Bank Whistle Blowers May Get Their Day In Court After All

To summarize, the financial crisis was caused by; 1) individuals who wanted to own a home, 2) banks who wanted to loan the money for fees 3) the creation of mortgage-backed securities as a mechanism for allowing banks to unload the mortgages they created, 4) rating agencies who ignored the real value of the underlying mortgages that were bundled into securities and 5) Wall Street who peddled those bundles of over-rated securities unto investors.   Then one day we all woke up and realized that it was all a fraud.

Now a pair of whistleblowers may be about to get their day in court to prove how their banks (World Savings purchased by Wells Fargo in 2006 and Wachovia purchased by Wells Fargo in 2008) hid billions of dollars in bad loans in off-balance sheet entities while, at the same time, stating that they were financially sound.  According to  claims made by Paul Bishop and Robert Kraus, their banks created a “Black Box” of off-balance-sheet entities to hide billions of dollars in worthless loans while stepping up to the Federal Reserve Bank’s window for money in 2007 and 2008 as the financial crisis was upon us.  Both men claim they were fired when they tried to force their banks to disclose their Black Box secret. read more »

The Evolution and Collapse of the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in Florida History

How did Scott Rothstein go from one of the most recognized names in Florida’s legal and political circles to the mastermind behind a $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme? read more »

Caterpillar is sued by a shareholder after federal raid

Caterpillar Inc was sued on Friday for allegedly deceiving shareholders about its business, one day after federal law enforcers raided three of its buildings in connection with a probe into the heavy machinery manufacturer's offshore tax practices.

In a complaint filed in Chicago federal court, Jacob Newman accused Caterpillar of defrauding him and other shareholders in regulatory filings by touting its commitment to good ethics, while concealing how it "unlawfully used foreign subsidiaries" to avoid paying billions of dollars of U.S. taxes. read more »

Prosecutor Says Samsung Scandal a Sign of ‘Chronic Corruption’

Jay Y. Lee allegedly conspired to create fake documents

Prosecutor alleges bribes paid to win government influence

South Korea’s special prosecutor accused Jay Y. Lee and other Samsung Group executives of conspiring to create fake documents to mask millions of dollars in bribes funneled to a confidante of the nation’s president.

Lee, the de facto head of Samsung, is alleged to have committed perjury when he said he didn’t know his company had paid money to entities controlled by Choi Soon-sil, and that he wasn’t asked by President Park Geun-hye to provide financial support. The accusations were released Monday by Park Young-soo, the prosecutor spearheading an investigation that’s reached the highest levels of business and government.

The prosecutor has indicted 30 people in an investigation into corruption surrounding the president, in a probe that’s led to her impeachment and the detention of Lee, the country’s most prominent business leader. It’s spurred millions to take to the streets in protest over cozy ties between the government and the family-run chaebol that control much of the country’s corporate landscape. The president, Lee and Samsung have denied wrongdoing, a position the company reiterated Monday. read more »

Family members indicted over $7M 'Ponzi scheme' claims

A Bergen County man was indicted Friday along with his wife, son and five others for for allegedly defrauding 26 investors in a series of multi-million dollar scams, according to New Jersey's attorney general.

Authorities claim George Bussanich Sr. and his family conspired with the others to steal more than $7 million through two schemes involving the sale of bogus investments, using the proceeds to buy high-end cars and other luxuries.

Elie Honig, the director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, said Friday that Bussanich Sr. and his son, George Jr., and wife Wilma defrauded elderly investors "in classic Ponzi-scheme fashion." read more »

SEC Charges Mexico-Based Homebuilder in $3.3 Billion Accounting Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Mexico-based homebuilding company Desarrolladora Homex S.A.B. de C.V. has agreed to settle charges that it reported fake sales of more than 100,000 homes to boost revenues in its financial statements during a three-year period. read more »

The SEC used satellite imagery to help uncover the accounting scheme and illustrate its allegation that Homex had not even broken ground on many of the homes for which it reported revenues. 

The SEC alleges that Homex, one of the largest homebuilders in Mexico at the time, inflated the number of homes sold during the three-year period by approximately 317 percent and overstated its revenue by 355 percent (approximately $3.3 billion).  The SEC’s complaint highlights, for example, that Homex reported revenues from a project site in the Mexican state of Guanajuato where every planned home was purportedly built and sold by Dec. 31, 2011.  Satellite images of the project site on March 12, 2012, show it was still largely undeveloped and the vast majority of supposedly sold homes remained unbuilt. read more »

Unlicensed Medical Professional Convicted for Role in $1.3 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

A federal jury in Houston convicted an unlicensed medical professional who was posing as a physician yesterday for his participation in a $1.3 million Medicare fraud scheme. read more »