White-collar crime

Earl Jones: Who's in charge?

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Financial industry
Rating: 
3

The Earl Jones scandal unleashes more confusion.

Thomas Watson – September 14, 2010

There was little solace to be taken in the tragic story of Bernie Madoff, the ex-Nasdaq chairman and hedge fund manager who pulled off perhaps the most spectacular swindle in Wall Street history. But at least his victims had the consolation of seeing him denied bail and swiftly sentenced to 150 years in prison.

In this country, clients of Earl Jones have no such comfort. The unlicensed investment manager, now known as the mini-Madoff of Montreal, is accused of running a Ponzi scheme that may have cost about 150 investors in Canada and the U.S. up to $50 million. But in the panicked days after the allegations first surfaced, Canadians got yet another troubling demonstration of the huge gaps in the way this country fights white-collar crime.

The art of the con: Canada a hub for art fraud, theft

Topics: 
White-collar crime
Rating: 
0

Douglas Quan – September 14, 2010

Canada has become a hub for art theft, fraud and smuggling, yet it lacks police and prosecutorial muscle to combat those crimes, according to an article coming out in next month's Canadian Criminal Law Review.

Bonnie Czegledi, an international art and cultural heritage lawyer in Toronto, writes that art-related crimes generate billions of dollars around the world, rivalling the trade in drugs and weapons.

Sponsorship scandal official gets sentence reduction

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Government ethics
Rating: 
3

Former Liberal official convicted in sponsorship scandal won’t have to pay back $117,000

Hubert Bauch – September 15, 2010

MONTREAL – Sponsorship scandal culprit Benoît Corbeil won’t be going to jail after all.

Corbeil, a former top federal Liberal party official, who pleaded guilty to influence peddling and fraud charges had his 15 month jail sentence, imposed last December, reduced to 12 months served in the community by the Quebec Court of Appeal in a ruling issued Wednesday.

Who's Got Your Back?

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Financial industry, Ombudsmen
Rating: 
0

Tim Shufelt – September 7, 2010

It's easy to find horror stories of average investors bilked, gouged and abused by unscrupulous brokers in Canada, as well as examples of the failures of the industry's regulators to protect those who feed their money into the system. Such stories make headlines and often spark outrage, if little action.

But more rampant -- and less reported -- are tales of investors being taken advantage of in little ways. Hidden fees, dodgy trades and double dipping by brokers: These aren't necessarily illegal, but hurt far more investors than the occasional outright fraud.

Maker of Botox Settles Inquiry

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Pharmaceutical industry
Rating: 
0

Natasha Singer – September 1, 2010

Allergan, the maker of Botox, agreed on Wednesday to pay $600 million to settle charges that it illegally promoted and sold the drug through 2005 for unapproved uses like treating headaches.

That settlement, the latest in a continuing Justice Department crackdown on off-label drug promotion by pharmaceutical companies, comes with an unusual postscript. In recent months, the Food and Drug Administration has been seriously weighing approval of Botox for treatment of chronic migraines, a remedy that has been cited as beneficial in new studies and which was ratified last month in Britain.

Cops Struggling to keep up with White-Collar crime: Report

Topics: 
White-collar crime
Rating: 
0

Andrew Hanon – August 20, 2010

White-collar crime is evolving so quickly that police and the public are struggling to keep up with the latest scams, according to the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada.

"Criminal groups are constantly exploiting new ways and new opportunities," said Edmonton police Chief Mike Boyd. "It is important for Canadians to be aware the scope and range of illicit activity is constantly evolving."

A UBS insider blows the whistle on Swiss banking

Topics: 
USA, International, White-collar crime
Rating: 
0

Michael Bronner – August 5, 2010

NEW YORK — It’s the inner sanctum of Swiss banking — the heavily-guarded nexus between numbered Swiss bank accounts and their owner’s good names — and it’s the rare American that is allowed entry.

Bradley Birkenfeld was one of the few Americans who held the keys to the kingdom. A Boston-born, high-flying, cross-border banker at Switzerland’s premier financial institution, UBS, he had access to the kind of secret account information that American law enforcement had only dreamed of through all the decades that terrorists, dictators, arms dealers, mafia dons and wealthy tax cheats had hidden behind the fortress of secrecy that Swiss banking promised.

Media Chill

Topics: 
White-collar crime, OSC
Rating: 
0
National Post graph

In the BCE case, the OSC has the power to compel journalists to reveal sources

Jeffrey G. MacIntosh – August 4, 2010

Looking for a formula to commit securities frauds with no downside risk? Look no further. Here’s how it’s done.

It’s really quite simple. Load up on put or call options in a given company’s stock (depending on how you plan to manipulate the market), and then, on a promise of confidentiality, pass false and misleading information about that company to a reporter. Cash your options in when the price moves. Then sip pina coladas on a beach of your choice.

Canada One Of Worst Countries For White-Collar Crime

Topics: 
White-collar crime
Rating: 
0

The PricewaterhouseCoopers 2009 Global Economic Crime Survey includes a measure of the percentage of respondents from various territories who reported suffering some type of fraud. Canada fares very badly in this survey, with 56% of respondents reporting fraud. Only three of the 54 countries surveyed fared worse: Russia (71%), South Africa (62%) and Kenya (57%).

The table below lists the countries with the best and worst results on this measure.

Book Review: No-One Would Listen

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Harry Markopolos, Books, Financial industry
Rating: 
0

No-One Would ListenNo-One Would Listen

A True Financial Thriller

By Harry Markopolos

Harry Markopolos is the whistleblower who spent years trying to expose Bernie Madoff and the largest Ponzi scheme in history – but was stymied at every turn by the truly stunning incompetence and passivity of the U.S. regulator, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

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