Yesterday, Madoff’s auditor was arrested for falsely stating that the firm had audited the financial statements. No surprise that such a small firm could be auditing a supposedly large investment company like Madoff Investments. Just in time, the AICPA (that’s the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) has expelled Friehling from its membership following an … Read more »
Category: Fraud
Madoff’s Auditor Arrested
With Madoff in jail, it is time for the rest of his crew of fraudsters to join him. Next up…. David G. Friehling, the sole practitioner at Friehling & Horowitz, CPAs, PC, has been charged with securities fraud, aiding and abetting investment adviser fraud and four counts of filing false audit reports with the Securities … Read more »
You’re a Victim of a Ponzi Scheme, But What About Your Taxes?
You missed the warning signs and got suckered into a Ponzi scheme. Can the IRS help by giving you some tax relief? This is a critical issue for long-term Ponzi scheme investors (like some of the Madoff victims) who have paid taxes on gains from the investment. After all, they have been paying real taxes … Read more »
Can You Prevent Ponzi Schemes?
With Madoff, Nadel and Stanford in the news, people are wondering why the government does not prevent Ponzi schemes. The government should protect us from these frauds. How can they? Ponzi scheme sponsors are thieves. Common criminals. They just wear suits instead of black masks. The government has not been able to prevent bank robberies, … Read more »
Madoff Goes From His Penthouse to the Big House
Bernie Madoff filed past a sea of reporters and camera flashes to enter his guilty plea in front of Judge Denny Chin. Several victims spoke, asking the judge to reject the plea and force a trial. They want grueling trial to make Madoff suffer and to bring more facts out to the public. Since he … Read more »
The Subprime Boomerang: After the Writedowns Comes the Litigation
Securities Docket put on a great webinar on The Subprime Boomerang: After the Writedowns Comes the Litigation. Bruce Carton moderated a panel of Veronica Rendon of Arnold & Porter, Richard Swanson of Arnold & Porter and Jeff Nielsen of Navigant Consulting, Inc. Jeff started off my showing how much complicated the picture is for securitized … Read more »
Corporate Compliance Fraud in Georgia, Florida and Massachusetts
Just like the Corporate Compliance Fraud in Ohio, Compliance Services is also targeting companies in Georgia, Florida and Massachusetts. The Daily Citizen is reporting Georgia corporations warned about solicitations. The Georgia Secretary of State issued a warning: “Several corporations registered with the Corporations Division of the Office of the Secretary of State received a letter … Read more »
Corporate Compliance Fraud in Ohio
The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting a fraud that uses the cover of corporate compliance: ‘Corporate Compliance’ form not from any government agency. According to columnist Sheryl Harris, businesses are receiving official-looking mailings with a form requesting a $150 fee to comply with the annual meetings under state law. As the story points out, not … Read more »
SEC Warns Investors and Financial Firms of Government Impersonators
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning about con-artists who may use the names of actual SEC employees to mislead potential victims. The SEC is already beaten down by the Madoff scandal. Now it has to deal with scam artists further dragging mud across the reputation of the SEC. Investors should be aware that … Read more »
SEC Charges Operators of Multi-Billion Dollar Real Estate Enterprise With Fraud
The SEC charged Oregon-based Sunwest Management Inc. with securities fraud and is seeking an emergency court order freezing its assets. According to the SEC Complaint, the recent collapse of a real estate enterprise once valued at approximately $2 billion in assets, run by Sunwest Management Inc.and its CEO, Jon M. Harder, revealed a massive fraud … Read more »