What really happened to Decipher

[zomben]

Thought you guys might be interested in this report about the Decipher embezzlement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-h-PAPqFwk

[Tomcat]

This whole story really stinks for Decipher, but I wonder how much longer they would have kept injecting material into the RPG? After the third box-set came out of the movie triology, interest in Lord of the Rings seemed to rapidly bleed out.

I still have my CODA games going (six-years strong with both Star Trek and LotR), but I think I may be in a small minority. Maybe not? Either way, back to topic, the hype over the games really seemed to die away. It may be due to the loss of Decipher's ability to keep products rolling out, but then maybe it would have happened anyway.

[zomben]

I think it was sort of a 'six of one, half-dozen of another' sort of thing. My guess is the RPG would have continued on for at least another couple of years moderately successfully, then sales would have dropped off (much like the GW minis game).

However, also like the GW minis game, I'm betting the RPG would have continued to appeal to the hard-core fans, and they would in turn have become 'brand evangelists' and kept it going strong.

BTW: where abouts are you? I've been wanting to get into a CODA LotR game forever. Don't suppose there's any chance you live near the San Francisco Bay Area, and are looking for another player?

[Issachar]

I can't believe I didn't find out about this until today. I wish I'd checked this board more regularly. How sad for everyone who got robbed by Eddleman.

--David D.

[Tomcat]

BTW: where abouts are you? I've been wanting to get into a CODA LotR game forever. Don't suppose there's any chance you live near the San Francisco Bay Area, and are looking for another player?

I am in Ohio, but my games are all PbP on my website rpg.avioc.org. I have not sat at a table to game since 2004, and though I miss it at times, I find the PbP games easier to do - I never have to be ready for Monday night anymore, the games just happen everyday and I can create when my mind is able.

Anyway, I am definitely not close enough to invite you to join a tabletop game, but you are welcome to come to my site and see if you wanna get involved. I have some really long term games and players... it's fun.

[zomben]

I am in Ohio, but my games are all PbP on my website rpg.avioc.org. I have not sat at a table to game since 2004, and though I miss it at times, I find the PbP games easier to do - I never have to be ready for Monday night anymore, the games just happen everyday and I can create when my mind is able.

Anyway, I am definitely not close enough to invite you to join a tabletop game, but you are welcome to come to my site and see if you wanna get involved. I have some really long term games and players... it's fun.

I'll check it out, thanks!

I've only once played a PbP game, and it folded after a week or so.

[Tomcat]

You are welcome to start a game there if you want to, also. It is not just me running the games, and we have Star Wars Saga, CODA Star Trek, CODA LotR, and if you have a different game system you wanna bring, I will open up a 'room' for you.

[mechascorpio]

Just ran across Warren Holland's website on the issue, and his victim impact statement:

http://embezzlementfromdecipher.com/...tStatement.pdf

Insane amount of detail. I gave up around page 12.

[spshu]

You don't know how badly I wanted to let you guys in on this back in the day (on the old Decipher boards). But I couldn't. Every time somebody would start wringing their hands over why Decipher was letting this marvelous opportunity slip through their fingers, I had to bite my tongue. I'm glad the truth is finally out there.

T.

What role did have at Decipher? Can you get me an email address over there? Need it point out some possible problems with the Embezzlement From Decipher website.

Oi! I just don't understand people who do these kinds of things. When Hasbro took over Wizards of the Coast, they found that at least two of the WotC execs were embezzling, which led to the first round of cuts there. (I know two, and I could swear there were more.) I find it especially odd at smaller-to-mid-sized companies like WotC and Decipher where more often than not, you know most if not all of the employees you're screwing over.

Happens at the large ones too. They set up problems from the get go with the CEO being board chair. How can you be your own primary boss? Considering that WorldCom, Enron, a cable company (Alphedia?) were major corporation that had CEO problems.

While this all is really sad, it also shows clearly to where blind trust can lead.

It makes me wonder what was on his mind the whole time - Decipher must have made it really easy to betray them on this magnitude.
So in the end it is still deciphers fault. This guy just took all he could get out of it - but still he has not killed anyone.
<snip>

Yes, Decipher made it really easy for him to do so as he headed up IT, accounting and finance all at once. The embezzler's last company when into the ground, so I can not figure out why he might be good at finance or accounting. He should have just been kept with IT only.

It isn't stress a whole lot but it was hinted at in accounting classes (for my BBA in accounting) that finance and accounting should be seperated. Accounting is suppose to be a check on the finance arm. But all big companies combine them under the Chief Financial Officer, so all the smaller firms follow suit out of neccessity some times or to look like the big guys.

<snip>
Now if we wanted to stop embezzling, we would need to simplify the tax codes and make it harder to hide the money. Here's a company that "lost" something like $9 million dollars. How can that have happened? You7d think that someone would notice a loss like that-even if someone is trying to cover it up. So either no one was keeping an eye on the money, inclduing the account that they hired 9 years ago, or there are just too many ways to cover up.

At least this guy is being procesuted for a cime, unlike all those executives who have run compnaies into the ground while giving themselves massive bonuses.

They gave him control of accounting and review over his own credit card statement, which should have gone up to Cindy Thornburg, Decipher's President, for review.

Actually, running a company into the ground while giving yourselves big bonuses isn't actually illegal. That's part of the problem.

Of course, nobody in Congress is ever going to change that... otherwise people might start looking into trillion-dollar deficits vs. Congressional perks, and where would that get us?

Also, Congress is never going to voluntarily simplify the tax code. Complex codes = rich lawyers, and Congress is mostly lawyers. The lawyer lobby is WAY stronger in Congress than the NRA or AARP, or similar groups.

Yes, the government has so warped the Security and Exchange Commission to work against stockholders and leave the executives in charge of finding members for the board of directors and make any stockholder driven resolution on pay on even the board of directors as advisory only.

At least the tax code will treat his embezzement as a failure to report income.

<snip>
As for simplication idea. Yeah, you hit on part of the reason why we have this problem. If the law was simple then we wouldn't need lawyers (or accountants). Thus we have an over complex tax and legal codes.

It strikes me a rediculous to expect a population not to break laws if they have no idea what 90% of the laws are.

But back to the topic, whle what this guy did was bad, and has caused hardship for Decipher and it staff, and contibuted to the dropping of the RPG line, I still say that we can't blame this all on him. SOmeone at Decipher should have noticed millions of dollars disappearing.

Since he was in charge of both finance and accounting, he spread some of his embezzlement through out the various expense accounts then he replace the money with lines of credits that Decipher had just in case. He then did not report that the loans were outstanding. It was Rick Eddleman as head of accounting job to notice the missing money. The controller under Eddleman should have went above his head given that his job joined accounting with finance.

Just ran across Warren Holland's website on the issue, and his victim impact statement:

http://embezzlementfromdecipher.com/...tStatement.pdf

Insane amount of detail. I gave up around page 12.

Read it all. It is alot of detail. Sad sad story.

[REG]

I feel horrible for the 90 employes of Deciper, and prey that they get their feet back under them.

You mean "pray."

"Prey" is what I do when I find a weak victim.