Top bar

About POGO's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD)

The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

IBM Corporation

IBM Securities Litigation

Date: 05/30/2008 (Date of Settlement)

Misconduct Type: Securities

Enforcement Agency: Non-Governmental

Contracting Party: None

Court Type: Civil

Amount: $20,000,000

Disposition: Settlement

Synopsis: IBM agreed to pay $20 million to settle a shareholders lawsuit that claimed the company misled the public about employee stock-option expenses in 2005. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of shareholders who bought IBM common stock in April 2005, alleged IBM manipulated expectations for its first-quarter earnings announcement in 2005. A year earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission determined that IBM's conduct had violated federal law, but it did not amount to fraud. See related IBM instance, “Providing Materially Misleading Financial Statements.”