For the ninth consecutive year, I addressed the beginning full-time Cohort MBA students at the University of Texas at Dallas on the last day of their two-week LEAD camp preparing them for success at UTD and their careers.
In my talk, I noted the absolute importance of ethical behavior and told them my true-life story about how the lack of ethics in Citigroup and the other large banks led to the massive fraud which caused the financial crisis and the resulting financial ruin experienced by millions of people.
We also discussed details of the many government cover-ups of the banking misdeeds which I encountered in attempting to hold the banks and executives accountable for the frauds.
And the broader perspective of government corruption was also discussed, with my noting that the highly-respected annual study of government corruption worldwide by Transparency International, the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), shows that the United States has dropped out of the top 25 least-corrupt countries in the world and is now tied with the country of Chile for the amount of corruption in their country.
In the follow-on Q&A session the students fully recognized the need for ethical behavior and decision-making and the absolute importance of being true to themselves in their careers. This recognition, truly, is the only way our country can reverse the continued ethical decline of our country.
Richard Bowen is widely known as the Citigroup whistleblower. As Business Chief Underwriter for Citigroup during the housing bubble financial crisis meltdown, he repeatedly warned Citi executive management and the board about fraudulent behavior within the organization. The company certified poor mortgages as quality mortgages and sold them to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other investors.
