Mar 10
Michael Woodford has been recognized with the 2012 Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (“ACFE”) for the whistleblower actions that allegedly led to his ousting from the company. As the new CEO of Olympus Corporation, Mr, Woodford exposed alleged fraud at his own company. The allegations involved improper accounting attributed to …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/former-ceo-recognized-for-whistleblower-action/
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/
Mar 06
In California multiple (usually defense-oriented) articles are being published about the importance of a class action trail reversal in re: Duran v. US Bank National Association, California Court of Appeal, 1st Appellate Dist., (February 6, 2012). The articles incorrectly claim that statistical sampling cannot be used to prove liability in a class action case. The …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/duran-class-action-reversal-not-near-as-important-as-suggested/
Mar 03
The Baltic Dry Freight Index (BDI) is considered a leading economic indicator by economists and investors. The Index measures the daily shipping rates for commodities like iron ore, coal, building materials, and grains, and therefore acts as a proxy for the supply and demand of raw materials. As the demand for raw material increases, the …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/can-the-price-of-transporting-goods-predict-future-economic-output/
Feb 29
Regression analysis is a statistical technique that is commonly used in litigation because of its unique ability to ascertain both liability and damages. Specifically, litigation invariably involves questions of (i) whether event x caused event y, and (ii) if so, how much did y change because of x. As regression is used more frequently among …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/02/a-primer-on-regression-analysis/
Feb 24
The lockout shortened the NBA season by nearly two months while the number games was not proportionately reduced, resulting in a more compacted game schedule and shorter resting periods between games. Is it possible that the lack of rest equalizes the playing field (or court in this case) by rewarding young athleticism at the expense …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/02/is-the-nba-more-competitive-after-the-lockout/
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/
Feb 16
In a February 3, 2012 Opinion, the First Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a Massachusetts District Court and held that, while the whistleblower protections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act apply to employees of “public companies” (i.e., a company with registered securities or one that files reports under Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act), they do not …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/02/first-circuit-limits-sox-whistleblower-protection/
Feb 13
Oracle and competitor SAP went to trial over copyright infringement admitted by a now-closed TomorrowNow that SAP acquired. SAP acknowledged liability of their acquired company, and apologized for the infringement. In September 2011, a jury awarded Oracle $1.3 billion, but the U.S. District Court judge reduced the award, offering Oracle the opportunity to either accept …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/02/oracle-rejects-272-million-and-opts-for-a-second-damages-trial/