Espionage, exploding capacitors and fraud

Delayed responses to impending financial disasters can send shockwaves through investor and shareholder communities, and can create cracks in the pillars of corporate ethics and fiduciary responsibility. Here we explore how one high-profile company waited too long to respond to faulty vendor parts on computer motherboards, which led to compounded market share loss, accounting irregularities, customer lawsuits and an SEC investigation.

In the high-tech world, claims of intellectual property theft, corporate espionage and patent infringement are costly but aren’t uncommon. In 2015, the courts ordered Apple to pay $523 million in a patent dispute with SmartFlash over iTunes software.

In 2013, Nintendo paid a $30 million fine for allegedly stealing crucial pieces of its 3D technology from Tomita Technologies.