Richard Bowen

According to the Wall Street Journal, CBS Evening News, and 60 Minutes, Richard Bowen is the Citigroup whistleblower who repeatedly warned Citi executive management about risky business practices and potential losses related to mortgage lending. As a Business Chief Underwriter for Citigroup during the housing bubble financial crisis meltdown, he saw fraud firsthand inside the organization. He watched with disbelief at the way the company certified poor mortgages as quality mortgages and sold them to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and mortgage securitizations.

For two years he repeatedly warned executive management and the board of directors. His warnings were ignored, despite the fact that withholding such information from shareholders and investors violated the Sarbanes-Oxley act. Citigroup eventually stripped him of all responsibilities, placed him on administrative leave and told him his presence was no longer required at the bank. Richard subsequently testified before the Securities and Exchange Commission and gave them 1,000 pages of evidence of fraudulent activities, with the bank bailouts occurring three months later. In 2010, Richard was a key witness in the mortgage mishaps as he gave nationally televised testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He was shocked to see the orchestrated efforts to hide key parts of his testimony from the American public.

Richard’s testimony has been widely reported in numerous articles, documentaries, and pieces of litigation related to the meltdown. Despite years of extensive coverage and numerous subpoenas with additional testimony, he is dismayed that no one has been held accountable for what happened at Citigroup or other financial institutions, and no one has been prosecuted for the massive fraud that contributed to the financial crisis.

Richard has taken the lessons learned from his 35 years of business experience and is now working with organizations that want to do things the right way. He speaks and consults with executives who want to build organizations with accountable and ethical corporate cultures. As a highly sought after speaker on ethical leadership, he shares his firsthand knowledge of how a company can get into ethical problems. More importantly, he explains in clear terms what an organization must do to instill effective guiding principles throughout the organization to prevent ethical misconduct and leadership missteps.

Richard also reaches out to the up and coming business leaders as a professor of accounting at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Penn Mutual Chairman, CEO, and President Eileen McDowell had this to say about Richard Bowen’s presentation to her organization: “Richard Bowen reinforced my motto that “there is no right way to do a wrong thing.” Long after his presentation, the conversation has continued about personal responsibility and the courage to challenge things that appear to be wrong. We encourage this dialog and rely on it to help make our business stronger.”

His engaging stories keep audiences on the edge of their seats. His extensive research into corporate malfeasance and his personal experience of trying to prevent his own employer from going down a dangerous path, leave audiences inspired and enthused. He shares practical guiding principles to prevent potential mishaps that can be incorporated into their own organizations. The end result is more engaged employees, more responsible management and a recognition that a discipline of trust and transparency throughout an organization leads to a more profitable, productive company.

Mr. Bowen is a Certified Public Accountant and was named CPA of The Year by the Texas Society of CPA’s and Dallas’ D CEO Magazine recognized him as the recipient of its annual Financial Executives Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance. He was also recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Government Accountability Project as one of 25 Whistleblowers Who Changed History.