GE was once a mighty company with amazing technology and R&D.

Now they're a sad shell of what they used to be and consist of way too many bored finance people on a slowly sinking ship.

Is that a definition, or a statement that financial engineering has nothing in common with fraud, or some other statement?

From my view the greater the degree of 'financial engineering' in a company's P/L the greater the likelihood that some kind of fraud upon the investor or business partner is being conducted.