Zachary Kinshella

A summary of what happened?

Zachary Kinshella, a former member of the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Alberta, was found guilty of unprofessional conduct in 2019. The specific allegations against him included:

1. Attempted Misappropriation of Funds:
   • Kinshella attempted to redirect a vendor’s Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) information to his personal bank account.
   • He requested a duplicate payment for an invoice that had already been settled, aiming to illicitly benefit himself.
2. Submission of Unauthorized Personal Expense Claims:
   • He submitted three personal expense claims without proper approval.
   • These claims included expenses that had previously been reimbursed, indicating a deliberate effort to receive duplicate payments.

As a result of these actions, the CPA Alberta’s Complaints Inquiry Committee imposed the following sanctions on Kinshella:

• Cancellation of Registration: His registration with CPA Alberta was revoked, effectively prohibiting him from practicing as a Chartered Professional Accountant in Alberta.
• Financial Penalties:
  • A fine of $2,500, payable within seven months from the date the statement of costs was served.
  • Responsibility for covering the costs associated with the investigation and hearing, also payable within seven months.
• Mandatory Publication: In accordance with section 98 of the CPA Act and bylaw 1550, the details of his unprofessional conduct and the resulting sanctions were made public.
• Public Notice: A notice regarding the cancellation of his registration was published in the Edmonton Journal to inform the public and maintain transparency.

These measures underscore CPA Alberta’s commitment to upholding ethical standards and ensuring public trust in the accounting profession. By enforcing such disciplinary actions, the organization aims to deter similar misconduct and maintain the integrity of its members.

Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)

Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.

What was Zachary Kinshella trying to hide?

Zachary Kinshella‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling Zachary Kinshella in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Zachary Kinshella may be trying to remove from the internet –

Investigative Report: Zachary Kinshella and Allegations of Professional Misconduct

Introduction

Zachary Kinshella, formerly a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) registered with CPA Alberta, became the subject of significant professional scrutiny due to allegations of unprofessional conduct. This report delves into the accusations against Kinshella, the findings of CPA Alberta’s disciplinary proceedings, and the implications of his actions on the accounting profession.

Background

As a Chartered Professional Accountant, Kinshella was bound by a strict code of ethics, requiring integrity, transparency, and accountability in financial dealings. However, his actions during his tenure led to allegations of unethical behavior, resulting in disciplinary action by CPA Alberta in 2019.

Summary of Allegations

1. Attempted Misappropriation of Funds
   • Incident Details:
     • Kinshella attempted to redirect a vendor’s Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payment to his personal bank account.
     • The funds in question were intended as a duplicate payment for an invoice that had already been paid.
   • Motive:
     • The act was clearly premeditated, as it involved altering financial information to divert funds for personal gain.
2. Submission of Unauthorized Personal Expense Claims
   • Incident Details:
     • Kinshella submitted three expense claims for reimbursement.
     • These claims were not only personal in nature but had also been previously reimbursed.
   • Implications:
     • The repeated nature of these claims suggests a deliberate pattern of behavior aimed at exploiting the expense reimbursement process.

Disciplinary Proceedings

CPA Alberta initiated a thorough investigation into the allegations. After evaluating the evidence, the organization’s Complaints Inquiry Committee found Kinshella guilty of unprofessional conduct based on the following:

• His actions breached the CPA Alberta Code of Conduct, specifically in areas related to honesty, trustworthiness, and financial ethics.
• The committee concluded that Kinshella’s behavior posed a risk to public trust in the accounting profession.

Sanctions Imposed

1. Revocation of Registration:
   • Kinshella’s registration as a CPA was canceled, effectively barring him from practicing as an accountant under the CPA designation in Alberta.
   • This measure serves to protect the integrity of the CPA designation and maintain public confidence in the profession.
2. Financial Penalties:
   • A fine of $2,500 was imposed, to be paid within seven months of receiving the statement of costs.
   • Kinshella was also ordered to cover the full costs of the investigation and disciplinary proceedings.
3. Mandatory Publication:
   • CPA Alberta, adhering to transparency guidelines, published the findings of Kinshella’s misconduct in accordance with section 98 of the CPA Act and bylaw 1550.
   • Details of the disciplinary action were made public to deter other members from engaging in similar conduct.
4. Public Notice in Media:
   • To further inform the public, CPA Alberta published notice of Kinshella’s registration cancellation in the Edmonton Journal, emphasizing its commitment to safeguarding the public interest.

Implications of Misconduct

1. Impact on Public Trust

• Kinshella’s actions highlighted a violation of the trust placed in CPAs, whose role requires maintaining the highest levels of integrity and professionalism.
• Publicized misconduct by members can tarnish the reputation of the entire profession, making accountability and transparency critical.

2. Risk to Employers and Clients

• Attempting to misappropriate funds and submitting fraudulent expense claims demonstrates a misuse of professional knowledge for personal gain.
• Such actions could expose organizations to financial risk and reputational harm if left unchecked.

3. Deterrence and Ethical Standards

• The strict penalties imposed by CPA Alberta serve as a warning to other members about the consequences of unethical behavior.
• Upholding ethical standards is essential for maintaining the credibility of the CPA designation.

Analysis

Patterns of Behavior

Kinshella’s misconduct reflects a pattern of deliberate actions aimed at personal financial gain. From the attempted misappropriation of funds to repeated submission of unauthorized expense claims, the incidents suggest a calculated disregard for ethical and professional responsibilities.

Accountability Measures

CPA Alberta’s decisive actions underscore the organization’s commitment to enforcing accountability among its members. The publication of findings and penalties sends a strong message about the profession’s zero-tolerance stance toward misconduct.

Conclusion

Zachary Kinshella’s case serves as a cautionary tale for professionals in positions of financial responsibility. His actions, which involved attempts to exploit his role for personal benefit, violated the core principles of the accounting profession. CPA Alberta’s disciplinary measures demonstrate the importance of transparency, accountability, and adherence to ethical standards in maintaining public trust.

Recommendations

1. For CPA Alberta:
   • Continue rigorous enforcement of ethical standards and swift action against members who violate the CPA Code of Conduct.
   • Enhance training and resources on ethical decision-making for members.
2. For Employers:
   • Strengthen internal controls and monitoring mechanisms to detect and prevent fraudulent activities.
   • Provide regular training for employees on ethical practices and accountability.
3. For CPAs:
   • Adhere strictly to the CPA Code of Conduct and uphold the profession’s values of integrity, trust, and professionalism.
   • Report any conflicts of interest or unethical practices to regulatory bodies immediately.

By addressing these challenges and reinforcing ethical practices, the accounting profession can continue to uphold the trust and confidence of the public and its stakeholders.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

Once we ascertain the involvement of Zachary Kinshella (or actors working on behalf of Zachary Kinshella), we will inform Zachary Kinshella of our findings via Electronic Mail.

Our preliminary assessment suggests that Zachary Kinshella may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Zachary Kinshella, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Zachary Kinshella to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.

Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –

Since Zachary Kinshella made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally

We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which Zachary Kinshella is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for Zachary Kinshella

Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.

Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.

Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.”  Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).

Is Zachary Kinshella Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. Zachary Kinshella used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. Zachary Kinshella could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.

Faced with these limitations, some companies like Zachary Kinshella have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. Zachary Kinshella is certainly keeping interesting company here….

The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.

Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.

Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi

The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.

Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.

As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by Zachary Kinshella creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.

The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.

The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.

In committing numerous offences, Zachary Kinshella either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Zachary Kinshella, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.

The Reputation Laundering

Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.

The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.

In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.

This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.

Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. Zachary Kinshella is in great company ….

What else is Zachary Kinshella hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Zachary Kinshella] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)

To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on Zachary Kinshella that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].

All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.