Page 97 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE LESSONS

Although the Securities and Exchange Commission was prepared to launch
a full-scale probe, Stanley Sporkin, the director of the enforcement divi-
sion, gave Pfeiffer an opportunity to remedy the matter herself first. Pfeiffer
quickly discovered that the unit managers—the ones who took technical
and support crews outside the studios to cover sporting events or film tele-
vision shows on location—were bringing back expense receipts that did not
reflect reality. The New York Times reported that “unit managers, who car-
ried greenbacks by the briefcase to pay bills for travel, lodging, food and
miscellaneous production costs, were not content with garden variety
expense-account gamesmanship. They padded payrolls, cashed in unused
airline tickets and accepted kickbacks from caterers, hotel managers and
equipment salesmen.” 23
“I had receipts coming in from Moscow for all these cables and light-
ing, so I had them translated at Columbia University and found that they
were really for jewelry, vodka, and caviar,” Pfeiffer said. “One of the
strangest was a receipt for $20,000 for furniture in a studio that already
had furniture in it. It was outrageous the ease with which receipts were
made.” Pfeiffer began personally interviewing the unit managers, many of
whom said they had been acting on orders from a higher-level supervisor
who had threatened them if they did not comply. “They told me that he
would say, ‘You bring this stuff back to me from China or you won’t have
a job,’” Pfeiffer said. “Apparently this kind of thing had been going on for
years.” Indeed, a Chicago Tribune story cited NBC officials who revealed
that unit managers were coming back from overseas trips carrying “jade,
fancy shoes, Oriental carpets, gold coins, and cash” upon orders from their
supervisors, and that kickbacks were used to finance the scheme, which
24
had been ongoing for at least ten years prior to Pfeiffer’s arrival. A New
York Times article stated that one unit manager reported sessions at a mas-
sage parlor as “film-laboratory fees.” Another unit manager claimed he had
lost a briefcase full of important network documents. He received
permission from his supervisors to pay a “ransom” of ten thousand dollars
for its safe return, only to find the briefcase stuffed with newspapers. 25

23 Ibid.
24 “50 at NBC in probe,” Chicago Tribune, 11 February 1979, p. B24.
25 “Scope of investigation at NBC widens,” New York Times, 9 May 1979.

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