Alabama Governor Fails to Prevent County’s Record $4 Billion Bankruptcy Filing [NYT]
Last-ditch efforts by the governor of Alabama to prevent a record-breaking municipal bankruptcy in his state broke down on Wednesday, as the Jefferson County Commission voted 4 to 1 to declare bankruptcy on roughly $4 billion of debt.
Ex-IRS agent pleads guilty to prostitution charge [AP]
A retired IRS agent who once investigated a fugitive Nevada brothel boss and was partners in a failed rural Nevada bordello venture pleaded guilty Wednesday to transporting a California woman across state lines to commit prostitution.
Tokyo Police Investigate Olympus Accounting [WSJ]
The Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday placed shares of Olympus Corp. on its watch list for possible delisting, as the Japanese police launched an investigation into the company’s decades-long cover-up of investment losses.
Are Rising Inventories at Green Mountain a Bad Omen? [The Street]
On Wednesday’s conference call, Green Mountain said it’s “confident” that no accounting fraud has occurred. The questions from analysts about growing inventories seem to signal unease about both sales projections and the merit of capital spending increases.
L.A. councilman says business tax report had editorial spin [LA Times]
The drive to dismantle -– and possibly scrap –- the business tax in Los Angeles moved forward Wednesday as a City Council committee called for an independent economic analysis of several proposals to cut it, including one that would phase it out over four years.
MF Global Commodity-Account Transfers to Brokers ‘Substantially’ Complete [Bloomberg]
The transfer of MF Global Inc. commodities accounts to other brokers is “substantially” complete, a spokesman for the liquidator of the bankrupt broker- dealer said. Many of the firm’s 150,000 customer accounts are “out of date, inactive, or very small,” leaving a much smaller number to deal with, said Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for trustee James W. Giddens.
Goldman, Morgan Stanley mull reducing mark-to-market accounting [Reuters]
Market not so great, eh?
