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Three individuals - including a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker - were charged Thursday with felonies as part of the ongoing John Doe investigation into Walker staffers. Tim Russell, a longtime Walker campaign and county staffer, was charged with two felonies and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said the charges are tied to Operation Freedom, an annual military appreciation day held at the zoo. Chisholm said some of the stolen money was intended for the families of Wisconsin soldiers who were killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Funds also were used...

A church secretary was charged Tuesday with embezzling more than $200,000 from her Oak Creek congregation. The Milwaukee County district attorney's office accused Darlene Vodvarka, 57, of Oak Creek, of stealing $217,483 over seven years from her employer, St. Matthew Catholic Church, 9303 S. Chicago Road. Vodvarka, who worked for the church for about 14 years, is charged with two counts of felony theft of more than $10,000. If convicted of both counts, she could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined up to $50,000. A church official had confirmed in September that a theft investigation...

Has anybody know anything as to why Cantor tabled the Inside Trading Bill. He said something about the bill needs more looking into? Hay, Cantor let me write the bill. Even a Elected Elite would understand. 1)All Federal elected personal and immediate family are subject to inside trading laws and bribing laws. 2)All Federal employees and immediate family are subject to inside trading laws and bribing laws. 3)All Non Paid Staff members and immediate family are subject to inside trading laws and bribing laws.

Thankfully, at least one man in the federal government has been awfully busy on behalf of the American taxpayer: The Energy Department's inspector general has launched more than 100 criminal investigations related to 2009 economic stimulus spending. In written testimony prepared for delivery to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said the investigations have involved "various schemes, including the submission of false information, claims for unallowable or unauthorized expenses, and other improper uses of Recovery Act funds."So far, the investigations have led to five criminal prosecutions and brought in "over $2.3 million in monetary...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein's re-election campaign estimated on Friday that she is missing nearly $4.7 million because of unauthorized disbursements by her former campaign treasurer, Kinde Durkee. The campaign filed its first report with the Federal Election Commission since Durkee's arrest last month, providing the first official glimpse of the potential financial toll on candidates who employed the longtime Democratic campaign treasurer. Feinstein's campaign reported that it has nearly $6 million in the bank, but that's mostly due to a $5 million loan Feinstein injected into the account after the embezzlement case broke. The campaign believed it had...

A top Iranian banker who resigned amid a massive embezzlement scandal, one that has soured the political fortunes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has fled the country and is reported to be in the Toronto area – where a $3-million home is owned in his name. The scandal is described as the biggest fraud in that country’s history. The amounts of money involved exceed even the $2-billion loss the Swiss bank UBS recently sustained due to a rogue trader.

Iran's Press TV is reporting that Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the head of Bank Melli, fled to Canada after resigning for his alleged role in the embezzlement scandal Our columnist Muhammad Sahimi compiled the following news items and commentary: The Ministry of Economic and Financial Affairs announced that several senior banking officials have been sacked in the wake of the embezzlement of close to $3 billion. According to the statement by the ministry's public relations office, Mahmoud Reza Khavari (pictured), chief operating officer of Bank Melli -- Iran's largest bank -- and Farzad Ahmadi, a member of the bank's board of...

An audit of the Federal Reserve has revealed that the privately owned Federal Reserve secretly doled out more than $16 trillion in zero interest loans to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world. The non-partisan, investigative arm of Congress also determined that the Fed acted illegally. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to its employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans. The report is evidence that reveals major securities fraud...

An information request by The Daily Telegraph has established that 70 per cent of EU staff, more than 38,000 thousand people, claim an "expatriation" allowance paid to compensate them for living abroad. The perk, which is paid as an automatic flat rate of 16 per cent of salary, lasts throughout the career of an EU official and is worth an extra £30,000 a year to those earning the highest annual pay grade of £185,000. Unlike the private sector or other institutions, such as the Foreign Office, the allowance is paid, without any requirement of proof, for the entire working life...

Allegations of fraud against a veteran California campaign treasurer have sent shock waves through the state’s Democratic congressional delegation, as lawmakers who used Kinde Durkee to keep track of their finances are now scrambling to find out whether their money has disappeared.While Durkee has not been formally charged at this point, she is in jail in California and has been accused in an FBI criminal complaint of trying to defraud a state representative out of $677,000. On top of that, California Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s office tells POLITICO that her campaign account, managed by Durkee, has been virtually emptied out.

Federal authorities have arrested an accountant who has served as treasurer on hundreds of political campaigns, the Ocean County Register reports. Kindee Durkee, whose clients have included Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) as well as state legislators and L.A. City Council members, is being held on mail fraud charges. Durkee is expected to make her first court appearance on Tuesday. The charge against her is reportedly related to her work with a member of the California assembly, but the full criminal complaint against her has not yet been posted. Durkee was arrested at the office of...

The San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series thanks to great pitching performances from Tim Lincecum(notes), Matt Cain(notes) and Brian Wilson(notes). And they got timely offensive contributions from the likes of rookie Buster Posey(notes), Aubrey Huff(notes) and Juan Uribe(notes). You remember those guys. How could anyone forget? And what about Robin O'Connor, a payroll department manager? There's no way the Giants get past the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS without her.

The former treasurer of Goochland County, Va., who has pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $200,000 in public funds, funneled the money to a shadowy figure in Nigeria, according to a Virginia state audit released Monday and the prosecutor in the case. Brenda Grubbs was arrested on Feb. 2 for attempted embezzlement and effectively resigned her position on Feb. 11. She pleaded guilty to a 20-count indictment earlier this month. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13, and she faces life in prison. The audit, conducted by the state Auditor of Public Accounts, said Grubbs stole the money through a series of...

The treasurer of the AFSCME union at the state Department of Labor and Industry drained the union's bank account of more than $13,000, a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court alleges. Carrie Christine Rohling, 42, of White Bear Lake told fellow employees in Local 2672 that she had a drinking and prescription drug problem. She was charged with two counts of felony theft. "I know it was wrong for me to do that," Rohling said Friday when contacted by a reporter. "I was still thinking I could pay these guys back before they would even notice it was...

A federal grand jury has indicted two former top officials at a charter school in Northwest Philadelphia on charges of stealing $522,000 in taxpayer funds. The 27-count indictment charges Hugh C. Clark, 64, and Ina M. Walker, 58, with conspiracy, wire fraud, and theft from a federally funded program, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger announced Thursday. The pair, both from Philadelphia, allegedly used the money slated for New Media charter school to pay expenses at Lotus Academy, a small private school they controlled; to fund personal businesses, including the Black Olive health-food store and the Black Olive restaurant in Mount...

WASHINGTON -- Allegations of a pro-gay takeover, boycotts, embezzlement and terrorist-loving board members. Sounds like a Hollywood version of a conspiracy thriller, but it's not. It's the buzz around this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, the nation's single largest annual congregation of conservative leaders. Conservatives riding a new wave of momentum thanks to the strength of the Tea Party movement and big wins in the November midterm election should be riding high ahead of this year's CPAC,scheduled to take place in Washington on Feb. 10-13. But the conference, which has met for 38 years, has found itself beset by conflict...

An 88-year old commercial real-estate magnate — and Bill Richardson campaign contributor — convicted of embezzling and stock manipulation is among 19 people who received executive clemency this year from New Mexico's outgoing governor. Eddie Gilbert, who in the 1950s was called "the boy wonder of Wall Street," served two prison sentences for crimes committed in New York decades ago. A Richardson spokesman said Wednesday that Richardson's action regarding Gilbert is not an actual pardon...Richardson does not have the power to pardon federal crimes. The governor of New Mexico also doesn't have the power to pardon crimes committed outside the...

David A. Keene WASHINGTON – The non-profit organization responsible for the largest annual conservative gathering in the U.S. is under investigation for embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor money over several years, WND has learned. The American Conservative Union, headed by David Keene and best known for its organization of the Conservative Political Action Conference each year in the nation's capital, has been embroiled in controversies in recent years, but this one is shaking the foundations of the Washington institution. The American Conservative Union reported to the Internal Revenue Service last month a "material diversion of...

David A. Keene WASHINGTON – The non-profit organization responsible for the largest annual conservative gathering in the U.S. is under investigation for embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor money over several years, WND has learned. The American Conservative Union, headed by David Keene and best known for its organization of the Conservative Political Action Conference each year in the nation's capital, has been embroiled in controversies in recent years, but this one is shaking the foundations of the Washington institution. The American Conservative Union reported to the Internal Revenue Service last month a "material diversion of...

I've noticed that when I purchase gas, at any filling station, the pump will jump from $00.00 to $00.03. It completely skips $00.01 and $00.02. This happens at every pump, at every gas station I have used in Southern California. I am able to meter gas out slow enough to stop at any hundredth of a gallon, so I don't think I'm pumping too fast. I know that our online community has experts in every field so here are my questions. Am I being robbed of 3 cents? If not, is there an explanation on why this happens? I tried...

A former labor union official from Albert Lea has pleaded guilty to embezzling $35,000 from his union. The U.S. Attorney's office says 39-year-old Cory Carroll pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of theft and embezzlement from a labor organization. Carroll was secretary-treasurer of the Regional and Shortline General Committee of Adjustment at the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. He was indicted in April. In his plea agreement, Carroll admitted that from February 2007 to March 2009, he stole money by charging personal expenses to his union credit card. He also admitted he claimed lost wages for days he was...

A Catholic priest stole $1.3 million from his Waterbury, Conn., parish to finance a gay old time in New York, authorities charged yesterday. The Rev. Kevin Gray allegedly blew the money he looted from his financially struggling parish over seven years on male escorts, rooms at hotels, including the Waldorf, designer clothes, trendy restaurants and tuition for several young studs. Gray, 64, regularly shacked up in an Upper East Side apartment that he rented for a 35-year-old man, court documents charge. The priest not only paid for the apartment, but also the Harvard tuition for his male friend, authorities said....

REXBURG — Police arrested a woman on Wednesday for embezzling more than $105,000 from a Rexburg law firm where she worked. Jennifer Handy, 31, of Rexburg, has been charged with four counts of grand theft. She is being held in the Madison County Jail with bail set at $100,000. Rexburg Police Capt. Randy Lewis said the thefts occurred on four separate occasions between January 2008 and April 2010. Police declined to name the law firm at this stage of the investigation. He said Handy had access to the law firm’s bank accounts during that time period. The potential penalty for...

RICHMOND, VA—Iris F. Allen, 45, of Richmond, Virginia a former claims manger at the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Fund, also known as the Virginia Birth Injury Fund (BIF), was sentenced today to 10 years, for defrauding the fund of approximately $755,000. Allen is also subject to a forfeiture money judgment of nearly $1.3 million. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson. “As a claims manager, Iris Allen was expected...

FBI agents searched a Southern Christian Leadership Conference office in Dayton, Ohio, on Thursday, an agency spokesman told CNN. The search came days after the SCLC board accused its national chairman, Dayton minister Raleigh Trammell, of financial mismanagement, according to CNN affiliate WDTN-TV of Dayton.

Andrew Young’s hero was an inspiring Southern orator and a paragon of Christian virtue. He was a pillar of his community. Then he was photographed in compromising circumstances, outed as an adulterer and beset by a scandal that destroyed his career. “They caught me, Andrew,” the Rev. Bob Young confessed to his heartbroken teenage son. The traumatized son later went on to subordinate his life to John Edwards’s political career, becoming one of his most trusted aides. And he allowed his own reputation to be ruined in a vain effort to save Mr. Edwards from embarrassment. How much of that...

China yesterday executed the former manager of a securities company who embezzled millions of dollars - the first execution of an executive from the country's financial sector, Xinhua said. Some wanted Yang Yanming to be kept alive so he would explain where the 65 million yuan ($9.5 million) went, news reports said. Yang, 51, served as general manager of the Beijing securities trading department of China Great Wall Trust and Investment Corp from 1997 to 2003. He was sentenced to death in Dec, 2005.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An Army captain from Oregon pleaded guilty Monday to charges that he stole nearly $700,000 from the U.S. government while serving in Iraq. U.S. District Court Judge Ancer Haggerty set sentencing for March 1 after Capt. Michael Dung Nguyen entered guilty pleas to theft and money-laundering charges. The maximum sentence for each offense is 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. A federal grand jury indictment alleged that between April 2007 and February 2009, the 28-year-old stole more than $690,000 in U.S. currency entrusted to him as the battalion project purchasing officer in Muqdadiyah, Iraq....

OK, here's what should be the nail in the coffin for conservative claims that ACORN is poised to steal the New Jersey governor's race through rampant voter fraud. Brian Kettenring, an ACORN spokesman, tells TPMmuckraker that the much-maligned group has conducted absolutely no political or voter registration activity in the state during the 2009 cycle. And Kettenring added that ACORN had done very little such work during the 2008 cycle. In a column published yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, John Fund sounded the alarm about the threat from ACORN -- but a close look reveals that even here he...

According to a July 9, 2008 article in the New York Times, Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN’s founder, Wade Rathke, “embezzled nearly $1 million from Acorn and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000.” The Times reported Dale Rathke embezzled $948,607.50, “carried as a loan on the books of Citizens Consulting Inc., which provides bookkeeping, accounting and other financial management services to Acorn and many of its affiliated entities.” ACORN “chose to treat the embezzlement of nearly $1 million eight years ago as an internal matter and did not even notify its board.” According to an October 10, 2008...

Investigators Searching DIA Clerk's Bank Account For Missing Taxi Fees. Denver police are investigating the embezzlement of $170,000 from Denver International Airport taxi fees. A search warrant obtained by 7NEWS shows the scam went undetected for nearly two years. At least 16 cash collections made by DIA Ground Transportation Department workers between November 2007 and late June 2009 vanished en route from that agency to the airport finance department without making it to the bank. The probe was triggered when a random DIA internal audit found a $10,000 collection missing in June, sources told 7News. Police said they were alerted...

It’s like being in the middle of a “tsunami” or an “avalanche” — or maybe both at the same time. That’s how Arthur Schwartz described his experience as general counsel of ACORN amid the recent right-wing attacks and congressional caving that are bringing the national community-organizing network to its knees. In an interview with The Villager last week, Schwartz, a prominent New York City labor attorney and longtime member of Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village, where he lives with his family, painted a dire picture of ACORN. Speaking in his office in the Unite Here! headquarters building at 26th...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Andrew Breitbart's Big Government will hold a press conference featuring James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, the two daring young journalists who, posing as a "pimp" and "prostitute," exposed massive corruption within ACORN's offices throughout the country. The Press Conference will be held at the National Press Club of Washington, DC on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. After suing Breitbart.com, Mr. O'Keefe and Ms. Giles in Maryland over the release of the Baltimore tapes, ACORN has issued public statements denying any wrongdoing in its Philadelphia office and lying about what happened there. Mr. O'Keefe...

A top-ranking Republican lawmaker is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). In a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and obtained by The Hill on Monday, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) argues that President Barack Obama’s political ties to the scandal-plagued community-activist group and its affiliates will “taint” any potential Justice Department investigations. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has not announced whether it has launched a probe of ACORN, but Smith said any such investigation could be compromised. “I am very concerned that the president’s previous...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- An internal review by ACORN's board of directors found that $5 million was embezzled from the community organization, far more than the previously reported amount of $1 million, according to documents released Monday. The new amount was reported in a subpoena from the investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported. It is unclear if the money was taken from state, federal or private funds, according to the subpoena. ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis said the new embezzlement allegation is "completely false." She said she would comment further after she and...

An internal review by ACORN's board of directors found that $5 million was embezzled from the community organization, far more than a previously reported sum of $1 million, according to documents from the Louisiana attorney general's office.

$5 Million Embezzlement Report 'Completely False,' ACORN CEO Says In a speech to the National Press Club, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis called embezzlement allegations "completely false" and defended the group's management and mission. FOXNews.com Tuesday, October 06, 2009 ACORN's embattled CEO emphatically disputed on Tuesday a report by the organization's board of directors that $5 million was embezzled from the group, calling it "completely false." Bertha Lewis said the $5 million figure came from two former "disgruntled" directors who had since been voted off the organization's board. Lewis spoke after the internal review by ACORN's board was revealed to have...

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COMPLAINT January 7, 2009 IN RE: ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS FOR REFORM NOW Karen Inman, Marcel Reid, Coya Mobley, Robert Smith, Adrianna Jones, Yvonne Stafford, Louis Davisand Fannie Brown, et. al.Complainants vs. Defendants Wade Rathke, Dale Rathke, Steven Kest, Jon Kest, Mike Shea, Zach Pollett, Helene O’Brien, Amy Schur, Liz Wolf, Beth Butler, Mildred Brown, Maud Hurd, Alton Bennett, Bertha Lewis, Beth Kingsley andother unknown individuals. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COMPLAINT (excerpt) The undersigned State Board delegates and National Board members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”) file this criminal complaint againstACORN Staff and Executive Board...

The organization can no longer be effective in achieving its goal of social justice and stronger communities. ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- touts itself as "the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities." And perhaps it is. But ACORN can no longer be effective at achieving its goals. The organization is so mired in scandal it will never recover. Let's look at the most recent events. According to a report in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, a subpoena issued in an investigation of ACORN by...

CORN wants people to register to vote – as long as they’re Democrats. Republican registrations go into the trash. Here is a first-hand account of how it happens. In February 2008, Fathiyyah Muhammad of Jacksonville, Florida, heard that ACORN was paying people three dollars for each voter they could register. ACORN paid her three dollars for each voter she registered, but Fatiyyah Muhammad says that the group threw out her votes and fired her when she brought them registrations of Republican voters. Fathiyyah Muhammad voted for Obama. “I’m a Republican,� she says, “and this was the first time that I...

"Using the controversy over ACORN as a case study, this report illustrates the way the media help set the agenda for public debate, and frame the way that debate is shaped. It describes how 'opinion entrepreneurs' (primarily business and conservative groups and individuals) set the story in motion as early as 2006, how the "conservative echo chamber" orchestrated its anti-ACORN campaign in 2008, how the McCain-Palin campaign picked it up, and how the mainstream media reported these allegations without investigating their truth or falsity. As a result, the relatively little-known community organization became the subject of a major news story...

The Working Families Party that is organizing a bus tour protest this Saturday at the homes of AIG employees has deep ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire leftist financier George Soros and the radical group ACORN.A 2005 article by Richard Poe published at Discover the Networks details the connections:The Working Families Party (WFP) is a front group for the radical cult ACORN. It functions as a political party in New York State and Connecticut, promoting ACORN-friendly candidates. Unlike conventional political parties, WFP charges its members dues – about $60 per year – a policy characteristic of ACORN and...

Eric N. Gioia, a city councilman from Queens and a candidate for public advocate, was in a great mood Tuesday as he walked to his car after voting in the Democratic primary. Until he spotted a lone young man who stood on the sidewalk, holding a stack of fliers. “See him?” said Mr. Gioia, his face darkening. “He’s from the Working Families Party.” Much to the chagrin of candidates like Mr. Gioia, the still relatively little-known 10-year-old party had dispatched a small army in the weeks before the primary, selling voters on its candidates in the mayoral, City Council, public...

Average of just $1,486 per month for offices, one check for rent written to “401 K PMTs”Edward-Isaac Dovere by Edward-Isaac Dovere eidovere@cityhallnews.comUPDATE:Harry Zlokower, spokesperson for ISJ Management, called to confirm that the company is indeed the owner of the property at 2 Nevins Street, with Flatbush Fulton Realty Associates its subsidiary.However, Zlokower said, “Working Families Party is not a tenant of ISJ Management,” adding, “ISJ management has no knowledge of the Working Families Party. They assume it’s a sub-lease.”Zlokower also confirmed that ACORN is a tenant of ISJ Management, paying money directly to the property owner.Responding from the Working Families...

The Working Families Party was the big winner in this year's Democratic primary elections - having backed the winning candidates in both the public advocate's race and the contest for city controller. That's not good for mainstream Democrats, and it is not good for New Yorkers. As liberals, we recognize the value of left-wing advocates pushing against corporate interests. The WFP has played a useful role in helping to win an increase in the minimum wage and in rolling back tax breaks for luxury development. But as "liberals with sanity," we see danger when narrow agendas overwhelm the public good....

Founded in 1998 as a coalition of labor and community groups, the Working Families Party has combined old-fashioned, grassroots organizaing and strategic alliances with the Democrats to become an increasingly powerful force for progressive politics in New York City. The Indypendent recently spoke with the party’s Executive Director, Dan Cantor, about the WFP’s recent victories in the run-off elections for city comptroller and public advocate, mobilizing voters and taking on Bloomberg in November. ELIZABETH HENDERSON: Why has the WFP decided to take on Bloomberg this year when many democrats have given up the hope of defeating him? DAN CANTOR: Eight...

Unless you’re cool with, say, covering up the embezzlement of $5 million. Then you’re okay. Saith the woman heralded by RNC chair Michael Steele as doing a “phenomenal job” in handling the scandal: “For many years, there’ve been folks who’ve disagreed with our ideology or methodology that [have] gone after us,” Mrs. Lewis, ACORN’s chief executive officer, said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington. “I mean we, [going back] to 2004, we now see through e-mails from Karl Rove from the previous administration that ACORN itself was targeted, targeted to go after us so that we...

NEW ORLEANS — An internal review at Acorn, the embattled community organizing group, revealed that its founder’s brother had embezzled $5 million from the group, five times more than the amount disclosed, according to a subpoena served Monday by the Louisiana attorney general. But the organization’s chief executive denied that any internal review had revealed that figure.

An internal review by the board of directors of the community organization ACORN determined that the amount allegedly embezzled from the community organization was $5 million, well more than the previously reported amount of nearly $1 million, according to a new subpoena in an investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Caldwell. The subpoena, released this afternoon, says, "It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds." ACORN Chief Executive Officer Lewis said the new accusation about the embezzlement is "completely false." She said she would comment further after she and ACORN attorneys have...

According to a July 9, 2008 article in the New York Times, Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN’s founder, Wade Rathke, “embezzled nearly $1 million from Acorn and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000.” The Times reported Dale Rathke embezzled $948,607.50, “carried as a loan on the books of Citizens Consulting Inc., which provides bookkeeping, accounting and other financial management services to Acorn and many of its affiliated entities.” ACORN “chose to treat the embezzlement of nearly $1 million eight years ago as an internal matter and did not even notify its board.” According to an October 10, 2008...