Have there been historical instances of a person creating a series of ';improvements'; to a system and then?

covering up the fact that none of the improvements worked and the quality was greatly deteriorated ?Have there been historical instances of a person creating a series of ';improvements'; to a system and then?
I'm sure there are countless examples, especially in government projects.Have there been historical instances of a person creating a series of ';improvements'; to a system and then?
reconstruction could be one...andrew johnson covered up all the fact that reconstruction didnt help the south and conditions were getting worse there...
History is metaphysics.