Any business transaction involving simple negotiations could be subject to prosecution, former Jefferies & Co. managing director Jesse Litvak warned an appeals court in an attempt to have his securities fraud conviction thrown out, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

Litvak, found guilty in March of lying to customers about the price of mortgage-backed securities, on Nov. 18 asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan to throw out the conviction, saying it could be used to turn “garden-variety statements” made in all kinds of negotiations — even car lot negotiations — into the basis for charges.

“Every car salesman who tells a customer that he cannot lower his price any further because he would earn only a minuscule profit on the sale as it is would be guilty of fraud,” Litvak’s lawyers said in a filing.

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The U.S. Department reported that Gregory E. Grantham, 57, of Oceanside, California, was sentenced to five years in prison on Nov. 14 , followed by three years of supervised release, for a wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz also ordered Grantham to forfeit/ pay restitution of $17.4 million.

DOJ reports:

Grantham is a licensed attorney and between September 2009 and September 2011, was employed as General Counsel for IAGU Underwriters, LLC, as well as maintaining a private law practice. Graham’s co-defendant, Mervyn Phelan operated IAGU, which was in the business of underwriting loan applications submitted by real estate developers and then locating project financing from banks and other financial entities.

According to his plea agreement and court documents, between mid-2010 and August 2011, Grantham and Phelan became involved in a fraudulent scheme carried out by Patrick Belzner and Brian McCloskey, who both resided in Baltimore County. McCloskey owned a real estate development business known as the McCloskey Group, LLC. Belzner, a home builder, began working with McCloskey in late 2008 or early 2009. Phelan and IAGU began working with the McCloskey Group trying to locate sources of financing for its projects in about 2009.

Beginning in 2009 and continuing through June 2011, Belzner and McCloskey persuaded a series of private lenders to fund loans to establish that the McCloskey Group had reserves of cash that would supposedly help it obtain loans it was seeking in connection with real estate development projects through IAGU. Belzner and McCloskey falsely represented that the funds would be maintained in an escrow account under the control of Kevin Sniffen, a licensed attorney and escrow agent in Baltimore County; that the funds would not be used for any other purpose; and that the money would be returned to the lender, either upon the funding of the loan or after a specified period of time. In return for this temporary use of the lender’s funds, Belzner and McCloskey promised to pay substantial fees or interest. In fact, once the lenders transferred their funds into the escrow accounts, Belzner directed McCloskey to remove those funds from the escrow accounts without the knowledge or permission of the lenders. Belzner and McCloskey then used the majority of the stolen funds to pay for their personal and business expenses. The total losses resulting from the scheme were approximately $20 million.

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Stephen Shea, the former chief operating officer of brokerage firm Sky Capital LLC, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for his part in a $140 million securities-fraud scheme.

Bloomberg News reports that Shea and five others were charged in June 2009, three years after FBI agents raided the brokerage firm. Other former employees convicted in the case included founder Ross Mandell, who’s serving an 12-year prison sentence for operating a scheme that started in 1998.

“The defendants misled investors, who put cash in private investments, and then used that money to enrich themselves, pay excessive fees and commissions to brokers and pay off victims of earlier schemes, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in 2009, when the case was filed.” according to Bloomberg’s report.

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Because temporary employees usually have access to your place of business, and they interact with your permanent work force and maybe even clients, it’s important to be sure they can be trusted, advises EmployeeScreenIQ.

It’s likely that these temporary workers are trained on your business systems, and may have access to certain intellectual property.

“They may even have access to your trade secrets,” EmployeeScreenIQ says on its website. “Given the huge amount of access that temporary workers are given during a relatively short amount of time, it’s important to screen these workers just as you would other employees.”

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ISACA offers a free on-demand webcast on the threat of cybercrime.

Cybercrime continues to grow in scope and scale, with losses to consumers and businesses across numerous sectors in many countries.

The webcast covers:

• The top trends in cybercrime today and how they are manifesting themselves in different market sectors
• Where cybercrime is coming from
• The business impact of cybercrime and the primary concerns
• Why these criminals are so successful
• What is wrong with various aspects of security today (people, process, technology, etc.)
• Effective solutions to combat cybercrime

A nonprofit, independent membership association, ISACA helps business and IT leaders maximize value and manage risk related to information and technology. Founded in 1969, the nonprofit, independent ISACA is an advocate for professionals involved in information security, assurance, risk management and governance.

See the on-demand webcast.