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In the early 2000’s, Interpublic Group was a successful advertising firm with over $6 billion in annual revenue. Interpublic had dominated the ad industry for decades and had a stellar reputation. But the company’s public image was about to change.
In 2002, Interpublic was forced to restate its financials going all the way back to 1997. In 2002 alone, the company had overstated its profit by 496%.
Executives blamed the problem on poor internal controls, & said it was an honest mistake. But the SEC began an investigation, and the results were shocking. Had the company committed another fraud, right after the first one?