Bernard Madoff allegedly pulled off a $50 billion fraud, fooling investors large and small all over the globe with his suspiciously steady returns.
See Madoff as you’ve never seen him before -- Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. on FOX Business Network.
Madoff investor commits suicide
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This Won’t Be the Last Loan
Missed tonight's Cavuto? Catch "The Deal" right here on FOXBusiness.com
You've got your ammunition.
Shoot away.
Here's the deal, actually a number.
Actually, a series of numbers.
524,000.
2.6 million.
And 7.2%.
The number of jobs lost last month.
The number of jobs lost last year.
And the unemployment rate right now.
All forming the perfect storm right now.
And the perfect opportunity for the president-elect to say we've got to do something big right now.
Maybe a trillion dollars big.
That seems to be the new "minimum" stimulus figure they're bouncing around in this Capitol right now.
Because the worse these numbers get, the bigger these rescue numbers get.
And the more power Barack Obama wields.
...among fellow Democrats, who whine about some of his proposed tax credits...think John Kerry.
...and Republicans who whine about all that spending...think John McCain.
First, hear me out on this:
Barack Obama is going to get everything, and then some, he wants.
Not because he isn't a gifted salesman and strategist.
But because with these kind of economic numbers, he doesn't have to be.
"Fate" has just made him FDR.
Now it's up to history to see if he "is."
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Monday, Jan. 5, 2009
President-elect Obama pushed for a larger-than-expected $300 billion tax cut Monday to help the country get out of recession. This includes $500 tax cuts for individuals ($1,000 for couples) and $100 billion total for businesses.
There have been quite a few scares over Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs’ health this last year. He has appeared very thin and frail at events and rumors have been spread that he may have had a recurrence of pancreatic cancer, which he had overcome a battle with years ago. It wasn’t too reassuring that the company just kept saying his health is a “private matter” when questioned, and Apple’s stock price has suffered markedly since rumors began spreading.
Finally, Steve Jobs explained to the public that he is not sick, but that his striking weight loss is due to a hormone imbalance that is being corrected.
Bernard Madoff, the man charged with running a huge Ponzi scheme that went unnoticed for decades, was probed eight times over the last 16 years, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The Securities & Exchange Commission received emails from a New York hedge fund that said Madoff’s practices were “highly unusual.” And in 2007 the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said parts of his firm seemed to have no customers.
Congress began its review over how Madoff’s scheme could have gone on for so long without regulators catching on. It was noted by Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), that an investment advisor, Harry Markopolos, had actually warned the SEC about Madoff long before it was exposed.
Auto sales were very poor in December, plunging over 30%. Big surprise, right? But what’s interesting is that it wasn’t just the Big Three auto makers, who were begging Congress for a bailout last month that were affected, but foreign car makers as well. Toyota’s (TM) sales were worse than Ford's (F) and General Motors's (GM), down 37%.
In an unfortunate event for collectors around the world, china and crystal maker Waterford Wedgwood filed for bankruptcy after failing to restructure or even find a buyer.
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FOXBusiness.com’s Week in Review: Dec. 15-19, 2008
WASHINGTON--A trio of Democratic senators say they have reached a deal with Citigroup Inc. (C)on a plan to let bankruptcy judges alter home loans in an effort to prevent foreclosures.
The lawmakers aim to attach the plan to President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus legislation.
The compromise between New York-based Citigroup and Sens. Richard Durbin, Charles Schumer and Christopher Dodd, would be limited to loans made before the bill is signed.
Until now, the lending industry has battled against the concept, arguing it would force lenders to hike mortgage rates.
Durbin says: "I hope other institutions will follow suit."
Despite slowdown, banks are still lending
This Won’t Be the Last Loan
Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff planned to use $173 million of his possibly fraudulent gains to pay bonuses to select employees, family members and friends at the time he was arrested, according to court papers filed Thursday.
Investigators found about 100 signed checks in Madoff's desk "ready to be sent out," prosecutors wrote in a letter seeking revocation of Madoff's bail.
At the time of his arrest on Dec. 11, Madoff reportedly told two senior employees of his brokerage and investment advisory firm that he had $200 million to $300 million in assets that he hoped to distribute before he was taken into custody. The checks were apparently intended to be drawn from those assets.
Meanwhile, political pressure is growing for Madoff’s bail to be revoked. U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), said Madoff “should not be trusted to be outside of a prison cell.”
As the legal back-and-forth continued over whether Madoff breached the conditions of his $10 million bail, prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over the value and purpose of expensive jewelry and other items the alleged mastermind of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme sent to family members around Christmastime.
Federal Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis is expected to rule on Friday whether Madoff broke his bail conditions by mailing the items, supposedly worth more than $1 million, and should be immediately thrown in jail.
Prosecutors seeking Madoff's incarceration are arguing that Madoff sent the items to hide valuable assets that could be used to repay victims of the alleged fraud.
Madoff poses a clear flight risk, and his "blatant disregard" of his bail conditions suggests he's capable of more damage, wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Litt in a letter to the judge that was released Thursday.
“The fact that the defendant would do so, with the eyes of the world, prosecutors, and other regulatory authorities upon him, speaks volumes,” Litt wrote.
Madoff's attorney said in an earlier letter to the judge that the packages were "an effort to reach out to [Madoff's] immediate family and close friends with whom contact had been cut off."
The packages contained "sentimental personal items," according to attorney Ira Sorkin, and were not an effort to hide assets.
Sorkin said Madoff poses no flight risk because he's turned in his passport and he’s being monitored 24-hours a day.
Prosecutors disagree.
“The scope of the defendant’s crime is vast, and it is likely that thousands of victim-investors have lost sums in the billions of dollars. It is likewise clear that the defendant does not have sufficient assets to make those victims whole,” Litt wrote in an earlier letter to Ellis.
“Accordingly, it is of vital importance that the victims of defendant’s offenses be protected from once again suffering losses as a result of the transfer of the defendant’s valuable assets to third parties.”
One of the packages now in the custody of prosecutors included about 13 watches, a diamond necklace, an emerald ring and two sets of cufflinks. Two other packages reportedly contained a diamond bracelet, a gold watch, a diamond Cartier watch, a diamond Tiffany watch, four diamond brooches, a jade necklace, and other items of jewelry.
The packages show Madoff’s “willingness to disobey an explicit court order” barring him from shedding any of his assets, Litt wrote. Moreover, Madoff represents a danger to society because if he’s shedding assets those assets cannot be used to pay restitution to victims.
“The need for detention is this case is clear,” Litt wrote.
Madoff, 70, faces a single count of securities fraud for allegedly running a global Ponzi scheme in which potentially thousands of investors were defrauded of billions of dollars.
He was arrested on Dec. 11 after two senior members of his trading and investment firm alerted authorities that Madoff had told them his fraud had collapsed as investors sought billions of dollars in redemptions Madoff couldn’t cover.
The employees who reportedly blew the whistle were Madoff’s two sons, both of whom received packages containing some of the valuable items now in the custody of prosecutors.
It was the two sons, Mark and Andrew, who alerted prosecutors to the existence of the packages.
Madoff was released on $10 million bail after putting up as collateral his apartment on New York City’s Upper East Side, valued at $7 million, and properties on Long Island and Palm Beach, Fla. He is currently under house arrest.
His original bond requirements had to be modified because his original conditions required four signatures of “financially responsible” cosigners. He could get only two -- his wife and his brother. The sons apparently refused to sign.
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Shares of Monsanto (MON)soared on Wednesday after the company soundly beat earnings estimates and raised its outlook for the year.
The St. Louis, Mo.-based company reported profit of $556 million or $1.00 per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2009, compared to $256 million or 46 cents per share one year ago.
Analysts were expecting earnings of 59 cents per share according to Reuters.
The company revised its full-year outlook from a range of $4.20 to $4.40, to profit between $4.40 and $4.50 per share in 2009.
The company cited growth in its Latin American businesses, as well as increased sales of its herbicides and corn seed in Brazil and higher-than-expected sales of corn and soybean seed in the U.S. for the impressive results.
Shares of Monsanto jumped 15.45% or $11.31 and were trading at $84.53 per share on Monday, midday.
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