• Stanford Enters Plea; Bail Is Set at $500,000 [New York Times]
• After Madoff: Are We Safer? The question should be “Are people any smarter?” because….[Business Week]
• This happened: Pang Took $83 Million From Firm, Filings Say. So we’d be inclined to say that people might be safe but their money sure as hell isn’t. [WSJ]
Related Posts
Scoping | 07.31.09
• Buffett Posts $1 Billion Profit on China Hybrid Carmaker BYD – “The automaker has jumped fivefold in Hong Kong trading since the deal was announced on Sept. 27, helped by Buffett’s investment and rising demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.” – YAWN. [Bloomberg]
• ‘Cash For Clunkers’ Lacks Cash For Clunkers [NPR]
• U.S. Recession Worse Than Previously Estimated, Revisions Show – “The first 12 months of the U.S. recession saw the economy shrink more than twice as much as previously estimated, reflecting even bigger declines in consumer spending and housing, revised figures showed.” Government data estimates not even close? THE HORROR. [Bloomberg]
• Regulators Are Getting Tougher on Banks -“Federal regulators have escalated the number of wounded banks they have essentially put on probation, with some of the targeted banks complaining that the action is too harsh.” [WSJ]
Scoping | 07.21.09
First, some shameless promotion:
• Breaking Media Launches Going Concern [Media Bistro]
• New Finance Blog Aims To ‘Make Accounting Sexy’ [Media Post]
• Site launched to follow accounting industry [Talking Biz News]
And the rest:
• California Budget Deal Reached By Legislators, Schwarzenegger – “The deal, reached by legislative leaders after two months of frequently acrimonious negotiations, would slash spending for schools, public works and welfare programs amid the longest recession since the 1930s. If approved by the full Senate and Assembly, the agreement will also siphon money from municipalities, force companies and individuals to pay income taxes sooner and make it more difficult to receive state aid.” [Bloomberg]
• Swiss Banks Freeze Out U.S. Clients – “In a sign that UBS AG’s high-profile spat with the Internal Revenue Service is chipping away at Switzerland’s private banking industry, some Swiss banks are cutting off or curbing business with American clients for fear of crossing U.S. authorities.” [WSJ]
• ‘Spy scandal’ hits Deutsche Bank – “Deutsche Bank has confirmed it faces a possible criminal investigation into spying allegations.” [BBC]
Scoping | 07.20.09
• CIT Is Said to Obtain Urgent Loan to Prevent Bankruptcy – “Directors of the CIT Group, one of the nation’s leading lenders to small and midsize businesses, approved a deal Sunday evening with some of the bank’s major bondholders to help it avert a bankruptcy filing through a $3 billion emergency loan, according to people briefed on the matter.” Bullet dodged. [New York Times]
• Scam victims ‘easily persuaded’ – “The scams the OFT has been highlighting range from the so-called Nigerian or advance free frauds, to bogus lotteries, fake clairvoyants and health cures, bogus investments and crooked racing tipsters.” Nigerian emails do have a certain charming prose that is difficult to resist. [BBC]
• Sweden’s SEB bank posts 2Q loss – No doubt had some exposure to the Latvian souls brokers [AP via Miami Herald]
• Charles Schwab denies Cuomo’s fraud allegations – “Charles Schwab Corp, the largest U.S. online brokerage, denied allegations by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of civil fraud in its marketing and sale of Auction Rate Securities (ARS).” Also, some less serious charges include running commercials with creepy half-human, half-cartoons moving and talking seriously about their depleted 401(k)s. [Reuters]
• Evidence shows there’s no such thing as ‘recession-proof’ jobs – Bankruptcy lawyers might be the lone exception. Good luck getting into that. [Chicago Tribune]