From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

[tag]Milwaukee County[/tag] Board Chairman Lee Holloway this afternoon resolved his long-running [tag]ethics[/tag] case by admitting to six civil counts of failing to comply with the county [tag]ethics code[/tag].

Under the agreement with the county Ethics Board, Holloway will pay a $3,000 fine.

He admitted to filing faulty ethics forms from 1998 to 2003.

This follows a lengthy investigation and many legal proceedings regarding Holloway’s dealings with the now defunct social service agency Opportunities Industrialization Center of Greater Milwaukee (OIC). He is accused on failing to disclose his business relationship with the organization. Specifically, OIC paid Holloway $165,000 in what was called rent and purchase payments for a building at 2100 W. Atkinson Avenue. OIC, however, never used the building and titile to the property never changed. Holloway is also accused of a conflict of interest when he voted for $1.8 million in funding to go to OIC.

After stating to a newspaper reporter yesterday that he didn’t have a birth certificate and that he couldn’t be tied to anything with the name Michael Jackson, Milwaukee Adlerman Michael McGee has issued a press release admitting that his real name, per his birth certificate is Michael Jackson.

Here’s what he released publicly:

Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, both former heads of Enron Corp., were found guilty by a jury on Thursday of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. The trial lasted almost four months, and the jury deliberated for nearly six days.

Skilling was convicted of 19 of the 28 counts he was charged with, and Lay was convicted on all six counts against him. Lay was also convicted of two federal charges brought against him by the Federal government in a separate trial.

The collapse of Enron, one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history, became synonymous with the word fraud.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a petition was filed Wednesday in Milwaukee County Court to have Michael Imanu Jackson’s name legally changed to Michael Imanu McGee. This situation just adds to the controversy surrounding the City of Milwaukee Alderman, which includes a pregnancy by McGee’s former mistress, a changing story about McGee’s Yahoo email address (which amounts to perjury by McGee), and allegations of domestic violence between McGee and the mistress.

McGee spoke with a reporter from the newspaper and allegedly threatened to sue the paper if a story was printed about the name change petition. He claims that he can’t be tied to anything with the name Michael Jackson on it, and that the reporter is “…crossing the line as far as using unfactual information.”

The petition for the name change lists the person’s (McGee’s) occupation as “city councilman” and uses McGee’s home address and date of birth. A Social Security number is listed, but McGee denies that it is his number.

New York litigator Edward W. Hayes was accused of [tag]legal malpractice[/tag] for sleeping through his client’s [tag]deposition[/tag]. In 2003, Hayes was retained by Robert Flutie to defend companies he owned against a suit brought by the trustee of a [tag]bankruptcy[/tag] involving Flutie’s brother.

A bankruptcy judge ultimately determined that Robert Flutie’s companies, Flutie Bros. and Flutie Entertainment USA, Inc., were successors to his brother’s bankrupt company Flutie Entertainment Corp. Robert Flutie was therefore on the hook for $191,089.

He sued Attorney Hayes, alleging that he didn’t prepare for the trial, and ultimately slept through most of Robert Flutie’s deposition. The judge has thrown out the case because in order to prevail, Robert Flutie would have to show that “but for” Hayes’s mistakes, the outcome of the proceedings would have been different. The judge determined that even if Hayes hadn’t slept through the deposition, the outcome would have still been the same.

Richard Purtich, a Los Angeles Attorney, has pleaded guilty to a [tag]felony[/tag] tax charge related to allegations that he illegally acted as a pass-through for money paid to a client of indicted law firm [tag]Milberg Weiss[/tag] Bershad & Schulman. The federal charges against Milberg Weiss allege that the law form paid more than $11 million in illegal [tag]kickbacks[/tag] to clients who served as lead plaintiffs in [tag]class action[/tag] cases.

Purtich pleaded guilty to not reporting to tax authorities $879,868 in payments from Milberg Weiss to a client who served as a plaintiff in 60 securities lawsuits. Purtich admitted receiving over $3.5 million for the benefit of the client between 1992 and 1996.

Milberg Weiss denies that any of the money paid to Purtich was earmarked for the client. The firm contends that the money paid to Purtich constituted legitimate referral fees.

A report issued today from the [tag]Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight[/tag], or [tag]Ofheo[/tag], said that [tag]Fannie Mae[/tag]‘s [/tag]quarterly earnings[/tag] were manipulated and the company engaged in [tag]improper accounting[/tag]. The report further stated that management was allowed to disregard [tag]accounting regulations[/tag] as long as [tag]earnings targets[/tag] were achieved, and that bonuses were awarded to those who hit targets.

Fannie Mae agreed to pay a $400 million fine to settle investigations by Ofheo and the [tag]Securities and Exchange Commission[/tag]. $350 million will be paid to the [tag]SEC[/tag] as a [tag]civil penalty[/tag] and will be distributed to shareholders. $50 million will go to Ofheo, and ultimately to the U.S. Treasury. Fannie Mae does not admit to any wrongdoing under the settlement.

Your personal information is not safe anywhere, it seems!!! The names, addresses, birthdates, and[tag] social security numbers[/tag] of 26.5 million U.S. Veterans were stolen from the home of a[tag] Veterans Affairs[/tag] employee. The employee (a “midlevel data analyst”) apparently brought home a laptop computer containing this sensitive information, in violation of the agency’s policies. His home was burglarized, and the computer was stolen.

Government officials are saying that the thief probably doesn’t even realize that she or he has this information.

Read about my personal situation involving a [tag]data compromise[/tag].

Read my article on recovering from [tag]identity theft[/tag].

Democratic lawmaker Rep. William Jefferson (New Orleans, Louisiana) has been under [tag]investigation[/tag] for [tag]bribery[/tag], and the FBI says he was videotaped receiving a $100,000 bribe from an [tag]FBI informant[/tag] on July 30. 2005. The money was given to Jefferson to use as a [tag]bribe[/tag] for a high-ranking Nigerian official, in order to help a Nigerian business deal go through.

On August 3, the FBI executed a [tag]search warrant[/tag] at Jefferson’s house in Washington. $90,000 cash (with serial numbers that matched those used for the $100,000 bribe) was allegedly found in the home’s freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs in aluminum foil and food containers.

Two of Jefferson’s business associates have pleaded guilty to bribery charges in Alexandria. One of them, Vernon Jackson, admitted to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to Jefferson in exchange for help in securing business deals in African countries.

Jefferson’s congressional office on Capitol Hill was searched by federal agents on Saturday night. He has not yet been charged, and he denies any wrongdoing.

The [tag]Justice Department[/tag] has joined a [tag]whistleblower lawsuit[/tag] against [tag]Abbott Laboratories[/tag] and its spinoff, [tag]Hospira[/tag]. The companies allegedly conspired to inflate [tag]Medicare[/tag] and [tag]Medicaid[/tag] reimbursements on some drugs.

It is alleged that Abbott Labs reported its drug prices to price publishers (like Drug Topics Red Book) at levels up to 1,000 percent higher than the prices the company charged doctors and hospitals. Inflated list prices allowed doctors and hospitals to request reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid that were much higher than the prices actually paid. This profit for the doctors and hospitals, in turn, induced them to use more Abbott Labs drugs, so the company increased its own sales and profits.

The conspiracy allegedly went on from 1991 to 2001, and the Justice Department says that Medicare and Medicaid reimbursed doctors and hospitals over $175 million for the Abbott drugs at issue in this case. Under the [tag]False Claims Act[/tag], the government may recover [tag]treble damages[/tag] and $5,500 to $11,000 for each fraudulent reimbursement claim.

The [tag]whistleblower[/tag] lawsuit was originally filed against Abbott Labs by Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys Inc., a home infusion company.