HSBC prolonged disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s ability to burn investors by “engineering a labyrinth” of international sources of funding for his epic Ponzi scheme, a court-appointed trustee alleged Sunday. Trustee Irving Picard announced a lawsuit in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan that seeks to recover $9 billion in illicit earnings and damages from the Britain-based… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Financial Reporting
Put Me First In Line
Former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway and his business partner gave $15 million to a hedge-fund manager now accused of running a Ponzi scheme. In court papers filed by Elway and Mitch Pierce the two claim that their investment was supposed to be kept in a separate account from Mueller’s Over Under Fund. Therefore, the… Read more »
Accept Credit Cards at Garage Sales and Bake Sales
Why can’t everyone accept credit cards? Now there is no good reason because the Square Up system eliminates card reading equipment by providing cell phone users with an app that snaps into a headphone jack. The plug is free and you are spared the contracts, the minimums and the monthly fees. For each transaction, Square… Read more »
The Fabulous Fab is Back in the News
Fabrice Tourre, a controversial personality in the Goldman Sachs Group Inc transaction of 2007, asked a judge to throw out a U.S. regulator’s fraud lawsuit against him. About two and a half months ago, the bank settled its part of the case for $550 million. In his filing, Tourre asked that the U.S. Securities and… Read more »
Losing a Trademark Battle
Danish toy brick maker Lego Juris A/S has failed in its bid to overturn a European trade mark decision canceling European trade mark protection for its standard 2 by 4 red Lego brick in a September 14 ruling of the European Court of Justice. Lego went to court after a Canadian firm had made blocks… Read more »
What a Tale!
During the boom, Wachovia banker Robert Verrone made money by slicing and dicing billions of dollars in commercial real estate loans. After the crash, he made money by restructuring those loans before they blew up. As Wachovia’s No. 1 underwriter of securitized commercial real estate debt between 2002 and 2007, Verrone resigned just months before… Read more »
Can Debt Ruin Your Relationship?
When Allison Brooke Eastman’s fiancé found out four months ago just how high her student loan debt was, he broke off their engagement within three days. Although she had told him early in their relationship that she had over $100,000 of debt, when she found that the amount was actually about $170,000, he accused her… Read more »
Bollywood on a Budget
The world’s movie capital is not Hollywood but Bollywood. Bollywood is the nickname for the Indian film industry located in Bombay. Fourteen million Indians go to the movies on a daily basis (about 1.4% of the population of 1 billion) and pay the equivalent to the average Indian’s day’s wages (US $1-3) to see any… Read more »
A Fee to Visit the U.S.
Starting Wednesday, September 8, 2010, travelers from 36 nations will be required to pay a new two-year entry or travel fee when they visit the United States — part of which will be used to promote tourism. The travelers will pay $14 to register through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), required for those… Read more »
Happy Birthday! Microsoft is 35 years old!
From modest beginnings, Microsoft, started by college dropout Bill Gates, gave birth to an entire industry, changing the way we live and work and became one of the largest software companies on the planet. As this article points out, not everything has been notable during its history. In particular, look at this parody video of… Read more »