Advice For Patrick Byrne: The Cover-up is Always More Dangerous Than the Crime For Lying CEOs Like You

Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne has engaged in a public dispute with Grant Thornton, the company's former auditors. Yesterday, Overstock.com issued a press release disputing claims by Grant Thornton that it did not approve the company recognizing the Q1 2009 recovery of a 2008 $785,000 overpayment to a fulfillment partner as income in 2009. Details are provided in my third Open Letter to the Securities and Exchange Commision.

Other blogs covering the latest events are:

Going Concern: "Patrick Byrne: Noooo, Grant Thornton, You’re Lying" by Caleb Newquist
Business Insider: "Overstock: Actually, Grant Thornton Is Lying (OSTK)" by Henry Blodget
New York Times:" You lie! No, You Lie!" by Floyd Norris

I will have a blog post out about those issues by Monday. However, I'll provide you with a small teaser.

Patrick Byrne apparently believes that he can scam Grant Thornton, like I scammed Main Hurdman/Peat Marwick Main/KPMG back in the Crazy Eddie days. A piece of advice for Patrick Byrne: The cover-up is always more dangerous than the crime for lying CEOs like you.

Happy Thanksgiving holiday to all!

Regards,

Sam E. Antar

Disclosure:

I am a convicted felon and a former CPA. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, I helped Eddie Antar and other members of his family mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered during the 1980's. If it weren't for the efforts of the FBI, SEC, Postal Inspector's Office, and class action plaintiff's lawyers who investigated, prosecuted, and sued me, I would still be the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie today.

I do not own Overstock.com securities short or long. My research on Overstock.com and in particular its lying CEO Patrick Byrne is a freebie for securities regulators and the public in order to help me get into heaven, though I doubt that I will ever get there anyway. I will probably end up joining corporate miscreants such as Patrick Byrne in hell.

In any case, exposing corporate crooks is a lot of fun for a forcibly "retired" crook like me and analyzing Overstock.com's financial reporting is a forensic accountant's wet dream.