Professor Elam

Bernie Madoff Dies in Prison Age 82

Wed April 14 2021

The architect of the biggest Ponzi Scheme in history has died.

He managed to dodge regulators for years given his knowledge of how they worked.

He never actually made a trade simply depositing money from later investors and paying off earlier investors.

The collapse do markets ij  2009 resulted in a demand for returns and he was of course unable  to do thqat.

Whataburger Awards $90 Min Employee Bonus

Thursday April 1 2021

hWhataburger will award its 46,000 employees an average off $2,000 bonus for a job well donen during the pandemic

 

Nice to see a this happening right here in SA

Archegos Capital Mismanagement

Tuesday March 30 2021

Here is another story on Archegos meltdown last Friday.

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-world-greatest-hidden-fortunes-002617417.html

 

I wonder how many more Bill Hwang's are out there, borrowing more and more, higher and higher leverage, and losses all around when the margin calls  arrive.A popular idea in the late 1980s was the concept of portfolio insurance. But when the sell off hit in October 1987, PI made the selling just that much worse, the opposite of what a hedge was supposed to do.

 

this reminds me of Long Term Capital Management.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-Term_Capital_Management

not all fraudsters intend to defraud, consider  the case of Nick Leeson who destroyed Barrings Bank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Leeson

 

 

 

Goldman and Morgan Have but One Client - themselves

tuesday March 30 2021

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley were quick to move large blocks of assets before other large banks that traded with Archegos Capital Management, as the scale of the hedge fund’s losses became apparent, according to people with knowledge of the transactions. The strategy helped limit the U.S. firms’ losses in last week’s epic stock liquidation, they said.

Losses at Archegos, run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang, have triggered the liquidation in excess of $30 billion in value. Banks were continuing to sell blocks of stocks linked to Archegos Monday, traders said.

“This is a challenging time for the family office of Archegos Capital Management, our partners and employees. All plans are being discussed as Mr. Hwang and the team determine the best path forward,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement Monday evening.

Archegos took big, concentrated positions in companies and held some positions in a mix of stock and swaps. Swaps are a common arrangement in which a trader gets access to the returns generated by a portfolio of shares or other assets in exchange for a fee.

 

Losses threatened to spill over into the so-called prime brokerage businesses that have been handling the firm’s trading. The group of large Wall Street banks includes Goldman, Morgan, Credit Suisse Group AG, Nomura Holdings Inc., UBS Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG , said people familiar with the firm’s trading.

Archegos Fund

• What Is Archegos and How Did It Rattle the Stock Market?
• Archegos Liquidation Hit Nomura, Credit Suisse
• Who Is Archegos Fund Manager Bill Hwang?
• Unraveling Archegos Fund Shows Risks of Investment Banking
• Stocks Waver as Banks Warn of Losses

On Thursday, Archegos asked banks handling its business to meet to hash out a strategy to liquidate its holdings, said a person familiar with the meeting. The firm’s largest positions had turned sharply negative following a long run-up. A proposal emerged for all the banks to hold off on large trades and to talk further over the weekend, but the call ended without any agreement.

On Friday morning, banks started seizing Archegos’ stock, and Goldman Sachs started selling in size. It quickly became clear there would be little to no coordination among the banks.

Goldman and Morgan each raced to liquidate positions tied to Archegos.

A Not so Bright Tax Return Perparer

Weekend March 272 2021

El Paso businessman, 59-year-old Victor Manuel Gonzalez, sole proprietor of the now-closed Tax Preparation Service, allegedly underreported his income on personal tax returns causing a tax loss of over $100,000, announced U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff and Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Goss, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRSCI), Houston Field Office.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed last week charges Gonzalez with three counts of filing a false federal income tax return. The indictment alleges that Gonzalez filed fraudulent returns for three years. Gonzalez claimed his income was $17,462, $18,450 and $25,328 for tax years 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. Court testimony today revealed that Gonzalez actually earned over $350,000 during that period. In addition to underreporting his yearly income, Gonzalez applied for and improperly received funds through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). EITC is a refundable tax credit for low to moderate income workers.

Former CITGO Officer Pleads Guilty in Bribery Scheme

Wed March 24 2021

 

A former Citgo Petroleum Corp. procurement officer pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge for his role in a scheme involving the payment of millions of dollars in bribes to help individuals obtain contracts from Citgo and its parent company, the U.S. Justice Department said this week.

Jose Luis De Jongh Atencio, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen, on Monday pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston to one count of conspiracy to launder money, according to court documents.

Mr. De Jongh’s plea is the latest in the U.S. government’s investigation into Citgo’s parent, Venezuela’s state-owned energy company Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. At least 28 individuals have been charged by the Justice Department as part of the investigation. Twenty-two of them have pleaded guilty, according to the department.

Mr. De Jongh was charged in July with one count of conspiracy to launder money and five counts of money laundering. He pleaded not guilty at the time.

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“Mr. De Jongh has admitted his wrongdoing and accepted full responsibility for his conduct,” Dane Ball, a Smyser Kaplan & Veselka LLP partner representing Mr. De Jongh, said in an email. “Today Mr. De Jongh begins a new chapter of his life.”

 

A Citgo spokesperson said the company terminated Mr. De Jongh’s employment in 2018 and is cooperating with the government’s investigation.

Efforts to reach PdVSA for comment weren’t successful.

Mr. De Jongh, who worked for Houston-based Citgo’s special projects group, accepted more than $7 million in bribes from businessmen and related companies that were seeking to procure contracts with Citgo and other business advantages between 2013 and 2019, prosecutors said.

Mr. De Jongh admitted to directing bribe payments from individuals into shell companies that he controlled in Panama and Switzerland and then laundering the bribe proceeds through U.S. and international bank accounts, the Justice Department said.

He also received bribes in the form of gifts and other things of value, such as tickets to a 2014 World Series baseball game and a concert by rock band U2, the department said. Mr. De Jongh also used the funds to purchase real property located in the Houston area, prosecutors said.

Fifteen commercial and residential properties in the U.S. that prosecutors said Mr. De Jongh purchased with the bribe proceeds and more than $3 million in total will be seized, according to a forfeiture order signed Monday by U.S. District Judge Gray Miller.

Mr. De Jongh is scheduled to be sentenced in August. He faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.

Day of the Jackal

Tuesday March 23, 2021

Here is the official trailer for the 19743 movie Day of the Jackal. Anti Gaulists had tried and failed to assasinate Charles De Gaulle several times. In desperation they hire a professional hit man known only as Jackal, played by Edward Fox.

Watch the first few seconds of the trailer when Fox comments that whoever does this can never work again adn then demands half million dollars. Sounds cheap now but this is an event in  1961.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6xMnTPEzPo

I have never forgotten that scene. When his wold be hires object to the price he replies, given I am handing you the keys to the kingdom of France I would think twice the fee would be reasonable.

Oe woudl think the kMichael Taylor 60 former Green Beret and his son Peter 28 might have at least stiudied the movie to get some hints on how to proceed. They were hired to extricate Carlos Ghosn former Nissan Renault CEO from Japan and return him to Lebanon. They sucessfully did that by hiding Ghosn in a large case designed to house musical equipment.

The odd thing to me is that they succeeded in getting him to Lebanon a country without a extradition treaty to Japan.

But incredibly they returned to their MA home. What were they thinking that an embarassed Japan would not seek extradition of both. And so they  were at home when the police arrived. Now they are in Japan, WSJ page b2 3/23/21. At least the term they are facing is only three years but individuals with lesser convictions have died in jail.

Amazing, one would think part of the deal would have been assured residence in  Lebanon and enogh money to live the rest of their lives

What were they thinking?

Gary Cain Seeks Release from Prison

Monday March 22 2021

https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/Ex-state-Sen-Carlos-Uresti-s-co-defendant-16044086.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SAEN_210Report&utm_term=news&utm_content=headlines&sid=5bbcfeb73f92a45e831e00e

Gary Cain, who three years ago was convicted with ex-state Sen. Carlos Uresti in a scheme to defraud investors, has asked a judge for his release from federal prison.

Cain, 64, cited a numerous medical problems, including a bad heart, obesity, hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis, in making the request.

His declining health makes him particularly vulnerable to the adverse consequences of the coronavirus, a Wednesday court filing says.

Cain was sentenced to 68 months in prison in 2017 after a jury convicted him on nine felonies, comprised of various money-laundering and wire-fraud charges.

Uresti, a San Antonio Democrat whose more than 20-year political career was upended by the scandal, was convicted of 11 felonies and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The pair, along with others, also must pay $6.3 million in restitution to the victims.

Cain is serving his sentence at a low-security correctional institution in Seagoville. He’s been behind bars for roughly half the sentence, with his release set for August 2023.

 

Medicare Fraud in Houston

Weekend March 14, 2021

Medicare is a frequent platform for creating fraud. Another occurred in lavish Houston Afton Oaks.

Now, the 4M Pharmaceuticals CEO is sitting under house arrest inside his lavish $2 million mansion after being charged in a $134 million Medicare scheme. 

the Tone at the Top is Set by Example, Hello Senator Cruz

Weekend Feb 20, 2021

Senator Ted Cruz went on an ill timed Cancun vacation this past week. He pulled his two daughters age 10 and  122 out of their St John's private school to do so.

But  St. John;s had passed a quarantine rule back in January that anyone  traveling internationally would have to quarantine  7-10 days on return and not be allowed to attend school on line.

And it gets worse, now video of Cruz mocking politicians vacationing elsewhere has surfaced, read about it here.

Like Trump Cruz has been a magnet for those who oppose his views. I wonder if he can recover even with a race five years in the future.