Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2005
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2005 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

FORMER OGILVY EXECUTIVES SENTENCED FOR OVERBILLING

Two former senior executives of the flagship New York office of Ogilvy
& Mather Worldwide, part of the WPP Group, have been sentenced and
fined after being found guilty of overbilling a federal antidrug
agency for advertising work.

Shona Seifert, who had been senior partner and executive group
director at Ogilvy New York, was sentenced yesterday by a federal
district judge in Manhattan to 18 months. She also must pay a $125,000
fine. Additionally, the judge, Richard Berman, ordered Ms. Seifert to
write a code of ethics for the advertising industry.

On Wednesday, Judge Berman sentenced Ms. Seifert's co-defendant,
Thomas Early, a former senior partner and finance director at Ogilvy
New York, to 14 months and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine.

Ms. Seifert and Mr. Early were found guilty in February on all 10
counts against them: one count of conspiracy and nine of making false
claims. The charges stemmed from work Ogilvy did for the Office of
National Drug Control Policy in 1999 and 2000; the indictment accused
them of ordering employees to alter time sheets and other documents to
make up for a shortfall in anticipated revenue from the account.

Ogilvy New York was not a party to the case because it agreed in 2002
to pay $1.8 million to settle civil accusations. The office handled
the antidrug assignment from 1998 to 2004, when it was shifted to
another agency.

Ms. Seifert and Mr. Early were charged in January 2004 and pleaded not
guilty. He resigned from Ogilvy New York the day after Ms. Seifert
left in 2002 to become president of the New York office of
TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of the Omnicom
Group; she resigned after her conviction. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake