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Reuters – Federal regulators said on Wednesday they do not know the whereabouts of billionaire Texas banker Allen Stanford, charged with a "massive" $8 billion international financial fraud.
"We are unaware of his whereabouts," Securities and Exchange Commission spokeswoman Kimberly Garber said from Texas.
Asked if Stanford may be outside the United States, she said: "Certainly that’s a possibility, but we don’t know."
U.S. marshals assisting the SEC have been unable to serve Stanford with court orders freezing assets and appointing a receiver to run his Stanford Financial Group companies since a raid on his Houston headquarters Tuesday, Garber said.
Bloomberg – Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest bank by assets, was sued by investors in Olympus United Funds who claim they lost more than $90 million in the funds’ collapse.
Royal Bank, based in Toronto, “secretly managed” the funds, according to a complaint filed Jan. 23 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The funds’ parent company Norshield Financial Group filed for receivership in June 2005 amid probes by securities regulators.
“In its dealings and relationships with Norshield, Royal Bank of Canada assumed control of investments, exercised discretion in key areas and thus became liable for my clients’ losses,” Lee Squitieri, a lawyer for the investors, said in an interview.
Bloomberg – Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest bank by assets, was sued by investors in Olympus United Funds who claim they lost more than $90 million in the funds’ collapse.
Royal Bank, based in Toronto, “secretly managed” the funds, according to a complaint filed Jan. 23 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The funds’ parent company Norshield Financial Group filed for receivership in June 2005 amid probes by securities regulators.
“In its dealings and relationships with Norshield, Royal Bank of Canada assumed control of investments, exercised discretion in key areas and thus became liable for my clients’ losses,” Lee Squitieri, a lawyer for the investors, said in an interview.
Star Tribune- Minneapolis Star Tribune- A terrible year for financial stocks isn’t keeping Ameriprise Financial Inc. from growing. The Minneapolis-based financial planning and insurance company announced Monday that it will acquire the asset management firm J&W Seligman & Co. Inc. for $440 million.
Seligman, based in New York, manages an $18 billion portfolio of mutual funds, closed-end funds, hedge funds and institutional accounts.
Ameriprise financed the deal with cash on hand; it had $3.8 billion in cash as of December. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter and will add to earnings and return on equity in 2009, Ameriprise said.
Reuters – Conseco Inc on Thursday rejected hedge fund Steel Partners’ request to raise its shareholding in the insurance company to as much as 22 percent, saying the proposal could reduce its "financial flexibility."
Conseco told Steel Partners in a publicly disclosed letter that "it is not in the interests of all shareholders" for one stockholder to hold over 10 percent of the Carmel, Indiana-based company.
Steel Partners, which holds about 9.8 percent of Conseco, told the U.S. life and accident insurer that it wanted approval to more than double its holding, saying it has been "slow to implement the strategic review process" that it previously disclosed.
Conseco responded that its "review of strategic alternatives" is "the highest priority" for the company and that "we strongly disagree with the suggestions to the contrary."
Steel Partners is pushing Conseco to improve its return on equity, according to public filings.
At the company’s annual meeting May 21, shareholders reelected 10 directors to serve terms expiring at next year’s annual meeting.
