Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart Fact of the Day

On August 1 of this year, “A California trampoline vendor [sued] Wal-Mart Stores Inc., claiming the retail giant secretly withdrew more than $400,000 from the supplier's account as part of a fraudulent accounting practice”. The retail giant allegedly deducted money for trampolines Wal-Mart customers returned or the store rejected from trampoline company Leisure Kingdom’s account, even though Leisure Kingdom was not Wal-Mart’s direct vendor. Instead, Leisure Kingdom argues, the deductions should have come out of the account of Shen Tai, the actual vendor. Leisure Kingdom is also alleging that Wal-Mart “has refused to credit its account for the improper deductions”. [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 1, 2007]