February 2009

Swamp creatures latest

by on February 26, 2009

While the rattle of jangling handcuffs filled the streets of downtown New York yesterday as a whole new band of (cough) alleged  hedge | fund | managers | miscreants were hauled in on wire and securities fraud charges, sort-of breaking news arrives on the sort-of pioneering Bayou family.  After the jump: Scammy back in court Friday Marino’s appeal denied Marino brother’s sentencing deferred Scammy back in court Friday Bayou founder Scammy Israel III is due in federal court in White Plains, NY, tomorrow afternoon; he’s been back in the ’hood — specifically, the Westchester county jail, Valhalla —for a week or more after his physical, psychological and pharmaceutical evaluation sojourn at the Federal Medical Center, Devens, Mass. It is expected that the excessively tolerant Judge Kenneth Karas will actually get round to taking the Scamster’s plea on that whole faked suicide, slipping the leash and wasting the US Marshalls Service time thing.  Unless, of course, Scammy has yet another stunt up his sleeve.  Marino’s appeal denied The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied Bayou chief financial officer Daniel Marino’s appeal against his 20-year sentence, although not without a gentle elbow to the ribs of Judge Colleen “Hang ’em high” McMahon:  We pause to note that we might ourselves have given greater weight than apparently did the district court to Marino’s plight — his almost complete deafness and accompanying sense of loneliness, his lack of self-esteem, his bouts with cancer, his apparent fear of and deference to Israel — and his assistance to the government detailed in its “5K1 Letter” (noting his aid to the government in understanding the fraud, his immediate contrition and taking of responsibility upon discovery, and his contribution to the guilty pleas of his co-conspirators). But it is not for us to substitute our judgment for that of the district court, whose sentence was procedurally and substantively proper. So 20 years it is, so far in the backwoods of Arkansas . US v. Daniel Marino   Summary order US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Feb. 17 2009 Brother’s sentencing delayed (again) Matthew Marino, brother of Dan, was due to be sentenced Feb. 10 for his role —  …from in or about January 2005 through in or about August 2005, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, specifically, the conspiracy to commit mail, wire and investment adviser fraud on the investors of the Bayou funds, MARINO concealed and did not as soon as possible report the crimes to federal authorities.   — in the Bayou shambles. The new sentencing date, if any, was not available at pixel-time.  Earlier on NakedShorts Dan’s Brother Takes a Tumble Sep. 4 2008

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Fortress’s other poo problem

by on February 26, 2009

Fortress Investment Group is intimately acquainted with the figurative poo generated by credit market excesses, which may or may not be fully priced into the 95 per cent poopage in its stock price from the top tick recorded on its Feb. 2007 IPO. Now, a subsidiary of RailAmerica, Fortress’s short-line railroad operation, is having its own literal poo issues.  BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A California short line shut down last week owing to an unusual problem: Three feet of cow manure had drifted across its main line. Wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph blew the excrement from an adjacent dairy farm across the San Joaquin Valley Railroad’s main line to a depth of three feet. It was “like a snowdrift, but it was cow manure,” SJV assistant general manager Patrick Kerr told TRAINS News Wire. “In all my years of railroading, I’ve had snowdrifts, I’ve had sand drifts, I’ve had rockslides, but I’ve never had a line shut down by poo.” While the idea of Wes Edens having to grab a shovel holds a certain appeal, not so much. Kerr said the manure was dry, so it didn’t smell as bad as one might imagine. The owner of the dairy farm, who had the proper equipment for removing the drift, helped clean it up. Maybe they should get someone with the proper equipment to help clean up that other somewhat stickier manure pile.  Manure fouls California short line  [$$] Trains News Wire Feb. 23 2009

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Buoyant housing market in Bermuda

February 25, 2009

The residential property market remains strong, despite the global financial crisis.

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Money hole is shovel-ready

February 23, 2009

A strong, resilient financial system is necessary to facilitate a broad and sustainable economic recovery. The US government stands firmly behind the banking system during this period of financial strain to ensure it will be able to perform its key function of providing credit to households and businesses. The government will ensure that banks have the capital and liquidMonity they need to provide the credit necessary to restore economic growth. Moreover, we reiterate our determination to preserve the viability of systemically important financial institutions so that they are able to meet their commitments. Joint Statement by the Treasury, FDIC, OCC, OTS and the Federal Reserve Feb 23 2008 AIG in talks with US goverment, sees $60 billion loss by Paritosh Bansal Reuters Feb. 23 2009 Citi in talks over bigger U.S. stake – report CNN Money Feb. 23 2009

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So farewell then, Andrew Vollmer

February 23, 2009

We thought the enemy was Mr Madoff.  I think it’s you Gary Ackerman (D-NY) Feb. 8 2009 Last seen “fumbling through make believe answers” at the recent House Financial Services Committee Madoff hearing. Vollmer will return to the private sector, an entirely more appropriate venue for exercising his skills in the defense of lying dirt-bags , with more Queen Mary comedy ringing in his ears: “The Commission has benefited from Andy’s commitment to investor protection, rigorous legal analysis, and concern for fairness,” said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. “The nation’s investors and markets are fortunate to have had his sound advice and judgment.”  Not exactly, but Mary will take any distraction from her own Madoff Maelstrom culpability where she can get it. Acting General Counsel Andrew Vollmer to Leave SEC Press release Feb. 18, 2009 

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Regulators: An apology

February 23, 2009

Readers of these and other pixels may have garnered the entirely mistaken impression that US financial industry regulators demonstrated stunning incompetence in their non-pursuit of various allegedly fraudulent investment schemes. Such attacks, including the vicious assault by former SEC chairman Christopher Cox involving the word “Madoff” and the phrases “deeply troubling,” “credible and specific allegations,” “repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff,” and “apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate,” were, in light of new information, unfair, unsubstantiated, inappropriate and defamatory. Specifically:  NEW YORK (AP) — The trustee in charge of untangling the mess left behind by Bernard Madoff told a packed auditorium Friday there was no indication the disgraced money manager had bought securities for his clients for over a decade. “We have no evidence to indicate securities were purchased for customer accounts” in the past 13 years, said Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Obviously, neither FINRA (Queen Mary Schapiro, chief executive or similar since 1996 (13 years, if you’re counting)) nor the SEC (Queen Mary, chairman) have jurisdiction over a business that does not purchase securities for customer accounts. Further, this information provides a full and satisfactory explanation of the allegations by purported whistleblower Harry Markopolos that, inter alia , Madoff’s trading of his customer funds was invisible to the markets. Any implication that the loyal, hard working and intellectually gifted staff of both FINRA and the SEC could not pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel is unreservedly withdrawn with our deepest apologies for any distress that may have been caused.  Trustee: No evidence Madoff bought any securities by Tom Hays AP via Breitbart Feb 20 2009 Madoff creditors get first report   by Beth Healy The Boston Globe Feb. 21 2009 Related SEC Chief Pursues Tougher Enforcement by Stephen Labaton The New York Times Feb. 22 2009 The SEC Watchdog Who Missed Madoff Don’t Blame Me: Cheung by Lorena Mongelli and Dan Mangan The New York Post Jan. 7 2009 Statement Regarding Madoff Investigation Dec. 16 2008

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Psychosociopathology 101

February 23, 2009

The thief and his fat idiot enabler In the sublime structure Ezra Merkin had built for himself, money was the mother of beauty and refinement. The actual business of making it amounted to a kind of plumbing, a slightly unseemly necessity, about which it was best not to go into details. Men like Teicher, or Bernie Madoff, could roll up their sleeves and make it flow, and you could take your cut, without getting your fingernails dirty. The details mattered less as long as the money kept flowing. The fact that Ezra had a blind spot for the way his money was actually being made—and in this he was not so different from many others during the boom years, even his own clients—functioned as a kind of soft corruption, which could enable the hard corruption of Bernie Madoff.  The Monster Mensch by Steve Fishman New York Feb. 22 2008  

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Japan’s Mitsui sells 1M square feet of OC real estate

February 21, 2009

By Padilla, Mathew Publication: Orange County Business Journal Date: Monday, August 25 2003 Mitsui Real Estate Sales USA, part of Japan’s Mitsui & Co., has been on a selling spree this year, unloading 1.4 million square feet of Orange County commercial real estate. Nationwide, the real estate investment company has sold $1 billion worth of [...]

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An illustrated TARP

February 20, 2009

Doing the rounds… Wash. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. [ Original source ] . Thanks, JH.

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New Research: Commercial Real Estate Forecast: February

February 19, 2009

Commercial Real Estate Activity Continuing To Decline

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TALF to Encourage Commercial Real Estate Investment

February 17, 2009

Read how NAR is advocating for opening of commercial real estate credit markets.

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Challenging times for Czech property market

February 17, 2009

Czech residential property prices started falling in the third quarter of 2008, after insignificant price increases during the year’s first half.

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CRT Presents

February 11, 2009

CRT has new Wink videos to help you get acquainted with different technologies. Check them out.

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Lithuania’s housing prices deflate

February 11, 2009

Lithuania’s house prices continue to fall, with its economy stagnating and the credit markets frozen.

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Most expensive real estate markets in 2009

February 11, 2009

No surprise – Monte Carlo is No 1 in the Global Property Guide’s list of World’s Most Expensive Residential Real Estate Markets 2009, more than twice as expensive, at US$45,000 per square metre, as the runner up

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Jamaica yields, spectacular!

February 11, 2009

At a relatively low rent figure, gross rental returns can reach around 10.14%

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Madoff Accountant To Plead Guilty

February 11, 2009

David Friehling the accountant who oversaw Bernard Madoffs accounts for 17 years will plead guilty to criminal charges linked to his role in 65 billion Ponzi scheme next week

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Fairfax Schools Hires 403b Providers

February 10, 2009

Fairfax County Public Schools has appointed GreatWest Retirement Services and TIAACREF as bundled providers for its 403b plan

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2009 AllAmerica Research Team

February 10, 2009

Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs Co have a higher number of rising new stars of equity research than other sellside firms according to participants in the 2009 AllAmerica Research Team survey Institutional Investors annual ranking of the nations top equity analysts as determined by the worlds leading money managers

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The Search For Alpha Forum

February 6, 2009

Visit link: The Search For Alpha Forum

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The European Pensions Symposium

February 6, 2009

Read the original here: The European Pensions Symposium

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New Gadgets for Real Estate

February 3, 2009

This year’s Consumer Electronic Show showcased the newest tech products and new twists on common gadgets used in real estate, from digital cameras to smartphones and netbooks.

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