People Lie to Be a Michigan Alum

Apparently being a Michigan alum is worth more than I thought. Today the CEO of Concur admitted that he never graduated from Michigan (though he did attend for four years). This despite the fact that he said he did for some time. Apparently the market doesn't want to own stock of CEOs that blatantly (and inexplicably) lie. Concur's stock fell a lot (~20%) today. Why do I think a lawsuit is coming?

from Barron's:

Concur Technologies (CNQR) shares fell sharply Friday on reports - now confirmed by the company - that chairman and CEO S. Steven Singh does not actually have a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan, as Concur had asserted in many previous financial filings.

According to Bloomberg,a spokeswoman for the company confirms that Singh did not actually earn an engineering degree from the school. The claims was made in Concur filings from 1998 until January 2007; the company said Singh himself asked the company to remove the reference in future filings. “I deeply regret the mistake,” Singh said in a statement to Bloomberg via an e-mail sent by the spokeswoman.

The wire services reports that Singh was enrolled at Michigan from 1979 until 1983, but did not receive a degree. concur, which makes corporate expense management software, indicated that it would take no disciplinary action in the matter.

Bloomberg notes that the discovery was brought to light by the Fraud Discovery Institute, a San Diego firm co-founded by Barry Minkow, who served more than seven years in prison for fraud committed as CEO of the carpet-cleaning company ZZZZ Best. Bloomberg notes that Minkow, who has recently made something of a habit of uncovering public company execs who have provided inaccurate information about their educational background, says he’s bought put options on Concur.

CNQR today fell $4.47, or 19.75, to $18.20.