BRAVA

Corporate Psychology

Leadership Development Psychology

Leadership Psychology Testing & Assessments

Corporate Psychology Testing & Consulting

BRAVA provides psychological assessment for hiring, selection, or professional development purposes. Our assessment process determines a person's pattern of personality strengths and weaknesses as they relate to a particular position, the work environment, and the organizational culture.

BRAVA offers several levels of psychological testing for intelligence, personality and integrity --- ranging from e-Testing and brief assessments, tests appropriate for mid-to-senior levels, to in-depth evaluations appropriate for key leadership and financial positions, including CEO's, CFO's and Board of Directors.

VISIT Corporate Psychology Testing which represents state of the art tests by category -- assessment technology that delivers the most comprehensive assessment of executives available on the market today. The price quoted by Brava for Corporate Psychology Test Administration Services includes the following: 1-hour pre-test consult; test administration by Licensed Counseling Psychologist Member of APA in your area of the world; confidential test report; 1-hour Brava post-test consultation service. All other services are provided on an agreed upon contractual basis with retainer for our services.

BRAVA provides seminars to corporations on White Collar Crime or " Why Not and How Not to Lie, Cheat and Steal." Today's con artists are more savvy and sophisticated than ever, engineering everything from internet fraud, corporate accounting fraud, stock, insurance, mortgage, attorney/judge fraud, public officials' corruption fraud, and health care frauds.

LEARN how to protect yourself visit www.fbi.gov/whitecollarcrime.htm. And, when you are in doubt, just Contact Us for our opinion and feedback about today's corporate con artists and corporate psychopaths.

BRAVA utilizes the world's most respected and standardized assessment instruments for Corporate Psychology intelligence and personality evaluations. Our testing includes state of the art assessments for Corporate Psychology, Professional Responsibility, Ethics and Integrity to screen out High Security Risk Personality, White Collar Criminals and Corporate Psychopaths. And, we are able to provide test directions in several major global languages with test report in the language of your choice.

Watch Video White Collar Crime

The Ruthless and Remorseless

Corporate Psychopath

"When the last tree is felled,

The last river poisoned,

The last fish is fished,

Then you will discover

You cannot eat money."

(Canadian Indian saying)

Leadership Development Series

How Successful Leaders Think

Leading Clever People Who May be Smarter Than You

When a New Manager Takes Charge

Courage as a Skill

The CEO's Second Act

Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters

What to Ask the Person in the Mirror

Moments of Truth: Global Executives Talk About the Challenges that Shaped Them as Leaders

The Very Model of a Modern Senior Manager - Case Study & Comments

How Leaders Create and Use Networks

Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail

Discovering Your Authentic Leadership

A Leader's Framework for Decision Making

Women in the Labyrinth of Leadership

What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers

Becoming the Boss

Corporate

Kleptocracy Report

http://www.fbi.gov/becrimesmart.htm

http://www.fbi.gov/whitecollarcrime.htm

June 28, 2008 Washington, DC: Major international airlines–Air France, Cathay Pacific Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Martinair and SAS– have agreed to each plead guilty and pay criminal fines totaling $504 million for participating in a multi–year conspiracy to fix prices for air cargo rates.  Of the $504 million in fines, Air France-KLM, has agreed to pay a $350 million criminal fine, the second highest fine ever levied in a criminal antitrust prosecution.

June 5, 2008 Dr. Henry T. Nicholas III, (Ph.D Elec.Engineering UCLA) a co-founder and former chief executive officer of Broadcom, and William Ruehle, the former CFO of the Irvine-based technology company, have been named in an indictment unsealed today that charges them with engaging in a stock-option backdating scheme that forced Broadcom to write-down $2.2 billion in profits. A second indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury alleges that Nicholas regularly maintained a supply of ecstasy, cocaine, methamphetamine and other controlled substances for use and distribution. Nicholas is ranked number 195 on the 2007 list of Forbes' richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.3 billion. The drugs charges faced by Nicholas carry a maximum combined sentence of 20 years in prison, although he could face a theoretical 340 years in prison on the fraud and conspiracy charges. Nicholas, in handcuffs was reported to have nodded vigorously when asked if he agreed to the conditions of release. US Magistrate Judge Nakazato ordered random weapons searches and drug tests by the government, home detention, electronic monitoring and the disabling of his two private planes.

Feb. 16, 2008 -- Refco Inc.'s former Chairman Phillip Bennett, faces possible life in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and conspiracy in a scheme that cost investors $2.4 billion. Bennett entered his guilty plea in Manhattan US Federal District Court for deceiving banks, auditors, and investors. ``I know I was wrong, and I deeply regret it,'' Bennett, told U.S. District Judge Buchwald, his voice cracking as he spoke. ``I take full responsibility for my conduct.'' Bennett, 59, pleaded guilty to all 20 counts in a federal indictment, including securities and wire-fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and bank fraud. Under U.S. guidelines, Bennett faces life imprisonment with a maximum penalty of 315 years, as well as forfeiture of $2.4 billion. Defendants in the ``post-Enron era'' of corporate crime prosecutions face the ``possibility that their residence in the US Federal Bureau of Prisons is the last residence they're going to have.''

Phillip Bennett, the former head of brokerage firm Refco was  sentenced July 2008 to 16 years in prison for a $1.5Billion fraud that ultimately destroyed the company. In February 2008 Bennett pleaded guilty in a New York City US Federal Court to 20 counts of conspiracy and fraud, two-and-a-half years after his arrest. Prosecutors said losses connected to the fraud topped $1.5bn.

August 7, 2007 Jurors in Federal District Court in San Francisco convicted the former chief executive of Brocade Communications Systems, Gregory L. Reyes, 44, on 10 counts of conspiracy and fraud. Mr. Reyes received his BS in Mechanical Engineering at Rensselar Polytechnical Institute and an MS in Management from Stevens Institute of Technology. Most of the backdating cases, including the one against Mr. Reyes, hinged on proving that the defendants knowingly manipulated an option grant date to defraud investors in publicly held companies. The verdict sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley and law offices around the country, which are representing dozens of companies and hundreds of executives who have been entangled in the widespread options back -dating scandal.

July 27, 2007 -- Joseph Nacchio, Graduate of MIT and former CEO of Qwest Communications International Inc., was sentenced to six years in prison for insider trading of $52 million in company shares. U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham ordered Nacchio to forfeit $52 million and pay a fine of $19 million, refusing his request for a sentence of probation. Sept. 29, 2006 - A Denver federal judge Friday approved a $400 million class-action settlement of shareholder claims against Qwest Communications but slashed attorney fees from $96 million to $60 million.

January 17, 2007: Walter Forbes, Harvard MBA, sentenced to 12 years and seven months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $3.275 BILLION in restitution.  The former Cendant Corp. Chairman was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of making false statements, and a decade-long accounting scheme that inflated income at Cendant. The accounting fraud caused Cendant shares to freefall $14 billion in market value in a single day in 1998. His co-defendant, former Cendant Vice Chairman E. Kirk Shelton, Harvard MBA, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay billions in restitution to the company.

In May 2006, Kirk Sean Wright, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of International Management Associates (IMA), was charged with 22 counts of mail fraud and three counts of Securities Fraud relating to his improper operation of IMA. IMA is a high-yield hedge fund in Atlanta, GA managing more than $184 million in assets, including those of a group of current and former NFL players.

Huge pay packages for corporate CEOs mentioned the breath-taking $124.8 million total compensation of United Health Group (parent of United Healthcare) CEO William McGuire. At UnitedHealth, there was significant evidence that options were backdated for insiders and employees at all levels of the company between 1994 and 2002. But among the most substantial and egregious, according to the law firm’s report, were those valued at $1.1 Billion awarded to Dr. McGuire, the company’s longtime chairman and chief executive who resigned October 16, 2006. Dr. McGuire, who has already received more than $500 million by cashing in some of his options and has others, worth at least $1.6 billion, still in his name.The Justice Department, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service are all investigating UnitedHealth’s options practices. Even the man named to replace Dr. McGuire as chief executive has been a beneficiary of backdated options. Through backdating, stock options can be manipulated to increase their value.The heads of three well-known technology companies lost their jobs this week as the result of a scandal sweeping through the business world over the improper backdating of stock options --135 companies implicated in backdating controversies are being investigatigated by the SEC, DOJ, IRS.

October 2006 Kobi Alexander is fighting extradition from Namibia on US federal charges related to his company's options practices.

October 12 2006 WASHINGTON -- More criminal indictments will come down the pike as corporate America struggles with the ever-growing stock options backdating scandal, ccording to an assistant director at the FBI.

"Backdating stock options is basically betting on a horse race that's already been run," FBI spokesperson said. "It's harmful to the company and does not create a level playing field for investors."

Dec. 22, 2005- A California jury on Thursday ordered Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, to pay $172 million in damages for failing to provide meal breaks to nearly 116,000 hourly workers as required under state law. Oct. 12 2006 — Pennsylvania: Wal-Mart Stores forced employees to work through rest breaks and to put in extra hours without pay, violating Pennsylvania labor laws, a state jury found Thursday. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say the damages could reach $162 million. "Today's verdict affirms that 'time theft' labor abuses are a chronic and systemic problem for Wal-Mart and its dangerous business model." The retailer "pressures managers to lower store labor costs, resulting in understaffed stores and 'off the clock' labor for hourly employees - which is why they're facing more than 40 other similar suits for labor violations nationwide."

Dennis Kozlowski was convicted on June 17, 2005 for misappropriation of Tyco's corporate funds, among other charges. The prosecution won a total of 22 counts of grand larceny for $150 million in unauthorized bonuses. He was convicted of fraud against the company shareholders for an amount of more than $400 million.

The hedge fund industry is also a growth area on the FBI's radar screen.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 2006 - The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges Wednesday against two executives of KL Group, a hedge fund in Palm Beach, Fla. The S.E.C. charged that Won Sok Lee, Yung Bae Kim and another unidentified defendant "defrauded investors through misrepresentations and omissions concerning the profitability and security of their investments in the hedge funds." The whereabouts of Mr. Kim and Mr. Lee are unknown and they do not have any known legal counsel, according to the S.E.C. senior trial counsel, Scott A. Masel. In March, the hedge fund was shut down and its assets frozen by a Florida judge after the S.E.C. filed a civil action to halt what it described as an $81 million fraud. The March complaint charged that the KL Group, a related trading entity and the KL principals, Won Sok Lee, John Kim and Yung Bae Kim, fraudulently raised over $81 million, attracting investors by using fake account statements showing that the hedge funds were profitable." June 29, 2007 Yung Bae Kim, pled guilty today in US District Court to two felonies one count of conspiracy to commit mail and one count of wire fraud.  He faces a maximum period of twenty-five (25) years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $500,000 and restitution to victims of the fraud.

Gisela Valladares, owner of PRN Home Health Care, Inc., a Miami health care company has been convicted on charges of defrauding the Medicare program of $20Million of fraudulent Medicare billings.

July 13, 2007 - Lord Conrad Black, former heard of Hollinger International, was found guilty of three counts of mail fraud and a single count of obstruction of justice by the Chicago jury. He faces 35 years in a federal prison.

According to the FBI, more than 90 hedge funds have been investigated in the past couple of years. The agency is concerned over the fast-paced growth and lack of regulation within the $1.2 trillion hedge fund industry and considers the industry to be a growing threat for average investors as more and more pension funds have startJed investing in the riskier market. Amaranth Advisors - a 32 year old, Brian Hunter, made brash bets losing its investors $6Billion dollars. Yet, "We have every intention of continuing in business and generating for our investors the same consistently high risk-adjusted returns which have been our hallmark, and we are fully committed to doing so," Nicholas Maounis said.

"Hedge funds are the wild, wild west of investing." "The problem comes when hedge funds become more and more like Ponzi schemes."

Average investors in pension funds may not know where their money is going. And given the lack of regulation and the generally secretive nature of the hedge fund industry, it's difficult for average investors to hash out when a hedge fund is defrauding them. Case in point: Bayou Management, which collapsed earlier this year as evidence emerged that the founder of the hedge fund lied to investors about its stellar returns.

Corporate Fraud remains the highest priority of the Financial Crimes Section and the FBI is committed to dealing with the significant crime problem. As of the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, 490 Corporate Fraud cases are being pursued by FBI field offices throughout the U.S., 19 of which involve losses to public investors that individually exceed $1 billion.

Corporate Fraud investigations involve the following activities:

(1) Falsification of financial information, including:
(a) False accounting entries
(b) Bogus trades designed to inflate profit or hide losses
(c) False transactions designed to evade regulatory oversight

(2) Self-dealing by corporate insiders, including:
(a) Insider trading
(b) Kickbacks
(c) Backdating of executive stock options
(d) Misuse of corporate property for personal gain
(e) Individual tax violations related to self-dealing

(3) Fraud in connection with an otherwise legitimately-operated mutual or hedge fund:
(a) Late trading
(b) Certain market timing schemes
(c) Falsification of net asset values
(d) Other fraudulent or abusive trading practices by, within, or involving a mutual or hedge fund

(4) Obstruction of justice designed to conceal any of the above-noted types of criminal conduct, particularly when the obstruction impedes the inquiries of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), other regulatory agencies, and/or law enforcement agencies.

Learn how to protect yourself visit

http://www.fbi.gov/becrimesmart.htm

Financial Crimes

Corporate & Accounting Fraud

Securities & Commodities Fraud

Health Medical Care Fraud

Mortgage Fraud Warning

Insurance Fraud

Mass Marketing Fraud

Penny Stock Pump & Dump Fraud

Internet Fraud

Hedge Fund Fraud

Brankruptcy Fraud

Asset Forefeiture/Money Laundering