Data theft from Sentry Insurance compromises information on 112,000 customers

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 31, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

A recent theft of data involving over 112,000 customers at Sentry Insurance is currently being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service. The thief was a “lead programmer” with a computer consulting company hired by Sentry. In carrying out his job duties, he had access to the information on customers. He has been arrested, [...]

Conviction of Bernie Ebbers upheld by appeals court

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 29, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the conviction and prison sentence of former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers. The 64-year-old defendance was convicted in 2005 of nine counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, and false SEC filings. He received a 25-year prison sentence, which all but assures that he will [...]

Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee gets away with criminal behavior again

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 28, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

After deliberately lying during testimony in a Milwaukee County courtroom, Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee (aka Jackson) will not be charged with perjury.
The perjury occured on April 12, May 12, and May 16, 2006 during Domestic Abuse Injunction Hearings before the Family Court Commissioner and Judge Clare Fiorenza. The hearing involved McGee/Jackson and his pregnant [...]

Kazaa settles piracy lawsuits

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 27, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

Sharman Networks Ltd., the company behind the music-swapping service called Kazaa, has agreed to pay $115 million ot the entertainment industry to settly piracy lawsuits. The company has also agreed to help discourage piracy of music online.
Kazaa software was downloaded more than 389 million times, and the company used a “Fast Track” file sharing [...]

Update on the McGee/Jackson restraining order

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 26, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

In the ongoing saga of the life of Alderman Michael McGee (aka Jackson), there is a new development. McGee/Jackson had a restraining order against him, which prohibited contact with his ex-mistress Kimley Rucker.
Rucker was pregnant, allegedly by McGee/Jackson. She got a restraining order against him due to domestic volence, and in court the [...]

Public companies required to report more details on pay and perks

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 26, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

Today the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to require public companies to report the details of pay and perks for executives. The new rule will take effect in 2007, and is aimed at making total executive compensation clearer.
The details companies will be required to provide about the executive compensation include:

Salary
Bonus
Dollar value of stock [...]

McGee/Jackson will not be held accountable for criminal behavior

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 25, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

Today Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Karen Loebel issued a letter stating that charges would not be filed against Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee (aka Michael Jackson) for threatening to kill his ex-mistress while in court for a hearing on a restraining order.
During the May 17 hearing, McGee/Jackson turned to Kimley Rucker and said:
If you drive [...]

Misrepresenting Milwaukee’s property tax problem

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 24, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

On Sunday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an article on property taxes with the subtitle: “By one measure, Milwaukee is among ‘tax havens’ in area.” That subtitle and the information in the information in the article are completely misleading and Milwaukee is NOT a property tax haven. Here’s why.
The original theory to be [...]

The effect of inflated home appraisals

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 22, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

A slowing housing market is bringing attention to the issue of inflated property appraisals. While home values were climbing and interest rates were low, this wasn’t a problem. Even if an appraisal was too high, the market value of the home would quickly catch up. But now that the market is [...]

How to catch employees stealing

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 21, 2006 · Leave a Comment 

Last week, my column The Fraud Files for the Wisconsin Law Journal was entitled How to Catch Employees Stealing. And it was about just that – what employers can do to help catch employees in the act of stealing from them.
Now, of course, you don’t want employees stealing from you at all. So [...]

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