Shrink Rap: Degrees of Deception and Disgrace

He probably came to convince himself that his deception had become the truth. When you're as powerful as Grubman was, who's going to question where you went to school?

Now here's the hindsight question: If we had known that Grubman lied about where he got his degree, might we not have been more skeptical of his pronouncements and opinions on the telecom industry? Might we not have questioned the integrity of a guy who would do such a thing?

Turning Them Inside-Out

I want to publicly support the investigative work of one of The Street.com's own, columnist Herb Greenberg. He has made a concerted effort to expose these corporate executives who have been lying about their academic credentials. I consider this work valuable, even if it may be easily overshadowed or minimized by what appear to be far more serious commissions of fraud and deception.

If you're not aware of the lineup of those who've been outed by Greenberg, let's mention a few: MCG Capital's (MCGC Quote) CEO Bryan Mitchell claimed to have a BA from Syracuse University in at least a dozen SEC filings. The truth is that he attended the school for three years, but never graduated.

Bausch & Lomb's (BOL Quote) CEO Ron Zarella claimed to have earned an MBA that he didn't have. The lie cost him a $1.1 million bonus for this year, but why didn't it cost him his job? Maybe with a new pair of soft contact lenses, he'd see right from wrong more clearly.

Jack Talley, the CEO of a private company, EpiCept, was identified in his corporate bio as having an MBA in marketing from New York University. He doesn't.

Another example Greenberg and others discussed involved ex-Veritas (VRTS Quote) CFO Kenneth Lonchar, who was forced to quit when he admitted lying about having a Stanford MBA.