Lance Poulsen... Come on Down!

For your role in defrauding your investors of $2.9 billion, you have been found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Tell him what he's won Roddy!

Well, Bob, sentencing has yet to take place, but Lance is looking at up to thirty years behind bars. This is on top of the current ten year sentence he's serving after being caught trying to bribe a key witness.

-- MDT

Labels: guilty, Lance Poulsen, National Century

Charles 'Junior' Johnson was founder and CEO of Las Vegas-based software company, PurchasePro. Back in 2001, in the midst of the dot com bust, he conspired to inflate company revenues in a scheme that put Purchase Pro squarely in the cites of Federal regulators.

Seven years later, Johnson makes seven PurchasePro execs to have been convicted in relation to the attempted Fraud. Johnson made his particular situation worse by attempting to alter documents to obscure the fraud. Convicted on all counts, Johnson will now face sentencing.

-- MDT

Labels: accounting fraud, Charles Johnson, guilty, PurchasePro

This has been a long road - a prosecution almost a decade in the making...

Melvyn Weiss, patriarch of securities class action powerhouse, Milberg Weiss, has plead guilty to one count of racketeering in connection with the government investigation into kickbacks meted out to lead plaintiffs in Milberg cases.

Weiss had been scheduled to go to trial in August. According to the terms of his deal with prosecutors, the 72 year old Weiss is expected to serve between 18 and 33 months and pay approximately $10 million in fines and forfeitures. More here, via the WSJ.

Through his legal representatives at Brafman & Associates, Weiss released this statement:

"I deeply regret my conduct and apologize to all those who have been affected, including all of the wonderful and extremely talented lawyers and other employees of the Firm, none of whom had any involvement in any wrongdoing. I believe that it is very important to preserve this unique legal resource for the benefit of victims of wrongdoing affecting the masses, who historically have been under-served in so many ways."

I cut my teeth as an investigator locating witnesses for Milberg cases and despite their obvious and at this point, clearly illegal, overreaching I retain a great deal of sympathy for their role - representing aggrieved shareholders. I've simply see too much of what companies will try to get away with to feel differently.

It is just a shame that Milberg, if in a slightly different context, became exactly the kind of entity they are supposed to protect clients against.

-- MDT

Labels: guilty, Melvyn Weiss, Milberg, Milberg Weiss, plea agreement

Racketeering... We knew the deal was done. And now the Schulman guilty plea is in.

-- MDT

Labels: guilty, Milberg, Milberg Weiss, racketeering, Steven Schulman

Stephen Parker Gardner, former CEO of Peregrine Systems has plead guilty to conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice. The charges arose in relation to a 2004 indictment charging Gardner and several other Peregrine execs with accounting fraud, specifically backdating contracts and improperly recognizing revenue. Further details on the Gardner plea via the LA Times.

-- MDT

Labels: accounting fraud, guilty, Peregrine Systems, Stephen Park Gardner