Litigation

Women upset over cancelled flight they didn?t have tickets for

Posted on April 22, 2008
I am soooooo not kidding about this. I just saw this on the news. 24 women are upset at Midwest Airlines, which recently canceled/changed a number of flights due to some cost-cutting measures. They’re upset because they were going to take one of those flights, but they hadn’t even booked it! Now they want Midwest Airlines [...

Patrick Byrne?s delusions

Posted on April 22, 2008
More delusional talk from Patrick Byrne, CEO of POS Overstock.com. From Herb Greenberg at Marketwatch: Speaking on the Fox Business Channel today to my friend Liz Claman, [Byrne] said: ?I think that there?s been an unhealthy collusion developed between certain short sellers and certain journalists...

Come see me talk about fraud next week!

Posted on April 21, 2008
The Essentials of Corporate Fraud book tour is going full steam ahead. Next week I’ll be talking with a group of accountants, attorneys, and bankers in Milwaukee on How To Commit Fraud and Get Away With It… A look at how management can spot the warning signs of corporate fraud...

Manipulation of earnings in Overstock.com press release (Are you surprised?)

Posted on April 21, 2008
Today convicted felon Sam Antar has an exciting piece on his blog about Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and how it fudged its earnings figures in Friday’s press release, caused a short squeeze right before options expired, and continued on Patrick Byrne’s path of misleading investors...

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Analyzing the truthfulness of corporate executives

Posted on April 21, 2008
The website RealScoop uses voice analysis to analyze statements made by corporate executives (or others), with the result shown on the “Believability Meter”. How cool is this? (UPDATE: Likely all a fraud and/or complete coincidence as voice analysis is unreliable...

Milwaukee teachers crying about having to teach children to read

Posted on April 20, 2008
Today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a typical story about the poor teachers and the poor students in Milwaukee. How dare they be required to teach things like reading and mathematics, and how dare the students actually be tested to see if they’ve learned these skills! The story reports on a meeting of 100 Milwaukee Public [...

Usana?s secret new product

Posted on April 20, 2008
Usana Health Sciences Inc. is preparing for a big launch of a new product at this year’s convention, and I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at what it is. The new product is an energy drink. Apparently, studies by Usana show that you could get a bigger kick from a cup of coffee, but [...

Getting dressed up to go to Wal-Mart

Posted on April 20, 2008
Compliments of  Dvorak Uncensored: SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Getting dressed up to go to Wal-Mart", url: "http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2008/04/20/getting-dressed-up-to-go-to-wal-mart/" } );

Alexa ranking system changed

Posted on April 17, 2008
Today Alexa has announced that it has made big changes to the algorithm it uses to rank websites. I don’t know if this is good news, bad news, or simply neutral. Most people have known for a long time that Alexa rankings are practically worthless...

A bit of irony from Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com

Posted on April 16, 2008
Recently a countersuit was filed by Gradient Analytics against Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and Patrick Byrne, claiming that the company and Byrne engaged in a smear campaign after negative reports on Overstock were issued by Gradient. The suit includes allegations that Overstock and Byrne committed acts of defamation, tortuous interference with prospective business relations, and unfair business [...

Creating a fraudulent criminal history

Posted on April 16, 2008
I’ve heard of plenty of people fabricating their pasts in order to make themselves look better. Fake degrees, false work histories, and phony certifications aren’t all that uncommon these days. Changing one’s name or otherwise trying to hide one’s criminal past isn’t out of the question today either...

City of Milwaukee buys silence of soon-to-be former employee for $30k - What are they hiding?

Posted on April 15, 2008
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that Dr. Vivian Chen, second in command at the Health Department is being fired. But she’s being given about $30k to keep quiet. About what? Chen worked until February 1, 2008, but will be considered an employee until May 8, 2008, giving her extra pension credits...

MPS student enrollment will decline, budget will grow (Surprise!)

Posted on April 15, 2008
Of course no one is surprised by this. Milwaukee Public Schools, one of the worst and most wasteful school districts in the United States will have a decline in enrollment, but has proposed an increased budget. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that enrollment will decline next school year by 4...

See my Tax Tips for Procrastinators on AOL

Posted on April 14, 2008
For all those waiting until the last minute to do their taxes… SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "See my Tax Tips for Procrastinators on AOL", url: "http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2008/04/14/see-my-tax-tips-for-procrastinators-on-aol/" } );

Timmay as Fraudbuster?

Posted on April 14, 2008
Penny stock trader, author, entrepreneur Timothy Sykes (aka Timmay) has put on his little detective hat and found a fraud in progress. Being promoted by none other than CNBC “reporter” Sri Jegarajah. Timmay makes an excellent point…...

Tax Me More Act: An opportunity for those who think taxes should be higher

Posted on April 13, 2008
It seems that those who think taxes aren’t high enough are always pushing for increases… so long as the increases are for someone else. Did you know that half of American households pay no income tax? And those are the very same people who are often rallying against “tax breaks for the rich...

Carnival of Fraud - April 14, 2008

Posted on April 13, 2008
Welcome to the April 14, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud. Charles H. Green presents Bear Stearns, Enron, and Some Confusion About Trust posted at Trust Matters, saying, “Is it really fair to say that Skilling didn’t know what was happening at Enron? Now is it reasonable to say that Bear Sterns CEO was acting [...

Herbalife Red Flags for Fraud Issued

Posted on April 11, 2008
Disclosure: Barry Minkow is currently shorting Herbalife stock, and intends to short any stock he reports on in the future. Details found on page 3 of this document. Today Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute released a list of the Top Ten Red Flags of Fraud at Herbalife, LTD (NYSE:HLF): 1...

Alder-thug collects over $67,000 plus benefits while behind bars

Posted on April 11, 2008
Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee (also known as Micheal Jackson, depending upon which laws he’s trying to skirt) has been sitting in jail since Memorial Day last year. And he’s been paid his full salary the entire time, although he obviously couldn’t attend any council meetings or do much real work for the taxpayers...

More red flags for the IRS

Posted on April 10, 2008
Scared of being audited by the Internal Revenue Service or your state taxing authority? That’s what they want! They hope the fear of an audit will keep you honest. And although the average taxpayer has a very low chance of getting audited, the potential is always there...

Back to #1 in Auditing at Amazon.com

Posted on April 10, 2008
The product rankings on Amazon are of limited usefulness, basically because they’re updated every hour, and a sale of one or two books can bump you up far. My book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud, just jumped back up to #1 on the list of Auditing books...

Tax Audit Red Flags

Posted on April 09, 2008
As tax day nears…. taxpayers around the country are in a panic. Some because they’re not ready for April 15. Others because they’re deathly afraid of being audited. Here are some common audit red flags to ponder. The IRS purposely doesn’t definitively say what things make you more likely to be audited...

Expressing one?s frustrations?

Posted on April 08, 2008
SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Expressing one’s frustrations…", url: "http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2008/04/08/expressing-ones-frustrations/" } );

Why do people fall for these scams?

Posted on April 08, 2008
I was just reading on TechCrunch about a scam called Bux.to that looks poised to fold. Members are complaining that they are not being paid the money they’ve earned. The site shows some comments from supposed members who say they’ve been paid, but it’s sketchy whether or not that’s real...

Gradient Analytics? Early Research Identified Same Issues as Charges in SEC Complaint against Biovail

Posted on April 07, 2008
SEC Credits Analysts Who Questioned Biovail, But Retaliation Against Independent Researchers Through Lawsuits Continues SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gradient Analytics said recently its research into Biovail from 2002 to 2003 identified the same issues that are now the centerpiece of the accounting-fraud charges supporting the U...

Till death do I blog

Posted on April 06, 2008
Today the New York Times ran a story about people who died from blogging. Sort of. One technology blogger died recently of a heart attack, another tech blogger died of a massive coronary, and a third blogger had a heart attack but survived. And there is also a lengthy list of complaints from professional bloggers, including [...

You ask the search engine, I answer

Posted on April 05, 2008
I’m doing another round of interesting search engine queries. Most of these were from Google. Some were from other search engines. But these are the things people are looking for, and it just happens to lead them to this site: Search: sarbanes oxley act positive benefit Answer: Not so much...

My favorite reality television star: Tanisha from Bad Girls Club

Posted on April 05, 2008
Tanisha! Email me, girl! SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "My favorite reality television star: Tanisha from Bad Girls Club", url: "http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2008/04/05/my-favorite-reality-television-star-tanisha-from-bad-girls-club/" } );

A sneak peek at the cover of my next book

Posted on April 05, 2008
I’m currently writing my second book, and we’re working on the cover. The book is a guide to doing fraud investigations. This isn’t the final draft of the cover, but it’s pretty close. Feel free to leave your comments… SHARETHIS...

Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower, by Cynthia Cooper

Posted on April 05, 2008
Cynthia Cooper was a true corporate whistleblower. She became famous, not by choice, but because of the WorldCom financial statement fraud valued at $11 billion. She was the Vice President of Internal Audit at WorldCom, a position that was not easily obtained...

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