Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Fear suspicion as US military en route to Costa Rica
EXCERPT:
The contract has drawn confusion about the intent of the ships more than anything else, stemming from a general distrust of US action in the region, likely based on recent events like the tacitly-approved military coup in Honduras (and news emerging last week of new plans for another military base there), as well as last year’s controversial accord to establish seven new military bases in Colombia.
The announcement has already provoked a fierce response in Costa Rica. The measure, which can be also renewed after December 31, has drawn sharp criticism from both lawmakers and civilians. Critics say that a massive foreign military landing at their shores not only directly violates that constitution as it stands today, but tears at the moral fabric of a nation which constitutionally abolished its own army in 1949.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Honduras
Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Chief Deputy David Hendershott in Honduras???By Stephen
With the MCSO so deep in the red that it cannot perform crucial functions, what are MCSO officers doing in Honduras of all places training the local gendarmes down there?
As incredible as it sounds, according to a radio show focused on Honduras' Bay Islands called The Roatan Bruce Show (Roatan being the capital of the Bay Islands, one of Honduras' 18 "departments"), Sheriff Joe's personal "Dick Cheney" Chief Deputy David Hendershott, MCSO Captain Jim Miller and other MCSO deputy dawgs have for the past year been advising the police in that part of the world.
This, while the MCSO has had to cut back in overtime expenditures, reduce visitation hours for prisoners (the Sheriff is still fighting a judge's order to reinstate them), threaten to close down the courts by not delivering defendants to their trials, neglect its duties in unincorporated areas such as Aguila, and on and on.
Take a look at the above pic from the online pub "Honduras This Week Travel," wherein Roatan Bruce recounts his interview with Hendershott and others from the MCSO. Check Hendershott's Panama hat and that Tommy Bahama shirt. The guy looks like a cross between Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau, and the mad scientist Dr. Mephisto from South Park, known for genetically engineering a monkey with four asses.
Just thank Yahweh that Hendershott ain't wearin no Speedo.
Discussing the MCSO's helping hand in an October 27, 2007 article for the same publication, Roatan Bruce informs readers,
There was a time when crime was difficult to stop. It resulted in the federal government eventually sending in more and better qualified police. One of those police is National Police Commissario of The Bay Islands, Julio Benitez. Having two years experience, one as a sub Commissario and for the last year as Commissario, he has attracted the help of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, one of busiest and most respected Sheriff's Offices in the United States, which serves citizens in Phoenix, Arizona.
Busy? Maybe. Respected? Only if you're a third-world police force, boyo.
In the same article, Roatan Bruce notes,
Sheriff Joseph Arpaio sent down two teams of expert police in the last year to establish a sisterhood relationship between Honduras, Bay Island Police and their office. Captain Brian Beamish from Special Operations and Lieutenant Kevin Riddle from the Central Investigations Division were part of a second wave of police that spent a month in Honduras training policemen in Tegucigalpa before coming here.
Nutty. Wonder if the MCSO is showing the Hondurans the best way to use a restraint chair?
Captain Beamish tells Roatan Bruce that the MCSO's initial mission was to train 160 police officers in the islands off the coast of the Central American nation. And the MCSO's work there is still ongoing, according to Beamish.
"After two weeks," Captain Brian continued, "the students then receive the other instructor. At the end, there will be a large graduation. There is more training scheduled for the beginning of the year (2008) and it is going to continue for the next several years. The next group to come down will be on anti-corruption."
Are you kidding me? "Anti-corruption"? What, are they gonna show the Honduran po-po how to raise ducats from the sale of pink underwear?
One thing Hendershott can certainly advise them on is how to police a banana republic.
Jokes aside, I'll certainly be looking into this further next week, and making some public records requests to see who's paying for what. I know that last year, I asked for travel records on Hendershott, and the very few I got to view did not include any airplane flights or hotel stays in Honduras.
Has this been covered in the local media somewhere and I just missed it? Doing various searches online, I did note this proclamation by Governor Napolitano issued back in June for the "Bay Island Sister agency Project for Justice and Service Day," but on the face of it, the whole thing seems outrageous. Is the MCSO doing this on our dime? Plus, you've gotta wonder if this is Hendershott's fall plan if Buckeye Police Chief Dan Saban whips Arpaio's fanny in the general election later this year. You know, retire to sunny Honduras...
"I'm not opposed to helping other nations and countries," Saban told me when I asked him for a comment. "But at a time when the MCSO is under-staffed, under-resourced, and we've got 40,000 felons running loose in this county? Helping other nations should come way at the other end when we're fully staffed."
Well said, Chief. If the MCSO is as stretched financially as they claim, then they have some explaining to do...
Thanks to veteran Arpaio critic Jim Cozzolino for the 411 on Hendershott's Bermuda-shorts junkets to the Caribbean.
PS: You can listen to audio files of Roatan Bruce's interviews with Hendershott and other MCSO operatives, here.
EXCERPT:
The contract has drawn confusion about the intent of the ships more than anything else, stemming from a general distrust of US action in the region, likely based on recent events like the tacitly-approved military coup in Honduras (and news emerging last week of new plans for another military base there), as well as last year’s controversial accord to establish seven new military bases in Colombia.
The announcement has already provoked a fierce response in Costa Rica. The measure, which can be also renewed after December 31, has drawn sharp criticism from both lawmakers and civilians. Critics say that a massive foreign military landing at their shores not only directly violates that constitution as it stands today, but tears at the moral fabric of a nation which constitutionally abolished its own army in 1949.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Honduras
Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Chief Deputy David Hendershott in Honduras???By Stephen
With the MCSO so deep in the red that it cannot perform crucial functions, what are MCSO officers doing in Honduras of all places training the local gendarmes down there?
As incredible as it sounds, according to a radio show focused on Honduras' Bay Islands called The Roatan Bruce Show (Roatan being the capital of the Bay Islands, one of Honduras' 18 "departments"), Sheriff Joe's personal "Dick Cheney" Chief Deputy David Hendershott, MCSO Captain Jim Miller and other MCSO deputy dawgs have for the past year been advising the police in that part of the world.
This, while the MCSO has had to cut back in overtime expenditures, reduce visitation hours for prisoners (the Sheriff is still fighting a judge's order to reinstate them), threaten to close down the courts by not delivering defendants to their trials, neglect its duties in unincorporated areas such as Aguila, and on and on.
Take a look at the above pic from the online pub "Honduras This Week Travel," wherein Roatan Bruce recounts his interview with Hendershott and others from the MCSO. Check Hendershott's Panama hat and that Tommy Bahama shirt. The guy looks like a cross between Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau, and the mad scientist Dr. Mephisto from South Park, known for genetically engineering a monkey with four asses.
Just thank Yahweh that Hendershott ain't wearin no Speedo.
Discussing the MCSO's helping hand in an October 27, 2007 article for the same publication, Roatan Bruce informs readers,
There was a time when crime was difficult to stop. It resulted in the federal government eventually sending in more and better qualified police. One of those police is National Police Commissario of The Bay Islands, Julio Benitez. Having two years experience, one as a sub Commissario and for the last year as Commissario, he has attracted the help of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, one of busiest and most respected Sheriff's Offices in the United States, which serves citizens in Phoenix, Arizona.
Busy? Maybe. Respected? Only if you're a third-world police force, boyo.
In the same article, Roatan Bruce notes,
Sheriff Joseph Arpaio sent down two teams of expert police in the last year to establish a sisterhood relationship between Honduras, Bay Island Police and their office. Captain Brian Beamish from Special Operations and Lieutenant Kevin Riddle from the Central Investigations Division were part of a second wave of police that spent a month in Honduras training policemen in Tegucigalpa before coming here.
Nutty. Wonder if the MCSO is showing the Hondurans the best way to use a restraint chair?
Captain Beamish tells Roatan Bruce that the MCSO's initial mission was to train 160 police officers in the islands off the coast of the Central American nation. And the MCSO's work there is still ongoing, according to Beamish.
"After two weeks," Captain Brian continued, "the students then receive the other instructor. At the end, there will be a large graduation. There is more training scheduled for the beginning of the year (2008) and it is going to continue for the next several years. The next group to come down will be on anti-corruption."
Are you kidding me? "Anti-corruption"? What, are they gonna show the Honduran po-po how to raise ducats from the sale of pink underwear?
One thing Hendershott can certainly advise them on is how to police a banana republic.
Jokes aside, I'll certainly be looking into this further next week, and making some public records requests to see who's paying for what. I know that last year, I asked for travel records on Hendershott, and the very few I got to view did not include any airplane flights or hotel stays in Honduras.
Has this been covered in the local media somewhere and I just missed it? Doing various searches online, I did note this proclamation by Governor Napolitano issued back in June for the "Bay Island Sister agency Project for Justice and Service Day," but on the face of it, the whole thing seems outrageous. Is the MCSO doing this on our dime? Plus, you've gotta wonder if this is Hendershott's fall plan if Buckeye Police Chief Dan Saban whips Arpaio's fanny in the general election later this year. You know, retire to sunny Honduras...
"I'm not opposed to helping other nations and countries," Saban told me when I asked him for a comment. "But at a time when the MCSO is under-staffed, under-resourced, and we've got 40,000 felons running loose in this county? Helping other nations should come way at the other end when we're fully staffed."
Well said, Chief. If the MCSO is as stretched financially as they claim, then they have some explaining to do...
Thanks to veteran Arpaio critic Jim Cozzolino for the 411 on Hendershott's Bermuda-shorts junkets to the Caribbean.
PS: You can listen to audio files of Roatan Bruce's interviews with Hendershott and other MCSO operatives, here.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Its about what you do not what you say strategies for reducing turnover
EXCERPT:
The first crack came with the advent of the 401(k) and (b) plans that freed employees from corporate retirement programs. The 401 programs are, in effect, portable pensions. In effect, you take your accumulated savings and add to them somewhere else. Silicon Valley companies had never set up pension programs because the young companies there, with non-union workers, did not feel any need to establish retirement programs. So they were the first to feel the impact of 401 programs as workers started understanding what they were all about.
I found the following and thought it needed sharing. How many 'REAL' people know anything about any of this stuff? When I worked at HOLOGIX our CFO was making all of the decisions for the employees. This was the first time ever that I had even thought about retirement and believe me after all the stress at this job (hostile takeover) when I walked out the door at night, I shut it all off.
All of the attention put on outsmarting this guy and that guy is all wrapped up in these white man's EGOs and these guys need to be stopped. The brainwashing needs to be stopped.
It is insane that this world is run by people that think they are smart but are missing out on the most important part of being human......... LOVE.
CalPERS after scandal embraces risk for pensioners facing 20 billion-gap
EXCERPT:
“This could mark a sea change, and not just for Calpers but for every other pension fund out there,” Lo says.
Calpers is at the forefront of a national crisis as public pension funds struggle to meet their obligations to more than 19 million active and retired firefighters, police officers, teachers and other state workers. In 2000, more than half of the 50 states had the funds to cover what they owed. By 2008, that number had shrunk to four -- Florida, New York, Washington and Wisconsin -- as total unfunded liabilities reached a record $1 trillion, according to a February 2010 report by the Pew Center on the States that uses the latest available data.
Pension fund and 401K
EXCERPT:
Hedge funds in 401(k)?
Hedge funds in a 401(k)? People will need to invest prudently for their MANY decades in retirement. But what are they going to be ALLOWED to invest in? How can individuals be expected to take responsibility for their financial future when most will not be permitted to have proper strategy diversification, access superior managers or REDUCE risk with better quality funds? Long only stocks and bonds is dangerous and unsuitable for most of them.
How much of the population actually understands Hedge Funds or 401K
EXCERPT:
Blame for crash? The market sell-off has been caused by hedge funds? Some argue, like the IMF chief economist Raghuram Rajan, that incentive fees induce hedge funds into taking more risk and that this is a cause of market volatility. WRONG. It might push long only and non-hedged speculators marketing themselves as "hedge funds" into risky areas but with competent managers, high water marks, their own wealth at risk and incentive fees encourage them into reducing their volatility.
EXCERPT:
The first crack came with the advent of the 401(k) and (b) plans that freed employees from corporate retirement programs. The 401 programs are, in effect, portable pensions. In effect, you take your accumulated savings and add to them somewhere else. Silicon Valley companies had never set up pension programs because the young companies there, with non-union workers, did not feel any need to establish retirement programs. So they were the first to feel the impact of 401 programs as workers started understanding what they were all about.
I found the following and thought it needed sharing. How many 'REAL' people know anything about any of this stuff? When I worked at HOLOGIX our CFO was making all of the decisions for the employees. This was the first time ever that I had even thought about retirement and believe me after all the stress at this job (hostile takeover) when I walked out the door at night, I shut it all off.
All of the attention put on outsmarting this guy and that guy is all wrapped up in these white man's EGOs and these guys need to be stopped. The brainwashing needs to be stopped.
It is insane that this world is run by people that think they are smart but are missing out on the most important part of being human......... LOVE.
CalPERS after scandal embraces risk for pensioners facing 20 billion-gap
EXCERPT:
“This could mark a sea change, and not just for Calpers but for every other pension fund out there,” Lo says.
Calpers is at the forefront of a national crisis as public pension funds struggle to meet their obligations to more than 19 million active and retired firefighters, police officers, teachers and other state workers. In 2000, more than half of the 50 states had the funds to cover what they owed. By 2008, that number had shrunk to four -- Florida, New York, Washington and Wisconsin -- as total unfunded liabilities reached a record $1 trillion, according to a February 2010 report by the Pew Center on the States that uses the latest available data.
Pension fund and 401K
EXCERPT:
Hedge funds in 401(k)?
Hedge funds in a 401(k)? People will need to invest prudently for their MANY decades in retirement. But what are they going to be ALLOWED to invest in? How can individuals be expected to take responsibility for their financial future when most will not be permitted to have proper strategy diversification, access superior managers or REDUCE risk with better quality funds? Long only stocks and bonds is dangerous and unsuitable for most of them.
How much of the population actually understands Hedge Funds or 401K
EXCERPT:
Blame for crash? The market sell-off has been caused by hedge funds? Some argue, like the IMF chief economist Raghuram Rajan, that incentive fees induce hedge funds into taking more risk and that this is a cause of market volatility. WRONG. It might push long only and non-hedged speculators marketing themselves as "hedge funds" into risky areas but with competent managers, high water marks, their own wealth at risk and incentive fees encourage them into reducing their volatility.
Hedge Fund terms A-Z
EXCERPT:
A portion of the Investment Company Act of 1940 that permits the exclusion of investment companies from standard registration requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if they have fewer than 100 U.S. investors.
ABack to topAbsolute Return
The return that an asset achieves over a certain period of time. This measure looks at the appreciation or depreciation (expressed as a percentage) that an asset - usually a stock or a mutual fund - achieves over a given period of time. Absolute...
Absolute Return Index
A stock index designed to measure absolute returns. The absolute return index is actually a composite index made up of five other indexes. This index is used to compare the absolute returns posted by the hedge fund market as a whole against...
Agency Problem
A conflict of interest arising between creditors, shareholders and management because of differing goals.
Airbag Swap
An interest rate swap whose notional value adjusts according to rising interest rates by indexing the floating portion to a constant maturity swap (CMS).
Alternative Asset
Any non-traditional asset with potential economic value that would not be found in a standard investment portfolio. Due to the unconventional nature of alternative assets, valuation of some of these assets can be difficult.
Alternative Investment
An investment that is not one of the three traditional asset types (stocks, bonds and cash). Most alternative investment assets are held by institutional investors or accredited, high-net-worth individuals because of their complex nature, limited...
CalPers big lawsuit
EXCERPT:
May 6, 2010
Big lawsuit in CalPERS scandal
California officials filed a fraud suit against the former chief executive of CalPERS and his close friend, a former pension fund board member turned placement agent, in an explosive new twist in the influence-peddling scandal that's been simmering at CalPERS for months.
The lawsuit by Attorney General Jerry Brown says former CalPERS CEO Fred Buenrostro accepted thousands of dollars worth of gifts from Alfred Villalobos, a former CalPERS board member who has earned tens of millions of dollars as a placement agent. These agents are hired by private equity firms to obtain investments from public pension funds such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
Among other things, the suit says Villalobos "substantially subsidized" the cost of Buenrostro's 2004 wedding at Villalobos' Lake Tahoe mansion - an incident first reported by The Bee last fall. Buenrostro has said he reimbursed his host.
The suit demands the return of at least $70 million in commissions earned by Villalobos over the years from CalPERS investments.
Departure not connected Buenrostro
EXCERPT:
The resignation of the CEO of California's public employee retirement system, announced Monday, was its second high-level departure in less than a week, prompting speculation about turmoil at the $240 billion pension fund.
Still, the retirement of Chief Executive Officer Fred Buenrostro Jr. is a personal matter that's not part of a broader management shakeup at the California Public Employees' Retirement System, board members and outside experts said Tuesday.
Buenrostro said Monday that he is retiring at a date still to be determined after 5 1/2 years as CalPERS' top executive. The announcement followed by a few days disclosure of the departure of Russell Read, the fund's chief investment officer, who said he is leaving in June to focus on environmentally friendly investing.
Hedge Funds v Porsche
EXCERPT:
US hedge funds are taking legal action against Porsche in a New York court for allegedly manipulating stock prices during its 2008 takeover tangle with Volkswagen. Public prosecutors in Stuttgart are investigating too.
Traders and hedge fund managers hate the weekends because they can't take react immediately to corporate announcements until trading floors reopen on Monday.
Sunday, October 26, 2008 was a particularly bad day for 35 American hedge funds. That was the day German sports carmaker Porsche announced that it owned 42.6 percent of Volkswagen's common stock and options for another 31.5 percent - bringing its total stake in the company to 74.1 percent. The announcement then declared Porsche was seeking to obtain 75 percent of VW shares - a plan that eventually backfired.
India-Cricket
EXCERPT:
Modernisation was equated with the privileging of the private sector and maximising profits.
In this lay the seeds of the scandal that has transformed the way people look at the tournament. It's the private franchising that created the morass that's now under investigation. Among the allegations are bribery, kickbacks, insider trading, tax evasion, money laundering, offshore tax scams and violations of foreign exchange regulations. Behind all these manoeuvres lies a tangle of conflicts of interest, with IPL and BCCI officials and their relatives financially involved in the private franchises and the broadcasting-rights holders. It's a web that involves government ministers, the CEOs of some of India biggest corporations, media powers and Bollywood stars.
Definition of side pockets
What Does Side Pocket Mean?
A type of account used in hedge funds to separate illiquid assets from other more liquid investments. Once an investment enters a side pocket account, only the present participants in the hedge fund will be entitled to a share of it. Future investors will not receive a share of the proceeds in the event the asset's returns get realized.
Investopedia explains Side Pocket
Investors who leave the hedge fund will still receive a share of the side pocket's value when it gets realized. Usually only the most illiquid assets, such as delisted shares of a company, receive this type of treatment, because holding illiquid assets in a standard hedge fund portfolio can cause a great deal of complexity when investors liquidate their position. Overall, side pocket accounts resemble single asset private equity funds in structure.
Joe Biden't tangled web of hedge funds
EXCERPT:
By lostincali in MLP
Sun May 03, 2009 at 09:39:42 AM EST
Tags: Joe Biden, hedge funds, political influence (all tags)
FT Alphaville, a blog run by the Financial Times, is running a three part series on the dealings surrounding a hedge fund management company purchased by the Biden family in 2006. The upshot: no allegations directly linking Biden to corruption, but good dose of lobbying sleaze, nepotism, an opportunistic asbestos/mesothelioma law firm, indirect links to fraudulent financial entities and more conflicts of interest than you can shake a stick at.
Placing for paradigm (Biden)
EXCERPT:
The whole Biden/Paradigm affair also links back to the murky – though largely legitimate – world of pension fund placement agents so much in the news of late.
In this case, it shows how people as politically well-connected as James and Hunter Biden might once have hoped to use their political knowledge to great effect in the hedge fund business.
Hedge funds and Enron
EXCERPT:
1. Side Pockets: A way to move toxic holdings "Off Balance Sheet," to a netherland, hidden from investors and perhaps regulators. This lack of transparency does not exactly comply with truth-in-reporting to your investors or FASB accounting standards.
Sound familiar? It should: It's remarkably similar to Enron Off Balance Sheet Special Partnerships. The WSJ's Scott Patterson went into the details last week:
Even if Bear's pain spreads through the market, other hedge-fund investors might not feel it, at least right away. Sometimes, hedge funds move big pieces of their holdings into separate accounts known as side pockets to keep declining assets from hurting a main fund's performance record -- and managers' wallets. They can also block investors from cashing out.
2. Mark-to-Model: The similarities to Kenny boy's outfit don't end there: What do we do with illiquid holdings where the fund is both the buyer and seller, and the parent company is the buyer of last resort? Unlike most mutual and hedge funds, who mark-to-market based upon the closing price of their assets, holders of these CDOs get to indulge their "creative" side. Instead of writing the great American novel, they derive a model that optimistically prices these illiquid assets.
Astarra shares Hong Kong link to broking scandal
EXCERPT:
Stuart Washington
January 5, 2010
A COMPANY under investigation over the whereabouts of $118 million in funds channelled through the British Virgin Islands shared a Hong Kong address with a firm linked to one of Britain's biggest stockbroking scandals.
The address given for Astarra Asset Management's Hong Kong-based owner, Century Investments Holdings, matches the address given by Zetland Financial Services Group until late 2008.
Zetland and its chief executive, James Sutherland, were named in the British press as the Hong Kong-based owners of Pacific Continental Securities, a British broker that used high-pressure, ''boiler room'' tactics to sell risky and sometimes worthless US shares to British investors.
PCCW
EXCERPT:
Corporate history
PCCW was formed by Richard Li, the younger son of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing. Formerly Pacific Century Development, it was an investment holding company. The company's English name was changed from "Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited" to "PCCW Limited" on 9 August 2002.
It then won a controversial land deal, acquiring valuable waterfront real estate from the government without any public auction bids. Many in Hong Kong cried cronyism, as the Hong Kong Government, under chief executive Tung Chee Hwa, gave away the land to his new high-tech residential and commercial venture called Cyberport.[9]
Li Ka shing
EXCERPT:
Pyramid structure
Like many Asian conglomerates, the Li Ka-shing group is structured to retain disproportionate control without incurring the cost of owning an equivalent economic interest. This separation between control and interest is accomplished through pyramid structure, dual-class equities and cross-holdings.[citation needed] While such structures are rarer in the US and UK, they do exist. For instance, Google uses a dual-class structure to give its founders and insiders 10 votes for each class-B share while the general public is offered class-A shares with 1 vote each.
[edit] Internet
His investment company, Horizon Ventures bought a stake in doubleTwist.[16] Li Ka Shing Foundation bought a 0.8% stake in social networking website Facebook for $120 million in two separate rounds.[17][18] and invested an estimated $50 million in music streaming service Spotify.[19] Some time between late 2009 and early 2010, Li Ka-shing led a $15.5 million Series B round of financing for Siri, an artificial intelligence based virtual personal assistant application for the iPhone.[20]
[edit] Others
Besides business through his flagship companies Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, Li Ka-shing also personally has extensively invested in real estate in Singapore and Canada. He was the single largest shareholder of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), the third largest bank in Canada until the sale of his share in 2005 (with all proceedings donated, see below). He is also the majority shareholder of a major energy company, Husky Energy, based in Alberta, Canada.[21]
In January 2005, Li announced plans to sell his $1.2 billion CAD stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, with all proceeds going to private charitable foundations established by Li including the Li Ka Shing Foundation in Hong Kong and the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation based in Toronto, Canada.[22]
Li has some real estate interest in Vancouver, specifically in connection with Concord Pacific Developments that developed the old Expo '86 lands in Yaletown.[citation
THE SATANIC BLOODLINES
Introduction
1.1. The Astor Bloodline
2.2. The Bundy Bloodline
3.3. The Collins Bloodline
4.4. The DuPont Bloodline
5.5. The Freeman Bloodline
6.6. The Kennedy Bloodline
7.7. The Li Bloodline
8.8. The Onassis Bloodline
9.9. The Reynolds bloodline
110. The Rockefeller Bloodline
11. The Rothschild Bloodline
12. The Russell Bloodline
13. The Van Duyn Bloodline
EXCERPT:
A portion of the Investment Company Act of 1940 that permits the exclusion of investment companies from standard registration requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if they have fewer than 100 U.S. investors.
ABack to topAbsolute Return
The return that an asset achieves over a certain period of time. This measure looks at the appreciation or depreciation (expressed as a percentage) that an asset - usually a stock or a mutual fund - achieves over a given period of time. Absolute...
Absolute Return Index
A stock index designed to measure absolute returns. The absolute return index is actually a composite index made up of five other indexes. This index is used to compare the absolute returns posted by the hedge fund market as a whole against...
Agency Problem
A conflict of interest arising between creditors, shareholders and management because of differing goals.
Airbag Swap
An interest rate swap whose notional value adjusts according to rising interest rates by indexing the floating portion to a constant maturity swap (CMS).
Alternative Asset
Any non-traditional asset with potential economic value that would not be found in a standard investment portfolio. Due to the unconventional nature of alternative assets, valuation of some of these assets can be difficult.
Alternative Investment
An investment that is not one of the three traditional asset types (stocks, bonds and cash). Most alternative investment assets are held by institutional investors or accredited, high-net-worth individuals because of their complex nature, limited...
CalPers big lawsuit
EXCERPT:
May 6, 2010
Big lawsuit in CalPERS scandal
California officials filed a fraud suit against the former chief executive of CalPERS and his close friend, a former pension fund board member turned placement agent, in an explosive new twist in the influence-peddling scandal that's been simmering at CalPERS for months.
The lawsuit by Attorney General Jerry Brown says former CalPERS CEO Fred Buenrostro accepted thousands of dollars worth of gifts from Alfred Villalobos, a former CalPERS board member who has earned tens of millions of dollars as a placement agent. These agents are hired by private equity firms to obtain investments from public pension funds such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
Among other things, the suit says Villalobos "substantially subsidized" the cost of Buenrostro's 2004 wedding at Villalobos' Lake Tahoe mansion - an incident first reported by The Bee last fall. Buenrostro has said he reimbursed his host.
The suit demands the return of at least $70 million in commissions earned by Villalobos over the years from CalPERS investments.
Departure not connected Buenrostro
EXCERPT:
The resignation of the CEO of California's public employee retirement system, announced Monday, was its second high-level departure in less than a week, prompting speculation about turmoil at the $240 billion pension fund.
Still, the retirement of Chief Executive Officer Fred Buenrostro Jr. is a personal matter that's not part of a broader management shakeup at the California Public Employees' Retirement System, board members and outside experts said Tuesday.
Buenrostro said Monday that he is retiring at a date still to be determined after 5 1/2 years as CalPERS' top executive. The announcement followed by a few days disclosure of the departure of Russell Read, the fund's chief investment officer, who said he is leaving in June to focus on environmentally friendly investing.
Hedge Funds v Porsche
EXCERPT:
US hedge funds are taking legal action against Porsche in a New York court for allegedly manipulating stock prices during its 2008 takeover tangle with Volkswagen. Public prosecutors in Stuttgart are investigating too.
Traders and hedge fund managers hate the weekends because they can't take react immediately to corporate announcements until trading floors reopen on Monday.
Sunday, October 26, 2008 was a particularly bad day for 35 American hedge funds. That was the day German sports carmaker Porsche announced that it owned 42.6 percent of Volkswagen's common stock and options for another 31.5 percent - bringing its total stake in the company to 74.1 percent. The announcement then declared Porsche was seeking to obtain 75 percent of VW shares - a plan that eventually backfired.
India-Cricket
EXCERPT:
Modernisation was equated with the privileging of the private sector and maximising profits.
In this lay the seeds of the scandal that has transformed the way people look at the tournament. It's the private franchising that created the morass that's now under investigation. Among the allegations are bribery, kickbacks, insider trading, tax evasion, money laundering, offshore tax scams and violations of foreign exchange regulations. Behind all these manoeuvres lies a tangle of conflicts of interest, with IPL and BCCI officials and their relatives financially involved in the private franchises and the broadcasting-rights holders. It's a web that involves government ministers, the CEOs of some of India biggest corporations, media powers and Bollywood stars.
Definition of side pockets
What Does Side Pocket Mean?
A type of account used in hedge funds to separate illiquid assets from other more liquid investments. Once an investment enters a side pocket account, only the present participants in the hedge fund will be entitled to a share of it. Future investors will not receive a share of the proceeds in the event the asset's returns get realized.
Investopedia explains Side Pocket
Investors who leave the hedge fund will still receive a share of the side pocket's value when it gets realized. Usually only the most illiquid assets, such as delisted shares of a company, receive this type of treatment, because holding illiquid assets in a standard hedge fund portfolio can cause a great deal of complexity when investors liquidate their position. Overall, side pocket accounts resemble single asset private equity funds in structure.
Joe Biden't tangled web of hedge funds
EXCERPT:
By lostincali in MLP
Sun May 03, 2009 at 09:39:42 AM EST
Tags: Joe Biden, hedge funds, political influence (all tags)
FT Alphaville, a blog run by the Financial Times, is running a three part series on the dealings surrounding a hedge fund management company purchased by the Biden family in 2006. The upshot: no allegations directly linking Biden to corruption, but good dose of lobbying sleaze, nepotism, an opportunistic asbestos/mesothelioma law firm, indirect links to fraudulent financial entities and more conflicts of interest than you can shake a stick at.
Placing for paradigm (Biden)
EXCERPT:
The whole Biden/Paradigm affair also links back to the murky – though largely legitimate – world of pension fund placement agents so much in the news of late.
In this case, it shows how people as politically well-connected as James and Hunter Biden might once have hoped to use their political knowledge to great effect in the hedge fund business.
Hedge funds and Enron
EXCERPT:
1. Side Pockets: A way to move toxic holdings "Off Balance Sheet," to a netherland, hidden from investors and perhaps regulators. This lack of transparency does not exactly comply with truth-in-reporting to your investors or FASB accounting standards.
Sound familiar? It should: It's remarkably similar to Enron Off Balance Sheet Special Partnerships. The WSJ's Scott Patterson went into the details last week:
Even if Bear's pain spreads through the market, other hedge-fund investors might not feel it, at least right away. Sometimes, hedge funds move big pieces of their holdings into separate accounts known as side pockets to keep declining assets from hurting a main fund's performance record -- and managers' wallets. They can also block investors from cashing out.
2. Mark-to-Model: The similarities to Kenny boy's outfit don't end there: What do we do with illiquid holdings where the fund is both the buyer and seller, and the parent company is the buyer of last resort? Unlike most mutual and hedge funds, who mark-to-market based upon the closing price of their assets, holders of these CDOs get to indulge their "creative" side. Instead of writing the great American novel, they derive a model that optimistically prices these illiquid assets.
Astarra shares Hong Kong link to broking scandal
EXCERPT:
Stuart Washington
January 5, 2010
A COMPANY under investigation over the whereabouts of $118 million in funds channelled through the British Virgin Islands shared a Hong Kong address with a firm linked to one of Britain's biggest stockbroking scandals.
The address given for Astarra Asset Management's Hong Kong-based owner, Century Investments Holdings, matches the address given by Zetland Financial Services Group until late 2008.
Zetland and its chief executive, James Sutherland, were named in the British press as the Hong Kong-based owners of Pacific Continental Securities, a British broker that used high-pressure, ''boiler room'' tactics to sell risky and sometimes worthless US shares to British investors.
PCCW
EXCERPT:
Corporate history
PCCW was formed by Richard Li, the younger son of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing. Formerly Pacific Century Development, it was an investment holding company. The company's English name was changed from "Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited" to "PCCW Limited" on 9 August 2002.
It then won a controversial land deal, acquiring valuable waterfront real estate from the government without any public auction bids. Many in Hong Kong cried cronyism, as the Hong Kong Government, under chief executive Tung Chee Hwa, gave away the land to his new high-tech residential and commercial venture called Cyberport.[9]
Li Ka shing
EXCERPT:
Pyramid structure
Like many Asian conglomerates, the Li Ka-shing group is structured to retain disproportionate control without incurring the cost of owning an equivalent economic interest. This separation between control and interest is accomplished through pyramid structure, dual-class equities and cross-holdings.[citation needed] While such structures are rarer in the US and UK, they do exist. For instance, Google uses a dual-class structure to give its founders and insiders 10 votes for each class-B share while the general public is offered class-A shares with 1 vote each.
[edit] Internet
His investment company, Horizon Ventures bought a stake in doubleTwist.[16] Li Ka Shing Foundation bought a 0.8% stake in social networking website Facebook for $120 million in two separate rounds.[17][18] and invested an estimated $50 million in music streaming service Spotify.[19] Some time between late 2009 and early 2010, Li Ka-shing led a $15.5 million Series B round of financing for Siri, an artificial intelligence based virtual personal assistant application for the iPhone.[20]
[edit] Others
Besides business through his flagship companies Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, Li Ka-shing also personally has extensively invested in real estate in Singapore and Canada. He was the single largest shareholder of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), the third largest bank in Canada until the sale of his share in 2005 (with all proceedings donated, see below). He is also the majority shareholder of a major energy company, Husky Energy, based in Alberta, Canada.[21]
In January 2005, Li announced plans to sell his $1.2 billion CAD stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, with all proceeds going to private charitable foundations established by Li including the Li Ka Shing Foundation in Hong Kong and the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation based in Toronto, Canada.[22]
Li has some real estate interest in Vancouver, specifically in connection with Concord Pacific Developments that developed the old Expo '86 lands in Yaletown.[citation
THE SATANIC BLOODLINES
Introduction
1.1. The Astor Bloodline
2.2. The Bundy Bloodline
3.3. The Collins Bloodline
4.4. The DuPont Bloodline
5.5. The Freeman Bloodline
6.6. The Kennedy Bloodline
7.7. The Li Bloodline
8.8. The Onassis Bloodline
9.9. The Reynolds bloodline
110. The Rockefeller Bloodline
11. The Rothschild Bloodline
12. The Russell Bloodline
13. The Van Duyn Bloodline
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Keating brings home the bacon (tax-free) Was Achilles a Heel?
EXCERPT:
Keating brings home the bacon (tax-free)
Was Achilles a heel?
9 July 1998
Was the sale of former Prime Minister Keating's share in a piggery to his partner, Achilles Constantinidis, who then on-sold it to Indonesian interests at the same time as Prime Minister Keating was negotiating a treaty with Indonesian dictator and embezzler, President Suharto, a sham to avoid taxation?
Or was the former Federal Treasurer financially incompetent in selling his share at what he termed a "third rate price" to his partner who immediately made a handsome profit by on-selling it?
It seems as if one or the other scenarios has to be true.
Federal coalition members tabled a document in parliament this week alleging the former scenario. The document referred to "H.E.", purportedly meaning "His Excellency", the Indonesian term for Prime Minister Keating. The document makes incredibly damaging allegations of tax avoidance on the part of "H.E."
Keating's Piggery deal
EXCERPT:
The Keating piggery deal
This document purportedly relates to the sale of Keating's shares in his piggery business to Indonesian businessman, William Soeryadjaya. Chris Coudonaris is Keating's solicitor. The document has been re-typed for clarity purposes. The original document follows the re-typed one. "HE" purportedly refers to "His Excellency, Prime Minister Keating".
William Soeryadjaya
EXCERPT:
William Soeryadjaya (December 22, 1922 - April 2, 2010), born in Majalengka, was an Indonesian businessman who co-founded Astra International, Indonesia's largest automobile retailer.[1]
Soeryadjaya co-founded founded Astra, then a trading company, in 1957.[1] The company grew to become Indonesia's largest automobile retailers and the country's biggest company by market value.[1] The company, which also owns finance, palm oil and automotive businesses, sells Honda motorcycles and Toyota vehicles throughout Indonesia.[1] In Marhc 2010, Astra overtook Telkom Indonesia to become Indonesia's most valuable company.[1]
In 2009, Forbes Magazine rated the Soeryadjaya family as Indonesia's 18th wealthiest family.[1]
William Soeryadjaya died at Medistra Hospital in Jakarta at 22:43 p.m. on April 2, 2010, at the age of 87.[1] Astra's president director, Michael Ruslim also died on January 20, 2010, from dengue fever.[1]
Joe Biden's meetings with foreign leaders
EXCERPT:
Australia
Prime Minister John Howard (March 1996 - December 2007)
Prime Minister Paul Keating (December 1991 - March 1996)
Australias privatized retirement system
EXCERPT:
Australia's Privatized Retirement System: Lessons for the United StatesP ublished on December 8, 1997 by Daniel Mitchell, Ph.D. and Robert O'Quinn Backgrounder #1149
Like the United States, Australia has been confronted by a dual crisis in its government-run old-age pension system. Benefits payments to an aging population threatened to consume ever larger amounts of Australia's budget according to projections in the 1980s, yet the Australian Social Security system clearly was unable to provide an adequate income for retirees.
Paul Keating
EXCERPT:
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is a former Australian politician, and was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996
EXCERPT:
Keating brings home the bacon (tax-free)
Was Achilles a heel?
9 July 1998
Was the sale of former Prime Minister Keating's share in a piggery to his partner, Achilles Constantinidis, who then on-sold it to Indonesian interests at the same time as Prime Minister Keating was negotiating a treaty with Indonesian dictator and embezzler, President Suharto, a sham to avoid taxation?
Or was the former Federal Treasurer financially incompetent in selling his share at what he termed a "third rate price" to his partner who immediately made a handsome profit by on-selling it?
It seems as if one or the other scenarios has to be true.
Federal coalition members tabled a document in parliament this week alleging the former scenario. The document referred to "H.E.", purportedly meaning "His Excellency", the Indonesian term for Prime Minister Keating. The document makes incredibly damaging allegations of tax avoidance on the part of "H.E."
Keating's Piggery deal
EXCERPT:
The Keating piggery deal
This document purportedly relates to the sale of Keating's shares in his piggery business to Indonesian businessman, William Soeryadjaya. Chris Coudonaris is Keating's solicitor. The document has been re-typed for clarity purposes. The original document follows the re-typed one. "HE" purportedly refers to "His Excellency, Prime Minister Keating".
William Soeryadjaya
EXCERPT:
William Soeryadjaya (December 22, 1922 - April 2, 2010), born in Majalengka, was an Indonesian businessman who co-founded Astra International, Indonesia's largest automobile retailer.[1]
Soeryadjaya co-founded founded Astra, then a trading company, in 1957.[1] The company grew to become Indonesia's largest automobile retailers and the country's biggest company by market value.[1] The company, which also owns finance, palm oil and automotive businesses, sells Honda motorcycles and Toyota vehicles throughout Indonesia.[1] In Marhc 2010, Astra overtook Telkom Indonesia to become Indonesia's most valuable company.[1]
In 2009, Forbes Magazine rated the Soeryadjaya family as Indonesia's 18th wealthiest family.[1]
William Soeryadjaya died at Medistra Hospital in Jakarta at 22:43 p.m. on April 2, 2010, at the age of 87.[1] Astra's president director, Michael Ruslim also died on January 20, 2010, from dengue fever.[1]
Joe Biden's meetings with foreign leaders
EXCERPT:
Australia
Prime Minister John Howard (March 1996 - December 2007)
Prime Minister Paul Keating (December 1991 - March 1996)
Australias privatized retirement system
EXCERPT:
Australia's Privatized Retirement System: Lessons for the United StatesP ublished on December 8, 1997 by Daniel Mitchell, Ph.D. and Robert O'Quinn Backgrounder #1149
Like the United States, Australia has been confronted by a dual crisis in its government-run old-age pension system. Benefits payments to an aging population threatened to consume ever larger amounts of Australia's budget according to projections in the 1980s, yet the Australian Social Security system clearly was unable to provide an adequate income for retirees.
Paul Keating
EXCERPT:
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is a former Australian politician, and was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996
VP Biden hedge fund scandal why there's nothing anyone can do to prevent it
EXCERPT:
May 2, 2009
If Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme wasn’t enough to get some investors fired up over hedge fund regulation, then the Vice President’s “hedge fund hotel” scandal is sure to do it.
Ponta Negra Capital: The Black Hole
A hedge fund Ponzi scheme scandal is breaking in the blogosphere - and it goes right to the top of political power. A little while ago, blogger John Hempton, who writes Bronte Capital, a finance blog, started sniffing around Connecticut-based hedge fund Ponta Negra. Hempton didn’t like what he found. After legal threats from the fund’s lawyers, Hempton retreated until a court ordered a freeze on the assets of Ponta Negra fund manager Francesco Rusciano amid allegations he lied to investors to raise more than $30 million. After that, the blogger published his findings.
Bidens of hedge funds hair plugs
EXCERPT:
Lotito advised the Bidens that the best man to create LBB from a legal perspective was John Fasciana, purported to be "the best in the business." What the Bidens didn't know about Fasciana was they he was a convicted felon awaiting sentencing for a massive fraud: a federal jury had earlier found that Fasciana helped others steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from IT outsourcer EDS by pinching checks sent to the company and then laundering the funds through Fasciana's attorney trust account.
But, at the time, the Bidens claimed to be unaware of the suspect activities swirling around Fasciana (and, apparently, the existence of a research tool called Google).
Dark privatised social security story and Joe Biden's business
EXCERPT:
Saturday, January 2, 2010
A dark privatised social security story: Astarra, the missing money and how examining a fund manager owned by Joe Biden’s family led to substantial regulatory action in Australia
Bronte sleuth finds ponzi link to Biden
EXCERPT:
And after the Bidens took over, it launched a joint venture with the cricket-loving Texas billionaire Allen Stanford's outfit, called the Paradigm Stanford Core Alternatives Fund.
Astarra shares Hong Kong link to broking scandal
EXCERPT:
Calls to Mr Sutherland and Astarra Asset Management's administrator, Ian Purchas, were not returned yesterday.
Astarra Asset Management was investment manager for $426 million in funds of the fund manager Trio Capital of Albury, including its flagship fund Astarra Strategic, which had $118 million invested in international hedge funds.
Authorities froze the funds in mid-October and took effective control shortly before Christmas.
On another front, the Bronte Capital blogger John Hempton, who blew the whistle on concerns related to Astarra Strategic, said he first looked at Astarra because of its purported links to a US hedge fund, Paradigm Global.
Paradigm Global, an investor in funds of hedge funds, is owned by Hunter Biden, the son of the US Vice-President, Joe Biden, and James Biden, the Vice-President's brother.
The link to Astarra was made through the appearance of Charles Provini's biography on an Astarra website, saying he was chief executive of Paradigm Global and Astarra's US asset consultant. Mr Provini was not chief executive of Paradigm at the time the online biography appeared.
Washington Post on Hunter Biden's Paradigm
EXCERPT:
The legal actions have been playing out in New York State Supreme Court since 2007, and they focus on Hunter and James Biden's involvement in Paradigm Companies LLC, a hedge fund group. Hunter Biden, a Washington lobbyist, briefly served as president of the firm.
Francesco Rusciano
Francesco Rusciano is a 27-year-old hedge fund manager from Connecticut who gave falsified information to a selling agent, at least twice increasing the asset amounts listed in his funds by using white out.HedgeFund.net: SEC Alleges Hedge Fund Fraud Done With White Out (May 2, 2009)2
Rusciano's hedge funds are marketed out of the office of Paradigm Global—a fund of hedge funds owned and controlled by Hunter Biden and James Biden, the son and brother of Vice President Joe Biden. The Bidens are not implicated in any wrong-doing; Rusciano shared an office and office equipment with them.BNET: VP Biden Hedge Fund Scandal... (May 2, 2009)3
Fraud and the SEC
At the time of his arrest on May 1, 2009, Francesco Rusciano was under federal investigation involving an alleged $30 million fraud. He is accused of raising money for two hedge funds by overstating the amounts in his funds and by misrepresenting his background, experience, and past performance.ConnPost.com: FBI arrests Stamford hedge fund manager (May 2, 2009)1
Rusciano is being charged in a federal court in Texas. Charges against him say that he performed "marginally" at USB with a "modest sum" and lost millions for the company. Marketing materials he developed for the Ponte Negra funds claimed he had managed a USB portfolio of more than $1 billion and quadrupled profits for them.ConnPost.com: FBI arrests Stamford hedge fund manager (May 2, 2009)1 HedgeFund.net: SEC Alleges Hedge Fund Fraud Done With White Out (May 2, 2009)2
Bidens fund got seed money millions from 8 billion defrauder Stanford, what was VP Joe's role
EXCERPT:
By Debbie Schlussel
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this isn’t front page news. After all, the media has to protect the Veep of the Obamessiah.
Still, for those not interested in being shielded, it should be headline news that a fund operated by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and his brother, James, had millions of dollars worth of dealings with Stanford Financial Group and another Stanford-controlled entity. In fact, Stanford entities provided the Bidens the seed money for their business and invested millions in and brought many clients (and their money) to the Bidens’ company.
A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden’s family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.
Australia's own Madoff affair
Australia's own Madoff affair?
March 21, 2010 3:01 PM Subscribe
An Australian Madoff? Trio Capital, an Australian fund manager, has been ordered to wind up its funds after being unable to account for $123 million in its Astarra fund since investigations began in October. The fund "has a total of $426 million under management - including superannuation savings of about 10,000 Australians." Some worry what this means for more potential frauds in Australia's "privatized social security."
The Syndey Morning Herald has more: the initial scrutiny, the whistleblower, the fears, hope fades.
John Hempton, blogger and hedge fund manager based in Australia, notified the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in September. He outlined his story of delving into the problems in a January post, explaining to non-Australians how the Superannuation system (privatized Social Security) makes this fraud a significantly bigger story.
Dominck McCormick, the fund manager who initially tipped Hempton, has written a fantastic summary of what red flags existed, the role of due diligence, and how the financial planning industry can move forward.
Hempton has an eye for frauds. He previously tussled with hedge fund Ponta Negra, whose manager recently plead guilty to defrauding investors. Ponta Negra shared an office and marketer with Paradigm Global, a fund of hedge funds owned by the son and brother of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Hempton had found connections between Paradigm and other questionable funds. This included several connections to eccentric Allen Stanford's Stanford Financial Group, which remains frozen and under investigation for fraud. Hempton first investigated Astarra because of its connections to Paradigm.
Other links at Hempton's blog discussing Astarra: Astarra Marketing, Submission to the Superannualtion review discussing industry structure and regulations, The Regulator's Culpability, Debating accusations of jealousy.
(Hempton was previously linked to on the blue for an interesting index proposal)
posted by FuManchu (10 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
Bidens and Allen Stanford
EXCERPT:
A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.
The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm. Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden's brother, James.
EXCERPT:
May 2, 2009
If Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme wasn’t enough to get some investors fired up over hedge fund regulation, then the Vice President’s “hedge fund hotel” scandal is sure to do it.
Ponta Negra Capital: The Black Hole
A hedge fund Ponzi scheme scandal is breaking in the blogosphere - and it goes right to the top of political power. A little while ago, blogger John Hempton, who writes Bronte Capital, a finance blog, started sniffing around Connecticut-based hedge fund Ponta Negra. Hempton didn’t like what he found. After legal threats from the fund’s lawyers, Hempton retreated until a court ordered a freeze on the assets of Ponta Negra fund manager Francesco Rusciano amid allegations he lied to investors to raise more than $30 million. After that, the blogger published his findings.
Bidens of hedge funds hair plugs
EXCERPT:
Lotito advised the Bidens that the best man to create LBB from a legal perspective was John Fasciana, purported to be "the best in the business." What the Bidens didn't know about Fasciana was they he was a convicted felon awaiting sentencing for a massive fraud: a federal jury had earlier found that Fasciana helped others steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from IT outsourcer EDS by pinching checks sent to the company and then laundering the funds through Fasciana's attorney trust account.
But, at the time, the Bidens claimed to be unaware of the suspect activities swirling around Fasciana (and, apparently, the existence of a research tool called Google).
Dark privatised social security story and Joe Biden's business
EXCERPT:
Saturday, January 2, 2010
A dark privatised social security story: Astarra, the missing money and how examining a fund manager owned by Joe Biden’s family led to substantial regulatory action in Australia
Bronte sleuth finds ponzi link to Biden
EXCERPT:
And after the Bidens took over, it launched a joint venture with the cricket-loving Texas billionaire Allen Stanford's outfit, called the Paradigm Stanford Core Alternatives Fund.
Astarra shares Hong Kong link to broking scandal
EXCERPT:
Calls to Mr Sutherland and Astarra Asset Management's administrator, Ian Purchas, were not returned yesterday.
Astarra Asset Management was investment manager for $426 million in funds of the fund manager Trio Capital of Albury, including its flagship fund Astarra Strategic, which had $118 million invested in international hedge funds.
Authorities froze the funds in mid-October and took effective control shortly before Christmas.
On another front, the Bronte Capital blogger John Hempton, who blew the whistle on concerns related to Astarra Strategic, said he first looked at Astarra because of its purported links to a US hedge fund, Paradigm Global.
Paradigm Global, an investor in funds of hedge funds, is owned by Hunter Biden, the son of the US Vice-President, Joe Biden, and James Biden, the Vice-President's brother.
The link to Astarra was made through the appearance of Charles Provini's biography on an Astarra website, saying he was chief executive of Paradigm Global and Astarra's US asset consultant. Mr Provini was not chief executive of Paradigm at the time the online biography appeared.
Washington Post on Hunter Biden's Paradigm
EXCERPT:
The legal actions have been playing out in New York State Supreme Court since 2007, and they focus on Hunter and James Biden's involvement in Paradigm Companies LLC, a hedge fund group. Hunter Biden, a Washington lobbyist, briefly served as president of the firm.
Francesco Rusciano
Francesco Rusciano is a 27-year-old hedge fund manager from Connecticut who gave falsified information to a selling agent, at least twice increasing the asset amounts listed in his funds by using white out.HedgeFund.net: SEC Alleges Hedge Fund Fraud Done With White Out (May 2, 2009)2
Rusciano's hedge funds are marketed out of the office of Paradigm Global—a fund of hedge funds owned and controlled by Hunter Biden and James Biden, the son and brother of Vice President Joe Biden. The Bidens are not implicated in any wrong-doing; Rusciano shared an office and office equipment with them.BNET: VP Biden Hedge Fund Scandal... (May 2, 2009)3
Fraud and the SEC
At the time of his arrest on May 1, 2009, Francesco Rusciano was under federal investigation involving an alleged $30 million fraud. He is accused of raising money for two hedge funds by overstating the amounts in his funds and by misrepresenting his background, experience, and past performance.ConnPost.com: FBI arrests Stamford hedge fund manager (May 2, 2009)1
Rusciano is being charged in a federal court in Texas. Charges against him say that he performed "marginally" at USB with a "modest sum" and lost millions for the company. Marketing materials he developed for the Ponte Negra funds claimed he had managed a USB portfolio of more than $1 billion and quadrupled profits for them.ConnPost.com: FBI arrests Stamford hedge fund manager (May 2, 2009)1 HedgeFund.net: SEC Alleges Hedge Fund Fraud Done With White Out (May 2, 2009)2
Bidens fund got seed money millions from 8 billion defrauder Stanford, what was VP Joe's role
EXCERPT:
By Debbie Schlussel
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this isn’t front page news. After all, the media has to protect the Veep of the Obamessiah.
Still, for those not interested in being shielded, it should be headline news that a fund operated by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and his brother, James, had millions of dollars worth of dealings with Stanford Financial Group and another Stanford-controlled entity. In fact, Stanford entities provided the Bidens the seed money for their business and invested millions in and brought many clients (and their money) to the Bidens’ company.
A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden’s family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.
Australia's own Madoff affair
Australia's own Madoff affair?
March 21, 2010 3:01 PM Subscribe
An Australian Madoff? Trio Capital, an Australian fund manager, has been ordered to wind up its funds after being unable to account for $123 million in its Astarra fund since investigations began in October. The fund "has a total of $426 million under management - including superannuation savings of about 10,000 Australians." Some worry what this means for more potential frauds in Australia's "privatized social security."
The Syndey Morning Herald has more: the initial scrutiny, the whistleblower, the fears, hope fades.
John Hempton, blogger and hedge fund manager based in Australia, notified the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in September. He outlined his story of delving into the problems in a January post, explaining to non-Australians how the Superannuation system (privatized Social Security) makes this fraud a significantly bigger story.
Dominck McCormick, the fund manager who initially tipped Hempton, has written a fantastic summary of what red flags existed, the role of due diligence, and how the financial planning industry can move forward.
Hempton has an eye for frauds. He previously tussled with hedge fund Ponta Negra, whose manager recently plead guilty to defrauding investors. Ponta Negra shared an office and marketer with Paradigm Global, a fund of hedge funds owned by the son and brother of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Hempton had found connections between Paradigm and other questionable funds. This included several connections to eccentric Allen Stanford's Stanford Financial Group, which remains frozen and under investigation for fraud. Hempton first investigated Astarra because of its connections to Paradigm.
Other links at Hempton's blog discussing Astarra: Astarra Marketing, Submission to the Superannualtion review discussing industry structure and regulations, The Regulator's Culpability, Debating accusations of jealousy.
(Hempton was previously linked to on the blue for an interesting index proposal)
posted by FuManchu (10 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
Bidens and Allen Stanford
EXCERPT:
A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.
The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm. Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden's brother, James.
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