Auditors

A report by internal corporate auditors of MCA Inc. indicates that MCA Records was more deeply involved with reputed organized crime figure Salvatore Pisello than previously revealed in court. The Los Angeles-based entertainment firm's auditors recently prepared a nine-page confidential report filled with details of the record unit's dealings with Pisello, who last month was sentenced to two years in prison for income-tax evasion.

This was the last thing Herbalife Ltd. needed. Just as the Los Angeles company appeared to be regaining its footing from a Wall Street hedge fund manager's assault, the company's auditor resigned abruptly because of an alleged insider-trading scandal. Accounting giant KPMG said Tuesday that Scott London, its chief Southern California auditor, had divulged financial information about Herbalife to a friend who then used those secrets to gain an edge in the markets. KPMG fired London, who had supervised Herbalife's audits, and withdrew its approval of the company's financial statements.

The Better Business Bureau chapter that predominantly served the Los Angeles area is no more.  The BBB of the Southland was expelled Tuesday from the national organization, losing the right to use the BBB name and logo. The move comes after a 2010 ABC News report which detailed the group's practice of accrediting new members and awarding them inflated ratings in exchange for cash. "Over a period of more than two years, BBB of the Southland failed to resolve concerns about compliance with several standards required of BBBs, including standards relating to accreditation, reporting on businesses, and handling complaints," said Carrie A. Hurt, president and chief executive of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, in a statement.

The search for beauty has turned mighty ugly in the aftermath of the Miss USA 2012 pageant. First, Miss Pennsylvania, Sheena Monnin, claimed the Sunday outcome was rigged and gave up her state crown in protest. Then, pageant officials said Monnin -- who failed to make the top 15 -- had really quit because she opposed competing against transgender contestants, who were allowed into the pageant for the first time this year. Enter Donald Trump, the co-owner of the Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageant, who denied Monnin's allegations and took a not-so-veiled stab at her appearance during an interview Wednesday on "Good Morning America.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Scott London, the former KPMG auditor who passed non-public information about Herbalife Ltd. and Skechers USA Inc. to a friend, with criminal insider trading. London, 50, is scheduled to be arraigned at 2 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles on Thursday, said his attorney, Harland Braun. London is accused of passing tips to his friend, Bryan Shaw, an Encino jeweler, who used the information to make about $1 million in stock trades on the two companies.

Responding to new allegations of financial malfeasance and abuse, Los Angeles County officials have decided to stop sending children to a private foster care agency that has been responsible for more than 1,100 youths in recent years. The action was taken after an examination of Teens Happy Homes, published in The Times last month, revealed questionable spending and repeated instances of abuse. Fresh allegations surfaced in an ongoing audit obtained by The Times that found at least $100,000 in suspect payments: Nearly $30,000 went toward chief executive Beautina "Tina" Robinson's personal expenses, including her car and credit card bills.

The state will dispatch auditors to towns and cities across California to scour the books of 18 redevelopment agencies to see how officials have been spending the billions of taxpayer dollars they take in each year to improve blight, state Controller John Chiang announced Monday. The financial probe comes amid a deepening fight over the future of California's 400 redevelopment agencies, which control about $5 billion in property taxes a year. Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed abolishing redevelopment and sending the money instead to counties and school districts.

Prosecutors filed a criminal charge against disgraced former KPMG partner Scott London, saying he gave a stock-trading friend inside information about his firm's clients in exchange for cash, jewelry and expensive dinners. The criminal case filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles conflicted with the version a contrite London gave reporters earlier this week; London said that the information he gave his buddy was sparse and that his involvement in the stock trades was minimal.

Some borrowers who received compensation for possible foreclosure abuses were told to take a hike this week when they tried to cash the checks.  Just when it seemed the mortgage mess might be tailing off, it was the latest debacle for a program whose flaws have raised fresh doubts about the competence of America's big banks and their federal regulators in Washington. The company that the regulators chose to handle the distribution of $3.6 billion to more than 4.2 million borrowers had failed to transfer the funds to the bank that issued the checks, according to a New York Times report Thursday.

As part of a settlement with federal regulators, 13 lenders this week are to begin paying $3.6 billion to more than 4 million troubled borrowers whose homes were in foreclosure proceedings in 2009 and 2010. A chart released Tuesday by the regulators showed most of the borrowers would receive $300, the minimum allowed under the settlement terms. The maximum of $125,000 was to be paid to 1,135 borrowers whose homes were seized while they were serving in the military or were current on their payments.