Archive for April, 2008
Fri 25 April 08 · Filed under Writing & Blogging
This afternoon I was cruising Amazon.com, and found my name in the acknowledgments of a book. I HAD NO IDEA! It is so touching to be thanked in this way, by someone who is both a business associate and a friend.
Rebecca Ryan, the head of Next Generation Consulting, helps companies attract and retain young talent. Specifically, she’s an expert on Generation X (GenX) and Generation Y (Millenials) and helps management come to terms with the fact that it’s not the same business world as it used to be. Employees value many different things than they did 30 years ago, and the old ways of managing people won’t work anymore. [Read more...]
Fri 25 April 08 · Filed under Fraud News Stories
Another top executive is caught lying about his credentials, but we’re supposed to think it’s no big deal. First it was Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA) board member Denis Waitley lying about his college degrees. Then it was Usana CFO Gil Fuller lying about being a CPA. Then it was Usana exeuctive Timothy Wood lying about his college degree.
Now it’s the Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) president, Gregory Probert, lying about having an MBA from Cal State. But in typical multi-level marketing company (product-based pyramid scheme) fashion, you are urged to “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” in Wizard of Oz fashion.
As reported in today’s Wall Street Journal, the MBA degree was listed in at least 19 Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Probert’s excuse? Vanity. (No, we call that fraud, not vanity.) According to the article: [Read more...]
Thu 24 April 08 · Filed under Scam Busting
Case Essential To Protecting Analysts From Issuer Retaliation
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gradient Analytics, Inc. said today that a California state court has ruled that discovery may proceed in the Overstock.com vs. Gradient, et al. litigation. Discovery had been stayed for several months while motions to dismiss by several parties were pending. The motions to dismiss (which did not involve Gradient) were filed by four current and former Overstock board members who had been sued in a cross-complaint filed by Rocker Partners (now known as Copper River Partners).
In response to the court’s decision allowing discovery to go forward, Gradient Analytics President and CEO Brad Forst today noted that: [Read more...]
Wed 23 April 08 · Filed under Scam Busting
Sam Antar and I have weighed in with our opinions on the lie machine known as Overstock.com, run by the country’s most incompetent CEO, Patrick Byrne.
This week has been a treasure trove of new lies and manipulations, as Overstock management tries to cover their lies with new lies and… oh what a tangled web we weave…
Gary Weiss has his own favorite lie in all of this: [Read more...]
Wed 23 April 08 · Filed under Scam Busting
It’s official. The Sith Lord and I have concluded our meeting, and public companies in the United States will no longer be required to follow GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). Instead, they will immediately begin following BOSS (Because Overstock Said So).
Many of you are not surprised by this change. With Patrick Byrne’s impressive ability to manipulate the accounting rules for the benefit of his company, Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK), it only makes sense that we reward him by allowing him to make the accounting rules going forward. (He makes his own rules anyway, so what’s the difference?) [Read more...]
Tue 22 April 08 · Filed under Fraud News Stories
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 to “fix” this for them.
Are they out of their minds? They didn’t have tickets. Sorry, but that’s the way it goes. Now they’re looking for other flights, but say that they’ll have to spend $100 per person more than the flight they were planning on booking. They’re going on vacation and they can’t afford another $100 so Midwest Airlines better do something about it.
They also say they won’t fly Midwest again if the airline doesn’t do something about their problem. So non-customers who didn’t have tickets are going to continue to be non-customers if the airline doesn’t fix the problem that wasn’t the airline’s fault?
Tue 22 April 08 · Filed under Scam Busting
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. They center around your competitor, CNBC. I happen to know for a fact that there’s a fax machine in the CNBC offices where hedge funds send instructions and journalists sit around and take instructions.”
Liz quickly responded:
“Well I worked in CNBC and I never saw that fax machine.”
Of course she didn’t, because there is no such fax machine!
Why, oh why does Herb have to leave journalism? And why don’t I get those special faxes from the Sith Lord???
Tue 22 April 08 · Filed under Scam Busting
Yesterday Sam Antar printed a very interesting piece on his blog that sharply criticized the 2008 first quarter earnings release of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK). I picked up the most damaging part of it, which related to Overstock claiming a 27% increase in revenue over 2007. The problem was that 2008 was calculated in a different way than 2007, so the numbers are not comparable. First quarter 2008 numbers got a “bump” that made the quarter’s increase over the prior year look bigger than it should.
But leave it to Overstock to make matters worse. An article today on Wired.com says the following: [Read more...]
Tue 22 April 08 · Filed under Writing & Blogging
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experience with Google’s new Ad Review Center. This tool enables you to block advertisements from certain advertisers. When you use this feature, advertisers who want to bid on your ad space must be approved first.
But it’s not quite that easy. There are a lot of advertisers who aren’t going through the bidding process, so they can still end up on your site without your approval. To block them, you need to use the competitive ad filter.
Initially, this whole process was appealing to me, because I had advertisements for a lot of scam “business opportunities” showing up on my sites. This process helped me eliminate many of them. It’s not a foolproof process, and there are still plenty of scams that can easily pop up pon my sites. [Read more...]
Mon 21 April 08 · Filed under Productivity & Professional Development, Writing & Blogging
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.
Come join Corporate Casual at their April 29 meeting at the Milwaukee Bar Association: [Read more...]
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