Three Monsanto executives accused of massive financial fraud, barred from accounting for LIFE

Thursday, March 10, 2016 by: Sarah Landers
Tags: Monsanto executives, financial irregularities, accounting

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(NaturalNews) Monsanto is not renowned for its moral standing – but this latest controversy makes you wonder, "just how low can the company go?" Earlier this month it was announced that the Monsanto Co., an enormous agribusiness based in St. Louis, has yet again been up to no good. Monsanto is required to pay $80 million to settle claims that it has been improperly accounting for various expenses tied to customer rebates for a well-known product, Roundup.

According to Bloomberg Business, the Securities and Exchange Commission found that Monsanto was booking revenue from a product discount program without properly recognizing all of its costs. Three company executives have also agreed to pay penalties to settle the charges against them.

Who is Monsanto?

If you haven't heard of Monsanto, this company is one of the biggest agribusinesses in the world and produces many different agricultural products, including the weedkiller Roundup, which is widely used across the U.S. and the world. Over recent years, Roundup has gained a lot of negative press due to its widespread usage and documented adverse health effects. Glyphosate is actually a lot like nerve gas and has been associated with damaging health, including causing cancer and kidney failure and disrupting the reproductive and endocrine systems.

Monsanto is heavily invested in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and has received a great deal of negative publicity in recent years due to the extent of its corporate manipulation and deceit. In fact, according to the website Who Is Monsanto?, the company is the world's largest producer of genetically engineered (GE) seeds. These seeds are resistant to Roundup, which is toxic to other plants. This is a win-win for Monsanto; however, when these GE crops are harvested, they contain extremely high levels of that nasty chemical glyphosate.

Monsanto has historically developed numerous toxic products that later have to be restricted or totally banned to reduce environmental or health disasters – including DDT, bovine growth hormone and PCBs. With all of this in mind, it's no surprise that Monsanto's reputation has been going downhill. But the recent financial fraud leaves you wondering – what more can this sinister company be hiding?

According to Food & Water Watch, there is a suspected link between the government and Monsanto. In fact, U.S. ambassadors are thought to have been pushing the sales of GMO seeds on behalf of the biotech industry. The report states, "The U.S. State Department has launched a concerted strategy to promote agricultural biotechnology, often over the opposition of the public and governments, to the near exclusion of other more sustainable, more appropriate agricultural policy alternatives."

Monsanto's most recent scandal

An SEC investigation found that Monsanto had insufficient internal accounting controls to properly account for millions of dollars in rebates that had been offered to retailers and distributors of cancer-causing Roundup herbicide, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Generic competition had managed to undercut Monsanto's prices, and this resulted in a notable loss of market share for the agribusiness – so Monsanto's sales team began to advise U.S. retailers to maximize their Roundup purchases in the fourth quarter and participate in a rebate program in 2009. They also offered rebates to distributors who met set volume targets.

Monsanto has been found to have been booking revenue from this product discount program without properly recognizing all of its costs. For their part in the fraud, three Monsanto executives have been fined a total of $135,000, and two of them who were accounting executives have been barred from accounting for life. However, despite the personal penalties that the executives must pay, they will have undoubtedly made a fortune during their time with Monsanto – lining both their own pockets and that of the evil agribusiness.

Sources include:

Natural.News

Bloomberg.com

SEC.gov

WhoIsMonsanto.com

MonsantoMafia.com

TruthWiki.org

Science.NaturalNews.com

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