Litigation

Facts and figures on Milwaukee Public Schools

Posted on July 05, 2008
In the game of “where does our money go,” I think these numbers are very important. I wonder if other school districts waste money as well as Milwaukee Public Schools? For the 2007-2008 school year, MPS reports the following: 87,360 students Budget = Almost $1...

MPS board members don?t understand basic business principles

Posted on July 04, 2008
Today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran another story about the Milwaukee Public Schools budget for next year. I’ve pointed out recently that MPS expects a drop in enrollment of almost 5%. Yet spending is going up 1.5%. That’s a gap of 6...

Barack Obama wants change?

Posted on July 03, 2008
Then I suggest he start right in his own home. Barack Obama was the recipient of one of those “sweetheart” home mortgages that we’ve heard about. An extra good deal on the mortgage with a below market interest rate and no discount points or origination fee paid to legitimately reduce the rate...

Red Cross rip-off

Posted on July 02, 2008
The American Red Cross says this man, who identified himself as James H. Williams, stole $12,000 of debit cards which were meant to go to people who were victims of the June floods in Wisconsin. This picture is him using the debit cards at ATMs to get the cash off them...

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Can you make money with Mary Kay?

Posted on July 02, 2008
Over on my public awareness site Pink Truth, we’re often asked about whether someone can make money with Mary Kay Cosmetics. After all, they’ve got a product that you can retail, and you don’t really have to recruit, do you? In theory, you can make money with Mary Kay...

Identity theft a huge problem for small businesses

Posted on July 02, 2008
I’m quoted in an article on TheStreet.com about identity theft and the risks to small businesses. The bottom line? Most small businesses don’t take the threat of a data compromise seriously enough. They forget that their reputation is on the line, and they could lose customers with a data breach...

Where is Bradford Richardson?

Posted on July 01, 2008
I feel like I’m playing Where’s Waldo… Does anyone know where Bradford Richardson went? He is the former VP of Asia Pacific for Usana Health Sciences, and he recently resigned. Rumor has it that he “went to work for a competitor...

One accountant?s argument against IFRS

Posted on June 30, 2008
Al Rosen, a forensic accountant and principal of Rosen & Associates in Toronto wrote about his opinion on IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) in Canadian Business magazine. The U.S. might be moving from GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) to IFRS, although there isn’t hasn’t been a final decision or a timeline for doing so...

MonaVie: Scam or not?

Posted on June 30, 2008
The scheme: Typical multi-level marketing company, using the guise of “direct sales” to make the business look like a legitimate retail venture. The reality is that it’s nothing more than a recruiting scheme like Usana, Mary Kay, Arbonne, PrePaid Legal, Primerica, Herbalife, United First Financial, and so many other companies that make big promises to [...

IRS audit red flags

Posted on June 30, 2008
I wrote a couple of posts on some common IRS audit red flags shortly after tax season ended and never finished the list. So here are a few more items that might cause the IRS to want to look at your tax returns a little more closely. Large or unusual changes in income from year to [...

The SEC investigation of Overstock was because Patrick Byrne is trying to expose corruption on Wall Street?

Posted on June 30, 2008
That appears to be what Patrick Byrne is suggesting in this interview. The story keeps changing. At one point, Patrick said he and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) weren’t really the target of the SEC investigation. Rather, the investigation was focused on others (hence the “celebration” of subpoenas)...

Short selling, miscreants ball, and conspiracies? OH MY!

Posted on June 28, 2008
On August 12, 2005, Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) had a conference call he said was going to give information about the “August 11 lawsuit.” The transcript is 17 glorious pages of Byrne rambling about his conspiracy theories...

The IFRS impact on accounting education in the U.S.

Posted on June 28, 2008
A fellow AOL blogger, Victoria Erhart, wrote a fantastic piece on Bloggingstocks, GAAP vs. IFRS: New accounting rules could mean trouble.She looks at the problems that will surely come up if the U.S. switches to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)...

Obama?s 57 states, with one left to go?

Posted on June 27, 2008
Obama on the 57 states he’s been to, with one left to go… And Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 (genius-in-the-making): Copyright © 2008 Sequence Inc. All rights reserved. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement [...

Is Shop to Earn a scam or a legitimate business?

Posted on June 27, 2008
A fellow financial blogger recently went down the road of examining a new multi-level marketing company called Shop to Earn. He was considering signing up, and did a review based on the information he had up to that point. He asked readers to chime in with their views...

Patrick Byrne: Do as I say, not as I do.

Posted on June 27, 2008
Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) has been on a crusade against naked short selling for a couple of years (or more?). It is currently his position that naked short selling is bad. He confirms his belief in this statement on Overstock.com: Patrick Byrne is waging a fight with Wall Street over naked short selling...

One of the most hilarous (fake?) voicemails ever

Posted on June 26, 2008
Dmitri the stud… quite “a catch” in his own opinion. I don’t know if this is a hoax or not, but I don’t care. Too bad I can’t meet him. No matter… I’m hoping to marry Len Clements instead. Listen to Dmitri...

Patrick Byrne & Co. up to dirty message board tricks again

Posted on June 26, 2008
I occasionally take a peek at stock message boards like the Investor Village Overstock.com board when I need a bit of entertainment. It’s especially interesting when the poster “Hannibal” makes statements about the financials and operations of Overstock...

Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, thinks he is a fool

Posted on June 26, 2008
I love transcripts. August 11, 2005, Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK): I agree that CEO?s who spend time worrying about shorts or obsessing about shorts are fools. And that most of the CEOs who tangle with shorts are crooks.” Copyright © 2008 Sequence Inc...

McGee ?potential??. For what?

Posted on June 26, 2008
Racist Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane weighed in today on the conviction of former Milwaukee alderman Michael McGee (who sometimes used the name Michael Jackson when skirting laws). His reaction is not much of a surprise. McGee was set up...

Michael McGee guilty on all charges

Posted on June 24, 2008
The verdict in former alderman Michael McGee’s federal trial just came down, and he has been found guilty on all nine charges against him. He could get up to 30 years in federal prison.One down, one to go. State trial up next. Copyright © 2008 Sequence Inc...

Fantastic article about MLMs and moms

Posted on June 24, 2008
The publication Brain, Child has a wonderful story written by Stacey Schultz, about the devastating effects multi-level marketing companies can have on women. She’s included specific comments about Herbalife, Arbonne, and Mary Kay, but also has a lot of general information on MLMs...

A little thing called ?intent?

Posted on June 24, 2008
Last week the federal trial of former Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee (also known as Michael Jackson, depending upon which agency is looking for him) began. He’s up on felony charges of extortion, bribery, and failing to file financial transaction forms that could get him 30 years in prison, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a [...

UPS rats out FedEx

Posted on June 24, 2008
Interesting story from Bloomberg: A secret report from a lobbyist who represents United Parcel Service Inc. prompted an Ohio state investigation into employment practices of FedEx Corp., leading to a finding that FedEx owed back taxes and interest. Kenneth Kies, a Washington tax lawyer and lobbyist whose firm has been paid $540,000 by UPS since 2002, sent [...

Pressing questions for MLM supporter Len Clements

Posted on June 23, 2008
Today I got an email from Len Clements, the multi-level marketing evangelist and career college graduate who has been a vocal supporter of Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA). He published five disjointed ?rebuttals? to the various reports, videos, and press releases put out by Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute about Usana...

Carnival of Fraud - June 23, 2008

Posted on June 23, 2008
Welcome to the June 23, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud. We had a lot of really good submissions this week, so thank you everyone for participatng! A link back to this post from those participating would be much appreciated. Tracy Coenen presents The Lifelock ?guarantee?: Talking out of both sides of their mouth posted at [...

Al Gore cares about conserving energy

Posted on June 22, 2008
…unless if he’s supposed to participate effectively. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research reports: In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President?s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research...

Proof that MPS sucks

Posted on June 22, 2008
I recently wrote a couple of articles here about the Milwaukee Public Schools budget situation (students down by almost 5%, but spending up AGAIN) and my opinion that MPS teachers are grossly overpaid. Of course, teacher advocates have fired back with comments that not every school district pays as well as MPS, that we should [...

LifeLock is watching me!

Posted on June 21, 2008
The people at LifeLock are on a serious mission to keep the company’s critics quiet. They even called me this week in an effort to “educate me” on the virtues of LifeLock so that I’d quit criticizing them publicly. So imagine my surprise today at being notified that I had someone new “watching” me on Twitter...

The Lifelock ?guarantee?: Talking out of both sides of their mouth

Posted on June 20, 2008
Here and on WalletPop.com (AOL’s personal finance site), I’ve been discussing a company called LifeLock. They purport to help people prevent identity theft. They’re slick marketers and they’ve really capitalized on people’s fears of identity theft...

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