3. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (2008)
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring economic failure in 2008, it was the fourth largest investment bank in the US. The company hid more than $50 billion in loans by disguising them as sales. Executives, auditors, and Ernst & Young all allegedly manipulated the firm’s balance sheets using an accounting trick called ‘Repo 105’. But, SEC (the US Securities and Exchange Commission) could not prosecute due to a lack of evidence.
