AOL Time-Warner Merger A Crock From Day One?

Bloomberg has an interesting story: the SEC is suing some former AOL execs for allegedly overstating Internet advertising revenue by more than $1 billion between 2000 and 2002:

In mid-2000, before AOL completed its $124 billion takeover of Time Warner, the Internet service provider began overstating revenue by paying more for goods and services in exchange for customers' ad purchases, the SEC said. The company agreed to pay $300 million in 2005 to settle a related regulatory probe.

Interestingly, the whistleblower, called as a witness in a number of cases, is also being pursued by the SEC. Now that seems plain silly. You'd think that the SEC would want to encourage people to come forward, and it sounds as though someone needed to at the company. Now what are people going to do in other companies? Help hide anything because they don't want to be held accountable?