Cleaning up after Madoff

Tough job . From the article: “I told my staff at the fund: with this kind of pain, don’t expect a ‘thank you,’ don’t expect a ‘well done,’...

Directors and Corporate Governance

I wonder how many frauds could have been prevented if board members had been more active in protecting the interests of shareholders. While...

Is the Government Guilty of Round Tripping?

Round tripping is a method some financial statement fraud perpetrators have used to boost their revenues. Essentially, they transact with an...

Want job security? Fight fraud for a living...

The WSJ reported that the U.S. Justice Department is hot on the trail of U.S. companies that are bribing foreign officials in violation of ...

Pinstripes

A few weeks ago, my wife and I watched Catch Me if You Can , which is based the life of the famous con artist, Frank Abagnale Jr. Since wa...

Changing trends in executive compensation

In Europe, shareholders have started rejecting the large executive compensation plans that have become so commonplace in the last decade or ...

Santander Settles

At least one of the Madoff feeders appears to be taking some responsibility for its actions (via WSJ ): Banco Santander SA, one of the large...

Did Madoff's feeder funds commit fraud?

Over the past month or so, many of the hedge funds that fed billions into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme (i.e. his feeder funds) have been...

Reasons why fraud spikes in a recession

A recent Time Magazine article explains: "As sure as growth slides and employment numbers tumble, so cases of fraud rise during recess...

Another bubble candidate

In addition to the green energy industry , I believe that the health care industry has potential to develop into our next bubble. The attit...

The next bubble...

After two major bubbles popping in our economy in the last decade (the internet and real estate bubbles), I've wondered where the next b...

Why so much fraud?

With the many Ponzi schemes, financial statement frauds and various schemes that keep coming to light, I've been asking myself why our s...

Detecting Fraud: Lessons from Satyam

BusinessWeek has an interesting article on the Satyam fraud . One of the most amazing thing about this fraud is that the fraud appears to h...

Shrink the SEC?

Bloomberg reports that the Obama administration may attempt to reduce the regulatory power of the SEC , although the article acknowledges th...

Audit Quality and the PCAOB

The PCAOB, charged with oversight of public company audits, has received a great deal of criticism as of late. Clive Lennox and Jeffrey Pit...

Fairfield (Madoff Feeder) Sued

Madoff's largest feeder sued (via WSJ). Per the article: The lawsuit, in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan, alleges the funds, wh...

Madoff Victims Facing Criminal Investigation

The WSJ reports that some of Madoff's high-profile investors are now facing criminal investigation . Should anyone be surprised that a ...