One Way to Shorten the Hunt for the Proceeds of Bribery and Corruption
Bribing foreign public officials used to be legal in the entire developed world. It was first outlawed by the U.S. by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1977, but this law was never robustly enforced until about 2005. As for the rest of the…
Would-Be Movie Studio Executive Charged in Multi-Million Dollar Scam
According to the Sacramento Bee, a would-be movie studio executive, Carissa Carpenter, pleaded not guilty last week to defrauding investors of at least $5 million during her failed 17-year attempt at creating a movie studio in Northern California. …
2 Reasons Undercover Investigations Aren’t Right for You
The big heavy breathing lead story in the Sunday New York Times this week was about the increasing number of government agencies using undercover operations to detect law breakers of all kinds. The Small Business Administration, the IRS, even…
Is the Suzuki Violin Method Founder Really the Biggest Fraud in Musical History?
We recently blogged here about surprising facts we’d found when doing diligence on expert witnesses. We’ve looked into so many people and companies that we’re rarely taken aback when we find that someone left something…
Medical Records on Facebook? Tread Carefully
While clients who ought to know better frequently ask us to get banking and cell phone records, a request for a medical record is far more rare. All three are illegal for us to obtain without a court order by federal statute in nearly any circumstance,…
Expert witnesses: Does Anyone Ever Check These People Out?
We have been asked in recent months to look at an uncommonly large number of expert witnesses, both for clients thinking of hiring experts and by people checking out the other side’s experts. What an eye-opener. Nearly half of these people…
North Carolina Man Sentenced to 15 to 20 Years for Securities Fraud
According to several news reports, Walter Reinhardt of North Carolina, pled guilty to 40 charges of securities fraud, common law forgery and common law uttering in North Carolina yesterday. From 2005 to 2009, Reinhardt solicited fraudulent…
Betrayed by Their Own Reflection: Selfies Help Police Catch Criminals
Not one, but two stories of criminals foiled by their own selfies have made the headlines this past week. Tanya Peele, a 26-year-old Atlanta woman, is accused of setting up a fake business account at JP Morgan, then using that account…
Arizona Man Arrested for Landscaping Fraud Once Again
According to KRQE news in Albuquerque, New Mexico, landscaper Gary Mares was busted for fraud once again. This time, he solicited landscaping work on Craigslist, collected large sums of money for the jobs upfront, and then never performed…
“Nightmare Nanny” Refuses to Leave California Home
The story of the “nightmare nanny” who has refused to leave her employer’s home has been making waves all over the news. You’ve probably seen it by now— using Craigslist, Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte hired…
