Free Republic

Back in 2014, I worked freelance for a public relations firm in New York City. It was there that I met an unusual woman. I didn’t know many lawyers or Texans, but I knew better than to chalk up her qualities to either her profession or her home. It’s rare that I encounter someone who I’m afraid to argue with, because of her sheer brain power and towering personal rectitude. But this was such a person. This woman had quite a career behind her. An evangelical Christian, she’d been a federal prosecutor — and quit, outraged at the corruption she...

pecial Counsel Robert Mueller III and lead attorney in the Special Counsel’s Office Andrew Weissmann have been connected to one another throughout most of their careers, and both men moved quickly to the top tackling major crime syndicates and white-collar crime. Ironically, both men were also connected in two of the biggest corruption investigations in FBI history. But rarely are Weissmann and Mueller’s past cases discussed in the media. Their past is relevant because it gives a roadmap to the future — now that these two longtime colleagues are charged with one of the most controversial investigations into a president...

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray was an assistant attorney general in 2004 when he heaped praise on an ambitious Mafia-tested prosecutor... to the top...Justice Department’s high-profile Enron... How Mr. Weissmann operated over a decade ago offers possible glimpses at how he carries out orders today from his longtime mentor, Mr. Mueller. He rode into Texas from New York City in 2002 fresh from putting a number of Mafiosos in prison. ... If I’m Donald Trump and I know the backstory of Andrew Weissmann, it’s going to concern me. There is no question about it.” The backstory: Defense attorneys say Mr....

A top prosecutor who is now a deputy for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe praised then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she was fired in January by President Trump for refusing to defend his controversial travel ban. The email, obtained by Judicial Watch through a federal lawsuit, shows that on the night of Jan. 30, Andrew Weissmann wrote to Yates under the subject line, “I am so proud.” He continued, “And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects.” The disclosure follows confirmation that another Mueller investigator, FBI official Peter Strzok, was fired over the summer after...

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday. Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said his office has been looking into the matter for nearly nine months, and he would turn over the case to the state attorney's office by Friday. Coulter's attorney did not immediately return a call Wednesday. Nor did her publicist at her publisher, Crown Publishing. Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable by up to five years...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday. Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said his office has been looking into the matter for nearly nine months, and he would turn over the case to the state attorney's office by Friday. Coulter's attorney did not immediately return a call Wednesday. Nor did her publicist at her publisher, Crown Publishing. Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable...

It seems that the SEC is probing everyone these days, why did we hear so little about SEC probes under Clinton? Is there data available suggesting that the Bush administration has been more agressive with the SEC than Clinton?

The climate in Washington is finally turning pro-business, and stocks are welcoming the shift with a rally. The following is an "Ahead of the Curve" column published June 3, 2005 on SmartMoney.com, where Luskin is a Contributing Editor. The market is full of mysteries. Here we are with the yield on 10-year Treasurys falling below 4%, and everyone's saying that's because the bond market is predicting a recession. Yet — Friday's reversal notwithstanding — stocks have just rallied for the fifth week off their April 20 bottom, with the S&P 500 now up 5.9% and the NASDAQ 100 up 11.5%...

<p>Since the Big 8 shrunk into the newly structured Big 4 over the past dozen years, U.S. businesses -- particularly big companies -- have had a much narrower choice in deciding which accounting firm will peruse their books.</p> <p>And now with the frequency some of the Big 4 get themselves into trouble over faulty audits, the investing public seems far less protected from fraud with so few major accounting firms acting as watchdogs.</p>

WASHINGTON - David Walker is the kind of guy who rarely wears jeans and if he does, friends say, they're probably ironed. He likes his numbers precise - usually carried out to the fourth decimal place. One of his biggest heroes in life is Elmer B. Staats, the fifth comptroller general of the United States. Mr. Walker, in other words, might not seem like the kind of person to carry out a rebellion against a sitting presidential administration. But, in fact, he is, of sorts. As head of the normally obscure General Accounting Office, Walker is leading an effort ...

<p>Disappointing speech to Wall Street, wasn't it? Here we all sat, glued to the tube, 401 (K) quarterly reports clutched in our sweaty hands, waiting to hear President Bush reassure us that he wasn't going to let the stock markets and all our life's savings sink into a miasma of runaway greed, crooked accountancy and betrayal of fiduciary trust.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- A 1996 promotional videotape has surfaced that features Dick Cheney praising Arthur Andersen LLP for going above and beyond routine audits for the company he ran for five years.</p> <p>The oil services firm the vice president once headed, Halliburton Co., is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for the way it accounted for cost overruns on construction jobs during Cheney's tenure. Cheney and the company were sued on Tuesday by a watchdog group alleging fraudulent accounting practices, a suit the White House dismissed as lacking merit.</p>

<p>CMS Energy Corp. said its longtime chief executive stepped down, following disclosures that the energy concern's trading business had conducted large-scale transactions that artificially boosted its trading volumes and revenue.</p> <p>The Dearborn, Mich., company said Friday that William T. McCormick Jr., who had led the company since 1985, resigned. The company said its board had elected Kenneth Whipple, a retired Ford Motor Co. executive, to succeed him as chairman and chief executive as it looks for a permanent replacement.</p>

Aeroflot will add two seats to its board of directors and replace Arthur Andersen as its auditor, a company official said Monday.Aeroflot's current board voted Saturday to recommend that shareholders agree to boost the number of directors from nine to 11 at the company's annual meeting May 25, deputy general director and executive secretary of the board Anatoly Brylov told reporters Monday. Brylov said the decision was made in line with the new charter of the company, also approved Saturday, which gives the board more power over the airline's operations. It will appoint the general director, something that previously required...

<p>PPG Industries Inc. said Thursday it will eliminate 1,000 jobs worldwide and that profits declined 39 percent in the latest three-month period, but shareholders at the company's annual meeting were more interested in whether Enron- type problems could happen at their company.</p>

Arthur Andersen CEO Joseph Berardino resigns 03/26/2002 Associated Press CHICAGO - Arthur Andersen LLP chief executive Joseph Berardino resigned Tuesday, bowing to mounting pressure as a result of the company's role in the Enron scandal. His announcement came four days after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker urged top management to step aside so he can install and head an independent board in a last-ditch plan to save the company. The key element of Volcker's plan is the dismissal of a federal indictment against Andersen alleging obstruction of justice in destroying Enron-related documents. The Justice Department has not said...

Andersen Loses Another Home-Town Client CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc., which runs the world's No. 2 futures exchange, on Friday became the latest home-town client to dump embattled accounting firm Andersen as its auditor. Chicago Mercantile Exchange said it has not yet hired a replacement for Andersen, which is steadily losing top clients as a result of its role in the Enron Corp. scandal. Chicago-based Andersen last week lost another local client, food and household goods maker Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE:SLE - news), which hired PricewaterhouseCoopers instead. Some 60 clients have left Andersen since the beginning of...

<p>HOUSTON (AP) . Lawyers for embattled auditing firm Arthur Andersen LLP aren't cowering from a federal criminal indictment for mass shredding of Enron-related documents at its Houston offices.</p> <p>They promised to vigorously fight the charges as the accounting firm prepared for a Wednesday court appearance that was the first hearing since the grand jury indictment.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WASHINGTON -- A corporation can't be handcuffed and hauled off to jail, but it can be charged with a crime. A company can even face an execution of sorts, if the charges lead to an overwhelming fine or bad publicity that destroys the business. Lawyers for Arthur Andersen, the top-drawer accounting firm charged with obstructing justice in the Enron case, have argued that by indicting the company, the Justice Department is imposing the death penalty. With Andersen already staggering from damage to its reputation, that could be true. More often, when...

<p>NEW YORK — Arthur Andersen, damaged by its connections to bankrupt client Enron Corp., is talking with Big Five accounting firm Deloitte & Touche Tohmatsu about selling some or all of its operations, according to reports.</p> <p>Negotiations began last week between New York-based Deloitte and Chicago-based Arthur Andersen LLP, The New York Times reported late Sunday on its Web site. The newspaper cited sources involved in the talks who spoke anonymously.</p>