Online MBA Rankings Scandal Costs Temple University $17 Million; After Ranking #1 In 2015-2018 With False Data, Business School Now Ranks #88 ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/12/online-mba-ranking-scandal-costs-temple-17-million-after-ranking-1-in-2015-2018-with-false-data-busi.html

Illinois' and Chicago's budget gimmicks ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/illinois-and-chicagos-budget-gimmicks

How Wells Fargo Became Synonymous With Scandal ---
https://slate.com/business/2020/11/wells-fargo-scandal-history-karen-attiah.html

California’s $2 billion benefit fraud ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/californias-2-billion-benefit-fraud

California Inmates May Have Bilked State's Unemployment Funds by $40 Million
https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-inmates-may-have-bilked-400m-from-states-unemployment ---

Former Commonwealth Edison Executives and Consultants Charged With Conspiring to Corruptly Influence and Reward State of Illinois Official ---
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-commonwealth-edison-executives-and-consultants-charged-conspiring-corruptly

'Dr. Doom' economist Nouriel Roubini trashes Bitcoin for being heavily manipulated, and blames retail investor FOMO for its recent pump-and-dump ---
https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/economist-nouriel-roubini-trashes-bitcoin-manipulation-retail-investor-fomo-2020-11-1029844248

In High Court Appeal, Ex-Law Student Alleges Texas Law School's Cheating Scandal Caused His Bad Grades, Dismissal ---
https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2020/11/25/in-high-court-appeal-ex-law-student-alleges-texas-law-schools-cheating-scandal-caused-his-bad-grades-dismissal/?slreturn=20201027095026

Law Grad Who Twice Failed Florida Bar Exam Gets Four Years In Prison For Setting Up Fake Law Firm ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/11/law-grad-who-twice-failed-florida-bar-exam-gets-four-years-in-prison-for-setting-up-fake-law-firm.html

FBI Says COVID-19 Charity Fraud is Increasing
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201101/fbi-says-covid-19-charity-fraud-is-increasing

A former Microsoft employee is going to prison after stealing $10 million in store credit and buying a Tesla and lakefront home ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-employee-stole-millions-gift-cards-bitcoin-purchased-tesla-home-2020-11

A former Microsoft software engineer was sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing over $10 million in store credit and selling it for Bitcoin, the IRS announced on Monday.

The case is a landmark for the IRS, since it's "the nation's first Bitcoin case that has a tax component to it," said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Korner.

Volodymyr Kvashuk worked testing Microsoft's online retail platform between 2016 and 2018, according to the IRS. At first, the IRS says he stole smaller amounts in gift cards and other store credit, totaling about $12,000, using his own account access. However, as he took more and more, he began using coworker's emails to take the money, according to officials.

"Stealing from your employer is bad enough, but stealing and making it appear that your colleagues are to blame widens the damage beyond dollars and cents," US Attorney Brian T. Moran said in a statement. 

Continued in article

IRS doubles down on nondeductibility of PPP-funded expenses ---
IRS doubles down on nondeductibility of PPP-funded expenses - Journal of Accountancy
 

NRA Reports Misspending By Executives To IRS ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/11/nra-reports-misspending-by-executives-to-irs.html

BDO Puerto Rico Tax Partner Accused of Trying and Failing to Defraud the IRS ---
https://www.goingconcern.com/bdo-puerto-rico-tax-partner-accused-defrauding-irs/

France:  Nicolas Sarkozy graft trial: prosecutors call for four-year sentence ---
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/08/nicolas-sarkozy-graft-trial-prosecutors-call-for-four-year-sentence

Journals published by the Royal Society of Chemistry have retracted four articles by a researcher in China for a range of misconduct, including manipulation of images, fabrication of authors and more ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/11/02/nanoscience-researcher-loses-four-papers-for-image-manipulation-forged-authors/

Sometimes Crime Pays
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on November 5, 2020

Two men accused of trading on information hacked from a Securities and Exchange Commission database will pay $425,000 to settle regulatory claims, a fraction of the illegal profits they were alleged to have earned.

How the $36 billion vitamin industry tricked a generation of adults into believing sugary gummies were the ticket to good health ---
Click Here

Robert Shmerling's patients eat too much candy. They think it's good for them.

That candy — colorful, chewy, shaped like orange slices and teddy bears  — is the gummy vitamin. Shmerling, who's been a rheumatologist in the Boston area for three decades and is a professor at Harvard Medical School, said some of his patients were taking a dozen supplements, gummy or otherwise, every day.

"Half of them, they're not even sure what it's for," he said.

It's not the sugar in each vitamin that concerns him, although with an average of 3 grams a serving, it adds up. Rather, Shmerling thinks his patients should simply eat better. Instead of, say, buying a $55 pack of gummies made with blue algae, wheatgrass, barley, and other veggies, they should probably just eat their veggies.

It's an amusing juxtaposition — adults who are health-conscious enough to care about their vitamin and mineral intake but don't mind starting their day off with candy. 

It's also a global market worth billions, with no ceiling in sight. 

Chewable vitamins are now the No. 1 way adults in America age 35 and younger consume supplements, the market-research group Mintel reported. "The marketing emphasizes you, the consumer, are missing something if you're not taking this product," said Chuck Bell, who works for the advocacy wing of Consumer Reports. "But not too many people have scurvy or rickets and have a need to take this thing."

Getting your vitamins and minerals through the sweet and chewy treats became a widely accessible option for adults in the early 2010s. Experts said the category lived in the children's aisle until marketers wondered if their parents might want to try them too.

"This promise of fun has become increasingly common in Big Food," said Charlene Elliot, a communications professor at the University of Calgary and the author of "Fun Food: Children's Food Marketing and the Politics of Consumption."

When companies speak to millennials and increasingly Gen Zers, infantilization is typical. Brands have turned a modest drinking vessel into a wine sippy cup. The popular Hydroflasks and Camelbaks allow adults to drink water through bite valves, baby bottles for grown-ups. Instructions to build one furniture company's wares sassily concludes: "YOU'RE ALL DONE! Time for Netflix!" 

There are a barrage of startups that promise you'll never need to "adult" again if you just outsource those pesky chores to contract workers. For a small chunk of your allowance, Big Tech has ensured you never have to do your laundry, cook, buy groceries, or even hang a frame.

And now Big Gummy says you don't have to eat your vegetables. You can eat candy instead.

Continued in article

Political corruption is real … and it is our fault ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/political-corruption-is-real-and-it-is-our-fault

Cambridge Analytica Scandal --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal

The Real Problem Wasn’t Cambridge Analytica, But The Data Brokers That Outlived It ---
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robpegoraro/2020/10/08/the-real-problem-wasnt-cambridge-analytica-but-the-data-brokers-that-outlived-it/#502914d326a4

Physical Therapist Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison For Participating In $30 Million Scheme To Defraud Medicare And Medicaid ---
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/physical-therapist-sentenced-2-years-prison-participating-30-million-scheme-defraud

A USA Vehicle is Stolen Every 42 Seconds:  Are You Driving One Of The Most Stolen Cars In The U.S.? ---
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2019/11/19/are-you-driving-one-of-the-most-stolen-cars-in-the-us/#34c3e0c5beef

Do You Live Where Vehicles are Frequently Stolen?
https://www.cheapcarinsurance.net/stolen-cars-by-state/

Justice Department And Indian Authorities Announce Enforcement Actions Against Technical-Support Fraud Scheme Targeting Seniors ---
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-indian-authorities-announce-enforcement-actions-against-technical

A botched green scheme is paying U.K. wind turbine owners seven times the value of the electricity they generate – and it is set to cost UK consumers an estimated £1.4billion ---
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8824707/Windfarm-farce-blew-1-4billion-taxpayers-money.html 

Robinhood Accounts Looted and No Customer Service to Call ---
https://www.thestreet.com/mishtalk/economics/robinhood-accounts-looted-and-no-customer-service-to-call

City auditors in Austin, Texas, say a former public library employee fraudulently bought $1.5 million in printer toner, stole at least $1.3 million worth and then sold it online ---
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/us/austin-library-toner-trnd/index.html

A hacker published grades, Social Security numbers and financial information after a Las Vegas-area school district refused to pay ransom ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hacker-releases-information-on-las-vegas-area-students-after-officials-dont-pay-ransom-11601297930?mod=djm_dailydiscvrtst

The Doctor Who Fooled The World: An excerpt from Brian Deer’s new book about Andrew Wakefield ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/09/29/the-doctor-who-fooled-the-world-an-excerpt-from-brian-deers-new-book-about-andrew-wakefield/

Border patrol agent's hunch pays off in second-largest methamphetamine bust ever ---
https://www.foxnews.com/us/suspicious-border-patrol-agents-hunch-pays-off-in-second-largest-methamphetamine-bust-ever

Chess's cheating crisis: 'paranoia has become the culture' ---
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/oct/16/chesss-cheating-crisis-paranoia-has-become-the-culture?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
The world's largest chess play website has closed more than 85,000 accounts for cheating since March.

From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on September 30, 2020

Former Amazon Finance Manager Charged With Insider Trading

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged former Amazon.com Inc finance manager Laksha Bohra and two family members with insider trading. The SEC alleges Ms. Bohra, who handled confidential financial information for Amazon, gave such information to her husband, Viky Bohra, and his father, Gotham Bohra, ahead of company earnings announcements between January 2016 and July 2018. Viky Bohra and his father allegedly then traded on this information using 11 separate accounts, with the family making approximately $1.4 million. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington on Monday filed criminal charges against Laksha Bohra.

youtube-dl --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube-dl

RIAA Abuses DMCA to Take Down Popular Tool for Downloading Online Video:  Does this takedown impinge on free speech?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/riaa-abuses-dmca-take-down-popular-tool-downloading-online-video

"youtube-dl" is a popular free software tool for downloading videos from YouTube and other user-uploaded video platforms. GitHub recently took down youtube-dl’s code repository at the behest of the Recording Industry Association of America, potentially stopping many thousands of users, and other programs and services, that rely on it.

On its face, this might seem like an ordinary copyright takedown of the type that happens every day. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a copyright holder can ask a platform to take down an allegedly infringing post and the platform must comply. (The platform must also allow the alleged infringer to file a counter-notice, requiring the copyright holder to file a lawsuit if she wants the allegedly infringing work kept offline.) But there’s a huge difference here with some frightening ramifications: youtube-dl doesn’t infringe on any RIAA copyrights.

RIAA’s argument relies on a different section of the DMCA, Section 1201. DMCA 1201 says that it’s illegal to bypass a digital lock in order to access or modify a copyrighted work. Copyright holders have argued that it’s a violation of DMCA 1201 to bypass DRM even if you’re doing it for completely lawful purposes; for example, if you’re downloading a video on YouTube for the purpose of using it in a way that’s protected by fair use. (And thanks to the way that copyright law has been globalized via trade agreements, similar laws exist in many other jurisdictions too.) RIAA argues that since youtube-dl could be used to download music owned by RIAA-member labels, no one should be able to use the tool, even for completely lawful purposes.

This is an egregious abuse of the notice-and-takedown system, which is intended to resolve disputes over allegedly infringing material online. Again, youtube-dl doesn’t use RIAA-member labels’ music in any way. The makers of youtube-dl simply shared information with the public about how to perform a certain task—one with many completely lawful applications.

Continued in article

Where were the internal controls?
Kodak admits an internal error allowed former executives to make more than $5 million selling stock options they never owned ---
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/former-kodak-executives-sold-stock-options-never-owned-internal-error-2020-11-1029793461

Video:  Theranos, whistleblowing and speaking truth to power ---
https://www.ted.com/talks/erika_cheung_theranos_whistleblowing_and_speaking_truth_to_power?utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=newest-talks-1

The Deterrent Effect of DNA Databases ---
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/deterrent-effects-dna-databases?utm_source=outreach&utm_medium=email

United Kingdom:  University staff urge probe into e-book pricing 'scandal' ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54922764
An economics book that costs £44 for a print copy but is £423 for a single e-book user and £500 for three users

China’s ‘paper mills’ are grinding out fake scientific research at an alarming rate ---
https://www.codastory.com/waronscience/china-fake-scientific-research/

Ex-Fencing Coach at Harvard Arrested for Taking ($1.5 million) Bribe ---
Click Here

From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on November 18, 2020

Good morning. Coca-Cola placed too much of its profit in its foreign operations instead of its higher-taxed domestic parent company, a U.S. Tax Court judge ruled Wednesday. The court adopted most of the U.S. government’s main arguments, and the ruling marks a setback for the beverage giant’s international tax strategy.

The Internal Revenue Service had been seeking more than $3.3 billion for the tax years 2007 through 2009. The cost to Coca-Cola could be more if the government applies the same successful rationale to subsequent tax years. The dispute stemmed from Coca-Cola’s subsidiaries in countries including Brazil, Ireland and Egypt.

Especially before the 2017 U.S. tax law cut the corporate tax rate, U.S. companies had an incentive to pack profits into low-tax countries and defer U.S. taxes on those profits rather than attribute earnings to the U.S. parent, which faced an immediate 35% rate.

Companies within a single corporate structure are supposed to allocate profits between parent and a foreign subsidiary based on what unrelated companies would do in an equivalent, arm’s length transaction. But there are plenty of gray areas, especially when companies profit from mobile, intangible assets like trademarks and patents. The IRS regularly engages in protracted legal fights with corporations over how those rules should apply in each situation.

Tax abuse and offshore havens are costing governments $427 billion a year, according to a new study ---
Click Here

Offshore tax havens are costing governments more than $427 billion a year, including more than $89 billion in the US, according to a study published Friday. 

"Globally, the equivalent of over 34 million nurses' annual salaries is lost to tax havens each year," the study, from UK-based advocacy group Tax Justice Network, said.

About $245 billion of the total was attributed to companies relocating profits to more tax-favorable countries. Wealthy individuals avoided the balance, $182 billion, by "hiding undeclared assets and incomes offshore, beyond the reach of the law," the study said. 

Corporations and the wealthiest are "cheating us all," US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said in a tweet.

The study's publication was timed to coincide with world leaders' arrival in Saudi Arabia for the G20 summit. The authors urged those leaders, whose countries account for a combined $290 billion in avoidance each year, to take action to stop tax cheats.

The leaders should require country-by-country asset and profit reporting, "so that corporate tax abusers and the jurisdictions that facilitate them can be identified and held to account," read a blog post by Mark Bou Mansour, Tax Justice Network's communications coordinator. 

The Cayman Islands were tagged as the biggest contributor to tax avoidance, responsible for about $70 billion per year. But they are just part of a "spider's web" of UK territories and dependencies responsible for a total of 37.4% of global tax cheats, the study found