What happened
Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) was founded in 1987 in Ypres, Belgium, by Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie. It became the most hyped technology company in Europe, developing speech-recognition software that was supposed to revolutionize how people interacted with computers. At its peak in 2000, L&H had a market capitalization of nearly $10 billion and was listed on NASDAQ alongside the biggest US tech companies.
The growth was built on fictitious transactions. L&H invented revenue from phantom customers in South Korea, using improper accounting to inflate earnings. The Wall Street Journal exposed the fraud on 8 August 2000, triggering a collapse in the stock price. The company filed for bankruptcy on 25 October 2001. The Flanders regional government, which had invested via a venture capital arm and guaranteed 75% of a bank loan, was among the hardest hit.
On 20 September 2010, a Belgian court sentenced co-founders Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, along with former CEO Gaston Bastiaens and former vice chairman Nico Willaert, to five years in prison each (three years effective, two suspended) for fraud. Hauspie pleaded guilty; Lernout maintained his innocence. The case remains one of Belgium's largest corporate frauds.
What it cost
The WSJ exposed the phantom Korean customers, the stock crashed from $10B, and the founders got 3-year sentences for fraud.
Why it happened
L&H invented revenue from phantom customers in South Korea, using fictitious transactions to inflate earnings. The Wall Street Journal exposed the fraud in August 2000.
The stock collapsed from its $10B peak after the WSJ article. The company filed for bankruptcy in October 2001, wiping out investors including the Flanders regional government.
The founders were sentenced to 5 years in prison (3 effective) in 2010. The case was Belgium's largest corporate fraud and a cautionary tale about European tech hype.
The lesson
A tech company that invents revenue in a country nobody checks is not a global business — it is a fiction with a NASDAQ listing. L&H's $10B vanished when someone actually looked at Korea.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The sources
- Lernout & Hauspie — Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
- SEC Litigation Release LR-17782 (Tier 1, 10 Oct 2002; fraud complaint: ~$175M fictitious Korean revenue 1999–2000, $110.5M fabricated via Singapore shell 'language development companies', $60M+ via Dictation Consortium and Brussels Translation Group; investors lost $8.6B of market capitalization; stock fell from a $72.50 peak (Mar 2000) to $0.76 (Dec 2000); Chapter 11 filed in Delaware 29 Nov 2000, Belgian insolvency petition 27 Dec 2000 — the entry's '25 Oct 2001' date is the later Belgian bankruptcy adjudication) sec.gov
- SEC Litigation Release LR-18014 (Tier 1, 4 Mar 2003; permanent injunction entered by consent 28 Feb 2003 and L&H common stock registration revoked under Exchange Act §12(j)) sec.gov
- SEC 8-K — bankruptcy report (Tier 1; filed 31 Jan 2001 covering events of 29 Nov 2000, Item 3: Bankruptcy or receivership — L&H's Chapter 11 filing) sec.gov
- SEC 8-K exhibit — company press release dated 25 Aug 2000 (Tier 1; Gaston Bastiaens steps aside as President and CEO, replaced by John Duerden, Bastiaens remains a board member) sec.gov
- VRT NWS — Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie convicted of fraud (20 Sep 2010; Ypres court verdict — VRT's English report says three-year jail terms, Electronics Weekly five: the sentence was five years with three effective, wording needs harmonizing) vrt.be
- Electronics Weekly — Lernout & Hauspie sentenced to five years jail (Sep 2010; Jo Lernout, Pol Hauspie, Gaston Bastiaens and Nico Willaert each sentenced to five years for forgery and fraud) electronicsweekly.com
- Flanders Today — Lernout and Hauspie found guilty of fraud (Sep 2010; the 2010 verdict in Belgium's largest corporate fraud case, including the losses suffered by the Flanders regional government) flanderstoday.eu