S.E.C. Charges Three Former Mortgage Executives With Fraud [DealBook]
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges on Tuesday against three former executives at Thornburg Mortgage, once the nation’s second-largest mortgage company after Countrywide Financial, saying that they hid the company’s deteriorating financial condition at the onset of the financial crisis in 2008. Thornburg, once a publicly traded company that focused on jumbo and super-jumbo adjustable rate mortgages, needed constant access to financing, which included money borrowed from various lenders.
Katherine Mangu-Ward in reference to the picture above: "Look at this dude! He does his taxes at a table covered in a lace doily for crying out loud. In a sweater. Sure, he uses a typewriter. Sure, he probably makes mistakes. But–and this is the important thing–forcing this guy to spend a thousand bucks on continuing education and more on fees isn't likely to mean more accurate returns overall. For one thing, a bunch of his clients will probably go back to doing their taxes themselves rather than pay increased rates. For another, there's a long, sad, history, of bad advice being given out by the IRS itself, something its just as likely to do in those $50/hour seminars as it does on its free advice line. And for an unfair anecdotal third thing, H&R Block once filed all of my freelance journalism income as farm income."
Busy season has nothing to do with it.