Humphreys was sentenced to a 70-month term in federal prison.
The Humphreys indictment makes it clear that Safety-Kleen's problems started when it was acquired by Rollins:
When Rollins acquired Safety-Kleen in 1998, the merged Company predicted to the investing public that within one year of the merger, the Company would realize combined annual earnings of approximately $500 million because of "synergies" and cost savings resulting from the combination of the two companies. After the merger, however, the Company's operations did not meet those predictions.
In an attempt to show the Company was meeting the predicted earnings and to meet the earnings numbers expected by Wall Street analysts and the public, Humphreys and others participated in an unlawful scheme to falsify Safety-Kleen's general ledger and its financial statements. In furtherance of the scheme, they artificially inflated the earnings disclosed by Safety-Kleen in its Form 10-K annual reports, Form 10-Q quarterly reports, quarterly results press releases, and quarterly results conference calls.
What kind of environment produced Ted Rollins? It's one where executives use buzzwords ("synergies") to create expectations they can't match, then they falsify financial statements to inflate the earnings that are disclosed to investors and regulatory agencies.
It's an environment of smoke and mirrors, of schemes and scandals, of fraud and fakery. It's the kind of environment that almost ruined HealthSouth. And Ted Rollins has brought that business style to Alabama. Our citizens would be wise to pay attention.
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