Kat's Creepy Creations
Where can you buy human body parts? Try Harvard Medical School.
This Week In Blunders – Dec. 7-13
“Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” ― Mary Shelley
Christmas won’t be the same for Kat’s Creepy Creations shoppers. The store owner faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to trafficking in stolen human remains earlier this week.
Katrina MacLean, 46, once advertised “creations that shock the mind & shake the soul.” She sold creepy dolls and macabre oddities crafted with – shall we say – authentic parts.
“If you’re in the market for human bones hit me up!” her store once posted on its Instagram account.
This may not sound all that twisted in Salem, Mass, which trades on its horrendous witch-trial history. MacLean even bought her wares wholesale from a seemingly normal source: Harvard Medical School.
Prosecutors this week told the court they want a 10-year prison sentence for Cedric Lodge, 57, who allegedly ran the school’s morgue like a junk yard.
Buyers could swing by and pick out whatever they wanted: Brains, organs, skin, bones, heads and hands. Once selected from his showroom, Lodge would take these parts and pack them up at his home in Goffstown, N.H. Then he’d ship them through the mail. His wife, Denise, would help.
This horror went on from about 2018 until March 2023. Lodge pleaded guilty in May. His wife, Denise, 65, pleaded guilty last year. Several others have also pleaded guilty.
As if Harvard doesn’t have enough controversy with its former president Larry Summers turning up in the Epstein files, and former business professor Francesca Gino, renowned for her research into dishonesty, getting fired for alleged dishonesty.
Now it’s battling lawsuits filed by families of loved ones who thought they were making their final contributions to humanity by donating their bodies through the Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program.
“We continue to express our deep compassion to all those affected,” the school has said in a carefully crafted apology.
Yeah, thoughts and prayers to the victims. And to everyone else, it’s really too bad if you missed the big sale at Kat’s. Everything was half off.
Do Kwon finds humility at sentencing
Stanford educated crypto crook Do Kwon just got 15 years for his $40 billion fraud at Terraform Labs.
At the top of his game, Kwon mocked his social media critics as “idiots” and haughtily told one of them: “I don’t debate the poor on Twitter.” But at sentencing, he found humility.
“Looking back, I cannot comprehend my own hubris,” he said in a 13-page letter to the judge.
When his funny-money empire imploded in May 2022, it not only wiped out his investors, but triggered a massive downturn in global crypto market. Prosecutors called it one of the largest financial frauds in all of history.
Read More: Kwon Don’t (Business Blunders)
One investor, told the court her losses left her homeless, Wired reports. Another victim, who’d invested $190,000, said his wife filed for a divorce. “I could not imagine that a person I’d never met could destroy my life so completely,” he said.
Kwon’s pre-sentencing letter is a must-read for anyone wondering how something so promising can go so wrong. For Kwon, a young and inexperienced founder, overconfidence was a killer.
“I alone am responsible for everyone’s pain,” he wrote. “I made misrepresentations that came from a brashness that is now a source of deep regret.”
Prosecutors had asked for 12 years, but federal Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York didn’t think that was enough
“This case will be there as a reminder of breaking bad and what happens,” Engelmayer told the courtroom. “To the next Do Kwon, if you commit fraud, you will lose your liberty for a long time.”
Unless, of course, you get a presidential pardon like Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
Macy’s is still hiding the hider
A year ago, Macy’s blamed a single employee for hiding up to $154 million in expenses to boost its books The retailer still hasn’t said whodunnit or how it went unnoticed for over three years.
Read More: Big Blunders Come In Small Packages (Business Blunders)
It smells like a coverup to accounting students, says accounting professor and fellow Substack writer Francine McKenna.
“What do my students think really happened at Macy’s? Well, almost universally they believe that a low level employee was thrown under the bus by senior executives that were encouraging accountants to make sure expense lines came in at target levels so they could get paid. Call it Millennial skepticism, but I have to agree. No one has ever provided a reasonable motivation for the mystery employee to suppress expenses for three years and more than $150 million. We have yet to hear from this mystery employee directly or through the regulatory or law enforcement process.”
Read More: A tale of two retailers: Macy’s and Barnes & Noble (The Dig)
The warden says Abercrombie’s former CEO can stand trial on sex trafficking charges
America has a problem with rich and powerful perverts getting away with sex crimes – and no it’s not just coming out of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Michael Jeffries, who ran Abercrombie & Fitch from 1992 to 2014, has been delaying justice for alleged crimes that occurred more than a decade ago
On Wednesday, a federal prison warden filed in a letter in federal court in New York saying the 81-year-old Alzheimer’s patient is “now competent to stand trial.”
Read the rest free in Business Blotter, a weekly roundup of white collar complaints, lawsuits and enforcement actions – a police beat feature from Business Blunders.
Don’t Miss These Blunders
How To Rob A Greedy Bank Mary Carole McDonnell has been retired for seven years after allegedly defrauding banks that didn’t bother checking out her story
Small Town Bankster Reckless lending, casino gambling and allegedly doctored books led to the demise of a century-old community bank. Now its CEO faces prison time.
JPMorgan Chase Can Check Their Butts A young entrepreneur duped the bank out of $175 million. Now her defense lawyers are billing the bank for cellulite butter.
Be Thankful For 3D-Printed Chicken Soup Campbell’s fired an employee without first asking the right questions. Now he’s putting a big dent in its can.
Straighten Up And Fly Right Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says, ‘The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You,’ as the horrifying passenger antics continue
Winter Is Coming For Summers I warned readers about Larry Summers’ gross incompetence in 2013. Now it’s back on full display in emails with Jeffrey Epstein.
Pardon My Ponzi Twice-convicted swindler Eliyahu Weinstein got a Trump commutation. Now he’s going to back to prison for a third fraud.
Insuring Lust AIG can’t seem to find a faithful man
Networking With A Pedophile Goldman Sachs defends its general counsel after her chummy relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is exposed
Getting Sondered Marriott screws its guests as its short-term rental partner files bankruptcy
Felons Fly Free Boeing beats criminal charges for its deadly 737 Max crashes only to be accused of more negligence in this week’s fatal MD-11 crash
White Pizza Seven years ago, Papa Johns’ founder resigned after making racist remarks. Today, the company is struggling with its damaged brand.
Dead Meat The hype on Beyond Meat was beyond reason. Note to investors: It’s mashed peas.
A Dead Billionaire Defaults Gary Winnick, the late founder of a failed telecom startup, sacks his lender from beyond the grave
Dr. Lie Erik Lie, a finance professor at the University of Iowa, catches cheats. His numbers don’t lie.
Hi-Yo Silver, Away NBA Commissioner Adam Silver placed a big bet on legalized sports gambling. He didn’t anticipate the alleged corruption that came with it.
There’s No Such Thing As A Green Bank Or A Fair Game Banking is corrupt. Basketball is corrupt. This week’s news blows it all out in the open.
Too Big To Jail Jeffrey Epstein couldn’t have done it without America’s biggest banks, a new lawsuit alleges. Watch them settle quietly and move on.