Structural risks
These risks apply to every EY product. They are legal obligations and corporate
practices that individual products cannot override. A subsidiary cannot opt out of an
FTC consent decree. A company cannot selectively ignore its home country's intelligence
law for one product. These risks set a grade floor of
F — no EY product
can score better than this, regardless of its own privacy settings.
critical
Audited Wirecard for a decade without detecting €1.9B fraud
2024-04-16
EY gave Wirecard unqualified audit opinions for nearly a decade. Wirecard collapsed in 2020 after revealing €1.9B in cash did not exist. German watchdog found EY's audits "grossly negligent." EY failed to verify the existence of billions on the balance sheet. A key suspect said EY was "too gullible" to check fabricated documents.
critical
SEC record $100M fine for ethics exam cheating
2023-06-01
SEC fined EY $100M -- the largest fine ever imposed on an audit firm -- for widespread cheating on CPA ethics exams. At least 49 auditors shared answer keys (2017-2021). Hundreds more cheated on continuing education courses. EY also withheld evidence of the misconduct from SEC investigators. Texas separately fined EY $3M.
critical
NMC Health: $4B hidden debt, £105.5M settlement
2025-05-20
NMC Health collapsed in 2020 with $4B hidden debt. FRC found "extremely serious" EY audit failings (2012-2018). EY let management pick audit samples, allowed NMC employees to intervene in bank confirmations, and failed to verify completeness of financial data. Settled for £105.5M.
critical
Lehman Brothers: knew about Repo 105 debt-hiding ($99M settlement)
2015-04-01
EY audited Lehman Brothers for years and was aware of Repo 105 -- a scheme to disguise repurchase agreements as sales to hide debt. A Lehman VP warned EY directly. EY failed to alert the board. Bankruptcy examiner concluded EY's failure "amounted to negligence and malpractice." Settled $99M with investors + $10M with New York state.
high
UK arm set aside record £188M for fines and legal claims
2026-03-26
EY UK set aside £188M ($251M) for legal and regulatory claims in 2025 -- almost 7x the annual average since 2002. Faces 6 separate regulatory investigations. Significant portion believed related to NMC Health audit irregularities.