Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Zappers And Phantomware: The Need For Fraud Prevention Technology, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

There is a demand-market for technology that facilitates tax fraud. By all accounts the providers in this market are working in a growth industry.

In the short term this is bad news for those concerned with tax policy and information privacy. In the long term however, the fight against technology-assisted fraud is stimulating the development of a more robust technology base within tax administrations, and this is good news for those who believe that a sophisticated technological infrastructure is needed to resolve difficult questions of tax design.

This paper focuses on two technology-accelerants of SME tax fraud - zappers and …

Private Investment Funds: Hedge Funds' Regulation By Size, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

This Article focuses on hedge funds-a species of private investment funds. These funds appeared in the 1950s and remained active but small. Then, in a fairly short period, they grew enormously to over $1.5 trillion, although the estimates vary.¹ Hedge fund managers engage in more than twenty-five different categories of investment strategies.² Since 2002, the number of hedge funds has more than doubled to an estimated 9,000 funds,³ and their assets have grown by 400% to an estimated $1.4 trillion since 1999.⁴ Other estimates are higher, suggesting current hedge fund assets at $2 trillion and their …

Gatekeeper Failures: Why Important, What To Do, Merritt B. Fox

Michigan Law Review

The United States was hit by a wave of corporate scandals that crested between late 2001 and the end of 2002. Some were traditional scandals involving insiders looting company assets - the most prominent being Tyco, HealthSouth, and Adelphia. But most were what might be called "financial scandals": attempts by an issuer to maximize the market price of its securities by creating misimpressions as to what its future cash flows were likely to be. Enron and WorldCom were the most spectacular examples of these financial scandals. In scores of additional cases, the companies involved and their executives were sued by …

Mtic (Carousel) Fraud: Twelve Ways Forward; Two Ways "Preferred" - Has The Technology-Based Administrative Solution Been Rejected?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

In a May 31, 2006 Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, and the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Commission indicated a need to develop a co-ordinated strategy to improve the fight against fiscal fraud [COM(2006) 254 final]. Although the Communication considers fiscal fraud broadly (VAT, excise duties and direct taxes) the most pressing need seems to be for a VAT strategy that will effectively deal with MTIC (Missing Trader Intra-Community) or carousel fraud. To this end the Commission hosted a conference: Fiscal Fraud - Tackling VAT Fraud: Possible Ways Forward. The March 29, 2007 conference was constructed …

Zappers: Tax Fraud, Technology And Terrorist Funding, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

"Zappers," or automated sales suppression devices, have brought unheard of efficiencies and economies of scale to a very simple tax fraud - skimming cash sales at point of sale (POS) terminals (electronic cash registers). Until recently the largest tax fraud case in Connecticut, also the "largest computer driven tax-evasion case in the nation," was a zapper case. Stew Leonard's Dairy in Norwalk Connecticut skimmed $17 million in receipts and hid the cash in St. Martin (a Caribbean island). Talal Chahine and his wife, Elfat El Aouar, owners of the La Shish restaurant chain in Detroit Michigan have the dubious honor …

It-Apas - Vertical Harmonization Of Transfer - Pricing Standards, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have begun considering the harmonization of transfer pricing norms among income tax, customs and VAT regimes. Two conferences have been organized in May of 2006 and 2007.

These conferences have concluded so far: (a) that more analysis is needed; (b) that harmonization will require adjustments on all sides; and (c) that pilot projects (real world statutory and administrative efforts to harmonize) or case studies in harmonization (hypothetical fact patterns) are needed to facilitate consideration. This paper assesses the three basic paths being pursued at the present …

Strategic Governance, Kelli A. Alces

Scholarly Publications

Creditors exercise significant power over financially distressed corporations, thereby pushing corporate managers further into the realm of unprofitable risk aversion. The heavy hand of creditor power and the threats creditors are able to make to managers’ professional stability and success misalign senior officers’ incentives by undermining their freedom to make wealth-maximizing decisions on behalf of the corporation. The importance of independent managerial decision making is paramount in the law of corporate governance and that independence has been inefficiently undermined by the exertion of oppressive creditor control. This Article resolves the problem by creating a mechanism to balance shareholder and creditor …

How Much Is Enough? Giving Fiduciaries And Participants Adequate Information About Plan Expenses, 41 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1005 (2008), Debra A. Davis

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Arbitrary Really Was The S.E.C.'S "Hedge Fund Rule"? The Future Of Hedge Fund Regulation In Light Of Goldstein, Amaranth Advisors, And Beyond, Joshua Hess

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Vanilla Swaps To Exotic Credit Derivatives: How To Approach The Interpretation Of Credit Events, Jongho Kim, Ph.D

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: Subprime Mortgage Meltdown And The Global Financial Crisis, William Michael Treanor, Constantine N. Katsoris, Jill E. Fisch, Stuart Kaswell, Steven M. Cohen, Harvey Miller, Gretchen Morgenson, Richard Neiman, Giovanni Prezioso, Muriel Siebert

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Policies To Expand Minority Entrepreneurship: Closing Comments, Michael S. Barr

Book Chapters

This essay is based on comments delivered at the Conference on on Entrepreneurship in Low- and Moderate-Income Communities, November 3-4, 2005. This has been a productive conversation. In my closing comments, I want to shift our focus somewhat, from entrepreneurship in low-income communities to minority entrepreneurship generally. I want to do so because many minority entrepreneurs are connected to or hire from low-income communities, and because minority entrepreneurs face critical barriers even when they attempt to create and grow firms outside of distressed communities. In this comment, I want to highlight key barriers and suggest five steps for Congress, the …

Do Patents Perform Like Property?, Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen

Faculty Scholarship

Do patents provide critical incentives to encourage investment in innovation? Or, instead, do patents impose legal risks and burdens on innovators that discourage innovation, as some critics now claim? This paper reviews empirical economic evidence on how well patents perform as a property system.

The Problems Of Securitizing Sub-Prime Loans, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

In October 2007, the board of directors of Merrill-Lynch, Smith & Fenner, one of the largest if not the largest brokerage houses in the United States, accepted the request for early retirement of its Chief Executive Officer. The brokerage firm disclosed that it has lost over $8 billion on its investments in sub-prime mortgage loans.¹ Merrill Lynch was not the only financial giant to sustain enormous losses. The losses caused market liquidity to dry up. The U.S. government took steps to ease the pressure.² But the high leverage of the system is still unravelling. The effect of these …

Returning Rico To Racketeers: Corporations Cannot Constitute An Associated-In-Fact Enterprise Under 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4), Caroline N. Mitchell, Jordan Cunningham, Mark R. Lentz

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

A Redeeming Interest In Religious Freedom: Are Islamic Mortgage Alternatives Clogs On The Equitable Right Of Redemption?, Scott Griswold

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

A Proposal For Protecting Executive Communications With Corporate Counsel After Corporate Client Has Waived Its Attorney-Client Privilege , John W. Gergacz

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Executive Compensation: The New Executive Compensation Disclosure Rules Do Not Result In Complete Disclosure, Sean M. Donahue

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The Eighth Annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture On Corporate, Securities, And Financial Law, William Michael Treanor, Ben A. Indek, Jill E. Fisch, Paul S. Atkins

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Securities Regulation In Low-Tier Listing Venues: The Rise Of The Alternative Investment Market, Jose M. Mendoza

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

An End To The Deadbeat Dad Dilemma? - Puncturing The Paradigm By Allowing A Deduction For Child Support Payments , Reginald Mombrun

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Developing An Antitrust Injury Requirement For Injunctive Relief That Reflects The Probability Of Anticompetitive Harm, Yavar Bathaee

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Mission: A Critical Review Of The History And Evolution Of The Sec Enforcement Program, Paul S. Atkins, Bradley J. Bondi

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Attorneys As Debt Relief Agencies: Constitutional Considerations, Marisa Terranova

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Hedge Funds, Liquidity And Prime Brokers, Nathan Bryce

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The Antitrust Aspects Of Bank Mergers - Panel Discussion I: Development Of Bank Merger Law, Carl Felsenfeld, Douglas Broder, Bert Foer, Dr. Anne Gron

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The Antitrust Aspects Of Bank Mergers - Panel Discussion Ii: Consumer Issues, Carl Felsenfeld, Duncan Macdonald, Jeffrey Shinder, Robert Manning

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of The Future Of Bank Merger Antitrust: Local Areas Will Remain Relevant Markets, Gregory J. Werden

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Bank Merger Reform Takes An Extended Philadelphia National Bank Holiday, Edward Pekarek, Michela Huth

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Losing Control: Why Imf Article Viii(2)(B) May Nullify The Enforceability Of Financing Contracts When Spiraling Oil Prices Prompt The Use Of Exchange Controls, David Litvack

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.