Arrests likely in Olympus case

If you live in Japan, then you’ve already been updated by the nightly news over the past few weeks. For those of you for whom this has slipped under the radar: Olympus, the 92-year-old company which includes the microscope business, is likely going to be dismantled due to massive fraud that may involve upcoming arrests.

Olympus, Tokyo Police, and Japan’s version of the SEC have all worked to piece together what former management did to cover losses in the 90s and 00s. It’s at least on the order of 100s of millions. Currently there is talk that yakuza may be involved in some of the shady financial dealings. Olympus is probably going to be delisted, but could still avoid that fate.

The short version is that Olympus hid losses in the 90s, then covered it up for quite a while. Recently they hired a new CEO, that guy questioned the former dealings, Olympus fired him, the scandal broke, the stock plummetted, and so they fired some more people and are trying to come clean. The stock rebounded a bit now that it seems that Olympus is trying to sort stuff out. But they’re still in a heap of trouble and could be ripe for a takeover.