Financial and Investment News

According to various mainstream media articles, a female identified as Teresa Tambunting is suspected of stealing $12 million in gold and gems from her job at Queens jewelry store and then storing them in her basement. The Jacmel Jewelry store found $12 million in gold pieces and other jewelry were missing from the vault.These included 10k gold chain, mens diamond ring, etc..

The female from Scardale reportedly told her family at dinner that she was scared of the recession. According to family members Tambunting’s fears stemmed from the stock market convulsions and her husband Edgardo’s job at Cantor Fitzgerald. Tambunting was afraid the economy would make her husband have to switch jobs.

Prosecutors state that during this time Tambunting, her 3 kids plus husband were living with raw gold and jewelry hidden in their house basement.. They say the 50-year-old woman over a 6-year time slipped small pieces of gold and jewelry in her purse.All in all, she was the vault manager from where the twelve  million of gold and jewelry was missing since 1991. It appears she was taking stuff like a 10K gold chain, gold earrings, gold franco chain, hip hop jewelry and similiar items. I think that I would have taken the 10K gold chain if I had worked there and wanted to do the rip-off thing.

She stated she had to steal the goods from the store according to police. The rest of the stolen merchandise was returned to the jewelry company from the basement of Tambunting’s home, 500 pounds of merchandise.

As any more evidence of the ongoing economic downturn was needed, the large, Hawaii-based tourism retail firm Hilo Hattie has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy status while owing their creditors as much as $1.3 million US, according to Bob Taylor, who is the president and Chief Financial Officer of Maui Divers Jewelry. That corporation, by the way, has a vested interest in the souvenirs and aloha attire retailer.

All in all, the Hilo Hattie’s 7 outlets have Maui Divers Jewery items carried in their stores which account for about twenty percent of their overall jewelry sales. He also said that the company is an integral part of their market that they do not wish to lose from the 7 outlets.While the corporation does not focus on bling bling jewelry items like 10k gold chain, gold franco chain and the like, they docarry items like breitling watch, freeze watch and so forth.

Apparently Maui Divers wants to rehire the majority of Hilo Hattie workers while also holding onto the majority of their vendors. They plan to put around 2 million dollars into operating the retail stores and in merchandise.

There is a June 22^nd court date to decide if Hilo Hattie will be liquidated or if an independent management trustee can assume control of the company.

 According to the Hilo Hattie attorney Chuck Choi, the offer by Maui Divers will not satisfy all of the outstanding creditors including $800,000 that is owed in rent to the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and a $700,000 mortgage that is owed to Central Pacific Bank.

In choosing your own office chair, whether for a smaller home office or a large corporate one, I believe it is
definately vital to choose one with a superb ergonomic profile plus certain intuitive controls to take into aconsideration things like height issues as well as seat depth.
In addition, based on my personal experience of some fifteen years on the subect, i beleive it is very important that the chair have a superb mesh fabric. if you are
going to spend a lot of time in your office, then you should be sure that the chair is easy on the spine area. As for me specifically, if I had to rate strictly on appearance alone, I tend to like the look of the distinctive European made design office chairs (especially from Italy and Germany),
yet I have noticed that sometimes they are not really the most orthopedically sound if you are a few pounds heavier and will be spending an inordinate amount of time in the office.
Generally, those countries offer very unique plus stylish executive models of office furniture. Like a lavish Mercedes Benz or Ferrari, however, they are not always the most practical choice in every
individuals case, although for some people they are simply ideal.
One of the very best all-around chairs in my opinion is the prestigious Aeron, which was designed by Herman Miller about ten years ago following plenty of ergonomic research.
The result of all that thorough research and developent is that the chair naturally adapts to adjust to people’s unique shapes as well as posture postures. it also looks cool,
thus giving it a nice balance of aesthetics and comfort for heavy-duty, long term use. Another one that I happen to like is the
‘Mira’, which was also designed by the incomparable Herman Miller. All in all, it comes with a full range of adjustments so as to provide complete back support while at the same time
the Celle promote an even distribution of weight because it has a pliable frame. Very cool design indeed, and visually stunning as well.

In recent market activity, Nissan’s Stock rose for the first time in several days on the Tokyo Stock Exchange following a report that the firm plus partner Renault of France
are in negotiating with the Chrysler Corporation to purchase assets. This could be good or bad news, depending on how you look at. I live in hawaii myself and I have noticed that
the Hawaii Nissan dealers are not as busy as in recent months but it still remains one of the more popular vehicles on the road here in Hawaii at least. Actually here in Hawaii it seems that all the Japanese model cars are very popular such as Acura and Honda as well. During the trading day,
Nissan jumped by some 3.5 percent toward the end of the day. All in all, Japanese rivals also rose following a much weakened yen. The Toyota Motor Corporation, for instance, which is Japan’s largest automobile manufacturer, rose by an alright 1.6 percent while number 2, the Honda Motor Company, rose by about 0.4 percent overall.
Furthermore, Renault and Nissan might bid for Chrysler’s Jeep class Division as well as related assets, according to the mainstream media. But it should be considered that Nissan spokeswoman Pauline Kee refused to directly confirm this, at least at this point in time.
For her part, Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan would not comment nor would Peter Duda, a spokesperson for Cerberus Capital Management LP, the owner of this firm.
The weaker yen obviously increases the value of the dollar-related earnings. This certainly helps out the Japanese auto manufacturing power trio since they generally recieve perhaps half of their operating profits from the America.
If only the American auto industry could figure something out to help themselves as well.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the U.S. Congress or the executive branch should step in and prevent the automotive industry from filing for bankruptcy protection. In a press affair in the nation’s capital at Washington DC, Pelosi was quoted as stating that everyone “is disadvantaged by bankruptcy, including our economy, so that’s not an option.” She was speaking of the current automotive industry crises which has affected places like Detroit and Flint, Michigan so prfoundly…… The laws support this.

It is widely thought that Congress will approve new loans for the big three automobile manufacturers and that the funds in question will come from the seven hundred billion bail out plan the Congress approved in the previous month month. Furthermore, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went on to state the following: “We’re looking to make sure we do everything we can to take care of the auto industry, if in fact it’s viable.”

All in all,  the country’s auto producers submitted their particular  plans to Washington essentially spelling out what their plans are to achieve overall  financial stability and therefore help to ward off bankruptcy have appeared before lawmakers.  By the way if you need some help pertaining to washington bankruptcy laws then might I recommend Jason Newcombe as he is one of the top washington  bankruptcy laws specialists out there and can assist with a broad variety of different cases. He is based in the Seattle and greater Puget Sound area. He also happens to do auto crash and even criminal related cases.

According to media reports, Ford Motor Company is asking Congress for a credit line of up to nine million. In addition, GM is asking for up to $18 million in credit and Chrysler LLC is asking for a $7 million bridge loan.

The legal organizations which aid clients such as the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project that assisted  Maria Nunes after an abusive marriage are in danger of losing much of their funding sources which comes from part of the interest in question of funding held in trust for clients.

Nunes is a native of the beautiful West Indes island Jamaica fled Florida and an abusive husband who had physically abused her unconscious the day prior to her leaving. She now states she did not know she had any rights; she was dependant on the marriage to stay in America.  Incidentially if you happen to require a superlative and effecient Attorney post settlement funding then might I suggest the superb Law Offices of happy Rock LLC. They are actually one of the better organizations you can find in my opinion if you need a reliable Attorney post settlement funding or simply just a consultation to start with.

All in all, Attorney Jorge Baron and the Northwest Immigration Rights Project helped Nunes over a seven year period of time to gain a legal divorce and the Attorney in question also helped her to remain in America with a residency green card.

Fortunately for her, she is now legally divorced because of the legal aid which might not be there for other women in abusive marriages due to the economic factors they are facing today expect their funding to decrease by as much as 50% this year. That is why it can be vital to have an Attorney to assist with post settlement as well as funding issues.

According to the newest real estate numbers, the Big Island of Hawaii and Kauai house sales have dropped by as much as forty percent from the same time last year.
All in all, it seems that the primary reason for that is a majority of possible real estate buyers have become much more careful amid the latest economic climate. The credit crises has not helped matters much either.
All in all, the raw numbers do not look great at this point in time: house sales (grand total) on the Big Isle descended 41.3 percent to 64 from 109, while the average sales price descended almost twenty percent from the same time last year.
In the meanwhile, new Condo unit purchases dipped some 17.2 percent to 24 from 29, and the median sales price was reduced by over fifty percent to $226,200 from $463,000. These are fairly shocking numbers, and they come from the Hawaii Information Svc.
Despite all of this, the Kauai real estate picture is remarkably better than that, as luck would have it.
Despite the fact that the total house sales there dipped a similiar 40% level like the Big Isle of hawaii, Kauai had a seventeen percent increase in the median sales price from this time last year. All the while, Condo unit
sales on Kauai dropped an eye popping 41.7 while the medium sales price took a steep 45 percent drop during that particular time period.
In my own view, Kauai Real Estate will quite possibly hold up pretty well over the long term because of the limited quantity of land and ever-increasing restrictions on different types of property development.

Today, unfortunately, the stock market, the DOW and other leading economic indicators took another sizeable hit as it was widely reported that
Washington does not appear to be in a major hurry to bail out the automotive industry. it did not help that their 
representatives from Motown who were pleading povery arrived in style in an opulent jet as if they were still high-rollers. In any event,
a collapse of any of the Big 3 automakers would of course have a disastrous impact on the American economy, with employment taking perhaps the largest single hit of any sector with GDP close behind, sadly enouph.
All in all, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today defended his part in the handling of the current financial crisis in various reported statements but nonetheless has
 not stated one way or another whether further aid will be forthcoming to the struggling bank Citigroup (is that the one that just gave gigantic bonuses to it’s Executives? Glad the deserving folks are getting those golden parachutes).
In any even, he has maligned his critics who stated that permiting Lehman Brothers fail in September made the situation much worse.
In addition, he stated that authorities had had actually assisted in averting a large-scale financial collapse, according to the Reuters internet news network.
On the world level of the crises, meanwhile, developed countries continue to have differences over the various specifics of a common strategy.
These differences are even more profound when the views of underdeveloped or ‘Third World’ countries are added to the mix.
By the way if you going through your own personal financial crises then by all means you should seek debt advice from a professional.

If you thought 2000 meant the end of Y2K as an issue, well so fast, according to this superb article by expert and Orange County insurance litigation lawyer Todd Picker…The Y2K issue originates in the software or coding used to operate computer systems. In addition, the consequences flowing from the failure to correct the problem were well known long before remediation costs happened. The question thus arises as to whether potential losses related to Y2K failures are fortuitous or not. After all, the concept of fortuity is fundamental to insurance. Incidentially if you live in either Orange County or nearby areas and need a top notch Orange County insurance litigation lawyer then I suggest Todd Picker as he is simply one of the best Orange County insurance litigation lawyer out there at this time. Alright now back to the article: In its most basic form, insurance is a contract whereby the insurer undertakes to indemnify another against loss from certain specified con¬tingencies or perils. The contract provides security against possible anticipated loss. Risk is the essen¬tial element.9 Accordingly, it is well recognised that a loss in progress or known loss is not insurable. The rule will apply whenever the insured is, or should have been, aware of a loss at the time the policy was purchased. Applying this rule to Y2K remediation costs calls into question whether insurance coverage can even exist. The existence of the problem and the need to correct it has been known for many years. It is therefore doubtful whether Y2K failures, or the need to incur costs to avoid the same, are fortuitous and therefore insurable.
Another issue at hand here that must be resolved is determining if computer codes are in fact “property” that can be the subject of property insurance. At the outset, it should be observed that almost any kind of property can be insured. Accordingly, coverage for loss to or destruction of computer data, coding, program or software may be specifically afforded under a particular policy. If not, there is no case law at present which squarely addresses the question of whether computer codes are tangible property. Wow you need to pratically be a litigation lawyer to figure all of this out. One approach to this issue, albeit raised in another context, can be found in Retail Systems Inc. ‘V. CNA Ins. Cos.ll In Retail Systems the appellate court was asked to interpret a clause covering “physical injury or destruction of tangible property” with respect to the loss of a computer tape containing voter preference data. Without guidance from other courts, the Retail Systems court reasoned as follows:
At best, the policy’s requirement that only tangible property is covered is ambiguous. Thus this term
6. See Young’s Market Co. v. American Home Assur¬ance Co., 4 Ca1.3d 309 at 313 (1971).
7. Reliance Ins. Co. v. The Yacht Escapade, 280 F.2d 482 (1960).
8. Young’s Market Co. 170 American Home Assurance Co., abov8 n. 6, at 313.
9. Epmeier v. United States, 199 F.2d 508 at 509-510 (7th Cir. 19.52).
10. See pnzdential-LMI Commercial Ins. Co. v. Superior Cow 1., 51 Ca1.3d 674 (1990).
11. 469 N.W.2d 735 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991).
[2000) I.C.C.LR .. ISSUE 4 © SWEET & MAXWELL LIMITED [AND CONTRIBUTORS)

I just returned from Chicago and am back in the saddle again, so to speak. I am rady to start blogging again after my little hiatus. It has been reported that hedge fund manager Mike Lauer has been convicted of swindling investors over the course of several years for over half a billion dollars. Yes you heard that one right. It seems that all of those million could not buy him an Attorney who could get him off. How very sad indeed.

The Judge on this case found in a sixty-seven page order that Lauer had essentially tweaked and twisted the prices of 7 seperate securities. These were a large part of the funds portfolios, which he did not provide a basis for such very steep valuations. The Judge in question also found that he was untruthful, to put it charitably, to investors about the hedge funds holdings. In plain english you might even say that he lied through his teeth, but this case is not for me to sit here and judge. In any event, a head of the Lancer Management Group, his moves were ruled to be highly premeditated and directly caused the loss of millions and millions of dollars worth of investor’s hard earned money. I realize that no one really suffered personal bodily injury per say but what about the emotional scars? I mean, it is nothing personal, right?

All in all, a ruling has not been given on the amount that Lauer will have to pay back to his victims. That amount is pending an evidentiary hearing and a fine amount decided by the Securities Exchange Commission which has to be made within sixty days or so. By the way if you happen to live in Chicago or the surrounding region and need a top drawer
Chicago Personal Injury Attorney then I strongly wish to suggest the Budin Law offices as he is one of the finest Chicago Personal Injury Attorney around that whole area. You can call him for a personal consultation. Alright now back to the story at hand.

The criminal trial for Lauer will begin in April for the charges in the hedge fund and according to his lawyer stated that Lauer will be pleading not guilty and will fight the charges at trial. The Attorney who is representing Lauer is one Norman Moscowitz.