点火开关谜团：一个流氓员工搞乱通用汽车公司的故事

    与薪水过高的首席执行官和年仅20岁的网络界亿万富翁一样，走入歧途的流氓员工身上的故事也是商业新闻中的重磅消息。

    许多较为著名的流氓员工都已经成为了家喻户晓的人物，比如巴林银行（Barings Bank）的尼克•李森、摩根大通银行（J.P. Morgan）的“伦敦鲸鱼”（London Whale）。当然，还有美国国家安全局（NSA）声名狼藉的爱德华•斯诺登。

    大多数情况下，他们的动机似乎都很明确。李森和伦敦鲸鱼起初的目的都是获取经济利益，之后为了弥补亏损才铤而走险。而斯诺登则把自己看作情报机构搜集数据的举报人。

    相比之下，要理解是什么使得通用汽车（General Motors）的工程师雷•德吉尔吉奥违背公司的标准和规程达十余年之久，则困难得多。通用汽车之所以等了这么长的时间才来修复雪佛兰（Chevrolet）Cobalt汽车不合格的点火开关，德吉尔吉奥涉嫌的欺诈行为是背后的关键原因，甚至也许也是最重要的原因。最终，这家公司不得不召回260万辆汽车，随之而来的法律诉讼和伤者安置费用很可能高达几亿美元。

    前联邦检察官、芝加哥律师事务所Jenner & Block的安东•瓦卢卡斯就推迟的Cobalt召回事件向通用汽车董事会提交了325页的详尽报告。大家在报告中能看到一个人为了泄愤，可以造成多大的伤害。这家公司里一而再、再而三地发生着尴尬的推卸责任的情况，而在其中，德吉尔吉奥的故事最为引人注意。这个故事让瓦卢卡斯的报告上升到了文学的层面，足以和那些关于通用汽车的经典作品，如阿尔弗雷德•P•斯隆的《我在通用汽车的那些年》（My Years with General Motors）、约翰•Z•德洛雷安的代笔回忆录《晴朗之日你可以看到通用汽车》（On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors）和拉尔夫•纳德的《什么速度都不安全》（Unsafe at Any Speed）并排放到书架上。

    报告显示，德吉尔吉奥是最早批准使用不符合标准的点火开关的设计发布工程师。随后，他明知自己违反了由来已久的工程标准，却依然秘密地将其替换为完善后的开关，同时还始终拒绝承担产品缺陷的责任，也否认自己有过掉包行为。

    证据中并未显示他是否已经想得足够长远，给自己预先设计了不在场证明。到目前为止，德吉尔吉奥在法院的口供、国会的质询以及通用汽车自身的内部调查中，一直在重复的都是类似于“我记不起来了”这类回复。从今年四月起，通用汽车停发了德吉尔吉奥两个月的薪水，还在今年六月把他开除。

    Tales of rogue employees who go astray are as much a staple of business news coverage as overpaid CEOs and 20-year-old Internet billionaires.

    Some of the better-known rogues have become household names, like derivatives trader Nick Leeson of Barings Bank, J.P. Morgan’s “London Whale,” and, of course, Edward Snowden of NSA notoriety.

    In most cases, their motivation seems clear. Leeson and the Whale were in it first for the money, and then to cover up their losses, while Snowden saw himself as the whistleblower on the intelligence community’s data gathering.

    It is a lot more difficult to understand what may have driven engineer Ray DeGiorgio to undermine the standards and procedures of General Motors GM -0.77% for more than a decade. DeGiorgio’s alleged deception is a key reason–perhaps the most important reason–why GM waited so long to fix the faulty ignition switch on the Chevrolet Cobalt and subsequently has been forced to recall 2.6 million cars. Lawsuits and injury settlements likely to amount to hundreds of millions of dollars will follow.

    Evidence of the damage one man can wreak is there for all to see to in the exhaustive 325-page report by former federal prosecutor Anton Valukas of Chicago’s Jenner & Block to the GM board on the delayed Cobalt recall. In an embarrassing account of repeated examples of corporate buck-passing and responsibility-ducking, DeGiorgio’s story is the most compelling narrative. It raises the Valukas report to the level of literature, worthy of a place on the bookshelf alongside such GM classics as My Years with General Motors by Alfred P. Sloan, John Z. DeLorean’s ghost-written memoir On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, and Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed.

    DeGiorgio was the design release engineer who first approved an ignition switch that didn’t meet specifications and then secretly replaced it with an upgraded switch, with the full knowledge that he was violating long-established engineering standards, according to the report, all the while disclaiming any responsibility of the defects or the change.

    If he was thinking far enough ahead to create an alibi for himself, the evidence doesn’t show it. DeGiorgio’s defense to date, in lawsuit depositions, congressional inquiries, and GM’s own internal investigation, has been to repeat, again and again and again, some version of “I don’t recall.” DeGiorgio was suspended with pay from GM for two months in April and then dismissed in early June.