Posts Tagged Accounting malpractice
CPA Guilty of Misusing $44 Million of Client Funds
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery on April 11, 2011
by Brian Mahany
An Oregon CPA pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Brian Stevens of Bend, Oregon entered the guilty at his arraignment. According to the government’s complaint, Stevens misused $44 million of his client’s money. When his business collapsed, 91 customers lost $13.7 million. A second [...]
Celebrity Money Manager Heads to Prison
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery on March 5, 2011
by Brian Mahany
Kenneth Starr, former money manager for Wesley Snipes, Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone, was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison. Last year Starr pled guilty to stealing over $30 million from his celebrity clients. The sentence is a bittersweet victory for me; I tried to alert authorities in January of 2008 that [...]
Investor Sues Major Accounting Firm, Wins $91 Million (”Gatekeeper Suit”)
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery, Legal Malpractice on February 2, 2011
by Brian Mahany
George Batchelor thought he found a sure thing when he decided to invest in Grand Court Lifestyles, a company that operated senior citizen communities. Little did he know that the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Now a Florida jury decided that Grand Court’s accounting and auditing firm, BDO Seidman, should be [...]
The Life and Times of Frederick Berg - Inside Seattle’s Largest Ponzi Scheme
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery on January 21, 2011
by Brian Mahany
Frederick Berg fancies himself the king of Seattle tour busses. Prosecutors say he is the mastermind of a $130 million Ponzi scheme, one of the largest frauds ever in Washington state. A federal grand jury indicted Berg two months ago and charged him with 9 counts of wire fraud, 2 counts of money [...]
30 Rock Accountant Arrested for Fraud
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery on January 18, 2011
by Brian Mahany
Celebrities and media moguls attract much attention from American society; often that attention is unwanted. Fraudsters and con artists know there is a great deal of money in the media world and that makes celebrities and Hollywood production companies big targets for fraud. Matthew Rudolf, a former accountant for the NBC TV series [...]
Thinning the Herd: IRS Plans 2,500 Preparer Inspections
by Brian Mahany
The IRS has identified 10,000 tax return preparers who they say make too many errors. Errors that ultimately cost their clients money. The IRS plans to visit approximately 2,500 of those preparers over the next several months.
Many people use professional tax preparers for their returns. Wealthier individuals often use CPAs while folks with [...]
Do You Know Who Is Handling Your Money? You Should.
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery, Legal Malpractice on January 17, 2010
by Brian Mahany
How Well Do You Know Your Financial Professional? If you are like many people, the answer is “not very well.”
Recently I blogged about the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (”FINRA”) and the gaps in their “Broker Check” system. Since writing that piece, FINRA has begun correcting some of the problems. Except for stock brokers, [...]
Main Street Takes On Wall Street’s Untouchables - the Accountants & Lawyers
Posted by admin in Fraud Recovery, Legal Malpractice on December 26, 2009
by Brian Mahany
By now, few are shocked when the nightly news breaks a story of a new Ponzi scheme. Not a week goes by without new tales of corporate greed or insider trading. The feds do a fair job in prosecuting these frauds, at least in the high profile cases. But what does a 20 [...]
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