The Big Hustle Theranos was a privately held health corporation that was touted as a breakthrough technology company. It claimed to having devised blood tests that required only exceedingly small amounts of blood and could be performed very rapidly using small automated devices the company had developed. However, the claims... Read more →

Analyzing Motives for Behavior What motivates a parent to bribe key people to get their kid admitted to a prestigious university? That is the ethical question of “Operation Varsity Blues.” In March 2019, the story broke of an alarming fraudulent scheme by parents to pay off middleman, William “Rick” Singer,... Read more →

Unintended Consequences of the PPP Program? The government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has unintended consequences. Namely, the amount of money a furloughed or unemployed worker receives from unemployment funds can be greater than the regular salary received had that individual returned to work. The main reason is the $600 boost... Read more →

Ethical AI is Built On Transparency, Accountability and Trust by STEVEN MINTZ January 16, 2020 in Ethics, Featured This piece was published by Corporate Compliance Insights AI systems based on machine learning can be used to audit financial data efficiently and look for financial fraud, but ethical risks exist if... Read more →

How Can You Know Whether They Are Real or Contrived? Perhaps you heard about the GoFundMe scam in 2017 where Katelyn McClure and Mark D’Amico launched the online fundraiser for Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless veteran, after he gave his last $20 to McClure when she ran out of gas on... Read more →

Put the Blame Where it Belongs, on the Parents Who’s to blame for the college admissions scandal? There’s enough blame to go around for lots of people but the parents are front and center. Their attempt to get their kids admitted to some of the most prestigious universities in the... Read more →

Should You Keep Extra Money From an ATM? A good philosophy to live by is stated as follows: “Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching." This partial quote from Aldo Leopold (1887-1948), an American author and philosopher, instructs us to act in ways that... Read more →

Is it Legal or Illegal? I have previously blogged about regulatory and ethical issues surrounding the use of cannabis based on whether states have adopted “compassionate use” laws that permit the sale of marijuana for medical purposes. I have also written on the sale for recreational purposes. In this blog... Read more →

ACFE 2018 Study Published Fraud can be defined as a deliberate misrepresentation to gain an advantage over another party. Fraud comes in many different forms, including fraud in financial statements, the misappropriation of assets (theft) and subsequent cover-up, and disclosure fraud. In this blog I examine the results of a... Read more →