5/30/2008
Milberg Kickbacks, A Victimless Crime?
Not so,
says Michael Perino of St. John's University School of Law.
Perino, in a paper sponsored by the trial lawyer-loving fellas over at the
American Enterprise Institute, compared 730 settlements negotiated by Milberg and found that those alleged to involve kickbacks actually saw a lower return to shareholders by a small but measurable percentage.
On the whole, Milberg collected some $25o million in legal fees on cases involving the kickbacks.
In addition to some interesting commentary on the impact of Milberg's illegal acts on the firm's clients, the paper also offers a pretty darn good re-cap of the kickback investigation and prosecution.
You can read Perino's
The Milberg Weiss Prosecution: No Harm, No Foul right here.-- MDT
Labels: kickbacks, Michael Perino, Milberg, settlement
5/29/2008
Due Diligizers, Disclosure Insight Posts SEC Comment Letters For Public View
People send me the coolest things... Case in point: here's
a nice little marketing strategy from Minneapolis-based investigative firm, Disclosure Insight.
Check out their site and try a search in the company box in the upper right. A chronological list of comment letters, many that would otherwise not be available online, are yours for perusal.
-- MDT
Labels: Disclosure Insight, due diligence, SEC
New Book on Corporate Investigations Coming Your Way
Yesterday a noted friend of the blog tipped me to a new book on the horizon from Business Week and Politico.com reporter, Eamon Javers.
You may remember Mr. Javers having done some of the heavy lifting on the Diligence / Bermuda / IPOC story (although some love really needs to go to Bermuda's Royal Gazette and KYCNews.com,
lets be honest).The book, to be titled Due Diligence, will apparently focus on "the increasingly sophisticated techniques and strategies global businesses use to garner competitive business information. Sounds like a winner.
No release date yet, but sign me up. Heck, send me a review copy.
-- MDT
Broker v. Hedge Fund Manager - Showdown in Spin Class
You CAN'T make this stuff up... Mr. Stuart Sugerman sounds like quite a piece of work.
Aye caramaba.-- MDT
Labels: idiots
Raid at Deutsche Telekom HQ
Investigators are
seeking further information on the German telecom giant's organized spying campaign on journalists and company employees. Notably,
DT has admitted surveilling
Financial Times Deutschland reporter, Tasso Enzweiler. FTD is owned by mega-media conglomerate,
Bertelsmann which has mad its own noises about pursing criminal and civil actions against the overzealous DT. Deutsche Telekom, for its part, is in full spin mode, announcing
the company's own investigation into the illegal activities.
-- MDT
Labels: Bertelsmann, Deutsche Telekom, HP, pretexting, Tasso Enzweiler
5/28/2008
Legal Manuvering Precedes Class Action Feast
The meal? Bear Stearns rotting corpse.
With the entré decided, all that remains to be seen is
who will sit at the head of the table.
-- MDT
Labels: Bear Stearns, class action
5/27/2008
More on the Deutsche Telekom Spying Case
Between
Time Magazine and
Spiegel you should be pretty well up to date.
-- MDT
Labels: corporate spying, Deutsche Telekom
Kirk Wright - Suicide!
Kirk Wright was found by authorities over Memorial Day weekend, in his cell, having hanged himself with a bedsheet.
A convicted hedge fund fraudster, recently snagged for mismanaging the money of several NFL players, Wright had been serving time in the Marietta, Georgia county jail.
We'd been following his story for several years now - macabre end to what, all along, had been a bizarre story. For more details on Kirk Wright, check out the tags below.
Labels: Kirk Wright
5/26/2008
Moody's Rating Scandal
Sounds complicated, but
Portfolio.com has your cheat sheet. Meanwhile...
Moodys is investigating. But isn't the whole scandal tied to the fact that they already identified the problem with their rating and covered up their own error?
-- MDT
Labels: Moodys
Deutsche Telekom Faces Criminal Probe on Corporate Spying
Someone didn't learn from the
HP fiasco, it seems.
-- MDT
Labels: corporate spying, Deutsche Telekom, HP
33 Months Behind Bars for Mel Weiss?
Former Siemens Manager Heads to Trial
The company's colorful interpretation of the word "commissions" may not fare too well under the harsh gaze of the German judiciary. We'll see as
the case against Reinhard Siekaczek, the one time Siemens manager who is out in front of the global bribery probe that has subsumed his former employer. Siekaczek is facing 58 counts of breach of trust and the real question is who he'll implicate on his way down.
--MDT
Labels: bribery, Reinhard Siekaczek, Siemens
5/21/2008
SEC Stalking Maurice Greenberg in AiG Case?
Now Here's An Angle I Never Worked...
Using investigators to track down sellers of sub prime assets - to prove the sellers knew that their wares had a higher probability of failure than they disclosed to potential customers.
Really interesting stuff.
-- MDT
Labels: investigation, sub-prime mortgage
Investigative Firm, Corporate Resolutions Get NYT Spotlight
An offers up some good stuff on
management background screenings.
Money well spent, always.
-- MDT
Labels: background checks, Corporate Resolutions
5/19/2008
Former AOL Execs Charged By SEC on Billion Dollar Fraud
Four former AOLers have already settled with the SEC. Four more still have a date with a New York courthouse. And just think, some called this case dead only a year or so back... (
See this article for more on that score and an interesting link to yesterday's PurchasePro store.
At issue are allegations that
the eight executives participated in a scheme to fluff up AOL company value in the 2000 to 2002 period. AOL got caught at the time, essentially, paying themselves for their own advertising. This allowed AOL to pump up its online advertising revenue by about $1 billion.
Thus far David Colburn, former head of the AOL’s business affairs unit; Eric Keller, a former senior manager; James MacGuidwin, former controller; and Jay Rappaport, a former senior manager have all reached a settlement on the charges against them, without an admission of guilt.
Still on the chopping block are John Michael Kelly, former CEO; Steven Rindner, former senior executive; Joseph Ripp, former CFO of the company’s AOL division; and Mark Wovsaniker, former head of accounting policy.
AOL / Time Warner itself paid a $300 million settlement to the SEC back in '04-05 on a related case.
You can get details on the four and four cases, right here - straight from the SEC.
-- MDT
Labels: accounting fraud, AOL, Freelance Security, revenue inflation
5/18/2008
Siemens' von Pierer Will Face No Charges
Backdating Litigation Brings Poor Payoffs to Plaintiffs?
CFO.com has
the quick and dirty details on a recent
NERA study handicapping the success of stock option backdating litigation. You can find
the full report right here, if your of a mind to check it out.
-- MDT
Labels: backdating, stock options
BAE Execs Detained in U.S. on Stalled Arms Probe
Ok, so they were only detained for about 20 minutes, but there are
a number of subpoenas floating around out there as well... That should be at least as interesting, right?
Software Company Founder Convicted on Fraud Charges
Charles 'Junior' Johnson was founder and CEO of Las Vegas-based software company, PurchasePro. Back in 2001, in the midst of the dot com bust, he conspired to inflate company revenues in a scheme that put Purchase Pro squarely in the cites of Federal regulators.
Seven years later, Johnson
makes seven PurchasePro execs to have been convicted in relation to the attempted Fraud. Johnson made his particular situation worse by attempting to alter documents to obscure the fraud.
Convicted on all counts, Johnson will now face sentencing.
-- MDT
Labels: accounting fraud, Charles Johnson, guilty, PurchasePro
5/14/2008
Of PIs and VCs
Ugh...
Dear WSJ,
CC: Tim Hay
Note: Drawing erroneous parallels between corporate investigators and the fictional hard boiled gumshoe set - Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe and the like - is so, so tired.
Perhaps U.S.A. Today could reasonably use that kind of lame comparison for the benefit of their mouth-breathing clientèle, but The Journal is supposed to be written for sophisticated people.
Please respect the intelligence of your readers and trust that they are capable of understanding the role of investigators in the business world at a level beyond clichéd references to mustaches, Ferraris and Hawaiian shirts.
Your pal,
The Daily Caveat
Whew, now that that is out of the way,
IF you can get past the pitiful lede, you might enjoy
this WSJ piece focusing on investigators serving the venture capital market. It is really not so bad once you get over the hump.
-- MDT
Labels: background checks, due diligence, venture capital
Mapping Connections Between the Powerful
I absolutely love stuff like this...
From the NNDB.
Another classic... The sadly no longer updated,
They Rule.And, while I hate to give it up,
The Daily Caveat's secret weapon for tracking connections in current news stories -
Silobreaker!Go have fun with their "network" feature.
-- MDT
5/13/2008
Investigative Firm Used to "Spy" on DOJ Investigation?
Did the daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev use a U.S. investigative firm to pry details out of an $84 million Justice Department bribery probe targeting her father?
It certainly seems so.
The New York Times reported today that Dariga Nazarbayeva hired investigative firm, GlobalOptions for just such a purpose.
In a 2003 report produced by
GlobalOptions and cited by The Times, the firm stated that they "mined connections at the White House, State Department, Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to learn more about the inquiry."
It might comfort you to know (or it might not) that CIA Director James Woolsey and former FBI Directors William Webster and William Sessions have all been affiliated with GlobalOptions in recent years.
I hear that they're all doing quite well in private practice.
-- MDT
Labels: bribery, Dariga Nazarbayeva, GlobalOptions
IPOC, Alfa and the Missing Multi-Millionaire
This IPOC story just gets weirder and weirder... Remind me to never,
never get in a pitched battle over lucrative telecom contracts with very rich and very shady Russian businessmen.
Keep an eye out for a cameo in the article from the fine folks at Kroll as well as a brief recap of how Diligence LLC's ill advised involvement (and bad judgement) cost them some serious cash.
The IPOC tag below will also lead you to the full background, should you need it.
-- MDT
Labels: Alfa, Diligence LLC, IPOC, Kroll, Leonid Rozhetskin
Michigan-Based Web Fraudster Faces Commuppence
No really, I am begging you -
stop giving these people your money...
Gregory McNight is not really going to produce those 10-15% monthly returns - and yes, his company Legisi Holdings is really just a scam.
Don't believe me?
Ask the SEC. They'll tell ya the same.
I just wish we'd been here sooner so we could have helped
these poor chumps. I'd really like to hear from SCAM.com forum Junior Member
5Blade to see how he's doing.
If you're out there
5Blade, give us a holler...
--MDT
Labels: Fraud, Gregory McKnight, Legisi Holdings
5/12/2008
Corporations, Private Investigators and Civil Liberties
This editorial from Eric Schlosser , author of Fast Food Nation, appearing in the New York Times is required reading.
The issue he raises - the use and mis-use of investigators by corporate America is one worth attending to closely.
Of course, all this could be avoided if we had more investigators willing to say
No to a client when necessary.
-- MDT
5/08/2008
Uphill Battle For Shareholder Suits
Kroll Ontrack Decifers Space Shuttle Columbia Hard Drive
Here's
a fascinating piece on some fine and admirable work from
Kroll Ontrack - salvaging the scientific data on a hard drive recovered from the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
The Columbia broke
apart during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003. Of the seven crew members there, sadly, were no survivors. A hard thing...
Ontrack was able to preserve much of the contents including data on a test of how xenon gas flows in a zero gravity environment.
Pretty darn impressive for a hard drive that literally fell out of the sky...
-- MDT
Labels: Columbia, data recovery, Kroll
Marsh & McLennan to Break Up Kroll?
That's
the word on the street... And there's a
hot prospect waiting in the wings.
-- MDT
Labels: David Buchler, Kroll, Marsh
5/07/2008
P.O. Box Hedge Fund Crumbles
Top UBS Banker Question on Tax Evasion
U.S. authorities apparently
held and questioned, Martin Liechti, UBS's Head of Wealth Management for the Americas as in connection with an ongoing investigation into whether the bank had aided clients in evading taxes.
Certainly some smoke. We'll see whether there's fire to go along with it
Labels: Martin Liechti, tax evasion, USB
Another German Firm Faces Bribery Probe
This time it's engineering firm,
Alstom, which is facing heat from German and Swiss authorities about bribes it may have paid to win contracts throughout Asia.
And in a timely move, European business ethics
face increased scrutiny...
-- MDT
Labels: Alstom, Germany bribery
5/06/2008
SEC Puts the Kibosh on San Diego Hedge Fund Manager
Plus Money is not exactly a name that would inspire me to invest millions. Sounds like a shady payday loan company and
shady it definitely is. The
SEC has jumped on Plus Money proprietor, Matthew La Madrid freezing his assets while they sort through his
$30 million dollar hedge fund investment fraud.
Labels: Fraud, hedge fund, Matthew La Madrid, Plus Money
Slap on the Wrist for Worldcom Auditors
Let brand new FOB (friend of the blog), Mr. Tom Selling over at
The Accounting Onion tell you all about it.
-- MDT
Labels: Arthur Andersen, audit, SEC, Worldcom
CTFC Sues Sentinel Management Group
Parmalat Settles U.S. Class Action
22,000 Dead in Myanmar Cyclone
Twenty... two... thousand. And hundreds of thousands more are hurting. You can help,
right here, via
World Vision, which earns four stars for capacity and operating efficiency from
Charity Navigator.
--MDT
Kroll in Embarassing Work Product Mix-Up?
Former SEC Chairs Donaldson, Levitt and Ruder Chime in on the Sub Prime Mess
Perhaps unsurprisingly they
advocate a firm hand from their former baby.
-- MDT
Labels: SEC, sub-prime mortgage
5/05/2008
Lifelock Sued Over False I.D. Theft Protection Claims
You've seen the ads - with bozo CEO, Richard "Todd" Davis, touting that their product makes your personal info so secure, he's put his own social security number up in Times Square.
Actual
Lifelock customers have found the results to be
somewhat less than stellar, leading to a class action against the firm.
Oh, and the Lifelock CEO's social... (wait for it) ...is currently being misused by maybe 20 different identity thieves. Also, there is the small matter of a Lifelock co-founder siting in jail for unpaid gambling debts.
Get the sad skinny at The Consumerist.
-- MDT
Labels: identity theft, Lifelock, scam
Former Monster.com COO Faces Backdating Charges
James Treacy joins General Counsel Myron Olesnyckyj on the list of former Monster.com execs charged in the firm's 1997 to 2005 stock option backdating schemes. Squarely in the doesn't bode well for Treacy column is the fact that Olesnyckyj plead guilty in February of last year.
Labels: backdating, James Treacy, Monster.com, Myron Olesnyckyj, stock options
5/04/2008
Torkelson Pleads Guilty (Again)
This time former expert witness,
John Torkelson's court date was in Philly, where he plead guilty to one charges of perjury arising from a 1999 statement under oath. At issue was whether or not Torkelson took secret payments from his law firm clients (he did). Notable among Torkelson's clients was the continually beleaguered Milberg, LLC. For more on Torkelson's back story, check out the tags below this post.
Labels: John Torkelson, Milberg, perjury, plaintiffs bar
5/02/2008
Herbalife CEO Forced to Admit Resume Padding