This story has some interesting turns. Here's an email someone has posted in yahoo groups and sent to the LA Times (by the way, visconti is a repub, googling his name shows several contributions to the republican party):

From: Friend of Axium [mailto:real.axium.story@...]
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 8:43 PM
Subject: The Real Axium Story (Embezzlement to follow)

To all Axium employees,

The story that has been provided to you by Chris Toto and the popular
media does not accurately describe Axium's descent into bankruptcy.
This process did not occur overnight and was not a surprise to senior
management. As a former Axium insider, I know many of you personally
and felt an obligation to provide you with the real Axium story.

The following timeline outlines the critical events which attributed
to Axium's current Chapter 7 filing and more importantly the loss of
all of your jobs:

Sad Fact: Axium Entertainment had its biggest and most profitable
year in 2007 grossing between $1.5 and $1.8 billion dollars thanks to
your efforts.

1) July - August 2007: Axium pays I.R.S. $31 million to resolve
intentional underpayment of taxes for 2004. The underpayment was a
strategy developed by the tax and finance department that failed. The
I.R.S. uncovered a $31 million dollar discrepancy between the W2/W2C
and the 940/941 for 2004. At this point Axium senior management was
notified that Axium would be investigated for the same issues for tax
years 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

2) September 2007: Axium's attorneys estimate that Axium will owe
the I.R.S. between $70 million and $100 million for years 2003, 2005,
2006 and 2007. Golden Tree Asset Management (GTAM), Axium's financial
partner, became aware of the issue.

3) October 2007: GTAM appoints Gina Gutzweit, S.R.O., to operate
Axium, relieving John Visconti of any day-to-day decision making
power. Gina commences layoffs at Axium Entertainment and ECG.

4) November 2007: GTAM puts Axium Entertainment and ECG up for sale.
With the assumption that ECG would sell for $100 million to $120
million and the profit from the sale of real estate would yield
another $20 million to $30 million which would cover the $135 million
to $140 million that Axium owed GTAM. Thus returning Axium
Entertainment back to John Visconti.

5) Late December 2007: ECG restates EBITDA from $9 million to $4
million. Thus reducing the value of ECG from $100 million to $120
million to $20 million to $25 million. John Visconti hires his own
investment bank to represent him in his ongoing fight with GTAM.

6) January 4, 2008: As per request by John Visconti's investment
bank, all final offers to purchase Axium had to be submitted by the
end of the business day. GTAM received 2 offers to purchase Axium
International (Axium Entertainment + ECG). These offers were made by
large equity funds. Each offer valued Axium Entertainment at $45
million and ECG at $25 million.

7) January 7, 2008: After a weekend of no negotiations, GTAM decided
that it was impossible to negotiate with John Visconti and Axium's
senior management. GTAM decided to throw in the towel and instead
collected $22.5 million dollars from Axium's bank account which they
were entitled to as a secured creditor and will recommend that senior
management be criminally prosecuted by the Attorney Generals of
California and New York.

>>>http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-axium10jan10,0,2226241.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
>>
>>That can't have been Perry. There was no mention of evil Republicans.
>
>That would be redundant! :)
>
>I can think of two honest and respectable republicans. Theodore Roosevelt, and Gerald Ford. Both were cousins of George Washington. But then so are Bush and Nixon! :)
>
>http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312172/cousins.html