Case 30: Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (Belgium, 2000)

• Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann
• Dr. Stefan Hofmann

In 2007, ten years after Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie were feted as the local heroes of the high-technology boom in Belgium, they drew the crowds again. This time, though, they had to face hundreds of disgruntled investors who lined up for the opening of the nation’s biggest fraud trial, seeking to get their money back. “Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V.” (L&H), once one of Europe’s hightech stars, had filed for bankruptcy protection back in 2000, after admitting to widespread accounting irregularities. Its two founders, Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, along with CEO Gaston Bastiaens and several other senior executives, were forced to leave the company. L&H’s new chief executive, Philippe Bodson, said that upon learning of the investigators’ findings he “was very impressed by the level of sophistication of the fraud and the amount of imagination that went into it”. Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, he said the fraud at L&H should become a case study in business schools.

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