After 10 long years, a small company in New Hampshire has been cleared to continue using the name Charbucks for its coffee. The New York federal court ruled that the market would not be confused between Starbucks and Charbucks, and […]
Written by Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, CFF Wisconsin Law Journal Reprinted in Kansas City Daily Record and St. Louis Daily Record Fraud is an industry unto itself, causing annual losses to United States companies totaling at least $660 billion. While […]
Yesterday it was reported that a man in New Mexico caught a mouse in his house, threw it on a pile of burning leaves, and the flaming mouse ran back into the house. The house completely burned down. Today it […]
Thomas Coughlin, the former Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will plead guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and tax evasion. He was accused of stealing $500,000 through the improper use of gift cards and expense reimbursements. Mr. Coughlin’s […]
Leslie John Hamilton was sentenced to 30 years in prison for masterminding a pyramid scheme that he claimed was an investment in rare coins. The scheme involved over 300 victims, who lost more than $10 million. Hamilton was convicted by […]
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that over 28,000 home mortgages were approved and federally insured with forged underwriting approvals by lender ABN AMRO Mortgage Group of Ann Arbor, Michgan. From 2000 to 2003, ABN […]
Last week the Wisconsin Law Journal published an article I wrote about the fraud at Milwaukee-area home builder Bielinski Brothers Inc. The company’s CEO, Robert Brownell, was the mastermind of a fraud that cost the company an estimated $12 million. […]
The Milwaukee office of PriceWaterhouseCoopers has settled a lawsuit over its audits of two collapsed Heartland Advisors Inc. mutual funds for $8.25 million. A judge will still have to approve the settlement, and that is not expected to happen before […]
The unregulated broker-dealer unit of Refco Inc., Refco Capital Markets Ltd, says it owes customers about $4.16 billion. This is $486 million more than previously estimated by the parent company. Refco Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection, and in those […]
The New Yorker recently printed a commentary on Sarbanes-Oxley. While the legislation was viewed by politicians as an important step toward protecting investors from fraud, corporate executives aren’t so impressed. Corporate executives believe that the high cost of implementing the […]
