A politician finally talking sense about bailouts and stimulus funds

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 28, 2009 · 4 Comments 

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker had an opinion piece on the bailout madness in today’s Wall Street Journal. His legacy is holding the line of property taxes for Milwaukee County property owners. (i.e. He felt that we were already paying too much when he won the office several years ago, and has seen to it [...]

CNBC Ask the Experts: Bankruptcy or debt settlement?

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Run on over to CNBC’s site for the personal finance show On the Money… I’ve answered a viewer “Ask the Experts” question about filing bankruptcy versus going through the debt settlement process. Bankruptcy often sounds attractive because it wipes out much of what you owe, but it’s not always the best option and you may [...]

Stick a fork in it: GM is done

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Today Reuters is reporting that General Motors Corp is going to be announcing a massive loss for 2008, and that their auditors (Deloitte) will be issuing a “going concern” warning. Essentially, that means that the auditors doubt GM is a viable business that can keep running for much longer.
And we’re surprised by this why?

Fraud Discovery Institute releases new report about Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 23, 2009 · 42 Comments 

The Fraud Discovery Institute Inc. (FDI) launched PonziPlusPyramidEqualsPrepaid http://www.ponzipluspyramidequalsprepaid.com, a Web site containing the results of a multi-month investigation of Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. (NYSE:PPD), a New York Stock Exchange, publicly traded company.

Amazon is promoting my new book

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 21, 2009 · 1 Comment 

How cool is this? Amazon sends out email newsletters to its customers based on their prior purchases. Those who have purchased books on fraud and corruption in the past are getting this newsletter, featuring my new book Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide.

New Lennar Analysis: 72% chance of bankruptcy

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 20, 2009 · 2 Comments 

Barry Minkow and the Fraud Discover Institute have just released a new report on Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) by a Wall Street expert. Their press release summarizes the opinions of the expert:
The Fraud Discovery Institute, Inc. released late this afternoon a new 16 page report completed by Wall Street analyst Reggie Middleton. Mr. Middleton was [...]

Obama’s promises of transparency were lies

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

I suspect this comes as no surprise to most of my readers. In fact, Barack Obama was lying when he said that his administration would be transparent with consumers… offering them the chance to see exactly how bailout dollars were being spent.
The site recovery.gov was touted as a place for taxpayers to go see how [...]

See me @ CNBC’s On the Money site

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

I’m still working with CNBC’s personal finance show On the Money, contributing content for their website. I’ve been answering tax questions from viewers, and I’ll also be writing occasional articles on fraud and consumers scams. Check out my contributions to “Ask the Experts.”

Steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wisconsin, and all they’ll do is politely ask you to give it back

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 16, 2009 · 1 Comment 

No, that headline isn’t created for any sort of shock value. It’s the simple truth. If you steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State of Wisconsin through a (welfare) child care program, all they’ll do is ask you politely (three times) to give the money back.  If you don’t, they’ll leave you alone [...]

Expert Fraud Investigation released this week

Posted by Tracy Coenen on February 11, 2009 · 1 Comment 

My second book, Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide was released this week. It is published by John Wiley & Sons, as was my first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
My goal with the book was to offer readers a practical tool to help them investigate fraud. There are plenty of books available on the subjects [...]

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