Lehman Brothers and the U.S. Department of InJustice

60 Minutes aired what is likely to be the last segment on the global mortgage meltdown and how the U.S. Department of Justice has essentially given the key players a "Get out of Jail Free" card. The latest segment focuses on the Lehman bankruptcy and the fraud involved in that case. Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes says that he has given up hope that the Department of Justice or the SEC will bring any charges against the key players. He says that he is "astounded" that the government has failed to bring cases against the key individuals. In the main video...

U.S. States with Highest Consumer Fraud

24/7 Wall Street published an analysis of consumer fraud that ranked the top ten states in terms of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission per 100,000 people. FTC complaints are put in two categories: identity theft complaints and other fraud complaints. Identity theft was the top category with debt collection fraud coming in second. Here are the top ten states as published by 24/7 Wall Street:

Wealth is a Jealous Master

I was reminded today of a classic quote by a former BYU Professor, Hugh Nibley. Here is the quote:

Wealth is a jealous master who will not be served halfheartedly and will suffer no rival—not even God: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) In return for unquestioning obedience, wealth promises security, power, position, and honors, in fact anything in this world. … The more important wealth is, the less important it is how one gets it.

My reminder came when reading a story in Bloomberg Businessweek about a fraud in France involving breast implants. Here is the rest of the story from Bloomberg Businessweek...

Wall Street Justice III: Fraud Pays in Healthcare Industries

One of my students forwarded me a link to an article describing numerous pharmaceuticals that have committed fraud only to have the CEO receive a hand slapping and a multi-million dollar bonus on the way out the door. Here are a few of the cases mentioned in the Forbes article: