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Long Beach Sues Lehman Bros. CEO and Others
Court Watch News |
2009/02/27 09:47
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The City of Long Beach sued Lehman Bros. CEO Richard Fuld Jr., 12 other top Lehman officers and Ernst amp; Young accountants, saying they suckered the city into buying $20 million worth of 27-day short-term paper on Sept. 3, 2008, despite warning signs of Lehman's impending collapse. Fuld was paid $100 million in salary and stock grants from 2005-2007, according to the complaint.
Long Beach says its $19,963,250 investment in Lehman's short-term paper has been written down to zero.
Despite the fact that defendants were aware of materially adverse facts on Sept. 3, 2008, a mere two weeks before the company filed for bankruptcy, said defendants did not disclose the financial disaster that was about to decimate the company, according to the Superior Court complaint. instead, defendants lulled the plaintiff, and the rest of the market, into a false sense of security that Lehman would survive, right up to the brink of the bankruptcy filing.
Defendants in the claim of fraud, deceit and misrepresentation are Lehman CEO and Chairman of the Board Richard S. Fuld Jr.; CFO and controller Christopher M. O'Meara; controller Erin M. Callan, who resigned in June 2008 but signed Lehman's Form 10-K for FY 2007; and directors Michael L. Ainslie, John F. Akers, Roger S. Berlind, Thomas H. Cruikshank, Marsha Johnson Evans, Sir Christopher Gent, Roland A. Hernandez, Henry Kaufman, John D. Macomber.
Ernst amp; Young was Lehman's auditor for FY 2005-07.
Plaintiffs are represented by Bruce Simon with Pearson Simon amp; Warshaw of San Francisco. |
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SEC Sued by a Stanford Financial Investor
Headline Topics |
2009/02/26 14:39
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The Securities and Exchange Commission wrongfully froze the assets of account holders in Stanford Financial Group's Houston and Antigua institutions when it shut down the company's operations based on allegations of fraud, a Stanford investor claims in Federal Court.
J. Mark Brewster says his funds are being held for Stanford Financial by Pershing LLC, an investment firm affiliated with the Bank of New York Mellon, but the SEC prohibits Pershing from allowing him and other Stanford investors access to the $50 billion in savings Pershing is holding.
Brewster claims the SEC violated due process by to obtaining orders from a federal judge in Dallas when the courthouse was closed for President's Day without notice to anyone and without an opportunity to be heard by anyone.
There were no members of the public present, Brewster says. Instead the SEC lawyers simply provided a written statement to the court to act without any 'notice or hearing.'
They used these orders to shut down Stanford Financial's Houston offices, and to appoint Ralph Janvey, a Dallas lawyer in private practice, as receiver to manage Stanford customers' $50 billion in assets.
The order gives absolutely no information about (Janvey) not even his address or phone number, Brewster says. Only the SEC knows him.
How he came to be selected by the SEC as the agency's favored take-over specialist is shrouded in mystery in violation of due process and without any transparency, Brewster states.
U.S. Marshals carried out the SEC's order to shut down Stanford Financial's offices in Houston and Antigua on Feb. 16, based on allegations that the company was running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme.
But Brewster complains, The SEC's motion is full innuendo, bravado and hyperbole, but lacks any facts to the alleged violations by SFG or why seizure of innocent investors' accounts is warranted.
Brewster is represented by Sondra Jurica. |
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Oklahoma Employees Allowed to Keep Guns In Locked Cars
Topics |
2009/02/23 10:04
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Oklahoma employers can't stop employees from storing guns in their locked vehicles in company parking lots, the 10th Circuit ruled. A three-judge panel reinstated laws that hold employers criminally liable for banning the storage of guns in locked cars, saying the amendments do not materially impede or thwart federal law.
After several employees had been fired for keeping guns in their locked vehicles, the state Legislature amended its gun laws in 2004 to hold employers criminally liable for prohibiting guns in vehicles.
A group of businesses challenged the amendments as too vague and an unconstitutional taking of company property. They also argued that the amendments violated their due process rights and were pre-empted by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
A federal judge granted their motion for a temporary restraining order and ordered extensive briefing on the issue of pre-emption. The judge then rejected the plaintiffs' constitutional claims, but determined that the laws were pre-empted by federal law and permanently enjoined their enforcement.
On appeal, the state argued against conflict pre-emption, saying the amendments didn't impede or block any federal laws or policies.
The federal appeals court in Denver sided with the state, saying the OSHA regulates work-related hazards, not workplace violence.
OSHA has not indicated in any way that employers should prohibit firearms from company parking lots, Judge Baldock wrote.
The panel reversed the injunction and reinstated the amendments. |
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9 Year Old Pleads Guilty In Father's Shooting Death
Headline Topics |
2009/02/20 09:27
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Now that the charges against a 9-year-old boy accused in a double homicide have been resolved, attorneys in the case say they are hopeful he will receive the treatment he needs to move past the incident and have a chance at a normal life.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys say treatment options were a vital part of a plea agreement the boy signed Thursday. He had faced two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of his father and his father's roommate. He pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the death of 39-year-old Timothy Romans, and the murder charge stemming from the death of his father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero, was dropped.
I think this experience probably can change an individual, and I'm hoping this doesn't tremendously change him, said defense attorney Benjamin Brewer. To be as normal a kid as possible, it would be something we'd like to strive for.
Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting said prosecutors had two options in the case: proceed and risk that the boy be found incompetent and receive no treatment or have him enter a plea agreement.
We discussed that and felt better that he be under the state's care, that he get treatment, he said.
The boy has not been sentenced. Apache County Superior Court Judge Michael Roca will decide whether the boy will serve time in a county juvenile facility, be institutionalized for treatment or live with relatives.
The boy's plea spares the rural community of about 4,000 from what would have been an emotional trial and prevents the boy from serving time in the state juvenile corrections system or being tried as an adult.
He was polite in court and was never asked to explain any motive for the killings.
Defense attorney Ron Wood said the plea deal was a compromise that wouldn't please everyone.
I don't know it was the best thing. That remains to be seen, he said. This resolution of the case causes more potential for working out in (the boy's) favor.
The boy's mother cried throughout the hearing and, through her lawyer, objected to the plea deal. But Superior Court Judge Michael Roca accepted it.
In court Thursday, the boy was more talkative and relaxed than in previous hearings, laughing and chatting with his lawyer and mother.
But his demeanor became more serious as the hearing got under way. The judge questioned him for nearly half an hour, about whether he understood his rights, the terms of the plea agreement and the consequences.
The boy answered respectfully and politely, using yes, sir or no, sir in most cases. |
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