An alert launcher claims Disney inflated revenues for years

Does Mickey prepare the books at the Magic Kingdom?

A Disney whistleblower told the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company has increased revenues for its parks and resorts division for years, raising revenues of up to $ 6 billion in one year, according to a new MarketWatch report. .

Sandra Kuba, a former senior financial analyst at Walt Disney Co., said employees regularly take advantage of "weaknesses" in the company's software to increase their revenue, including double-reporting $ 500 gift cards purchased by customers. guests and registering the discounted cards. or given for free at full value.

She added that these shenanigans and other shenanigans totaled billions of over-reported dollars, estimating that the 2008-09 revenue report could have been overestimated by $ 6 billion. The Parks and Resorts Division reported total revenues of $ 10.6 billion in 2009, the report says.

Kuba, who has worked for Disney for 18 years, said she had started trying to report the irregularities in 2013, but that this had fallen on deaf ears. She finally went to the SEC in August 2017 and was fired the following month. Since then, she has filed two whistleblower filings with the SEC and, in October 2017, filed a retaliatory complaint against OSHA against the company – which she later dropped.

She explained to MarketWatch that she was still talking to the SEC – no later than last week.

Disney spokesman David Jefferson called Kuba's claims "totally unfounded".

"This former employee, who was fired for a serious reason, has consistently made false claims for over two years," Jefferson said in an email to The Post. "The claims she made to the company were the subject of a thorough investigation and were found to be totally unfounded."

"It is unfortunate that MarketWatch, who has been aware of the facts for months, has knowingly and deliberately chosen to give a platform to Ms. Kuba's unsubstantiated claims."

But Jordan Thomas, a former SEC official interviewed in the report, hinted that Kuba's complaint was being taken seriously by the agency.

"The fact that the SEC has asked for more information more than once and conducted interviews suggests that an investigation is under way," Thomas said.