When Wrekin Construction went into administration last week, it blamed the Royal Bank of Scotland for demanding repayment of an overdraft. However, the 2007 accounts show that among the assets of the company is a ruby it called the "Gem of Tanzania". Wrekin had bought the stone off one of its shareholders for £11m worth of shares - more than four times the record for a single ruby at auction. [more inside]
posted by Electric Dragon on Mar 16, 2009 - 20 comments

A false expert and phony think tank fool bloggers and the mainstream news media. [more inside]
posted by lalochezia on Nov 12, 2008 - 110 comments

From the Improv Everywhere people comes the Urban Prankster blog to keep track of delightful shenanigans around the world.
posted by CunningLinguist on Jun 11, 2008 - 21 comments

Carol Lam was the first one to receive much publicity. A federal prosecutor fired for not making guns and drugs a top priority. She was also Duke Cunningham's prosecutor. No big deal, she just hadn't prosecuted many cases during her tenure. Except that Lawyers called the firing "virtually unprecedented And FBI people claimed the firing would jeopardize cases. Then there was Daniel Bogden, a federal prosecutor in Nevada was also canned for "fostering low morale". And actually it turns out that as many as many as eight federal prosecutors have been fired in the past two months.
posted by delmoi on Jan 16, 2007 - 44 comments

Ohio Poll Challengers Blocked Okayed. Keep track of all the other last-minute fraud here.
posted by mwhybark on Nov 2, 2004 - 56 comments

You thought it was just "shenanigans," but it turns out to have been a lot more. Outgoing Clinton-Gore Administration staffers committed many acts of vandalism on their way out the door, including mass destruction of internal wiring, destroyed office equipment, intentionally-reprogrammed phone systems and trash strewn everywhere. It was so bad in the Vice-President's offices that Tipper Gore had to personally call Lynne Cheney to apologize.
posted by aaron on Jan 24, 2001 - 20 comments