????與薪水過高的首席執行官和年僅20歲的網絡界億萬富翁一樣，走入歧途的流氓員工身上的故事也是商業新聞中的重磅消息。

????許多較為著名的流氓員工都已經成為了家喻戶曉的人物，比如巴林銀行（Barings Bank）的尼克?李森、摩根大通銀行（J.P. Morgan）的“倫敦鯨魚”（London Whale）。當然，還有美國國家安全局（NSA）聲名狼藉的愛德華?斯諾登。

????大多數情況下，他們的動機似乎都很明確。李森和倫敦鯨魚起初的目的都是獲取經濟利益，之后為了彌補虧損才鋌而走險。而斯諾登則把自己看作情報機構搜集數據的舉報人。

????相比之下，要理解是什么使得通用汽車（General Motors）的工程師雷?德吉爾吉奧違背公司的標準和規程達十余年之久，則困難得多。通用汽車之所以等了這么長的時間才來修復雪佛蘭（Chevrolet）Cobalt汽車不合格的點火開關，德吉爾吉奧涉嫌的欺詐行為是背后的關鍵原因，甚至也許也是最重要的原因。最終，這家公司不得不召回260萬輛汽車，隨之而來的法律訴訟和傷者安置費用很可能高達幾億美元。

????前聯邦檢察官、芝加哥律師事務所Jenner & Block的安東?瓦盧卡斯就推遲的Cobalt召回事件向通用汽車董事會提交了325頁的詳盡報告。大家在報告中能看到一個人為了泄憤，可以造成多大的傷害。這家公司里一而再、再而三地發生著尷尬的推卸責任的情況，而在其中，德吉爾吉奧的故事最為引人注意。這個故事讓瓦盧卡斯的報告上升到了文學的層面，足以和那些關于通用汽車的經典作品，如阿爾弗雷德?P?斯隆的《我在通用汽車的那些年》（My Years with General Motors）、約翰?Z?德洛雷安的代筆回憶錄《晴朗之日你可以看到通用汽車》（On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors）和拉爾夫?納德的《什么速度都不安全》（Unsafe at Any Speed）并排放到書架上。

????報告顯示，德吉爾吉奧是最早批準使用不符合標準的點火開關的設計發布工程師。隨后，他明知自己違反了由來已久的工程標準，卻依然秘密地將其替換為完善后的開關，同時還始終拒絕承擔產品缺陷的責任，也否認自己有過掉包行為。

????證據中并未顯示他是否已經想得足夠長遠，給自己預先設計了不在場證明。到目前為止，德吉爾吉奧在法院的口供、國會的質詢以及通用汽車自身的內部調查中，一直在重復的都是類似于“我記不起來了”這類回復。從今年四月起，通用汽車停發了德吉爾吉奧兩個月的薪水，還在今年六月把他開除。

????Tales of rogue employees who go astray are as much a staple of business news coverage as overpaid CEOs and 20-year-old Internet billionaires.

????Some of the better-known rogues have become household names, like derivatives trader Nick Leeson of Barings Bank, J.P. Morgan’s “London Whale,” and, of course, Edward Snowden of NSA notoriety.

????In most cases, their motivation seems clear. Leeson and the Whale were in it first for the money, and then to cover up their losses, while Snowden saw himself as the whistleblower on the intelligence community’s data gathering.

????It is a lot more difficult to understand what may have driven engineer Ray DeGiorgio to undermine the standards and procedures of General Motors GM -0.77% for more than a decade. DeGiorgio’s alleged deception is a key reason–perhaps the most important reason–why GM waited so long to fix the faulty ignition switch on the Chevrolet Cobalt and subsequently has been forced to recall 2.6 million cars. Lawsuits and injury settlements likely to amount to hundreds of millions of dollars will follow.

????Evidence of the damage one man can wreak is there for all to see to in the exhaustive 325-page report by former federal prosecutor Anton Valukas of Chicago’s Jenner & Block to the GM board on the delayed Cobalt recall. In an embarrassing account of repeated examples of corporate buck-passing and responsibility-ducking, DeGiorgio’s story is the most compelling narrative. It raises the Valukas report to the level of literature, worthy of a place on the bookshelf alongside such GM classics as My Years with General Motors by Alfred P. Sloan, John Z. DeLorean’s ghost-written memoir On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, and Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed.

????DeGiorgio was the design release engineer who first approved an ignition switch that didn’t meet specifications and then secretly replaced it with an upgraded switch, with the full knowledge that he was violating long-established engineering standards, according to the report, all the while disclaiming any responsibility of the defects or the change.

????If he was thinking far enough ahead to create an alibi for himself, the evidence doesn’t show it. DeGiorgio’s defense to date, in lawsuit depositions, congressional inquiries, and GM’s own internal investigation, has been to repeat, again and again and again, some version of “I don’t recall.” DeGiorgio was suspended with pay from GM for two months in April and then dismissed in early June.