Olympus Coverup Spooks Investors
Olympus Corp.’s admission that it hid investment losses raised as many questions as it answered: not just about the full extent of the scandal, but even about the viability of the 92-year-old company.
The disclosures established Olympus at the center of one of the most damaging and bizarre accounting scandals in modern business history — a coverup that extended for decades.
Olympus’s shares continued to plummet, falling 20 percent Wednesday morning in Tokyo following a 29 percent drop the day before, and prompting stock-lender Japan Securities Finance Co. to temporarily stop lending Olympus shares to short sellers.
