Litigation

More TARP secrecy

Posted on December 17, 2008
Remember when the leaders of this whole Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) promised us that the spending of our 20 gajillion taxpayer dollars would be #8220;transparent#8221;???? Transparent apparently is synonymous with the word #8220;secret#8221; in their world...

Who is making money as a United First Financial agent?

Posted on December 17, 2008
Not many people, that#8217;s for sure. As with any multi-level marketing company, a tiny fraction of people at the very top of the recruiting pyramid make some money, and everyone else makes little to nothing. Here are the numbers posted on a UFF agent#8217;s website in August 2008 (click to see full size): What, exactly, do these [...

United First Financial memo about blogs and forums

Posted on December 17, 2008
United First Financial management has asked its agents to not participate on discussion forums, message boards, and blogs. Why? Because they#8217;re having their hats handed to them. Simple math outdoes the UFF #8220;factorial math#8221; any time. Save the $3,500 and simply put your extra cash each month toward your debt with the highest interest rate...

Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme investor losses: Recovery?

Posted on December 16, 2008
If you watch television, read the newspaper, or surf new sites, you’re sure to have hears about the $50 billion Ponzi scheme masterminded by Bernard Madoff. The $50 billion in losses is merely an estimate. Some experts (like me) think that the actual losses will be much higher...

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Mannatech results: Brain damage and more

Posted on December 16, 2008
A child suffered for two weeks with a heart condition, while her father gave her large doses of Mannatech products in an attempt to #8220;cure#8221; her. The result? Her mouth was damaged, she#8217;s confined to a wheelchair, and has cognitive (brain damage) problems...

Friday?s appearance on CNBC?s On the Money

Posted on December 15, 2008
In case you missed it, I was on CNBC’s personal finance show On The Money on Friday. You can watch the second Web Extra video here. I offered the following year-end tax tips to help consumers: Update your name with the Social Security Administration so that your name matches on all documents...

Carnival of Fraud - December 15, 2008

Posted on December 14, 2008
Welcome to the December 15, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud. Credit Card Assist presents Who Here Hates the Junk Mail and Why it Can Be Dangerous posted at Credit Cards Blog | CreditCardAssist.com. Jim presents Mona Vie Scam? The Magical Acai Berry Juice Product on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity...

Fraud who leads the Milwaukee County Board wants to let other fraudsters off the hook

Posted on December 10, 2008
Lee Holloway, Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board, has a wonderful idea: Let’s let an organization that defrauded taxpayers off the hook, to the tune of about $50,000. Now… We really need to put this in perspective first. Lee Holloway is a complete fraud...

Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute release proof of James Peterson?s (Microsemi Corp) lies

Posted on December 09, 2008
Last week, Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute announced that James Peterson, the CEO of Microsemi Corp (NASDAQ:MSCC) had neither the bachelor’s degree nor the master’s degree he claimed in numerous SEC filings. That revelation was followed with more lies by Peterson, as well as a statement by Microsemi’s board of directors that they did not [...

Still questioning Sarah Palin?s pregnancy

Posted on December 08, 2008
Oddly enough, conspiracy theorists are still blathering on about what they believe to be Governor Sarah Palin’s faked pregnancy with Trig Palin. They continue to believe that Sarah faked a pregnancy while her teenage daughter Bristol was pregnant with Trig...

Dozier Internet Law on illegal use of a competitor?s name

Posted on December 08, 2008
Yesterday Dozier Internet Law, experts in litigation related to intellectual property and protection of reputations online , published a list of common issues in the battle over using a competitor’s name to get traffic to your website. This area of law is certainly contentious...

James Peterson expands the lie; Microsemi board doesn?t care

Posted on December 06, 2008
Corporate Governance 101: You need ethical people running your company. And that means ethical in all regards. Microsemi Corp. (NASDAQ:MSCC) doesn’t think honest executives are necessary. On Wednesday, news stories broke about the fact that James J...

Planned Parenthood violating Indiana?s sexual abuse laws

Posted on December 05, 2008
Press release from Live Action Films ? a new media movement for life: BLOOMINGTON, IN, December 3 ?- New footage released today from an undercover camera inside an abortion clinic in Bloomington shows Planned Parenthood staff deliberately violating the state?s mandatory reporting laws for sexual abuse...

The Journal of Accountancy recommends Sam Antar?s blog

Posted on December 05, 2008
For the Journal of Accountancy’s “Smart Stops on the Web” column: IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE www.whitecollarfraud.blogspot.com Who knows fraud better than a fraudster? Sam E. Antar, former Crazy Eddie Inc. CFO and convicted felon, shares his views and advice on white collar crime, securities fraud, internal controls, Sarbanes-Oxley and more on his blog...

Should Big 4 audit firms release their financial statements?

Posted on December 05, 2008
A few months ago,  a committee advising Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on the “state of auditing” recommended that Big 4 audit firms be required to submit audited financial statements to the Public Company Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)...

Theft of taxpayer funds not a crime in Milwaukee

Posted on December 04, 2008
Milwaukee Assistant District Attorney David Feiss says that school board member Charlene Hardin’s theft of taxpayer funds isn’t a crime. Hardin and school secretary Lolita Peterson used $2,400 of taxpayer money to travel to Philadelphia for 3 days under the guise of attending a school-related conference, but then didn’t attend the event...

More public company executives with falsified credentials

Posted on December 03, 2008
From the Wall Street Journal: The University of California, Irvine, says a Broadcom Corp. [NASDAQ:BRCM] executive didn’t earn two academic degrees listed in his corporate biography. The Irvine, Calif., chip maker’s proxy statements say Vahid Manian, senior vice president of global manufacturing operations, earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in business [...

Social media in the hands of irresponsible employees can be dangerous

Posted on December 02, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I had an interesting encounter with a PR firm in Florida. The Buyer Group is owned by Lisa Buyer. They were retained by Shop To Earn (STE) to do an online PR campaign, including a lame blog that is supposed to counteract the “negative” information found on the internet about [...

Zac Bissonette?. on his way to star status!

Posted on December 01, 2008
Huge congratulations go out to my dear friend, Zac Bissonnette. Zac is one of my editors at WalletPop.com, and sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He just signed a huge book deal with Portfolio after a bidding war between 3 publishers...

Lehman collapse looming in June: When did auditors know?

Posted on December 01, 2008
The current issue of New York Magazine has a lengthy story about the collapse of Lehman Brothers. To cut to the chase: Management knew in June that the company was in serious, serious trouble. Which leads me to ask when their auditors knew? This question is significant because if the auditors knew about serious problems at [...

Zac Bissonnette?. on his way to star status!

Posted on December 01, 2008
Huge congratulations go out to my dear friend, Zac Bissonnette. Zac is one of my editors at WalletPop.com, and sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He just signed a huge book deal with Portfolio after a bidding war between 3 publishers...

Taxing more in Wisconsin

Posted on November 29, 2008
Wisconsin consistently ranks in the top 10 states for the tax burden on individuals. Our property taxes are sky-high, especially if you live in the metro-Milwaukee area. Personal income taxes are very high. And we have lots of “fees” that are really just taxes in disguise...

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff: More suspect campaign contributions

Posted on November 26, 2008
This isn’t the first time (and won’t be the last time) that a contribution to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s campaign fund is followed by questionable activity. The latest allegations of impropriety involve  a computer consulting company called DigitalBridge...

Hank Paulsen?s plan called ?truly idiotic.? Ya think?

Posted on November 25, 2008
It takes no college degree and very little common sense to come to the conclusion that spending $7.4 trillion of taxpayer money on these “bailout” efforts is idiotic.  It was easy to see what a slippery slope all of this bailout nonsense could easily become...

MPS spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants who will tell them they suck

Posted on November 25, 2008
It’s amazing what several hundred thousand dollars will buy you these days. Get ready for an opinion from McKinsey & Co. that says Milwaukee Public Schools suck. (And I’ve been telling you that for free!) Between extremely poor results with the students, wasteful spending, and massive property tax increases, MPS has got to be one of [...

Louisiana lawyers prohibited from blogging and other online activities

Posted on November 25, 2008
Lawyers are restricted in their advertising efforts. That’s not new. But what is new is a law that was passed in Louisiana. Starting early next year, lawyers in Louisiana will be prohibited from blogging, tweeting, participating in online message boards, and engaging in other online activities...

Hank Paulson?s plan called ?truly idiotic.? Ya think?

Posted on November 25, 2008
It takes no college degree and very little common sense to come to the conclusion that spending $7.4 trillion of taxpayer money on these “bailout” efforts is idiotic.  It was easy to see what a slippery slope all of this bailout nonsense could easily become...

Say bye bye to your 401(k)?

Posted on November 24, 2008
A month ago, I wrote on AOL’s WalletPop about the money grab being done by the government of Argentina. Essentially, the government needed money, saw $30 billion sitting in privately-owned retirement accounts, and decided to take the money away from the rightful owners...

Carnival of Fraud - November 24, 2008

Posted on November 24, 2008
Welcome to the November 24, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud. Jim presents Five Check Fraud Tips by Frank Abagnale on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. debergerac78 presents How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams posted at Creating With Impact, saying, “This short, simple video tells you how to keep criminals from [...

What happened to all that CHANGE?

Posted on November 23, 2008
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