Why doesn’t lying about this expose him to more legal risk? Feels like the sort of thing that ought to be illegal. Or if it does, why bother? EDIT: To be clear, I don’t doubt he is lying. It’s just if everyone knows it a lie, and it looks bad in court, why is this the done thing?
From the looking bad in court perspective, the CEO of a capsizing corporation has a tough rope to balance on. Because saying nothing, or not even giving the appearance of try to save the customers and the company, poses risks too. That is not to suggest that lying about factual matters is a good idea for any corporate executive, but in some cases a heavy dose of spin might be the least bad path from a legal-risk perspective. And the amount of permissible spin may be higher if ordinary depositors/​investors are not in a position to take any actions in reliance on the spin.
So is there some technical way that ‘we have enough assets at current market prices to cover all deposits’ can be true, whilst not actually meaning very much?
Why doesn’t lying about this expose him to more legal risk? Feels like the sort of thing that ought to be illegal. Or if it does, why bother? EDIT: To be clear, I don’t doubt he is lying. It’s just if everyone knows it a lie, and it looks bad in court, why is this the done thing?
From the looking bad in court perspective, the CEO of a capsizing corporation has a tough rope to balance on. Because saying nothing, or not even giving the appearance of try to save the customers and the company, poses risks too. That is not to suggest that lying about factual matters is a good idea for any corporate executive, but in some cases a heavy dose of spin might be the least bad path from a legal-risk perspective. And the amount of permissible spin may be higher if ordinary depositors/​investors are not in a position to take any actions in reliance on the spin.
So is there some technical way that ‘we have enough assets at current market prices to cover all deposits’ can be true, whilst not actually meaning very much?
Yes, see my comment above.