My experience is different, I worked at a ~$20M company where I was told the incoming CEO came from a company close to $1 billion. Curious, I searched his name immediately and found that he was under active SEC investigation for withholding payments to suppliers to make the company appear to have more cash on hand for a potential buyout. I can't tell you how much the board was tripping over themselves to kiss his ass and "learn from a guy in the big leagues."

When he arrived, the exec parking lot changed from Toyotas and 5 year old Lexus to AMG Mercedes, M-Series BMWs, the white-label almost racecar Porsches, and I distinctly recall being told the company could "not afford" my request for a $1 to $2/hr raise.

People erroneously think that wealth is contagious (it's not!) so will do almost anything to court "big time players" regardless of their actions and ethics.