The Commodity Futures Tradding Commission filed a lawsuit today against Cornelius Johannes Steynberg and Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI), charging them with fraud and registration violations. The complaint accuses Steynberg of engaging in an international fraudulent multilevel marketing (MLM) scheme that brought in 29,421 BTC, worth over $1.7 billion. The agency says Steynberg also used his company MTI in the scheme, which ran for nearly three years from May 18, 2018, through March 30, 2021. The little trading that Defendants did was unprofitable, and they misappropriated essentially all of the at least 29,421 Bitcoin accepted from participants.

Fraudsters often take full advantage of new technology, global connectivity, and perceived lack of a cop on the beat to perpetrate their scams.

Full Article: https://decrypt.co/104223/cftc-declares-its-largest-fraud-scheme-case-involving-bitcoin-worth-over-1-7-billion

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Yes, they tried to scam me with a fake mediation. I had a Korean women contact me telling me that her and her husband had received a divorce in Korea, they are both now in the United States. The settlement was for $800K and the husband had only received half. Could I help her by mediating the remaining portion of the settlement agreement. So we had an agreement to mediate, I contacted the husband and he wanted to mediate. I was able to get an agreement on the terms for the final payment of the settlement, they both signed a Memorandum of Understanding with clear methods and payments and dates. The husband insisted that they money be sent to me. I said no, I am not acting as an attorney, the money needs to go directly to your former wife. He responded, but she has no means to accept payment, so it has to go through you. I told him that would not happen. The due date for the first payment has come and gone, and both wife and husband has stopped communicating with me. What they were trying to do is get information about my bank account and were running a scam. I have now learned that you have to screen clients that come in for mediation. Even mediators have scammers after them.

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Ernst & Young, one of the top accounting firms in the world, is being fined $100 million by federal regulators after admitting its employees cheated on their ethics exams. For years, the firm's auditors had cheated to pass key exams that are needed for certified public accountant licenses, the Securities and Exchange Commission found. Earnst & Young also had internal reports about the cheating but didn't disclose the wrongdoing to regulators during the investigation. "It's simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things." Gurbir S. Grawal, director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, said in a release.

Today's podcast is on ethics. Ethically thinking, it's not that difficult.

Full Story: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/28/1108044858/accounting-giant-ernst-young-admits-its-employees-cheated-on-ethics-exams

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As a mediator that gets involved in workplace disputes, I am very familiar with the fact that politics is not an ethical entity and that it creates conflicts within companies who do not have the same belief as their company executives. In fact I ran a survey several months ago asking the question on how many employees were exposed to politics in the workplace. 65% said they ad. Abortion is a very touchy subject and will create even great conflicts, not just with employees but with the shareholders and customers. Wokeness offends people who have a different belief. CEO's become irresponsible when they mix business with politics. Abortion is one of the most heated debates in the nation, creating conflict on the streets, at pro-life clinics, churches and discrimination against people who believe in life. Conflict costs businesses great amounts of money every year because of workplace conflicts.

It is important there needs to be places where people can go and do their job without having politics being part of it. It is unfair to the employee because if he believes differently he will be attacked inside the office. The other issue is that by paying for travel to abortions means that other employees will be paying for something that could have been paid out in bonuses and higher wages. Even the stockholders now are paying for abortions to happen. This is not the role of the business to support abortions.

Wokeness never works and people get tired of always having to be in the presence of politics. Politics is not an ethical entity, it creates disputes, conflicts, and even violence. Leave the abortion wokeness out of business before you do too much damage to your workforce and brand.

If you want more access to me, I do mediate workplace disputes, go to: www.lodge-co.com

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41% of small businesses said they are experiencing a large increase in prices over the past six months. And about 79% were experiencing at least a moderate increase. But some locations were experiencing these hikes at an even greater rate. Supply Chain is still the dynamic issue creating these costs to go up and passed onto the consumer.

Full Article: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/inflation-is-hitting-small-businesses-hardest-in-these-cities-and-states-11656083444?mod=flipboard_pf

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65% of workers experience political conflict in the workplace. To make sure your office and business is free from workplace conflict that involves politics, you need to have a policy in your handbook that addresses keeping politics out of the office, set the rules that everyone has to follow.

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As we go into the final months of November politics, we have to be prepared for violence. Small Businesses need to lawyer up and protect their businesses from these violent protestors and politicians that refuse to stop the violence. You can fight back legally as a group.

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Today's decision from the Supreme Court on Roe v. Wade did not end abortion. What it did is put that decision to abort in the hands of the states, all 50 of them. That is how it was before a liberal court stepped in on Roe v. Wade and made it a Federal issue. It was always, per the constitution, the responsibility of each individual state to decide how they would handle the issue of abortion. It was never the federal government role to decide for the states. So abortion did not end, it just got sent back to the states to decide on abortion issues.

Now, if you are advocating violence, like AOC and Maxine Waters is doing on the steps of the Court, they are wrong and you are wrong. Violence will never give your views the message or right, it points in the wrong direction. If you are upset because you think you can't kill babies so it is ok to go out and kill other people on abortion, then you are wrong. Evil leads to more evil. Think before you speak. Think before you act. The consitution is very clear on the role of the federal government not over reaching on State rights. And that is what this decision did. It is not up to each individual state to make the decision on abortions in their own state, and it is your voice that will lead in whatever direction you believe in. That is America.

I condemn President Biden and all the other politicians that today set off anger with their words. America is not a place where you divide a nation. And with the words of a President we see no unity of a nation.

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Not much in the tank? President Biden this week called on Congress to pass a 3-month suspension of the federal gasoline tax. With lawmakers and economists alike balking at the gas tax gimmick, it isn't likely to pass. But it's still worth considering whether the proposed gas tax holiday is sound tax policy.

Don't overinflate the tires. Rising gas prices are certainly one piece of the inflation puzzle - but suspending the federal gas tax is a uniquely ill-suited policy for addressing rising prices. If policymakers are looking to change the tax code to help fight inflation, they should pump the brakes on a gas tax holiday and instead consider structural reforms at the federal and state levels.

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There is a shift happening in the housing market. After more than a year of of soaring demand, exploding home prices and increasing real estate sales, the market finally seems to be cooling off. The five signs are:

1. The inventory of homes for sale is growing
2. More price cuts
3. Real estate companies are laying people off
4. mortgage applications are down

Google says it's time for longtime small-business users to pay up. So if you are using their colander or email, or other free products they offer, it is now going to start costing small businesses.

Canada announced yesterday that if you want to haul goods you may have to get a new truck to meet emissions demands by government. We have the same issue here in the United States, they have adopted the same rules in some states (California). Some truckers have left the trucking industry because of these new demands and the government is so stupid to do this when both countries have a supply chain issue and inflation. This creates a supply chain attack on the higher costs to consumers. Government doing stupid things again.

To see these stories go to: https://flipboard.com/@lodgeco/michael-lodge-the-business-advisor-vt0agg1bz

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