Elizabeth Holmes wrote her first patent application after her freshman year of college at Stanford University. Her invention was an arm patch that would diagnose and treat medical conditions at the same time.1 The patch was an attempt to pursue her dream of putting her mark on the world by furthering the greater good.2 Holmes…
Category: Blog Articles
Another Bankruptcy: Sears-ly
What is the store you go to for everything – your “everything store”?1 It used to be Sears. Sears Holdings Corporation’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has reignited the question of how to keep a company afloat in the modern world of retailing.2 After seven straight years of losses, hedge-fund manager and former Sears CEO Edward…
Corporate Social Media Policies: Elon Musk & The Risk of Failure
It should come as no great shock that platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram offer organizations low-cost avenues to reach customers. The advertising upside of reaching the 2.9 billion active users of Facebook and 1 billion active users of Instagram is obvious.1 Unsurprisingly, major businesses have caught on to this fact as at least…
Confidential Compliance: Herbalife, the FTC, and the Freedom of Information Act
The Herbalife Saga On October 30th, Herbalife Nutrition Ltd., a global nutrition company,1 will release its third quarter financial results for 2018 with the hope that the multi-level marketing company will continue its positive trend of strong market performance.2 Herbalife has beat earnings estimates for three straight quarters, and the company’s stock price has increased…
Leave No Flag Undetected: The Impact of the Cyber-Security Failure of Voya Financial Advisors, Inc. upon the Cyber-Security Endeavors of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Section I. Introduction The importance of the preservation of sensitive personal information cannot be overstated. What used to be stored securely in safes, physical archives, and one’s own memory has increasingly become the subject of compulsory data collection from an expanding list of companies and institutions. As more of these businesses turn to electronic technology…
Banks and Trusted Contacts: Fighting Back Against Elder Financial Exploitation
Elder financial exploitation has been called “the crime of the 21st Century.”1 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) defines elder financial exploitation as the “illegal or improper use of an older person’s funds, property or assets.”2 It is a serious issue with severe consequences for older Americans, as valuations of annual losses range from $2.9…
Using the Federal Tax Code to Combat Money Laundering in Real Estate
Real estate transactions are an attractive vehicle for criminals looking to launder their money.1 Sanctioned foreign officials, organized crime syndicates, and even terror groups move money domestically and internationally through real estate transactions.2 The problem of money laundering in real estate (MLRE) has been prevalent in the United States for decades: the Mafia built Las…
T-Mobile-Sprint Merger and Antitrust Scrutiny
On April 29, 2018, Sprint and T-Mobile announced an agreement to merge the two companies. Though this is exciting news, we have been here before. On-and-off discussions between Sprint and T-Mobile have been ongoing for over four years. The most recent set of discussions took place in the fall of 2017. However, on November 4,…
Automated Vehicles and Michigan’s No-Fault Auto Insurance Act
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”), human error causes 94% of serious vehicle accidents.1 In response, the latest vehicles have implemented driver assistance technologies that use sensors, cameras, and computers to identify safety risks and reduce error-caused accidents.2 While still in development, automated vehicles that “can see more and act faster than…
Off The Grid: FERC Rejects DOE’s Grid Resiliency Pricing Proposal
In December 2017, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry proposed a new rule that sent shockwaves through the energy industry. In response to the financial struggles and potential early retirement of some of the United States’ coal and nuclear power plants, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that asked the Federal…