“I don’t believe you.” Why anyone, in their right mind, would want to head anygovernment agency in today’s hyper-partisan world is beyond my understanding. Just look at what you have to stare-down when you’re sitting before a congressional committee. On December 23, 2013, John Koskinen was sworn in as the new IRS commissioner after being confirmed by the Senate three days earlier....

After the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizen’s United allowed for nearly unlimited and unidentified donations to political campaigns in 2010, a number of new groups applied for tax-exempt status. On February 16, 2012, Democratic Senators Al Franken, Chuck Schumer, Jeff Merkley and Michael Bennet wrote a letter to Douglas Shulman urging the then-IRS commissioner to investigate social welfare organizations “engaged in a...

To understand the root cause of the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service, context is important. With the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, corporations and non-profits were permitted to contribute to political campaigns. In the case of certain non-profits, they could donate provided they did not contribute more than 49 percent of their...

Just before signing The Stock Act which now makes it illegal for members of Congress and their staff to profit from inside financial information, President Obama declared, “The powerful shouldn’t get to create one set of rules for themselves and another set of rules for everybody else.” In 2004, I once asked a well-connected financial guy why someone like businesswoman and billionaire Martha...

Global Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs lost $2.15billion of its market value the day after London-based employee Gregory Smith told the world in a New York Times Op-Ed that the company is not only “toxic and destructive,” but is only interested in “How much money did we make off the client?” In 2009 Rolling Stone story, reporter Matt Taibbi called Goldman...

Hold on to your cynicism, kiddies, it’s my end of the year wrap-up of the highs and lows. Here’s just part of the past year’s craziness summarized in words: “The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal-consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short.” – Standard and Poor’s, in a statement regarding the downgrade in the U.S....

Anthony Weiner, Bernie Madoff, low economy, high unemployment, questionable housing, if you’re house hasn’t already been hit by a flood or tornado. How do you remain optimistic in an atmosphere of so much negative news? In an intriguing TIME magazine cover story (The Science of Optimism), author Tali Sharot offers some positive news. “Collectively we can grow pessimistic — about...

“September 2005,” former AIG investment specialist Gordon Massie writes, “…the atmosphere at AIG was still toxic and oppressive.” Of course, the real dilemma for any whistleblower is what happens after you report something wrong? Are the people at the top willing to accept and act on the information you uncover or are they out to bury it… and you? What followed for Gordon...

Historically, the term applied to a Chinese painkiller originally derived from the skin of Chinese water snakes. Due to the lack of efficacy, however, the expression quickly became code for any fraudulent product. But the vital ingredient in snake oil was not in the bottle but out of the mouth of the salesman who would breeze into a town, fast-talk...

Robert Spence works in the financial sector as a broker/dealer. When the company that employed him was acquired by a larger firm, he transitioned to the new organization. At the time, the company policy held that individual investments had to stand on their own merits, have full quality oversight and complete transparency. When, in 2006, Robert began to question a...