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New Wiretaps Focused on Traders gets Galleon Convicted

May 11th, 2011

Kyle Johnston

Galleon Founder Raj Rajaratnam Convicted of Insider Trading

Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the hedge fund firm Galleon Group, was convicted on Wednesday. Prosecutors are hoping this will send a message to future dirty investors.

“We will continue to pursue and prosecute those who believe they are both above the law and too smart to get caught,” said United States attorney Preet S. Bharara after the Rajaratnam case.

Bharara has led the charge in the Justice Department’s battle with insider trading. They have convicted 35 people out of 47 charged in the last 18 months.

This is mostly due to their substantial increase in aggressiveness towards convicting these shady investors. The government is now allowing the use of wiretaps for securities cases, something that was previously only used against organized crime leaders and drug traffickers.

The F.B.I. used a wiretap in January to record a Galleon phone conversation that included incriminating evidence.

Many of America’s largest companies were sold privately last decade. This caused a surge in the number of hedge funds, which have become a substantial chunk of the economy.

Forbes magazine has reported that these new investment partnerships have created over 20 billionaires. At Rajaratnam’s best point, he managed $7 billion.

Rajaratnam’s insider information came from several sources around the world. One source from Dublin gave him information about a Middle East wealth fund. Someone in Taiwan gave him secret data about public technology companies.

Charles Ferguson, whose movie “Inside Job,” won an Academy Award for best documentary, feels that the government needs to allocate even more resources to stop insider trading.

“The total amounts of money and the consequences in insider trading are trivial compared to the damage caused by the behavior that caused the financial crisis,” Ferguson said, “I’m not saying that insider trading isn’t a serious crime, but the government should be deploying more resources to investigate those cases.”

The Feds believe that insider trading is encouraged when confidence in the stock market is down.

“The stock market is designed to make sure the investing public isn’t cheated,” Prosecutor Reed Brodsky said in his closing argument. “Wall Street is supposed to be an even playing field.”

Only time will tell if all this added focus on insider trading convictions will cause sterility in stock investors.

Obama Talks Immigration in Texas

May 10th, 2011

Kyle Johnston

Obama's immigration plan includes tighter border security along with opportunity for current illegals to gain citizenship.

President Obama visited the U.S.-Mexico border today in El Paso, Texas. He spoke about tightening up border controls and giving the current 11 million immigrants opportunity to become citizens.

“One way to strengthen the middle class in America is to reform the immigration system, so that there is no longer a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everybody else,” Obama said. “Immigration reform is an economic imperative.”

Republican Congress members have disagreed with his plan, saying that giving citizenship to lawbreakers would be like free “amnesty” for lawbreakers and that they would only consider strengthening border security.

“The president will have to present a plan that takes amnesty off the table and focuses, instead, on making a real commitment to border and interior security,” said Kentucky Republican and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Paula Abdul Joins Simon Cowell on ‘X-Factor’

May 9th, 2011

Wendy Planter

Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell Reunited on 'The X-Factor'

Paula Abdul has officially signed on to join Simon Cowell on ‘The X-Factor’. They began filming the new singing competition yesterday and it will debut on Fox in September.

Along with Cowell, Abdul will be joining judges Antonio “L.A.” Reid, and Cheryl Cole.

Contractual Issues still need to be worked out, as Abdul has already signed to be on the show ‘Live to Dance’.

The show will be hosted by UK presenter Steve Jones and former member of the Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger.

Woman Stranded for 7 Weeks – Survives on Snow and Trail Mix

May 7th, 2011

Wendy Planter

The Chretiens got stuck 20 miles from the nearest highway.

56 year-old Canadian Rita Chretien was stranded in a van in Nevada for seven weeks. All she had to eat was a bit of trail mix and snow to melt for water.

Rita and her husband Albert Chretien, 59, were on a road trip from their home in Penticton, British Columbia, to attend a trade fair in Las Vegas. The couple ran a construction excavation business.

The Chretiens got their Chevy Astro van stuck in some mud on a forest service road on March 19. They were 20 miles from the nearest highway and nine miles away from receiving any cell phone service.

Having been reported missing weeks before, the couple’s family and media had believed they were dead, and with no clue on their location.

Albert left the van to find help three days after they got stuck.

Hunters discovered Rita on Friday, May 7. She was airlifted to a southern Idaho hospital where she is in fair condition.

Search and rescue teams are currently searching for Albert.

Albert and Rita Chretien

Bulls vs. Hawks – Game 4 Preview

May 7th, 2011

Roger Mason

The Hawks will try to slow Rose's hot streak from outside.

Coming off a career high 44 points, Derick Rose and the Chicago Bulls will try to continue their hot streak in Atlanta.

It shouldn’t be tough for the Bulls if they can out-rebound the Hawks like they did in game 3. The Bulls won the rebound battle 47-34, and took nine more shots than Atlanta. Joakim Noah led the team with 15 rebounds.

Atlanta needs to find a way to get Joe Johnson going on offense. In the Hawks Game 1 victory in Chicago, Johnson had 34 points. In their two losses? 16 and 10 points respectively. Sure you have to credit new Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau for drastically improving the Bulls defense this year, but Johnson needs to step it up and prove he’s worth the huge contract he signed last year.

As for Atlanta’s defense, they need to start containing Derrick Rose – at least a little. It makes sense that Hawks coach Larry Drew had his defenders going under screens on Rose in order to limit his drives to the basket, however, in Game 3, Rose made them pay by knocking down 10 of 16 jumpers and 4 of 7 three-pointers.

With the Hawks on the ropes, it may be time for them to start sticking on Rose outside and relying more on their solid interior defense. It’s either that or start praying for Rose to have an off-night from outside.

30 Dead So Far on Syria’s ‘Day of Defiance’

May 6th, 2011

Wendy Planter

Protests broke out in Homs, Syria today shortly after noon prayers. Security opened fire on protesters as 16 people died including four police officers and an army officer.

With similar deaths in the cities of Hama, Jableh, and Deir al-Zor, the toll reaches 30.

‘The people and the army are one’ is apparently what protestors were chanting according to Al Jazeera media.

Syrian information ministry spokeswoman Reem Haddad would like to see the United Nations investigate the situation.

“The Syrian government is not worried, because there is nothing wrong,” says Haddad.

United Nations Secretart-General Ban Ki-Moon told us that Syria has in fact agreed to UN teams investigating the situation.

Hackers Plan Third Attack on Sony

May 6th, 2011

Kyle Johnston

The hackers are at it again. An unidentified group of hackers was observed planning their weekend attack over an online chat.

They are apparently upset about how Sony handled the first two attacks, the first being made on the PlayStation Network, and the second on their music service Qriocity.

The group wants to expose personal information about users such as names, addresses, birth dates, and credit card numbers.

Congress is putting pressure on Sony to improve consumer protection by investigating how the attack took place. Sony CEO Howard Stringer has apologized for the breach in security and reminded PlayStation users about their $1-million identity theft insurance policy.

244,000 New Jobs Less Than Impressive

May 6th, 2011

Kyle Johnston

Unemployment Recovery Taking Its Time

For the third straight month, the American economy has seen a nice increase in jobs. The 244,000 job increase in April was about the same as the last two months.

This is welcome news as unemployment claims have surged the last few weeks due to higher fuel prices and concerns about stability in the Japan, Europe, and the Middle East.

The first quarter saw the U.S. increase its economic output by a miniscule 1.8 %. This is obviously disappointing, especially considering that we are still trying to recover from the recession.

“At this point, coming out of a recession this deep, we should be getting unambiguously huge growth, of 300,000 to 400,000 [new jobs] a month,” said labor economist Heidi Shierholz.

8.8 million jobs were lost during the recession and about 1.8 million have been recovered since February 2010.

Companies are expected to be adding to their payrolls in order to increase sales. 57,100 new retail jobs were added last month, 29,000 new jobs in manufacturing, 51,000 new business and professional service jobs, and the health and education industries also added solid numbers. Government was the only category to lose, at minus 24,000 jobs.

First Steps in Nuclear Plant Since Japanese Earthquake

May 6th, 2011

Wendy Planter

Workers took their first steps into the Japanese nuclear power plant that was devastated after an earthquake in March.

Workers wore protective masks, suits, and air tanks as they entered the plant through a protective tent used to prevent radiation leaks. It should take about five days for them to connect ventilation equipment and absorb the exposed radiation inside.

Oil Recovers After Worst Week in a Year

May 6th, 2011

Kyle Johnston

Oil has dropped 12 percent this week

Oil futures popped up one percent today as this weeks massive slide turned around. Yesterday’s drop below $100 a barrel was too low for buyers to stand idle.

Commodity Strategist Serene Lim believes the move is in response to trader being cautious after yesterday’s massive 8.6 percent slide.

“It could be a relief rally after an aggressive sell-off yesterday,” he said, “traders will be very cautious at this time because tonight’s payroll data will be something to watch out for.”

This 12 percent drop is the biggest weekly drop since this time last year. Most of the damage was done yesterday after a surprise increase in the U.S. dollar as well as an increase in U.S. jobless claims.