Archive for March 5th, 2010
Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, Larry Page Still Pulling Token $1 Salaries (GOOG)
Google’s billionaire founders and CEO will continue to receive token $1 annual salaries this year, Google revealed in a SEC filing this afternoon.
Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt will all receive $1 base salaries in 2010 — same as last year — and did not receive bonuses in 2009.
Meanwhile, Google doled out about $8 million in bonuses to other executives, including CFO Patrick Pichette, Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, SVP of Engineering & Research Alan Eustace, and SVP of Product Management Jonathan Rosenberg.
Those four execs also got $50,000 raises this year, to $500,000 each.
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See Also:
- Google Swallows Up Email iPhone App reMail, Open-Sources It
- Google To Explain Its Mobile Business To Wall Street In March 15 ‘Educational Webcast’
- Google Buys Another Company, Pays $25 Million For DocVerse
Airgas’ Argument That Cravath Dropped It Like A Hot Potato Was Not Persuasive
Airgas’ counsel accused Cravath of dropping its former client (that would be Airgas) like a “hot potato.” A Delaware judge did not find the prior representation reason enough to disqualify Cravath from continuing to bat for its new client.
Airgas sued Cravath in Pennsylvania state court over the firm’s representation of Air Products in Air Products attempted hostile takeover of Airgas. Cravath previously represented Airgas in different matters.
The Pennsylvania state court, on Cravath’s motion, transferred the case to Delaware Chancery Court where litigation regarding the takeover was already pending.
Today Chancellor William Chandler refused to disqualify Cravath, saying there was “no basis” to do so.
“Airgas here has not demonstrated even simply persuasively, let alone clearly and convincingly, that it would be disadvantaged by the presence of its former counsel as advocate for its opponent, Air Products,” Chandler said in a telephone hearing today.
Airgas told Reuters that it is “disappointed” and that it continues to believe Air Product’s offer “grossly undervalues” its assets. “We are prepared to take all necessary steps to preserve and protect stockholder value,” Airgas said.
Cravath sent us the following statement: “Chancellor Chandler’s ruling speaks for itself. We have no comment beyond it.”
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See Also:
- In The Ongoing Airgas Conflict, Delaware Court Will Decide Cravath Conflicts Issue
- Cravath Hits Back At Airgas, Calling Claims Of Conflict "Disingenuous"
- The 10 Most Powerful Partners At Cravath
WARNING: CNBC Advertiser May Be Scamming You
Is Wall Street Investment Bankers Inc. just a “straw man” real estate investment fraud?
Yesterday, we noticed their ads on CNBC promising between $20,000 and $200,000 a month from real estate investments with “no upfront or investment cost.”
That sounded too good to be true.
A quick examination of the company’s website, address and contact phone only raised more questions, especially the lack of detail provided about how the business worked, which we noted in a post this morning.
We spoke with Vice President Rob Doucett today, but he declined to describe the nature of the business, referring us to another officer who deals with the press, Kate Arney (We haven’t yet heard back to our multiple requests for comment).
(Doucett did deny a connection to Concord Trading Group, a company banned from the futures industry for deceptive practices, which arose because Wall Street Investment Bankers had the same group address listed, and its voicemail was for Concord. “I’ve never even heard of Concord Trading Group to tell you the truth,” said Doucett in response to our questions. “There are many companies in that building.”)
Regardless, the ad continued to run on CNBC today, and a source tells us FOX News is airing it too.
While there is no evidence that Wall Street Investment Bankers is doing anything wrong, some of the claims made in the television commercial resemble a long line of fraudulent “straw man” real estate schemes.
An IRS round-up of recently shut-down scams have a common story line:
- The fraudster recruits a “straw buyer” with good credit, often just looking to make an investment in real estate
- The fraudster uses the name of the straw buyer to apply for a loan on a property they claim is undervalued, often exaggerating the straw man’s income level, work information and other financial details to get the biggest loan possible
- The fraudster also exaggerates the value of the property, either through false appraisals or cosmetic improvements, again helping increase the amount obtained from the bank
- The home seller gets paid the market price, while the fraudster gets to keep the additional money borrowed from the bank
- The straw buyer is often paid an up-front fee simply for providing their name and signing the documents (hence the Wall Street Investment Bankers promise of “at least, but not limited to $20,000 a month”)
- The straw buyer is also promised a percentage of the property when it’s resold at a higher price (hence the Wall Street Investment Bankers’ promise to “get you cash at closing” and the potential of a $200,000 a month payout)
- In reality, the fraudster gets most of the loan money — they may even pay the mortgage for a few months, just to be safe — while the straw buyer is stuck with a huge loan for a property that’s worth far less than the jacked-up mortgage.
We asked a real estate law expert to evaluate the ad in light of recent “straw man” schemes.
Shari Olefson, a real estate foreclosure attorney with Fowler White Boggs, had not heard of Wall Street Investment Bankers, but said the language in the television ad was consistent with other fraudulent schemes.
“The obvious conclusion from the reference to using someones credit would be in connection with a mortgage or banking fraud,” says Olefson, author of Foreclosure Nation: Mortgaging the American Dream. “I’d need more info to draw a conclusion but based on what’s here this could fall squarely in the box of [similar] mortgage fraud cases.”
Olefson notes that either the “good credit” investor or the lending bank or both would likely not enter into the transaction “if a lender is induced into loaning money in based on someone’s credit score who is not actually a party to the transaction.”
She adds that the language in the ad could technically be true and legal — “no upfront costs;” “assumes all financial obligations for projects;” and “no down-payment” — but it’s suspicious.
Olefson says she’s seen similar cases in Florida. “Basically they found under educated folks who wanted in on the real estate gig, convinced them they were legit, had them sign documents they didn’t understand,” she says.
“Eventually these ‘borrowers’ were on the hook for the loans they signed for when the people who were supposed to be making payments did not.”
If you have further information on Wall Street Investment Bankers Inc., please send Delevingne and Carney an email (addresses below).
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See Also:
- Beware The Seriously Shady Investment Firm Called "Wall Street Investment Bankers"
- The SEC’s Top 10 Tips For Avoiding Financial Fraud
Greek Authorities Try To Punish Hedge Funds By Not Allowing Them To Buy Any Of Their New Bonds
According to the Financial Times, authorities used this week’s €5bn Greek bond issue as an opportunity to punish hedge funds for betting against them.
Authorities in Athens told banks handling the sale, “don’t sell to hedge funds.” The authorities were even wary of any bodies that might be a proxy for them, and told banks to avoid sale to them, too.
Of course government bond managers would prefer not to sell their bonds to hedge funds. Ideally, they would sell their bonds to “buy and hold” investors.
But if the strategy was an attempt to entice Greece’s ideal sort of investor, it didn’t really work. Greece’ new 10-year bond attracted hardly any trading on Friday.
Read more in the Financial Times.
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See Also:
- Huge European Hedge Fund GLG: We’re Bullish On The Euro
- Greece Locks Up Three Brokers Who Sold Governent Debt To Pension Funds
- You Could Now Be Arrested, In America, Just For Mentioning Europe’s Problems Over Dinner
Student Sued By Wildlife Reserve Without Sense Of Humor
Poor Nicholas Brilleaux. He was sued for being funny.
Brilleax, who is currently a senior majoring in history at Southeastern University, penned a satirical article for Hammond Action News that the local wildlife reserve took issue with.
Action News 17: [Global Wildlife's] petition seeks an injunction to remove an online piece entitled “Giraffe Claims Third Victim at Global Wildlife.” The article, which spoofs SeaWorld killer whale trainer attack news reports, describes a fictional giraffe guide attack at the local wildlife refuge.
It seems the article has been taken down from HAN, but we found it here.
I’m not a lawyer, but I remember learning that parody and satire are protected forms of speech back in Media Law class during my undergraduate career, so I would guess that Brilleaux’s luck will turn around during the hearing on March 15.
He may have removed the article in question, but he’s not backing down. His latest: “‘Damaged’ Alligator Threatens Legal Action.” According to the article, it seems that HAN might have another lawsuit on its hands. This time an alligator that the site outed last October for intentions to escape is suffering from a diminished reputation. Local kids won’t even go near Old Blue Eyes the alligator.
Said one HAN reader, “I wouldn’t be surprised if this case makes it to the Supreme Court.”
As dedicated legal news watchers, we hope it does.
(Editor’s Note: Erin Geiger Smith has seen the famous Ponchatoula gator in person. She reports it looked kind of sad, but did not believe it would have the energy to escape.)
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See Also:
- A Parody Of The "Windows 7 Was My Idea" Commercials
- Watch All The Tim Tebow Parody Ads
- CollegeHumor Acquires A Sports Satire Site