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Casual Articles - Verisign Fraud - Class Action Lawsuit Settlement
Life in a cubicle can be boring at times. To liven the day up a little, here are a few ways to unwind and have a little fun with those everyday office supplies in your desk drawer. Yes, it's a little insane, but a little creativity never hurt anyone, and it's fun to boot.Wrapping PaperIs there a spur-of-the-moment party and you need to wrap a gift? Then, those big presentation paper pads in the conference room, a pack of colorful highlighter markers and a Sharpie marker are the perfect combination of supplies for making wrapping paper. A good, easy design is flower vines. Just draw one long line all over the page, put a few leaves here and there along it, and add a bunch of simple flowers. Go find some tape, and wrap your gift. Simple and easy.Homemade Greeting CardsFirst, get some paper out of the copy machine, letter size. Then, fold it in half, and decorate with a simple design, using highlighters and Sharpie markers. Use the Sharpies for block lettering near the top, then color them in with the highlighters. Pass the card around to your co-workers, and give it to the person that you made it for. It may not be high art, but who cares, it came from the heart. They'll be happy that you cared enough to do it.Make Ink StampsTake an eraser and carve whatever design you want to print into it with an Exacto knife, being careful not to cut yourself. A box knife can do the same thing. Make a simple design for best results. Clean off any stray eraser crumbs. Then, use a stamp pad and put the eraser, design side down, onto it. Test out your stamp on a piece of scrap paper and see how it looks. If it still needs work, go wash it off and keep carving. When you get it the way you want it, you can stamp your design o
3. Defendants failed to adequately reserve for uncollectible delinquent receivables thereby overstating earnings.
4. Defendants misreported domain name registrations by concealing the number of free and promotional registrations and two-year auto-renewal registrations.
5. Defendants overstated earnings by failing to properly account for long-term investments in non-public companies and by failing to record impairment charges on many investments.
Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that VeriSign recognized $27 million in barter transactions, $10.5 million in reciprocal transactions, $64 million by roundtrip transactions and $12 million by improper accounting practices. Plaintiffs further allege that VeriSign failed to follow GAAP in terms of recording a $74 million impairment charge.
Defendants argue that companies regularly disclose their true financial condition and their stock price declines when they fail to meet the ma
If there is one skill that can get you far in life no matter what it is you wish to achieve or better yourself at, it's the skill of being able to communicate efficiently. It don't matter whether you wish to get ahead in the business world or develop a lasting and meaningful relationship; good communication skills are a must and are the key to your success. Here are some tips to help you develop your communication skills.Developing good communication skills is more than just being able to talk or the contents of what you are saying. Good communication is made up of three main factors, expressive skills, listening skills and successfully managing those skills together.Expressive skills are what you use to get what you are saying across to others. They can help to bring out information about behavior, feelings, beliefs and intentions. If you combine emotional skills with these then these can help to bring out things that need to be said but which are often difficult to express in just words.You can develop your expressive skills by first learning to get the others full attention before you begin, once you have done this then get across whatever it is you wish them to understand. When you have done this then make sure they have understood what it was you were saying.Your listening skills allow you to gain information from other people. This can be information about the person in question or you can gain a better understanding of what the person expects from you, wants or needs.To develop your listening skills you should look for ways to give the other your undivided attention and make sure that your thoughts don't start wandering off to other things. Take in every
United States district court, northern district of California was the start of Verisign’s (“the Company”) class action complaint for a violation of securities laws. Plaintiff, James H. Harrison Jr., on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated filed vs. Verisign, Inc., Stratton D. Sclavos, Robert J. Korzeniewski, Dana L. Evan and Quintin P. Gallivan. The “class” period is for people who purchased shares of the company between January 25 and April 25 2002.
The defendant Verisign is headquartered in Mountain View California and offers users the ability to engage in secure digital commerce and communications. Verisign’s stock is traded on the NASDQ national market.
Allegations
The allegation is that the defendants tried to artificially increase the Company’s revenue and create the perception that its deferred revenue was being generated organically rather than through acquisition. It is claimed that the Company derived a portion of its revenue from non-monetary barter transactions and investments in other companies. The later claim stated simply, they were financing the payments they were receiving for their goods and services.
The complaint states that the revenues were dubious at best and claimed that “whenever a two-way set of transactions occurs in which a company acts as the lender and service provider, an investor lacks assurance as to whether the related parties would have made a similar decision regarding purchases in the absence of financing from the company”. They claimed that because of this it was not possible to get an accurate measure of the real demand for Verisign’s products.
The complaint also alleges that the defendants misrepresented the company’s prospects and failed to properly disclose improper acts until they were able to sell at least $26 million of their own stock, and also to buy companies in stock-for-stock transactions. Verisign violated Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Securities Exchange rules by engaging in improper barter transactions. These activities dramatically overstated the company’s margins in its financial statements.
The final complaint states that in addition to the above activities, the defendants had other material information that they concealed from the plaintiffs. The defendants concealed an acquisition because they wanted the public to get the impression that the company’s revenue growth was organic when in fact it was not. Statements were made concerning the company’s ability to grow its operating margins that were “simply impossible”. The integration of two acquisitions was a disaster and clients began to decline rather than grow as the defendants had stated. Other information that was withheld by the defendants included; quickly losing market share to the competitors because of outrageous prices, the company’s web certificate business would post zero growth for the year, the ESP division would post zero organic growth and the fact that 100% of the growth was from acquisitions, the domain name business was losing customers at the rate of 11,000 per day, contrary to statements made by the defendants recent acquisitions would cost $80 million more than expected, receivables were dubious and allowance for doubtful accounts had increased five times over the prior period and lastly the company manipulated its Days Sales Outstanding to paint a rosier picture.
Issues
Plaintiffs argue five key categories of misrepresentations:
1. Defendants inflated accounts receivable, revenue and deferred revenue by improperly accounting for two-year auto-renewals on domain names, and acquired deferred revenue.
2. Defendants used improper accounting to recognize revenue on roundtrip and barter transactions.
3. Defendants failed to adequately reserve for uncollectible delinquent receivables thereby overstating earnings.
4. Defendants misreported domain name registrations by concealing the number of free and promotional registrations and two-year auto-renewal registrations.
5. Defendants overstated earnings by failing to properly account for long-term investments in non-public companies and by failing to record impairment charges on many investments.
Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that VeriSign recognized $27 million in barter transactions, $10.5 million in reciprocal transactions, $64 million by roundtrip transactions and $12 million by improper accounting practices. Plaintiffs further allege that VeriSign failed to follow GAAP in terms of recording a $74 million impairment charge.
Defendants argue that companies regularly disclose their true financial condition and their stock price declines when they fail to meet the mar
It is time to stop being so serious and have some fun with the universal Law of Attraction, also known as the Law of Belief.In simple words, this Law states that "you get exactly what you believe", "it is done unto you as you believe", "be it done unto you according to your faith", "your deeply held beliefs are materializing your reality"."you materialize on all planes the subconscious beliefs held in your subconscious mind".Let's see if we can share some light on this Law and winning the Lottery.(1) Some state there is no such thing as LUCK. That is their BELIEF. These people have no luck at all.(2) Others keep repeating this sentence preached by so many gurus and so called experts: "Luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity". These are the ones who want to impress people with the HARD WORK they NEED to performin order to achieve their goals. They glorify working real hard, struggling against all odds, and all that NONSENSE. They just don't know any better. The idea of things being EASY and even FUN never crosses their minds. Their BELIEF is that they must work real hard for anything they achieve.(3) Then, there are those who are just plain LUCKY. They keep winning in contests, bingo games, raffles. They always get parking spaces right in front of the places they want to go to. Happy events keep materializing in their lives without them really making any efforts whatsoever. People who know them keep commenting on how LUCKY they are. That reinforces their beliefs that they are LUCKY. And they keep getting LUCKIER by the day.If you analyze those three examples, they all have ONE common factor: BELIEF.The first group BELIEVES there is no such thing as LUCK. And
The complaint states that the revenues were dubious at best and claimed that “whenever a two-way set of transactions occurs in which a company acts as the lender and service provider, an investor lacks assurance as to whether the related parties would have made a similar decision regarding purchases in the absence of financing from the company”. They claimed that because of this it was not possible to get an accurate measure of the real demand for Verisign’s products.
The complaint also alleges that the defendants misrepresented the company’s prospects and failed to properly disclose improper acts until they were able to sell at least $26 million of their own stock, and also to buy companies in stock-for-stock transactions. Verisign violated Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Securities Exchange rules by engaging in improper barter transactions. These activities dramatically overstated the company’s margins in its financial statements.
The final complaint states that in addition to the above activities, the defendants had other material information that they concealed from the plaintiffs. The defendants concealed an acquisition because they wanted the public to get the impression that the company’s revenue growth was organic when in fact it was not. Statements were made concerning the company’s ability to grow its operating margins that were “simply impossible”. The integration of two acquisitions was a disaster and clients began to decline rather than grow as the defendants had stated. Other information that was withheld by the defendants included; quickly losing market share to the competitors because of outrageous prices, the company’s web certificate business would post zero growth for the year, the ESP division would post zero organic growth and the fact that 100% of the growth was from acquisitions, the domain name business was losing customers at the rate of 11,000 per day, contrary to statements made by the defendants recent acquisitions would cost $80 million more than expected, receivables were dubious and allowance for doubtful accounts had increased five times over the prior period and lastly the company manipulated its Days Sales Outstanding to paint a rosier picture.
Issues
Plaintiffs argue five key categories of misrepresentations:
1. Defendants inflated accounts receivable, revenue and deferred revenue by improperly accounting for two-year auto-renewals on domain names, and acquired deferred revenue.
2. Defendants used improper accounting to recognize revenue on roundtrip and barter transactions.
3. Defendants failed to adequately reserve for uncollectible delinquent receivables thereby overstating earnings.
4. Defendants misreported domain name registrations by concealing the number of free and promotional registrations and two-year auto-renewal registrations.
5. Defendants overstated earnings by failing to properly account for long-term investments in non-public companies and by failing to record impairment charges on many investments.
Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that VeriSign recognized $27 million in barter transactions, $10.5 million in reciprocal transactions, $64 million by roundtrip transactions and $12 million by improper accounting practices. Plaintiffs further allege that VeriSign failed to follow GAAP in terms of recording a $74 million impairment charge.
Defendants argue that companies regularly disclose their true financial condition and their stock price declines when they fail to meet the ma
The UTIP project should be highly commended for making this data accessible online at no cost. At a glance, it appears that when FDI inflows increase, inequality decreases in Malaysia.Economists claim that FDI is both good and bad for income inequality, depending on the type of FDI that a nation attracts. FDI improves income inequality if much of the flows create employment for the masses, especially the low-skilled, thus boosting their income.FDI tends to worsen inequality when it flows into industries that are high-tech and it does not create much employment for the masses.Some economists attribute increasing income inequality in Thailand in the late 1980s to FDI inflows into capital-intensive and relatively skill-intensive chemical, machinery and electrical manufacturing sectors.This suggests that FDI was unlikely to have reduced wage inequality, which would have resulted in lower income inequality since wages are a large part of income.The neo-liberal camp argues that FDI is good for improving income inequality while the neo-Marxist camp argues that FDI has a negative impact on income distribution in the long run.My model (using data from sources including UTIP, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and World Bank’s World Development Indicators) suggests that FDI has helped to reduce income inequality in Malaysia from 1970 through 1999.In fact, it did more to reduce inequality levels than Gross Domestic Investment.One of the reasons for attracting FDI is to "balance" development in Malaysia. My model suggests that the FDI is having this effect.But since my research lumps both public and private investment together, I am unable to o
The final complaint states that in addition to the above activities, the defendants had other material information that they concealed from the plaintiffs. The defendants concealed an acquisition because they wanted the public to get the impression that the company’s revenue growth was organic when in fact it was not. Statements were made concerning the company’s ability to grow its operating margins that were “simply impossible”. The integration of two acquisitions was a disaster and clients began to decline rather than grow as the defendants had stated. Other information that was withheld by the defendants included; quickly losing market share to the competitors because of outrageous prices, the company’s web certificate business would post zero growth for the year, the ESP division would post zero organic growth and the fact that 100% of the growth was from acquisitions, the domain name business was losing customers at the rate of 11,000 per day, contrary to statements made by the defendants recent acquisitions would cost $80 million more than expected, receivables were dubious and allowance for doubtful accounts had increased five times over the prior period and lastly the company manipulated its Days Sales Outstanding to paint a rosier picture.
Issues
Plaintiffs argue five key categories of misrepresentations:
1. Defendants inflated accounts receivable, revenue and deferred revenue by improperly accounting for two-year auto-renewals on domain names, and acquired deferred revenue.
2. Defendants used improper accounting to recognize revenue on roundtrip and barter transactions.
3. Defendants failed to adequately reserve for uncollectible delinquent receivables thereby overstating earnings.
4. Defendants misreported domain name registrations by concealing the number of free and promotional registrations and two-year auto-renewal registrations.
5. Defendants overstated earnings by failing to properly account for long-term investments in non-public companies and by failing to record impairment charges on many investments.
Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that VeriSign recognized $27 million in barter transactions, $10.5 million in reciprocal transactions, $64 million by roundtrip transactions and $12 million by improper accounting practices. Plaintiffs further allege that VeriSign failed to follow GAAP in terms of recording a $74 million impairment charge.
Defendants argue that companies regularly disclose their true financial condition and their stock price declines when they fail to meet the ma
Whistleblowing as we know it is not a development of the late 20th century. The council of the city-state of Venice instituted a form of whistleblowing to help fight corruption and to give citizens a more meaningful voice in their government.Employees or franchisees do come across acts of dishonesty, fraud, corruption, theft, and transactions in prohibited goods, violence, and damage to property or plain unethical behaviour. If such activity is reported, undesirable repercussions can be avoided.Illegal, Immoral or illegitimate practices ranging from under-reported sales to misappropriation or pilferage of stock or non-compliance can undermine an organisation and, in severe cases, severally erode its brand and reputation in the marketplace. SMEs are particularly vulnerable as they are less likely to be audited or to employ measures to detect and avoid such dishonest actions.In many cases, if classified information is available and whistleblowers protection guaranteed, financial losses might be lower – at least corrective action can be taken more swiftly. Fraudulent activity is more likely to be detected by a tip through other means such as internal and external audits. According to a study conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, confidential reporting mechanisms significantly reduce the intensity of such damage.By setting up a whistleblower protection program, a franchisor can demonstrate its commitment to active governance and risk mitigation, safeguard the integrity of the system and promote belief in its values and principles.Forming an Effective Whistleblower Program An effectual whistleblower program will allow a franchisor to identify illegitimate conduct before it occurs or before
Issues
Plaintiffs argue five key categories of misrepresentations:
1. Defendants inflated accounts receivable, revenue and deferred revenue by improperly accounting for two-year auto-renewals on domain names, and acquired deferred revenue.
2. Defendants used improper accounting to recognize revenue on roundtrip and barter transactions.
3. Defendants failed to adequately reserve for uncollectible delinquent receivables thereby overstating earnings.
4. Defendants misreported domain name registrations by concealing the number of free and promotional registrations and two-year auto-renewal registrations.
5. Defendants overstated earnings by failing to properly account for long-term investments in non-public companies and by failing to record impairment charges on many investments.
Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that VeriSign recognized $27 million in barter transactions, $10.5 million in reciprocal transactions, $64 million by roundtrip transactions and $12 million by improper accounting practices. Plaintiffs further allege that VeriSign failed to follow GAAP in terms of recording a $74 million impairment charge.
Defendants argue that companies regularly disclose their true financial condition and their stock price declines when they fail to meet the ma
Even though there is still cold weather in some parts of the country, winter is officially over and the spring season is here! For many, spring is the time to do a thorough cleaning to get rid of all the dust, soil and build-up that has collected over the winter months. Spring is a time you can promote the special "spring cleaning" services that your cleaning company provides, and in the process bring in more profit!Spring is a great time to remind your residential and commercial customers that you offer carpet spotting and carpet cleaning services. This is especially true if you are in an area of the country where the long winter has caused snow, sand and ice melt to be tracked in (and ground in) to a building's carpets. Hard floors may also have suffered throughout the winter months with sand and ice melt coming in off shoes and boots. Do some of your buildings have hard floors that need to be stripped and refinished? Now is the time to get everything sparkling clean, and shiny floors make a great impression.Many cleaning companies "spot clean" the inside windows, but customers often ignore windows throughout the winter. After several months the building's windows may have a build up from melting snow, dust, dirt and other debris. Spring is a great time to offer your window cleaning services - both inside and out. And don't forget window screens. Many homes and offices leave screens on the windows during the winter months, so these will also need to be cleaned. This is a separate charge from the window washing price.If you clean appliances, now is a good time to remind your clients that you can deep-clean microwaves, refrigerators, and ovens. Just remember that in a commercial setting, you should post the date you wi
3. Defendants failed to adequately reserve for uncollectible delinquent receivables thereby overstating earnings.
4. Defendants misreported domain name registrations by concealing the number of free and promotional registrations and two-year auto-renewal registrations.
5. Defendants overstated earnings by failing to properly account for long-term investments in non-public companies and by failing to record impairment charges on many investments.
Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that VeriSign recognized $27 million in barter transactions, $10.5 million in reciprocal transactions, $64 million by roundtrip transactions and $12 million by improper accounting practices. Plaintiffs further allege that VeriSign failed to follow GAAP in terms of recording a $74 million impairment charge.
Defendants argue that companies regularly disclose their true financial condition and their stock price declines when they fail to meet the market expectations. Defendants further argue that Plaintiffs fail to allege that April 25, 2002 disclosure was responsible for the decline in stock price or revelation of any fraud by the company. The disclosure that causes the stock price to decline must be the subject matter of the misstatements or omissions that are the basis for plaintiffs’ securities fraud claims.
The Defendants site Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Broudo, 125 S. Ct. 1627, 1634 (2005) as an example. The Court held, however, that the complaint failed to claim “that Dura’s share price fell significantly after the truth became known,” and thus failed to provide defendants with notice of the causal connection between any economic loss and the alleged misrepresentation.
In another example of Tellium Inc, where the company suddenly reveled in January 2002 that it needed new customers to achieve its $288 million revenue guidance even after repeated assurances about its sales commitments, the Defendants pointed out the following. The court held that these allegations did not plead loss causation because “[p]laintiffs have failed to allege that the concealed scheme was ever disclosed to the market, thereby affecting the price of Tellium’s stock.”
Based on Plaintiffs inability to allege a causal connection between the alleged fraud and their alleged losses, the Defendants appealed that their motion should be granted. The courts found that the Plaintiffs have pled loss causation only with respect to the first category of fraud, namely, improper revenue recognition and misstatements of reciprocal and related party transactions. Hence the Plaintiffs continued to plead through future amendments trying to establish loss causation. On the contrary, the Defendants argued motion to dismiss on the pretext that the Plaintiffs were unable to establish loss causation by repeatedly stating that even though the market was unaware of the fraudulent scheme, April 25, 2002 disclosure was responsible for the price decline.
Court’s Findings Rule 10b-5 Claims
The court applies this rule that investors have a right to action if the company uses materially false or misleading statements that leads to harm of those who buy or sell that particular security. The claim must state a material representation, scienter, a purchase or sale of the security related to that representation, reliance on the information, and a loss caused by that reliance. In this case the “defendants do not challenge that the misstatements or omissions were made in connection with the purchase, reliance on those misstatements or omissions or that they suffered an economic loss.” Along with the 10b-5 requirements, securities fraud allegations must adhere to Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (In re Advanta, 180 F.3d at 531) of “(1) a specific false representation of material fact, (2) knowledge by person who made it that it was false, (3) ignorance of its falsity, (4) intention that it should be acted on, and (5) that plaintiffs action upon it to his damage.” Therefore, the court must decide on materiality, misrepresentations or omissions, scienter, and the loss causation.
Materiality
Both the parties rely on Oran v. Stafford, 226 F.3d at 282 that for a fact to be material the disclosure of bad news must cause a decline in stock price. The court ruled that although there was not an immediate decline in stock price since from the partial disclosures that he negative information could have been displaced by what the market appeared as good news. Defendants held that Ieradi v. Mylan Lab 230 F.3d 594 ruling of the initial disclosure would be sufficient and following admissions would be insignificant in the total mix of information available. The court disagrees because in this case the market hardly reac
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