Which British executive exposed Olympus’s accounting scandal after becoming its CEO in 2011?

Michael Woodford exposed the Olympus accounting scandal after becoming the company’s CEO in 2011.

Woodford was a longtime Olympus employee and the first non-Japanese person to lead the camera and medical-equipment manufacturer. Soon after his appointment, he questioned unusually large advisory payments and acquisitions, including the purchase of the British company Gyrus.

Woodford raised concerns about transactions that appeared to have diverted hundreds of millions of dollars. Olympus removed him as chief executive and president in October 2011, only weeks after his promotion. He then brought the matter to journalists and authorities, causing the controversy to become public.

Investigators found that Olympus had concealed investment losses through a system of payments and acquisitions. Several executives were convicted in Japan. The case is often remembered as a whistleblower story, but it also involved long-running efforts to hide losses dating back to Japan’s asset-price collapse.