Albert J . Dunlap Albert John Dunlap ( born July 26 , 1937 ) is a retired corporate executive . He was best known as a turnaround specialist and professional downsizer . The ruthless methods he employed to streamline ailing companies , most notably Scott Paper , won him the nicknames " Chainsaw Al " and " Rambo in Pinstripes " . However , his reputation was ruined after he engineered a massive accounting scandal at Sunbeam - Oster . Career . Born in Hoboken , New Jersey , Dunlap graduated from West Point before being employed by Lily Tulip Cup and Scott Paper . Dunlap mentored James Packer for three years in the late 1980s . Dunlap believed that the primary goal of any business should be to make money for its shareholders . To that end , he believed in making widespread cuts , including massive layoffs , in order to streamline operations . By firing thousands of employees at once and closing plants and factories , he drastically altered the economic status of such corporations as Scott Paper and Crown Zellerbach . He sold Scott Paper to Kimberly - Clark in 1995 for $ 7 . 8 billion and walked away with a $ 100 million golden parachute . He took over as chairman and CEO of Sunbeam in 1996 . His methods resulted in Sunbeam ' s reporting record earnings of $ 189 million in 1997 . However , he was unable to find a buyer by 1998 . Dunlap then decided to buy controlling interest in camping gear maker Coleman , coffee machine maker Signature Brands ( best known for making Mr . Coffee ) and smoke detector maker First Alert . Within two days , Sunbeam ' s stock jumped to an all - time high of $ 52 per share . However , industry insiders were suspicious when they discovered certain seasonal items were being sold at higher volume than normal for the time of year . For instance , large numbers of barbecue grills were being sold during the fourth quarter . It turned out that Dunlap had been selling products to retailers at large discounts . The products were stored in third - party warehouses to be delivered later . This strategy , known as " bill and hold " , is an accepted accounting practice as long as the sales are booked after delivery . However , Dunlap booked the sales immediately . Many shareholders felt they had been tricked into buying stock that was worth far less than it actually was , and filed a class - action lawsuit against Dunlap and Sunbeam . Reports of the methods Dunlap used to inflate revenues led the board to review Dunlap ' s practices in June 1998 . It turned out that Dunlap had sold retailers far more merchandise than they could handle . With the stores hopelessly overstocked , unsold inventory piled up in Sunbeam ' s warehouses . As a result , Sunbeam faced losses of as much as $ 60 million in the second quarter of 1998 . The company ' s comptroller also told the board that Dunlap had told him to push the limits of accounting principles . On June 13 , Dunlap was fired . The shareholder suit against Dunlap dragged on until 2002 , when he agreed to pay $ 15 million to settle the allegations . In 2001 , the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Dunlap , alleging that he had engineered a massive accounting fraud . Also named in the suit were four other former Sunbeam executives and the lead partner for Sunbeam ' s account with Arthur Andersen LLP . An SEC investigation revealed that Dunlap and others had created the impression of a greater loss in 1996 in order to make it look like the company had experienced a dramatic turnaround in 1997 . By the SEC ' s estimate , at least $ 60 million of Sunbeam ' s 1997 earnings were fraudulent . He also offered incentives for retailers to sell products that would have otherwise been sold later in the year , a practice known as " channel stuffing " . The SEC also argued that the purchases of Coleman , Signature and First Alert were made to conceal Sunbeam ' s growing problems . Sunbeam never recovered from the scandal , and was forced into bankruptcy in 2002 . Dunlap was also suspected of irregularities at Scott Paper . Not long after the shareholder settlement , he agreed to pay $ 500 , 000 to settle the SEC ' s charges . He was also banned from serving as an officer or director of any public company . The Justice Department investigated Sunbeam ' s management during Dunlap ' s tenure , but ultimately did not file any charges . Not long after the SEC sued Dunlap , " The New York Times " reported that he had engineered a massive accounting fraud at Nitec , a paper - mill company in Niagara Falls , New York . He had been the company ' s president from 1974 to 1976 , when he was fired due to his abrasive management style . An audit by Arthur Young ( now part of Ernst & Young ) revealed numerous irregularities , including inflated inventory and nonexistent sales — circumstances similar to the Sunbeam case . The final result was that Nitec ' s $ 5 million profit for 1976 was actually a $ 5 . 5 million loss . Nitec sued Dunlap for fraud , but was ultimately forced out of business . However , Dunlap never mentioned Nitec on his resume . In May 2009 , Conde Nast Portfolio . com named Dunlap the 6th worst CEO of all time . In popular culture . A documentary film was made about Dunlap in 1998 called " Cutting to the Core — Albert J . Dunlap " . In 2001 , he was caricature d in " Titans of Finance " ( Alternative Comics , 2001 , ISBN 1 - 891867 - 05 - 9 ) by R . Walker and Josh Neufeld . The comic book is a collaboration between a cartoonist and a finance columnist , which casts Wall Street executive s and traders as heroes and villain s . The lead story features Ronald O . Perelman , and Mike Vranos and Victor Niederhoffer are among those included . In 2005 , the business magazine Fast Company included Dunlap in the article ' Is Your Boss a Psychopath ' , noting he " might score impressively on the Corporate Psychopathy checklist . " The magazine ' s editor . John A . Byrne , noted : " In all my years of reporting , I had never come across an executive as manipulative , ruthless , and destructive as Al Dunlap . Until the Securities and Exchange Commission barred him from ever serving as an officer of a public corporation , Dunlap sucked the very life and soul out of companies and people . He stole dignity , purpose , and sense out of organizations and replaced those ideals with fear and intimidation . " In the book The Psychopath Test , the author , Jon Ronson , recounted an interview he did with Dunlap where he asked if Dunlap felt he fit the characteristics of a psychopath , though without initially using the label " psychopath . " According to Ronson , Dunlap freely admitted to possessing many of the traits of a psychopath , but that he considered them positive traits such as leadership and decisiveness . In a review of the book , Business Week reported that Dunlap " scores pretty high on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist . " In a 1997 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 , the featured film Time Chasers depicts a villainous boss shooting his employee with an Uzi after quipping " you ' re fired . " The show ' s characters retort " he ' s still a better boss than the Sunbeam guy . " On November 29 , 2012 , the episode " Frank ' s Back in Business " of the series It ' s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ( season 8 , episode 7 ) aired . Frank ( Danny DeVito ) , was called back by the board of directors of his old company to take upon the role of the " Warthog " CEO , who would ruthlessly downsize the company and fire individuals . DeVito wore a shirt with a white French cuff and collar , identical to the common outfit of Al Dunlap . DeVito also had the nickname " Warthog " , very similar to Al Dunlap ' s " Chainsaw " or " Rambo " nicknames .