Month: November 2017

Short Seller Marc Cohodes About Face on Overstock

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BFFs Marc Cohodes and Patrick Byrne

Former hedge fund manager Marc Cohodes has been a long-time critic of Overstock.com and its wacky CEO, Patrick Byrne. The criticism dates back to the days when Cohodes was at Rocker Partners, a company that was sued by Overstock along with research firm Gradient Analytics. In 2005, Cohodes was fingered by Byrne as being part of a “miscreants ball” under the direction of a “Sith Lord.” Yet after more than a decade with a negative opinion of the company and its management, Cohodes recently did an about face.

Is money fueling the change of heart?

Sam Antar, another long-time critic of Overstock, details the Cohodes/Overstock situation nicely on his blog. The crux of the issue is that Cohodes (who has been focused on short selling) took a long position in Overstock in May 2017. A month later, Cohodes met personally with Byrne. In October, Cohodes hyped the company during a presentation at a Grant’s Interest Rate Observer conference, and said that Byrne is now his friend.

Read moreShort Seller Marc Cohodes About Face on Overstock

Market America Pyramid Scheme Lawsuit

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In May 2017, Market America was hit with a class action lawsuit in federal court in California by plaintiffs Chuanjie Yang and Ollie Lan. The lawsuit calls MarketAmerica a pyramid scheme that is taking advantage of Chinese American immigrants.

MarketAmerica is a multi-level marketing company that has a number or product lines including Isotonix supplements, Motives cosmetics, and others. It also uses what it calls a “product brokerage concept,” which is essentially a massive affiliate program which pays a small amount of cash back to the the distributor when purchases are made at certain retailers while on the shop.com website. (This sounds just like Shop to Earn, a defunct MLM that screamed pyramid scheme.)

Per the lawsuit, Market America requires a start-up fee of $399 and an ongoing monthly fee of $129. Distributors must also spend $100 to $300 per month on shop.com to continue to qualify as an enrollee, and other fees are incurred to attend training and events.

Read moreMarket America Pyramid Scheme Lawsuit

Lifestyle Analysis in Divorce and Child Support Cases

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One of the chief concerns in a divorce or child custody case is identifying the true income of one or both of the parties. It is not unusual for such a case to include allegations of hidden income or assets. It is common for a closely held business to suspiciously encounter declining sales and profits following the filing of a family law case.

In each of these instances, properly determining the income of the party is critical to getting a fair and equitable settlement, maintenance award, or child support award. Until you have the correct numbers, the attorney may find it very difficult to decide what is fair or in the best interest of the client.

How can a spouse or parent with little to no direct access to the other party’s financial records prove that there is undisclosed income? What happens if the financial records obtained during discovery appear woefully incomplete? A forensic accountant is the logical choice to help reconstruct financial records, estimate earnings, and analyze fine details of financial documents to prove or disprove income claims.

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Almost No One Makes Money in MLM

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Nothing ever changes in multi-level marketing. Even when it looks like the government is taking action against a company like Herbalife, other MLMs continue with business as usual.

Almost everyone loses money in MLM. Which means almost no one makes money in MLM. This is a universal truth. More than 99% of distributors will lose money, and this is GUARANTEED by how these schemes are set-up. No matter how hard you work or how well you follow the guidelines, you still have almost no chance of success.

Six years ago the Salt Lake Tribune published an article about the reality of multi-level marketing. The numbers haven’t changed, and we see the same thing happening no matter the company.

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Financial Statement Fraud: The Damage Inflicted

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Financial statement fraud impacts any person or organization that has a financial interest in the success or failure of a company. A manipulation of the company’s reported earnings or assets can affect a bank that extends credit to the company, a shareholder who invests money in the company, and those organizations that enter into contracts or agreements with the company.

The manipulation of financial statements also affects employees. It has the power to put employees out of work once the fraud is exposed or collapses. It also has the power to enrich employees – mostly those involved in the fraud, but potentially those who are not. Good financial results (actual or fabricated) can be linked to promotions, raises, enhanced benefit packages, bonuses, and the value of stock option awards.

Read moreFinancial Statement Fraud: The Damage Inflicted

Financial Statement Fraud: How It Is Done

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Financial statement fraud happens is one of the most costly types of fraud. It is a significant problem because people inside and outside the company rely on the information provided in the financial statements. They assess the financial results and make predictions and decisions about the future of the company based on those results.

Upper management or company owners are the ones who are usually responsible for financial statement fraud. Executives are entrusted with entire companies. They have access to nearly all data and employees, and they can exploit this access to commit and conceal fraud.

The power the executive has by virtue of her or his position in the company is closely linked with the high cost of financial statement fraud. Power and access within a company make it possible for larger frauds to be committed and covered up.

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Tax Fraud Defense and Forensic Accountants

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Government investigations of white collar crimes almost always have one thing in common: They rely heavily on the analysis of financial information. Often, this includes combing through bank statements and credit card statements, as well as scrutinizing accounting records.

Some people think that analyzing this kind of data is simple. It seems like it is only a math exercise in which we’re checking dollar amounts and verifying the addition and subtraction. But there is much more involved, and it gets exponentially more complicated (pun intended) when there are large volumes of data.

Expertise in financial and accounting crimes is necessary to fully understand the issues and the potential criminal or civil charges that the government brings against a company or individual. To properly defend such a case, it is necessary to have a forensic accountant involved to help evaluate the data and the issues the government will raise.

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Overstock.com Report on TheStreetSweeper

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TheStreetSweeper, a site investigates and reports on public companies, released a report last week on Overstock.com. The article, called “Under Surveillance,” said that the company’s stock is massively overvalued. The stock price shot up when Overstock jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon:

Overstock’s crypto-fueled stock surge began in August, after the online retailer began allowing shoppers to pay with bitcoin and other digital tokens.

In September, the company announced plans for an exchange to trade tokens.

In October, the CEO announced a subsidiary, tZero, intends to hold an ICO – initial coin offering – from Nov. 15 until Dec. 31. Rather than shares of stock, digital tokens would be issued in the private placement.

Read moreOverstock.com Report on TheStreetSweeper

Searching for Assets in Divorce

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Potential clients in the process of divorce often contact me because they are concerned about hidden assets. Often the spouse had a history of financial dishonesty throughout the marriage, or his or her behavior became suspicious around the time divorce was filed. It is not uncommon for there to be a sudden lack of money once divorce is filed. Previously, it was easy to pay the bills and pay for vacations and other extras. Now it’s hard to find money for even the basic necessities.

When a spouse is suspected of hiding money and other assets, professional help is required. But what kind of help?

It depends. There are two types of help that you can get for this aspect of a divorce case. The first is a forensic accountant who will essentially trace money through accounts, follow the paper trail, and determine if there is any missing money. This work is heavily rooted in the documentation you obtain. I can’t trace the money without the documents.

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