Bell – Financial Treason & Crime

ERIK GRUENWEDEL, 26 April 2021

July 31 can’t come soon enough for several GameStop executives, including CEO George Sherman, who are slated to exit the videogame retailer at that time in a management reorganization driven by incoming chairman of the board Ryan Cohen, co-founder/CEO of online pet supply service Chewy.com.

Sherman, CFO James Bell, chief customer officer Frank Hamlin and Chris Homeister, chief merchandising officer, all have provisions in their contracts that call for expedited vesting of stock options, the latter Wall Street-based restricted shares that can drive executive compensation into the stratosphere — with no tax liability for the company. Continue reading “Article: Departing GameStop Executives Eyeing Lottery-Winning Paydays”

03/26/202103/27/2021

Article: Investment fraud reports 32% leap as criminals exploit covid-19

Article - Media, Publications

Investment fraud reports 32% leap as criminals exploit covid-19

Mark Battersby, 26 March 2021

Investment scam reports surged by almost a third (32%) during 2020, with losses to these scams increasing 42% to £135.1m, according to a report by trade body UK Finance.

So called ‘authorised’ fraud losses increased 5% in 2020 to £479m as scammers ramped up online activity during the pandemic, its latest Fraud the Facts report stated. Unauthorised fraud losses dropped 5% as lockdown restrictions forced criminals to switch tactics, but were still very high at £784m, the latest Fraud the Facts report also revealed.

It cannot be right that online firms are effectively profiting from fraud, while society as a whole pays the price.”
Impersonation scam cases almost doubled to nearly 40,000 cases during the year.

The shocking figures show why tackling scam activity, particularly online, needs to be prioritised across Government, UK Finance argued in the report.

UK Finance is specifically calling for fraud to be included in the scope of the government’s Online Safety Bill to better protect consumers from these scams.

This would ensure that online platforms such as social media firms, search engines and dating websites take action to address vulnerabilities in their systems that are being exploited by criminals to commit fraud.

Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: “The banking industry has worked hard throughout the pandemic to protect customers from fraud and to go after the criminals behind it, with over £1.6 billion of fraud stopped in 2020.

Read Full Article

03/22/202103/22/2021

Article: Blackstone rolls the dice with $6.2 billion move on Australia’s Crown Resorts

Article - Media, Publications

Blackstone rolls the dice with $6.2 billion move on Australia’s Crown Resorts

Byron Kaye, Rashmi Ashok, 22 March 2021

Crown shares leapt more than 20% after it disclosed the informal offer on Monday, passing Blackstone’s indicative price of A$11.85 as investors wagered a bigger payment could be in the offing from the world’s No. 1 private equity firm or another suitor.

“It’s nice to get a bid, and now it’s about price discovery,” said John Ayoub, a portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management, which has Crown shares.

“These stocks are trading at trough earnings and I wouldn’t be surprised to see further activity in the sector.” Continue reading “Article: Blackstone rolls the dice with $6.2 billion move on Australia’s Crown Resorts”