Apr 24
A Manhattan Judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Howard Stern again Sirius XM Radio Inc. The lawsuit centered around Stern’s claim that the company owed him stock awards for helping Sirius achieve specific subscriber counts. Stern claims he was owed $300 million and his agent, Don Buchwald, an additional $30 million in stock. Stern’s original …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/04/specific-language-is-important-in-agreements/
Apr 23
Rita Crundwell, longtime comptroller of Dixon, Illinois, is alleged to have defrauded the city of over $3 million in the last few months and misappropriated $30 million over the last six years. The town of Dixon is small, with a population of under 16,000. Crundwell lived a luxurious lifestyle that exceeded her $80,000 annual income. …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/04/over-30-million-allegedly-misappropriated-from-city-funds/
Apr 17
There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the approximately $800,000 spent on a lavish 2010 Las Vegas conference hosted by the General Services Administration (GSA). The GSA handles government real estate and other non-military procurement. Susan Brita, a GSA deputy administrator, was the whistleblower who first raised the issue, which has since …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/04/gsa-whistleblower-testifies-regarding-government-waste/
Mar 30
Whether we like it or not, all business have to deal with outside third-party vendors. Many business professionals understand the risks in dealing with vendors, but do not really have the processes in place to mitigate this risk. Managing vendor relationships is key to a business’ long-term success. As business is becoming more global, the …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/how-to-manage-vendor-risks/
Mar 20
Once a Ponzi scheme is uncovered, most investors find that they have lost their money. However, there are also usually some “winners”, ie those that benefited from the scheme by removing both their initial investment and (usually high) returns prior to the scheme’s collapse. The Court in the Madoff case previously confirmed that the determination …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/mets-owners-insist-on-being-treated-like-losers-as-part-of-their-madoff-settlement/
Mar 15
The “Big Four” accounting and audit firms are spending more than they have since 2002 (the year they lost one of their own in the Enron debacle) on lobbying the US government. According to a Reuters analysis of congressional disclosure reports, the four accounting powerhouses spent a combined $9.4 million last year on in-house and outside …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/big-four-attempt-to-increase-their-influence/
Mar 14
On February 16, 2012, in Cast Art Industries, LLC v. KPMG LLP (A-51/52-10) (066891), the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously reversed an Appellate Court decision that had upheld liability against KPMG failing to uncover accounting fraud involving an acquisition by Cast Art Industries of KPMG client Papel. The decision upheld the privity requirements of New …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/nj-supreme-court-case-requires-privity-of-contract-in-accounting-malpractice-suits/
Mar 09
Twenty years is a long time to keep a Ponzi scheme going, but it finally caught up with R. Allen Stanford, the Texas tycoon who was recently convicted on 13 of the 14 counts brought against him. Stanford, previously among America’s wealthiest with an estimated net worth of $2 billion, now faces more than 20 years …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/another-ponzi-scheme-conviction/
Mar 07
The Federal Trades Commission (FTC) released its annual report of consumer complaints (See entire report here). The study indicated that more than 1.8 million complaints were received in 2011, which was a 24 percent increase from 2010. The following are the top 10 types of complaints received by the FTC in 2011: Rank Category …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/ftc-releases-annual-report-of-consumer-complaints/
Feb 22
Contracts are often long and arduous to read, with excruciating detail and numerous defined terms that sometimes bear little resemblance to their “real world” usage. And yet, when a problem arises and each side points to the contract to prove the superiority of their position, many items still become a subject of dispute (even if one side’s current …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/02/specificity-in-contracts-can-avoid-future-disputes/
