Litigation

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says buyout of Yahoo would be great

Posted on February 04, 2008
 Well of course he’s going to say it would be great… he wants to do the deal! The gist of it is this… Ballmer says the Yahoo buyout would be great because (***drum roll***)… it’s about the only way Microsoft can compete with Google...

Wesley Snipes convicted of 3 misdemeanors, but he mostly still wins

Posted on February 04, 2008
The tax world had its eyes on Wesley Snipes last week, who was on trial for tax evasion. I hate cases like this. Snipes didn’t report income of tens of millions of dollars and didn’t pay taxes on it. The rest of us pay our taxes, and most of us aren’t as well-to-do as Snipes...

Justice has been served! (Sorry, Bob?)

Posted on February 04, 2008
And the crowd goes wild!!! I never thought I’d be so happy to see a non-Packer team win the Super Bowl. But I was thrilled beyond belief for the New York Giants, and they didn’t even have to cheat to win! So I’ll say it now… the Cheater Patriots suck! (Sorry again, Bob...

Changes?

Posted on February 01, 2008
Please be aware that I’m going to be making some changes to the blog and the main site this weekend. So if you stop by and things look crazy, don’t worry. It will all be functional by Monday morning, and the changes are going to be great! SHARETHIS...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

And they wonder why I love reality television?

Posted on January 31, 2008
It’s because you can’t make this stuff up. Real life is soooo much better than scripts. I promise! This is courtesy of Tanisha, from The Bad Girls Club on Oxygen. Tanisha was upset because her rude roommates were up until all hours of the morning, being loud and disgusting...

Are ?temporary? federal unemployment program extensions really all that temporary?

Posted on January 31, 2008
Not so much, according to Michelle Malkin. She’s got some great information that was fed to her by a House Ways & Means staffer, in light of the “economic stimulus” package that politicians are currently arguing about. The Senate is arguing over whether or not to extend the normal 13 week unemployment benefits to add [...

Overstock.com still makes no money

Posted on January 30, 2008
Once again, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK)  loses money. During the fourth quarter…. you know… the quarter that is supposed to be the best quarter of the whole year? Yep. Still couldn’t pull out any profits there. But don’t worry… it’s a smaller loss than the previous year, only $4...

10 Things Your Reality Show Won?t Tell You

Posted on January 29, 2008
AOL and SmartMoney had a feature article this past weekend about reality television, and how realistic (or not) they really are. It’s no surprise that a lot of scripting and planning goes into those “reality” shows. You didn’t know? Where have you been!!!! Here’s a brief rundown of the 10 ways reality shows aren’t so realistic… 1...

Cynthia Cooper?s book - Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower

Posted on January 28, 2008
Cynthia Cooper, WorldCom whistleblower, is releasing her book in just few days. Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower is her story. If it is anything like the speech I heard her give a few years ago at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Fraud Conference, it will be fantastic...

Overstock ?executive? playing on the internet again

Posted on January 28, 2008
I put the word executive in quotes because I don’t think anyone in their right mind really considers Judd Bagley an executive at Overstock.com (NASDQ: OSTK). He is the smearmeister for Patrick Byrne. They like to call him an investigative reporter, but his investigation skills lack one critical element: accuracy...

Massive bank fraud found in France

Posted on January 24, 2008
Société Générale in France has reported a fraud of over US$10 billion, perpetrated by a trader in European stock futures. The trader accused of the fraud is Jérome Kerviel, who has been with the bank since 2000. He first worked in the back office, and then two years ago he was promoted to the trading [...

MPS losing a good teacher over residency rule

Posted on January 24, 2008
Don?t read the title of this and make a mistaken assumption about my opinion on this case. I think the teacher deserves to lose his job…. Dan Bearss teaches science at Custer High School, part of the Milwaukee Public Schools. The City of Milwaukee has a simple rule: City employees must be residents of the city...

Scam email that?s not really from the IRS

Posted on January 24, 2008
Oh how I would love the free money this email is seeming to offer, but alas it was not meant to be. SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Scam email that’s not really from the IRS", url: "http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2008/01/24/scam-email-thats-not-really-from-the-irs/" } );

KMPG associates apparently tired of the firm?s lame technology

Posted on January 23, 2008
This one comes from Dennis Howlett’s blog, and to me, it’s hilarious. I’m not sure if you have to be a an auditor or not to think it’s funny. Apparently there are some emails from KPMG associates circulating and here’s an excerpt: The best question is: 4...

Today on WalletPop

Posted on January 22, 2008
The day has gotten away from me, so it’s time for one of those cop-out posts where I tell you what I’m writing about elsewhere. I hope to get back here later today or sometime tomorrow with some original content. I’m actually looking forward to addressing a question posed to me last week by Dennis [...

Airlines likely to increase fares due to ?congestion fees?

Posted on January 21, 2008
Last week I posted on WalletPop about a proposed “congestion fee” that airlines would have to pay at airports. Right now they pay a landing fee based upon the weight of the plane. With the congestion fee, they would instead pay a fee based upon the day of week, time of day, and congestion at [...

Who said life is fair?

Posted on January 20, 2008
I wanted the perfect ending to this fairy tale of a season for the Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre deserved to be in one more Super Bowl. No one expected much of the team this year, but they took it all the way to the NFC championship game. And they just couldn’t finish...

Will it ever stop at Overstock.com?

Posted on January 17, 2008
To hear Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne tell it, everyone is gunning for them. The company is fantastic. Patrick is fantastic. Everything is above board and everyone is forthcoming with everything. However, another issue has come up. It’s now clear that there were shenanigans with the resignation of President Jason Lindsey and the statements [...

Check out this chart for Usana Health Sciences

Posted on January 16, 2008
Last week, Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ: USNA) announced that the SEC dropped its informal investigation into the company. Immediately, there was a nice short squeeze. But since then, the stock has been on a downward trend. My opinion on this? I think that Cheating in China is still a big issue...

SEC drops informal investigation into Usana Health Sciences

Posted on January 14, 2008
Last week the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) informed Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ: USNA) that it was closing its informal investigation into the company and taking no further action at this time. The pro-MLM camp has trumpeted this as a complete victory for Usana, proclaiming that the SEC basically said their business structure was completely [...

More on the auditor change at Catapult

Posted on January 14, 2008
Last week I wrote about Catapult Communications (NASDAQ: CATT) switching from Deloitte & Touche to a much smaller local firm, in a post called Big Four = Big Fees. In that post I referenced the CFO.com article from which I got my information. The article focused on the difference in fees between the firms: $985,000 [...

Pyramid Scheme Alert reflects on 2007

Posted on January 14, 2008
Multi-level marketing will go down in history as one of the great frauds of our times. It deceptively wraps its harmful scam with the real needs and desires of people today - additional income, stay home with the family, independence, entrepreneurship, high income without high investment or training, and a group that will help [...

The road to Glendale is paved in Green and Gold!!!

Posted on January 13, 2008
  The only thing better than the Dallas Cowboys losing???? Terrell Owens losing!!!!! SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "The road to Glendale is paved in Green and Gold!!!", url: "http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2008/01/13/the-road-to-glendale-is-paved-in-green-and-gold/" } );

Usana executives aren?t the only ones lying about their credentials

Posted on January 13, 2008
See! Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ: USNA) CFO Gill Fuller was right when he said that everyone was lying about their credentials (including him!). The CEO of CellCyte (Public, OTC:CCYG) was recently busted for embellishing his resume, and the stockholders have paid dearly...

Test your Scam Alert skills

Posted on January 13, 2008
The Colorado Division of Securities has a little quiz to help you see if you know anything about investment fraud, or if you’re a scam victim waiting to be taken advantage of. In addition to the quiz which helps you see if you can spot an investment scam, there’s also a checklist to help you [...

Michelle Malkin on Democrats

Posted on January 11, 2008
Read her post about this issue here. SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Michelle Malkin on Democrats", url: "http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2008/01/11/michelle-malkin-on-democrats/" } );

New site ranking tool takes on Google

Posted on January 10, 2008
Bloggers have been infuriated by Google?s changes to their PageRank system. In particular, Google is not ranking blogs and sites that participate in PayPerPost. Some site owners depend upon their page rank for advertising revenue? that is, some advertisers rely heavily on page rank, and if a site does not have one, they?re less likely [...

40 days of Frivolous Tax Arguments: Federal Reserve Notes are not income

Posted on January 10, 2008
Here the jokers are saying that our money isn?t legit, so it?s not really money, so it can?t be taxed. Really? Well I wonder what they do when they go to the grocery store? Do they use *gasp* money???? The truth is that Congress can call something money if they want to...

Book Publishing: Essentials of Corporate Fraud is done!

Posted on January 10, 2008
It’s official! My first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud is done. It is on its way to the printer, to be ready for shipment by March 14, if not sooner. The hard work was in writing it, the stuff that came after that was a relative breeze. Although when people ask me if it was hard [...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.