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Siemens bribery investigation ends with a fine
The investigation into bribery allegations at Siemens AG ends with a fine and a charge for illegal profits. The company is paying the equivalent of $284 million in a case that prosecutors have referred to as Europe’s largest bribery investigation ever. This part of the investigation is related to the company’s telecommunications-equipment unit. A former manager [...]
Continue reading...New charges against Terry Gaouette regarding Milwaukee Public Museum
04 Oct 2007
Today, two new charges were filed against the former CFO of the Milwaukee Public Museum. Terry Gaouette was originally charged with four felonies, including one count of theft by officer and three counts of fraudulent writings. The new misdemeanor charges relate to making false or fraudulent reports as a certified public accountant. The criminal charges came [...]
Continue reading...Patrick Byrne and his three stooges
26 Sep 2007
Last week, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Bryne celebrated an apparent victory in court. Overstock is suing Gradient Analytics and Rocker Partners over some negative reports that were issued about Overstock. Of course, the negative reports weren’t negative because Overstock is a crappy company. No, the negative reports were negative simply because there is a Sith Lord [...]
Continue reading...Judd Bagley antics: Part 3
21 Sep 2007
ScipioAfricanus then brings us to the story of SlimVirgin. SlimVirgin is an administrator for Wikipedia. Judd Bagley has been known to sock puppet on Wikipedia with many screen names, and the administrators have disallowed these things. (They even went so far as to ban Wikipedia editing from all IP addresses owned by Overstock.com.) Naturally, Bagley isn’t [...]
Continue reading...More Judd Bagley: Part 2
21 Sep 2007
Our pal ScipioAfricanus gives us more information on the Overstock.com “Black Ops” activity. Judd Bagley, Director of Communications at Overstock.com, has this nasty little habit related to spyware. He’s been caught embedding images in public message board posts… those special images (not visible if you just look at the face of the post itself) send [...]
Continue reading...Catching up on Judd Bagley: Part 1
21 Sep 2007
I’ve been a bit remiss in my blogging about the train wreck that is called Overstock. com. The CEO, Patrick Byrne (known to many as “Wacky Patty”) and his Director of Communications, Judd Bagley regularly engage in questionable behavior in an attempt to shut up the critics of Overstock. The crazy thing? Why don’t they [...]
Continue reading...Plea agreement with Bill Lerach
18 Sep 2007
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has announced a plea agreement with Bill Lerach, former partner at Milberg Weiss. He will plead guilty one one count of conspiracy, forfeit $7.75 million, and pay a $250,000 fine. He will receive a prison sentence that could be from one to two years. The charges against Lerach were part of [...]
Continue reading...Finding fraud by looking at ratios
18 Sep 2007
While doing some research, I came across an old article written by Joe Wells on analyzing ratios to find fraud. The article Irrational Ratios was published in the Journal of Accountancy, and used the ZZZZ Best case to illustrate the point. I’m a believer that today’s really good fraudsters manipulate the financial statements so that the [...]
Continue reading...Sam Antar dishes out some free advice on staying out of prison
10 Sep 2007
In today’s post entitled Advice from a convicted felon: How the government investigates and prosecutes white collar criminal cases, Sam Antar gives us an education on how the federal government goes after the “fish” in a criminal case. And Sam should know. After all, he’s the former CFO of Crazy Eddie and has years of [...]
Continue reading...Jeffrey Skilling of Enron fame asks for a new trial
08 Sep 2007
Jeffrey Skilling, the former CEO of Enron is appealing his federal conviction and arguing that his 24 year sentence is unconstitutional. In May 2006, Skilling was convicted of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading in the Enron case. The former chairman of Enron, Kenneth Lay, was convicted of many counts in the same [...]
Continue reading...- A new pyramid scheme: United First Financial
- Mary Kay Cosmetics: Destroying half a million women a year
- Ufirst Money Merge Account: Resistance is futile
- The Sarah Palin pregnancy cover-up that wasn't (updated)
- What does Dave Ramsey think about United First Financial
- Vendor talks, Usana squawks
- United First Financial agent compensation plan
- Why can't I pee on my neighbor's lawn?
- $3,500 wasted with United First Financial, per Dave Ramsey
- Searching for Shop to Earn scam
- Duped: Ad hominem? I fail to see where I attacked your character, Paul....
- Dash RipRock III: Al Gore has really stepped in it this time. He could have...
- BOB: Tracy Coenen, Your an Idiot
- Ms. A: I was offered a job with Primerica, while I was working at my current....
- Tracy Coenen: Oh.. And if you really want to pay $3,800 toward your mortgage...
- Tracy Coenen: Maurice - You’ve fallen for their crap. $5,000 on your...
- maurice: Tracey, Again, I’m not in favor of purchasing software or...
- Tracy Coenen: Well Paul, you apparently agree with me as well. This has been...
- Paul Haley: Has anyone here actually read anything I’ve written any...
- Tracy Coenen: So what Paul is saying is that there is some link between human...
- SEC employees more worried about future careers than actual enforcement?
- “Climate change”: Just another fraud on consumers
- Latest numbers: MPS still sucks
- Property tax sticker shock
- More TARP secrecy
- Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme investor losses: Recovery?
- Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute release proof of James Peterson’s (Microsemi Corp) lies
- James Peterson expands the lie; Microsemi board doesn’t care
- Planned Parenthood violating Indiana’s sexual abuse laws
- More public company executives with falsified credentials
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.
05 Oct 2007
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