City of Compton Fraud … You’re Kidding!

Now the Mayor of Compton alleges fraud. Who knew? It stopped the City from getting a line of credit to handle the $41mm deficit. Good luck getting an opinion from the auditors. Apparently the last audit had a “going concern clause”. Here’s hoping the auditor gives an opinion (rather than disclaiming). Oh … what a mess the auditors will find. Once they are alerted, they’ll have to turn over all sorts of rocks and boulders and still be worried they didn’t find everything. If this was a political maneuver, it was pretty bonehead. Apparently, the Mayor is alleging that the…

About Us

Our staff has been testifying since 1992. We have experience performing economic loss analysis in matters of intellectual property, contract disputes, loss of profits and personal injury. Kim Onisko, (lead forensic accountant) has testified as an economic expert in State and Federal court. His opinion testimony has ranged in matters of size from $100 thousand to over $500 million. We have experience performing forensic accountings and asset tracings in business and divorce litigation. We have performed due diligence in a number of private M&A transactions. We have consulted and opined on business valuations in a number of industries. We have…

First 5 LA gets blasted for crappy accounting

Can I say “crappy”? Yes, I believe I can. And did. Apparently, First 5 Los Angeles has accumulated $800 million of taxpayer money that they’re sitting on. They apparently spend $180 million per year but can’t quite spend the whole amount they get … so it sits in the bank. THAT’S OUR MONEY PEOPLE! “An audit by Harvey M. Rose of San Francisco found First 5 LA’s commission was unable to monitor money that was being spent “since monthly programmatic expenditures are not presented relative to a budget.” Auditors also concluded the agency was overstaffed while under-spending on programs for…

Minkow back to the Clink!

ZZZ Best superstar Barry Minkow, King of the Ponzi’s, became a preacher, a self-appointed fraud detector and finally a stock manipulator. Now he gets 5 years in the clink. for securities fraud. A good friend told me once … the way someone does something, is the way they do everything. (translation … Leopards don’t often change their spots.)

Savings up in smoke

There’s been much going on in our office in the last few weeks and I have been hard pressed for spare time to keep you informed about interesting tax stuff, but this came across my desk and I just had to share it:One of our clients recently received a letter from the California Board of Equalization (now that’s a politically correct name) assessing unpaid Sales and Excise taxes on purchases of cigarettes by mail from an out of state retailer. Apparently this individual had been buying cigarettes for years from this source, and the state sent their auditors out and…