While Michael Woodford may not be a Klingon, he may also subscribe to the belief that revenge is a dish best served cold. The former Olympus Corp. CEO is currently under fire from the company for allegedly using his position to leak company secrets.
Olympus is incensed over comments Woodford made when he publicly questioned the $687 million the company spent on adviser fees when it acquired Gyrus Group Plc, a medical equipment manufacturer, for $2 billion in 2008.
Woodford was fired Oct. 14 because of alleged disagreements over his management style.
After the less-than-amicable split, the former CEO held up a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report that indicated the company may face legal and regulatory investigation as a result of the payments as evidence for his remarks.
The FBI is reportedly investigating the payments Olympus made to advisers at Cayman Islands-based AXAM Investments Ltd. AXAM, according to the PWC report, received $670 million of the payments, but was removed from the local company registry in June 2010 for not paying license fees—just three months after it received its final payment from Olympus.
In response to Woodford’s statements, Olympus posted a letter yesterday on its intranet site that said it is considering legal action against him.
For more, read Bloomberg.
