or law. His only professional training is as a medical doctor with a specialty in pulmonology."

Interesting. I wonder whether Mr. McGuire argued that he should be given a smaller compensation than other CEOs because he had no training in anything related to business. I somehow doubt it. The "I have no idea what happened! I don't know anything! I'm an idiot!" defense has become quite common in white-collar crime cases. After making a variation on mark-to-market accounting a prerequisite for joining Enron, former CEO Jeff Skilling later claimed that he "wasn't an accountant" in defending the fraudulent practices of the company.

At some point, the top men in charge have to be responsible for fraudulent conduct at their companies. If he didn't understand the accounting, he should have made it his business to understand it. He was the CEO.

United Health's former CEO pleads ignorance originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Analyst upgrades: UBS, CRZBY, TRMA, OPMR and MCCC

Eric Buscemi — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:20:00 EST

Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Allstate Corp (ALL)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: UBS AG, Commerzbank , Trico Marine Services, Optimal Group and Mediacom were today's noteworthy upgrades:

JP Morgan upgraded shares of UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) to Overweight from Neutral on valuation, as they believe the risk/reward is now attractive.
Commerzbank AG (OTC: CRZBY) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley, as they believe the company has eliminated much of the uncertainty on asset quality.
Jefferies upgraded shares of Trico Marine Services Inc (NASDAQ: TRMA) to Buy from Hold and raised their target to $46 from $40 to reflect the growth potential brought on by the company's purchase of Active Subsea ASA.
B. Riley raised its rating on Optimal Group Inc (NASDAQ: OPMR) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the company's proven management team, acquisition of WowWee and strong balance sheet.
Citigroup upgraded shares of Mediacom Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: MCCC) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent pullback, as they now think the stock is oversold. Citigroup thinks Mediacom will generate free cash in 2008 and they like the pace of buybacks.

OTHER UPGRADES:

Citigroup upgraded shares of The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) to Buy from Hold.
UBS upgraded UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH) and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) to Buy from Neutral.
Wachovia raised Performance Food Group Company (NASDAQ: PFGC) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades: UBS, CRZBY, TRMA, OPMR and MCCC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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