Frontline exclusive interview with Phar-Mor executive reveals role in corporate fraud.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 1994--Phar-Mor chief financial officer Pat Finn divulges his role in one of the largest corporate frauds in United States history in an exclusive interview with the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the company's collapse in 1992, Finn reveals how he and other Phar-Mor executives concealed from Coopers & Lybrand, the company's auditors, losses that would grow to $500 million over five years, hastening the demise of the discount drug store chain. Finn's interview will be broadcast as a part of a year-long investigation into the rise and fall of Phar-Mor in FRONTLINE's "How to Steal $500 Million," airing Tuesday, Nov. 8, on PBS. Finn is currently serving a thirty-three month sentence at a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania.

Before its collapse into bankruptcy in 1992, Phar-Mor was considered by banks and investors as the next Wal-Mart, one of the hottest companies of the 1980's. But, unknown to all but a few insiders, the company had failed to turn a profit for five years.

The FRONTLINE investigation includes interviews with the head of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. attorneys, accountants, and former employees and investors of Phar-Mor to piece together a conspiracy to hide mounting losses through fraudulent accounting schemes.

The report focuses on the role of Phar-Mor's co-founder and president, Michael I. "Mickey" Monus, the company's young entrepreneur who, in less than a decade, built Phar-Mor from one store to three hundred in thirty-three states, ringing up annual sales of $3 billion. Monus has been charged by the U.S. attorney with 109 counts of fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. He is currently awaiting his second trial which is scheduled to begin in February. His first trial in June 1994 ended with a hung jury and allegations of jury rigging. If convicted on all counts, Monus faces life in prison and $36 million in fines.

"Phar-Mor's demise began with one lie -- inflating the company's profits in a weekly financial report," says FRONTLINE producer Jim Gilmorere. "One by one, each new member brought into the fraud had his own rationalization about why he participated in the cover-up."

Press preview cassettes of the FRONTLINE broadcast are available for preview purposes by calling the press contacts listed below.

CONTACT: Frontline

Jim Bracciale or Stephanie Murphy, 617/783-3500