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Memo to the President: Don't pardon these crooks

I have not always agreed with your policies. But we're all human. You even apologized for the financial crisis and the Iraq War. This makes me think you've got legacy on your mind. If so, consider this: there is no way that pardoning Mike Milken, Bernie Ebbers and Conrad Black before you leave office will boost your legacy.

Granted, those pardons would be far less significant to historians than the things you've already apologized for, but why add to your post-presidential aggravation? Here are the reasons not to pardon these three:

  • Milken - As i posted, Milken paid $650 million in fines and went to jail from March 1991 until January 1993 for securities law violations. He's a white-collar crook who's spent decades trying to burnish his image. It has not worked on me.
  • Ebbers - Bernie Ebbers was convicted of orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud that brought WorldCom into bankruptcy, making it the second biggest in history. Lehman Brothers' recent $639 billion tops the list.
  • Black - Black formerly headed Hollinger International Inc and was a member of Britain's House of Lords. He was found guilty of defrauding shareholders and entered prison in March 2008.

Continue reading Memo to the President: Don't pardon these crooks

'Natural male enhancement' founder gets enhanced prison sentence

Oh, if I had never seen those obnoxious "Smiling Bob" commercials...

It's the weirdest thing; it's like we never grew out of those days when peddlers went from town to town selling one bogus potion or another. Somehow, despite regulations and laws, many of those fraudsters still manage to pull the wool over so many eyes and sell their products by the millions. Perhaps it's the promised hope that we just can't resist.

Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals is one such company, known for making and marketing Enzyte, the so-called "once a day natural male enhancement" -- whatever that means. From the commercials it can mean anything from self confidence to bigger appendages, I guess, but it's called a sexual enhancement.

Good news, though. The founder of Berkeley, Steve Warshak, joined the infamous WorldCom's Ebbers and Enron's Skilling with his own 25-year jail sentence on Wednesday. He was convicted earlier this year on 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

Continue reading 'Natural male enhancement' founder gets enhanced prison sentence

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Last updated: November 11, 2009: 09:00 AM

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