Why is Bernie Madoff not in jail?

-- MDT

Labels: Bernie Madoff, Gary Weiss

See our favorite muckracker, Gary Weiss for details. Also...a note to the folks at Reputrace - you might want to use a proxy server so that when your clients log in to review the articles from around the web you've collected for them, that it isn't, like, totally obvious who the client is and what reputational issues are of concern to them.

-- MDT

Labels: accounting fraud, Biovail, Gary Weiss, Gradient Analytics, SEC

Friend of the blog, Sam "Crazy Eddie"Antar has got a piece going in Wired right now where he lays in to Overstock.com. He's got quite the feud going with the, lets charitably call him, outlandish Overstock CEO, Patrick Byrne. And he's not the only one - somebody page Gary Weiss.

-- MDT

Labels: Crazy Eddie, Gary Weiss, Overstock, Patrick Byrne

You may recall that the SEC's looksee into Gradient Analytics was prompted by one Patrick Byrne, the...interesting CEO of Overstock.com. As with all things, Patrick Byrne, nobody covers it better and with more geniune disdain than Gary Weiss.

-- MDT

Labels: Gary Weiss, Gradient Analytics, Overstock, Patrick Byrne

And muckraker extraordinaire, Garry Weiss, keeps you on top of ever bit of it.

Read the latest here.

-- MDT

Labels: Gary Weiss, Overstock, Patrick Byrne

Gary Weiss, late of BusinessWeek and currently blogging away here, has found a new outlet for his particular band of business journalism. Forbes will be featuring Weiss in a new column, appropriately entitled Muckraker. Details here.

The first Forbes column is also online here.
-- MDT

Labels: Gary Weiss

A few weeks back Marc Cuban made waves when he announced that he'd be sponsoring a new scoops and news investigative blogsite devoted to corporate shenanigans. It wasn't Cuban's watch-dog zeal that had folks up in arms, however. Rather, it was his open declaration that he planned to make money by using the tips prior to their open publication, Sharesleuth.com, to guide investment decisions.

Well, whatever Cuban's intentions, the site is currently live under the care of editor and long-time business reporter, Chris Carey. Now I know you guys reserve your best tips for The Daily Caveat, but, throw the new guys a bone, who dontcha.

And my thanks to Gary Weiss for birddogging this story over the last few weeks. His is another fine blog you should be reading.

-- MDT

Labels: Gary Weiss

Last week it was Denver, Colorado's Gary Lozlow. This week it is William Cavanagh of the Springfield, Illinois law firm Cavanagh & O'Hara who has come under scrutiny for his role in several cases involving the embattled plaintiffs' firm, Milberg Weiss. Milberg is currently under indictment in relation to charges that the firm paid kickbacks to individuals in exchange for their serving as leap plaintiffs in the firm's class action securities litigation.

While none of the charges in the Milberg indictment stem from cases that involved Cavanagh's firm, prosecutors have cast an increasingly wide (and some have alleged, politically motivated) net. Cavanagh's activities have come into question because he acted concurrently as a consultant to Milberg whilse simultaneously serving as General Counsel for the Illinois Central Laborers' Pension Fund, a post he has held for 16 years.

More here. And still more, here.

-- MDT

Labels: Gary Weiss, Melvyn Weiss, Milberg Weiss

Thusfar bossman Melvyn Weiss has bee in the clear of the government's investigation of alleged illegal kickbacks made by Milberg Weiss to individuals in exchange for their re-occuring role as lead plaintiffs in the firm's securities class actions. Both Weiss and former partner Bill Lerach had reportedly been told by feds that neither was in the crosshairs of the ongoing investigation. Recent reports would indicate that the situation has changed.

The National Law Journal is reporting that in a 2003 meeting with Denver lawyer was Gary Lozow, of Isaacson Rosenbaum, Melvyn Weiss offered Lozow agreed that a percentage of attorney fees in two cases would find their way to Howard Vogel, a figure well known to those who have been following the kickback investigation. Lozow is currently cooperating with prosecutors and provides what investigators have long sought, a potential direct link between Weiss and the alleged kickbacks.

-- MDT

Labels: Gary Weiss, Howard Vogel, Melvyn Weiss, Milberg Weiss

Good news is in somewhat short supply for Milberg these days. This'll have to do...

Via TheLawyer.com:

US Congress slams Milberg Weiss indictment

The Lawyer
June 14, 2006

Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, the US plaintiffs’ firm recently indicted for alleged referral fees, has picked up a powerful ally in the shape of the US Congress. Congress issued a statement slamming the US Department of Justice’s actions in indicting Milberg Weiss.

Signed by four Democrat Congressmen - Charles Rangel, Carolyn McCarthy, Gary Ackerman and Robert Wexler - the statement says: “The unprecedented recent indictment of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman is a very thinly veiled attempt by the Bush Administration to accomplish by bullying and intimidation what it has not been able to do by law - to end class-action lawsuits, one of the few tools remaining to safeguard the American consumer.”

The statement comes almost a month after Milberg Weiss and name partners David Bershad and Steven Schulman were indicted by Los Angeles federal prosecutors for allegedly paying referral fees to named plaintiffs in shareholder lawsuits.

For the record, both Melvyn Weiss and Bill Lerach have long said that the government's years-long investigation into their conduct has been politically motivated... The original Lawyer article appears here.

-- MDT

Labels: Department of Justice, Gary Weiss, Melvyn Weiss, Milberg Weiss