Investor Fraud Blog - Comments

loanmedianet comments on The Supreme Court Leaves Domestic Investors Unprotected from Secutiries Fraud

loanmedianet — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:45:42 +0000

Home loans are lending vehicles designed to help people purchase and/or improve real estate. There are a variety home loan options available to consumers, depending on their personal needs and circumstances.

Actual mortgage rates can depend on the vehicle selected and the personal credit standing of the borrower. Figuring out which home loans make the most sense will depend on whether a borrower is looking to purchase new or is considering mortgage refinancing.

Tatarcha chat comments on Market Manipulation Cases Can Never Be Certified, So Says Ninth Circuit?

Tatarcha chat — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:39:42 +0000

�� ! � �� , �� !

grasshopper comments on Bernie Madoff...We Trusted You So Long

grasshopper — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:32:50 +0000

"People who've dealt with Marc Dreier professionally, describe him as a brilliant litigator, quick and witty, with a ferocious work ethic". Yet, he considered himself above the law. Read on.

Fast Living, Bold Ambitions Drove Lawyer's Rise and FallWSJ.com by Nathan Koppel and Steve Stecklow

Marc Dreier had four dazzling homes on two coasts, drove an Aston Martin and sailed a 123-foot yacht. The law firm he owned displayed artwork worth at least $30 million. And he gave many of its 250 attorneys huge guaranteed compensation, no matter how much business they generated. His colleagues couldn't figure out how he afforded it all.

An answer began to trickle out in October, when a hedge fund that was considering buying some promissory notes was puzzled by the documents' fine print. Seeking more detail, the fund, Whippoorwill Associates Inc., got in touch with the auditor whose name ...(continued at wsj.com 12/19/08 issue)

Here is some more from DAILY NEWS http://www.nydailynews.com/ 12/8/08

A Park Avenue lawyer who repped Michael Strahan, Jon Bon Jovi and Jay Leno was busted Monday for a "brazen fraud" that swindled two top hedge funds of $100 million.

Marc Dreier's, 58, arrest on wire and securities fraud charges was the latest in a series of bizarre episodes in the life of the Yale grad and Harvard Law School alum who ran the 250-member firm Dreier LLP.

He was busted in Toronto last week on impersonation charges in another multimillion-dollar deal.

"This is a very complicated matter, and the facts are beyond reach of a sound bite," said his lawyer, Gerald Shargel.

Shargel asked Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton to move his client to a federal lockup in Brooklyn from a special housing unit in Manhattan that has held terrorists and other high-profile clients.

Also on 12/9/08, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Dreier of scheming to raise some $113 million from the sale of bogus promissory notes.

"Our complaint alleges a stunning, brazen fraud that targeted some very sophisticated institutional investors," said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

"Investors big and small should take heed, especially in these difficult economic times, that con artists are out there and may go to elaborate lengths to commit fraud."

A cooperating witness taped Dreier saying he knew the financial statements he gave to hedge funds were phony, prosecutors charged in a criminal complaint.

My two cents: One half greed and one half arrogance. A career driven divorced litigator, who happened to be a graduate of Yale and Harvard,winds up charged in a fraud case that seems hard to believe he could even think of getting away with. What a miserable way toward the end of one's life.

taxpayer comments on SEC Settlements Compared to Settlements in Private Shareholder Class Actions

taxpayer — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:29:24 +0000

He (a lawyer and a CPA) should have known better. Here is another interesting case.

Lawyer indicted in tax-shelter fraud scheme

By Chad BrayLast update: 4:29 p.m. EST Nov. 15, 2008Comments: 9NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A one-time lawyer and certified public accountant has been indicted on criminal charges related to an allegedly fraudulent tax shelter that helped wealthy persons avoid paying more than $103 million in taxes.

John B. Ohle III, who worked for a time as a supervisor for Bank One in Chicago and later co-owned Dumaine Group LLC in Chicago, has been charged with conspiracy, five counts of tax evasion and obstructing the due administration of internal revenue laws, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.

Dumaine Group was formed in February 2002 by Ohle with several former members of Bank One's Innovative Strategies Group after he left the bank. The ISG unit provided estate planning and tax-shelter strategies for wealthy clients.

"He did not commit any crimes and we're going to defend vigorously against these charges," said David Spears, Ohle's lawyer.Ohle faces up to five years in prison each on the conspiracy and tax evasion charges.

Prosecutors have alleged that Ohle, between 2001 and 2004, conspired with lawyers at now defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist PC to market a tax-shelter known as Hedge Option Monetization of Economic Remainder, or Homer, to help high-net-worth individuals reduce or eliminate the amount of income taxes they would pay to the Internal Revenue Service.

The wealthy individuals were clients of Bank One and Jenkens & Gilchrist.

The Homer transactions resulted in taxpayers claiming about $429.5 million in false and fraudulent tax losses and evading more than $103 million in taxes, prosecutors said.Jenkens & Gilchrist earned about $12.1 million in fees on the transactions and the bank earned about $5.2 million in fees.The bank has since been acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ohle and William Bradley, a lawyer in Hammond, La. and an Ohle acquaintance, also have been charged with conspiracy in a separate scheme to unlawfully obtain the payment of referral fees in several Homer transactions by submitting false and fraudulent invoices to the law firm for payment, to unlawfully obtain funds for an Ohle client and failing to pay taxes on the ill-gotten fees, according to the government.

Ohle allegedly evaded taxes on at least $642,000 in income in 2001 and at least $1.4 million in income in 2002, prosecutors said.Bradley didn't return a phone call seeking comment Friday.Prosecutors are seeking a forfeiture of $1.75 million, including Ohle's home in Wilmette, Ill.; Ohle's condominium in New Orleans and his sports memorabilia collection.

curious comments on Is Cadence's Restatement Likely the Result of Fraud?

curious — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:20:11 +0000

Blame it on the economic polices crafted and fostered by the lame duck Cabinet and the staggering calamity of the stock market.

curious comments on Is Cadence's Restatement Likely the Result of Fraud?

curious — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:12:37 +0000

Blame it on the economic polices crafted and fostered by the lame duck Cabinet and the staggering calamity of the stock market.

Deanna comments on Banbridge_Town_F.C.

Deanna — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:38:52 +0000

This is great info to know.

Nicholas J. Johnson - Melbourn comments on Loser CEOs, Raking It In

Nicholas J. Johnson - Melbourn — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:57:28 +0000

Why DO stockholders reward incompetence and fraud?

ClassAction-Against Access Cap comments on Stoneridge - A Walk for Corporate Fraudsters?

ClassAction-Against Access Cap — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:03:23 +0000

One company to look for the cheating is in the speculation which helped drive the Internet scam market is Access Capital Funding. As more complaints unfold, we’re discovering that not only was speculation more rampant than we thought, but that many of these scammers were deceiving business owner’s by hiding their intentions. You may think your company is protected against fraud, but statistics say that approximately one-third of fraud cases in the nation involved fraudulent billing, according to the 2006 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. Andrew Eikenberg, president of Access Capital Funding helped the company cover fraudulent credit card charges. The thefts were criminal actions committed for the personal gain of the company. For questions about contributions to the class action, please contact Hughes Law Offices at (605) 339-3939.

Mickey Jones comments on Should Institutions Jump on the VeriFone Bandwagon?

Mickey Jones — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:14:50 +0000

Reed, you got to love this. Last Tuesday (Aug. 19, 2008) Verifone Holdings held a news conference wherein the management stated that Verifone would meet analyst's projections. This caused the stock price to go up over 30%. However, if one studies the basis of this optimistic outlook at http://ir.verifone.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=187628&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1188702&highlight= and deciphering the language, one easily concludes that these optimistic projections requires the addition of these following amounts (and other outrageous items) to projected GAAP net earnings:

cost of defending oneself in a legal suit = earnings to stockholders

cost of paying too much for an acquisition = earnings to stockholders

stock grants to the management and employees = earnings to stockholders

wear and tear on equipment = earnings to stockholders

losing patent coverage = earnings to stockholders

and lastly: corporate income taxes = earnings to stockholders

As you might imagine, business news outlets picked up the story without doing their homework. So many "fat cats" are unloading their shares so that the new stockholders will take the fall. It is important to note that after a very delayed restatement of earnings, due to previous accounting errors, Verifone has been and still is operating at a loss.

Question: As an attorney, could you comment if Verifone has found a scheme to deceive investors which is legal? Management is not hiding what they are doing, however their presentation of the strange accounting is way above the small investor's head.