Koch Industries Had a Cheating Method, Dealt with Iran

Original Link: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/10/koch-industries-had-cheating-method-dealt-iran/43219/

By Erik Hayden

David and Charles Koch, the intensely-secretive billionaire Tea Party-backing brothers, and the business practices at their Koch Industries are the subject of a Bloomberg Markets magazine investigation which alleges that they dodged U.S. sanctions to do business with Iran:

A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries--in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East--has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism.

Former Koch employees told Asjylyn Loder and David Evans about the "Koch Method"--basically, a shorthand for learning how to cheat--as the company "rigged prices with competitors, lied to regulators and repeatedly run afoul of environmental regulations." Bloomberg Markets weaves each revelation in with the political philosophy (i.e. smaller government at all costs) of the pair, making for an especially hard-hitting indictment:

For six decades around the world, Koch Industries has blazed a path to riches--in part, by making illicit payments to win contracts, trading with a terrorist state, fixing prices, neglecting safety and ignoring environmental regulations. At the same time, Charles and David Koch have promoted a form of government that interferes less with company actions.