You remember Bill Aldinger, former HSBC USA executive, and before that the head of predatory lender Household International. For years we questioned the good judgement of companies where Bill The Predator sat on their board of directors. Now, those companies are taking note.
Aldinger, 61, serves as a director for four publicly traded companies: Glenview-based Illinois Tool Works Inc., telecommunications giant AT&T Inc., discount broker Charles Schwab Corp. and KKR Financial Holdings LLC, a specialty finance company affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
A civil judgment against William Aldinger for making misleading public statements when he was chairman and chief executive of Household International Inc. raises thorny ethical and legal issues for the corporate boards he sits on, governance experts said Monday.
Now a federal jury in Chicago found that Aldinger helped deceive Household shareholders by acting recklessly with respect to numerous public statements the company made between 2001 and 2002 about its lending practices.
“It certainly puts those boards in a difficult position,” said Charles Elson, a law professor and director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “Obviously, the concern for an investor is if [Aldinger] was found to been involved false disclosure, it can happen again.”
Related posts:
- Aldinger leaves trail of failures with Capmark Financial bankruptcy
- HSBC and Household International lose jury trial in Chicago
- William F. Aldinger renewed on AT&T board of directors
- Capmark under pressure after William F. Aldinger departure
- HSBC, Bill Aldinger, and global subprime financial destruction
