In November 2014, allegations of altered reports prompted a federal judge overseeing more than 1,000 hurricane related lawsuits in the New York City area to order and investigate all drafts of the engineering reports regarding 2012 Hurricane Sandy property damage. Based on these reports, the judge believed that engineering revisions were “widespread” in order to… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Fraud
Are you getting what is advertised?
Four major retailers were accused by the New York State attorney general’s office of selling fraudulent and potentially dangerous herbal supplements. The attorney general demanded that they remove the products from their shelves. Questions: 1. Who were the four national retailers? 2. What were the results of tests performed on the supplements? 3. In summary,… Read more »
Let’s Have Pizza!
According to the New York Times, the uptick in pizza sales in Brooklyn at Domino’s Pizza is due to stolen credit card numbers being used to order to see which cards were still active and could be used for bigger purchases. Questions: 1. Explain why the article called this a blend of high-tech fraud and… Read more »
Investment Bankers: Less trustworthy than prison inmates?
According to The Atlantic, a new paper in Nature takes a scientific approach to the accusations of dishonesty in the banking industry. Participants in the study indicated that they thought bankers would be more dishonest than prison inmates in over-reporting successful coin flips. Questions: 1. According to economist Marie Claire Villeval, what are the implications… Read more »
The Never-Ending Foreclosure Crisis: Robo Signer Redux
Fannie is trying to recoup the difference between what the borrowers owed on the mortgages when they were foreclosed and the amount Fannie received when it resold the properties. In Florida, these deficiency judgments can be pursued for 20 years, and borrowers must also pay a compounded annual interest rate of 4.5 percent. Several legal… Read more »
Congressional Insider Trading?
Nineteen months ago, with only 20 minutes remaining in the trading day, a Washington-based broker-dealer, Height Securities, blasted out a “flash report” to nearly 200 clients, including hedge funds on Wall Street that predicted a raise in Medicare reimbursement rates. This sent many health insurance companies’ stocks soaring. Regulators are now trying to investigate insider… Read more »
Payroll Accounting Fraud
A former accountant for the University of Sioux Falls has been indicted for wire fraud for reportedly collecting more than $25,200 in unearned paychecks. Brent Alan Fowler, 52, faces 20 counts of wire fraud for individual payroll deposits. Questions: 1. What is the potential jail time for Mr. Fowler, if he receives the maximum punishment?… Read more »
Rip Off: We Work Hard for the Money!
Although Guadalupe Rangel worked nearly 70 hours per week, he never saw any overtime pay at the Schneider warehouse in Mira Loma, California. As a result he joined a lawsuit involving hundreds of warehouse workers where he will likely receive more than $20,000 in back pay as part of the recent $21 million legal settlement… Read more »
Fraudsters are always looking for a way to rip off the Government
This article details a wheelchair scam that was designed to exploit blind spots in Medicare, which often pays insurance claims without checking them first. The fraud begins with criminals disguised as medical-supply companies. Questions: 1. Based on the article, which major internal control allowed this fraud to happen? 2. What type of control slowed down… Read more »
Where in the world are all the vinyl records going?
Hoarding goes beyond compulsive collecting, affecting finances and other areas of the hoarder’s life. Unable to stop buying records, Zero Freitas, a wealthy Brazilian businessman, follows a therapeutical quest to acquire precious and neglected records that haven’t been preserved or transferred to digital files. This post examines what is going on with the world’s vinyl… Read more »