KPMG Gets Sued, Accused of Allowing Pirate-Like Activity at Credit Suisse
Discountenanced Credit Suisse stockholder Gregory Stevenson is suing 29 of Credit Suisse’s current and former directors and officers, the bank’s ex-auditor KPMG, and various KPMG henchmen on behalf of investors alleging the firm looked the other way while aforementioned directors and officers plundered the bank for more than a decade. The docket number is No. […]
KPMG Gets Sued Because Their Longtime Client Went Down in Flames
We knew this was coming. Bloomberg has reported that Silicon Valley Bank auditors KPMG have been sued — along with underwriters Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley — after SVB’s spectacular collapse on March 10. KPMG audited the bank for nearly 30 years. Similar to previous suits, a complaint filed Friday in the […]
Former Client Cockblocks the EY Split to Make Sure They Get the $2.7 Billion They’re Suing EY For
While it appears the EY split is going off the rails, despite assurances to the contrary from people who stand to make many millions of dollars from it, one former client — or rather, the client’s administrators as the client burned to the ground three years ago — is not satisfied with letting the drama […]
Fat Joe is Suing BDO
TMZ reported over the weekend that Fat Joe is suing his longtime accountant Andre N. Chammas and Chammas’ firm BDO for alleged misappropriation of funds. Oh and he claims that BDO is running some kind of Ponzi scheme. According TMZ’s review of the legal documents, Fat Joe noticed “some accounting regularities” after Chammas’ assistant Vanessa […]
Accountants Behaving Badly: Egg Accountant Finally Cracked, and Lots of Embezzlement
PLUS: KPMG is accused in a lawsuit of “appalling” audit work that allowed a U.S.-listed Chinese biotechnology company to carry out a “brazen” $400 million accounting fraud. Ex-Hillandale Farms accountant admits to $6.8 million embezzlement scheme [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] Jonathan Weston, the owner of Katie’s Kandy in Pittsburgh, admitted last month in federal court that he […]
Moss Adams Got Sued Because They Kinda Forgot to Tell the Client About an Important COVID Relief Deadline (Allegedly)
Thanks to the tipster who sent this over. The California comedy club that helped launch the careers of such comedy greats as Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and David Letterman to name a few is suing Moss Adams because they say they missed out on $8.5 million in COVID relief funds thanks to Moss Adams not […]
PwC Manager is Suing the Firm After He Lost a Chunk of His Skull at a Drunken Work Event
In 2019, PwCer Michael Brockie (UK) was at an after-hours pub golf outing with colleagues when he got blackout drunk and awoke in the street later that night with no memory of the evening. He suffered a life-changing head injury and had to have part of his skull removed, most likely due to a fall […]
Deloitte Sued by Former Manager After the Partner She Was Banging Turned Weird and Stalkery (Allegedly)
Guys (and gals) I don’t know how many times we have to say this but please, please don’t bang people you work with. There are like three billion men or women in the world for you to pick from (6 billion if you’re bisexual heck yeah *high five*); more precisely there are 2.3 billion adults […]
Guy Sues KPMG Over Getting Left Out of the Team Group Chat
Greg Eldridge — an eight-year vet of the House of Klynveld — has sued KPMG Australia over what he alleges was a critical level of cold-shouldering from his people, seeking monetary damages for what he says was a failure of the firm to address an unruly colleague who never liked him. An exceptionally boring Deal […]
Judge Sides with PwC In Whistleblower’s Retaliation Lawsuit
The cards are usually stacked against former Big 4 employees who take one of the firms to court, whether it’s over harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or unfair termination, because of the firms’ army of lawyers and their no-holds-barred approach to winning. Ex-PwC auditor Mauro Botta knew he faced an uphill battle trying to convince a judge […]
Man Hired By Amazon Who Passed the CPA Exam Outraged That Loading Trucks and Sorting Packages Was Not Covered in BEC
Got a bit of a weird story for you today, one that hopefully reminds those of you among us who are bemoaning the unacceptable working conditions you wake up for six days a week that it could always be worse. A California man has filed a wage and hour lawsuit against Amazon after he says […]
Oh Look, a Pissed-Off Stockholder Is Suing Mattel Directors and PwC
While a potential class complaint filed against Mattel and its auditor PwC by a group of Mattel investors currently sits in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, a separate lawsuit against directors of the global toy giant’s board and PwC was filed on May 21 in Delaware Chancery Court by a […]
KPMG Can’t Get Out of Class-Action Suit Filed By Miller Energy Investors
A Tennessee federal judge on May 7 greenlighted class certification in a multiyear lawsuit against KPMG by investors of the now-defunct oil and gas company Miller Energy Resources Inc., despite KPMG’s best efforts to get the lawsuit thrown out. According to Law360, U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra C. Poplin had recommended that the Miller Energy investors […]
In Response to Discrimination Claims From Ex-Senior Officer, PCAOB Went on a ‘Deny’ Spree
The PCAOB emphatically denied the allegations made by its former chief administration officer Sue Lee who claimed in a wrongful termination lawsuit that she was the victim of a “xenophobic and racist campaign” against her by Chairman William Duhnke because of her Asian ethnicity. How emphatically did the PCAOB deny Lee’s discrimination accusations? The U.S.’s […]
Will Class Be In Session For Investors Suing Mattel and PwC Over Accounting Error Cover-Up?
Ah, we have an update on the class-action suit filed against Mattel and its longtime auditor, PwC, by investors who claim Mattel’s finance team and PwC auditors covered up an accounting error that affected the toy giant’s financial results toward the end of 2017. Bloomberg Law reported today: Mattel Inc. investors who accused the company of […]
Lawsuit: PCAOB Chairman (Allegedly) Calling Coronavirus the ‘Kung Flu’ Didn’t Sit Too Well with Senior Staffer Born In China
This seems like ages ago but back in October 2019, the Wall Street Journal revealed what was written in a one-page whistleblower complaint—written by a group of current and former PCAOB employees—that alleged some serious problems going on at the PCAOB under chairman William Duhnke, a Republican who was appointed to that role in December […]
Important Audit Professional Takeaways from Botta v. PwC Closing Arguments
Closing arguments were held on April 13 in the bench trial of audit whistleblower Mauro Botta vs. PricewaterhouseCoopers. Botta, a former PwC senior manager, claims that he was wrongfully terminated by PwC in retaliation for making a whistleblower report to the SEC. Botta’s whistleblower report alleges that PwC had compromised its independence by acquiescing to […]
KPMG Agrees to $10 Million Deal with Female KPMGers In Lengthy Gender Discrimination Case
It took 10 years but an age bias lawsuit first filed against KPMG in 2011 by former senior manager Donna Kassman that now includes eight other plaintiffs and hundreds of other KPMG ladies, a vast majority of whom no longer work for the firm, is finally reaching the end of the road. Law360 reported yesterday: […]
Successful Whistleblower Slings Some More Mud at EY
“I didn’t feel I had a choice. I had to fight for justice. And any cursory examination of the facts of the case showed that I was clearly in the right. Given that, I have never been able to understand why EY fought a losing battle for so long.” — Amjad Rihan, a former audit […]
If You Asked Unemployed Californians Their Favorite Big 4 Firm It Definitely Isn’t Deloitte
In case you’ve been out of the loop — which we hope you are since it likely means you’ve managed to stay gainfully employed throughout this past dumpster fire of a year — Deloitte has gotten quite a bit of hate of late over their handling of certain state unemployment systems. The most notorious has […]
Guy Suing Deloitte Australia Can’t Believe Everyone At the Firm Is Giving Him the Cold Shoulder
“[This is] in circumstances where my client is finding it very difficult to remain in the partnership and has lost the trust of his partners.” — Paul Moorhouse, the lawyer representing Deloitte Australia partner Colin Brown, said in federal court on March 5. Brown, an audit partner, is accusing Deloitte of age discrimination by unfairly […]
PwC Tried to Recruit a Former Auditor Who Is Suing Them So Don’t Ever Sweat Burning Bridges Again
When it comes time to think about leaving public accounting, which happens for 99% of public accountants except for those brave and oddly-programmed individuals who are cut out for the partner track, one of the foremost considerations in any exasperated public accountant’s mind is: how can I do this without burning bridges? From the time […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Mauro Botta vs. PwC and VBS Mutual Bank Liquidators vs. KPMG
PwC ‘Punished’ Thorough Auditing, Whistleblower Testifies [Law360] A couple Augusts ago, Adrienne wrote about an academic study that revealed the market for audit services penalizes audit firms for disclosing information critical of management in their audit opinions and that audit firms that find internal control material weaknesses experience lower client and fee growth. In other […]
The Olds vs. PwC: Federal Judge Seems Fine with Age Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement (UPDATE)
The $11.6 million settlement reached last March between PwC and two accountants who claimed they weren’t hired for associate positions with the firm because of their older age is a done deal. All that’s left is getting attorney fees figured out. Law360 reported on Jan. 27: A California federal judge said Wednesday he’ll approve PricewaterhouseCoopers […]
Patisserie Valerie Liquidators Say Grant Thornton Doesn’t Deserve Cake
It was only a matter of time before Grant Thornton U.K. faced some sort of legal action for being the auditors of cake shop Patisserie Valerie while a massive accounting fraud was being committed right under their noses. According to the Financial Times on Jan. 8: The liquidators of Patisserie Valerie are suing Grant Thornton […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-PwC Director vs. PwC, Billionaire vs. Deloitte, Floridians vs. Deloitte
On the docket: age and gender discrimination, tax break gone bad, and the latest on the Deloitte drama in Florida. Axed PwC Director Alleges Age, Gender Bias [Law360] Another week, another age and gender discrimination lawsuit filed against a Big 4 firm. And once again PwC is named as the defendant: A former PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-Deloitte Switzerland Partner vs. Deloitte, NMC Health’s Administrators vs. EY, Floridians vs. Deloitte Consulting
On the docket: former Deloitte Switzerland partner takes the L … again, EY sued over its lack of auditing prowess, and Deloitte Consulting is a lawsuit magnet. Ex-Deloitte Swiss Partner Loses Appeal Of Forced Retirement [Law360] David Joseph took another L in court on Nov. 5 as a London appeals court ruled that the former […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-Deloitte Manager vs. Deloitte, Ex-Deloitte Switzerland Partner vs. Deloitte, Ex-PwC Employees vs. PwC
On the docket: accusations of pregnancy discrimination and unfair termination, as well as an update on PwC ERISA class-action lawsuit. Deloitte Looks To KO Class Claims In Maternity Leave Suit [Law360] Back in early September, Saxon Knight, a former solutions manager at Deloitte, filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in Manhattan federal court alleging the firm […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Karen Ward vs. EY, Choppies vs. PwC, Floridians vs. Deloitte Consulting
EY, Female Ex-Principal End Lawsuit Over Bias Arbitration Costs [Bloomberg Law] Have we mentioned before how much Big 4 firms love it when claims against them by former employees go to arbitration? EY and a female former principal allegedly subjected to sexual harassment, retaliation, and other sex discrimination throughout her time with the firm agreed […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-PwC Partner vs. PwC, Deloitte Partner vs. Deloitte Australia, EnviroNet vs. EY
Plus, two Deloitte partners implicated in U.K. insolvency lawsuit, and KPMG gets out of $1.1 billion suit in Oceanografia scandal. A former PwC partner who sued the firm for $15 million just had a major setback in his case, pushing the pay spat behind closed doors [Business Insider] Big 4 firms salivate when a lawsuit […]
Deloitte Sued by Ex-Manager for Discrimination Over ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ Family Leave Policy
Lawsuits against the Big 4 firms are a dime a dozen, but discrimination lawsuits make the most headlines. Like the two older CPAs who sued PwC for age discrimination (and WON!) and gender discrimination lawsuits against KPMG and EY, which either didn’t go or hasn’t gone according to plan for the plaintiffs. Now it’s Deloitte’s […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-PwC Partner vs. PwC, Deloitte Partner vs. Deloitte Australia, Watchstone vs. PwC U.K.
On the docket: wrongful termination, age discrimination, and conspiracy! Former PwC partner sues company, claims he’s owed $15 million [Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal] This lawsuit filed by a former Minneapolis-based PwC partner who claims he was wrongly terminated and is owed millions of dollars should keep the firm’s lawyers busy for a while. John Cahill […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: SCANA Investors vs. Deloitte, Miller Energy Investors vs. KPMG, Gridsum Investors vs. PwC
Plus, Illinois resident drops lawsuit against Deloitte Consulting, and PwC wants the city of Los Angeles to pay a price. Deloitte Wants Investor’s Nuclear Energy Project Suit Tossed [Law360] Deloitte doesn’t think it should have to face a lawsuit accusing the firm of issuing audit reports that misled investors on the progress SCANA Corp. was […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Illinois Resident vs. Deloitte, Gridsum Investors vs. PwC, Ryan LLC vs. EY
Illinois Unemployment Data Breach Leads to ID Theft, Class-Action Lawsuit Claims [Illinois Policy] Deloitte—already being sued by two groups of Ohioans who claim their personal information was exposed on state websites the firm built to administer coronavirus unemployment benefits to independent contractors—is now being sued by an Illinois woman who said she was a victim […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Wirecard Investors vs. EY, Australian Tax Office vs. PwC, Carillion vs. KPMG
Here’s a round-up of lawsuits filed against Big 4 firms in Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Ernst & Young Sued Over Wirecard as Accounting Woes Add Up [Bloomberg] Wirecard’s longtime auditor EY is being sued just days after the payment processing company’s headquarters were raided as part of a market-manipulation probe. The German lawsuit […]
Deloitte Sued By Unemployed Ohioans Who Are Unhappy Their SSNs and Addresses Were Visible For All to See
Welp, that didn’t take long: Deloitte Consulting LLP was hit with two suits by people who claim their personal information was exposed on state websites the firm built to administer supplemental coronavirus unemployment benefits. A group of Ohio residents sued Deloitte late Thursday in Manhattan federal court, after officials in that state, Illinois and Colorado disclosed […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: PwC and a Ponzi Scheme, PwC and a Rich Client, PwC and a Winning Appeal
PwC is keeping its lawyers very, very busy. PwC fails to dismiss £25m negligence claim over Guernsey ‘Ponzi scheme [Financial Times] A judge in the Guernsey Royal Court has dismissed an attempt by the Queen’s PwC to throw out a £25 million lawsuit against P. Dubs for alleged negligence in its audits of a Guernsey […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: FDIC vs. EY, Investors vs. Mattel and PwC, Carillion vs. KPMG
Federal regulator sues auditor Ernst & Young for negligence over First NBC collapse [New Orleans Advocate] The FDIC is suing Ernst & Young in the $1 billion failure of First NBC Bank in 2017, alleging that EY missed clear red flags related to several soured loans and failed to raise the alarm to the bank’s […]
The Olds vs. PwC: $11.625 Million Settlement Reached In Age Discrimination Case
A lawsuit filed almost four years ago by two accountants who claimed that the hiring policies at PwC discriminate against applicants over the age of 40 from landing entry-level positions at the firm is finally coming to an end. And the Olds got PwC to settle. Law.com reported today: PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $11.625 […]
Lawsuit: Mattel Shareholders Are Holding PwC’s Feet to the Fire
Once the Wall Street Journal broke the story last November that Mattel’s finance team and PwC auditors reportedly buried an accounting error that affected the toy giant’s financial results toward the end of 2017, you knew there would be some fallout. First, Bloomberg followed the WSJ report by writing that the PCAOB would be investigating […]
CohnReznick Has Had It Up to Here with Mazars USA’s Poaching
Last year, three CohnReznick CPAs—two partners and its chief operating officer—started new jobs as partners at Mazars USA. You would have thought Mazars would’ve sent out a press release about its new haul, like it did last September when it poached two people from KPMG, but the firm kept the CohnReznick poaching a secret. No […]
Platinum Hedge Fund Investors Aren’t Big Fans of CohnReznick
CohnReznick is being sued by 49 investors of an ill-fated Platinum Partners hedge fund who claim the accounting firm is complicit in and benefited from a fraud that doomed Platinum. Institutional Investor reported: The group of investors, who collectively sunk $63 million into the Platinum Partners Credit Opportunities Fund, filed a lawsuit against CohnReznick in the […]
KPMG Takes Victory Lap In Merrimack College Financial Aid Fraud Case
Merrimack College suffered two defeats on/in court yesterday. Its men’s basketball team got blown out by the Providence Friars 93-56. And it lost a case in a courtroom in Massachusetts to KPMG, although the jury found that KPMG wasn’t completely blameless in the student loan fraud case. Law360 reported: A Boston jury said negligence by […]
EY’s Run of Bad Press Continues
If all the negative headlines EY has been dealing with (and deserved) since the Huffington Post broke the story last Monday about the firm’s now-infamous 2018 training seminar for women leaders weren’t bad enough, an exposé that airs tonight on BBC One won’t do anything to help EY’s reputation and once again sheds light on […]
KPMG Heads to Court Next Week to Defend Itself for Being KPMG
Merrimack College in North Andover, MA, is trying to get some of that Klynveld money, alleging in a lawsuit that KPMG committed professional malpractice, breach of contract, negligence, and negligent misrepresentation. From Courtroom View Network: Accounting giant KPMG heads to trial next week in Massachusetts state court in a malpractice lawsuit filed by Merrimack College […]
It Looks Like KPMG Is Being Sued By Shareholders of CannTrust Holdings
A press release sent today by Toronto-based law firms Thornton Grout Finnigan and Rochon Genova caught our attention: Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP and Rochon Genova LLP have together commenced a class action in Ontario on behalf of shareholders of CannTrust Holdings Inc. who acquired their CannTrust common shares between October 1, 2018 up to and including July 8, 2019. The […]
The Olds vs. PwC: Age Discrimination Case Can Proceed as a Collective Action
It’s been a while since we’ve had an update on Rabin v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the age discrimination lawsuit accusing PwC of favoring younger workers over individuals over the age of 40 for entry-level positions within the firm. Well, we’re happy to tell you we have a little bit of news, courtesy of Law.com: U.S. District […]
Elon Musk Made It Clear He Gives an Immaterial Number of F*cks About the SEC
ICYMI, Elon Musk appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and while it wasn’t quite as good as him sparking a blunt on Joe Rogan’s podcast, it was still a tad incendiary. Musk’s beef with the SEC started in August when he tweeted that he was “considering” taking Tesla private at $420 a share (LOL 420, […]
Federal Judge Sides with KPMG in Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
KPMG scored a huge victory in court on Nov. 30, as a New York federal court judge declined to certify a long-running class-action lawsuit by thousands of current and former female KPMG tax and advisory professionals who accused the firm of gender, pay, and promotion discrimination dating back to 2008. While the ruling bars the […]
Female KPMG Employees Seek Class Status in Gender Discrimination Lawsuit, Detail Alleged Sexual Misconduct at the Firm
There was a new development yesterday in the long-running gender bias lawsuit against KPMG, in which a group of current and former female advisory and tax professionals have accused the firm of gender, pay, and promotion discrimination, as well as condoning sexual harassment. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs filed a motion on Nov. 27 that asked […]
Ex-EY Manager’s Paternity Leave Lawsuit Against Firm Is Heading to Arbitration
A dispute between EY and a former senior manager who claims the firm fired him after he requested additional paternity leave after the birth of his child must be settled in arbitration, a federal judge in Philadelphia said last week. The plaintiff, Shmuel Eisenbach, didn’t prove that anything in the EY arbitration agreement he signed […]
Get Yer Pointin’ Fingers Ready, We’re Looking Back on the Financial Crisis Ten Years Later
I got a notification from Twitter the other day reminding me that it’s been 10 whole years since I joined. Wow, that long? I realized that I’d done it the week the economy started swirling down the drain in earnest back in 2008. Unlike my Twitter anniversary, we can argue all day over the actual […]
Judge Allows Class-Action Suit to Proceed Against KPMG Over Shoddy Miller Energy Audit
A federal judge in Tennessee on Aug. 2 declined to throw out a securities class-action lawsuit against KPMG, in which investors are accusing the Big 4 firm of screwing up the audit of now-defunct oil and gas company Miller Energy Resources Inc. In Lewis Cosby et al. v. KPMG L.L.P., the investors say they got […]
Older Job Seekers Denied Class-Action Status in Age Discrimination Lawsuit Against PwC
A federal judge in San Francisco rejected class-action status to a group of up to 14,000 older job applicants on July 26 who are accusing PwC of favoring younger workers over individuals over the age of 40 for entry-level positions within the firm. The age discrimination lawsuit, which was filed in April 2016 by CPA […]
Judge Tosses Accountant’s Suit Claiming Bar Discriminated Against Him for Wearing MAGA Hat
Not a miter. Not even close. Last year we shared the story of Greg Piatek, a Deloitte senior manager who sued The Happiest Hour, a bar in New York’s West Village that he claims kicked him out over his “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” hat. On Wednesday, a judge threw out Piatek’s lawsuit, but not before […]
Talking About Race, Mega Lawsuits, That Oscars Screw-up and More: A Conversation With PwC’s Tim Ryan
Most people would look at the year PwC Chairman and Senior Partner Tim Ryan has had and think, “That’s rough.” After two killings of black men by police officers and the killing of 5 Dallas police officers last summer, Ryan told Fortune in February that he scrapped his plans and, “got the team together and […]
MF Global Not Amused By PwC’s Threats for a Mistrial
Yesterday, PwC asked the judge in its court battle with MF Global to prohibit the use of a “new theory of causation” or to declare a mistrial. PwC filed the motion at midnight on Monday, so you can’t blame the plaintiffs if they felt caught off guard. Dan Fetterman, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs […]
Is PwC on the Ropes in the MF Global Trial?
How are you, PwC? Week 2 in the trial between MF Global and PwC started off interestingly enough: PwC wants the judge to consider declaring a mistrial. The reason? The firm’s lawyers claim that the plaintiffs have “changed its theory of why the brokerage failed” calling it a “trial by ambush.” MF Global’s attorneys see […]
PwC Has Had Enough Courtroom Fun
PwC is settling the lawsuit brought by the bankruptcy trustee of mortgage behemoth Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, putting speculation to rest that a verdict in the $5.5 billion lawsuit for the plaintiff could be the beginning of the end for the firm.
PwC Defense Attorney Putting a Lot of Faith in a Florida Jury
Starting Monday, PwC will go trial in Florida over a financial crisis-era case. The plaintiff is the bankruptcy trustee for Taylor Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corp, who is seeking $5.5 billion in damages, claiming that "PwC was negligent in not detecting a massive fraud scheme that brought down Taylor Bean and helped trigger the 2009 […]
Grant Thornton Not Gonna Let Some Rich Guy Drag Its Good Name Through the Mud and Get Away With It
You wanna get nuts? Come on, let's get nuts! Grant Thornton has filed a counter-claim against Vincent Tchenguiz for defamation after the property entrepreneur sued the accounting firm for £2.2bn and accused it of a conspiracy. In documents filed at the London High Court on Tuesday, Grant Thornton denied Mr Tchenguiz’s claims and said it […]
Plaintiff Who Filed Gender Discrimination Suit Responds to KPMG’s Women’s Leadership Campaign
Back in 2011, a former KPMG Senior Manager named Donna Kassman filed a $350 million class action lawsuit against the firm alleging "relentless gender discrimination and harassment." In addition, she claimed that despite speaking up, "the Company had no interest in remedying the situation." Since the story broke, we've followed developments including that 9,000 women […]
The Aftermath of the Ex-PwC Employee Who Got Fired After a Dispute with Comcast Is About What You’d Expect
Last October we learned that a PwC fired an employee named Canal O'Rourke for violating the firm's "ethics standards." This violation came about after O'Rourke became understandably agitated over his Comcast bill and the company's failure to rectify the situation. BEEN THERE. At some point, Mr. O'Rourke reached Comcast's Chief Accounting Officer, Larry Salva. O'Rourke started […]
Nearly 900 Female KPMG Employees Have Joined the Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
As you may remember, in October of last year, 9,000 female Klynveldians were welcomed to join the class action lawsuit brought against KPMG in 2011 by former senior manager Donna Kassman. The suit alleges "systemic discrimination in pay and promotion, discrimination based on pregnancy, and chronic failure to properly investigate and resolve complaints of discrimination and […]
Judge: AICPA Was a Little Melodramatic About IRS’s Voluntary Registration Program
Earlier this year, the AICPA warned that they would go on a jihad against the IRS if our favorite sovereign tax authority went ahead with a plan to offer voluntary tax preparer registration. Getting really dramatic about things, the AICPA basically complained that the IRS plan conflicted with everything the CPA designation stands for and […]
Fired PwC Employee Is Suing Comcast But Not to Get His Job Back
Conal O'Rourke will not go quietly into that dark night without a fight, folks, he just wants you to know that. In case Comcast wasn't aware of that fact, he has filed a lawsuit. Gawker has the story: Conal O'Rourke is going after Comcast and its controller, Lawrence Salva, for defamation, and arguing the company […]
Some Current and Former Ladies of KPMG Can Expect Extra Special Mail Very Soon
If you're interested in keeping up with Kassman, et al. v. KPMG, the lawsuit alleging pay discrimination against current and former KPMG employees, this press release has some items of note: Today, approximately 9,000 women who work or worked at KPMG between October 2008 and the present should begin receiving in their mailboxes a Court-ordered […]
EY Sued By Man Claiming He Was Disabled Due to Pending Ulcer, High Blood Pressure
UPDATE: This case has been settled. Details below. Christopher Cotter is a 52-year-old Houston man who “suffers from peptic inflammatory disease and labile hypertension," according to a complaint filed against the Big 4 firm formerly known as Ernst & Young in a Southern District of Texas court on August 5th. In layman's terms, he has […]
Judge Rules PwC Will Face MF Global Lawsuit Whether PwC Likes It Or Not
Last we checked in on the ongoing MF Global v PwC drama that is currently working its way through the U.S. District Court, Southern District New York, Judge Marrero took a long piss all over PwC's in pari delicto excuse. In his decision today, Judge Marrero held: “It is plausible to conclude that PwC’s accounting […]
Why Do Accounting Firms Feel the Need to Vigorously Defend Themselves?
The other day, news came out that a class action suit had been filed against KPMG. I know, I know, it's like every other week some accounting firm is getting sued for something. Of course, KPMG wanted to make it clear that they would "vigorously defend" themselves in court: Siskinds LLP, Siskinds Desmeules and JSS […]
The AICPA Just Sued the IRS Over “Purported” Voluntary Tax Preparer Program
Calling it "an illegitimate exercise of government power," the AICPA has now taken their dislike of the IRS' voluntary tax preparer program to court: The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) today issued the statement below by AICPA President and CEO Barry C. Melancon, CPA, CGMA, regarding the filing of a federal lawsuit in the U.S. […]
PwC Defends Itself Against “Baseless” MF Global Suit Using MF Global’s Own Stupidity
PwC was recently dealt a blow when U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero stated: “[u]nder PwC’s reasoning, the in pari delicto doctrine would insulate an auditor from liability whenever a company pursues a failed investment strategy after receiving wrongful advice from an accountant. Such a broad reading of the doctrine would effectively put an end to […]
Ex-Wife of Art Shamsky Back in Court to Sue Deloitte for Sexual Harassment
A lawsuit was quietly filed in New York on Tuesday, naming Deloitte and Big D Talent Director Louis Bastone as defendants. The charge? Sexual harassment. Well, sexual harassment and severe work-related cockblocking.
If a Movie About Fraud Was Funded With Fraud, That Would Be Dumb (and Dumber)
The source of the $100 million used to finance Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street is being openly questioned in a Los Angeles courtroom. Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler, producers of the 1994 hit Dumb and Dumber, are suing Red Granite and its principals, Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland, for being excluded from a sequel. […]
PwC Sued for $1 Billion Over MFGlobal; Accused of ‘Erroneous’ Advice
Well it's a good thing we didn't check out early and head to the bar tonight, the ish just hit the proverbial fan for PwC: The administrator of MF Global Holdings Ltd's bankruptcy plan on Friday sued the auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers for at least $1 billion over its advice on a $6.3 billion European sovereign debt […]
This Deloitte Employee Doesn’t Want to Hear About How Much Your Landlord Sucks
I'm sure we've all dealt with our fair share of terrible landlords — mine, for example, don't even salt our sidewalk in winter and seem determined to put the loudest, most obnoxious idiots possible in the unit next to me — but this Deloitte consultant pretty much wins in the worst landlord department. What would […]
NY State Is Serious About the Battle with EY Over Lehman Audit Fees
Not so fast, Ernst & Young. You may be able to rebrand and spout off a bunch of feel good hooey about integrity or whatever silly phrase you're using these days but you're gonna need a bigger rug under which to sweep Lehman, guys: A New York state appeals court on Thursday revived the New […]
Grant Thornton Isn’t Going to Take This $100 Million Tax Shelter Ruling Lying Down
See, and you guys say we never listen to you. This comes from this morning's open items thread: Is it true that Grant Thornton lost a $100MM lawsuit regarding tax shelters? Accounting Today has the best scoop I've seen so far on this matter: A Kentucky circuit court judge has ruled that Grant Thornton is […]
Ernst & Young, Living in Denial, Settles with Lehman Investors for $99 Million
This is rich. Michael Rapoport reports: Ernst & Young LLP has agreed to pay $99 million to settle investor class-action allegations that it turned a blind eye when its audit client Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. misled investors before the investment bank's 2008 collapse. The investors and Ernst "have reached an agreement in principle" to settle the […]
The Latest Twist in Overtime Lawsuits Against Accounting Firms
Here's an interesting development in the wage and hour disputes between public accounting firms and their unlicensed staff. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently found that "class action waivers" included in offer letters to new associates are enforceable. What does that mean exactly? The case Sutherland v. Ernst & Young provides the background: “Alyssa” […]
Deloitte Satisfied with Size of Check It’ll Cut to Settle Taylor Bean & Whitaker Lawsuit
The Green Dot blinks: Breaking: Attorney Steven Thomas says lawsuit by Taylor Bean & Whitaker bk trustee vs Deloitte settled "mutual satisfaction of parties". — Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) October 3, 2013 I've confirmed Francine's account with Mr. Thomas. Deloitte has not responded to our email requesting for comment. I spoke to Steven Thomas a few […]
Let’s Walk Down Memory Lane with Ernst & Young and Lehman Brothers
This week, lots of people are talking about the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy because five years is half of a decade and, well, it was the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history so that counts for something. Yesterday, we linked to the DealBook story that explains why the SEC threw in the towel and for me, it's one […]
Lawyers Suing Moss Adams Remain Unflappable After Judge Tells Them to Get Lost
As you may or may not remember, the largest Ponzi Scheme in the state of Washington was perpetrated by a man named Frederick Darren Berg. His company, Meridian Group, bilked investors out of $150 million or so and now the bankruptcy trustee for the company is trying to recover some of those funds. One of […]
The Trial Date Has Been Set in the Big Wage and Hour Lawsuit Against PwC
Ever since Going Concern was launched in 2009, we've been following Campbell v. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the wage and hour lawsuit brought by audit associates in California. It's one of many suits floating around in the legal system but Campbell has slowly progressed through the courts, including arguments before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on whether PwC could […]
Strip Club Mogul Slash Tea Partier Sues the IRS For Targeting, Guaranteeing He Will Be Targeted
If you haven't heard of him, Selim "Sam" Zherka is just a regular ole business-owner and Tea Partier in New York who calls himself the "loudest voice" for the Tea Party in New York State. In 2008 he apparently got in trouble after he told a cop at City Hall "I pay your fu**ing salary. […]
Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria Doesn’t Want to Hear About the Troubles You’ve Had Selling *Your* House
As you may recall, after Joe Echevarria became CEO of Deloitte in 2011, we learned that his house in Westchester was up for grabs with an asking price of $2.8 million. The 6,000 square-foot spread had hit the market in March of that year listed at $3 mil, so you can safely assume that Joe and his wife Ana were anxious to move the thing.
The California Wage and Hour Lawsuit Against PwC Is Finally Going to Trial
It's been awhile since we've written anything on Campbell v. PricewaterhouseCoopers but this announcement from the plaintiffs' attorneys seemed worthy of sharing with you all: On March 1, 2013, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals entered an order denying defendant PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's petition for an early appeal of the District Court's order denying class decertification. […]
World Class Accounting Firms Getting a World Class Action Litigation Experience
Class actions against the world's largest corporate auditing firms are spreading globally as governments bolster investor protection laws in countries where the Big Four firms have previously not faced substantial legal risks. Even as class action lawsuits dwindle in the United States due to court rulings and legislation, the number of countries allowing these kinds of […]
Express Scripts Accuses Ernst & Young Partner of Being the Worst Corporate Spy Ever
Late on Friday, Bloomberg reported that Express Scripts was suing Ernst & Young and a former E&Y partner for "theft of trade secrets and misappropriation of the pharmacy benefit manager’s confidential and proprietary data." Which is really just a very nice of saying "corporate espionage." And perhaps not surprisingly, the partner in question, Don Gravlin, wasn't […]
SingerLewak Sued By Financially Troubled Former Client For Failing To Detect Fraud
Oh geez, not this again. When will clients just get over it? Here's the bad news for SingerLewak coming out of SoCal: The financially troubled Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission is suing its former auditor for more than $11 million, alleging that it failed to detect errors in financial statements between 2007 and 2011, a […]
Oregon Man’s Encounter with IRS Agent Oddly Similar to the Plot of a Bad Porno Movie
Today in bizarre sexual encounters with government employees news, a Fall Creek, Oregon man has filed a lawsuit against an IRS agent for "coerc[ing] him into having sex with her after suggesting that the liaison could keep him out of tax trouble." Dora Abrahamson claims to have known Vincent Burroughs when she called him to inform that […]
Study: Rules-based Accounting Shields Firms From Lawsuits
According to groundbreaking research by Richard Mergenthaler, assistant professor of accounting at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, shareholders are more likely to sue firms that use principles-based accounting standards over rules-based standards. The short: Some claim that rules-based accounting standards shield firms from litigation, while others argue that violations of detailed rules […]
Big 4 Firms Performing Quite Well in the Self-Preservation Department
If you are able to find Google's homepage and have a couple of functioning digits, it isn't difficult to find news of Big 4 audit firms settling lawsuits over the past few years. Satyam. Countrywide. Bear Stearns. Sino-Forest. There are others. There will be more. In the UK, regulators have been grilling the Big 4 over […]
PwC Is Having a Really Rough November Already
Yeah so first this happened: On Wednesday the FDIC, as receiver for the Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Alabama, sued PricewaterhouseCoopers and Crowe Horwath in federal court in Montgomery, claiming that they committed professional malpractice and breach of contract by failing to detect that two Colonial employees helped the notorious (and defunct) mortgage lender Taylor Bean […]
Arthur Andersen’s Bones Still Have Some Meat on Them
Hey, an extra $38 million for the WorldCom fiasco is an extra $38 million: Two law firms, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP and Barrack Rodos & Bacine, announced the proposed settlement Monday. They noted that the lead plaintiff previously achieved settlements with various defendants in the case for over $6.1 billion plus interest to […]
Internal Control Zealots May Be Helpful in Preventing Accounting-related Reckonings
Lawyers. Gotta love 'em. They have many functions but when it comes to accounting and financial reporting, it's usually to sue the pants off those who make gross errors in these two areas. Maybe the company was stupid; maybe the company did something illegal. It doesn't matter. If some numbers are wrong and someone lost […]
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Must Not Mind That Their Audit Firm Is Also a Strategic Partner for a Presentation That Includes a Blogger That Doesn’t Say Particularly Nice Things About Their Financial Reporting
As most of you know, convicted-fraudster-turned-accounting-sleuth and all-around ham Sam Antar now spends his days blogging, exposing companies whose financial reporting and disclosures strikes him as a little too familiar to some of the tricks he pulled in his Crazy Eddie days. Sam also spends a fair amount of time educating the less criminally-inclined on […]
Lawyer Suing Moss Adams Seems to Have Hurt Feelings After Opposing Counsel Called His Lawsuit “Flimsy”
Anyone remember Frederick Darren Berg? He's a guy who had a thing – nay, a passion – for charter buses. It just so happens that he also was running Washington's largest ever Ponzi scheme to finance his passion. Moss Adams (who Berg says is not at fault) was the auditor for FDB's Meridian funds – […]
City of Dixon Sues Auditors Over…Ya Know
That money isn't going to find itself now, is it? An attorney for the city of Dixon filed a civil complaint this morning against the accounting firms that conducted the city's audit for the past 5 years. The complaint says that Samuel S. Card, CPA, P.C., and Janis Card Company, LLC, both located at 501 E. […]