If you were a CPA who testified in the trial of two NYPD officers dubbed the "Mafia Cops," no one would doubt you if you said, "I could never ever, I will never ever, be a CPA again."
After he was busted for stealing more than $5 million from his clients, New York accountant Stephen P. Corso informed on so many mobsters that a Las Vegas columnist wrote he “did everything but dig up Jimmy Hoffa.”
In his most celebrated case, Mr. Corso wore a wire for more than a year in Las Vegas strip clubs and casinos, generating crucial evidence needed to convict two New York police officers for acting as Mafia hit men.
When Mr. Corso in 2009 pleaded before a federal judge for a reduced sentence for his own crimes, he pledged that he had turned his life around.
While he rejected a request to enter the witness-relocation program, he told the federal judge he would “never, ever” be a licensed accountant again. His license was revoked following his conviction.
I'm fairly certain that any level-headed CPA, after going through such an ordeal, would find something else to do. Open a doughnut shop, perhaps, or start a dog walking service. Something that isn't going to attract much attention. Stephen Corso may have been able to give up on being a CPA for a time, but then:
Six years later, Mr. Corso still owes restitution, and he is preparing financial statements on behalf of a number of penny-stock companies, according to public records and people familiar with the matter.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Mr. Corso’s activities as part of a wider probe into penny-stock fraud that will likely lead to enforcement action, said a person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Corso, a felon, is now working under a slightly different name, according to public records and people familiar with the matter.
He is touting false academic and professional qualifications, including claims to be a licensed certified public accountant and attorney, as well as an Ivy League degree he doesn’t have, according to those same sources. Mr. Corso is also professing to be younger than 60 years old, which the Bureau of Prisons says is his true age.
On top of it all, he owes his ex-wife $118,000 alimony. Is it ever too late to run away and join the circus?
Mob-Busting Informant Resurfaces in SEC Probe [WSJ]
