Pittsburgh Man Acquitted of Manslaughter In the Death of Deloitte Consultant
A jury in Honolulu reached a not guilty verdict on July 11 in the manslaughter trial of 39-year-old Pittsburgh resident Benjamin Fleming who was charged last year in the death of his college classmate and Deloitte Consulting employee Abhishek Gupta while the two vacationed with another friend in Hawaii. “I emphasized throughout the trial that […]
Botham Jean’s Killer Is Appealing Her 10-Year Prison Sentence
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas cop who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in October 2019 for murdering PwC accountant Botham Jean in his apartment a year earlier, has an appeals hearing scheduled for later this month. The NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth reported last month that Guyger’s hearing will begin at 1 p.m. […]
Nothing Is More Auditor-y Than the Concern One Derek Chauvin Trial Juror Had
As you probably have heard, the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is underway, and a jury of 12 people (and two alternates) will decide if he is guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. The USA Today last weekend ran small profiles of each of the 14 jurors, […]
There Will Soon Be a Botham Jean Boulevard In Dallas Named After Slain PwC Accountant
Kudos to all 15 members of the Dallas City Council for ultimately agreeing to honor murdered PwC accountant Botham Jean in this way. The Dallas Morning News reported on Jan. 13: The Dallas City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved renaming about four miles of South Lamar Street in memory of Botham Jean. He was shot to […]
Dallas Jury Convicts Amber Guyger of Murdering PwC Accountant Botham Jean; Ex-Cop Given 10 Years to Think About Her Choices
A jury of eight women and four men sentenced former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison on Oct. 2 for killing PwC Dallas accountant Botham Jean, a day after the jurors convicted her of murder. The jurors—five of whom are black, five are Hispanic or Asian, and two who are white—only […]
Ex-Cop Who Killed PwC Accountant Botham Jean *Will* Stand Trial In Dallas County
District Judge Tammy Kemp made her decision a short time ago, rejecting the request from the attorneys of Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who shot and killed PwC accountant Botham Jean last September, to move her murder trial out of Dallas County. #BREAKING: Judge rules Amber Guyger's murder trial will remain in Dallas, […]
Ex-KPMG Partner’s Request to Have His Wire Fraud Conviction Thrown Out Gets Shot Down, Crashes, Burns
Welp, so much for that. David Middendorf, former national managing partner for audit quality and professional practice at KPMG, is scheduled to be sentenced in Manhattan federal court tomorrow, according to Law360, for his role in an information-stealing scheme in which PCAOB insiders fed KPMG executives secret plans on which of the Big 4 firm’s […]
One Year After PwC Accountant Botham Jean Was Murdered, Jury Selection Has Begun In Trial of Cop Who Killed Him
A year ago this evening, PwC Dallas accountant Botham Jean was chillin on a couch in his apartment watching a college football game when the front door to his unit opened, and there stood Dallas Police officer Amber Guyger, still wearing her uniform. Guyger had just come home to the South Side Flats apartment complex […]
Attorneys For Ex-Cop Who Killed PwC Accountant Want Her Murder Trial Moved Out of Dallas, Obviously
Citing “prejudicial” and “inflammatory” media coverage as the reason, the attorneys for Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who killed PwC accountant Botham Jean in his apartment last September, recently filed a change of venue motion to move her murder trial out of Dallas County, saying she can’t get a fair trial there. But […]
SEC Says $50 Million Fine For KPMG Is ‘Significant’ and ‘Appropriate’ For All That Cheating Going On
The SEC made official today the news that Dave Michaels of the Wall Street Journal broke late last week, announcing that KPMG will pay $50 million to settle allegations that former partners “stole the test” by using confidential information that was being fed to them by a PCAOB insider to improve the firm’s performance on […]
$50 Million Fine SEC Is Reportedly Giving KPMG Over PCAOB Scandal Isn’t Big Enough
Dave Michaels of the Wall Street Journal broke some huge news late last night about a huge fine the SEC could levy against KPMG later this month because of several former partners’ involvement in one of the biggest U.S. accounting scandals in recent years—stealing secret audit inspection information from the PCAOB. KPMG LLP is preparing […]
Ex-KPMG Partner David Middendorf Believes He’s Been Done Wrong, Wants a Crack At a New Trial
Don’t get out those orange prison jumpsuits just yet for former KPMG partner David Middendorf and former PCAOB inspections leader Jeffrey Wada. The two men are asking a Manhattan federal court to throw out their wire fraud convictions or grant them a new trial, saying the government didn’t provide enough evidence to support the guilty […]
Ex-KPMG Partner’s Fraud Trial: David Middendorf and Jeffrey Wada GUILTY!
A Manhattan jury on Monday convicted former KPMG partner David Middendorf and former Public Company Accounting Oversight Board staffer Jeffrey Wada for their roles in one of the biggest accounting scandals in recent years. Law360 court reporter Jack Newsham broke the news on Twitter earlier this afternoon: https://twitter.com/TheNewsHam/status/1105198618003324930 https://twitter.com/TheNewsHam/status/1105202676642578435 Newsham wrote that the verdict could […]
Ex-KPMG Partner’s Fraud Trial: David Middendorf Takes the Stand
Law360 court reporter Jack Newsham wrote on Feb. 28 that it could happen this week, and he was right: Former KPMG partner David Middendorf took the stand this afternoon to testify in his own defense. https://twitter.com/TheNewsHam/status/1102661422411063296 Authorities have said that Middendorf and four of his former KPMG colleagues—Thomas Whittle, Brian Sweet, David Britt, and Cynthia […]
Ex-KPMG Partner’s Fraud Trial: What David Middendorf Allegedly Said Once the Scheme Started to Unravel
OK guys, things are starting to get good in the David Middendorf trial. We now know the identity of “Partner-5”—the person at KPMG who allegedly blew the whistle on the information-stealing scheme that five KPMG executives and one Public Company Accounting Oversight Board employee were involved in to help KPMG know ahead of time which […]
Ex-KPMG Partner’s Fraud Trial: Brian Sweet Takes the Stand
The trial of ex-KPMG partner David Middendorf keeps rolling along, as prosecutors on Feb. 19 called on one of the major players in the scheme to steal secret audit inspection information from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to testify against Middendorf. Brian Sweet, a former associate director at the PCAOB who later became a […]
Ex-KPMG Partner’s Fraud Trial: Opening Arguments
A jury heard opening arguments in a Manhattan courtroom on Feb. 12 in the trial of a former high-ranking audit partner at KPMG who was charged with conspiracy and wire fraud for his role in a scheme to cheat the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspection process. David Middendorf and co-defendant Jeffrey Wada, a former […]
Judge Didn’t Buy PwC’s Story, Rejects Call for Mistrial
Judge Victor Marrero rejected PwC’s argument that MF Global’s attorneys were presenting a new theory of causation in their case, dealing the firm a setback in the trial. PwC claimed that the plaintiffs were conducting a “trial by ambush.” From Reuters: PwC said the administrator has in three years of litigation blamed the bankruptcy on […]
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 […]
It’s a Safe Bet That a Few People Knew That Saying “PwC Is a Bunch of Morons” Would Get Them Out of Jury Duty
This Associated Press report chronicles the first two days in the trial between the bankruptcy trustee of MF Global Holdings and PwC. The story is fine, a classic example of AP reporting, but two sentences make it truly remarkable (and thus worthy of our pages here): What was originally a highly technical case newsworthy mostly […]
In MF Global Trial, PwC Hoping for Jurors Who’ve Been Under a Rock
Despite all the hubbub around the screw-up at the Academy Awards, PwC has to soldier on with its business. Unfortunately, right now that business includes defending itself against a massive lawsuit in a trial that starts on Monday. It’s hard to imagine a worse Monday than the day after #Envelopegate, but the firm’s face-off with […]
Deloitte Gonna Keep Trying Its Best
After a jury ruled in Deloitte’s favor in a lawsuit that could’ve cost them $850 million, the firm said it was “gratified” by the verdict and “committed to conducting audits of the highest quality.” Which is a relief in case you thought the world’s largest professional services firm had been winging it this whole time. [WSJ]
Madoff Accountant’s 5-Year-Old Kid Was Not a Very Good Investor, Therefore He Invested in Madoff
Bernie Madoff's "outside auditor" (popularly known as his "accountant") David Friehling already pleaded guilty to fraud in 2009, at which time he told judge U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein "I am truly sorry for the suffering of all the victims." It turns out among the victims is Friehling's own son, who was five years old […]
Ex-BDO CEO Wins New Trial Because One of the Jurors Lied About Being a Drunk, Shoplifting Shellfish, Everything
Former BDO CEO and wolfpack leader Denis Field has won a new trial on charges of tax fraud thanks to a juror in his trial who lied about her alcoholism and, oh…pretty much everything: U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan today overturned the convictions, ruling that the presence of Catherine Conrad, who was Juror No. 1, […]
Auditor Denies That an Auditor Was Paid Too Much Money to Audit
Yes, even if it was Allen Stanford's auditor: CAS Hewlett, an accountant in the Caribbean nation of Antigua where Stanford operated a bank and numerous other business interests, received $4.6 million for auditing services, said Morris Hollander, a certified public accountant who testified as an expert witness. “Are amounts paid for auditing these companies in any way […]
BDO’s Tax Shelter Team Was Known as the ‘Wolf Pack’
I figured you guys should know that.
Ex-CEO Denis Field’s trial for his alleged lead-wolf role in the tax shelter case started last week, while the rest of his fellow wolves – Michael Kerekes, Adrian Dicker, Charles Bee Jr. and Robert Greisman – all pleaded guilty back in 2009.
Led by Field, BDO Seidman was one of the most aggressive tax-shelter marketers, starting in the late 1990s. Inside the firm, the tax-shelter team was known as the “wolf pack.” Field became CEO of the firm in 2000. Tax services accounted for nearly half of BDO Seidman’s $420 million in U.S. revenues in 2002, up from 28 percent in 1998.
Ex-chief executive of BDO Seidman on trial in tax-shelter case [CT]