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Bloomberg – Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis faces more queries about his purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. after a federal judge refused to approve a $33 million settlement of a lawsuit over bonuses.
The bank agreed on Aug. 3 to settle U.S. claims the bank misled investors while buying Merrill. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York said the amount isn’t appropriate if the bank lied about billions of dollars in payments. Rakoff asked for more filings by Aug. 24 and said he won’t rule on the accord before Sept. 9.
Reuters – Dow Jones futures dipped 0.1 percent, S&P 500 futures were down 0.01 percent while Nasdaq futures traded 0.02 percent higher on Monday morning at 4:45 a.m. EDT, pointing to a flat opening for Wall Street’s main equity indexes.
With corporate earnings and economic data calendars virtually void of potentially market-moving events, the focus will be on the sentencing of confessed swindler Bernard Madoff.
At a court hearing due to begin at 10 a.m. EDT, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin is expected by legal observers to sentence Madoff, 71, to an effective life term in prison.
Denver Post – Bernard Madoff asked a federal judge this week to sentence him to as little as 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to operating a massive, decades- long Ponzi scheme.
In a letter filed late Monday and made public Tuesday, Ira Sorkin, a lawyer for Madoff, asked U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to sentence his client to less than a life sentence.
"Mr. Madoff is currently 71 years old and has an approximate life expectancy of 13 years," Sorkin said. "A prison term of 12 years — just short of an effective life sentence — will sufficiently address the goals of deterrence, protecting the public and promoting respect for the law without being greater than necessary to achieve them."
MercoPress – US District Judge Thomas Griesa granted a contempt of court motion last week by bondholder Aurelius Capital Partners hedge fund, according to a transcript of a hearing in Manhattan federal court obtained over the weekend, reports Reuters.
Lawyers for Aurelius complained that they had not received documents the judge had ordered the agency, known as ANSES, to provide about transactions it made through a private brokerage.
Bloomberg – Bret Grebow, co-founder of hedge fund HMC International LLC, was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding investors out of $7.8 million in what prosecutors said was “a classic Ponzi scheme.”
Grebow, of Highland, Florida, was also ordered to forfeit $7.8 million after pleading guilty last year to investment adviser fraud. U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones in Manhattan imposed the sentence. Grebow, 33, faced a maximum prison sentence of five years.
“He was very remorseful,” defense attorney Vincent Gelardi said in an interview after today’s sentencing. “He was young at the time. He lost control of the situation.”
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – While authorities are trying to locate and freeze all of the assets of admitted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, lawyers representing his wife, Ruth, claim that she has millions in assets, all independent of her husband’s scam.
In an order filed yesterday, it was disclosed that Ruth Madoff owns $45 million in municipal bonds, and a New York City apartment. Ruth also apparently isn’t facing any liquidity crunch; she has $17 million in cash sitting in a Wachovia bank account.
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton wrote that “some of the assets covered by the relief order are unrelated to the alleged Madoff fraud and only Ruth Madoff has a beneficial ownership in these assets.”
Earlier last month, Bernard Madoff agreed to a permanent freeze on his assets, without admitting or denying fraud charges.
Mr. Madoff has contested that he worked alone, however doubts surfaced when Mrs. Madoff withdrew $15.5 million from a brokerage account in her name in the weeks leading up to her husband’s arrest. The account was with Cohmad Securities Corp., an entity part owned by her husband.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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Herald Tribune – A federal judge extended a freeze on the assets of Sarasota’s Arthur G. Nadel on Tuesday, but failed to include other partners — a measure some investors with the accused hedge fund swindler have been pushing for aggressively because Nadel shared $95.5 million in incentive fees with other Scoop Management Inc. principals.
Nadel did not contest U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara’s order freezing personal and business bank accounts, property and other assets Nadel controls solely or with others, so a hearing scheduled for today was canceled.
Investors like Fort Lauderdale’s Louis Paolino Jr., who is out $5.8 million since the Jan. 14 implosion of the six funds Nadel managed, had hoped the hearing might shed light on why the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was not seeking to include Nadel partners Neil or Chris Moody in the freeze.
Dailyrecord.com – A judge presiding over civil claims filed against disgraced financier Bernard Madoff says he may be willing to consider extending relief from an investors’ fund to those who invested in Madoff’s business through third parties.
OAS_AD(‘ArticleFlex_1′);U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton told Daniel R. Goldenson and his wife in a letter dated Dec. 24 and made public Monday that their request to be eligible for relief from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation comes "early in the large and complex procedures which are underway with respect to Madoff’s affairs."
He said that before considering the issues involved in changing the terms of SIPC’s coverage, he would need a formal application and briefing from SIPC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, a trustee for Madoff’s business and representatives of investors.
The SIPC, which was created by Congress and funded by the securities industry, can give customers up to $500,000 each if it is determined their money was stolen. A telephone message seeking comment from the SIPC was not immediately returned Monday.
