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40 days of Frivolous Tax Arguments: The filing of a tax return is voluntary.
This one is good. The tax protesters say that they don’t have to file income taxes because it’s a voluntary system. And they volunteer to NOT file taxes. Part of what fuels this misconception that taxes are voluntary is a Supreme Court decision which said “[o]ur system of taxation is based upon voluntary assessment and [...]
Continue reading...40 days of Frivolous Tax Arguments
26 Dec 2007
Because I just can’t get enough of the Internal Revenue Service and our messed up American tax system, I’m going to treat my readers to 40 days of “frivolous tax arguments.” Settle down…. I’ll still be posting all of my regular fraud news and topics. This is just a bonus for the next (very [...]
Continue reading...Fortune on Sam Antar - Takes One to Know One
21 Dec 2007
The December 24 issue of Fortune magazine has an article on Sam E. Antar, the man most widely known as the former CFO of Crazy Eddie, a New York City electronics retailer that went down in flames in 1987 after the discovery of massive fraud being perpetrated by Sam and his cousin Eddie. The story [...]
Continue reading...Fraud prevention podcast
19 Dec 2007
I recently recorded a podcast for AllBusiness on fraud prevention in small businesses. Chris Bjorklund and I sat down and talked about some of the risks and ways to prevent fraud in small companies. The podcast covers these issues, in addition to others: Simple internal controls that are often overlooked Components to be included in a code of [...]
Continue reading...Google Search: Commercial insurance fraud
04 Dec 2007
Google Search: commercial insurance fraud Answer: Yes, I do analysis of commercial insurance claims, particularly ones that have been identified as potentially fraudulent, or ones that are deemed to be more complex. More information about the services I provide for commercial insurance matters can be found here. [...]
Continue reading...Commit crimes that put the Milwaukee Public Museum in financial ruin, and here is your punishment
03 Dec 2007
Terry Gaouette, the former CFO of the Milwaukee Public Museum who colluded with the former CEO Michael Stafford to spend all the endowment money and then create and distribute false financial reports to cover their crimes, was sentenced last week. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of falsifying a financial report. He has to pay [...]
Continue reading...Usana insider in charge of Asia Pacific unloads tons of stock after Minkow exposes company for cheating in China
31 Oct 2007
Insider: Bradford Richardson, Executive Vice President of Asia Pacific Company Bio: Bradford joined USANA in December 1997 as executive director of international development, and from 1999-2005 held the roles of vice president of international development and vice president of international. In January 2006, he was appointed executive vice president of Asia Pacific, and currently has profit [...]
Continue reading...NAACP wants Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com to apologize
27 Oct 2007
Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com made a teeny little goof this week. Well, okay… it wasn’t so teeny. It was pretty bad. Byrne was part of a debate on school vouchers in Utah, which he favors. During the debate, he said that when minority students don’t graduate from high school, “you might as well burn them.” Yet [...]
Continue reading...Sam Antar v. Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com
24 Oct 2007
The regular readers of this blog are familiar with the issues at Overstock.com. The company can’t turn a profit to save its life, but CEO Patrick Byrne blames that on short sellers. The fact is that the financial statements have some curious things in them, but Byrne never gets around to actually straightening out all [...]
Continue reading...Can you really avoid an IRS audit? (Or at least reduce your chances?)
15 Oct 2007
Yes and no. Great accountant answer, huh? The truth is that the Internal Revenue Service has some special red flags in place that help flag your tax return for an audit. Those super-secret red flags are revealed to no one. Apparently the IRS system takes your tax return data, runs its super-secret algorithm, and decides [...]
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.
27 Dec 2007
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