People often believe that audits can help root out fraud in cases and that an audit is a magic wand bestowing financial stability upon a company. But an audit is simply an independent examination of a company’s financial statements to ensure that its financial records are a fair and accurate assessment of…
What does a fraudulent CEO do when he discovers a whistleblower in his company? In the case of NS8’s founder and CEO Adam Rogas, he impeded the employee’s access to company systems, raided his personal electronic accounts, prevented the employee from contacting the SEC and fired them once discovering that…
In a recent press release, the SEC announced that it had awarded a $20 million bounty to a whistleblower who provided credible and useful information, which helped the Enforcement Division complete an enforcement action much quicker. Through offering additional information and continuing to assist staff, the SEC’s enforcement action was…
In their latest announcement, the SEC has awarded $10 million to a whistleblower who provided considerable assistance that led to a successful enforcement action. The whistleblower met with SEC staff twice and brought them significant information. The charges in the enforcement action were closely aligned with the whistleblower’s allegations, which…
On September 26, 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested three men for running a $100 million fraud based out of Hometown International, the corporate owner of a small New Jersey deli. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it was a classic “pump and dump” scheme. While the…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the creation of two new offices—an Office of Crypto Assets (OCA) and an Office of Industrial Applications and Services (OIAS)—within its Division of Corporation Finance’s Disclosure Review Program (DRP). While the offices haven’t yet opened, it’s already worth understanding their significance and expected…
A lot of the initial appeal of cryptocurrency came from the idea that the crypto’s technology is a more secure, anonymous form of digital transfer. So why then do the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and other agencies keep warning consumers about Bitcoin-related frauds? As is commonly the case with any…
Earlier this year, rumors circulated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. In July of 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began a probe into whether Coinbase improperly allowed Americans to trade digital assets that should have been registered as securities. But according to…
Twitter has been in the news quite a bit this year, and, in this case, not all publicity is good publicity. In August of 2022, the Washington Post and CNN gained access to a whistleblower report alleging mismanagement, spying, and security concerns at Twitter. The report came from Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the…
In August, CNN published an expose detailing accusations from a whistleblower that social media giant Twitter misled its board and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulators about security vulnerabilities on its platform. The news has been explosive. The whistleblower is Peiter Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security and a noted cybersecurity expert.…