An internal probe and preliminary criminal investigation, regarding alleged misappropriation of funds, has resulted in a lifetime ban against Tyrone Freeman, now the former head of United Long-Term Care Workers Union. Freeman, who had ostensibly served the interests of approximately 190,000 union members, who each earn an average wage of about $9 per hour, has also been ordered to repay more than $1 million of allegedly misdirected funds.

Some of the indicated misappropriations involved Freeman's directing of questionable payments to the businesses of both his spouse and her mother, among others. Additionally, some of the transactions which are being investigated involve payments which Freeman had allegedly directed to himself.

The Los Angeles Times, which originally broke this story in August, outlines the results of an internal probe which has been conducted by Service Employees International Union (SEIU). LA Times reports: "The SEIU's inquiry included hearings conducted by former California Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grodin. His report to (SEIU President, Andy Stern) stated that Freeman had engaged in a pattern of financial malpractice and self-dealing."

Chalk up another problem for Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), the failing online retailer run by the wacky CEO Patrick Byrne. Yet this law enforcement investigation doesn't appear to come with any "celebration" by Byrne.

Byrne is usually proud of the company's failures, but the announcement of the latest law enforcement investigation was buried deep in a press release about the latest set of quarterly losses: On April 15, 2008, we received a letter from the Office of the District Attorney of Marin County, California, stating that the District Attorneys of Marin and four other counties in California have begun an investigation into the way we advertise products for sale, together with an administrative subpoena seeking related information and documents. We follow industry advertising practices and we intend to respond fully to the subpoena and cooperate with the investigation.

This investigation is in addition to the ongoing investigation by the SEC, as well as the litigation between Overstock and Gradient Analytics. Gradient sharply criticized Overstock in its research reports and Byrne and company cried that the reports were not true. (Oddly enough, the company still has not turned a profit several years later, and is still a horrible investment.)

Note to Patrick Byrne: Those who have bad things to say about Overstock, its business model, its operations, and its never-ending financial losses aren't necessarily short sellers who are trying to profit off bad news. Many of them are realists who have figured out how awful your company is. Sorry, but sometimes the truth hurts.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE, performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) is under investigation for possible securities fraud. People close to the situation say the inquiry is in its early stages but it involves an inquiry into alleged misrepresentations of the company's financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans.
• The Financial Times reported that Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) has teamed up with three leading academics to create products that will deal with the potentially lucrative hedge fund replication industry. The upcoming suite of products will attempt to mechanically replicate the returns of the major hedge fund strategies.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Rio Tinto Plc (NYSE: RTP) is expected to announce this week that its aluminum business is worth up to $20B more than current estimates, after a rise in aluminum prices; the UK Times reported that the statement could raise pressure on BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) to increase its takeover bid for Rio.
• Asset manager Ameriprise Financial Inc (NYSE: AMP) is pairing up with MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA), the Associated Press reported, to become a credit card lender for the first time, the two companies reportedly plan to announce today.

Could there be any worse fate for an Olympic level athlete than to be stripped of their statistics and medals? Yes, there could be worse things. Just ask former Olympic track star Marion Jones which is worse, losing your medals or being forced to tell your mother you have to sell her house.

Are these professional quality athletes really so stupid as to believe that if they get pinched for using banned performance enhancing drugs they'll get away with just a slap on the wrist? I don't think it's that simple. I'm sure that Marion Jones knew what she was doing was seriously wrong and I feel certain that she knew if she got busted, the truth would come with a very high price. Now, amid all the investigations and scandal, she's finding out just how high priced skirting the truth can really be.

For her misdeeds, Marion Jones has been required to forfeit all five of her medals from the 2000 summer Olympics and has been told to repay approximately $700,000 of her prize money. All of her standings and statistics beginning at September 1, 2000, shall be red-lined in the record books and her medals from other competitions have been taken away also.

According to a story in the San Jose Mercury, the California Attorney General's office is making an offer to former chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Patricia Dunn (and others involved) to drop the felony charges to a misdemeanor.

Of course, last year, Dunn was in the middle of a firestorm because of her efforts to investigate HP's board. Apparently, the company hired various firms that used tactics like pretexting -- a way to get personal records by impersonating someone.

But it's never easy to prove criminal activity in the boardroom. After all, executives and board members rely on highly qualified (and highly paid) advisors.

True, a misdemeanor charge is much better than felony charges, which could mean jail time, but as for Dunn, she has ovarian cancer and may have nothing to lose -- but to fight it out.

Also, the fact that California is willing to be fairly lenient may be an indication that its case is so-so.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Despite the media circus over HP's investigation of its board (now being called "HPGate"), the company's stock has been solid. After all, it looked like the company's CEO, Mark Hurd, had plausible deniability on his side.

Well, that changed today, as HP's stock fell 3.5% to $35.49. According to a Wall Street Journal story it appears that Hurd had involvement in the investigation. The evidence has come from emails, some of which go to early this year. In fact, Hurd made suggestions on which HP board members to spy on.

Interestingly enough, one of the whacky plans apparently was to trump-up a fake new product – a handheld device – and send the story to a reporter at CNET. The idea was to see if there would be communication with someone back at HP so as to smoke-out leakers.

There's no question that Hurd has been a standout CEO. So, if he gets embroiled in the scandal it is likely to mean tough times for HP's stock. To try to quell rumors, Hurd is giving a press conference tomorrow after the market close. And, of course, he will have his attorney with him.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

In the digital age, it's getting easier to investigate matters. As for Patricia Dunn , the former Chairman of Hewlett-Packard, she led an investigation that used some of these new-fangled techniques to snoop on the company's board. Now, it appears that some of the practices may even be illegal (that is, according to California's Attorney General).

Ironically, it looks like these e-investigation techniques are being used against Dunn. In fact, according to a Wall Street Journal piece, Dunn was fully-engaged in the investigation of the board – since the summer of 2005. And, yes, this comes from lots of internal HP emails (funny enough, it has been Dunn's contention that she has been hands-off with the investigation because of possible conflict-of-interest issues).

It even looks like the former CEO of HP, Carly Fiorina, was part of Dunn's investigation.

Other juicy tidbits: There was discussion to see if text messages of board members could be captured. Also, there was talk about planting informants at a couple news organizations, such as CNET.

True, Dunn had legitimate concerns about her board, which certainly had problems of leaking confidential information.

But, as more and more information about the investigation comes out, it appears that Dunn was too aggressive. In fact, some of HP's own experts had indicated to her that the investigative practices were pushing things too far.

Of course, this is now a moot point.

Basically, in the digital age, one thing is very clear: emails are forever. As the investigation at HP continues, expect more intriguing details to emerge.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.