Back in September of 2009, we wrote about Bank of America’s legal troubles due to paying out $3.6 billion in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees before the buy out. As an update, Bank of America’s Chief Operating Officer, Kenneth Lewis, was sued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and the bank agreed to pay $150 million to settle.
Archive for the ‘Business Law’ Category
Update to Bank of America’s Legal Woes
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Fighting the Green Fight…By Investing?
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010I’m a bit of a treehugger. I even have the pictures to prove it. *wink* But, how do I translate that interest in green causes and sustainable development into my less than altruistic motivation in investing my savings? After all, I want to ensure that I actually make some money while investing.
If you invest, let’s talk investment strategy. How do you decide where your money goes? Do you have an articulated investment philosophy? Does that philosophy seek to maximize your profits while at the same time maximizing social good?
Business Plans and Daydreaming…
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
It’s another typical workday morning. You’re staring blankly at your computer screen, but as soon as you realize your boss is headed your way, you immediately pretend to be engrossed with the CEO’s latest weekly update. After a couple minutes of “reading”, you begin to rehash all the ideas you’ve ever had on how to start making millions of dollars on your own. You know, professional Tweeter, cupcake maker, knockoff bag importer - just to name a few.
Sound familiar? We’ve all been there – daydreaming in our dreary cubes about what else we could be doing for eight hours a day. Sadly, though, no matter how genius your business plan may be, there are numerous items (or hurdles) that need to be considered and decided upon before you can start reaping in the big bucks. Let’s examine a few of those a little more closely:
CIT Group Files for Chapter 11. No. Yes. Kind of.
Friday, November 6th, 2009CIT’s filing for bankruptcy. We have questions, and you may too.
Q: Who is CIT Group?
A: CIT Group is a commercial and consumer financier. Basically, they extend lines of credit to their clients – in this case, small-to-medium sized American businesses. With credit markets in turmoil, operating costs outpaced their received payments. The government handed over a $2.33 billion cut of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to ensure CIT could keep up its basic overhead. It seems that was not enough, with the corporation narrowly avoiding Chapter 11 for some time now. (more…)
Galleon Group Arrest: Insider Trading or Aggressive Research?
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009With the crumble, and hopefully resurrection soon, of the financial markets, my blood can’t help but boil and my head can’t help but spin when I hear of another potential financial injustice. This week’s Odd File case will return tomorrow; meanwhile, check this out.
Here’s the scenario:
Billionaire founder of the Galleon Group Raj Rajaratnam was charged last week by federal prosecutors for utilizing insider trading schemes to net Galleon more than $20 million worth in illegal profits. Danielle Chiesi from New Castle Funds was also charged with supplying Rajaratnam and New Castle with insider information. However, reports are surfacing that if Rajaratnam was using insider information to drive which shares Galleon would purchase for profits, then Rajaratnam was a lousy at insider trading. According to the criminal complaint, Chiesi coaxed Rajaratnam to purchase 16 million shares and New Castle to purchase 2.5 million shares of A.M.D., a computer chip maker. Galleon spent $85 million to $90 million on the 16 million share purchase, but, when the global financial markets began to fall, so did A.M.D.’s shares. The shares that Galleon purchased were then only worth $68 million, and the group suffered a near 30% loss.
Business Law: Insurance Reform for Small Businesses
Monday, September 14th, 2009Back in June of 2008, CNN Money reported about a bipartisan coalition coming together at a small business summit to push for drastic healthcare reform. Fourteen senators, seven Democrats and seven Republicans, organized in hopes that healthcare reform would be a leading topic they would work on with the new president.
Over one year later in July of 2009, President Obama addressed concerns small business have with our current healthcare system. Small businesses, with less employees, are hit the hardest financially with employee health conditions in our current healthcare system as big enterprises can spread out cost incurred over hundreds of employees. In a radio address, Obama said “small businesses have dealt with the health care problem by cutting benefits, dropping coverage, shedding jobs or even closing [their businesses] altogether.”
