Nonprofit organization, all too often take a common approach of foregoing legal action against fraudsters rather than prosecuting them. This article covers a recent fraud and explains why many nonprofits bypass legal action in exchange for cash. Questions: 1. Summarize the case of fraud at the Progressive Policy Institute and include red flags of fraud… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Forensic
Word to the Wise: Watch the Spelling!
Ephonia Green has given away 275 wedding gown ensembles to military brides over the last five years from her bridal shop in Maryland. But how has she been able to afford such philanthropy, while working as a $56,000-a-year administrative assistant for a nonprofit organization? Since 2005, when Green started receiving publicity for her charitable gifts… Read more »
Do you have to be Good at Accounting to Embezzle $16.6 M from a Small Business?
A fruitcake company, the Collin Street Bakery, in Texas just found out the answer to this question! The company’s controller, Sandy Jenkins, 64, of Corsicana, Texas, was arrested by special agents of the FBI on a federal criminal complaint charging 10 counts mail fraud and allegations that he wrote 888 checks totaling $16.65 million to… Read more »
A Dragnet for Astroturfing
As a result of a year-long investigation, New York regulators will announced on September 23, 2013 that they would crackdown on deceptive and fake Internet reviews on products and services. Agreements have been reached with 19 companies to cease their misleading practices and pay a total of $350,000 in penalties. Questions: 1. Where were some… Read more »
Donald Trump is in the News Again!
New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has sued Donald Trump for $40 million as a result of what he terms a fraudulent educational program through “Trump University.” The program promised to make students rich but instead steered them into expensive and useless seminars. They also failed to deliver promised apprenticeships. Questions: 1. Instead of meeting… Read more »
Gift Scandal in Virginia
There has been a growing investigation into gifts that Virginia’s governor and wife have secured from businessman, Jonnie R. Williams Sr. One of the key issues that the FBI is investigating is Governor Bob McDonnell’s ties to a company known as Star Scientific and gifts from its chief executive is Mr. Williams. Questions: 1. Based… Read more »
Making government contracting pay and pay and pay……..
According to the Washington Post, a federal judge sentenced Kerry F. Khan, the mastermind of a contracting scam of “historic proportions,” to nearly two decades behind bars. This sentence was even more than prosecutors had requested because of the “staggering” scope of the scheme. Questions: 1. What were some of the “red flags” associated with… Read more »
Pension Predators – A New York Investigation
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ordering New York’s top banking regulator to investigate “pension advance” firms. The payments by these firms are advertised as advances. However, they are really cleverly disguised high interest rate loans that target older citizens’ assets. Questions: 1. What are the benefits for the firms on insisting that they are advances rather… Read more »
Why is the IMF chief in court?
Recently, Christine Lagarde was grilled by a French court in regards to a business settlement with disgraced tycoon Bernard Tapie in 2007. Questions: 1. What is the IMF? Why was the IMF in the news in 2011? 2. What is the controversy about? Is anyone alleged to have profited from the incident? 3. What does… Read more »
Academic Fraud
In the summer of 2011, Diederik Stapel was accused of research fraud. It became the lead story in the Netherlands and would dominate headlines for months. Overnight, Stapel went from being a respected professor to perhaps the biggest con man in academic science. Questions: 1. How did Stapel commit the fraud? 2. Why did Stapel… Read more »