Fleecing the Shareholder: How They Did It

This story is part of a special series by TheStreet.com investigating shareholders' reaction to corporate corruption on Wall Street. Click here to see a full listing of stories.

Remember the good old days? Those simpler times, back when the biggest complaint you could scare up about a CEO was that he missed the occasional earnings estimate and the stock tanked as a result?

The days of the simple mistake are over -- gone the way of MCI's quarterly dividend.

Yes, back in the days when people said the words New Economy without irony, corporate executives were pretty straightforward in how they disappointed their investors. ...