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Saturday, February 27, 2010
Fraud investigator Harry Markopolos
"No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller"
HARRY GETS A PIECE OF ALL THE ACTION ON THE FRAUD HE UNCOVERS! DESERVEDLY SO!!! TOO BAD HARRY IS GREEK, THE US COULD USE HIM AT THE FED [HAVE TO BE HEBREW TO WORK HERE]TO SHAKE OUT WHAT THE HERBREW BANKSTERS HAVE DONE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! AUDIT THE FED!!! http://www.auditthefed.com/
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Harry Markopolos spent nine years fruitlessly trying to convince the Securities & Exchange Commission that Bernard Madoff's investment operation was a scam.
Markopolos, a former derivatives fund manager turned fraud investigator, became an instant star after Madoff's fund imploded, emerging as one of the few sympathetic figures of the financial crisis. A self-described quant, Markopolos contends it took him five minutes to realize that Madoff's vaunted returns were impossible.
These days, Markopolos hunts fraud at major corporations. He looks for whistleblowers at places like trade shows and bars near corporate offices and convinces them to file lawsuits under the False Claim Act. He gets a piece of any settlement.
Markopolos is still waiting for his big payday, but next week marks the debut of his book, "No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller," the story of his quest to expose Madoff and his Ponzi scheme.
James Bandler caught up with Markopolos in Boston recently to discuss the book, and how he's doing with his life as an agent for whistleblowers. Edited excerpts are below:
Since Madoff, I would imagine every whistleblower in America would want to talk to you.
I've gotten a lot of interesting evidence mailed to me and some of it has been borderline lunacy, like, who killed Kennedy type of thing. Others have been grounded probably in a good set of facts, but they're not my cases. The negatives are that my undercover days are over. I can't be anonymous. I don't want to be recognized with whistleblowers, because it would be harmful to their careers. I have to wear disguises more.
What do you have, wigs?
I don't want to go into it, because that would be stupid. That's operational security.
James Bandler caught up with Markopolos in Boston recently to discuss the book, and how he's doing with his life as an agent for whistleblowers. Edited excerpts are below:
Since Madoff, I would imagine every whistleblower in America would want to talk to you.
I've gotten a lot of interesting evidence mailed to me and some of it has been borderline lunacy, like, who killed Kennedy type of thing. Others have been grounded probably in a good set of facts, but they're not my cases. The negatives are that my undercover days are over. I can't be anonymous. I don't want to be recognized with whistleblowers, because it would be harmful to their careers. I have to wear disguises more.
What do you have, wigs?
I don't want to go into it, because that would be stupid. That's operational security.
You were a whistleblower and you work with them now. What is the profile of the whistleblower's personality?
If you don't have a strong belief system, you're not going to be a whistleblower. You have to be crazy-brave. The risks are all weighted to the downside.
If you don't have a strong belief system, you're not going to be a whistleblower. You have to be crazy-brave. The risks are all weighted to the downside.
Crazy-brave?
Yes. You cannot have self-doubt. You just have to go forward and say I believe in this country. I believe in these core values. I know if I get outed and get caught, I've committed economic suicide for myself and my family. I'm going to be on the industry blacklist.
Yes. You cannot have self-doubt. You just have to go forward and say I believe in this country. I believe in these core values. I know if I get outed and get caught, I've committed economic suicide for myself and my family. I'm going to be on the industry blacklist.
You write that you were afraid that Madoff or shady gangster clients would try to kill you if they fingered you as the whistleblower. You took to checking under your car for bombs and you carried a gun everywhere with you.
I didn't know if I was going to live through it.
I didn't know if I was going to live through it.
You were so afraid of being identified by Madoff that you wore gloves (in 2002) when you handed a packet of information to an aide of Eliot Spitzer so that your fingerprints would not be on the documents. Were you being overly paranoid?
I had twin boys that were going to be born three months later, and I wanted to make sure that they would have a father. I knew that Spitzer came from a very wealthy family and that it was possible that he was a Madoff investor. (In fact, Spitzer's family real estate company did lose money in the scandal.)
I had twin boys that were going to be born three months later, and I wanted to make sure that they would have a father. I knew that Spitzer came from a very wealthy family and that it was possible that he was a Madoff investor. (In fact, Spitzer's family real estate company did lose money in the scandal.)
What would've you done differently?
I can think of two things that would've influenced the action and hopefully brought this to a successful resolution. One is approach Spitzer in the open. Take the risk. Shake his hand, look him in the eye, say, 'I'm Harry Markopolos, I'm president of the 4,000-member Boston Security Analysts Society. I'm a derivatives expert and this is what I know about Bernie Madoff. He's a fraud.'
I wish I had confronted Mr. Spitzer to his face. Or I should have gone to (Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth) Bill Galvin. He'd taken on Wall Street titans like Spitzer had. He was a hometown boy like me.
I can think of two things that would've influenced the action and hopefully brought this to a successful resolution. One is approach Spitzer in the open. Take the risk. Shake his hand, look him in the eye, say, 'I'm Harry Markopolos, I'm president of the 4,000-member Boston Security Analysts Society. I'm a derivatives expert and this is what I know about Bernie Madoff. He's a fraud.'
I wish I had confronted Mr. Spitzer to his face. Or I should have gone to (Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth) Bill Galvin. He'd taken on Wall Street titans like Spitzer had. He was a hometown boy like me.
In your book, you write that when Madoff was interviewed by the SEC inspector general and asked about you, he dismissed you as a "joke in the industry." What would you tell Madoff if you met him?
I wouldn't want to meet him. I think he's a pathological liar and a predator. I think he's mentally twisted, and I know a lot more about him than he knows about me. He hunted at funerals and weddings. He's the lowest form of scum. I don't want to meet him or his family. I don't want anything to do with him. I don't want to be that close to evil.
Read more of James Bandler's interview with Markopolos
I wouldn't want to meet him. I think he's a pathological liar and a predator. I think he's mentally twisted, and I know a lot more about him than he knows about me. He hunted at funerals and weddings. He's the lowest form of scum. I don't want to meet him or his family. I don't want anything to do with him. I don't want to be that close to evil.
Read more of James Bandler's interview with Markopolos
The man who hunted Madoff
By James Bandler February 25, 2010: 4:38 PM ET
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- James Bandler caught up with Harry Markopolos in Boston recently to discuss his upcoming book, No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller, and how he's doing with his life as an agent for whistleblowers. Edited excerpts from the extended interview:
What should your readers take away from your book?
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- James Bandler caught up with Harry Markopolos in Boston recently to discuss his upcoming book, No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller, and how he's doing with his life as an agent for whistleblowers. Edited excerpts from the extended interview:
What should your readers take away from your book?
The SEC was nonfunctional and still is nonfunctional. They'd have to improve several-hundred-fold to become functional. It is run by lawyers without any industry experience. They've never sat at a trading desk, never managed money. What chance do they have against Wall Street sharks?
How would you assess SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro's performance thus far?
She has done a lot (to educate her staff). Chartered Financial Analyst training, Certified Fraud Examiner training. I give her A+'s there. I'd say she's done a good job reorganizing the enforcement unit by specialty, making them subject-matter experts. She's done a good job of eliminating silos. They're putting economics and finance people in with the lawyers, because lawyers left to their own devices will never be capable of doing cases, because they just don't have the finance background to understand. She has some good people from Wall Street. She got Richard Bookstaber who's probably one of the best, if not the best, risk manager on Wall Street.
She has done a lot (to educate her staff). Chartered Financial Analyst training, Certified Fraud Examiner training. I give her A+'s there. I'd say she's done a good job reorganizing the enforcement unit by specialty, making them subject-matter experts. She's done a good job of eliminating silos. They're putting economics and finance people in with the lawyers, because lawyers left to their own devices will never be capable of doing cases, because they just don't have the finance background to understand. She has some good people from Wall Street. She got Richard Bookstaber who's probably one of the best, if not the best, risk manager on Wall Street.
How would you reform the SEC?
They need to test the existing staff. Anybody who doesn't have a working knowledge of finance, they need to eliminate. There are plenty of qualified people that were laid off of Wall Street that would take those jobs. You give them a base of $150,000 to $200,000, and you turn it into an eat-when-you-kill type of compensation scheme like Wall Street has. You bring in a $100 million case. They give (you) a $10 or $15 million bonus.
They need to test the existing staff. Anybody who doesn't have a working knowledge of finance, they need to eliminate. There are plenty of qualified people that were laid off of Wall Street that would take those jobs. You give them a base of $150,000 to $200,000, and you turn it into an eat-when-you-kill type of compensation scheme like Wall Street has. You bring in a $100 million case. They give (you) a $10 or $15 million bonus.
Where should the SEC focus its investigative resources?
I'd say the entire over-the-counter derivatives market. That's where the cockroaches go to play on Wall Street -- to structured products (financially engineered security/derivatives). It's the 99% of the structured products that are bad that give the good 1% a bad name.
I'd say the entire over-the-counter derivatives market. That's where the cockroaches go to play on Wall Street -- to structured products (financially engineered security/derivatives). It's the 99% of the structured products that are bad that give the good 1% a bad name.
You mentioned that you would hold the heads of federal regulatory agencies criminally responsible for their misconduct. That sounds pretty harsh. Do you really think Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, and former SEC chairman Christopher Cox should go to jail?
Yes. They were regulators who failed to regulate. They made sure that their agencies were toothless and blind and mute. Of course, you can't prosecute them after-the-fact, but going forward, I think they need to change the laws and they need to make the agency heads responsible for enforcing the nation's laws and having competent staffs.
How is your fraud-fighting business going? You must have had some lean years pre-Madoff.
I went in with the expectation that I'd be cash-flow positive in a year and I was an overnight success three and a half years later. Fortunately for me, I had a Wall Street job. I was well compensated. My wife had a Wall Street job and was well compensated. I live well below my means.
I went in with the expectation that I'd be cash-flow positive in a year and I was an overnight success three and a half years later. Fortunately for me, I had a Wall Street job. I was well compensated. My wife had a Wall Street job and was well compensated. I live well below my means.
What kinds of fraud are you investigating now?
No one was hunting the large fraudster. The big game's not worried. They've never been hunted before. So I started hunting large corporations. I only do cases where someone's cheating the public. I'll do cases where the pension accounts of our firemen, our teachers, public officials, government-elected officials, are being defrauded. I'll do cases where Medicare or Medicaid is being defrauded and I'll also do cases where the Department of Defense has been defrauded.
No one was hunting the large fraudster. The big game's not worried. They've never been hunted before. So I started hunting large corporations. I only do cases where someone's cheating the public. I'll do cases where the pension accounts of our firemen, our teachers, public officials, government-elected officials, are being defrauded. I'll do cases where Medicare or Medicaid is being defrauded and I'll also do cases where the Department of Defense has been defrauded.
How do you do it?
I don't want to go into the methodologies, except to say that a lot of people focus on the footnotes, and I tend to focus on the CEO's shareholders' letter. I look at the balance sheet and the income statement and I can piece it together. I'm really good at connecting the dots. My math ability has certainly helped.
I don't want to go into the methodologies, except to say that a lot of people focus on the footnotes, and I tend to focus on the CEO's shareholders' letter. I look at the balance sheet and the income statement and I can piece it together. I'm really good at connecting the dots. My math ability has certainly helped.
Walk me through a case.
Numbers 2 and 3 in an industry have settled civil and criminal complaints with the Department of Justice for cheating Medicare. The Number 1 company with market share had to be doing it, but somehow they escaped the dragnet and weren't brought to justice, so I simply questioned their employees. Sure enough, it turns out they were involved in a fraud too.
Numbers 2 and 3 in an industry have settled civil and criminal complaints with the Department of Justice for cheating Medicare. The Number 1 company with market share had to be doing it, but somehow they escaped the dragnet and weren't brought to justice, so I simply questioned their employees. Sure enough, it turns out they were involved in a fraud too.
How do you find the employees?
I go where their employees are. It could be a professional industries conference. It could be a bar near corporate headquarters. It could be other locations. I like the fieldwork the best.
You like it even more than the numbers?
Yes, I would say that. Human intelligence is way underrated, human intelligence and gathering techniques. Everybody likes to do the computer stuff, and I feel that if something's in a corporate database or any kind of database that you can buy, that it's successful to the masses and you're not going to get real intelligence there. You have to go out and hunt for it, so I am the antithesis of artificial or computer intelligence.
I go where their employees are. It could be a professional industries conference. It could be a bar near corporate headquarters. It could be other locations. I like the fieldwork the best.
You like it even more than the numbers?
Yes, I would say that. Human intelligence is way underrated, human intelligence and gathering techniques. Everybody likes to do the computer stuff, and I feel that if something's in a corporate database or any kind of database that you can buy, that it's successful to the masses and you're not going to get real intelligence there. You have to go out and hunt for it, so I am the antithesis of artificial or computer intelligence.
Since Madoff, I would imagine every whistleblower in America would want to talk to you.
I've gotten a lot of interesting evidence mailed to me and some of it has been borderline lunacy, like, who killed Kennedy type of thing. Others have been grounded probably in a good set of facts, but they're not my cases. The negatives are that my undercover days are over. I can't be anonymous. I don't want to be recognized with whistleblowers because it would be harmful to their careers. I have to wear disguises more.
I've gotten a lot of interesting evidence mailed to me and some of it has been borderline lunacy, like, who killed Kennedy type of thing. Others have been grounded probably in a good set of facts, but they're not my cases. The negatives are that my undercover days are over. I can't be anonymous. I don't want to be recognized with whistleblowers because it would be harmful to their careers. I have to wear disguises more.
What do you have, wigs?
I don't want to go into it because that would be stupid. That's operational security.
You were a whistleblower and you work with them now. What is the profile of the whistleblower's personality?
If you don't have a strong belief system, you're not going to be a whistleblower. You have to be crazy-brave. The risks are all weighted to the downside.
Crazy-brave?
Yes. You cannot have self-doubt. You just have to go forward and say I believe in this country. I believe in these core values. I know if I get outed and get caught, I've committed economic suicide for myself and my family. I'm going to be on the industry blacklist.
I don't want to go into it because that would be stupid. That's operational security.
You were a whistleblower and you work with them now. What is the profile of the whistleblower's personality?
If you don't have a strong belief system, you're not going to be a whistleblower. You have to be crazy-brave. The risks are all weighted to the downside.
Crazy-brave?
Yes. You cannot have self-doubt. You just have to go forward and say I believe in this country. I believe in these core values. I know if I get outed and get caught, I've committed economic suicide for myself and my family. I'm going to be on the industry blacklist.
Are you long or short on the United States over the next ten years?
Short. I don't think you can recover until you've hit rock bottom. And to think that we've chastised the Japanese banks for the past two decades for not owning up to the zombie banks and forcing them to admit to their losses and closing them.
Short. I don't think you can recover until you've hit rock bottom. And to think that we've chastised the Japanese banks for the past two decades for not owning up to the zombie banks and forcing them to admit to their losses and closing them.
And what are we doing? We're allowing the money-center banks to extend and pretend on their balance sheets, keep stuff off balance sheet, not mark-to-market. We're not forcing the banks to own up because, for some reason, we want to bail out the shareholders and the bondholders of those institutions instead of making them feel the pain.
Harry Markopolos and his team of financial sleuths discuss first-hand how they cracked the Madoff Ponzi scheme
No One Would Listen is the exclusive story of the Harry Markopolos-lead investigation into Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. While a lot has been written about Madoff's scam, few actually know how Markopolos and his team-affectionately called "The Fox Hounds" by Markopolos himself, uncovered what Madoff was doing years before this financial disaster reached its pinnacle. Unfortunately, no one listened, until the damage of the world's largest financial fraud ever was irreversible.
Since that time, Markopolos openly has testified and questioned the enforcement and fraud investigation capabilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), shared a sliver of this page-turning story with 60 Minutes, and become perhaps the world's most visible and insightful whistleblower on fraud and conflicts of interest in financial markets.
Throughout the book, Markopolos and his Fox Hounds tell their first-hand story of investigating Madoff-with the help of bestselling author David Fisher. They explain how they discovered the fraud, and then how they provided credible and detailed evidence to major newspapers and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) many times between 2000 and 2008, only to have his warnings ignored repeatedly by the SEC.
Provides a firsthand account of how Markopolos uncovered Madoff's scam years before it actually fell apart
Discusses how the SEC missed the red flags raised by Markopolos
Describes how Madoff was enabled by investors and fiduciaries alike
The only book to tell the story of Madoff's scam and the SEC's failings by those who saw both first hand
Despite repeated written and verbal warnings to the SEC by Harry Markopolos, Bernie Madoff was allowed to continue his operations. No One Would Listen paints a vivid portrait of Markopolos and his determined team of financial sleuths, and what impact they will have on financial markets and financial regulation for decades to come.
No One Would Listen is the exclusive story of the Harry Markopolos-lead investigation into Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. While a lot has been written about Madoff's scam, few actually know how Markopolos and his team-affectionately called "The Fox Hounds" by Markopolos himself, uncovered what Madoff was doing years before this financial disaster reached its pinnacle. Unfortunately, no one listened, until the damage of the world's largest financial fraud ever was irreversible.
Since that time, Markopolos openly has testified and questioned the enforcement and fraud investigation capabilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), shared a sliver of this page-turning story with 60 Minutes, and become perhaps the world's most visible and insightful whistleblower on fraud and conflicts of interest in financial markets.
Throughout the book, Markopolos and his Fox Hounds tell their first-hand story of investigating Madoff-with the help of bestselling author David Fisher. They explain how they discovered the fraud, and then how they provided credible and detailed evidence to major newspapers and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) many times between 2000 and 2008, only to have his warnings ignored repeatedly by the SEC.
Provides a firsthand account of how Markopolos uncovered Madoff's scam years before it actually fell apart
Discusses how the SEC missed the red flags raised by Markopolos
Describes how Madoff was enabled by investors and fiduciaries alike
The only book to tell the story of Madoff's scam and the SEC's failings by those who saw both first hand
Despite repeated written and verbal warnings to the SEC by Harry Markopolos, Bernie Madoff was allowed to continue his operations. No One Would Listen paints a vivid portrait of Markopolos and his determined team of financial sleuths, and what impact they will have on financial markets and financial regulation for decades to come.
A Timeline of a Take-DownAmazon-exclusive content from author Harry Markopolos
How long did it take to uncover and expose a $40 billion crook? Ten years.
1998-1999• 1998: My Firm “discovers” Bernie Madoff• Late 1999: I am asked to reverse engineer Madoff’s returns
2000• I knew he was a fraudster in 5 minutes• May: Submission to SEC Boston Regional Office’s Director of Enforcement with 12 Red Flags
2001• January: Team Member Frank Casey recruits MAR Hedge investigative journalist Michael Ocrant onto the team during a chance meeting in Barcelona, Spain• March: My 2nd SEC Submission on how I think Madoff is running the scheme and his investment process• I offer to go undercover to assist the SEC• Apr: Michael Ocrant interviews Madoff• May: MAR Hedge publishes Madoff expose, “Madoff Tops Charts; skeptics ask how”; Barron’s publishes, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Bernie Madoff is so secretive, he even asks investors to keep mum”
2002• Jun: Key trip to UK, France & Switzerland; met with 20 Fund of Funds & Private Client Banks: 14 have Madoff and report “special access to Madoff”; two have admitted Madoff losses – Dexia Asset Management and Fix Family Office; 12 have not admitted Madoff losses and all 12 were turned into SEC Chairwoman on Feb. 5, 2009; off-Shore funds attract three types of investors who won’t report losses or file SIPC claims with the US government
2003-2004• E-mail records of investigation lost; attempting to recover data from non-functioning hard drives
2005• Jun: Frank Casey discovers Madoff attempting to borrow money from European banks (first sign that Madoff scheme is in trouble)• Oct: Boston SEC’s Ed Manion arranges for 3rd SEC Submission• Oct: Meeting with Boston SEC Branch Chief Mike Garrity, who quickly investigates, finds irregularities, and forwards my submission to SEC’s New York Office• Nov: Boston Whistleblower calls NYC Branch Chief Meaghen Cheung and reveals his identity• Nov: 29 Red Flags submitted • Dec: I doubt NYC SEC’s ability, fear for my life, and contact Wall Street Journal and go to local law enforcement for protection
2006• Jan: Integral Partners’ $40 million derivatives Ponzi Scheme goes to trial five years and five months after discovery, causing us to further doubt SEC competence• Sep: Chicago Board Options Exchange VP tells me that several OEX option traders also think Madoff is a fraudster; if SEC had called the CBOE’s marketing office, they would have cooperated
2007• Feb 28: Neil Chelo obtains a Madoff portfolio which shows zero ability to earn a return• Jun: Casey obtains Wickford Fund LP prospectus showing Madoff is short of cash and offering a 3:1 leverage via bank loans, another clear warning sign that Madoff is running short of cash• Jul: Chelo obtains Fairfield Greenwich Sentry LP financial statements for 2004 – 2006 and discovers three year-end audits with three different auditors in three different countries!• Aug: Chelo conducts a 45 minute telephone interview with Fairfield Greenwich’s head of risk management; hedge funds all lose money except for Madoff!
2008• Apr 2: Undelivered e-mail to Sokobin, SEC’s Director of Risk Assessment, entitled, “$30 Billion Equity Derivatives Hedge Fund Fraud in New York”• Dec 11: Madoff runs out of money, turns himself in• Dec 12: SEC insider calls me and warns “watch your back, Operation Cover-up has begun.”
2009• Feb 4: My U.S. House testimony followed by SEC’s senior staff and FINRA acting CEO• Sep 4: 477-page SEC IG Report on the Madoff Fiasco released• Sep 10: I testify before US Senate Banking Committee with SEC IG
Product Description
Harry Markopolos and his team of financial sleuths discuss first-hand how they cracked the Madoff Ponzi scheme
No One Would Listen is the exclusive story of the Harry Markopolos-lead investigation into Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. While a lot has been written about Madoff's scam, few actually know how Markopolos and his team-affectionately called "The Fox Hounds" by Markopolos himself, uncovered what Madoff was doing years before this financial disaster reached its pinnacle. Unfortunately, no one listened, until the damage of the world's largest financial fraud ever was irreversible.
Since that time, Markopolos openly has testified and questioned the enforcement and fraud investigation capabilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), shared a sliver of this page-turning story with 60 Minutes, and become perhaps the world's most visible and insightful whistleblower on fraud and conflicts of interest in financial markets.
Throughout the book, Markopolos and his Fox Hounds tell their first-hand story of investigating Madoff-with the help of bestselling author David Fisher. They explain how they discovered the fraud, and then how they provided credible and detailed evidence to major newspapers and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) many times between 2000 and 2008, only to have his warnings ignored repeatedly by the SEC.
Provides a firsthand account of how Markopolos uncovered Madoff's scam years before it actually fell apart
Discusses how the SEC missed the red flags raised by Markopolos
Describes how Madoff was enabled by investors and fiduciaries alike
The only book to tell the story of Madoff's scam and the SEC's failings by those who saw both first hand
Despite repeated written and verbal warnings to the SEC by Harry Markopolos, Bernie Madoff was allowed to continue his operations. No One Would Listen paints a vivid portrait of Markopolos and his determined team of financial sleuths, and what impact they will have on financial markets and financial regulation for decades to come. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
How long did it take to uncover and expose a $40 billion crook? Ten years.
1998-1999• 1998: My Firm “discovers” Bernie Madoff• Late 1999: I am asked to reverse engineer Madoff’s returns
2000• I knew he was a fraudster in 5 minutes• May: Submission to SEC Boston Regional Office’s Director of Enforcement with 12 Red Flags
2001• January: Team Member Frank Casey recruits MAR Hedge investigative journalist Michael Ocrant onto the team during a chance meeting in Barcelona, Spain• March: My 2nd SEC Submission on how I think Madoff is running the scheme and his investment process• I offer to go undercover to assist the SEC• Apr: Michael Ocrant interviews Madoff• May: MAR Hedge publishes Madoff expose, “Madoff Tops Charts; skeptics ask how”; Barron’s publishes, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Bernie Madoff is so secretive, he even asks investors to keep mum”
2002• Jun: Key trip to UK, France & Switzerland; met with 20 Fund of Funds & Private Client Banks: 14 have Madoff and report “special access to Madoff”; two have admitted Madoff losses – Dexia Asset Management and Fix Family Office; 12 have not admitted Madoff losses and all 12 were turned into SEC Chairwoman on Feb. 5, 2009; off-Shore funds attract three types of investors who won’t report losses or file SIPC claims with the US government
2003-2004• E-mail records of investigation lost; attempting to recover data from non-functioning hard drives
2005• Jun: Frank Casey discovers Madoff attempting to borrow money from European banks (first sign that Madoff scheme is in trouble)• Oct: Boston SEC’s Ed Manion arranges for 3rd SEC Submission• Oct: Meeting with Boston SEC Branch Chief Mike Garrity, who quickly investigates, finds irregularities, and forwards my submission to SEC’s New York Office• Nov: Boston Whistleblower calls NYC Branch Chief Meaghen Cheung and reveals his identity• Nov: 29 Red Flags submitted • Dec: I doubt NYC SEC’s ability, fear for my life, and contact Wall Street Journal and go to local law enforcement for protection
2006• Jan: Integral Partners’ $40 million derivatives Ponzi Scheme goes to trial five years and five months after discovery, causing us to further doubt SEC competence• Sep: Chicago Board Options Exchange VP tells me that several OEX option traders also think Madoff is a fraudster; if SEC had called the CBOE’s marketing office, they would have cooperated
2007• Feb 28: Neil Chelo obtains a Madoff portfolio which shows zero ability to earn a return• Jun: Casey obtains Wickford Fund LP prospectus showing Madoff is short of cash and offering a 3:1 leverage via bank loans, another clear warning sign that Madoff is running short of cash• Jul: Chelo obtains Fairfield Greenwich Sentry LP financial statements for 2004 – 2006 and discovers three year-end audits with three different auditors in three different countries!• Aug: Chelo conducts a 45 minute telephone interview with Fairfield Greenwich’s head of risk management; hedge funds all lose money except for Madoff!
2008• Apr 2: Undelivered e-mail to Sokobin, SEC’s Director of Risk Assessment, entitled, “$30 Billion Equity Derivatives Hedge Fund Fraud in New York”• Dec 11: Madoff runs out of money, turns himself in• Dec 12: SEC insider calls me and warns “watch your back, Operation Cover-up has begun.”
2009• Feb 4: My U.S. House testimony followed by SEC’s senior staff and FINRA acting CEO• Sep 4: 477-page SEC IG Report on the Madoff Fiasco released• Sep 10: I testify before US Senate Banking Committee with SEC IG
Product Description
Harry Markopolos and his team of financial sleuths discuss first-hand how they cracked the Madoff Ponzi scheme
No One Would Listen is the exclusive story of the Harry Markopolos-lead investigation into Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. While a lot has been written about Madoff's scam, few actually know how Markopolos and his team-affectionately called "The Fox Hounds" by Markopolos himself, uncovered what Madoff was doing years before this financial disaster reached its pinnacle. Unfortunately, no one listened, until the damage of the world's largest financial fraud ever was irreversible.
Since that time, Markopolos openly has testified and questioned the enforcement and fraud investigation capabilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), shared a sliver of this page-turning story with 60 Minutes, and become perhaps the world's most visible and insightful whistleblower on fraud and conflicts of interest in financial markets.
Throughout the book, Markopolos and his Fox Hounds tell their first-hand story of investigating Madoff-with the help of bestselling author David Fisher. They explain how they discovered the fraud, and then how they provided credible and detailed evidence to major newspapers and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) many times between 2000 and 2008, only to have his warnings ignored repeatedly by the SEC.
Provides a firsthand account of how Markopolos uncovered Madoff's scam years before it actually fell apart
Discusses how the SEC missed the red flags raised by Markopolos
Describes how Madoff was enabled by investors and fiduciaries alike
The only book to tell the story of Madoff's scam and the SEC's failings by those who saw both first hand
Despite repeated written and verbal warnings to the SEC by Harry Markopolos, Bernie Madoff was allowed to continue his operations. No One Would Listen paints a vivid portrait of Markopolos and his determined team of financial sleuths, and what impact they will have on financial markets and financial regulation for decades to come. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
Free First Chapter: No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller
Unabridged
By
Harry Markopolos
Narrated by
Scott Brick
Unabridged
By
Harry Markopolos
Narrated by
Scott Brick
Publisher's Summary
This is the first chapter of No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller. The complete audiobook will be available on March 2, 2010.
No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller is exactly what the title promises. This is more than another book about the Bernie Madoff scandal, this is a fast-paced, blow-by-blow, true-crime story that you have to hear to believe. In a true David and Goliath tale, the underdog number cruncher uncovers the largest financial fraud in history, and has to fight everything and everyone in the system to bring it down. Harry Markopolos and his team of financial sleuths tell first-hand how they cracked Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme yet, amazingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) refused to hear the truth for nearly 10 years. Told from the perspective of the ultimate whistleblower in modern corporate memory, No One Would Listen is bound to be the definitive narrative of this scandal.
This special edition includes an exclusive 10th chapter available only in audio, featuring testimony from three victims of the Madoff scheme who came in to the Audible studios to share their shocking and heartbreaking stories. In addition, David Kotz, the Inspector General of the SEC, speaks candidly about his investigation. Throughout the audiobook, you'll also hear scathing commentary from congressional leaders on the blatant failures of the commission. No One Would Listen is more than an audiobook. It's a lasting audio testament to the largest white-collar crime in history.
SEC DisclaimerThe Securities and Exchange Commission disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement of any SEC employee or Commissioner. This audiobook expresses the author's views and does not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners, or other members of the staff.
©2010 Harry Markopolos; (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
This is the first chapter of No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller. The complete audiobook will be available on March 2, 2010.
No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller is exactly what the title promises. This is more than another book about the Bernie Madoff scandal, this is a fast-paced, blow-by-blow, true-crime story that you have to hear to believe. In a true David and Goliath tale, the underdog number cruncher uncovers the largest financial fraud in history, and has to fight everything and everyone in the system to bring it down. Harry Markopolos and his team of financial sleuths tell first-hand how they cracked Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme yet, amazingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) refused to hear the truth for nearly 10 years. Told from the perspective of the ultimate whistleblower in modern corporate memory, No One Would Listen is bound to be the definitive narrative of this scandal.
This special edition includes an exclusive 10th chapter available only in audio, featuring testimony from three victims of the Madoff scheme who came in to the Audible studios to share their shocking and heartbreaking stories. In addition, David Kotz, the Inspector General of the SEC, speaks candidly about his investigation. Throughout the audiobook, you'll also hear scathing commentary from congressional leaders on the blatant failures of the commission. No One Would Listen is more than an audiobook. It's a lasting audio testament to the largest white-collar crime in history.
SEC DisclaimerThe Securities and Exchange Commission disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement of any SEC employee or Commissioner. This audiobook expresses the author's views and does not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners, or other members of the staff.
©2010 Harry Markopolos; (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
On Wall Street, a quant is an expert in quantitative finance. The term has been popularized in the title to the book, My Life as a Quant, by Emanuel Derman. Derman epitomizes the quant. He trained in theoretical physics at Columbia then went on to work as a quant on Wall Street. Derman is best known as one of the namesakes in the landmark US treasury yield curve model, the Black-Derman-Toy model. Collaborator Fischer Black of Black Sholes option pricing model fame is certainly a quant, too. Not every quant is so famous as these two, but every quant is expected to know some advanced mathematics. Typical quant areas of expertise include stochastic calculus and time series analysis. The term quant has a connotation of computer programming excellence, too, since the numerical methods for pricing securities must be programmed into efficient algorithms for computers to perform real time valuation.
Friday, February 26, 2010
By Reason Or By Force Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 01:34:17 AM (EST) - Eastern Standard (New York, Toronto, Jamaica)
0 comments at 11:23 PM
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MAJORITY OF INTERNET CONNECTIONS TO CHILE ARE DOWN, OPEN NODES ON SATELLITE AND FIBRE OPTIC CONNECTIONS SURVIVE. FIRST HAITI, NOW CHILE!!! WE ARE BEING WARNED!At 10:34 PM Pacific Standard Time on February 26, an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 8.5 occurred near the coast of central Chile . (Refer to the United States Geological Survey for official earthquake parameters.)
35.83S 72.67W
FRENTE DE LA COSTA DEL MAULE, CHILE
100 km (60 miles) NNW of Chillan, Chile
100 km (65 miles) WSW of Talca, Chile
115 km (75 miles) NNE of Concepcion, Chile
320 km (200 miles) SW of SANTIAGO, Chile
8.5 Magnitude Earthquake Hits ChileSANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - A massive magnitude-8.5 earthquake struck near Concepcion, Chile, early on Saturday, the USGS reported, shaking buildings and causing blackouts in parts of the capital of Santiago.A Reuters witness reported shaking buildings and loss of electricity in Santiago, which is north of the epicenter.The earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of Concepcion at a depth of 34 miles at 3:34 a.m./1:34 EST/0643 GMT. The quake was initially reported at a magnitude of 8.3.The Reuters witness reported a very strong shaking lasted for 10 to 30 seconds.
Population:
16,601,707 July 2009 est.
Population:
16,601,707 July 2009 est.
country comparison to the world: 60
Urbanization:
urban population: 88% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 1.3% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
urban population: 88% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 1.3% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Religions:
Roman Catholic 70%, Evangelical 15.1%, Jehovah's Witness 1.1%, other Christian 1%, other 4.6%, none 8.3% (2002 census)
Roman Catholic 70%, Evangelical 15.1%, Jehovah's Witness 1.1%, other Christian 1%, other 4.6%, none 8.3% (2002 census)
Ethnic groups:
white and white-Amerindian 95.4%, Mapuche 4%, other indigenous groups 0.6% (2002 census)
white and white-Amerindian 95.4%, Mapuche 4%, other indigenous groups 0.6% (2002 census)
Telephones - main lines in use:
3.526 million (2008)country comparison to the world: 43
Telephones - mobile cellular:
14.797 million (2008)country comparison to the world: 45
3.526 million (2008)country comparison to the world: 43
Telephones - mobile cellular:
14.797 million (2008)country comparison to the world: 45
Illicit drugs:
transshipment country for cocaine destined for Europe and the region; some money laundering activity, especially through the Iquique Free Trade Zone; imported precursors passed on to Bolivia; domestic cocaine consumption is rising, making Chile a significant consumer of cocaine (2008)
transshipment country for cocaine destined for Europe and the region; some money laundering activity, especially through the Iquique Free Trade Zone; imported precursors passed on to Bolivia; domestic cocaine consumption is rising, making Chile a significant consumer of cocaine (2008)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
CNN) -- Tom de la Hunty took Dutch bobsledder Edwin van Calker to the Whistler Sliding Center track one last time Tuesday and asked his driver if he could do it.He wasn't asking him to win; he was asking him whether he could compete. The coach and his pilot walked the course, and de la Hunty told van Calker to think about it, giving him an hour to make a decision.Time offered no healing. Van Calker told his coach he just couldn't drive this track and so on Wednesday the four-man No. 1 sled from the Netherlands pulled out of the Olympics.Because their driver was terrified."I've never seen someone get to a major event and not compete because they're scared. You keep your inner fears to yourself and do it," de la Hunty told reporters at a news conference. "That's why it's such a popular sport in the military. It's that kind of macho sport. You go over the top together."Van Calker, ranked 11th on the World Cup four-man tour, crashed on his first run during two-man practice on Saturday. That and the memories of other crashes, including one that resulted in two teammates in the hospital, were too much for van Calker.He never felt comfortable on the track during the two-man competition when he and teammate Sybren Jansma finished 14th. He and the rest of the four-man team were absent from two training runs on Tuesday, as he struggled with what to do. It didn't help that eight sleds crashed on that first day of training.And so that night, he made the decision to give up. Straight Talk About Danger
(CHICAGO, IL – February 22, 2010)
Knowing that four feet were added to the already 18-foot high icy walls of the half pipe at the Vancouver Games so that Gold Medal winner Shaun White and other snowboarders could propel themselves upwards like rocket ships should have convinced me that Brian Williams was right that no athletes have more courage than Winter Olympians. But, it didn’t.
The NBC-TV Evening News anchor was moved by grief to deliver his paean to downhill skiers, snowboarders, skeleton and bobsled sliders, ski-crossers and aerialists following the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilli in a practice run. Kumaritashvilli’s death was his sport’s first fatality since 1975.
In comparison, 150 jockeys have been killed in a thoroughbred horse race since 1940, 60 are permanently disabled and three have died from their injuries in the last three and a half years, according to Terry Meyocks, national manager of the Jockeys’ Guild. A jockey has to have nerves of titanium, and bones of steel, just to work everyday.
A racehorse can fall in practice, clip heels with another runner in a race, bolt unexpectedly on a turn, or rear in the starting gate. One can’t predict when an occurrence of dire consequence will transpire. And, perhaps the random nature of accidents associated with such unforeseen animal behavior enables a rider to carry on.
Nevertheless, occasional bad luck’s no excuse for not keeping a history or at least an accounting of events that cause people to die or be injured on the racetracks. The tragic death of the Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, a horse, brought about the formation of The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database. One would think that we’d want the same for our sport’s human participants.
“As an industry, we’ve got to work together to save lives and improve the safety of the sport,” said Meyocks, when I tried to learn more about the number of jockeys who have died or experienced career-ending injury as a result of an accident. The veteran horse racing industry executive credited Keeneland and Dr. Barry Schumer for taking a lead position in helping to develop jockey safety and mentioned a long list of other organizations and people that have contributed to their efforts. But he said also, that despite the work and generosity of many, no official database exists and that having one is imperative. “Everything takes time in this industry,” Meyocks admitted, seemingly frustrated.
In the meantime, apprentice Michael Straight, a graduate of Chris McCarron’s North American Racing Academy, is one person who can tell Meyocks and the Jockeys’ Guild friends what it’s like to stare death in the face while on horseback. Straight is spending time in a wheelchair now, the victim of a nasty spill at Arlington Park. The East Greenbush, NY native has fingers crossed that he’ll walk eventually, but a lifelong dream to live the life of a jockey seems no more than a dream for him now.
“Being a jockey, I knew there was a risk. But you have to be bigger than that,” Straight acknowledged in a telephone interview a few days ago. “Every time I got in the gear, I would think about where I was. I was thinking of everyone else in the race, hoping that I wouldn’t do something to hurt them,” he added. I couldn’t help but believe that in Straight the sport had lost someone special. He was polite, humble and grateful that he’d gotten as far as he did in his chosen field, and wasn’t bitter with the cards that the sport dealt him.
In recounting his intimidating first mount at jockey school, Straight said, “Lots of kids had to not go along with it because they were too scared. But I wanted to be a jockey since I was seven or eight, so I wasn’t afraid.” The jockey credited an upbringing in a supportive family and friendships with jockeys at nearby Saratoga Racecourse as key to his learning process. I can’t be certain, but in talking to him, he sounded as a person well-grounded in a deep faith in God, too.
Nevertheless, Straight admitted that it is “a bit reckless” to ride horses. He believes jockeys who aren’t willing to go for an advantage when presented in a race weren’t up to the task. He also admitted that his youth accommodated a beneficial impetuosity. “I’d handicap my races knowing that some older jockeys would ‘stay safer’ and then played it out as it goes. During the running of a race, you rely a lot on instinct,” he said. Straight was 24 when his accident occurred.
As for which sport is the testiest, does it really matter? There’s no denying that the Olympics have been souped up considerably with daring in the last 30 years. After a slump in the TV ratings in the late 1980s, the organizers of the Winter Games deliberately began staging high-risk Medal sports that would appeal to a younger audience. This year’s ratings, in turn, are fantastic, even better than American Idol. Considering how the Olympic athletes are flinging themselves down the slopes, reaching breakneck speeds in the chutes, sliding faster than oysters down throats and soaring four stories above the surface of the mountain, Williams was spot on to say that they were cut from a different cloth than the common Joe.
Yet, jockeys are extraordinary, too. “I definitely thought we are braver than the average guy,” Straight replied when I asked him if jockeys, like the Olympians, were unusual. “If you want to do it, you don’t think that you’re going to be hurt. You don’t care so much about injuries,” he said.
If there is a difference between Straight and White beside the obvious, then, it’s not age, gender, weight, height, and daring, but purpose. White and his colleague Olympians court danger to make millions off the public’s fascination with it, while jockeys, like Straight, live with danger merely to keep working, their acceptance of risk rarely noticed.For more from Vic Zast, go to Twitter.com/viczast and Facebook.com/viczast
W's Resume, Architect Of National Destruction, Worth A Second Look OR "Why Did We Re-Elect This Prick In The 1st Place?"
0 comments at 11:40 PM
FACTS ABOUT GEORGE DUBYA BUSH THAT YOU MIGHT BE UNAWARE OF….. TAKEN FROM HIS RESUME The following data is taken from a job resume that is being sent out. You will notice that there are no spelling mistakes or pencil sketches close to the entries which indicates he had help in preparing this….
George W. Bush’s Resumé: This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009…
This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009, and is willing (and hopeful) to relocate.
RESUME
GEORGE W. BUSH
George W. Bush’s Resumé: This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009…
This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009, and is willing (and hopeful) to relocate.
RESUME
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington , DC 20520
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Law Enforcement:
· I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pleaded guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver’s license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been ‘lost’ and is not available.
Military:
· I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam .
College:
· I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.
Past Work Experience:
· I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
· I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn’t find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
· I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
· With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.
Accomplishments As Governor Of Texas:
· I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
· I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
· I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
· With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father’s appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President of the United States, after losing by over 500,000 votes.
Accomplishments As President (with 4 3 5 Notable Firsts):
· I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
· I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
· I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
· I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
· I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
· I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
· I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues.
· I’m proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My ‘poorest millionaire, ‘ Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
· I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
· I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
· My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history,
· My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
· I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
· I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
· I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts
· I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President in U.S. history.
· I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States Government.
· I’ve broken more international treaties than any President in U.S history.
· I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations to remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
· I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
· I refused to allow inspector’s access to U.S. ‘prisoners of war’ detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
· I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US election).
· I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
· I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
· I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
· I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.
· I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community.
· I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.
· In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.
· I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
· I am supporting development of a nuclear ‘Tactical Bunker Buster,’ a WMD.
· I have so far failed to fulfil my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
Records And References:
· All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father’s library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
· All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
· All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I specified that my sealed documents will not be available for 50 years.
Source
Law Enforcement:
· I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pleaded guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver’s license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been ‘lost’ and is not available.
Military:
· I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam .
College:
· I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.
Past Work Experience:
· I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
· I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn’t find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
· I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
· With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.
Accomplishments As Governor Of Texas:
· I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
· I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
· I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
· With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father’s appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President of the United States, after losing by over 500,000 votes.
Accomplishments As President (with 4 3 5 Notable Firsts):
· I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
· I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
· I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
· I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
· I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
· I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
· I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues.
· I’m proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My ‘poorest millionaire, ‘ Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
· I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
· I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
· My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history,
· My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
· I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
· I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
· I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts
· I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President in U.S. history.
· I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States Government.
· I’ve broken more international treaties than any President in U.S history.
· I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations to remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
· I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
· I refused to allow inspector’s access to U.S. ‘prisoners of war’ detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
· I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US election).
· I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
· I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
· I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
· I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.
· I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community.
· I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.
· In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.
· I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
· I am supporting development of a nuclear ‘Tactical Bunker Buster,’ a WMD.
· I have so far failed to fulfil my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
Records And References:
· All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father’s library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
· All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
· All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I specified that my sealed documents will not be available for 50 years.
Source
Wisconsin Man Indicted in Vegas Over 3.75 Mil In Markers, Casinos Lost Money For Only Second Time In History!
0 comments at 11:13 PM
CARSON CITY – For only the second time, Nevada casinos posted a loss – but this time it was the biggest.
The state Gaming Control Board today released its “Gaming Abstract” for fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, showing a net loss of $6.7 billion among the 260 major casinos in Nevada.
Clubs along the Las Vegas Strip, which makes up 53 percent of the gambling revenue in Nevada, registered a $4.1 billion loss. The only bright spot, from a financial standpoint, was that people drank more. Sales of booze rose by 2.5 percent while revenue tied to casinos, rooms and food dropped. But 36 percent were recorded as “comp” drinks.
“It was a horrendous year,” said Bill Bible, president of the Nevada Resort Association, which represents several casinos on the Strip. He said many of the casinos had three and four waves of layoffs to cut cost during this national recession.
The only other time Nevada gaming companies reported a loss was in 2003, of $33.5 million, said Frank Streshley, chief of tax and licensing for the board. The business downturn came in the middle of the national recession.
Every market except Elko County, with its strong mining business, showed a loss for the fiscal 2009, Streshley said.
“Although we have seen some improvement recently, this reflects a tough fiscal year,” Streshley said. He said there was a national and global recession, and high unemployment. At the Strip, he said there were fewer visitors and they were “spending substantially less.”
The 260 statewide casinos that grossed more than $1 million or more in gaming revenues posted $22 billion in gross revenue, down 12 percent from the prior fiscal year. And in fiscal 2008, the clubs registered a win of $721.1 million.
The $6.7 billion loss is before federal income tax and extraordinary items. And the casinos paid $778.7 million in taxes in fees, or 7.4 percent of their gaming revenue.
In a breakdown, the report shows downtown Las Vegas casinos suffered a $54 million loss; Laughlin casinos reported a $158.8 loss; Boulder Strip casinos registered a loss of $823.3 million and the casinos in the balance of Clark County posted a $1.3 billion loss.
On the Strip, Streshley said the $4.1 billion loss reflects a 686 percent drop from the previous fiscal year, when the clubs reported a profit of $709.4 million.
The report shows there were 98,711 employees at the Strip casinos, down from the 114,465 workers in fiscal 2008.
Streshley noted this downturn comes only two fiscal years after the Strip reported a strong $1.6 billion in net income.
Bible said casinos on the Strip and downtown closed rooms and towers and reduced expenses “but there were still terrible numbers.”
On the Strip, casinos reported $178 million in bad debts in the gambling portion of the business. That compares with $112 million in fiscal 2007. The casinos reported $1.3 billion in complimentary expenses that includes drinks, rooms and food.
Statewide, total general and administrative expenses hit $14 billion. Streshley said more than $5 billion of that were casinos writing down the value of assets.
The control board said Washoe County’s 32 casinos reported a combined net loss of $47.4 million; Elko County clubs were registered a net income of $36.1 million. The south shore of Lake Tahoe with five clubs reported a net loss of $259.6 million and the Carson Valley area with 14 casinos generated a net loss of $8.6 million.
The state Gaming Control Board today released its “Gaming Abstract” for fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, showing a net loss of $6.7 billion among the 260 major casinos in Nevada.
Clubs along the Las Vegas Strip, which makes up 53 percent of the gambling revenue in Nevada, registered a $4.1 billion loss. The only bright spot, from a financial standpoint, was that people drank more. Sales of booze rose by 2.5 percent while revenue tied to casinos, rooms and food dropped. But 36 percent were recorded as “comp” drinks.
“It was a horrendous year,” said Bill Bible, president of the Nevada Resort Association, which represents several casinos on the Strip. He said many of the casinos had three and four waves of layoffs to cut cost during this national recession.
The only other time Nevada gaming companies reported a loss was in 2003, of $33.5 million, said Frank Streshley, chief of tax and licensing for the board. The business downturn came in the middle of the national recession.
Every market except Elko County, with its strong mining business, showed a loss for the fiscal 2009, Streshley said.
“Although we have seen some improvement recently, this reflects a tough fiscal year,” Streshley said. He said there was a national and global recession, and high unemployment. At the Strip, he said there were fewer visitors and they were “spending substantially less.”
The 260 statewide casinos that grossed more than $1 million or more in gaming revenues posted $22 billion in gross revenue, down 12 percent from the prior fiscal year. And in fiscal 2008, the clubs registered a win of $721.1 million.
The $6.7 billion loss is before federal income tax and extraordinary items. And the casinos paid $778.7 million in taxes in fees, or 7.4 percent of their gaming revenue.
In a breakdown, the report shows downtown Las Vegas casinos suffered a $54 million loss; Laughlin casinos reported a $158.8 loss; Boulder Strip casinos registered a loss of $823.3 million and the casinos in the balance of Clark County posted a $1.3 billion loss.
On the Strip, Streshley said the $4.1 billion loss reflects a 686 percent drop from the previous fiscal year, when the clubs reported a profit of $709.4 million.
The report shows there were 98,711 employees at the Strip casinos, down from the 114,465 workers in fiscal 2008.
Streshley noted this downturn comes only two fiscal years after the Strip reported a strong $1.6 billion in net income.
Bible said casinos on the Strip and downtown closed rooms and towers and reduced expenses “but there were still terrible numbers.”
On the Strip, casinos reported $178 million in bad debts in the gambling portion of the business. That compares with $112 million in fiscal 2007. The casinos reported $1.3 billion in complimentary expenses that includes drinks, rooms and food.
Statewide, total general and administrative expenses hit $14 billion. Streshley said more than $5 billion of that were casinos writing down the value of assets.
The control board said Washoe County’s 32 casinos reported a combined net loss of $47.4 million; Elko County clubs were registered a net income of $36.1 million. The south shore of Lake Tahoe with five clubs reported a net loss of $259.6 million and the Carson Valley area with 14 casinos generated a net loss of $8.6 million.
A Wisconsin businessman pleaded not guilty Monday in district court to bad check charges stemming from $3.75 million in gambling markers.
Christian Peterson, 41, of Verona, Wis., pleaded not guilty to two counts of drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds with intent to defraud and one count of theft in connection with four markers – one at Caesars Palace for $3.45 million and three totaling $300,000 at the Hard Rock Hotel.
He was indicted on the charges earlier this month by a Clark County grand jury.
“All of it is in dispute,” Chris Rasmussen, Peterson’s attorney, said before Monday’s hearing in front of Clark County District Court Hearing Master Kevin Williams. “He never ran up that kind of debt and how he got that much credit is shocking.”
A suit Peterson filed against Harrah’s Entertainment in June 2008 indicates Peterson disputes how the markers were signed.
Grand jury testimony indicates that Harrah’s furnished Peterson a jet for transportation to-and-from Las Vegas in April 2008.
Peterson’s lawsuit claims Harrah’s provided the jet despite awareness of his problems with gambling.
His suit also claims that about 45 minutes into his flight home on April 22, 2008, a flight attendant informed Peterson the jet would be returning to Las Vegas for an emergency landing due to mechanical difficulties.
Peterson feared for his life, the suit says.
Upon arrival in Las Vegas, Peterson was greeted by a Harrah’s representative who told him he had to sign a casino marker before he could leave on the company jet.
The Harrah’s representative told the grand jury Peterson was made aware that he was free to leave at any point on a commercial airliner without signing the markers, but that in order to take the jet, his signature would be required. Peterson signed the marker and took the jet home.
Petersons’ suit said he was left with no choice but to sign the marker. His lawsuit was resolved in November 2009 with a judgment in favor of Harrah’s. Peterson was ordered to pay about $2.6 million — the remainder of his marker after his estimated $1.5 million winnings, plus interest.
If convicted, Peterson could face up to 18 years in prison. A trial was set for June 1.
The Wisconsin State-Journal reported Peterson has been involved in a variety of businesses in the Madison area, including restaurants, a hotel, an indoor golf dome and development of property for a Target store.
The paper also reported he was involved in a reality-television show that was never broadcast called the “American Dream,” which he showcased at one of his restaurants. The winner of the show, which drew contestants from across the Midwest, was supposed to become part-owner of one of his restaurants.
Christian Peterson, 41, of Verona, Wis., pleaded not guilty to two counts of drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds with intent to defraud and one count of theft in connection with four markers – one at Caesars Palace for $3.45 million and three totaling $300,000 at the Hard Rock Hotel.
He was indicted on the charges earlier this month by a Clark County grand jury.
“All of it is in dispute,” Chris Rasmussen, Peterson’s attorney, said before Monday’s hearing in front of Clark County District Court Hearing Master Kevin Williams. “He never ran up that kind of debt and how he got that much credit is shocking.”
A suit Peterson filed against Harrah’s Entertainment in June 2008 indicates Peterson disputes how the markers were signed.
Grand jury testimony indicates that Harrah’s furnished Peterson a jet for transportation to-and-from Las Vegas in April 2008.
Peterson’s lawsuit claims Harrah’s provided the jet despite awareness of his problems with gambling.
His suit also claims that about 45 minutes into his flight home on April 22, 2008, a flight attendant informed Peterson the jet would be returning to Las Vegas for an emergency landing due to mechanical difficulties.
Peterson feared for his life, the suit says.
Upon arrival in Las Vegas, Peterson was greeted by a Harrah’s representative who told him he had to sign a casino marker before he could leave on the company jet.
The Harrah’s representative told the grand jury Peterson was made aware that he was free to leave at any point on a commercial airliner without signing the markers, but that in order to take the jet, his signature would be required. Peterson signed the marker and took the jet home.
Petersons’ suit said he was left with no choice but to sign the marker. His lawsuit was resolved in November 2009 with a judgment in favor of Harrah’s. Peterson was ordered to pay about $2.6 million — the remainder of his marker after his estimated $1.5 million winnings, plus interest.
If convicted, Peterson could face up to 18 years in prison. A trial was set for June 1.
The Wisconsin State-Journal reported Peterson has been involved in a variety of businesses in the Madison area, including restaurants, a hotel, an indoor golf dome and development of property for a Target store.
The paper also reported he was involved in a reality-television show that was never broadcast called the “American Dream,” which he showcased at one of his restaurants. The winner of the show, which drew contestants from across the Midwest, was supposed to become part-owner of one of his restaurants.
Among those charged was the chief executive of Protective Products of America Inc (PPA.TO), R. Patrick Caldwell, who previously worked for the U.S. Secret Service for 27 years and was in charge of the division for the vice president’s protection. A spokesman for the service declined to say when Caldwell left the agency.
THESE IDIOTS CAN'T SELL THEIR ARMS FAST ENOUGH TO ALL THE FACTIONS INVOLVED IN WAR ACCROSS THE GLOBE!!!
UPDATE 3-U.S. charges 22 with bribery in arms sting
Defendants netted in phony African arms sale sting
* 250 FBI agents involved in probe
* 21 arrested at Las Vegas gun show
* Investigation continues (Recasts first paragraph to include sting operation; adds official saying investigation continues)
By Dan Margolies and Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - An executive of Smith & Wesson (SWHC.O) and 21 others have been charged with violating U.S. bribery laws after an undercover sting in which federal agents posed as arms-buying representatives of an African defense minister.
The defendants, including a senior Smith & Wesson sales official Amaro Goncalves, were accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to the sale of guns, body armor and other law enforcement equipment.
The FCPA prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign officials in order to secure business contracts.
Twenty-one of the men were arrested in Las Vegas, where they were attending the SHOT Show, a large shooting-sports and hunting convention. The 22nd defendant was arrested in Miami.
"This is one case where what happens in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at a news conference.
Breuer said the investigation was continuing. He declined to say if any of the companies the defendants worked for faced prosecution.
The indictments, returned on Dec. 11, were unsealed by a U.S. judge on Tuesday in U.S. district court in Washington.
Among those charged was the chief executive of Protective Products of America Inc PPA.TO, R. Patrick Caldwell, who previously worked for the U.S. Secret Service for 27 years and was in charge of the division for the vice president's protection. A spokesman for the service declined to say when Caldwell left the agency.
An attempt to reach Protective Products was not successful. Protective Products filed for bankruptcy protection last week and sought approval to be acquired by an affiliate of the private investment firm Sun Capital Partners Inc.
A representative for Smith & Wesson was not available for comment.
Most of the defendants were expected to be arraigned on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
STING OPERATION
As part of the FBI sting operation, an unidentified business associate who was a former executive for an arms manufacturer arranged a meeting between the arms sales representatives and undercover FBI agents who posed as representatives of an African country's minister of defense.
The agents told the sales representatives that in order to win a contract, they had to add a 20 percent "commission" to price quotes, half of which would go to the purported minister of defense and the rest would be split between the others.
In the case of the Smith & Wesson executive, Goncalves gave price quotes for two sales, a small one of 25 guns and a larger one with 1,800 pistols. He gave two price quotes for the transactions, including one that had its price inflated by 20 percent, the Justice Department said.
The two-and-a-half-year-long investigation involved 250 FBI agents, according to Mark Mendelsohn, deputy chief of the Justice Department's fraud division. In connection with the indictments, 150 agents executed 14 search warrants across the country and British police executed another seven, Justice Department officials said.
Three of the defendants worked for unnamed British companies; another worked for an unnamed Israeli company, according to the indictments. The defendants sought to obtain contracts for the sale of products ranging from grenade and tear gas launchers to pistols, ammunition and explosive detection kits.
Breuer said the investigation was the largest action ever undertaken by the Justice Department against individuals in an FCPA case. He also said it marked the department's first large-scale use of undercover techniques in an FCPA investigation.
"We're steadily pushing this unacceptable practice out of the business playbook by prosecuting companies and individuals who ignore the law, as well as by working with our international counterparts in their efforts to prevent and prosecute foreign bribery," Breuer said.
He said the Justice Department currently has 140 open FCPA investigations. Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI's criminal investigative division, said 20 agents were working on FCPA cases full time.
The cases are in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Nos. 09-335 through 09-350. (Reporting by Dan Margolies and Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Tim Dobbyn)
Stocks
After reading this article, people also read:
U.S. charges 22 with bribery involving arms salesJan 19, 2010
* 21 arrested at Las Vegas gun show
* Investigation continues (Recasts first paragraph to include sting operation; adds official saying investigation continues)
By Dan Margolies and Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - An executive of Smith & Wesson (SWHC.O) and 21 others have been charged with violating U.S. bribery laws after an undercover sting in which federal agents posed as arms-buying representatives of an African defense minister.
The defendants, including a senior Smith & Wesson sales official Amaro Goncalves, were accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to the sale of guns, body armor and other law enforcement equipment.
The FCPA prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign officials in order to secure business contracts.
Twenty-one of the men were arrested in Las Vegas, where they were attending the SHOT Show, a large shooting-sports and hunting convention. The 22nd defendant was arrested in Miami.
"This is one case where what happens in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at a news conference.
Breuer said the investigation was continuing. He declined to say if any of the companies the defendants worked for faced prosecution.
The indictments, returned on Dec. 11, were unsealed by a U.S. judge on Tuesday in U.S. district court in Washington.
Among those charged was the chief executive of Protective Products of America Inc PPA.TO, R. Patrick Caldwell, who previously worked for the U.S. Secret Service for 27 years and was in charge of the division for the vice president's protection. A spokesman for the service declined to say when Caldwell left the agency.
An attempt to reach Protective Products was not successful. Protective Products filed for bankruptcy protection last week and sought approval to be acquired by an affiliate of the private investment firm Sun Capital Partners Inc.
A representative for Smith & Wesson was not available for comment.
Most of the defendants were expected to be arraigned on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
STING OPERATION
As part of the FBI sting operation, an unidentified business associate who was a former executive for an arms manufacturer arranged a meeting between the arms sales representatives and undercover FBI agents who posed as representatives of an African country's minister of defense.
The agents told the sales representatives that in order to win a contract, they had to add a 20 percent "commission" to price quotes, half of which would go to the purported minister of defense and the rest would be split between the others.
In the case of the Smith & Wesson executive, Goncalves gave price quotes for two sales, a small one of 25 guns and a larger one with 1,800 pistols. He gave two price quotes for the transactions, including one that had its price inflated by 20 percent, the Justice Department said.
The two-and-a-half-year-long investigation involved 250 FBI agents, according to Mark Mendelsohn, deputy chief of the Justice Department's fraud division. In connection with the indictments, 150 agents executed 14 search warrants across the country and British police executed another seven, Justice Department officials said.
Three of the defendants worked for unnamed British companies; another worked for an unnamed Israeli company, according to the indictments. The defendants sought to obtain contracts for the sale of products ranging from grenade and tear gas launchers to pistols, ammunition and explosive detection kits.
Breuer said the investigation was the largest action ever undertaken by the Justice Department against individuals in an FCPA case. He also said it marked the department's first large-scale use of undercover techniques in an FCPA investigation.
"We're steadily pushing this unacceptable practice out of the business playbook by prosecuting companies and individuals who ignore the law, as well as by working with our international counterparts in their efforts to prevent and prosecute foreign bribery," Breuer said.
He said the Justice Department currently has 140 open FCPA investigations. Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI's criminal investigative division, said 20 agents were working on FCPA cases full time.
The cases are in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Nos. 09-335 through 09-350. (Reporting by Dan Margolies and Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Tim Dobbyn)
Stocks
After reading this article, people also read:
U.S. charges 22 with bribery involving arms salesJan 19, 2010
HOW ABOUT DIVINITY REAGANS', "ARM FOR HOSTAGES", HERE;
Oy Vey! Hebrew Philly Family In Webcam Lawsuit Looking To Hit Legal Lottery-Make The Bastards Pay!
0 comments at 10:14 PM
KOSHER FAMILY FROM PHILLY MAIN LINE LOOKS FOR PATH TO EASY STREET! THE OLD MAN MAKES 100k+ A YEAR AND RACKS UP GAS AND ELECTRIC BILLS OF 30k ON A $986,000 HOUSE. PA PUC CHAIRMAN LOOKS ON IN DISGUST. THIS IS WHAT'S WRONG WITH AMERICA FOLKS, THE ENTITLEMENT MENTALITY. ENTITLEMENTS ARE FOR THOSE NEEDY AND QUALIFIED, NOT SOME RICH PRICK WHO GAMES THE SYSTEM. ACCORDING TO THIS NEWSPAPER REPORT, THE PUBLIC RECORD REVEALS HE OWES A LOT OF MONEY TO A LOT OF PEOPLE! NOW HE SEES EASY MONEY!WHAT DO 2 LAWYERS SAY TO EACH OTHER WHEN THEY LEAVE?
"SUE YA!"
Laptop family is no stranger to legal disputes
By Larry King and Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writers
By Larry King and Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writers
The vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission could scarcely contain his scorn.
Before the commission was yet another appeal from a Philadelphia-area family, again seeking a break on unpaid electric and gas bills that by last year were closing in on $30,000.
This family lived in a $986,000 house on the Main Line. The breadwinner, until recently, had earned well more than $100,000 per year. Yet he and his wife were in hock to creditors, ranging from Uncle Sam to their former synagogue - and had regularly been stiffing Peco Energy for five years, breaking payment plan after payment plan.
"Our procedures," the commission's Tyrone J. Christy wrote in a Dec. 17 motion, "were not meant to allow customers living in $986,000 houses, with incomes in excess of $100,000 per year, to run up arrearages approaching $30,000."
The debtors in question were insurance broker Michael Robbins and his wife, Holly, who now find themselves in the national spotlight after suing the Lower Merion School District, saying it allegedly spied on their child at home via a Web cam on a school-issued laptop.
Before filing the suit, lawyer Mark S. Haltzman said he had warned the family that its members' lives would be placed under a microscope.
"I absolutely advised them, because I know the low level that newspaper people will go to for a story," Haltzman said yesterday, "even if it has nothing to do with the merits of the case."
But the couple could easily have been in the news even without the lawsuit.
Longtime Peco spokesman Michael Wood said this week that the family's debt was the largest household delinquency he could recall, except for one theft-of-services case.
In addition to the Peco debt, the PUC noted, the Robbinses had been hit with numerous civil judgments in recent years totaling more than $365,000.
To Haltzman - who had taken them to court himself in 2002 - their finances and personal lives are irrelevant to the Lower Merion lawsuit.
"Why does that matter?" Haltzman said when asked about the debts this week. "This is typical of any time someone stands up for their rights. Everyone tried to find a way to bring them down."
Even so, it was the apparent failure to pay a fee - a $55 insurance payment to permit the Robbinses' son Blake to take his laptop home from Harriton High School - that might have prompted the district to activate the Web cam.
Haltzman's federal suit makes clear that the family is not necessarily expecting a large payout. "Since the damage suffered by individual class members may be relatively small," the expense of individual litigation might not be affordable without a class action, it says.
Certainly not for the Robbinses.
According to court records, their unpaid debts range from $62,692 owed to the IRS to lesser debts of a few thousand to their dentist, their former synagogue's preschool, and a Montgomery County lawyer.
The Peco bill still stood at more than $29,000 a few weeks ago. But after reaching a new agreement with the utility, the family paid off half of it last week, Wood said.
Haltzman has not made the Robbins family available for extensive interviews, saying the family members' personal life is irrelevant. In a statement issued by the family yesterday, the Robbinses said their lawsuit "is not about . . . us."
Nor would Haltzman address how such an outwardly prosperous family dug itself such a deep financial hole.
It is in the PUC case and other litigation that a picture of the Robbins family begins to emerge.
Michael Robbins, 52, and Holly Robbins, 47, have been married for 22 years. Blake Robbins, 15, is the middle of five children ranging from college age to early grade school.
Michael Robbins is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with his former employer, Interstate Motor Carriers Agency Inc. of Freehold, N.J.
In a federal lawsuit filed by Haltzman last year, Robbins contends that Interstate owes him about $5 million in commissions. Bill Buckley, an attorney for Interstate, declined to comment.
The dispute has taken a financial toll, Holly Robbins said in the PUC file. "Things have dramatically changed with my household income," she wrote.
Her husband, who earned $150,000 in 2007 and $122,000 in 2008, is down to making about $5,000 a month, she said, or $60,000 a year. Their only other household income, she said, was the Social Security Disability Income paid to her mother, a stroke patient who lives with the family.
None of which impressed the PUC, which said most of the debt was accumulated before Michael Robbins' job woes began.
And none of which concerns their privacy lawyer.
"My personal opinion is that it's not relevant," Haltzman said. "I'm not going to get into those issues."
Before the commission was yet another appeal from a Philadelphia-area family, again seeking a break on unpaid electric and gas bills that by last year were closing in on $30,000.
This family lived in a $986,000 house on the Main Line. The breadwinner, until recently, had earned well more than $100,000 per year. Yet he and his wife were in hock to creditors, ranging from Uncle Sam to their former synagogue - and had regularly been stiffing Peco Energy for five years, breaking payment plan after payment plan.
"Our procedures," the commission's Tyrone J. Christy wrote in a Dec. 17 motion, "were not meant to allow customers living in $986,000 houses, with incomes in excess of $100,000 per year, to run up arrearages approaching $30,000."
The debtors in question were insurance broker Michael Robbins and his wife, Holly, who now find themselves in the national spotlight after suing the Lower Merion School District, saying it allegedly spied on their child at home via a Web cam on a school-issued laptop.
Before filing the suit, lawyer Mark S. Haltzman said he had warned the family that its members' lives would be placed under a microscope.
"I absolutely advised them, because I know the low level that newspaper people will go to for a story," Haltzman said yesterday, "even if it has nothing to do with the merits of the case."
But the couple could easily have been in the news even without the lawsuit.
Longtime Peco spokesman Michael Wood said this week that the family's debt was the largest household delinquency he could recall, except for one theft-of-services case.
In addition to the Peco debt, the PUC noted, the Robbinses had been hit with numerous civil judgments in recent years totaling more than $365,000.
To Haltzman - who had taken them to court himself in 2002 - their finances and personal lives are irrelevant to the Lower Merion lawsuit.
"Why does that matter?" Haltzman said when asked about the debts this week. "This is typical of any time someone stands up for their rights. Everyone tried to find a way to bring them down."
Even so, it was the apparent failure to pay a fee - a $55 insurance payment to permit the Robbinses' son Blake to take his laptop home from Harriton High School - that might have prompted the district to activate the Web cam.
Haltzman's federal suit makes clear that the family is not necessarily expecting a large payout. "Since the damage suffered by individual class members may be relatively small," the expense of individual litigation might not be affordable without a class action, it says.
Certainly not for the Robbinses.
According to court records, their unpaid debts range from $62,692 owed to the IRS to lesser debts of a few thousand to their dentist, their former synagogue's preschool, and a Montgomery County lawyer.
The Peco bill still stood at more than $29,000 a few weeks ago. But after reaching a new agreement with the utility, the family paid off half of it last week, Wood said.
Haltzman has not made the Robbins family available for extensive interviews, saying the family members' personal life is irrelevant. In a statement issued by the family yesterday, the Robbinses said their lawsuit "is not about . . . us."
Nor would Haltzman address how such an outwardly prosperous family dug itself such a deep financial hole.
It is in the PUC case and other litigation that a picture of the Robbins family begins to emerge.
Michael Robbins, 52, and Holly Robbins, 47, have been married for 22 years. Blake Robbins, 15, is the middle of five children ranging from college age to early grade school.
Michael Robbins is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with his former employer, Interstate Motor Carriers Agency Inc. of Freehold, N.J.
In a federal lawsuit filed by Haltzman last year, Robbins contends that Interstate owes him about $5 million in commissions. Bill Buckley, an attorney for Interstate, declined to comment.
The dispute has taken a financial toll, Holly Robbins said in the PUC file. "Things have dramatically changed with my household income," she wrote.
Her husband, who earned $150,000 in 2007 and $122,000 in 2008, is down to making about $5,000 a month, she said, or $60,000 a year. Their only other household income, she said, was the Social Security Disability Income paid to her mother, a stroke patient who lives with the family.
None of which impressed the PUC, which said most of the debt was accumulated before Michael Robbins' job woes began.
And none of which concerns their privacy lawyer.
"My personal opinion is that it's not relevant," Haltzman said. "I'm not going to get into those issues."
Contact staff writer Larry King at 215-345-0446 or lking@phillynews.com.
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