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Ponzi scheme

Accountants Behaving Badly: Ex-Missouri CPA Would Have Made Bernie Madoff Proud

Former Lebanon, MO, accountant Douglas Richardson found out on June 10 how long he’ll be spending in federal prison for the Madoff-esque crimes a jury in November 2019 said he was guilty of committing. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri: A former certified public accountant in Lebanon, Missouri, was […]

Remembering Bernie Madoff: His Character Was Provable on the Golf Course

Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi schemer who died in prison today while serving a 150-year sentence, provided great wealth for my blog, Re:Balance, if not to the broad array of credulous customers from all levels of society, from whom he extracted over $17 billion. One of my favorites, from March 27, 2009, is re-offered here in […]

Bernie Madoff Was Into ‘Madoff Schemes’ Before It Was Cool

“Charles Ponzi is now a footnote. They’re now Madoff schemes.” — Anthony Sabino, a defense lawyer specializing in white collar criminal defense, famously said in July 2009 after Bernie Madoff decided not to appeal his 150-year sentence for fraud. As you’ve probably heard by now, Madoff died today in jail at the age of 82. […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Ex-Deloitte India CEO Gets 7-Year Audit Ban, KPMGer Fired for Facebook Rant, Ponzi Schemer Gets 10 Years

Plus, the engagement quality review partner for Deloitte India also got banned by an audit regulator in connection with IL&FS audit failures. NFRA bars former Deloitte head from audit for 7 years over lapses at IL&FS [Livemint] Former Deloitte Haskins & Sells CEO Udayan Sen was banned from auditing for seven years and fined Rs […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Guilty Plea In Panama Papers Case, NY Accounting Firm Arraigned, Owning Up to Ponzi Scheme

Plus, accountants from India are in hot water for embezzlement and fraud, and a Florida law firm accountant charged with attempted first-degree murder faces additional charges. Accountant Pleads Guilty Ahead of Trial in Panama Papers Case [Wall Street Journal] Richard Gaffey pleaded guilty in federal court on Feb. 28 to charges he helped a client […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Screwing Over the Mennonites and Amish, Exploiting Elderly Clients, Guilty of Conspiracy

Plus, an Indiana accountant gets jail time for wire fraud, and an Arkansas church accountant is in police custody for allegedly stealing more than $70,000. Berks County accountant allegedly victimizes the Mennonite and Amish communities in massive Ponzi scheme [Justice Department] Philip Riehl was charged on Jan. 31 with conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud, […]

Deloitte Is Finally Finished with That Whole Aequitas Investors Lawsuit Thing

That’s because the $234.6 million settlement Deloitte, EisnerAmper, and five other companies reached with investors of the now-defunct Oregon investment company Aequitas last July was approved in Oregon federal court on Dec. 16. According to Law360, the judge also approved nearly $58 million in attorneys fees and costs. Deloitte, EisnerAmper, law firm Sidley Austin, securities […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Jailed Over Ponzi Scheme, Firm Fined In Pot Bust, Embezzlement Admission

Plus, tax preparers plead guilty to preparing fraudulent returns, and the owner of a tax preparation business failed to file his own taxes. Gambling accountant gets 14 years for $396M Ponzi scheme [Law360] Texas CPA Jay Ledford will serve 14 years in federal prison for his supporting role in a Ponzi scheme that netted $396 […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Defrauding Clients, CPA Ponzi Scheme, Wire Fraud Is a No-No

Plus, accountant jailed for lavish lifestyle fraud, and life in prison and hard labor isn’t a horrible enough sentence for one Zambian accountant. New Mexico CPA suspected of defrauding couple out of $1 million [Las Cruces Sun News] Thomas Laws was arrested on Aug. 26 for allegedly defrauding two clients of more than $1 million […]

Deloitte, EisnerAmper, 5 Others to Pay $235 Million to Settle Aequitas Investors’ Lawsuit

Why go through a lengthy, expensive trial, not knowing whether you’ll win or lose, when you can pay a shit-ton of money to make it all go away? That’s what the seven defendants, including Deloitte and EisnerAmper, did to settle a class-action lawsuit filed three years ago by investors of Aequitas accusing the accounting firms, […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Lots of Theft, Ponzi Scheme, Tax Evasion

Here’s a roundup of some bad stuff accountants did or were accused of doing over the past week or so. Auto shop accountant charged with stealing over $175K from employer [Chicago Sun-Times] Rungnapa Correia is accused of stealing more than $175,000 from a Bensenville, IL, auto repair shop she used to work at as an […]

Accounting News Roundup: Liz Warren to Be Geithner’s Sidekick; Chicago Accountant Gets 23-Year Sentence for Ponzi Du Jour; Gibbs, Boehner Tweet Over Tax Cuts | 09.16.10

White House Taps Consumer Adviser [WSJ]
“President Barack Obama this week will appoint Elizabeth Warren to a lead role setting up the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, two Democratic officials said, a move that will allow the White House to avoid a messy Senate fight over her role.

Ms. Warren, currently a professor at Harvard Law School, will be named an assistant to the president and special advisor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in charge of launching the new agency and setting its mission. She was a candidate to be the agency’s first director, a position that remains unfilled, but would likely have confirmation because of opposition in the Senate.”

What is Accounting? [White Collar Fraud]
It’s sort of like arithmetic but not really. Former Sam Antar nemesis, Howard Sirota, explains in a video over at WCF.

Chicago-Area Man Is Sentenced to 23 Years for Running 22-Year Ponzi Scheme [Bloomberg]
“Frank Castaldi, who ran a Chicago- area Ponzi scheme for 22 years that cost victims $31.6 million, was sentenced to 23 years in prison today in federal court.

For 22 years, Castaldi, 57, of suburban Prospect Heights preyed upon elderly Italian immigrants, U.S. District Judge John Darrah said today before handing down the sentence.

‘This is an offense of huge magnitude,’ the judge said after hearing from victims of the scheme in a packed courtroom. ‘It involved hundreds of victims. It involved millions of dollars.’

In an August 2009 plea agreement, Castaldi said he had raised more than $77 million from 473 groups and individuals. First charged in January of last year, he admitted to mail fraud and to trying to thwart a U.S. Internal Revenue Service probe.”

Regulators to Target ‘Window Dressing’ [WSJ]
“Federal regulators are poised to propose new disclosure rules targeting “window dressing,” a practice undertaken by some large banks to temporarily lower their debt levels before reporting finances to the public.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is scheduled to take up the matter at a meeting Friday and is expected to issue proposals for public comment. The action follows a Wall Street Journal investigation into the practice, which isn’t illegal but masks banks’ true levels of borrowing and risk-taking.”


Banks take over record number of homes in August [Reuters]
“A record number of homeowners lost houses to their banks in August as lenders worked through the backlog of distressed mortgages, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

New default notices decreased at the same time, suggesting that lenders managed the flow of troubled loans and foreclosed properties hitting the market to limit price declines, the company said.

Root problems of high unemployment, wage cuts, negative home equity and restrictive lending practices persist, however, pointing to lingering housing market pain.”

Jon Stewart: Robert Gibbs and John Boehner on the Bush Tax Cuts [TaxProf Blog]

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As to Whether Allen Stanford Knew His CDs Were Worthless

“I think it’s obviously obvious.”

~ Forensic accountant Mark Berenblut, responding in the affirmative that R. Allen Stanford knew he was “misrepresent[ing] the liquidity and soundness of the CDs.”