Steven E. Whiting, the former owner of Badger Die Casting, Inc. was sentenced today to 90 months in federal prison. He will also serve three years on supervised release and pay $921,000 in restitution. Whiting was convicted by a jury in May 2005 of ten counts of criminal conversion. He was convicted for spending employees’ … Read more Former Business Owner Gets 7.5 Years in Prison
The former CEO of Enron Broadband Services, Kenneth Rice, has testified that Jeffrey Skilling wanted him to mislead Enron’s board of directors. At a meeting between Rice and Skilling (former head of Enron) in May 2001, Skilling suggested that Rice should compile a presentation that was in line with analysts’ expectations. Analysts expected Enron Broadband … Read more Testimony in the case against Enron executives
The chief executive officer of RadioShack Corp., David Edmondson, lied about his academic credentials. The quote from him is that he “clearly misstated my academic record.” Edmondson previously represented that he had a bachelor of science degree, but is now admitting that he might have something called a “ThG diploma”, which has fewer requirements than … Read more RadioShack CEO lied about his credentials
Last year a website called 12daily-Pro.com offered participants a 12% daily return on membership fees. The money was supposedly to be earned from viewing advertisements on the internet: 12 ads per day. After viewing the ads, members would be paid based upon how much they invested in “upgrades”. The FBI and SEC are currently investigating … Read more Another Ponzi Scheme: 12daily-Pro.com
Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, the New York law firm that helped get a class-action settlement with the accounting firm KPMG LLP is offering an unusual fee arrangement for outside lawyers. In exchange for persuading clients to join the class and drop their individual suits, the Milberg firm is offering outside attorneys a piece of … Read more Legal fees in the KPMG case
60 Minutes ran an interesting story tonight, focused on the alleged abuse of funds for rebuilding Iraq by a company named Custer Battles. The story indicated that the company was paid tens of millions of dollars to provide services it was not qualified to provide, and in fact did not provide. One example: A contract … Read more 60 Minutes Story About Waste in Iraq
I’m having flashbacks to Enron. Enron, Enron, Enron. Well, it looks like Refco could have been 2005’s Enron, but on a smaller scale. Not too small, though. Refco raised $583 million in its public offering in August. In October, the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Refco was the largest independent U.S. commodities broker. But it … Read more Refco: Enron All Over Again?
City of Milwaukee police officer Steven Wesolowski has been charged with a felony of misconduct in public office. It is alleged that Wesolowski took bribes to fill out bogus vehicle titles at the city’s impound lot. He is accused of taking $250 to certify that 5 salvage vehicles were safe, even though he never examined … Read more Milwaukee police officer charged with taking bribes
American International Group Inc (AIG) has finalized a settlement of $1.6 billion for allegations of accounting fraud. The settlement will be split almost equally between the Securitites and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the State of New York.
Civil fraud charges were brought against AIG by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Insurance Department. The SEC hadn’t yet filed charges, but is expect to file and settle all charges soon.
An audit of the Milwaukee County Child Welfare system was completed by state auditors at the direction of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The audit found almost $700,000 of questionable and unallowable costs.
The Child Welfare system had 153 full-time employees in June 2005, while outside contractors had about 500 staff members to provide the bulk of the services. From January 2001 through June 2005, the program spent a total of $493.7 million. In 2004 alone, program expenditures totaled $103 million.
Read moreMilwaukee County Child Welfare System Contractor Reimbursements Found to be Inappropriate