UPDATE March 30, 2011: On February 17, 2010, Medifast Inc. filed suit in US District Court, Southern District of California, alleging defamation, violation of California Corporations Code, and unfair business practices. On March 29, 2011, Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed all of Medifast’s claims against me in her ruling on my anti-SLAPP motion.

Last week Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute released a report regarding the independence of the auditors of Medifast Inc. (NYSE:MED). The company is audited by Bagell, Josephs, Levine & Company. The audit partner happens to also be a part of BJL Wealth Management, an investment firm with the same address as the audit firm.

This becomes interesting when you consider that BJL Wealth Mangement recommended the purchase of Medifast stock to an operative of FDI. Is this a conflict of interest? It may be. Does the audit partner, in his role at the investment firm, make recommendations regarding Medifast stock? Does he have any financial interest in transactions invovling Medifast stock? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then the audit partner would have compromised his independence.

Last week, white collar crime fighter Sam Antar reported on interesting false disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission by Interoil (NYSE:IOC). The situation is amusing, to say the least, and here’s the heart of it…

Interoil has a history of lots of stock and debt offerings. In May 2008, the company did a $95 million debt offering. They were paying finder’s fees for getting the money for them, but didn’t seem to want to completely disclose the fees. Form D filed with the SEC on May 28, 2008 did not disclose any fees or commissions paid in connection with this offering. The truth was, however, that the company was paying such fees and simply chose to not disclose them.

There is plenty of criticism here of United First Financial, Ufirst Financial, UFF,  Money Merge Account, MMA, or whatever Google likes…

One of the arguments UFF supporters always seem to throw out is the “money back guarantee” that UFF gives.  I’ve been critical of this guarantee here, because I think it’s next to impossible for anyone to get their money back. UFF has a cleverly-written “guarantee” that means you won’t get your money back. They say:

Wisconsin has been drunk on taxing and spending for a long time. We easily rank in the top ten (or higher) states when it comes to the tax burden. There is no tax our politicians don’t love.

There are three reasons why it’s so easy to increase taxes and create new taxes here:

Despite the misleading, fraudulent headling in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today, the truth is that Milwaukee Public Schools will be spending more taxpayer money next school year. JSOnline reported: “MPS cuts spending, spends stimulus.” The truth is that MPS is not cutting spending, it’s increasing spending.

Last year’s budget was $1.2 billion. The budget for this year is $1.3 billion. But you won’t hear the media reporting that.

Do-it-yourself home renovation projects are still all the rage, years after shows like TLC’s Trading Spaces became popular. No doubt the economy has also influenced people to try to increase the value of their real estate for little or no cost. People are decorating and selling their homes themselves. And they’re having fun doing it.

And there’s always an opportunist waiting in the wings to make a buck on the latest craze. In steps Haverhill Home Staging. Buy our correspondence course. Pass the test. And we’ll guarantee you a job paying $24 to $31. Does it sound too good to be true? It just might be.