Thieves Bankrupt City of Bell?
In a true case of closing the barn door after the horse has run off … LA County is auditing Bell to find out if it’s now broke. Did anybody think to look at the independent audit of the city? Did they have one? Wasn’t it required? Who did the audit? What did it say? Since the audit cost by the county is only $100,000, I guess we should worry too much. ($100,000????????? What the heck!!) Who independently audited the city? What does the audit say? Who forgot to ask about related party transactions? Who lied? What the heck did…
Thieves Arrested (Hooray!)
Our “Den of Thieves” have been uncovered, announced and arrested. Who knows whether it will stick … but … it’s a start. (These are certain officials at the City of Bell, CA) This NPR interview asks the prime question … How did a 2 1/2 mile square city, of 40,000 impoverished citizens wind up with a leadership that raped the city and the federal government (aka you and I) of millions of dollars. Who helped? Who enabled? Who looked the other way? Just asking …
Den of Thieves
In case you didn’t hear. The management team of the City of Bell California gave themselves absurd salaries. The City Manager about $800k The assistant manager and police chief about $500k each. The city only has about 40,000 residents and a significant percentage are below the poverty level. The city receives a significant amount of federal aid to balance it’s books. This means, we (the citizenry of the United States), are effectively paying these salaries and for their future retirements. The retirement amounts are going to be about 80% of those insane salaries. Apparently, they’ve resigned … but are still…
Stealing Our Foreign Aid
A Wall Street Journal Article points out that billions of dollars … in cash … is being air-freighted out of Kabul. Corruption is suggested. Pardon me? Billions in cash and corruption is suspected? They can’t track the money? I suggest that the government hires a squad of forensic CPA’s to uncover the fraudsters. We’ll work on commission … just give us protection and translators. This is our taxpayer money being converted for personal use by thieves and terrorists. (Sorry … I’m sure that was not politically correct response to an article “suggesting” corruption.)
Find the salami … Sniff Sniff !
CFO magazine cites a 2009 study by Benjamin Luippold, an assistant professor at George State University on how to con the auditors.Distract and divert the auditors attention from the place you want them to look. You will succeed with your con.Now it’s been “scientifically” tested. All you auditors and forensic accountants out there … Use your sense of smell to find the hidden salami! (Too bad they all had a bad sense of smell at Koss Corporation.)
Madoff’s Accountant Didn’t Do Audits?
Here’s a picture of the accountant’s office. Suite 3. Accounting, Taxation and Financial Services … hmmm. Taped to the window … it says they “E-File”. Classy digs! Apparently, the accountants were telling the AICPA for 15 years that they didn’t do audits. The AICPA has since kicked him out. Nice due diligence on the part of any financial firm that had any dealing with Madoff at all. How the heck could you accept an audit opinion for a multi-billion dollar firm coming from a place like this?