User:Bobber100/sandbox

Richard Snell is the former Federal-Mogul CEO who after arriving from a position at Tenneco made quick growth through acquisition the cornerstone of his “BHAG, or Big, Hairy Audacious Goal.”

As a result of that expansion, excessive debt load, unrealized synergies and asbestos-related claims arising from the acquisition of companies having produced products making historic use of asbestos (most notably the ~3.0G USD acquisition of the British firm T&N PLC), the supplier of pistons, rings, cylinder liners, gaskets, heat shields and other engine parts flirted with and finally sought Chapter 11 protection on October 1, 2001.

The company was accused of practicing "aggressive accounting" and after having three CFO's in a 6-month period, Snell himself was terminated (with a handsome severance package) shortly before the company filed for Ch.11 bankrupcy protection. Company lawyers have spent years sorting through claims involving billions of dollars in liabilities for asbestos-related afflictions.

Snell's auto-biography attempts to break the cause and effect relationship between his tenure at Federal-Mogul and it's subsequent Ch.11 filing by stating that the company did not enter Ch.11 until after he had left the company.

Even as of late 2007, the company struggles with the aftereffects of Snell's tenure. In order to attempt an exit from Ch.11, the suburban Detroit company must put its latest plan in place by midnight Dec. 31 or sit down with its banks to renegotiate pricing on $3.5 billion worth of reorganization exit financing.