Litigation

Last week?s articles from WalletPop on AOL

Posted on June 01, 2008
Business tip: Turn your competitor into a collaborator - The story of DHL using UPS to transport some of their packages has a valuable lesson for business owners. Cautionary tale: Even a gansta rapper needs homeowner’s insurance - Baby momma in living home (against homeowner baby daddy’s wishes) when suspicious fire starts...

Auditor reveals how risky mortgages were allowed to go through

Posted on June 01, 2008
NPR featured a story on Tracy Warren, an auditor at Watterson-Prime, a quality control contractor who reviewed subprime loans for investment banks before they were sold on Wall Street. (The biggest client of Watterson-Prime? Bear Stearns.) She has over 25 years of experience in mortgage lending and her job was to find bad loans and [...

Dennis Troha?s fools

Posted on May 31, 2008
Dennis Troha has to be laughing at all the idiots involved in his schemes. Troha is the wealthy businessman who was a financial backer for a Menominee Indian casino project through his entity, Kenesah Gaming Development. He was indicted in early 2007 for illegally giving Governor Jim Doyle $100,000 via his company Johnson Houston Partners [...

Do tattoos and professional jobs mix?

Posted on May 31, 2008
This past week, AOL Small Business featured my post on tattoos in the workplace. My verdict as the proud owner of 3 tattoos and as an entrepreneur who works with stuffy suit-and-tie types? There’s a time and place for tattoos, so choose wisely before you get them...

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Data security article featured on AllBusiness.com

Posted on May 31, 2008
My article on data security problems is being featured on AllBusiness.com, as the site focuses on business security this week. It should come as no surprise that online security concerns are expected to rise this year as the number of attempted and successful online frauds will undoubtedly increase...

Body Worlds exhibit controversy

Posted on May 30, 2008
This week, I finally went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum. The exhibit has been here since January, but I procrastinated. This is the last weekend it’s running, and the museum is staying open 24 hours a day to accommodate the last-minute visitors...

Debunking United First Financial myths and deceptions

Posted on May 30, 2008
“The UFF program is the ONLY program on the market with these exact features and benefits.” Of course it is. If it could be compared to anything else, consumers would quickly see that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It needs to be some secret, special, super-duper, can’t get it anywhere else program or [...

Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com is a crook, according to himself

Posted on May 30, 2008
According to a transcript of an interview that Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne did with CNBC in 2004, he is a crook. Here’s the relevant portion: Interview: Patrick Byrne, chairman and CEO of Overstock.com, discusses the company?s revenues and earnings 23 April 2004 CNBC: Kudlow & Cramer Mr...

Four key pieces to an effective corporate fraud investigation

Posted on May 29, 2008
There are four critical pieces to a corporate investigative puzzle. With the proliferation of stories of corporate fraud, managers and executives would be wise to familiarize themselves with the workings of a corporate fraud investigation. A corporate investigative policy is necessary because it is important to have guidelines in place for the start of an investigation...

Herbalife products offer lead supplements for children too!

Posted on May 28, 2008
Last week, Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute release a report that showed that Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) products contain unsafe levels of lead. The reason why people can be poisoned with Herbalife products is simple: Although each pill might contain only a tiny amount of lead, the recommended dosages of the products add up to a [...

More interesting Mark Shurtleff news

Posted on May 28, 2008
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff keeps providing interesting material for bloggers. Two weeks ago I wrote about the campaign contributions Shurtleff receives from multi-level marketing companies (MLMs) like Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA) and Pre-Paid Legal (NYSE:PPD), and his support for weakening laws against pyramid schemes in Utah...

Overstock.com materially overstates EBITDA

Posted on May 28, 2008
Sam Antar has a great article today on Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) continuing to overstate EBITDA. Specifically, Sam says: In Overstock.com?s Q1 2008 earnings release and 10-Q report the company continued to improperly remove from its EBITDA calculation, certain stock-based expenses in violation of Regulation G...

Milwaukee Mayor wants to raise property taxes 26%

Posted on May 27, 2008
Milwaukee politicians are crying “woe is me” like they do every year. This year rising fuel costs probably pay a big part in budget difficulties, but I’m immune to their crying. Every year they keep raising property taxes, and every year I’m left feeling that they’re wasting my money...

LifeLock CEO: Our service kinda works

Posted on May 27, 2008
Todd Davis, the CEO of LifeLock, is trying to get the word out that the LifeLock identity theft service works sometimes! In the below video, Davis tells Matt Lauer on the Today Show that his identity has only been stolen once, darnit! I’ve been reporting what the lawyers are saying about LifeLock, and it’s not good...

Misleading consumers in the marketing of United First Financial Money Merge Account

Posted on May 27, 2008
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been researching and reporting on the United First Financial Money Merge Account. UFF’s “agents” are poorly trained multi-level marketing pawns who spout company propaganda about how the MMA is the greatest thing since sliced bread...

Carnival of Fraud - May 26, 2008

Posted on May 26, 2008
Welcome to the May 26, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud. Tracy Coenen presents Getting into even more credit card trouble with United First Financial posted at Fraud Files. Paul Wilcox presents 3 Steps To Preventing Identity Theft posted at Security Manor...

Another reason to hate LinkedIn

Posted on May 26, 2008
I didn’t really need another reason to hate LinkedIn. I hate it sufficiently. So much so, that LinkedIn employees are checking this blog all day long to see if I’ve posted anything else about the service or if readers have left new comments… either of which would likely warrant another comment to the effect of: [...

You ask Google, I answer!

Posted on May 25, 2008
Question posed to Google: proof usana won against barry minkow Answer: Usana didn’t win against Barry. Despite all the grandstanding by executives about the alleged “lies” told by Barry and the rest of us who worked with Fraud Discovery Institute on the Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA) case, Barry actually won...

Getting into even more credit card trouble with United First Financial

Posted on May 25, 2008
I’ve outlined all the reasons why United First Financial’s Money Merge Account is a scam. Although it technically offers something to the buyer, it’s not worth anywhere near the $3,500 fee that’s charged for it. Consumers can pay off their mortgages faster and for free without this program...

Mainstream media recognizes Mary Kay Cosmetics as a product based pyramid scheme

Posted on May 24, 2008
The success of multi-level marketing companies and pyramid schemes has been based partly upon favorable media coverage of the industry. The MLMs put out plenty of positive press releases, resulting in numerous fluff pieces in newspapers and magazines over the years...

This week on WalletPop @ AOL

Posted on May 23, 2008
Put away the Blackberry! - No, we don’t want to see how fast you can type with your thumbs. More on LifeLock’s failure to protect identities (and its claim that it isn’t so!) - LifeLock is still a waste of money. Don’t fall for their empty promises! Tattoos and professional jobs: Do they mix? - You can [...

Analyzing the details of the United First Financial program

Posted on May 22, 2008
If you owed a bank money under a loan that had an interest rate of 6%… And I came along and said to you “Here, take this loan with an interest rate of 8% and use the money to pay off the loan you already have…” What would you say? Anyone with remedial math skills would [...

Would you work with a company that is deliberately misleading blog readers?

Posted on May 21, 2008
Recently I’ve posted a couple of articles about my disappointment with LinkedIn. It’s my opinion that for most professionals it’s a complete waste of time. Actual benefits from it are few and far between, unless you’re looking for a job or you’re a headhunter...

Las Vegas: Recession or no?

Posted on May 21, 2008
I love Las Vegas. And when my fellow WalletPopper Zac Bissonnette decided to write a story about how recession-like times (no, we’re not really in a recession) have hit Vegas hard, I was saddened. I said to him, “Are you sure there’s really a recession there? Cuz I just tried to book a room and [...

Church fraud article live

Posted on May 20, 2008
As promised, my article on church fraud is live here: Let the Faithful Pray There’s No Fraud. I’ve been investigating a couple of cases of church fraud lately, and it makes me sad to think that people will steal from churches, of all places...

At least the Business Journal agrees with me about LinkedIn

Posted on May 20, 2008
Much to my dismay, the Business Journal of Milwaukee ran a piece raving about the usefulness about LinkedIn, the modern day version of a chain letter. Last week I talked about how it’s nothing more than an annoying tool ultimately used by headhunters and sales people...

Deception in the sale of the United First Financial product?

Posted on May 20, 2008
I found this interesting description of the deception involved in selling the United First Financial program to unsuspecting consumers for $3,500: These programs are sold *very* aggressively in the US as part of a multi-level marketing scheme by people who do not really understand what they are selling, but are highly motivated by a $1400 commission [...

Another outrageous overtime situation in Wisconsin

Posted on May 19, 2008
Lately there have been several stories about government employees and overtime pay. I covered the gaming of the overtime/sick leave system by jail guards, and recently there was also a report on excessive overtime with nurses and other state employees...

Shut up about the economy already!

Posted on May 19, 2008
My friend Tim Sykes (author, entrepreneur, reality TV star, mildly obnoxious stock trader) said this today far better than I could hope to say it: Ask just about anyone how our economy is doing and you?re likely to hear one or more of the following: We?re in a recession! The stock market is crashing! Oil?s never gonna [...

Herbalife products contain unsafe levels of lead

Posted on May 19, 2008
?The Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) products that were analyzed contain levels of lead that are in excess of what the law allows under California’s Safe Drinking and Toxic Environment Act of 1994 more commonly known as Prop. 65,? says lawyer and dietary supplement and Prop...

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