Convicted of looting his businesses and customers of some $7 billion, at sentencing this swash-buckling corporate pirate trotted out a belief also expressed by Enron’s leadership after the mega-firm went belly-up thanks to fraudulent bookkeeping. Namely, things were basically fine, we were operating legally and only collapsed because malevolent prosecutors chose to cast us in such a bad light. R. Allen Stanford gets 110-year sentence for Ponzi scheme – Nation – MiamiHerald.com.
Author Archives: Dr. O
The Road to Resurrection
Though this story is about yet another government operation in Pennsylvania that rose from the dead after an elected leader was shown the door, most jurisdictions in the state continue to elect leaders for basic business functions that need professional management but instead get political operatives who can pay little attention to how effectively things run. New team brings Clerk of Court’s office into the 21st century.
Law Firm Structural Collapse
An untenable operating structure fails. 20-20 hindsight? Perhaps, except that similarly structured law firms had collapsed previously. Law firms seem generally to have fallen from the pedestal that once allowed them to extract unlimited fees from reverential clients for often unexamined work of uneven quality. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/28/dewey-leboeuf-files-for-bankruptcy/
Elect Judges, Expect Charges
Pennslyvania judges have to get elected, and thus may employ campaign tactics prosecutors could interpret as indictable, as happened here. One hopes for a speedy trial since Judge Melvin continues to draw her 195K salary though relieved of her duties. Pa. Supreme Court justice: I’ll fight charges.
Capitalists and Other Psychopaths
Now this is thought-provoking. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/opinion/sunday/fables-of-wealth.html?smid=pl-share
Council Person Pleads, Ho-Hum
This New York City councilman was somewhat of a court regular, first with charges involving domestic violence–he got probation–then with this scheme where a local non-profit helped finance his failed state senate run using funds directed the agency’s way by said councilperson. The common denominator between the latest case and others on this site is the structural vulnerability of community organizations that become co-dependent with corrupt politicians who founded, or funded or used their political cachet to the agencies benefit. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/nyregion/monserrate-pleads-guilty-to-misusing-city-council-funds.html?smid=pl-share
Pension crisis moves westward
The pension tsunami ripples across the country, threatening to swamp pension deals long held sacred. Rahm’s pension reform: Freeze retiree pay hikes, up retirement age – Chicago Sun-Times.
Disability Pension Abuse
The exploitation of the Long Island Railroad’s disability retirement system will likely end up the biggest single case to date in which public authorities/taxpayers/fee-payers shoulder inflated pension payouts because the system is so easy to game. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/nyregion/more-long-island-rail-road-retirees-face-fraud-charges.html?smid=pl-share
Online Edu-Porn
Bet that got your attention. Point is, how many adult learners are going to opt for the free, online, laid out in its entirety, Harvard-MIT Electronics 101 carrying a “Certificate of Mastery,” expecially when the alternative is paying a thousand or two or more in tuition to commute over fifteen weeks to a similarly-titled course at “Local U.” which, even if it lives up to its one-paragraph catalog description, will likely be taught by a part-time adjunct instead of an Ivy League star. Read about this future at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/education/harvard-and-mit-team-up-to-offer-free-online-courses.html
Non-Profit on the Ropes
Conflicts of interest, CEO moving around in high style, stakeholder webs with dangling politicians–textbook! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/nyregion/at-ailing-brooklyn-hospital-insider-deals-and-lavish-perks.html