Freed gadfly lawyer Lerach warns of more Wall St fraud Moneycontrol.com He blasted Wall Street for everything from inflated salaries leading to risky behavior to a lack of responsibility to society, shareholders and even their … Reuters World News Highlights at 0545 GMT, Mar 09 Forexyard all 5 news articles
Cordray: Scams grew as economy declined Youngstown Vindicator The most common scams deal with debt collection, home improvement work and phony sweepstakes, Cordray said. Cordray was joined Monday by officials with the … and more
WNCT Health care tops consumers' complaints CharlotteObserver.com Home repair: abandoned jobs, missed deadlines, going over budget, as well as scams targeting seniors. To file a complaint, call 877-566-7226 (877-5-NO- SCAM ) … Consumer Complaints Up Nearly 20 Percent WFMY News 2 all 41 news articles
EXCLUSIVE – Freed gadfly lawyer Lerach warns of more Wall St fraud Reuters India He blasted Wall Street for everything from inflated salaries leading to risky behavior to a lack of responsibility to society, shareholders and even their …
Excerpt from:
EXCLUSIVE – Freed gadfly lawyer Lerach warns of more Wall St fraud – Reuters India
Ex-medical consultant takes plea agreement Las Vegas Review – Journal Ruth Cohen, whose work as a civil lawyer for the federal government led to the fraud investigation, said she was unhappy with the outcome of the prosecution … Doctors-lawyers kickbacks case nets another guilty plea Las Vegas Sun all 10 news articles
Sophisticated Minnesota fraud ring has global tentacles Minneapolis Star Tribune “The criminal operation is suspected of having several people who work in the financial industry across the United States and abroad,” Chapa added. …
Read the original post:
Sophisticated Minnesota fraud ring has global tentacles – Minneapolis Star Tribune
In what can best be described as a contrarian indicator with an uncertain timing trigger, Mutual Fund Cash Depletion Highest Since 1991. Equity mutual funds are burning through cash at the fastest rate in 18 years, leaving them with the smallest reserves since 2007 in a sign that gains for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may slow. Cash dropped to 3.6 percent of assets from 5.7 percent in January 2009, leaving managers with $172 billion in the quickest decrease since 1991, Investment …
See original here:
Mutual Fund Cash Depletion Highest Since 1991
The power utility will spend $900m to develop a Chilean copper deposit in partnership with the mining group, in the latest move by a Chinese company to gain more control over raw materials
Follow this link:
State Grid in joint deal with Quadra
OC Weekly (blog) Man charged with leading student visa fraud operation Los Angeles Times A search of Eamonn Daniel Higgins' home turned up 60 fake driver's licenses, graded college exams and a check from a foreign student made payable to cash, … Feds: OC Man Ran Student Visa Fraud Ring MyFox Los Angeles all 426 news articles
A survey shows that as a percentage of spending, advertisers are expected to allocate more to digital budgets – 32.5% – compared to 30.3% to print advertising this year
Read more from the original source:
US online ad spend to overtake print
Shadowing a Swindler Wall Street Journal For the record, The Wall Street Journal's managing editor in those years, Paul Steiger, was my boss at the Journal in the mid-1990s and is my boss again, …
Read this article:
Shadowing a Swindler – Wall Street Journal
Marsh & McLennan, the global insurance broker and consultancy company, has put its corporate investigations division Kroll up for sale for about $1.3bn (£864m) and attracted a stream of private equity interest in first round bidding
Go here to see the original:
Marsh & McLennan to sell Kroll arm for $1.3bn
Annie Leibovitz, the celebrity photographer, is turning to Colony Capital, a private equity firm better known for its real estate investments, for loans to help clean up her finances
Read this article:
Colony Capital to take over Leibovitz’s loans
Financial analyst Josh Rosner, who called the Fannie and Freddie accounting scandal in 2001 and the housing peak in 2005 stated: “Poorly developed and opaque securitization markets drove excess liquidity and irresponsible lending and …
Go here to read the rest:
L'economista ($)mascherato: Massive Fraud in Our Economic System
Northrop Grumman is poised to pull out of a multibillion-dollar contest to replace the US Air Force’s fleet of ageing refuelling tankers, dealing a blow to the Pentagon’s efforts to make it a model of competitive defence procurement
Visit link:
Northrop Grumman to pull out of USAF tanker race
Mortgage Rates & Trends (blog) McCollum: Be Wary of Scams Associated With Foreclosure Rescue, Loan … LoanSafe Do not work with businesses or individuals who instruct homeowners not to contact their lenders, lawyers or financial counselors and to make mortgage … NeighborWorks America Recognizes National Consumer Protection Week by Warning … RealEstateRama Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss New York Times Can Treasury Nudge Lenders Into More Short Sales? Don't Bank On It DailyFinance HULIQ all 85 news articles
Preying on the desperate (1) Sunday Paper The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) documented nearly 23000 fraud complaints in 2009 related to business opportunities, employment agencies and work -at- home …
Read more:
Preying on the desperate (1) – Sunday Paper
Inquiring minds are investigating a 44 page PDF by the Center for College Affordability on why financial aid is ineffective. Please consider Financial Aid in Theory and Practice.Executive Summary Financial aid programs are supposed to improve access and affordability in higher education. The effectiveness of these programs is increasingly being questioned as college attainment figures stagnate and the financial burden on students and families continues to climb year after year. This report …
The rest is here:
Debt for Diploma Schemes and the Cookie Monster Principle
With so many lenders still in distress the awash-with-cash private equity industry believes the balance of power is shifting in its favour
Go here to read the rest:
Buy-out bulls ready to charge into banks
CME Group, the largest US futures exchange, deepens ties with Central and Latin American derivatives markets by agreeing a partnership with the operator of Mexico’s MexDer futures exchange
NeighborWorks America Recognizes National Consumer Protection Week by Warning … RealEstateRama The effort is an extension of the organization’s national Loan Modification Scam Alert campaign, designed to help homeowners protect themselves against … and more
AIG took another step away from its troubled past, selling Alico, its non-US life assurance business, to its US rival MetLife for $15.5bn in cash and securities in a deal that will enable it to settle part of its debts to US taxpayers
Read the rest here:
AIG sells Alico to MetLife for $15.5bn
Fannie &Freddie worked just fine as government agencies. The the big money boys wanted to privatize them and we were off to the stables for a whooping. The investors in Freddie & Fannie wanted the big profits that the sub prime lenders were making from their … Yes, there was a ton of mortgage fraud and shady home flippers who also had Christmas day for five years thanks to the cheap credit policies, but it all took place right under the banking industry’s nose. …
See the rest here:
The Biggest Cause Of The Financial Crisis? It's Leverage: Roger …
WTAQ 5 People Charged With Election Fraud During Nov. 2008 Election WISN Milwaukee Flynn went on to say the attorney general's office issued a news release Monday making it clear work done by MPD as part of the election fraud task force … 2 ACORN employees face charges from '08 campaign Minneapolis Star Tribune all 36 news articles
As international expansions go, the insurer is playing things safe as it replaces AIG as America’s only global insurance powerhouse
The media group strikes its second deal in the Middle East in as many weeks, forming a partnership in Abu Dhabi on the eve of an event that is intended to attract more international media investment and expertise to the emirate
The Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network, a national coalition of public and private enterprises, is led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, …
Original post:
HUD Advances fight against loan modification scams : Northern …
HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today announced that Rice University students engaged in entrepreneurial research and development will receive free access to 50 servers through The Planet’s Sand Castle project. By eliminating technology costs, Sand Castle supports individuals with great ideas and visions by providing free servers for a full year. Through Sand Castle, The Planet’s goal is to do its part to enable job creation in the midst of a jobless economy recovery. Students in Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business will be among the first to benefit from the free servers. The Jones School ranked fifth in the U.S. in graduate entrepreneurship in a 2009 survey by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. “Rice MBA alumni have an incredible track record in entrepreneurship,” said William Glick, dean of the Jones School. “An impressive 22 percent of our graduates have started one or more companies — most in Houston — and the total estimated revenues from those companies is about $1.5 billion annually. The Planet’s invaluable donation is not only an investment in the future of Rice’s entrepreneurs, it’s also an investment in Houston’s economy.” Read more.
Follow this link:
Rice University Joins The Planet Sand Castle to Further Entrepreneurial Development, Job Creation
Every year we hear how Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) has a budget problem. We’re told they simply don’t have enough money to operate the school system. That is an outright lie. Every year they increase spending . Here is a breakdown of the budget and enrollment by year: The 07-08 budget was $1.19 billion. The 08-09 budget was $1.24 billion. The 09-10 budget was $1.34 billion. And it’s worse if you look at spending per student. In 06-07, they spent $12,976 per student. In 07-08 they spent $13,758 per student. In 08-09 they spent $14,520 per student. In 09-10, they spent $16,385 per student. What do we get for all this spending? A huge number of children who can’t read or do math . I concede that some costs don’t decrease even when the number of students decreases. So the costs to maintain the buildings and other fixed costs can stay high even when there are fewer students. (Although the people running the district should be doing something to plan for this type of situation!) But the single biggest reason why it’s become so expensive to run MPS is because of the employee costs. The average salary for an MPS teacher is $56,500, and the average benefits package is $43,505, for total average compensation of $100,005 . Let’s leave the salary issue out of it for a minute. I believe the salaries for MPS teachers are too high, but let’s ignore that for the sake of this discussion, and focus on the benefits. There is simply no way any business can survive with such a large benefits package! The benefits package costs 77% of the salary. In the real world (read: private industry which is self-sustaining), benefits typically cost about 30% of wages . MPS has a benefits cost nearly 2.6 times higher than the real world. For this school year, MPS is employing 5,766 teachers. That’s a total cost of $577 million in wages and benefits. If the benefits package cost was reduced to the 30% level that the rest of the country receives, the cost would only be $424 million. Voila! $153 million of instant savings. And here’s one specific way that MPS can save on benefit costs: Force the employees to choose a more cost-effective health insurance option . In this Journal Sentinel story I’ve linked to, the writer cites the two health insurance options available to employees. They’re both very good plans! One costs $23,820 per family, and the other costs $16,440 per family per year. That’s a difference of $7,380. MPS employees have zero incentive to choose the cheaper option, even though it is an excellent plan. So why not eliminate the choice and start saving money right away? The big spenders say that shifting everyone to the lower cost plan would cause the per-family cost of that plan to rise because of the way health insurance is priced. I don’t dispute that could happen, but even if it does, there will still be a substantial savings to the district. So here’s the bottom line… MPS can cry all they want about not having enough money. The fact is that they’re spending too much, and the bulk of that spending is related to teacher costs which can and should be controlled . If the district is unwilling to stand up to the teachers’ union, then everyone needs to shut up. I don’t want to hear the whining about teachers losing their jobs or about class sizes being too large. With the current compensation structure, the only way to have any control over the budget is by reducing the number of teachers. The teachers have made their choice. It is the teachers alone who are causing budget problems, and they could force their union to solve this problem. They’d still have jobs with generous pay and very good benefits, and there would be money left over for all the things they want to do (but which have to be cut to meet teacher costs).
See original here:
The heart of the Milwaukee Public Schools problem: Employee costs
Short sales are “tailor-made for fraud ,” said Mr. Lawler, a former executive at the mortgage finance company Fannie Mae. And from James Hagerty at the WSJ: Home-Saving Loans Afoot. Rep. Frank said banks’ reluctance to write down second …
View original post here:
Mortgage Fanatic: Short Sales and 2nd Liens
Consumer Complaints Up Nearly 20 Percent WFMY News 2 “If you experience a scam or bad business deal, we want to hear from you. Even better, we'd like to help you avoid problems by learning to watch out for … and more
When all else fails blame the speculators and the shorts. That is the action the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel took today. Let’s kick the discussion off with a rant from the Greek Prime Minister. Please consider Papandreou Warns Crisis Could Spread Unless Speculation Curbed. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said his country’s fiscal crisis could spread beyond Europe unless “unprincipled speculators” and …
Read the rest here:
Papandreou, Sarkozy, Merkel Blame Speculators; French President Sarkozy Says EU Must Support Greece or Risk Destroying Euro; Sarkozy Employs Bazooka
By Michael Collins for the People’s Voice, March 5, 2010 Citizens carry the load for bad loans by Wall Street In a February regulatory filing with the SEC, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now owned by the federal government, say. … The Attorney General seems to have no interest in this gold mine of prosecutable information, and no task force of lawyers and FBI agents has been set up in Washington to look into this cesspool of fraud , deceit, malfeasance, bribery, and theft , …
See the article here:
CompliancEX: Fannie and Freddie Start Returning Fraudulent …
Former Folsom prison guard convicted of insurance fraud Sacramento Business Journal … and accepting $18654 from State Farm. An anonymous caller alerted the insurance company of the fraud , and the motorcycle was recovered at a home in Galt. and more
The Business Insider Wall Street Investment Bankers Inc. Attacks Us But Seems As Shady As Ever The Business Insider … describes what sounds like a “straw man” mortgage fraud . While Wall Street Investment Bankers did not respond to our requests for comment, their website …
View original post here:
Wall Street Investment Bankers Inc. Attacks Us But Seems As Shady As Ever – The Business Insider
Almost half (47%) of respondents to a Monster survey say the glass ceiling still exists for women in the workplace with men favoured for promotions. The poll shows that: 16% said it is not company policy but men are clearly favoured for positions of power (male respondent) 31% – said it is not company policy but men are clearly favoured for positions of power (female respondent) 38% said men and women have equal opportunities (male respondent) 15% said men and women have equal opportunities (female respondent) A spokesperson for recruiter Women like Us told Recruiter: “The gender pay gap has widened. That glass ceiling is still very much in place. However, the more permanent part-time roles we have, the more cracks will begin to appear. “Many of the most talented and brilliant women in this country also happen to have families, and, when faced with the choice of work or family, will choose their children every time. Make a senior role part-time and you can attract these incredible women back to the workplace.” Read more.
See more here:
UK: women still face inequality in the workplace
Prosecutor: Milwaukee Cops Ignored Voter Fraud Allegations WTAQ One of those officers retired shortly after telling the Wall Street Journal he was ordered by Flynn not to send officers to polling places that year. … Prosecutor says police dragging feet on voter fraud cases Milwaukee Journal Sentinel all 3 news articles
Hedge Fund Registration Has A Broad Context Now Hedge Fund Net That regulatory reform is not just focused on an asset class, Wall Street , or any particular industry, sector or policymaking entity. …
The rest is here:
Hedge Fund Registration Has A Broad Context Now – Hedge Fund Net
Credit.com News Consumer protection week activities begin MiamiHerald.com At www.deliveringtrust.com, free fraud education and prevention videos are offered about identity theft, work -at- home scams , Internet fraud , … Delivering Trust, Delivering Justice PR Newswire (press release) Get the facts on “Dollars and Sense” during National Consumer Protection Week, Duluth Weekly Online learning opportunities featured for National Consumer Protection Week 2010 Stamford Plus Magazine all 32 news articles
Companies in the United States, Spain, Canada and Finland lead the world in employing the largest numbers of women from entry level to senior management, according to a report published Monday by the World Economic Forum. Yet the report also found that, despite increasing awareness of gender disparities in the workplace, women at many of the world’s top companies continued to lag behind their male peers in many areas, including pay and opportunities for professional advancement, Nicola Clark writes in The International Herald Tribune. Moreover, many of these companies have yet to implement policies to address these gaps, despite pressure from many of their governments to do so. The forum, based in Switzerland, surveyed 600 heads of human resources offices at the largest employers in 20 countries representing 16 different industries. The poll assessed companies according to a range of criteria, including rates of female representation, whether the companies measured or set targets for gender balance in pay or promotion, and whether they offered benefits, like paid family leave, to promote work-life balance for their employees. Read more.
Credit.com News Delivering Trust, Delivering Justice PR Newswire (press release) Consumers can visit www.deliveringtrust.com for free fraud education and prevention videos about identity theft, work -at- home scams , internet fraud , … Get the facts on “Dollars and Sense” during National Consumer Protection Week, Duluth Weekly Online learning opportunities featured for National Consumer Protection Week 2010 Stamford Plus Magazine all 35 news articles
Short sales are “tailor-made for fraud ,” said Mr. Lawler, a former executive at the mortgage finance company Fannie Mae. Last year, short sales started to increase, although they remain relatively uncommon. …
More here:
Cold Fusion Guy: Short Sales are 'Tailor-made for fraud'
LA Sparks Revolt Against Banks and Wall Street Shakedowns, Abuses In These Times What do the titans of Wall Street do for an encore after they created the country's worst recession since the 1930s and then conned the US … and more
Inquiring minds are reading about student riots at the University of California.Students at the University of California’s flagship Berkeley campus took to the streets on Friday night, vandalizing university buildings, burning trash cans and clashing with police in the latest expression of frustration over cuts to the educational budget in California. In November, the University of California Board of Regents voted to raise tuition by 32 percent. At the same time, professors were asked to …
Read the original:
University of California Campus Erupts In Riots; Student Loan Scam Drives Up Cost Of Education; Expect More Riots
Why don’t you blame the Republicans who had a majority and controlled Congress for 6 out of last 7-3/4 years and THEY removed all the regulations and oversight to create fraud and subprime shoddy loans so they could get richer while 96% …
More here:
The Infamous Bail-out Of Fannie and Freddie | loan consolidation …
Short sales are “tailor-made for fraud ,” said Mr. Lawler, a former executive at the mortgage finance company Fannie Mae. Last year, short sales started to increase, although they remain relatively uncommon. …
The rest is here:
Program to pay homeowners to sell at a loss | Money World News
Finance Superstars Talk About the Massive Fraud in Our Economic System Make Markets Be Markets conference of financial reform all-stars offers an. … Financial analyst Josh Rosner, who called the Fannie and Freddie accounting scandal in 2001 and the housing peak in 2005 stated: “Poorly developed and opaque securitization markets drove excess liquidity and irresponsible lending and borrowing…securitization markets too often operate in a “Wild West” environment where the …
See the original post:
Finance Superstars Talk About the Massive Fraud in Our Economic …
The Business Insider SEC To Look To Punishing Wrong, Even When It Doesn't Go Right The Business Insider The Wall Street Journal's Kara Scannell reported that the SEC is considering changing it's penalty policy for fraud cases, and that “one commissioner [is] …
See the original post:
SEC To Look To Punishing Wrong, Even When It Doesn’t Go Right – The Business Insider
Another Oppenheimer ARS Investor Unloads on New York AG Cuomo Benzinga Aside from feeling screwed by Wall Street banks and money managers in the distribution of auction-rate securities as a cash surrogate, investors now feel …
View original post here:
Another Oppenheimer ARS Investor Unloads on New York AG Cuomo – Benzinga
By Dave Anderson: Numerian at the Agonist looks at the machinations of Freddie and Fannie as they go back through their “prime” mortgage portfolios and find mass errors, fraud and incompetence by the big banks that originated the …
Go here to see the original:
Newshoggers.com