FRAUD WATCH : Read Their Lips

Dishonesty in the record business? How shocking!

So now the flashy duo of Milli Vanilli have been caught red-handed. Sure, they looked great and danced just fine in their video and on stage, but Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan sang not a note on “their” award-winning album “Girl You Know It’s True.”

They also lip-synced their way through live concerts. And so now they have lost their 1989 Grammy for best new artist.

Milli Vanilli rang up an estimated $50 million in concert tickets and record sales. The popular album sold 7 million copies in the States. The German promoter who masterminded this fraud says piously that “in good conscience, Rob and Fab should return the Grammy. By returning the Grammy, they can put this episode behind them.”

It probably won’t be that easy.

Executives of the record company, Arista, say they didn’t know about the misrepresentation. Maybe.

But maybe they should have.

Cynics suggest that asking for honesty in the record industry is asking way too much--that this cynical, profit-driven business is incapable of basic ethical conduct.

The cynics may be right but that’s simply much too craven a view for us.

The music industry is a business like any other. Ultimately its success depends on its relationship with its customers. When a fraud is perpetrated, it hurts business. This one was so huge it has been heard around the world.

And probably even within the corporate corridors of the record business.