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Accounting News Roundup: Madoff Accountant’s Five-Year-Old Wanted to Invest; Deloitte University’s Barn Hosts International Night; Ghosts of Enron at SCOTUS | 11.13.13

Bernie Madoff accountant says 5-year-old son was youngest investor [NYDN]

David Friehling, who worked as Madoff's personal accountant, says his son Josh was just 5 when he asked to invest a birthday gift with the Ponzi scheme king. Friehling, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to his role in the scheme, faces 114 years in prison and is testifying in exchange for a more lenient sentence. […] "Dad, here's a check for my Madoff account," the tyke, now 28, announced after his fifth birthday party, Friehling told a Manhattan federal court jury.

Sports Revenue to Reach $67.7 Billion by 2017, PwC Report Says [Bloomberg]

North American sports industry revenue will grow at a compounded annual rate of 4.8 percent to $67.7 billion by 2017, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. PwC, based in New York, analyzed four key revenue streams – –  gate receipts, media rights, sponsorship and merchandise — for professional, college, minor league and some individual sports properties. Media rights are projected to increase the most, growing at a compounded annual rate of 7.7 percent to $17.1 billion by 2017. PwC cites upcoming rights deals for major properties and the media industry’s ability to make money from new platforms such as smartphone applications and streaming games over league websites for the future growth.
 
Top judge criticises DoJ for not holding individuals accountable [FT]
Judge Jed Rakoff, an outspoken jurist with a history of questioning regulatory settlements, said a shift over the past several years to prosecute companies and not individuals for wrongdoing “has led to some lax and dubious behaviour on the part of prosecutors”.
 
Big Airline Merger Is Cleared to Fly [WSJ]
Breaking: Flying will continue to be awful.

What.

Enron Revisited as Court Reviews Whistle-Blower Shield [Bloomberg]
The U.S. Supreme Court revisited the Enron Corp. collapse as the justices debated whether whistle-blower protections in a 2002 law cover employees of auditors, law firms and other advisers to publicly traded companies. Hearing arguments today in the case of two former mutual-fund industry workers, the justices tried to sort out a law that represented Congress’s response to the accounting fraud behind Enron’s 2001 failure. The fast-paced session was laced with questions about a hypothetical butler working for the late Kenneth Lay, who was Enron’s chairman, and the role of the company’s accounting firm, Arthur Andersen LLP. The case will determine the scope of whistle-blower protections that watchdog groups say are important to prevent another Enron-like catastrophe. The dispute pits business groups against President Barack Obama’s administration, which is seeking a broad interpretation of the whistle-blower provision.

Tax Man Uses Google Earth to Find Tax Cheats [TaxProf]
FYI.
 
Naked Hotel Guest Shoves Fire Extinguisher Up Ass, Causes a Scene [Gawker]
Life's rich pageant. 
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