• Martin Frankel Sentenced to Prison Again

    Martin Frankel, infamous looter of insurance companies, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his theft of more than $200 million. This is the same sentence he received in 2004, and he was resentenced pursuant to a Supreme Court […]

  • Enron trial: Lay and Skilling to take the stand

    The trial of former Enron executives Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay will continue this week, with the prosecution expected to wrap up its case. However, according to the Wall Street Journal: …there has been no smoking gun — no emails […]

  • More on the Red Cross and Hurricane Katrina

    Accusations of corruption are still lingering for Red Cross volunteers. They are being accused of diverting relief supplies, failure to follow Red Cross procedures for supply tracking and distributions, and use of felons as volunteers (which is against Red Cross […]

  • Former Milwaukee Police Sergeant appeals his demotion

    Corstan Court was the first supervisor on the scene of the October 2004 Frank Jude Jr. beating by off-duty police officers. Chief Nannette Hegarty demoted Court to officer because he failed to perform the duties of a supervisor. Namely, he […]

  • Recovering From Identity Theft

    Identity theft continues to affect thousands and thousands of consumers. Some simple precautions can help stop identity thieves. If they do steal your identity, I have several tips for resolving your financial woes. Read my article in the Wisconsin Law […]

  • Internet phishing at tax time

    Identity theft by people posing as the Internal Revenue Service is on the rise. Hundreds of thousands of emails purporting to be from the IRS have been sent to targets, asking readers to go to a site that mimics the […]

  • Your Number is Up: Recovering From Identity Theft

    Written by Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, CFF Wisconsin Law Journal Reprinted in St. Louis Daily Record Identity theft affects countless consumers and businesses each year, costing millions and maybe even billions of dollars. In 2004, the Federal Trade Commission received […]

  • IRS audit of Greenpeace confirms non-profit status

    In 2003, Public Interest Watch (a group that calls itself a watchdog of non-profit groups) wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service accusing Greenpeace of money laundering and other crimes. The letter accused Greenpeace of laundering $24 million in […]

  • Accounting Problems at GM; Last Year’s Losses Increase

    The board of directors of General Motors Corp is asking for an investigation into newly revealed accounting errors which have delayed the filing of its annual report. The SEC filing of its 10-K will be delayed because of accounting errors […]

  • Texas and Oklahoma wildfires and financial statement fraud

    The Oklahoma CPA Society recently asked me to pen a piece about the potential for financial statement fraud related to the recent wildfires. They printed it in their newsletter, OSCPA Wire. Any natural disaster creates opportunities for fraud and that’s […]