Olympus Sues Executives Involved in Cover-Up The scandal-tainted Olympus Corporation said it was suing 19 current and former executives over their roles in a $1.7 billion cover-up of losses after an independent panel's report into management involvement in the fraud. The Japanese camera maker's auditors filed the lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Sunday, Olympus said in a statement on Tuesday. The company said it was seeking 3.6 billion yen ($46.8 million) in damages from its former chairman, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa. The independent panel said Olympus should seek more than 90 billion yen from more than 10 current and past executives, including its president, Shuichi Takayama, for hiding losses for more than a decade. Michael C. Woodford, who was fired after he challenged the board on takeover and accounting practices, is suing the company for wrongful dismissal. Olympus's shares were up about 28 percent in morning trading on the news. "It's all part of the natural fallout to be expected with each party trying to stake their positions and to protect their legal interests," said Eugene Tan, assistant professor of law at the Singapore Management University. "We'll see suits and countersuits taking place in the next couple of weeks, if not months." The company inflated fees to advisers on the $2.1 billion acquisition of Gyrus Group in 2008 and overpaid in buying three Japanese companies with the intention of increasing good will, a separate independent panel investigating the fraud said last month. The panel said it had found a culture of "yes men" and a board that failed in its duty to stop a "rotten" core of executives from duping auditors, regulators and investors.