SEC fines have gone down

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 19, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

The fines levied by the Securities and Exchange commission have fallen to their lowest level since 2002. Bloomberg reports that “fewer billion-dollar accounting-fraud cases” and “new policies for fining companies” are to blame.
For the year ended September 30, the SEC issued $1.6 billion in fines, compared to $3 billion in each of the two previous [...]

Google Search: Mary Kay scam

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 18, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

Google Search:
Mary Kay scam
Answer:
Why yes, I believe it is. Mary Kay Cosmetics is a product-based pyramid scheme in which almost no one makes any money. About 99% of women who get involved in Mary Kay ultimately lose money. More information can be found on my consumer education site, Pink Truth. [...]

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff endorses company committing fraud

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 17, 2007 · 1 Comment 

Did I ever mention that the Attorney General of Utah, Mark Shurtleff publicly endorsed Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA) and said the company operates in a legal fashion? Oh yeah, that’s right… I did. Well then, let’s review.
Usana executives have been caught making numerous misrepresentations about the “business opportunity,” company executives, and other company representatives. The [...]

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff: No apology for Sam Antar!

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 16, 2007 · 4 Comments 

Yesterday I wrote a letter to Mark Shurtleff, Utah’s Attorney General, urging him to issue a public apology to Sam Antar. Last week, Mr. Shurtleff wrote a letter to Overstock.com (which Overstock and Patrick Byrne later attached to a press release). That letter was defamatory and embarrassing for Sam, and Shurtleff should not have written [...]

Herbalife’s Top 5 Misrepresentations

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 15, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

Herbalife’s (NYSE:HLF) CEO Michael Johnson and CFO Richard Goudis contradict one another’s figures.
Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI) issues the following statement about its review of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) presentations by CEO Michael Johnson and CFO Richard Goudis.
First, on November 7, 2007, Herbalife CEO Michael Johnson defended allegations that over 90 percent of Herbalife distributors fail by stating: [...]

Update on Mark Shurtleff’s comments from Sam Antar’s blog

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 15, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

Sam Antar posted this on his blog today regarding Mark Shurtleff’s letter about Sam. He says he just received notification from blogger.com TODAY that there was a comment waiting for approval by him. I reiterate my earlier concern: Why didn’t Shurtleff contact him directly via phone or email?
Blog Update Note (11/15/07): I received the following [...]

My letter requesting an apology to Sam Antar from Utah AG Mark Shurtleff

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 15, 2007 · 8 Comments 

Dear Mr. Shurtleff,
I am writing to you today to request that you issue a public apology to Sam Antar for the defamatory and untrue letter you recently sent to Overstock.com regarding Mr. Antar.
Mr. Antar agreed to present at your White Collar Crime Conference at no cost to you, and he even paid for his [...]

Yesterday’s press release by Overstock.com on Sam Antar and the Utah Attorney General’s office

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 15, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

Yesterday, Patrick Byrne and Overstock.com issued a press release regarding a recent speaking engagement done by Sam Antar. The Utah Attorney General’s office invited Sam to speak at their annual White Collar Fraud Conference on October 31.
As with all of Sam’s speaking engagements, he received no fee and he paid for his own travel [...]

Google search: Herbalife SEC investigation

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 14, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

Google search:
Herbalife SEC investigation
Answer:
Yes! The SEC is formally investigating stock sales by a former middle management employee of Herbalife (NYSE: HLF). Following Barry Minkow’s release of his Doomed by Design video and report, the SEC has also reportedly begun an informal investigation regarding issues cited in the report.

Usana’s Bradford Richardson continues to dump shares

Posted by Tracy Coenen on November 14, 2007 · 1 Comment 

As previously reported, Bradford Richardson, Usana’s Executive VP of Asia Pacific has been doing some serious dumping of his Usana (NYSE: USNA) stock. Now that his stock is gone, it looks like he’s been exercising options and dumping those shares as well. He’s up to $2.4 million… what a nice payday!
Here’s the latest tally:

Oh, and [...]

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