Areas for Improvement in the Federal Reserve Banks’ Information System Controls

Second ghostly galaxy without dark matter discovered, first confirmed Astronomy

Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management.

“Time management” is not a solution — it’s actually part of the problem via BC

New York Sues Sackler Family Members and Drug Distributors NYT

Like Velvet Revolution of 1989 Political change can feel elusive, until the dam bursts FT. First slowly, then all at once

Multi-property owning landlords grow as negative gearing wanes

The proportion of Australians losing money on rental homes is falling but new figures reveal a growing number of people with at least three properties.

The ETF Tax Dodge Is Wall Street’s “Dirty Little Secret” Bloomberg

Inquiry into Paladin expanded to cover all Manus and Nauru contracts
The Guardian by Christopher Knaus, Helen Davidson
Monday 1st April 2019 at 2.08pm
Auditor general to assess whether offshore processing services procurement has been
‘appropriately managed’

Actually, it's not always clear what the law is 

ASIC chairman James Shipton's demand for banks to “obey the law” sounds like a truism, but when it comes to financial services regulation, it's ...

Paul Krugman’s incredible invisibility trick

NICHOLAS GRUEN: Paul Krugman keeps reporting that economists ignored things that were kind of obvious. Well, that’s in hindsight. But everyone’s wise in hindsight.



"I have hesitated to write on the Manafort sentencing principally because, although Manafort was convicted of tax crimes and FBAR crime that may related somewhat to tax crimes, the gravamen of the cases against him involved nontax offenses that most would consider more serious than the tax offenses.  His sentences in both cases reflected the more serious offenses.  So, I am not sure what I could  offer readers interested in criminal tax sentencing."

On the Manafort Sentences and Tax Crimes Sentencing 

Bank Hapaolim Increases Its Reserve for U.S. DOJ Tax Investigation 

DOJ Tax and Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltd. (Israel) Reach DPA

11th Circuit Affirms Convictions of Promoters of Insurance Premium Scam Bullshit Tax Shelter

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse ("TRAC"), a great resource for information about the federal government (see here), has this offering, here, from yesterday, titled Seeing Justice Done: The Impact of the Judge on Sentencing.  Key excerpt:

TRAC Report on Sentencing Discretion and Disparity 

Eighth Circuit Affirms Tax Obstruction Conviction without Proper Marinello Jury Instructions

9th Circuit Affirms Convictions for Tax Perjury, § 7206(1) 

In United States v. Hardy, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 8336 (9th Cir. 2019) (unpublished), here and here, the Court affirmed the Hardy's conviction for three counts of tax perjury, § 7206(1).  The opinion is short and to the point (just over 3 pages).  Students and new tax crimes enthusiasts likely would enjoy the read, because it is informative as to some basic points.

I just pick two to cut and paste:

1. "Good faith reliance on a qualified accountant has long been a defense to willfulness in cases of tax fraud and evasion." United States v. Bishop, 291 F.3d 1100, 1106 (9th Cir. 2002). We have made clear, however, that if "the trial court adequately instructs on specific intent, the failure to give an additional instruction on good faith reliance upon expert advice is not reversible error." United States v. Dorotich, 900 F.2d 192, 194 (9th Cir. 1990) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The district court adequately instructed the jury on specific intent, telling it that the government was required to prove both specific intent and that Hardy did not have a good faith belief that he was complying with the law. The district court therefore did not abuse its discretion by declining to give Hardy's requested instruction about reliance on the advice of an accountant. 

Areas for Improvement in the Federal Reserve Banks’ Information System Controls

Management Report: Areas for Improvement in the Federal Reserve Banks’ Information System Controls, GAO-19-304R: Published: Mar 26, 2019. Publicly Released: Mar 26, 2019. “Every year we audit the federal debt. (As of Sept. 30, 2018, it was a little more than $21.5 trillion). This year our audit found new weaknesses in the security of the information systems that the Treasury Department uses to keep track of and otherwise manage the debt—including one in a Federal Reserve Bank system that Treasury relies on. This new weakness, along with some unresolved earlier ones, could lead to an increased risk of unauthorized access to Federal Reserve Bank systems.”

As Mueller Finds No Collusion, Did Press Overhype Russiagate? Glenn Greenwald vs. David Cay Johnston DemocracyNow! (JohnnyGL). Anyone with an operating brain cell should know better than to go up against Greenwald. But Johnston refused to back down, insists Trump is a Russian asset, that he has divided loyalties between the US and the Kremlin


Robert Mueller’s Probe Was an Unmitigated Success Atlantic. Resilc: “Matt Taibibi is right. Never wrong, just like WMDs.”

  ANZ has identified the canary in the coal mine, citing ‘client privacy’ as a major stumbling block for the banks to meet the standards set by the NPP.  Amid growing awareness of the "digital trails" being left by electronic spending, banks including ANZ have developed sophisticated systems that categorise spending by customers in areas the bank does not want to "see", such as going to a medical specialist. Even the ACCC, which is regulating the regime, said it remained unclear how all the new data sets would ultimately be used.

ANZ cautious on client data