Trader Who Received Tips From KPMG Partner Issues Apology [Bloomberg]
Bryan Shaw, a trader who said he received insider tips from fired KPMG LLP partner Scott London, apologized and said he’s been cooperating with the Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “During 2010 through 2012, I received non-public information from Scott London about a number of companies and then profited substantially from stock trades based upon that information,” Shaw said in a statement provided yesterday by Nathan Hochman, a lawyer at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Santa Monica, California. “I cannot begin to apologize for my incredibly stupid actions.” […] Shaw is listed in online business directories as a partner with Encino, California-based Shaw Diamond Co., a wholesale jeweler and diamond broker founded in 1957. “Over the past several months, I have fully cooperated with the FBI, the SEC, and the U.S. Department of Justice in their ongoing investigation of this matter,” Shaw said in his statement. “I expect that my actions will result in significant civil and criminal consequences, but I realize that this is the painful price I will pay for my transgressions.”
Both are members of the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif., according to the United States Golf Association Web site. Mr. London has a 10 handicap and Mr. Shaw plays to a 12, the U.S.G.A. says.
David Weinberg, chief financial officer of sneaker retailer Skechers USA Inc., was working after lunch Monday when two senior partners from accounting firm KPMG appeared in his Manhattan Beach, Calif., office. The men sat down in a conference room. The KPMG partners read from a prepared statement, answered a few questions, then left. The whole episode took less than 45 minutes.
Split FASB Proceeds With Complicated Lease Standard [CW]
In a regular weekly board meeting, FASB voted 4-3 to issue the package it has developed after years of re-deliberating its 2010 proposal. At least two board members said they planned to include alternative views, or different ideas on how to approach lease accounting. The board has struggled long and hard over how to develop a logical approach to account for the wide variety of leases companies typically enter, with some resembling the financed purchase of assets and others serving more as short-term rental agreements.
The Masters: A Tax Break Unlike Any Other [Forbes]
Will Phil Mickelson be so put off by the idea of having to pay oppressive new tax rates on the $1.5 million winner’s purse that he’ll start purposely firing balls into the water a la Roy McAvoy in Tin Cup? Regardless of who sits atop the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon, however, understand that some of the biggest winners of the weekend will have never lifted a club. That’s because courtesy of a tax break that’s steeped in Masters history, dozens of local residents will be pulling in upwards of $25,000 in tax-free cash over the course of the four-day tournament by renting their homes to visiting spectators.
Christopher Bergin: "We want to end abuse of the corporate tax system by companies shifting profits around, and, we want to do it in a transparent way. What should we do? I've got it! Get rid of the hidden deals facilitated by [advance pricing agreements]. I mean, you can’t get any more non-transparent than completely secret."
