Archive | Jun 2008
Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, thinks he is a fool
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.”
Continue reading...McGee “potential”…. For what?
26 Jun 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. A witness “got” McGee to say things that convicted him. (If that’s what you call [...]
Continue reading...UPS rats out FedEx
24 Jun 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 [...]
Continue reading...Michael McGee guilty on all charges
24 Jun 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.
Continue reading...Fantastic article about MLMs and moms
24 Jun 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. Excerpts of the story that pertain to Mary Kay and my site, Pink [...]
Continue reading...A little thing called “intent”
24 Jun 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 [...]
Continue reading...Pressing questions for MLM supporter Len Clements
23 Jun 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. These rebuttals appeared to be [...]
Continue reading...Carnival of Fraud - June 23, 2008
23 Jun 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 [...]
Continue reading...Al Gore cares about conserving energy
22 Jun 2008
…unless if he’s supposed to participate effectively. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research reports:
Continue reading...Proof that MPS sucks
22 Jun 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 [...]
Continue reading...- Mary Kay Cosmetics: Destroying half a million women a year
- A new pyramid scheme: United First Financial
- Ufirst Money Merge Account: Resistance is futile
- Vendor talks, Usana squawks
- The Sarah Palin pregnancy cover-up that wasn't (updated)
- $3,500 wasted with United First Financial, per Dave Ramsey
- What does Dave Ramsey think about United First Financial
- Why can't I pee on my neighbor's lawn?
- United First Financial agent compensation plan
- Searching for Shop to Earn scam
- Tracy Coenen: Roger - What exactly does MMA do if not encourage a user to pay...
- Roger Carman: Tracy, It is my opinion that you don’t know much of the...
- JoeTaxpayer: Roger, what it seems to do is use confusing terms (such as...
- marcy: Roger, I love that you are painting the UFF group as self sacrificing...
- Craig: For someone critical of the research capabilities of others, you seem...
- Tracy Coenen: What it really does is cause homeowners to waste $3,500 on an...
- Roger Carman: Craig, It would really impress me if you took your research...
- Craig: Hello Roger, or should I say UFirst Agent No. 864081? How is your...
- Craig: In fact, Quicken and MS Money are far better quality products, and...
- Tracy Coenen: The sad thing is that the quality of the $200 product will be...
- United First Financial broker numbers and earnings
- No Surprise: The “bailout bill” is falling apart
- More gifts from the government for the financially irresponsible
- Credit card company bailout next?
- Election fraud and the future of America
- Why audits are near worthless (yes, internal audit too)
- Bailout head Neel Kashkari wants transparency (except when he doesn’t)
- Overstock.com executives subject to clawback provision in Sarbanes-Oxley?
- Milwauke Public Schools: Obscene property tax increase
- But there’s no evidence of voter fraud!
About the Author
Tracy Coenen is a forensic accountant and fraud examiner who investigates white collar crimes, including cases of financial statement fraud, embezzlement, tax fraud, and insurance fraud. She is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud and more than 100 articles on fraud featured in industry publications.
26 Jun 2008
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