There are generally only a few grounds to challenge a will or trust. (Hint: Simply believing the will is unfair is not a valid reason.)

First, the will has to be legal under state law. States have very specific requirements of how wills must be prepared and signed. Those rules aren’t necessarily complicated but get it wrong and the will or trust document may be worthless.

Some states prohibit you from disinheriting children or spouses. If the person who died didn’t follow the correct procedure, there may be grounds for a successful will contest. State laws also regulate who can witness, how many witnesses are necessary, and whether a beneficiary can be a witness.

While we don’t advocate getting your will done online, services such as LegalZoom are generally are pretty good about explaining the state procedures. Unfortunately, many people copy someone else’s will or just use a document they found on a free website.

Assuming the will complies with state law, there is still the issue of lack of capacity. Was grandpa coherent and competent at the time he signed his new will giving everything to his beloved cat? The standard of proof is pretty low making capacity arguments hard to prove without good evidence. Medical records could become key, especially if the decedent (the person that died) was on heavy painkillers at the time the will was executed.

Unfortunately, these cases occur frequently. A beneficiary surfaces just after the death with a “new” will leaving everything to him or her and nothing to the rest of the family.

The first cousin to lack of capacity (competency) is undue influence. While it is often easy to overturn a will when a non family caregiver is suddenly named in a will, proving undue influence among family members is more difficult. Undue influence requires the person bringing the will contest to prove that the person making the will was unfairly influenced by a third party. Common examples are nursing home employees or home health aides who withhold medication and insist a new will be signed. Another example is the family member that says they will put an elderly or incapacitated person in a nursing home unless they sign a new will.

Finally, there is fraud in all its ugly forms. Does anyone remember the TV show MASH and how Radar or Corporal Klinger would push papers under the nose of the colonel and just ask him to sign without reading the documents? It happens all the time in real life. Although we may be less trusting with strangers, family members will often sign documents without reading them if presented by another family member.

We have also seen cases where someone will simply substitute new pages into an existing will.

A related variation is simply tearing up a will if unhappy with the distribution. If a person dies without a will, state law dictates where the money goes. An only child that finds out that his parents left everything to a local church might be tempted to tear up their wills (assuming they died in a common accident). Why? Because unless the church has a copy of the will, under most state laws, the child would receive everything if no will was found.

Will contests can be won. Finding a good fraud litigator is key. Although there are many excellent probate lawyers, few are litigators with the experience and court skills to fight a full blown will contest.

The time to file a will contest is quite limited in most states. Once a will has been approved by a court, challenging becomes much more difficult. If you believe that someone has improperly denied you the fair share of a will or estate or if you feel a loved one was unduly influenced to give away his or her assets to someone else, give us a call immediately.

The fraud lawyers at Mahany & Ertl specialize in all types of fraud and can help you with a will contest. Let us help you get back what is rightfully yours. For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All inquiries kept in strict confidence.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Services available in many jurisdictions.

Need more information? Check out this post on undue influence or use the search engine located in the upper right corner of our Due Diligence blog.

Posted by Brian Mahany

The post Will Contests – What Works And What Doesn’t appeared first on Due Diligence.

Email violations? Thats right! 3 other firms including ING, Securities America and Next Financial also settled similar charges earlier this year. Regulators want compliance managers to see outgoing emails to insure their advisers and agents are not engaging in securities fraud by making misleading statements, false claims or recommending investments they shouldn’t be selling.

In each of the cases this year, FINRA says that the brokerage firms didn’t have proper controls on emails.

Securities fraud can happen when a broker sells something not suitable to his or her client. (FINRA has Know Your Customer and suitability rules to insure that brokers understand their clients investment goals, experience, financial condition and risk tolerance.) For example, brokers shouldn’t be peddling thinly traded real estate investments to older customers who need access to their  capital. That’s because many of these real estate deals can trap investors for years. By monitoring emails, FINRA hopes that compliance managers can better police their workforce and prevent problems before they occur.

Securities fraud also can occur when a broker sells something without the firm’s permission. That is called “selling away.” We have seen this happen many times with investment advisers who hawk tenants in common (TIC) investments or private placements. Some brokers do this because the commissions are much higher on these investments. Of course, there is nothing to prevent a savvy broker from simply creating another email address outside the company’s mail server. [Helpful Hint: If your broker solicits you from a non-company email address, be very concerned.]

By issuing large fines, FINRA hopes that broker dealers will do a better job of screening emails. The goal is to prevent problems before customers lose money or file complaints.

The increased scrutiny of emails is a good start but doesn’t prevent dishonest brokers from using personal email accounts nor does it address the problem of fly-by-night brokerage firms that often encourage securities fraud. In other words, the rules may help keep honest brokers honest but don’t reach the really bad apples in the business.

Before you invest with any broker dealer or investment advisor, make sure you do your own due diligence on both the investment and your adviser. Both FINRA and the SEC have free, on-line systems that allow anyone to look at the compliance and complaint history of stockbrokers. While anyone may have a complaint or two on their record, check to see if there was a finding of fault and look for patterns of bad behavior.

If you lost $100,000 or more because of a stockbroker, investment adviser or other financial professional, give us a call. The securities fraud lawyers at Mahany & Ertl have helped many victims of get back their hard earned money. We also take cases involving other frauds including legal and accounting malpractice and Ponzi schemes. Most cases can be handled on a contingent fee basis meaning no legal fees unless we recover money for you.

For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All calls are protected by the attorney – client privilege.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Fraud recovery available in many jurisdictions.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific fraud topics, just use the fraud tab or type in key words such as “stockbroker” in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

The post FINRA Attacks New Source Of Securities Fraud appeared first on Due Diligence.

Unless we suddenly find ourselves at war with Syria, Iran or North Korea, our troops will not be in combat for the first time in many years. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t waging other types of war. Evil is everywhere around us.

We have the highest respect for our troops and the veterans who proudly served. As I write this, my father’s American flag sits in a display case on my night stand, a “gift from a thankful nation”. (Dad was a combat veteran and fighter pilot.)

Most people in this nation have never been in actual combat. Thankfully so. While many Americans (primarily males) dress in camo and experience “combat” by watching Sunday football, others of us become cops, prosecutors or fight the forces of evil in the courtroom. Why? Because we all have the warrior spirit. Some more than others.

Earlier today I received an email from a client; someone who is losing their house because of a wrongful foreclosure by Bank of America. I say “wrongful” because the bank misplaced her payments and then declared her in default. It should be an easy problem to fix but Bank of America is a huge bureaucracy. It’s like a giant ocean liner except there is no captain and no officers on the deck to give orders or  take responsibility for problems. This is what she wrote:

“[This] also affirms why what you do is so important Brian. It takes a lot for anyone to even believe they have a fighting chance against big corporations. But then when we finally get fed up enough and muster the strength to stand up for ourselves, nobody wants to hear us. You realize immediately that your voice means nothing if nobody’s listening, and suddenly you’re the most insignificant noise to them. Too big to care, and too big to hear anyone. So you become our voice. And that means more than I can ever express.”

Thankfully, I never had to fire a weapon in anger as a police officer and my generation was spared the horrors of war. But all of us have a bit of warrior inside us. Happily, I have found a profession that provides a meaningful outlet for that aggression and energy.

We live in a society today that feels to even speak of aggression is politically incorrect. We are quietly losing our freedoms and many people now believe that their vote is meaningless. Doom and gloom isn’t inevitable, however. Nor is corruption, dishonest politicians or greed. There is a choice and there are good lawyers still willing to take up the good fight.

When I was a cop I  always told my friends that I hoped they never needed my services. I say the same thing today as a lawyer. But if your home or business is on the line, we are here to help. We can’t take every case – or even most cases – but we handle fraud cases in many jurisdictions and are willing to take on the biggest of opponents.

The great equalizer is the American jury system. We trial lawyers aren’t the heroes. The men and women who watch football on Sunday, who hold down jobs to support their families or who are simply are our neighbors – they are the real heroes and get to be warriors when serving on a jury. As long as we have a jury system we can level the playing field and achieve real justice.

[Ed. Note: This is not our usual post about fraud or tax topics. From time to time we take a little editorial license and write about why we do what we do.]

The post The Warriors In Us appeared first on Due Diligence.

New information revealed by The Economic Times indicates that Falciani turned over records of 24,000 HSBC clients with unreported foreign accounts in HSBC’s Swiss banking unit. If that information isn’t bad enough for those who failed to repot those accounts, we now have learned that France’s finance minister turned over those names to the IRS.

Willfully failing to report a foreign account is a crime in the United States punishable by up to 5 years in prison. In certain cases, taxpayers can also be prosecuted for tax evasion, particularly if the interest generated by those accounts wasn’t taxed or the account was used to hide unreported income. Unreported offshore brokerage accounts, hedge funds, CD’s and other financial products can also give rise to a tax evasion prosecution.

We have long warned that the world gets smaller each day. The ability to hide money from the IRS is getting more difficult. And with huge civil penalties and the possibility of a tax evasion convictions, the risks just aren’t worth the reward.

Although the IRS has not resorted to purchasing stolen bank records, as the Falciani case reveals, Uncle Sam will still accept the information if offered by another country.

If you have an unreported foreign account, there are methods to come into compliance.

For many people, the easiest method is the IRS’ Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, sometimes called “OVDI.”  This program is a true amnesty program that provides for a single year 27.5% penalty, no audit and a get out of jail free card. For taxpayers who intentionally or knowingly failed to report their offshore accounts, OVDI is extremely attractive.

Other programs exist for those with smaller balances and for American ex pats living overseas. For those who believe they can prove that their actions were innocent, a voluntary disclosure may be the best bet. There are no guaranties with voluntary disclosures, however, meaning a tax evasion prosecution is a real possibility if the government believes the failure to report was deliberate.

Tax evasion is a serious crime. If you are under investigation for failure to report a foreign account or other tax problems, seek the assistance of an experienced criminal tax lawyer immediately. Filing missing returns or speaking to the IRS without a lawyer present may jeopardize your case and your freedom.

For more information about tax evasion and other criminal tax cases, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence. Whether you hire or us or not, we will gladly discuss your options at no cost and without obligation.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Tax Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. IRS tax services available worldwide.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific tax topics, just click the tax tab or type in the name of a particular tax topic in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

The post Update on HSBC Tax Evasion Post – France Provided 24,000 Names To IRS appeared first on Due Diligence.

IRS outreach efforts have been quite poor. Many dual nationals, ex pats who are living overseas and foreign born Americans simply don’t understand the FBAR filing requirements. Beginning in 2009, the IRS offered a variety of amnesty programs to help people come into compliance. The current program, called the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”) allows participants to avoid audit and criminal prosecution and pay a one time 27.5% penalty based on the highest balance of the accounts. (Better deals may be available, however.)

Since 1999, 30,000 taxpayers took advantage of amnesty. As a result, the IRS collected an additional 5.5 billion in taxes and penalties. Amnesty isn’t the only way to come into compliance, however. Some taxpayers elected a traditional or “voluntary” disclosure. That involves sitting down with the IRS and explaining why FBARs were not timely filed. Although there are no guarantees with a traditional disclosure, those taxpayers that can prove their actions weren’t “willful” may get a much better deal.

A third method of coming into compliance involves making a “quiet disclosure.” That is a fancy way of just amending returns and filing any missing FBARs. The IRS makes it quite clear on its website that quiet disclosures can result in massive penalties. Despite  these warnings, however, the government’s General Accounting Office says 10,000 taxpayers have made quiet disclosures.

Why? Good question.

The IRS is notoriously slow. Currently it is taking the Service upwards of 500 days to clear some amnesty filings. That means the quiet disclosures are being pushed to the back burner. Some taxpayers probably hope that the IRS will simply forget or be unable to chase down all the quiet disclosure filers. Others may simply want to buy time and worry about penalties at some future date.

If you failed to file FBARs, have unreported foreign bank or hedge fund accounts or have questions about the current IRS offshore amnesty programs, give us a call. We can explain all your options and help you decide which option is best for you. Our tax lawyers are the exclusive legal services provider to the CPAmerica organization for foreign reporting issues meaning we are the lawyers that other professionals turn to with questions.

For more information about FBARs and unreported offshore accounts, contact attorney Bethany Kroes at bckroes@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 223-0464. All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence. Whether you hire or us or not, we will gladly discuss your options at no cost and without obligation.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Tax Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. IRS tax services available worldwide.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific tax topics, just click the tax tab or type in the name of a particular tax topic in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

Written by Brian Mahany, Esq.

The post Quiet Disclosures (FBAR) Next IRS Target appeared first on Due Diligence.

IFC quotes IRS figures and says that in the first quarter of 2013, 670 Americans have torn up their passports. They claim most have done so to avoid IRS reporting and FATCA. While the law has proven to be a nuisance to many Americans, tearing up a passport does not make the problem go away.

For decades, U.S. taxpayers – that includes dual nationals and resident alien “green card holders” – to report most financial accounts located overseas. Bank accounts, hedge funds, securities accounts and even certain pension plans and life insurance policies with an investment component are all reportable. The U.S. is virtually alone in requiring such disclosures although are countries are now adopting similar laws.

This means that many Americans haven’t complied because they simply don’t understand their reporting obligations. Both the government’s General Accounting Office and the IRS’ own National Taxpayer Advocate have criticized the IRS for not doing a better job of educating taxpayers. At particular risk are the estimated 6 million Americans living overseas. The IRS received just 2 million tax returns from this group. Congress hopes FATCA will improve compliance.

The IRS is currently running an amnesty program but even the amnesty penalties are significant. The penalties for not complying, however, are huge; the risk of prison and the greater of $100,000 or 50% of the highest account balance for each non-complying account and for each year the account was not reported! Many speculate that the spectre of such unrealistic and confiscatory penalties have driven some Americans to simply tear up their passports.

Ripping up a passport to avoid FATCA and the IRS may merely be a symbolic gesture, however. It is possible to renounce one’s citizenship although Congress and the IRS says that doesn’t get you off the hook for any taxes you may owe. In other words, it may feel good to rip up your passport, it doesn’t solve the problem.

For people who have intentionally violated the foreign reporting laws, the amnesty program may be a great deal. No audit, no criminal prosecution and a one time penalties. For others, however, there may be better alternatives. Special programs exist for ex pats living offshore with no U.S. income, for “accidental” Americans (those born overseas but are technically US citizens) and for holders of accounts with a combined balance of less than $75,000.

Often, taxpayers are better off simply going through a voluntary disclosure process with the IRS. Although there are no guaranties, for those who can demonstrate that their actions were not willful may receive a single $10,000 penalty or no fine at all. Because the risks are so high, however, waiting is never a good strategy. (The new FATCA law dramatically increases the risk of getting caught.) Nor is attempting to navigate the offshore reporting process without a lawyer.

For more information about FATCA, FBARs and unreported offshore accounts, contact attorney Bethany Kroes at bckroes@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 223-0464. All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence. Most cases, including traditional voluntary disclosures and opt outs, can be handled for a flat fee.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Tax Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. IRS tax services available worldwide.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific tax topics, just click the tax tab or type in the name of a particular tax topic in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

Written by Brian Mahany, Esq.

The post Hundreds Of Americans Rip Up Passports To Avoid FATCA appeared first on Due Diligence.

Just 20 years ago, the types of investments commonly available to investors were quite limited. Stockbrokers generally peddled stocks, bonds and the occasional options strategy. Over the last several years, however, the sheer number of investment vehicles available is huge. Everyday a new derivative is invented and quickly brought to market. Unfortunately, today that means stockbrokers often don’t understand the intricacies (or even the basics) of the investments they are offering. Private placement memorandums, prospectus documents and offering documents are often hundreds of pages in length.

When the investment adviser or broker selling these investments doesn’t understand them, the investor often suffers. Without fully understanding the risk factors involved, financial professionals can’t perform any meaningful due diligence. They also can’t properly determine if they are suitable for their customer’s needs.

Another example of stockbroker fraud is the sale of thinly traded REITs and TICs. “Thinly traded” means there is no ready secondary market for the investment. That means investors might have to hold on to their investment for a decade or longer. While that might be fine for a younger investor with no need to access their monies, elderly investors who need their investments to fund retirement are at risk.

We have seen many instances of customers suing their brokers when they learn that they can’t sell or redeem their investment. Brokers must be extremely careful when recommending thinly traded investments. Several firms have been heavily fined by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for recommending thinly or not-traded real estate investments.

Earlier this year, FINRA fined LPL Financial $500,000 for improperly recommending non-traded REITs. Several customers complained when they learned they could not sell their investment. It’s nice to get a monthly statement saying your investment is worth $1 million but that statement is just a piece of paper. If the investment can’t be sold because there is no market, sone would argue the investment is worth nothing.

FINRA and the SEC have been warning the industry for several years to be careful when recommending alternative investments, particularly those that have no secondary market. As a result from on-going regulatory pressure and the recent fine against LPL, several broker dealers have announced new restrictions on the sale of these investments.

Some firms are now restricting how much of a customer’s portfolio should contain these alternatives. (Customers are always free to buy whatever they want, however the new guidelines restrict what and how much should be recommended to clients.) Other firms are beefing up their due diligence efforts to insure that brokers fully understand the investments they are recommending and to insure that the investment isn’t a scam.

Over the last 18 months, several broker dealers have gone under after getting hit with multiple stockbroker fraud claims stemming from sales of DBSI (a TIC Ponzi scheme) and tenants in common real estate projects affiliated with Carlton Cabot.

Investment advisers and stockbrokers can be held responsible for making unsuitable recommendations, for not fully understanding their customers’ cash flow needs and risk tolerance and for not performing due diligence on the products they offer. Unfortunately, when the broker dealer goes out of business, their clients may be stuck with no recovery.

Stockbroker fraud is a serious problem and takes many shapes and forms. The decision to scale back on alternatives, especially for the elderly, is a good one. Thus far just a handful of brokers have agreed to voluntarily impose internal controls. We hope other brokers do so as well.

Unlike investment advisers, stockbrokers frequently get paid by commission. While traditional investments might only carry a 1 or 2% commission, alternatives can pay 7 to 10%. Some stockbrokers resort to “selling away” which is the practice of selling investments without their employer’s knowledge. Purchasing from a broker who is selling away may prevent the customer from suing the broker dealer, particularly if the customer knew that his or her broker was working these “side deals.”

As more brokerage firms begin to regulate alternative investments, we expect to see an increase in selling away stockbroker fraud cases.

Our advice? Alternative investments can be a great way to make above market rate returns and capital appreciation. If approached by a stockbroker offering such an investment, inquire as to his or her commission, make sure you understand the fine print, make sure your broker fully understands the fine print and determine whether an employee of the brokerage firm has conducted extensive due diligence on the product. In other words, make sure that the investments has been well vetted and isn’t simply being offered because it carries a huge commission.

Also make sure that your adviser is working through a legitimate broker dealer and not “selling away.”

Stockbroker fraud occurs daily across the United States. Sometimes the broker is solely to blame and at other times its both the broker and a dishonest promoter. Either way, its the customers that ultimately suffer.

If you believe you are the victim of stockbroker fraud, contact us immediately. Most stockbroker fraud cases can be handled on a continent fee basis and can often be handled through arbitration, a quick way to resolve cases. For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct dial).

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Stockbroker Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Services available in many jurisdictions.

Want more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific topics, just click the fraud recovery tab or type in the name of a particular topic in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

Post by Brian Mahany, Esq.

The post Stockbroker Fraud Post – Brokers Back Away From Alternative Investments appeared first on Due Diligence.

Experts say that 16% of America’s elderly are routinely abused. MetLife found that elder abuse costs seniors billions of dollars annually.

So what exactly is elder abuse? For some, it is physical mistreatment. Poorly paid or uncaring health care workers that fail to properly feed and cloth their patients. We are aware of many cases of healthcare workers stealing prescription medications from patients and either selling them on the street or taking the medications for themselves. As  I write this there are hundreds of suffering patients who aren’t receiving their pain medications.

While the physical examples of elder abuse are certainly cruel and despicable, financial elder abuse is the more insidious of the two. It’s rampant and most often the family members of the victim aren’t even aware that the problem is happening. For example, when my mother needed to go to a nursing home, I went to her condo to package up her belongings. Most of her personal jewelry was gone.  I say “most” because the good jewelry such as her wedding ring and diamonds were gone. Just the cosmetic remained.

Did my mother give away her wedding ring? I doubt it. But where did it go? A neighbor? A worker in the building? One of the many home health care aides? We will never know. While my mother was certainly free to give away her possessions, in her last months on her own she did not have the mental capacity to understand her actions.

In another example, a business colleague asked me to review his late mother’s probate proceedings. Apparently during his mother’s last years, a prior alcohol addiction completely overwhelmed her. She drank more heavily and saw her family less. Whether she didn’t want her grandchildren to see her drunk or not is just speculation on my part. What I do know is that after her death, a much younger, unemployed neighbor showed up with a will purporting to leave her entire estate to him and nothing to her children and grandchildren. The neighbor, who claimed he was such a great friend to the elderly woman, wouldn’t even agree to pay for the funeral out of his new found wealth.

There is a common theme with these stories. Studies show that women are far more likely to be victims of elder abuse than men. 70% of the victims are female according to recent studies.

What is most astonishing is how many families don’t fight elder abuse. We understand that the elderly victims may not have the capacity to fight but the families can and should fight. Whether physical or economic, elder abuse is a crime. Plain and simple. If someone stole your car, you would call the police. But when a family suspects that a loved one isn’t receiving proper care or things go missing from a loved one’s home, few people intervene.

The lack of intervention often is because the people committing the crimes are other family members. While strangers and care givers commit their fair share of elder abuse, in many instances the person committing the fraud is another family member. That makes everyone uncomfortable and while families may be react internally, few report crimes to authorities or hire a lawyer to undo an inheritance fraud or improper will.

If you are the victim of elder abuse or believe that someone has wrongfully coerced a loved one to change their will, we can help. The key to success is quick action. Often we can freeze funds before they are distributed or at least keep the fraudsters from spending the money while the claims are being resolved in court.

For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany by email at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Fraud recovery available in many jurisdictions.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific fraud topics, just type in the key words “inheritance fraud” or “elder abuse” in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

Post by Brian Mahany

The post Silent Screams – America’s Growing Elder Abuse Problem appeared first on Due Diligence.

The recent scandal involving the IRS and politically targeted audits has been well covered by mainstream media. I wasn’t even going to write about but for 3 emails from past and present clients. The details of the present scandal are fairly easy to summarize:

1) The IRS targeted conservative and “Tea Party” aligned groups for audit;

2) The IRS lied about the audits when confronted by Congress;

3) People very high up in the IRS knew what was going on; and

4) The Treasury Inspector General still has not figured out who ordered the audits or “special treatment.”

I won’t belabor those points. Look no further than the New York Times for some excellent reporting. What we will try to do, however, is discuss the rest of the story. (Pay attention Senator Warren!)

First, the IRS has software that can track who accessed tax records of the political and social elite. How do I know? I was Maine’s state revenue commissioner between 1995 and 1998 when that technology was first rolled out. A couple key strokes and IRS management can tell what employee accessed the tax return of the Obamas, David Koch, Elizabeth Warren or the Tea Party. In fact, if I were them, I would want to know who was snooping and if the person snooping was directed to do so. (Every search is tied to an employee ID number.)

Misuse of confidential tax information is a crime. Left or right, whatever your political bent, IRS agents snooping in one’s confidential tax records is a no-no. During my 4 year term in Maine, we uncovered employees (agents) snooping through my records, famous celebrities that lived in Maine and even a couple employees doing searches on George H.W. Bush. (Remember that the Bush family had a compound near Kennebunk.)

The Treasury Inspector General’s report concentrated more on the audit end and on processing of non-for-profit applications but a simple search will turn up a lot more dirt. Searching records without a valid reason is grounds for dismissal. If forced to account for their actions, I suspect IRS agents will toss the true culprits under the bus – those that directed their activities.

Next, Obama’s attempt to take credit for the departure of IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller is pure “bullshit.” Miller was serving in acting capacity and his term was up anyway. According to a headline in CNN today, “Angry Obama Announces IRS Leader’s Ouster.” While purely true in a technical sense, Miller was already leaving. The president was able to get some political mileage from something that was going to happen anyway.

Speaking of politics, don’t feel too bad for the Tea Party. While screaming “foul” to anyone who will listen, the very groups that were targeted will reap rich rewards from the public’s outrage and free publicity. Whether or not the administration dreamed up this stupid scheme, the Tea Party crowd are the net winners.

Lastly, while the actions of a handful of IRS workers and managers was reprehensible and wrong. This isn’t the first time that the IRS got in trouble for taking political sides. In my lifetime, both John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were both pretty open and notorious for using the IRS to extract a political toll on their enemies. Other presidents have tried this and all have failed.

The latest evidence suggests that it was just a handful – a very small handful – of rogue IRS employees that participated in the political targeting. We hope Congress can figure out exactly who ordered or approved of these actions. Remember, however, that there are tens of thousands of honest and hard working IRS employees who don’t allow politics to interfere with their jobs.

The real audit risk today isn’t for Tea Party political action groups and right wing Christian organizations. (Reports say Billy Graham’s group was also targeted – although we would not consider them “right wing.) Instead, IRS’ own statistics show criminal investigations are way up this year as are audits on high net worth individuals. Those are the people who should be most worried.

If you facing an audit, received a knock on the door from IRS criminal division special agents or have something to hide and simply want to come back into compliance before getting caught, give us a call. The tax lawyers at Mahany & Ertl have helped a great number of people with audit defense, collections matters, U.S. Tax Court appeals, criminal investigations or offshore accounts. Whatever the tax problem, we can help.

For more information, contact attorney Bethany Kroes at bckroes@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 223-0464. All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence. Whether you hire or us or not, we will gladly discuss your options at no cost and without obligation.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Tax Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. IRS tax services available worldwide.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific tax topics, just click the tax tab or type in the name of a particular tax topic in the search bar. We have posted hundreds of informative articles on our site.

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FINRA says that Springsteen – Abbott misappropriated customer monies and used them to pay for personal expenses. Included on the list was a family vacation and a restaurant charge at Hooters. The company denies the charges and says that any charges were business related. The company said that investor funds were restored after FINRA’s concerns were brought to light.

FINRA’s accusations apparently came to light after sexual harassment and whistleblower complaints were filed by a former employee.

The company, which raised $240 million according to the Investment News story, is accused of misdirecting about $345,000. Some feel the individual charges are diminimis while others feel the conduct is pure investment fraud.

You may be a able to bring a stockbroker fraud claim if a stockbroker or investment adviser misappropriates your money, fails to follow your investment instructions, recommends an unsuitable investment or fails to understand your needs and risk tolerance (“Know Your Customer” rules). Most investment fraud claims are now handled by arbitration before FINRA and can be handled on a contingent fee basis. (That means no legal fees unless the lawyer recovers money for you.)

If you lost $100,000 or more because of a stockbroker, investment adviser or other financial professional, give us a call. The investment fraud lawyers at Mahany & Ertl have helped many victims get back their hard earned money. We also take cases involving other frauds including legal and accounting malpractice and Ponzi schemes.

For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany. Brian can be reached at brian@mahanyertl.com or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All calls are protected by the attorney – client privilege.

Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Fraud recovery available in many jurisdictions.

Need more information? Our Due Diligence blog has a search engine located in the upper right hand corner. For more information on specific fraud topics, just use the fraud tab or type in key words such as “stockbroker” in the search bar. We have many informative articles on our site.

Post by Brian Mahany, Esq.

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