May 10, 2007
Written by C.N.
Charles Wang Accused of Fraud
In the world of high-profile Asian Americans, Charles Wang used to be one of the richest and arguably most powerful of them all. He founded Computer Associates (CA) and built an empire that eventually included owning the New York Islanders professional hockey team. Unfortunately he was forced to leave the company he founded a few years ago and is now accused of committing fraud while he was running CA:
The committee was formed to investigate what it called in its report “a massive accounting fraud perpetrated by the Company’s senior-most executives from as far back as the late 1980s through 2001, and their cover-up of that fraud, which lasted through mid-2004.” . . .
The committee’s report charges a “profound failure of leadership” and says it never outgrew a “start-up mentality… that was incompatible with a publicly-traded, multi-billion dollar, international software enterprise.” Furthermore, the report stated, “The fraud pervaded the entire CA organization at every level, and was embedded in CA’s culture, as instilled by Mr. Wang, almost from the Company’s inception.”
The committee charged Wang with causing additional harm to CA by creating a “culture of fear” and surrounding himself with young executives whom he and Kumar could easily dominate.
I’m not a corporate analyst and don’t know all the details surrounding these allegations. My only comment is that it in this instance, an Asian American achieved economic success and attained a high-profile position in America society, only to eventually fall from grace and end up in scandal. Like I said, I don’t know to what degree he’s at fault or whether he’s guilty of the allegations against him — it’s just sad to see one of the early Asian American corporate successes end up like this.
Author Citation
Copyright © 2001- by C.N. Le. Some rights reserved. 
Suggested reference: Le, C.N. . "Charles Wang Accused of Fraud" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2007/05/charles-wang-accused-of-fraud/> ().
Short URL: https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/?p=415
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