SEC Gets It Upside Down: Overstock.com, AOL

Somewhat belatedly, due to the recent outbreak of Mostly Scammy-Most of the Time, it's nice to see the US Securities & Exchange Commission has returned to its traditional form.

Overstock.com’s (OSTK) Patrick Byrne dodged the regulatory bullet.

...the SEC did conclude its investigation, but instead made the judgment unanimous about itself —which is that it is utterly useless at protecting investor interests. The investor watchdogs have, for the umpteenth time, proved themselves useless by officially deciding to turn a blind eye toward Byrne's serial lies and deceptions...

The SEC Makes It Unanimous: It’s Useless

by Gary Weiss
Jun. 9 2008

 

And a whistle-blower in the AOL fraud? Well, let’s stop that nonsense.

On May 14, 2001, Joseph A. Ripp, the newly appointed chief financial officer of America Online, faxed a letter to the Las Vegas offices of the accounting firm Arthur Andersen with disturbing news: it appeared that an AOL business partner, and Arthur Andersen client, had forged a signature on a contract and booked several million dollars of sham revenue...

...But three weeks ago, on May 19, the Securities and Exchange Commission, after nearly six years of investigating accounting at AOL, filed a civil lawsuit against eight former executives alleging financial fraud. Seven were AOL executives before the merger; the eighth was Mr. Ripp...

 

From a Whistle-Blower to a Target

by Tim Arango
The New York Times Jun. 9 2008