Comments by kyplaskon | San Diego Reader

kyplaskon

Portantino's Criminal Lawyer Talks of DA Investigation, Discussion over Charges

Accusations of inflated circulation figures are not unheard of, but conflict between businesses regarding circulation are often settled by a civil suit between the two (see the story and link below). I would like to know what criminal charge could have been leveled against Portantino and why the DA took an interest in this case. http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/legal-services-l… Newsday suit lawyer recruits 'big firms' to help with class-action case By Schachter, Ken Publication: Long Island Business News Date: Friday, February 27 2004 Joseph Giaimo, the self-described country lawyer who filed a $100 million racketeering lawsuit charging that Newsday inflated circulation figures, said he is adding some legal firepower. The move to find co-counsel comes as the deadline nears for Newsday to file a response to the lawsuit filed by four Queens businesses that charge the newspaper with concocting an elaborate plan to falsify circulation figures. The inflated circulation allowed the daily to charge higher advertising rates, the suit charges. Newsday denied the allegations but declined to comment on how it would respond to the lawsuit or what law firm would be representing it. In 2003, print advertising contributed $3 out of every $4 in revenue generated by the Tribune Co. and more than half of its revenue overall. Newsday's circulation is monitored by the Schaumberg, Ill.-based Audit Bureau of Circulations, but John Morton, a newspaper consultant based in Bethesda, Md., said that ABC's reach is limited. ABC can only [audit] what they get, he said. They do checks. They do field audits. They obviously can't check every last sale. The lawsuit says that in the mid-1990s Newsday officials told two distribution-agent employees, Harold Foley and Randy Green, to create a computer system known as Fudge ABC to conceal the discrepancy between the distributor's report and the ABC affidavit. Newsday employees threatened to terminate distributors' contracts if they didn't participate in schemes such as creating false street sale programs and paying retailers to purchase Newsday newspapers with the knowledge those papers would be unsold and dumped. Morton said circulation numbers audited by ABC - an association of newspapers, advertisers and advertising agencies - are presumed to be solid. But he noted that paid circulation in general has become squishy in recent years with some newspapers discounting heavily. An ABC spokeswoman said the organization had reached out to Newsday managers to discuss circulation issues and was currently conducting the newspaper's 2003 audit. She also defended the integrity of the organization's extremely intense audits. It's a careful process, she said. There are specific checks we do.
— December 11, 2010 6:25 a.m.

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kyplaskon

Portantino's Criminal Lawyer Talks of DA Investigation, Discussion over Charges

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