Word: fraud
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Considering Birkenfeld's help, many observers wonder why the Justice Department decided to arrest and prosecute him. In the end, he pleaded guilty to a single fraud conspiracy count; he was sentenced on Aug. 21 in a federal courtroom in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to 40 months in a federal penitentiary (to start Jan. 8). Many critics believe the decision to prosecute Birkenfeld, whom some consider the most important whistle-blower in years, sends the worst possible message to other financial-industry insiders who might be considering coming forward. The Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington watchdog organization that has extensive...
...wonder nobody has ever come forward to blow the whistle on the Swiss banks before - and with this mind-set, the government is guaranteeing that nobody will come forward again and disclose information about tax fraud on this scale," says Dean Zerbe, a tax attorney representing Birkenfeld in his dealings with the IRS. Zerbe also served as tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee; in 2006 it revised the tax code to include whistle-blower protections...
...make millions from their cooperation, since they have a claim of up to 30% of funds recovered by the government. (This helps compensate for what can amount to their professional suicide.) There is nothing in whistle-blower-protection statutes that enjoins the government from prosecuting them for any fraud they participated in, but this option, intended for those who masterminded a fraud, is supposed to be balanced with a competing policy to encourage whistle-blowers to come forward...
...lengthy appeals process. One tactic Polanski's legal team may take is to challenge the lawfulness of the arrest warrant on the basis of misconduct during the original legal proceedings. "His lawyers could argue that this is an invalid conviction because it's based on a fraud. Then you could have a Swiss court decide whether or not the proceedings here in Los Angeles were so corrupt that they invalidate the conviction," says Harland Braun, a criminal defense attorney and former deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County. Braun, who worked in Rittenband's court as a young attorney, says...
...beyond whispers, but the 2002 Winter Olympics were an exception. Ten members of the IOC were thrown out after taking gifts from the Salt Lake Bid Committee prior to the vote, which Salt Lake City went on to win. The U.S. Department of Justice brought charges of bribery and fraud against two members of the committee, though charges against both were eventually dismissed. No one was convicted of a crime in connection with the incident, but the events led the IOC to create more stringent ethical guidelines for its voting members...