#investment fraud attorneys san francisco

[rapidprime]

The Rise and Fall of Charles Todd Hill: A Cautionary Tale in Real Estate

In a sobering revelation, former HGTV star Charles Todd Hill, recognized for his role in the reality competition show Flip It to Win It, has been sentenced to four years in Santa Clara County Jail. Hill's story, captured in various Charles Todd Hill HGTV pictures, serves as a stark illustration of greed, deception, and the perilous undercurrents within the real estate industry. We explore the trajectory of his career, the fraudulent schemes that led to his downfall, and the resulting repercussions.

Charles Todd Hill's Initial Fame

Charles Todd Hill emerged in the public eye in 2014 as one of the standout personalities on Flip It to Win It. The show, featuring teams competing to renovate and sell abandoned properties for substantial profit, quickly became popular. Hill's charm and his adeptness in transforming dilapidated houses into lucrative ventures made him a favorite among viewers. However, behind this façade of success, a series of unethical practices and financial deceptions were unfolding, ultimately leading to his undoing.

The Investigation and Indictment

In November 2019, the Santa Clara District Attorney's office initiated a comprehensive investigation into Hill's professional dealings. The findings revealed a complex network of fraudulent activities spanning several years. Hill was found to have grossly mismanaged project budgets, laundered earnings, and amassed a fortune through deceptive means. His fraudulent activities left a trail of victims, including investors, homeowners, and fellow property flippers.

One of the most striking cases involved an investor who entrusted Hill with $250,000 to renovate a property. Instead of fulfilling his contractual obligations, Hill left the investor with a charred, uninhabitable structure, having diverted the funds for personal use. This case epitomizes Hill's blatant disregard for ethical business practices and his exploitation of clients' trust for personal gain.

Hill's most audacious scheme was a Ponzi-like operation. He fabricated balance sheets and used fraudulent information to secure loans, promising investors high returns. In reality, he diverted the investments to fund his lavish lifestyle. This scheme not only defrauded investors but also undermined the integrity of the financial institutions involved.

The Lavish Lifestyle Funded by Fraud

The ill-gotten gains from Hill's fraudulent schemes financed a life of opulence. He indulged in luxury cars, extravagant vacations, and resided in a high-end apartment in San Francisco. The Santa Clara District Attorney's office estimated that Hill owed nearly $10 million in restitution to his victims. His conspicuous consumption, funded by deceit, starkly contrasts with the financial ruin experienced by those who trusted him.

The Legal Repercussions

In September 2023, Charles Todd Hill pleaded guilty to grand theft, with aggravated white-collar crime enhancements. The court sentenced him to four years in jail and mandated restitution payments totaling $9,402,678.43. Hill's once-glamorous career in house flipping has been replaced by the harsh reality of incarceration.

Lessons from Hill's Downfall

The story of Charles Todd Hill serves as a poignant reminder of the dangers lurking within the lucrative world of real estate. It highlights the critical importance of honesty and integrity in business practices. As District Attorney Jeff Rosen remarked, "Some see the huge amount of money as a business opportunity; others, unfortunately, see it as a criminal opportunity." Hill's case underscores the fact that unethical practices, regardless of short-term gains, ultimately lead to significant legal and moral consequences.

Conclusion

Charles Todd Hill's rise and fall is a cautionary tale for those in the real estate industry and beyond. It illustrates how unchecked greed and deception can lead to devastating outcomes, both for the perpetrator and their victims. As the real estate market continues to thrive, Hill's story, documented in Charles Todd Hill HGTV pictures, serves as a stark reminder of the value of ethical conduct and the potential repercussions of straying from it.

[mystlnewsonline]

Cyber Scam Organization Subject to $9M Seizure

Cyber Scam Organization Disrupted Through Seizure of Nearly $9M in Crypto (STL.News) The Justice Department recently announced the seizure of nearly $9 million worth of Tether, a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar.  These seized funds were traced to cryptocurrency addresses allegedly associated with an organization that exploited over 70 victims through romance scams and cryptocurrency confidence scams, which are widely known as “pig butchering.” “Through this significant seizure, we disrupted the financial infrastructure of an organized network of scammers who stole millions from victims across the United States.  These scammers prey on ordinary investors by creating websites telling victims their investments are working to make money.  The truth is that these international criminal actors are simply stealing cryptocurrency and leaving victims with nothing,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “The department hopes this recovery of assets will bring some closure and a sense of justice to the over 70 victims affected by this series of scams.  This seizure should also remind cybercriminals that, although the current landscape of the cryptocurrency ecosystem may seem like an ideal way to launder ill-gotten gains, law enforcement will continue to develop the expertise needed to follow the money and seize it back for victims.” According to court documents, criminal actors worked together to target victims and convince them to make cryptocurrency deposits by fraudulently representing that the victims were making investments with trusted firms and cryptocurrency exchanges.  In reality, the purported firms and cryptocurrency exchanges were non-existent trading platforms.  Agents and analysts from the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) were able to trace those victim deposits and observed that the funds were quickly laundered through dozens of cryptocurrency addresses and exchanged for several different cryptocurrencies, a money laundering technique often referred to as “chain hopping.” These techniques are used to “layer” the proceeds of criminal activity into new cryptocurrency ecosystems, all to obfuscate the nature, source, control, and ownership of those proceeds.  The seized funds were linked to numerous victim reports made via the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Network. “This seizure is the culmination of the exceptional hard work and collaborative partnership between the Justice Department and the United States Secret Service,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California.  “Silicon Valley remains one of the world’s preeminent locations for cryptocurrency firms.  As such, we remain dedicated to using all tools at our disposal to bring justice to the victims of fraud and scams.  Even when money and criminals are abroad, we will work with our partners to seize cyber criminals’ illegal proceeds.” “This seizure exemplifies the Secret Service’s mission to protect the financial infrastructure of the United States.  We remain determined and vigilant to combat cyber-enabled financial fraud,” said Special Agent in Charge Shawn Bradstreet of the USSS San Francisco Field Office.  “It is a priority for the Secret Service to protect the financial security that citizens work so hard to obtain.  We want to thank the Justice Department for their partnership, dedication, and outstanding work on this case.” SOURCE: U.S. Department of Justice Read the full article

[lawyersdatascraping]

Consumer Protection Lawyers Email List

Enhancing Law Firm Marketing Strategies with Consumer Protection Lawyers Email List. In the fast-evolving realm of legal services, a targeted and informed marketing approach can make all the difference. Law firms and legal marketing companies constantly seek innovative strategies to connect with potential clients effectively. One such strategy that has gained substantial traction is utilizing a Consumer Protection Lawyers Email List. This powerful tool enables law firms to precisely target their audience, tailor marketing campaigns, and significantly enhance their outreach efforts.

Consumer protection lawyers play a vital role in safeguarding the rights of individuals and businesses. They cover a wide array of areas such as product safety, consumer fraud, deceptive advertising, and more. These legal professionals have a specific niche, and reaching out to a targeted audience interested in consumer protection services can greatly boost marketing efficiency.

1.  Targeted Approach:

The Consumer Protection Lawyers Email List by Lawyersdatalab.com empowers law firms to connect with a highly targeted audience. By focusing on individuals and businesses seeking assistance in consumer protection matters, law firms can craft personalized marketing strategies that resonate with the recipients, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

2.  Personalized Communication:

Personalization is key in any marketing strategy. With a precise and well-segmented email list, law firms can tailor their messages to address the unique concerns and needs of potential clients interested in consumer protection legal services. Personalized communication builds trust and credibility, essential in the legal profession.

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Email marketing is a cost-effective tool for reaching a wide audience. By leveraging a Consumer Protection Lawyers Email List, law firms can minimize marketing costs while maximizing the impact of their campaigns. Compared to traditional marketing methods, email campaigns can offer a higher return on investment (ROI).

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Targeting individuals and businesses genuinely interested in consumer protection legal services significantly boosts the chances of converting leads into clients. The precision of the email list ensures that the marketing efforts are directed towards the right audience, leading to more conversions.

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A targeted email list ensures that law firms invest their time efficiently. Rather than engaging in widespread marketing, they can focus their resources on nurturing relationships and providing valuable information to a specific, interested audience.

In conclusion, a Consumer Protection Lawyers Email List is an invaluable asset for law firms and legal marketing companies. It allows for precise targeting, personalized communication, cost-effective campaigns, increased conversion rates, and efficient time utilization. To optimize your marketing strategy and gain a competitive edge in the legal industry, consider leveraging the power of a Consumer Protection Lawyers Email List.

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[alicetiermes]

Lack of Clarity Attacks Innovation: The Case of SEC v. Ripple

22 February, 2023. By ALICE TIERMES. For PSM — Global.

With the potential to change how digital assets are regulated in the U.S., as well as how DeFi and blockchain technology develop and are adopted in the future — What is going on with one of the most high-profile cases in the crypto industry?

The case is likely to see an outcome in the first half of 2023.

Another day, another crypto-firm-related lawsuit or investigation, and likely the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is also involved. But the case of SEC v. Ripple is nothing like the trial of FTX, the charging of Terraform Labs and founder Do Kwon, or the SEC’s case against Gemini and bankrupt-Genesis. So what makes this lawsuit, its parties, and the awaited outcome so significant?

What’s going on?

The long-running SEC v. Ripple lawsuit is a legal case in which the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, for allegedly selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP cryptocurrency.

The SEC filed the lawsuit on December 22, 2020, in the Southern District of New York, alleging that Ripple Labs had raised over $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP since 2013. The SEC claims that XRP is a security and, as such, should have been registered with the agency.

Ripple, on the other hand, argues that XRP is a cryptocurrency and not a security. According to Ripple, XRP has a specific use case as a digital asset and is not an investment contract that would qualify as a security under U.S. law.

The case has been closely watched by the cryptocurrency industry and has significant implications for the regulation of digital assets in the United States. If the SEC prevails, it could set a precedent for other cryptocurrencies, potentially leading to a significant shift in how they are regulated and traded.

The case is ongoing, and as of February 2023, the court has not yet issued a final ruling. However, the parties have engaged in settlement talks, and Ripple has recently requested that the court postpone the trial date to give them more time to reach a settlement with the SEC.

Sabotage, equivocate or cadge: What is the SEC?

The SEC, or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States. It was created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to help protect investors and maintain the integrity of the securities markets.

The primary mission of the SEC is to enforce federal securities laws and regulate the securities industry, which includes securities exchanges, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and mutual funds. The SEC aims to promote transparency and fairness in the securities markets, and to help prevent fraud and other types of misconduct.

The SEC’s responsibilities include:

Requiring public companies to disclose financial information to investors

Regulating the trading of securities on U.S. exchanges

Investigating potential violations of securities laws and prosecuting those who violate them

Regulating investment advisers and mutual funds

Educating investors about how to make informed investment decisions

The SEC is headed by five commissioners who are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The SEC also has a staff of attorneys, economists, and other professionals who help carry out its mission. The current Chairman of SEC is Gary Gensler, a professor of economics, business executive, and experienced multi-millionaire investor.

The company, the protocol, the coin: What is Ripple Labs?

Ripple Labs Inc. is a technology company that was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company has developed a blockchain-based payment network, the XRP ledger (XRPL), that allows for the seamless and instantaneous transfer of money anywhere in the world.

The network uses a digital asset called XRP as a means of facilitating cross-border payments. XRP is designed to be a fast and efficient way to move money, with transaction times of just a few seconds and low fees.

The nature of XRP is the focal point of the lawsuit, with the SEC alleging that Ripple Labs and its two founders violated federal securities laws by selling XRP without properly registering it as a security with the SEC.

The SEC argued that XRP should be considered a security because it was sold as an investment to fund Ripple’s operations, and its value was closely tied to the success of the company. The SEC also claimed that Ripple Labs had not taken sufficient measures to prevent XRP from being used for illegal activities, such as money laundering.

Ripple Labs has denied the SEC’s allegations and argued that XRP is a cryptocurrency and not a security. The company has also claimed that the SEC’s lawsuit has caused harm to XRP holders and the broader cryptocurrency market.

But the question remains: is XRP, and by extension, are cryptocurrencies securities?

What is a cryptocurrency and what is a security?

Did you know that a “cryptocurrency” and a “token” are not the same thing? Although they are often used interchangeably, they actually refer to different things.

A cryptocurrency is a type of digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and operates independently of a central bank. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin are examples of cryptocurrencies.

A token, on the other hand, represents an asset or utility on a blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. Tokens can be used for a variety of purposes, such as to represent ownership in an asset, access to a service, or voting rights. Tokens are often issued through initial coin offerings (ICOs), initial exchange offerings (IEOs), or security token offerings (STOs).

While some cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, have native tokens on their platforms, not all cryptocurrencies are tokens. Some cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, function solely as a means of exchange and do not have a native token.

By definition and functionality, XRP, the native token of XRPL, is closer to a commodity, like Bitcoin, than a security. But in the SEC’s eyes, it depends on the equivocating results of the ambiguous Howey Test.

To determine whether something is a security or not, the SEC relies on the Howey Test

The Howey Test is a legal test used by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to determine whether an asset qualifies as an investment contract, which is a type of security. The test is named after the 1946 US Supreme Court case SEC v. W. J. Howey Co.

Under the Howey Test, an investment contract exists if all of the following conditions are met:

There is an investment of money

There is an expectation of profits from the investment

The investment of money is in a common enterprise

Any profits come from the efforts of a promoter or third party

If an asset meets all of these criteria, it is considered a security and is subject to SEC regulations. This means that issuers of such assets may be required to register with the SEC and provide detailed financial and other disclosures to investors. Additionally, sales of such assets may be subject to various restrictions and requirements to ensure investor protection.

By criteria of the Howey Test, Bitcoin, the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, is generally considered not to be a security because it does not meet the definition of an investment contract under the Howey Test. Bitcoin is not issued or controlled by a central entity, and its value is primarily determined by market supply and demand rather than the efforts of a promoter or third party.

In fact, Bitcoin is often considered a commodity. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has classified Bitcoin as a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act since 2015.

A commodity is generally defined as a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as gold, oil, or wheat. While Bitcoin is not a physical commodity, it can be traded on commodity exchanges and is subject to price fluctuations based on market supply and demand, similar to other commodities.

Additionally, the CFTC has allowed for the trading of Bitcoin futures contracts, which allows investors to speculate on the future price of Bitcoin. This further supports the classification of Bitcoin as a commodity.

Other cryptocurrencies, such as some initial coin offerings (ICOs) and tokens, may meet the definition of a security under the Howey Test, depending on their specific characteristics and the circumstances surrounding their issuance and sale.

As of now, the SEC has not provided clear guidance on whether specific cryptocurrencies are securities or not, and the determination of whether a particular cryptocurrency is a security can be complex and fact-specific. The case against Ripple Labs may become the deciding factor in legally classifying cryptocurrencies in the U.S.

What will happen in the end?

The potential outcomes of the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit are uncertain, and the final decision will be up to the court. However, there are a few potential outcomes based on the arguments presented by both parties:

1. The court rules in favor of the SEC

If the court agrees with the SEC’s argument that XRP is a security, it could require Ripple Labs to register XRP as a security and impose penalties for the company’s past unregistered sales. On a larger scale, this outcome will have significant consequences for the cryptocurrency industry, as it could lead to more regulation of cryptocurrencies as securities.

In September 2022, Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated that numerous cryptocurrencies could be considered securities. This position was reinforced by a proposed legislation introduced in June 2022 by U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), which aims to classify most cryptocurrencies as commodities. If this bill is passed, it would grant the SEC regulatory authority over the entire sector, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would be responsible for managing the trading and derivatives aspect.

This outcome changes the entire regulatory outlook for the crypto industry. With more regulation, more crackdowns following the lawsuit, and likely many more penalties and fees, the crypto industry may be hit hard, decentralization included.

2. The court rules in favor of Ripple Labs

If the court agrees with Ripple Labs’ argument that XRP is not a security, it could result in the case being dismissed, and Ripple Labs would not be required to register XRP as a security. This outcome would likely be seen as a victory for Ripple and the broader cryptocurrency industry, as it could provide more clarity and flexibility for cryptocurrency projects in terms of regulation.

In this event, the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading (CFTC) may still swoop in to replace the SEC and demand its own regulations.

The SEC and the CFTC are both independent regulatory agencies in the United States that are responsible for overseeing different aspects of the financial markets, and their agenda likely aligns.

3. Settlement

The parties could reach a settlement before the court reaches a decision. A settlement would likely involve Ripple Labs agreeing to certain terms, such as registering XRP as a security or paying a fine, in exchange for the SEC dropping the lawsuit. The terms of any settlement would be subject to approval by the court.

Unfortunately, lawsuits are expensive. Even in the “relatively positive” outcome, the reinstatement of XRP on exchanges like Coinbase won’t help the development company recover from financial losses.

Beyond regulation in the U.S., the result of this lawsuit is likely to become a precedent for crypto regulation in the numerous countries dubious about digital currencies.

The Silver Lining

The lawsuit against Ripple is not the SEC’s first, although it may become the last and decisive of its kind. On January 30, 2023, Attorney John Deaton ruled in favor of blockchain platform LBRY, an outcome many in the crypto community are calling significant for the case of Ripple.

SEC v. LBRY is a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against LBRY, Inc., a blockchain-based content distribution platform, and its founders in March 2021. The SEC alleged that LBRY’s sale of its digital asset, LBC, was an unregistered securities offering and that LBRY had made false and misleading statements in connection with the sale.

According to the SEC, LBRY had raised around $11 million through the sale of LBC tokens in 2016, which the SEC alleged were securities because they met the definition of an “investment contract” under the Howey Test. The SEC argued that LBRY had marketed LBC tokens as a means of raising funds for the development of its platform and had promised investors that they would profit from the increased value of LBC tokens as the platform grew.

LBRY disputed the SEC’s allegations, arguing that LBC tokens were not securities but rather a means of accessing the company’s platform and services. LBRY also claimed that the SEC’s position threatened the innovation and development of blockchain technology in the United States.

Attorney Deaton has ruled against the SEC’s overreach regulation, stating that LBC tokens are only considered securities at the time of direct sale, as well as that ‘secondary sales aren’t securities’.

This case, although possibly financially fatal for LBRY, served to showcase the SEC’s lack of clear guidelines when it comes to classification and regulation of cryptocurrency and tokens.

Conclusion: Unclear, unfortunately

It remains near clear that the SEC is overreaching. It’s somewhat unclear what cryptocurrencies are securities, commodities, or something other. The Howey Test, previously the SEC’s standard for classification, is outdated and ineffective.

The crypto community continues to root for Ripple Labs. A favorable outcome, even using the SEC’s logic, seems likely. After all, Ripple didn’t sell tokens to retail investors, and is a private company the shares of which XRP owners are not entitled to. These facts already fail points of the Howey Test.

Then arrive the odd machinations. Why did the SEC essentially give Ether a pass on the same securities issue, and then backtracked when Ripple Labs wanted to use the Hinman speech in the case? What outcome and benefit is the SEC after, and who is due to said benefit?

In their pursuit to order and control everything, the SEC, like many dry branches of the government, impedes and directly attacks innovation, all while lacking enough knowledge and understanding of said technology to strategise said attack. As an organisation which ‘first and foremost’ protects investors, who is the SEC serving with this?

[knowcriminallaw]

Federal Criminal Law Variations vs. State Criminal

Prosecution occurs at both the federal and the state levels and so a federal violation is one that is prosecuted under federal criminal law rather than under state criminal law under which the majority of the crimes committed in America are prosecuted. Federal offenses normally involve federal government agencies such as the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the DHS, the Internal Revenue Service, the Border Patrol, Secret Service, or even possibly the Postal Service. There is a network of twelve circuits in the Federal court system, distributed throughout the United States. Each circuit has a central location along with a number of smaller district courts located in cities nearby. U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Washington, DC) U.S. District Court, D.C.- Washington, DC U.S. Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit (Boston, MA) Example: U.S. District Court, District of Puerto Rico- Hato Rey, PR U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit (New York, NY) Example: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York- Brooklyn, NY U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit (Philadelphia, PA) Example: U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey- Newark, NJ U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit (Richmond, Virginia) Example: U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina- Charlotte, NC U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit (New Orleans, Louisiana) Example: U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas- Houston, TX U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit (Cincinnati, OH) Example: U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee- Memphis, TN U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit (Chicago, IL) Example: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana- South Bend, IN U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit (St. Louis, Missouri) Example: U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa- Des Moines, IA U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit (San Francisco, CA) Example: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California- Sacramento, CA U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit (Denver, CO) Example: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma- Tulsa, OK U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (Atlanta, Georgia) Example: U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia- Macon, GA Average Federal crimes can contain: Drug distribution Crimes affiliated immigration to the U.S. Crimes that include weapons charges Gang activities White-collar offense Electronic crime and fraud Factors to Engage a Federal Criminal Defense Attorney The federal criminal justice process is not meant for individuals to represent themselves. In case you are detained, you want a lawyer to stand up to your rights, fight back against overzealous police officers, and obtain the very best result possible. Speak to a qualified federal criminal law firm in your area to learn more about what you’re up against. Many federal law firms, like Carver, Cantin & Mynarich in Missouri provide a free initial consultation, where they will walk you through the details of your federal charges, explaining possible outcomes and outline a strategy they might pursue.   This is 1 reason for a lawyer. You do not need to wander aimlessly at any stage during the legal system without a manual. Getting lost in a jumble of legislation and questionable convictions aren't just scary but can put the remainder of your life in peril. The viability of your life ought never to be a bargaining utility when you are facing time in court. The state court and federal court have been two entirely different strategies -- with different courthouses and judges. Federal judges will preside over national criminal situations, while elected state court judges preside over state criminal circumstances. Assistant U.S. Attorneys litigate federal situations, whilst country district attorneys and city attorneys insure state crimes. Criminal defense attorneys are the best investment to make regarding case identification. Not merely do they know the intricacies of the legal system, however they can look at your situation with unbiased and fresh eyes. They also spend their lives working to defend you and your nearest and dearest from regulations that are unnecessary. It's their passion to keep others from an outcome too harsh for the crime. An experienced lawyer isn't only able to assist you with your situation, but in addition, utilizes their trained intellect to find issues with the prosecution. Just because someone was arrested on suspicion for a crime does not imply that the presumed victims aren't to blame in some manner as well. Every case differs, and tiny details can serve to sufficiently swerve a court ruling. Nobody would like to be given much more of a punishment that is representative of the crime. Often, the area is greeted with a personal sense of shame and guilt, instead of having an enthusiastic and greedy attitude. So then, the question would be : why do so many people put off finding a criminal defense attorney? Without a lawyer that understands a situation, how then can anybody keep from unnecessary charges? Having a large number of individuals arrested yearly for a whole slew of criminal offenses, it becomes simple to bulge into a single group: guilty. This isn't accurate a sizable quantity of the moment. The media and common culture like to consider from the stunning, and so it will become hard to slough off the word when in the courtroom. A defense attorney understands the difficulty society induces and thinks on your innocence. Individuals commonly misinterpret the thought that they should hire an attorney only after they have been arrested or charged with a violation. This, however, is entirely a farce. Without an attorney present during police interrogations, then there's absolutely not any counselor there to help you from admitting to a crime you did not commit or from saying anything which could serve as a detriment for your own defense. Regardless of what crime you've been charged with, it is essential to procure legal representation that is knowledgeable and experienced in navigating the criminal justice strategy. This is of special importance if you've been charged with a federal crime because the terms for national fees are so stringent. Some Cases Tried by a Federal Criminal Defense Law Firms might be: Sexual Assault Attempted Killing and Conspiracy to Enact Murder Bank Fraud Liquidation Fraud Bribery Conspiracy Embezzlement Extortion Extortionate Extensions and Collections of Credit Federal Bank Robbery Firearms Charges Use or Carrying Firearms Relation to a Crime of Violence or Drug Selling Offense Confiscation Proceedings Forgery Harboring a Fugitive Health Care Theft Hobbs Act Extortion, Stealing and Public Corruption Kidnapping Loansharking Postal Fraud and Digital Making Untrue Statements Misprision of a Felony Mortgage Fraud Money Laundering Narcotics Charges Obstruction of Justice Perjury Public Corruption RICO Financial Fraud Sexual Abuse of Children Stalking Tax Cheating Theft of Government Assets Unlawful Hiring of Aliens What are the Penalties for federal charges? Another significant gap between federal crimes vs. country crimes is the essential sentence. Federal justices have been instructed by the federal sentencing guidelines when giving a sentence. Mandatory minimum prison penalties that national sentences tend to be much more lengthy than nation paragraphs. Even when their offenses are alike, a person being stranded for a federal crime will typically face a much more unpleasant punishment than somebody who has been convicted of a state crime. There is a large system of federal prisons throughout the   You may reside at any of them depending on a number of factors. If you have psychological or physical medical issues, you will most likely go to a Federal Medical Center like the one in Springfield, MO. MCFP is a common name for the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners. The centers where phrases are completed differ, as well. Individuals sentenced to do time to get a federal crime is going to be delivered to federal prison, although people who serve time for a state crime is going to probably be sent to state prison. Federal prisons tend to home more non-violent offenders (such as individuals convicted of same-sex offenses ), whilst local prisons home mostly populations of people convicted of violent crimes.

[massielandnetwork]

Navigating an Historic Period - Economic Bubble and Anarchy

23. When Dementia Replaces Meritocracy – Clarity is Important

Last week, several items provided great clarity.  Let us take a quick look at them.

Two data points about the chaos in our country:

A Psychology professor wrote an impassioned article about the extent of mental illness in the USA estimating that 20% of the USA population is mentally ill.

A Democratic party poll reported that 28% of the USA population believe that Biden and his administration are doing a great job.

Does that confirm that all of the mentally ill are Democrats?  It would explain their actions.

The Sussman verdict has been dissected but there are two facets left unexplored:

The judge and the jury were corrupted by their friendship with Sussman versus the requisite “blind justice” so everyone is equal under the law.  Their behavior placed them diametrically opposed to DC’s demands for “Justice” with their BLM painted street.  Sussman’s own email was all the evidence needed for a conviction. Everything else confirmed the extend of the existing corruption.

Neither the judge nor jury considered the most important question – “What is the cost to America for it to be okay to lie to the FBI?”

Dr. Peter Navarro, a former member of Trump’s White House staff, was publicly “perp walked” out of Reagan Airport by the FBI.  Dr. Navarro responded to the January 6 lynch mob by declining to respond to their summons claiming Executive Privilege.  According to prominent attorneys the arrest by the FBI was unconstitutional, an intimidation tactic by the Democrats consistent with their illegal arrest of the almost 500 J6 defendants still illegally held in the Washington DC equivalent of Gitmo for 18 months without trial.

IF the USA has honest elections, the 72% of the population opposed to Biden and his merry Demented Marxists a/k/a Democrats (DM) suggests that the DMs will get whipped in November.  Prudence would suggest that Biden and his DMs adjust their behavior back to what the majority of Americans want.  Instead, Biden and his DM’s are accelerating their destruction of the USA.  What do Biden and the DMS know about the November 2022 elections that we do not know?????

Finally:

In 1989 the UN forecast that by the year 2000 all human life on earth would drown because of Global Warming.

20 years ago, Al Gore’s movie said Earth would be destroyed by Global Warming by 2020.

This year the amount of ice in the Artic is reported to be at an historic high.

Did you see the pictures of the graveyard of electric vehicles owned by the city of Paris?  They cannot dispose of them in landfills because of the toxic batteries and cannot afford to replace the batteries because they are twice the cost of a new car. 

More clarity - The Green New Deal is a scam.

Rays of Hope

Now Former District Attorney Boudin was recalled by the voters in San Francisco.  I guess liberal Democrats have a limit as to how much Marxism they can mixt with their designer ice cream.

The Election 2020 pot continues to boil with additional facts exposed weekly. The documentary “2,000 Mules’ is spreading like wildfire and leading to the prosecution of some vote fraud participants.  New Jersey joined the ranks of states reporting illegal activity. 

Last Friday Homeland Security disclosed that the Dominion Machines are indeed hackable, a complete contradiction of their position in November 2020 and confirms the position of us called “tin foil hats” in November 2020.

I read an encouraging article about the recent Young Women’s Leadership Conference.  Find information about it so you can feel hopeful about the future.

Economic Forces Impacting the Land Market

This week the largest oil refinery in America announced they would shut down in 2023 because the cost to update the refinery was too substantial in the face of the Biden Administration forcing consumers to electric vehicles.  In other words, the owners are afraid they will not get a return on their investment, pure capitalism.  This is almost as wrong as having 200 years of petroleum in the USA and experiencing these shortages inflicted on us by Biden and his DMs.

Meanwhile, the price of gas set another record and removed more disposable money from the pockets of America’s Consumers.  Several business managers reported to me that while their revenues are up, their unit sales were actually down.  The combination confirms we are now in a recession.

Last Friday Kudlow had on his show an economist and a CEO of an investment company.  Their fascinating debate was about various economic issues including when the recession will occur.  The young economist and Kudlow felt it would appear in 2024 while the CEO said it is already here.  I think the difference was Kudlow and the economist were expressing their opinion of the trough of the recession while the CEO was focused on its beginning point.  That accurately describes when the recession will start (now) and when the trough will occur (2024) which is a long time of painful stagflation.

With China attempting to reopen, the demand for petroleum will increase and can easily take the cost to more than $150 per barrel.  That would mean gasoline prices over $6 and maybe $7 per gallon this fall.  Biden’s answer to use the War Power Act to produce solar panels is a clear sign of ignorance as one analyst has pointed out it would take five states each the size of South Dakota covered in solar panels and windmills to produce enough “green electricity for the existing homes not to mention vehicles.  Solar panels lose 3% efficiency per year so after 20 – 25 years they are almost worthless.  Then we fill up landfills with defunct solar panels and worn out windmills.  Is anyone capable of logic in the Biden Administration.  Sorry, stupid question.

Amazingly, the Biden Administration does not even know enough history to acknowledge the passing of D-Day.  Pray that our Lord and Savior exercises His power to save us from the heathens and pagans in control of America today.

Please pray:

For the 595 surviving Americans being held as political prisoners by Biden and the Demented Marxists in hell hole conditions in the DC Gulag.  

For honest elections because without them we are not free.

For the valiant Ukrainians.

Let’s Go Brandon!

“Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”  Peter replied to them “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”..”

(Acts 2: 36-38)   New Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press)

Stay healthy,

Ned 

June 8, 2022         

Copyright Massie Land Network.  All rights Reserved.

[newsworthy56]

ATTEMPTS TO OVERTURN BIDEN… AND WHAT’S AT STAKE

spiritsoulbody.org

On Sep 25, 2021, at 12:07 AM, Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American <heathercoxrichardson@substack.com> wrote:

On Monday, we learned that after last year’s election, John Eastman, a well-connected lawyer advising former president Donald Trump, outlined a six-point plan to overturn the outcome of the election and install Trump as America’s leader. They planned to cut the voters’ actual choice, Democrat Joe Biden, out of power: as Trump advisor Steve Bannon put it, they planned to “kill the Biden presidency in the crib.” This appears to have been the plan that Trump and his loyalists tried to execute on January 6.

That is, we now have written proof of an attempt to destroy our democracy and replace it with an autocracy.

This was not some crazy plot of some obscure dude in a shack in the mountains; this was a plan of the president of the United States of America, and it came perilously close to succeeding. The president of the United States tried to overturn the results of an election—the centerpiece of our democracy—and install himself into power illegitimately.

If this is not a hair-on-fire, screaming emergency, what is?

And yet, Republican lawmakers, with the notable exceptions of Representatives Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), have largely remained silent about the fact that the head of their party tried to destroy our democracy.

The best spin on their silence is that in refusing to defend the former president while also keeping quiet enough that they do not antagonize the voters in his base, they are choosing their own power over the protection of our country.

The other option is that the leaders of the Republican Party have embraced authoritarianism, and their once-grand party—the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party that saved the United States in the 1860s, the party that removed racial enslavement from our fundamental law—has become an existential threat to our nation.

Democracy requires at least two healthy parties capable of running a government in order to provide oversight for those currently in control of the government and to channel opposition into peaceful attempts to change the country’s path rather than into revolution. But Republicans appear to believe that any Democratic government is illegitimate, insisting that Democrats’ calls for business regulation, a basic social safety net, and infrastructure investment are “socialism” that will destroy the country.

With Democrats in charge of the federal government, Republicans are cementing their power in the states to support a future coup like the one Eastman described. Using “audits” of the 2020 elections, notably in Arizona but now also in Pennsylvania and Texas, Trump loyalists have convinced their supporters to distrust elections, softening the ground to overturn them in the future. According to a new poll by NORC at the University of Chicago, 26% of Americans now believe that “[t]he 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president,” and 8% believe that "[u]se of force is justified to restore Donald Trump to the presidency."

Arguing that they have to stop the voter fraud they have falsely claimed threw the election to Biden, Republican lawmakers in 18 states have passed more than 30 laws to cut down Democratic voting and cement their own rule. Trump supporters have threatened election workers, prompting them to quit, and have harassed school board members and local officials, driving them from office.

Although attorneys general are charged with nonpartisan enforcement of the law, we learned earlier this month that in September 2020, 32 staff members of Republican attorneys general met in Atlanta, where they participated in “war games” to figure out what to do should Trump not be reelected. The summit was organized by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, the fundraising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which sent out robocalls on January 5 urging recipients to march to the Capitol the following day “to stop the steal.” In May, RAGA elevated the man responsible for those robocalls to the position of executive director, prompting others to leave.

In states where Republicans have rigged election mechanics, party members need to worry about primary challengers from the right, rather than Democratic opponents. So they are purging from the party all but Trump loyalists, especially as the former president is backing challengers against those who voted in favor of his impeachment in the House in January 2021. Last week, one of those people, Representative Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), announced he was retiring, in part because of right-wing threats against his family.

Trump loyalists are openly embracing the language of authoritarianism. In Texas, Abbott is now facing a primary challenger who today tweeted: “Texans deserve a strong and robust leader committed to fighting with them against the radical Left. They deserve a leader like Brazil has in Jair Bolsonaro…..” Bolsonaro, a right-wing leader whose approval rating in late August was 23%, is threatening to stay in power in Brazil against the wishes of its people. He claims that the country’s elections are fraudulent and that “[e]ither we’ll have clean elections, or we won’t have elections.”

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) today used language fascists have used in the past to stoke hatred of their political opponents, tweeting that “ALL House Democrats are evil and will kill unborn babies all the way up to birth and then celebrate.” Yesterday, the leader of Turning Points U.S.A., Charlie Kirk, brought the movement’s white nationalism into the open when he told a YouTube audience that Democrats were backing “an invasion of the country” to bring in “voters that they want and that they like” and to work toward “diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America.” He called for listeners to “[d]eputize a citizen force, put them on the border, give them handcuffs, get it done.”

Today, we learned that the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will be held in Budapest, Hungary, where leader Viktor Orbán, whom Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson has openly admired, is dismantling democracy and eroding civil rights. When former vice president Mike Pence spoke in Budapest earlier this week at a forum denouncing immigration and urging traditional social values, he told the audience he hoped that the U.S. Supreme Court would soon outlaw abortion thanks to the three justices Trump put on the court.

Establishment Republicans who are now out of power are not on board the Trump train. They are quietly backing anti-Trumpers like Representative Cheney. Former House speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, former Florida governor Jeb Bush—who was widely expected to win the Republican nomination in 2016, only to be shut out of it by Trump—and former president George W. Bush's former adviser Karl Rove have all donated money to Cheney to help her stave off a challenge from a Trump loyalist in the 2022 election. Next month, former president Bush himself will hold a fundraiser for Cheney in Texas.

Other establishment Republicans currently in power might be staying quiet about the party’s slide toward authoritarianism because they are simply hoping that the Trump fire will burn itself out. The former president is no longer commanding the crowds he once did, and his increasing legal woes as well as the investigation into the insurrection will almost certainly take up his time and energy. The mounting coronavirus deaths among his unvaccinated supporters also stand to weaken support for his faction.

But the fact that Republican lawmakers have ignored the Eastman memo, which outlines the destruction of our democracy, suggests that the party, which organized in the 1850s to protect the nation against those who would destroy it, has come full circle.

—

Notes:

https://bbj.hu/politics/foreign-affairs/world/budapest-to-host-cpac-in-2022

https://www.kptv.com/former-president-george-w-bush-to-hold-fundraiser-next-month-for-liz-cheney/article_8ba92a10-7103-5ee0-94ef-4bd813437e28.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/24/arizona-audit-just-destroyed-big-gop-lie-more-ways-than-one/

https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/05/04/more-staff-flee-gop-attorneys-general-group-after-it-doubles-down-on-insurrection/

https://bbj.hu/politics/foreign-affairs/world/budapest-to-host-cpac-in-2022

https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/pence-hopeful-supreme-court-restrict-abortion-us-80185222

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/republican-ags-group-sent-robocalls-urging-march-capitol-n1253581

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/us/politics/anthony-gonzalez-ohio-trump.html

https://kansasreflector.com/2021/09/08/kansas-ag-aides-attended-war-games-summit-where-group-planned-to-combat-biden-win/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-17/more-than-half-of-brazilians-disapprove-of-bolsonaro-poll-shows

https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirk-deputize-citizen-force-put-them-border-order-protect-white-demographics

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/23/brazil-bolsonaro/

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[healthyonefitness]

Fast Secrets For Securities and Exchange Commission - The Inside Track

Tysdal Seasoned

#toc background: #f9f9f9;border: 1px solid #aaa;display: table;margin-bottom: 1em;padding: 1em;width: 350px; .toctitle font-weight: 700;text-align: center;

Content

Federal Securities Fraud

Rated Top 1% U S. Law Firm

Get Legal Help For Any Legal Need From People In Business

Venture Capital

Federal Securities Fraud

It is just about impossible to get considered one of these publish-MBA associate roles in PE until you've done PE pre-MBA. Considering that you simply won't be able to get into a PE store pre-MBA since you haven't done IB , this is not going to be potential. Even when you did, the fact that you haven't accomplished IB at an excellent store will put you at a drawback. Especially considering that you are from a non-goal, your candidacy has no real merits. Venture Capital

Selling Business

In fact, according to Forbes Tyler Tysdal, many managers are looking for to target the mass retail market in 2018, and feel that increased transparency is critical to attract the necessary investors. They have a strong grasp of how many targets they need to evaluate for each bid and the likelihood that a bid will succeed. They have disciplined processes that forestall them from elevating bids just to attain an annual objective for investing in offers.

Send the investor a examine at the end of every business year once you establish the company's revenue for that year. Take a look at Deadspin, the sports weblog that flamed out in spectacular style this fall just months after its father or mother company, Gizmodo Media Group, was acquired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners in April. The retail industry has arguably been some of the high-profile case research for private equity in recent years, and you'll podcasts from Tyler Tysdal see this setup play out again and again. People inside the industry will tell you that companies similar to Payless, Sears, and Toys R Us struggled because of competition from Amazon and Walmart. Andrew Chen received an associate supply, without any formal finance coaching, on his first attempt at applying for personal equity investing positions within the aggressive San Francisco Bay Area.

You will create a unprecedented friendship together with your colleagues with whom you'll cram all days and nights to fetch deal after deal. Most folks don't see as a benefit, but if you meet any investment banker ask him about it. The actuality is that unless you're already within the industry, with a proven track report, and with a community of industry connections, the odds you could start your individual private-equity fund are subsequent to nothing. Assuming that every thing has gone nicely for three, 5, or seven years, it's time to sell the company and mint some money. The selling process is stuffed with legal, accounting, and potential regulatory obstacles as well, so you may want extra attorneys and accountants for this process, especially when you're excited about an IPO.

Rated Top 1% U S. Law Firm

Private equity can be often grouped right into a broader class referred to as private capital, typically used to explain capital supporting any long-term, illiquid investment technique. The definition of small cap can range among brokerages, however generally, it is a company with a market capitalization of between $300 million and $2 billion. It is tough to break into PE with mere financial due diligence experiences. I'm planning for my subsequent move among three selections, company finance inside big four , a reputational consulting company (M&A advisor), or a boutique IB. Brutal truth and you could dislike me for this, but even should you do not consider it, a minimum of hear it; there may be little hope.

Despite its drawbacks, if you are prepared to take somewhat extra risk with 2% to 5% of your investment portfolio, the potential payoff of investing in private equity might be massive. Investors should plan to carry their private equity investment for a minimum of 10 years.

Our course contains 2,447 questions throughout 203 private equity funds which have been crowdsourced from over 500,000 members. The WSO Private Equity Interview Prep Guide has every little thing you'll ever must land probably the most coveted jobs on Wall Street. A vulture capitalist is an investor who purchases troubled companies on a budget and then does whatever it takes to revive and make a profit from them.

Venture Capital

Then, you begin reviewing your own firm's results from its most up-to-date fund to calculate the fund-wide IRR and money-on-money a number of and create case studies of specific offers. You're very skeptical of this company, so that you're leaning toward talking out against the deal on the next firmwide meeting this Denver entrepreneur. You must get them snug along with your staff, so you clarify why you like their business and the way your firm might assist them broaden. You'll also spend time on non-deal work, corresponding to monitoring portfolio companies and supporting management teams.

Is a hedge fund an investment company?

A hedge fund is an actively managed investment fund that pools money from accredited investors, typically those with higher risk tolerances. A private equity fund is also a managed investment fund that pools money, but they normally invest in private, non-publicly traded companies and businesses.

Associates may assist the group in helping portfolio companies revamp operations and increase working effectivity . How a lot interplay an Associate gets with this course of purely is dependent upon the fund and the fund's technique. There are additionally some funds which have Associates dedicated to only this a part of the deal course of. Investment banks will pitch buyout ideas with the aim of convincing a PE shop to pursue a deal. Additionally, a full-service investment bank will search to offer financing for PE offers.

Get immediate access to video classes taught by skilled investment bankers. Learn financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel shortcuts.

from Clement Wuest https://clementwuest.blogspot.com/2021/06/fast-secrets-for-securities-and.html

[anisanews]

The Brash Dealmaker Behind Some Of The Pandemic’s Biggest Real Estate Buys

Michael Shvo is at the center of $3 billion worth of property deals, making him a main player in premium real estate—but just three years ago he pleaded guilty to tax fraud.

Dressed in a black Armani T-shirt—he has 100 of them—Michael Shvo sits in front of a Zoom background depicting the jewels of his real estate portfolio: the Transamerica complex in San Francisco (acquired with partners for $650 million last fall), Miami’s Raleigh Hotel ($103 million), the Big Red tower in Chicago ($376 million), the old Coca-Cola building on Fifth Avenue ($956 million) and more. “Somebody told me the other day, ‘You have a good strategy—you’re buying all the buildings in the Lego set,’” Shvo says. “We only buy the best real estate in the best locations.”

In the past three years, Shvo, 48, and his general partners—Deutsche Finance Group (not affiliated with Deutsche Bank) and Serdar Bilgili (a Turkish hotel magnate who has since fallen out with the other investors) plus BVK, a German pension fund that invests the majority of the capital—have bought $3 billion worth of real estate across the U.S., making the group one of the country’s most prolific buyers.   

Roughly half of their purchases closed before the pandemic, including the Coca-Cola Building, which the partners acquired in 2019. The Big Red and Transamerica purchases, meanwhile, closed in August and October 2020, respectively—the latter at an 8.6% discount over the original price. The group plans to buy billions of dollars more in the years ahead, focusing on marquee buildings in major cities.

On paper, the partnership may seem an odd match. BVK is a giant public pension fund in Germany that handles retirement funds for doctors, lawyers, parliament members, even chimney sweepers. Deutsche Finance manages over $9 billion in assets and has investments in more than 47 countries. Meanwhile, Shvo is a New York real estate broker turned developer who, just three years ago, pleaded guilty to tax fraud over the purchase and shipment of art, jewelry and other luxury goods. “Through ornate ruses—like creating a sham Montana corporation to avoid taxes on a Ferrari—the defendant dodged more than a million dollars in state and local taxes,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement announcing the plea. Shvo agreed to pay $3.5 million in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest; he says he settled “in order to move on and focus on his business.” 

Shvo was introduced to Deutsche Finance by Bilgili, an old friend and business partner who was an investor in the first seven properties but not the last two. (Each party offers a different story on Bilgili’s ouster.) “I don’t think any of these institutions, if we were not involved, would just go and meet Michael and do these deals,” says Bilgili. 

Former Friends: Michael Shvo and Serdar Bilgili were so tight knit that Bilgili introduced Shvo to his wife. Now their partnership is over.

Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images

Explaining the decision to sign on, Deutsche Finance executive partner Sven Neubauer says the firm conducted a background check on Shvo. “We didn’t really find anything that gave me a reason to doubt his integrity vis-à-vis his business partners,” he says, adding that Shvo has become “a valuable and trusted partner” with a “keen eye for adaptive reuse of historic buildings.”

Now Shvo is gambling that ultra-prime properties will consistently rise in value—at a time when Covid may have upended the real estate market forever. Demand for office space in two of his key markets has plummeted: in New York City it fell 68% over the last year, according to VTS, a real estate software firm; in San Francisco it dropped 52%. Firms like Elliott Management are shifting from Manhattan to Florida, and the suburbs are flourishing. “You’re goddamn right there’s risk. Huge risk. Huge,” says Eric Anton, a broker at Marcus & Millichap in New York City. Though “if he’s right, then he’ll make a ton of money.”

“The current market environment is not deterring us from buying real estate. If anything, it’s causing us to buy more.”

Already, analysts estimate that Shvo’s two largest New York projects (acquired for a combined $1.36 billion) have depreciated by at least 20%, shaving roughly a quarter of a billion dollars in value; they say the rest of the portfolio is likely flat. His spokesperson disputes this and says that, even if that were true, Shvo is a long-term investor.  

Shvo remains on the hunt for new deals. “The current market environment is not deterring us from buying real estate,” he says. “If anything, it’s causing us to buy more.”

Shvo’s backstory seems improbable. Born in Israel, his parents taught organic chemistry at Tel Aviv University. When he was young they took sabbaticals at Stanford and Yale. Later, while serving in the Medical Corps of the Israeli army as a computer programmer, Shvo says he made “a lot of money” trading oil and gas stocks. “I could have retired when I was 22,” he told Steven Gaines in the 2005 book The Sky’s the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan.

According to Shvo, he lost all the money in a market downturn in 1995. “I had $3,000 in my pocket,” he recounts. “I said, ‘Okay, what do I do now?’ I got on a plane and came to New York.”  

There, on 101st Street, he says he slept on a friend’s floor and went days without eating. (He doesn’t remember the name of the friend.) According to Shvo, he scraped together the funds to lease a yellow cab and a medallion, then subleased the car by the shift. Soon he was able to buy used taxis, which he continued to lease out. “Three months later, I had ten yellow cabs and 30 drivers,” Shvo says. “The cabs were nothing . . . like, $2,000 each at the time. And the guy that was selling me the cabs also was leasing me the medallions, so he was letting me pay in installments.”

Manhattan Marketer: Shvo calls his consumer-centric approach to real estate “The Shvo Way.”

Gabby Jones for Forbes

“That’s the first real idea that I brought into the real estate business that changed the world.”

Bruce Schaller, an urban transportation consultant, says Shvo’s numbers sound low, “even if you’re thinking, you know, very bottom-scraper terms,” though he adds that “nothing is impossible.” (Shvo stands by the story.)

Shvo left the taxi business in 1997, and after dabbling in other hustles, like a cigar bar, found himself looking for longer-term traction. By coincidence, a woman in his building knew Yuval Greenblatt, a manager at J.I. Sopher & Company (now part of Douglas Elliman Real Estate), and referred the 27-year-old Shvo to be hired as an agent. Greenblatt agreed to bring Shvo on. “He’s pretty good at learning pretty quickly,” Greenblatt says. “He’s one of the few people who has both sides of the brain working at the same time.”

At the outset, Shvo says, he “knew nothing about real estate.” To compensate, he hustled, working until well after midnight seven days a week. When customers called after hours looking for an agent, Shvo was the only one there, and he’d get the job. At times he’d show dozens of apartments in a day, often cheap listings that nobody else wanted. “My first year at Douglas Elliman, I rented 360 apartments,” he says. 

Then, to further boost his output, Shvo brought in a team of his own junior agents to show listings; he would keep a cut of their earnings. “That’s the first real idea that I brought into the real estate business that changed the world,” he says. 

“I doubt that he actually invented the model,” clarifies Greenblatt, now an executive manager of sales at Elliman. “But I could certainly say he took it to a new level.”

In 2004, Shvo decided to strike out on his own, with a new career as a real estate marketer. His first project came from a friend, Shaya Boymelgreen, who had purchased an old Chase bank at 20 Pine Street in the financial district, which he planned to convert to luxury condos. He tasked Shvo with convincing people to move in—a tough sell so soon after 9/11.

Shvo spent a week thinking, then came to Boymelgreen with a proposal. “I want Armani to design the building,” he said. The owner’s response, according to Shvo: “Who is ‘Armani’?” 

Shvo’s idea won out, and the plan seemed a hit. The building’s launch party in 2006 exceeded capacity, leaving 300 people outside in a blizzard, Shvo says. John Legend performed, and multiple units immediately sold. “That was a worldwide game changer,” he says of the project. “It really jump-started my career as a marketer.” (The project later caused headaches. Amid controversy over construction issues, it reportedly took seven years for the building to sell out; Shvo left after one year and says he was not involved with those problems.)

Meanwhile, Shvo landed other deals: an entire island in Abu Dhabi; properties in the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Bahamas. Across the globe, Shvo worked to turn ordinary real estate into a status symbol. “I only hired people from the luxury-brand world. . . . From Gucci, from Brioni, from Neiman Marcus, a lot of fashion companies,” he says. “Because for me, real estate is a luxury brand. It’s not four walls, a kitchen and a bathroom.”  

Crown Jewels: Shvo and partners’ properties across the country include the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, 685 Fifth Avenue in New York, The Raleigh Hotel in Miami and the Big Red tower in Chicago.

Getty Images; Marin Architects; Mose Studio; Lipman Studio

The Great Recession brought the global real estate market to a halt— Shvo says he saw the crisis coming and preemptively decided to step back, at age 35. Six years later he returned for a much larger comeback.

Shvo’s latest chapter, shifting from marketer to developer, began with an old gas station in Chelsea, New York, which he bought with partners in 2013 for $34 million and rebuilt as luxury condos. The Getty Building, as it’s now called, stands 12 stories tall; each of its 48 bathrooms is finished with a different kind of stone. “Wealthy people want to have something that nobody else has,” Shvo says.

One silent partner was Serdar Bilgili, the Turkish hotel magnate, who used to refer to Shvo as his brother and had introduced him to his wife, who is also Turkish, in 2009. The pair then invested in a series of luxury projects together. Bilgili was the person who connected Shvo to Deutsche Finance Group in 2018, just as his tax fraud case was heading toward a plea. 

That’s when Shvo’s ultra-prime real estate investing strategy kicked in, with Bilgili and Deutsche Finance as the other general partners, and BVK serving as the main limited partner. Their first purchase was 685 Fifth Avenue in 2018 (for $135 million), followed by three Miami hotels ($240 million) and a development project in Beverly Hills ($130 million). Debt across the portfolio is under 50%, according to Shvo. He finds the deals, oversees renovations and manages the properties once done, while Deutsche Finance helps raise the money and was responsible for bringing BVK on board.

Buying Spree

A timeline of Shvo’s deals: he and his partners acquired $1.4 billion of real estate in 2020 alone. 

In all the transactions, the general partners took equity stakes ranging from 2% to 10%, according to Shvo; that percentage was then split evenly between them (one third each when Bilgili was involved, and 50/50 after he was gone). The investors, led by BVK, put up the rest. According to Bilgili’s attorney, however, in two cases the GPs received no equity, opting instead to generate fees for managing the properties and to take a cut of whatever upside they generated when the buildings eventually changed hands. Shvo’s spokesperson disputes this. 

Whatever the stake, Shvo’s dealmaking has won him high-profile fans. Jeff Sutton, the billionaire who owns many of Manhattan’s toniest storefronts, calls him a great investor who knows what’s “really new and relevant to today’s world.” The celebrity architect Peter Marino, who has worked with Shvo on multiple projects, describes him as an “enormously creative person.” Even Shvo’s rabbi, who is himself a power player, weighs in. “He doesn’t stop growing,” says Rabbi Avraham Moyal, whose congregation also includes Sutton and the billionaire Ben Ashkenazy.

Bilgili, however, is no longer an admirer. Deutsche Finance and Shvo closed the Big Red and Transamerica deals without him, prompting litigation that remains ongoing. Shvo declined to comment on the record about why Bilgili was kicked out, but a lawyer for the partnership alleges that Bilgili is “trying to find a way to offset his own reported difficult financial situation in Turkey . . . or is just upset at not being relevant.” A lawyer for Bilgili says that he was pushed out after raising questions over Shvo’s expense accounts. Both parties dispute the other’s account.

Forbes obtained an audit of Shvo’s spending practices conducted by one of Deutsche Finance’s accounting firms. It shows that he was reimbursed an average of $1,325 per night to stay at an apartment in Miami 83 times in 2019, as one example, and that his firm racked up over $700,000 in travel expenses. The report’s authors said they found no invalid expenses, however, and the German partners were not concerned. 

None of this has disrupted Shvo’s ambition, and his search for the next big deal. “We see things differently. I see things differently,” he says. But in the end, the numbers will speak for themselves. 

from Anisa News https://ift.tt/2P75vAl

[creepingsharia]

California: Man Who Founded Your Black Muslim Bakery Spinoff Charged With COVID Relief Fraud

Former Associate Of Oakland’s Your Black Muslim Bakery Charged With Trying To Allegedly Rip-Off COVID Paycheck Protection Program

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Sharieff Dahood Bey, who has a major figure with Oakland’s Your Black Muslim Bakery, has been charged by federal prosecutors with bank fraud for allegedly trying to rip off the Paycheck Protection Program, set up to assist businesses struggling during the COVID pandemic, for more than $22 million.

Bey, who also went by several aliases — Attila Colar, Sharieff Dahood Bey, Sharieff Dahood Bey, Dawud Azadene and Attilla Collan — was charged on Friday after an investigation involving several federal agencies.

He made his initial appearance in federal court on Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore.

According to the criminal complaint filed by U.S. Attorney David Anderson, Bey — who was charged under his birth name Attila Colar — the 48-year-old Richmond resident submitted three applications between April and June of 2020, on behalf of Hercules-based non-profit All Hands on Deck, Inc.

All Hand on Deck is a non-profit that purports to provide housing “to men getting out of prison, food bank services, life and work skills, trainings, resiliency treatment services, prenatal life skills, and a variety of necessary know hows to survive in today’s society.”

Colar received over $1.1 million from one of those loans. The complaint separately alleges that six more applications were submitted in that same time period on behalf of two other entities linked to Colar — The Family Investment Group, Inc. and Oversight Security, Inc.

The criminal complaint described how the loan applications were rife with false information, misleading statements, and glaring omissions.

“The Paycheck Protection Program is supposed to support everyday Americans suffering economic distress,” Anderson said in a news release. “The complaint describes the methodical preparation of fraudulent loan applications to deprive the program of $22 million that is sorely needed by the public to endure this national crisis.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge San Francisco John L. Bennett said the investigation unveiled an attempt by Colar to “fraudulently line his own pockets.”

“Based on the FBI’s investigation, Mr. Colar appears to have illegally used the Paycheck Protection Program to attempt to fraudulently line his own pockets,” Bennett said. “The FBI is quickly and carefully investigating all claims of PPP fraud to ensure that American businesses aren’t further victimized during this challenging time.”

The PPP is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act is a federal law enacted in March of 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who are suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

PPP loan proceeds must be used by the business on certain permissible expenses—payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities. The PPP allows the interest and principal on the PPP loan to be entirely forgiven if the business spends the loan proceeds on these expense items within a designated period of time and uses at least 60% of the PPP loan proceeds on payroll expenses. Loans made through the PPP are 100% guaranteed by the SBA.

The complaint alleges Colar prepared numerous loans for submission through the PPP. One such application, submitted in June 2020, requested $2 million from a bank in Salt Lake City, Utah. That loan was ultimately funded in the amount of $1,113,112.

The complaint alleges the application contained false information including bogus employee names, false payroll records, and fraudulent tax documents. For example, the application was supported by IRS Forms 941 that purported to establish All Hands on Deck employed 45 people in the third quarter of 2019 and 81 people in both the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. Nevertheless, the names of the purported employees not only included one of Colar’s aliases, it also included two contractors and several current and former residents of All Hands on Deck, none of whom could support the information in the IRS forms.

Including the successful $2 million loan application submitted on behalf of All Hands on Deck in June, the complaint alleges Colar prepared several other loan applications, the following of which, were actually submitted to banks:

May 2020 — All Hands on Deck — $1,618,200

June 2020 — All Hands on Deck — $2,000,000

June 2020 — The Family Investment Group — $3,310,241.05

June 2020 — The Family Investment Group — $3,310,000.00

June 2020 — Oversight Security, Inc. — $2,893,149.79

June 2020 — Oversight Security, Inc. — $2,893,149.79

June 2020 — Oversight Security, Inc. — $1,896,063

June 2020 — Oversight Security, Inc. — $2,893,147

Federal prosecutors said Colar was charged with bank fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted.

Magistrate Judge Westmore ordered Colar released on a $100,000 bond. Colar’s next federal court appearance is scheduled for October 27, 2020, for further proceedings.

--------------------

Background on the notorious Your Black Muslim Bakery here and here (Seven arrested in raid on Black Muslim Temple in Oakland).

h/t thereligionofpeace.com

[livinginlandmarketing]

Why should suspects with money be able to leave jail while the gears of justice grind, while those without money are stuck behind bars?

Should skin color, sex and ethnicity be factors in public college admissions, and who gets public jobs and contracts?

Why should criminals who’ve been given probation instead of jail time be allowed to vote, while parolees – who did prison time and are finishing their sentences on the outside – are forbidden from voting?

California voters wrestled with ballots chock full of complicated social justice issues on Nov. 3, amid unprecedented racial reckoning and heightened awareness of historical wrongs. While election results are not yet final, voters appear to have delivered a very mixed bag of decisions:

No on considering skin color in public decision-making. No on eliminating cash bail. No on tougher criminal sentencing. Yes on allowing parolees to vote. Yes on redirecting money to social services. Yes to the Los Angeles County District Attorney candidate who promises major reform.

“The criminal justice measures that passed in California, along with George Gascon’s projected win (in the L.A. D.A.’s race), are incredibly good news and aligned with the general trend in California over the past years to support criminal justice reform,” said Alicia Virani, associate director of the Criminal Justice Program at the UCLA School of Law, who was once a deputy in the Orange County Public Defender’s Office.

This Oct. 23, 1996, file photo shows UCLA students surrounded by Los Angeles Police officers as they sit on Wilshire Blvd. during a Proposition 209 protest in Westwood. Prop. 209 passed, banning state government from considering race, sex or ethnicity in public employment, contracting and education. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese)

Brian Levin, professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Cal State San Bernardino, would agree.

“Voters were particularly concerned with redirecting the focus of the criminal justice system towards a less punitive approach, as increasing concern about institutional racial disparities are an overlay to any such any debate,” he said.

Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor of public policy and political science at UC Riverside and founding director of the Center for Social Innovation, said there might not have been a clear verdict, “but I think what you see is that Californians are supportive of advancing social justice. They see racism as a significant problem. But when it comes to particular solutions, if they have a problem with some component of an initiative, they just vote it down,” he said.

But there’s always a but.

“Some of the outcomes or projected outcomes on other ballot measures … are unfortunately a dismal reflection on where the state is at when it comes to social justice,” said UCLA’s Virani. “While criminal justice reform and transformation is needed, we also need a state that will think comprehensively about the structural issues that allow for the criminal justice system to target poor communities and communities of color throughout the state.”

Money, of course, played a tremendous role in this year’s proposition battles, with a record-breaking $785 million pouring in to support and oppose statewide ballot races. “One consistent message,” said Ramakrishnan, “is that money can make a big difference.”

Here’s a rundown.

Affirmative action

Proposition 16 would have overturned California’s present ban on considering race, ethnicity, sex and national origin in public decision-making. That official “color-blindness” began in 1996 with the passage of Prop. 209. Data from the Secretary of State had it losing by more than 10 percentage points on Wednesday.

Money: $19.9 million in support; $1.2 million in opposition.

This one left many observers a bit perplexed. “Exit polls say racism in America is one of the most important, or the most important, problem,” said UCR’s Ramakrishnan. “So then, why didn’t they support Prop. 16?”

There are actually many different reasons, including splits in the Latino and Asian communities and general voter confusion about what it would do. “There just wasn’t enough time for there to be more voter education on this issue,” and it was competing for attention on a very full ballot, Ramakrishnan said. But he expects the issue to be resurrected, and soon.

“It has been nearly 25 years since affirmative action was available in California, and so I see this as an important first step in restarting the conversation about racial equity beyond criminal justice reform. We haven’t yet had deep conversations in California about the inequities around wealth-building, employment opportunity, educational opportunity – I’d expect proponents of racial justice issues to continue pushing for greater awareness and education on the importance of thinking beyond the criminal justice system.”

Criminal crackdown

Prop. 20 flew firmly in the face of the zeitgeist of the times, toughening criminal sentencing options. It would have allowed offenses now classified as misdemeanors – specific types of theft and fraud, such as unlawful use of a credit card and vehicle theft – to be bumped up to felonies. It also would have added serial crime and organized retail crime to the books, allowing them to be charged as felonies; and would have required that some convicts submit DNA to state and federal databases. It was losing with less than 38 percent of the vote.

Money: $4.8 million in support; $20.5 million in opposition

Cash bail

Prop. 25 would have affirmed California’s place as the first state to end the use of cash bail for all detained suspects awaiting trials. The original legislation was described as a “transformational shift away from valuing private wealth and toward protecting public safety.”

Instead of cash bail – meant to give people an incentive to show up in court after they’re released from jail – risk assessments would determine whether people should get pre-trial release and under what conditions. They’d be categorized as low, medium or high risk, and those with a low risk of skipping out could be released; those with a high risk would stay in jail; and those with medium risk could go either way, depending on the court’s rules. It was losing with less than 45 percent of the vote.

Money: $13.4 million in support; $10.2 million in opposition.

“I think what you’re seeing in cash bail is an exception to a more general trend that favors reform that reduces racial inequality,” said Ramakrishnan.

Levin agreed. “The outlier may have been Prop. 25 which confused voters about bail assessments, as well as the split among some progressives,” he said.

Source: YesOnJ

Funding for services, not policing

The harbinger of things to come may be Los Angeles County’s Measure J, which harnessed public outrage over police brutality and the conviction that there must be a better way. It would require that no less than 10% of the massive county’s general fund – hundreds of millions of dollars – be spent on prevention, community programs and alternatives to incarceration. It was passing with 57 percent of the vote.

“Measure J is the only ballot measure of its kind across the nation, and we’re really happy that voters were in agreement that we need to make sure the priorities of our communities of color are brought to the forefront,” said Yes on J spokesman Scott Mann.

In a statement on Wednesday, Isaac Bryan, co-chair of Yes on Measure J, called it “the tipping point for justice not only in L.A. County but across the country.”

“For decades we have fought to change hearts, minds, and policy. Finally, our communities will have the resources to bring our freedom dreams to life. Finally, our communities will have the foundational investments in care and healing that they have long deserved. Finally, we will begin to question how much money we spend on incarceration and punishment when we could be funding opportunity. Today is historic. Today is beautiful. This is what we marched for this year. This is the type of transformative policy-making we have been calling for,” he said.

UCLA’s Virani said Measure J attempts to redress inequities by shifting budget, and thus policy, priorities towards prevention and redistribution of resources. “It is unfortunate that the state did not follow suit in this regard,” she said.

Others suspect it won’t be long until it does.

Money: $3.3 million in support; $3.5 million in opposition.

Parolee voting rights

Prop. 17, would restore parolees’ right to vote. California was one of only three states that required people to finish both prison and parole sentences before regaining the right to cast a ballot. It didn’t attract a lot of money or incite a lot of passion, and is winning by some 18 points.

Money: $1.4 million, total.

White reformer v. Black prosecutor

The race for Los Angeles County District Attorney was a head-turner: Former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, a White man, taking on incumbent L.A. District Attorney Jackie Lacey, a Black woman, for the chief prosecutor’s job. Gascón blasted Lacey for going too easy on police officers who shot and killed people, and promised a raft of reforms. He’s currently leading with more than 53 percent of the vote.

Money: More than $19 million

“Overall, the results of the state ballot initiatives and L.A. district attorney race demonstrate that those who so effectively organized protests had the perseverance to follow through at the polls – showing once and for all the historic transformational political reverberations of the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Levin of CSU San Bernardino.

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Election: Vote counts make for late night, early morning for local readers

-on November 04, 2020 at 09:56AM by Teri Sforza

[wilsontaxlawblog]

DOJ charges Texas billionaire in $2 billion tax fraud scheme

New Post has been published on https://wilsontaxlaw.com/doj-charges-texas-billionaire-in-2-billion-tax-fraud-scheme/

DOJ charges Texas billionaire in $2 billion tax fraud scheme

TEXAS - Federal prosecutors charged Texas billionaire Robert Brockman on Thursday with a $2 billion tax fraud scheme in what they say is the largest such case against an American. Department of Justice officials said at a news conference that Brockman, 79, hid capital gains income over 20 years through a web of offshore entities in Bermuda and Nevis and secret bank accounts in Bermuda and Switzerland. Prosecutors announced that the CEO of a private equity firm that aided in the schemes would cooperate with the investigation. The 39-count indictment unsealed Thursday charges Brockman, the chief executive officer of Ohio-based software company Reynolds and Reynolds Co., with tax evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and other offenses. Prosecutors also announced that Robert F. Smith, founder and chairman of Vista Equity Partners, will cooperate in the investigation and pay $139 million to settle his own tax probe. Smith, 57, stunned a senior class last year when he promised to wipe out the student loan debt of the entire graduating class at Morehouse, a historically Black all-male college. “Complexity will not hide crime from law enforcement. Sophistication is not a defense to federal criminal charges," said David L. Anderson, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California. “We will not hesitate to prosecute the smartest guys in the room." Brockman appeared in federal court from Houston via Zoom Thursday. He entered a plea of not guilty to all counts and was released on $1 million bond, said Abraham Simmons, spokesman for the Northern District of California. “Mr. Brockman has pled not guilty, and we look forward to defending him against these charges," said his attorney, Kathryn Keneally, in an email. Prosecutors said Brockman used encrypted emails with code names, including Permit, Snapper, Redfish and Steelhead, to carry out the fraud and ordered evidence to be manipulated or destroyed. Brockman, a resident of Houston and Pitkin County, Colorado, is chairman and CEO of Reynolds and Reynolds, a 4,300-employee company near Dayton, Ohio, that sells accounting, sales and management software to auto dealerships. The software helps set up websites, including live chats with potential customers, find loans and calculate customer payments, manage payroll and pay bills. Reynolds & Reynolds issued a statement saying the allegations were outside Brockman’s work with the company and that the company is not alleged to have participated in any wrongdoing. In 2013, a charitable trust set up by Brockman’s late father withdrew a pledged $250 million donation to Centre College, a small liberal arts school in Danville, Kentucky, where Brockman attended class and once served as chairman of the board of trustees. At the time the school said it was due to a “significant capital market event” that didn’t pan out. A spokesman for Reynolds and Reynolds said in 2013 that the event was a proposed refinancing deal involving Vista Equity Partners, Smith's company. According to the indictment, Brockman gave an unnamed individual detailed instructions regarding the proposed gift to the college, including talking points, and directed the person to threaten to pull out if his demands were not met. In August, he instructed the person to cancel the gift. Prosecutors say that Smith used about $2.5 million in untaxed funds to buy and upgrade a vacation home in Sonoma, California; purchase two ski properties in France; and spend $13 million to buy a property and fund charitable activities at his property in Colorado. Anderson applauded Smith for stepping up, despite the serious nature of his crimes, which occurred from 2000 to mid-2015. “Smith’s agreement to cooperate has put him on a path away from indictment," he said. In 2019, Smith announced to the graduating class at Morehouse College that he would pay off the student loan debt of the entire class, saying that he expected the graduates to “pay it forward.” The estimated cost was $40 million. Forbes lists Smith as #461 on its billionaires list, with a net worth of more than $5 billion. He founded the tech investment firm Vista in 2000 and Forbes reports that it now has over $50 billion in assets and is “one of the best-performing private equity firms, posting annualized returns of 22% since inception.” Vista has offices in San Francisco and Oakland. Wilson Tax Law Group, APLC (www.wilsontaxlaw.com) is a boutique Orange County tax controversy law firm that specializes in representation of individuals and businesses before federal and state tax authorities with audits, appeals, FBAR, offshore compliance, litigation and criminal defense.  Firm founder, Joseph P. Wilson, is a former Federal tax prosecutor and trial attorney for the IRS and California Franchise Tax Board.  Wilson Tax Law Group is exclusively comprised of former IRS litigators and Assistant US Attorneys from the US Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, Tax Division and Criminal Division. For further information, or to arrange a consultation please contact: Wilson Tax Law Group, APLC Newport Beach and Yorba Linda, California   Tel: (949) 397-2292 (Newport Beach Office)   Tel: (714) 463-4430 (Yorba Linda Office)

[rauthschild]

Billionaire Robert Smith to Pay $140 Million Over Tax Probe

Billionaire Robert Smith will pay about $140 million and acknowledge wrongdoing to end a four-year U.S. tax investigation involving assets held in offshore tax havens, people familiar with the matter said. Smith, chief executive officer of the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, informed some executives and investors of the pending agreement on Wednesday, the people said. Smith, 57, is cooperating with related tax investigations as part of a deal in which he will admit misconduct but won’t be prosecuted, they said. The settlement, which doesn’t involve Vista, could be made public as early as Thursday, one person said. The settlement amount includes back taxes, penalties and interest, the people said. Alan Fleischmann, a spokesman for Smith and Vista Equity Partners, declined to comment. Smith, with a net worth of $7 billion, is the wealthiest Black person in America. He gained widespread acclaim last year when he vowed to pay off the student loans of the graduating class of Morehouse College. His tax troubles arose from a $1 billion investment in Vista’s first fund two decades ago by an offshore foundation tied to Robert Brockman, a Houston software businessman, people familiar with the matter have said. The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service have been investigating whether Smith failed to pay U.S. taxes on about $200 million in assets that moved through offshore structures tied to Brockman, those people said. The same prosecutors who have pursued Smith turned their attention to Brockman, who has been the subject of a grand jury investigation in San Francisco into whether he committed tax and money-laundering crimes, according to the people familiar with the Brockman matter. On Thursday, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, David Anderson, and the IRS chief of criminal investigation, Jim Lee, will hold a news conference about a “new significant law enforcement action,” according to an advisory. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney declined to comment on the substance of the news conference or the Smith agreement. Prosecutors in the Brockman matter, who were investigating “a major and very large tax fraud” in the U.S., believe $1.5 billion of revenue was fraudulently concealed, according to Bermuda court records. Smith’s settlement includes a non-prosecution agreement that says he failed to pay about $30 million in taxes, with penalties and interest making up the remainder of the expected payout, according to a person familiar with a call that Smith conducted Wednesday. Smith said on the call that over three years, he failed to file accurate reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, known as FBARs, the person said. Bloomberg News first reported the tax investigation into Smith in August.

[go-redgirl]

45 Questions the Media Should Ask Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will appear in their first joint media interview on Sunday after accepting their party’s nominations this week.

However, unlike President Trump, Biden and Harris have thus far declined to take questions from the media in an open joint press conference where no questions or topics are off-limits.

In the event that such a press availability arises, here are 45 questions the media should ask them. This list is by no means exhaustive.

QUESTIONS FOR JOE BIDEN:

1. Why did members of your family keep getting lucrative business opportunities overseas while you were vice president?

2. How did your brother, Frank, secure $45,000,000 in taxpayer loans from the Obama administration for his Caribbean projects?

3. How did a newly-minted firm employing your other brother, James, receive a $1.5 billion contract to build homes in Iraq despite having no experience in construction or international development?

4. Why did your son Hunter accompany you on your official trip to Beijing in December 2013? What did he do on that trip? Who did he meet with? What should the American public make of the fact that just 10 days after this trip, your son’s boutique private equity firm secured a $1 billion investment deal from the state-owned bank of China (later expanded to $1.5 billion) despite having no prior experience in China, and with this deal, the Chinese government granted your son’s firm a first-of-its-kind arrangement to operate in the the recently formed Shanghai Free-Trade Zone—a perk not granted to any of the large established financial institutions?

5. Should the American public be concerned that your son’s private equity firm partnered with a Chinese government-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate to facilitate the purchase of an American company that produced strategically sensitive dual-use military technology that the Chinese government wanted?

6. Does your “Build Back Better” proposal contain any provisions to ensure that American taxpayer-funded technology is not bought off by Chinese state-backed enterprises working with private equity firms like your son’s?

7. Back in 2000, you voted in favor of giving permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR) to China. At the time, you said that this would not lead to “the collapse of the American manufacturing economy” because China is “about the size of the Netherlands” and could not possibly become “our major economic competitor.” Furthermore, you predicted that free trade with China would establish “a path toward ever greater political and economic freedom” for the people of China. 

Do you still stand by these statements today after 3.4 million American jobs have been lost to China and millions of China’s citizens have been imprisoned, surveilled, disappeared, and used as slave labor by an increasingly authoritarian regime enriched by 20 years of record trade imbalances from flagrant trade violations?

8. The People’s Republic of China has a bold plan called “Made in China 2025” to dominate the key technologies of the future in order to overtake the United States militarily and economically. Do you still contend that China is “not competition for us”?

9. Why did you promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to financial special interest groups when research was clear that the deal would make it easier for corporations to move U.S. jobs overseas?

10. Do you believe Xi Jinping kept his promise to Barack Obama to end cyber-espionage against the United States? If not, what are you prepared to do about it?

11. Do you accept that the coronavirus originated in China? Do you think China was honest with the world in its handling of the coronavirus? Are you satisfied with China’s explanations for how it spread? Do you believe their claims about the number of cases and fatalities in China?

12. Do you think China should be held responsible in any way for its handling of the coronavirus? If not, why not? What, if any, repercussions should there be for China in its handling of the coronavirus?

13. Did you suggest investigating Michael Flynn under the Logan Act, as Peter Strzok’s notes suggest?

14. You said in your DNC acceptance speech that America is ready to “do the hard work of rooting out our systemic racism.” What did you do in your 36 years as a U.S. senator and 8 years as vice president to root out systemic racism? Why didn’t it work?

15. You have called for “revolutionary institutional changes.” What does that mean in practice?

16. You have vowed to rescind the Trump tax cuts. Can you think of a single example of a country that recovered from a recession by raising taxes?

QUESTIONS FOR KAMALA HARRIS:

17. Why did you refuse to prosecute even one sexual abuse case involving the Catholic Church in San Francisco when you were attorney general, despite the pleas of victims’ groups?

18. Also, why did your attorney general’s office refuse to release the documents obtained from the San Francisco archdiocese with all the information about priests accused of sexual abuse? Victims’ rights groups have criticized your office for deliberately burying these documents and thereby covering up the crimes and leaving the public unprotected. Why did you do this? The San Francisco district attorney’s office claimed in 2019 that they no longer have these documents in their possession. What happened to them? How can you claim to be a defender of children when you declined to prosecute the abusers of children?

19. Why did your office decline to investigate the health supplement fraud cases involving companies your husband’s law firm represented? Did you, as California’s attorney general, ever purposefully decline investigating or prosecuting clients of your husband’s law firm?

20. You said you believed the women accusing Joe Biden of inappropriate touching. Do you believe Tara Reade? If not, why not? If so, how do you justify supporting him now?

21. You once attacked a judicial nominee on the basis of his membership in the Catholic fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, which is the largest fraternal organization in the world and includes among its past and present members many prominent Americans like President John F. Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA), and Vince Lombardi. Do you believe that being a member of the Knights of Columbus disqualifies a person from holding public office? Would you refuse to hire someone on the basis of their membership in the Knights of Columbus or any other Catholic organization? In your questioning of this Catholic judicial nominee, you singled out the issue of the Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life. Would you disqualify a job applicant on the basis of their Catholic beliefs, including their beliefs about abortion? Do you believe that being pro-life disqualifies someone from employment?

22. Why did you single out journalist David Daleiden for prosecution for undercover journalism that others do without penalty?

23. Your chief-of-staff, Karine Jean-Pierre, wrote an op-ed last year attacking the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Americans who associate with it, stating “You cannot call yourself a progressive while continuing to associate yourself with an organization like AIPAC that has often been the antithesis of what it means to be progressive.” Do you believe that pro-Israel activism is incompatible with progressive values?

24. The Biden campaign has adopted a version of the Green New Deal that calls for 100 percent renewable electricity generation by 2035. California has adopted similar “green” goals, but now it can’t keep the lights on due to the state’s reliance on wind and solar energy. California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newson admitted this week that the Golden State needs a “backup” plan for energy because the current blackouts caused by lack of wind and overcast skies have shown the danger of relying solely on “green” energy. Why would the nation fare any better than sunny breezy California in keeping the lights on if we adopt 100 percent renewable energy?

25. You said in the past that we “need to hold China accountable” for trade violations, but you are against the use of tariffs. How do you intend to hold China accountable? You also said that “we need to export American products, not American jobs.” How do you intend to make sure we don’t export more American jobs to China? How would your policy differ significantly from the same policies that led to the loss of 3.4 million jobs to China?

QUESTIONS FOR BIDEN OR HARRIS:

26. You both supported the George Floyd protests, which you claimed were peaceful. Have you spoken to any victims of the riots — people who lost loved ones or businesses?

27. Do you believe that the looting of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago was a “form of reparations,” as one Chicago Black Lives Matter organizer claimed? Is looting an appropriate form of protest as a means of reparations?

28. Seattle Black Lives Matter protesters stormed a neighborhood last week, demanding that residents “get the f*** out” and “give black people back their homes” as reparations. Do you support that style of protest?

29. If elected, would you object if protesters decided to tear down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square across from the White House? What about statues to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington? Would you be willing to sign a written pledge to protect our national monuments and statues?

30. What is the maximum number of illegal immigrants you would allow into the country before securing the border to stop more from entering?

31. The Obama administration deported an estimated 3 million illegal aliens. Was that a bad thing?

32. With 30 million Americans unemployed due to the coronavirus, would you support a halt on work visas for foreign workers competing with Americans for jobs?

33. Do you still support a ban on fracking? If so, what do you say to the estimated 7.5 million American jobs that will be lost due to such a ban, which includes an estimated 550,000 jobs lost in Pennsylvania, 500,000 jobs lost in Ohio, 363,000 jobs lost in North Carolina, 353,000 jobs lost in Colorado, and 233,000 jobs lost in Michigan?

34. Wall Street has praised the choice of Kamala Harris as VP. Why do you think financial special interests support her so much?

35. Will you be following the advice of your Wall Street and Silicon Valley donors in negotiating with China? If not, whose advice would you seek out in negotiating with China?

36. Do you support China’s actions in Hong Kong?

37. Do you support China’s actions in Xinjiang province where an estimated 3 million predominantly Uyghur Muslims are imprisoned in what the Pentagon has described as “concentration camps”? Are you concerned about the fact that Hunter Biden’s China-backed private equity firm invested heavily in the surveillance technology used to spy on the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province?

38. Do you disagree with how the Trump administration is handling Huawei? Do you think Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou should be extradited to the United States for trial?

39. Do you believe China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a form of colonialism or is it a good program that Third World nations should sign up for?

40. What are you prepared to do if China invades Taiwan or uses military force to assert its claims in the South China Sea?

41. Do you believe the U.S. should return to the Iran nuclear deal? Would you make further concessions to Iran to secure that? Do you believe the Iranian regime should be allowed to buy weapons again?

42. Are you pleased with the results of the Obama administration’s intervention in Libya?

43. Why did the Islamic State fold up so much more quickly under Trump than the Obama administration predicted?

44. Would you advise Arab nations to follow the UAE’s lead and make peace with Israel, or should they hold out for big concessions to the Palestinians?

45. Should the United States apologize for demanding NATO partners meet their financial commitments? If not, why didn’t the Obama administration ever do that?

READ MORE STORIES ABOUT:

2020 Election Media Politics Joe Biden Kamala Harris

[sociologyquotes]

90 companies are to blame for most climate change

from the article Just 90 companies are to blame for most climate change, this 'carbon accountant' says by Douglas Starr

“Last month, geographer Richard Heede received a subpoena from Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Smith, a climate change doubter, became concerned when the attorneys general of several states launched investigations into whether ExxonMobil had committed fraud by sowing doubts about climate change even as its own scientists knew it was taking place. The congressman suspected a conspiracy between the attorneys general and environmental advocates, and he wanted to see all the communications among them. Predictably, his targets included advocacy organizations such as Greenpeace, 350.org, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. They also included Heede, who works on his own aboard a rented houseboat on San Francisco Bay in California.

Heede is less well known than his fellow recipients, but his work is no less threatening to the fossil fuel industry. Heede (pronounced "Heedie") has compiled a massive database quantifying who has been responsible for taking carbon out of the ground and putting it into the atmosphere. Working alone, with uncertain funding, he spent years piecing together the annual production of every major fossil fuel company since the Industrial Revolution and converting it to carbon emissions.

Heede's research shows that nearly two-thirds of anthropogenic carbon emissions originated in just 90 companies and government-run industries. Among them, the top eight companies -- ranked according to annual and cumulative emissions below -- account for 20 percent of world carbon emissions from fossil fuels and cement production since the Industrial Revolution.

[Visit article page to view interactive graphic charting years of annual emissions]

[...]  The results showed that nearly two-thirds of the major industrial greenhouse gas emissions (from fossil fuel use, methane leaks, and cement manufacture) originated in just 90 companies around the world, which either emitted the carbon themselves or supplied carbon ultimately released by consumers and industry. As Heede told The Guardian newspaper, you could take all the decision-makers and CEOs of these companies and fit them on a couple Greyhound buses.

The study provoked controversy when it was published in 2013, with some complaining that it unfairly held the fossil fuel industry responsible for the lifestyle choices made by billions of consumers. "It's a cop-out to blame the producers of products that we have demanded, and benefited from, for more than a century," wrote Severin Borenstein, a business and public policy expert at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, in a blog post.

Others, however, saw the study as a turning point in the debate about apportioning responsibility for climate change. With traditional environmental issues, such as river pollution or toxic waste, it has always been possible to identify perpetrators who could be targeted for regulation or enforcement. But greenhouse gases are emitted everywhere, in every process that involves combustion. "For decades there's been a persistent myth that everyone is responsible, and if everyone is responsible then no one is responsible," says Carroll Muffett, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law in Washington, D.C., who also serves on the board of a nonprofit that Heede co-founded. "Rick's work for the first time identifies a discrete class of defendants."

Heede's carbon accounting is already opening a new chapter in climate change litigation and policy, helping equip plaintiffs who believe they have suffered damages from climate change to claim compensation. "Rick's work really helps connect the dots," says Marco Simons, general counsel of EarthRights International, a Washington, D.C.-based legal group that defends the rights of the poor. "He hasn't sought out the spotlight, but I think his work is tremendously important."

Heede tallies carbon obsessively. When we discussed my plans to fly out from Boston to Sausalito, California, where his houseboat is anchored, he did a quick calculation and told me that my share of the flights would add 716 kilograms of carbon to the atmosphere. "And if you'd driven an average car the trip would be 1.78 tons of CO2 [carbon dioxide]" he added, apparently riffing on his own compulsiveness. During my visit I noticed that when he boiled water to make noodles for lunch he put a frying pan on the pot instead of a lid—to preheat the pan so it would use a tiny bit less fuel to heat up the stir-fry. "It's a practice of mine to figure out how I can minimize energy use."

He was born in Norway into a long line of watchmakers, which may contribute to his own meticulousness. At 15, he and his parents immigrated to the United States. His father was a consulting engineer, but the younger Heede wasn't keen on "fixing problems that should not have been created in the first place"—which, he admits, is exactly what he's doing these days.

Heede has spent most of his life in Colorado, and he has the solid build and weathered face of someone who has spent lots of time in the mountains. He earned undergraduate and master's degrees in geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and then joined forces with Amory Lovins, the soft-energy guru who co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute in Boulder. Ronald Reagan had just been elected president, and his administration moved to gut subsidies for alternative energy sources, claiming that they were not economically competitive. Heede tested that assertion, analyzing the federal budget to find the hidden subsidies to the coal and oil industries, even including the cost of treating workers who developed black lung disease from coal mining.

Contrary to Reagan administration claims, Heede showed that the vast bulk of federal energy subsidies went to conventional energy sources. He wrote a report, testified to Congress, and wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal. "I don't recall getting any calls as a result," he says. It was an early taste of working in obscurity.

In 2003, he left the Rocky Mountain Institute to form Climate Mitigation Services, a consulting firm specializing in surveying and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. One of his early clients was Aspen, Colorado, a rich and progressive ski town whose leaders wanted to act decisively to reduce emissions. They hired Heede to do a baseline greenhouse gas inventory with the broadest possible scope—including not only activities within the city, but the cars and airplanes that annually brought in hundreds of thousands of tourists … in short, Heede recalls, "everything that uses energy as a result of Aspen's existence."

The exercise raised fascinating questions, Heede says: "What is a community, and what is a boundary? There's leakage everywhere: airplanes, trucks, cars, visitors. How do you quantify that stuff?"

Heede interviewed airport managers and checked their logs to find out which aircraft served the more than 178,000 annual passengers, calculating fuel consumption and emissions for each flight. Standing at the main bridge into Aspen for hours at a time, he categorized the cars that went by—sedans, SUVs, trucks, vans. Then, he used his records to estimate emissions from the 13,000 vehicles tabulated by an automated counter each day. In the end, he determined that in 2004, Aspen was responsible for more than 840,000 tons of carbon emissions—"roughly equivalent to a large, diesel-powered aircraft carrier running flank speed at all times." This and subsequent reports enabled the city to reduce its emissions despite a growing population and economy.

Aspen was an early test of Heede's ability to gather information and see beyond obvious boundaries—the invisible ripples from every project that affect the infinitely interconnected atmosphere. In the early 2000s, for example, an Australian firm proposed building a liquefied natural gas terminal off the California coast. It seemed a good way to transition to a low-carbon "bridge" fuel. But, Heede says, "They hadn't done any work on life cycle emissions." When he tallied all the direct and indirect emissions—from the gas extraction in Australia to distribution in California—he found that the project would have produced nearly a third more carbon than anticipated. His analysis helped persuade California officials to vote it down.

Later, he tackled targets that produce bigger but more diffuse ripples. Several U.S. cities and environmental groups were suing the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, alleging the institutions were financing projects that would damage Earth's climate. The plaintiffs retained Heede to analyze the carbon emissions resulting from the banks' loans and investments around the world, from a gas project in Central Africa to a coal mine in Poland. He found that the projects were directly and indirectly emitting nearly 2 billion metric tons of CO2 per year—almost 8% of the world's emissions. The plaintiffs won: The banks agreed to conduct environmental impact statements, create carbon-sensitive policies, and increase their financing of renewable energy projects.

Meanwhile, a new idea was coalescing in the environmental law community. For years, attorneys had litigated so-called environmental justice cases to redress the fact that poor people disproportionately suffer from pollution. By the early 2000s, it was becoming clear that the poor will also face the heaviest impacts of climate change. But how do you structure a liability case when the entire world takes part in the carbon economy? Can a Pacific Islander whose town has been flooded sue 7 billion people? Searching for more specific culprits, Peter Roderick, head of the Climate Justice Programme for Greenpeace International in London, commissioned Heede to study ExxonMobil and quantify total greenhouse emissions across its history.

He would have to follow a tangled corporate path. Founded as Standard Oil by John D. Rockefeller in 1870, the company became one of the world's largest multinationals until 1911, when the Supreme Court split it into several "baby Standards." Decades later, two of the largest of those firms merged to form ExxonMobil. Heede tracked down production figures in annual reports scattered among university archives on two continents, supplemented by court documents, news reports, and academic and industry papers. Then he converted production volumes to CO2 and methane. He included direct emissions, for instance from the fuels used to run the company's operations, and indirect emissions released by the combustion of its products.

After 15 months of research, Heede concluded that ExxonMobil and its precursors had directly or indirectly emitted 20.3 billion metric tons of CO2 and 199 million metric tons of methane. Friends of the Earth calculated that the quantity represented between 4.7% and 5.3% of humanity's industrial greenhouse gas emissions since 1882.

"I thought, 'This is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind,'" Roderick recalls. "But I knew it was just a small part of the big picture."

Roderick commissioned Heede to look at the entire fossil fuel industry. To make the project manageable, they limited it to companies that produced at least 8 million tons of carbon per year, the so-called "carbon majors." The research took 8 years. Money from the original grant ran out, and after the crash of 2008 Heede's consulting business collapsed. He maxed out his credit card, borrowed against his Colorado house, and scraped by, enlisting graduate students in several countries to photocopy and send him papers, which he checked and double-checked with a watchmaker's precision. He filled shelves with binders of information and spent thousands of hours entering it into spreadsheets, working alone, often until midnight. "I take pleasure in that kind of stuff," Heede says. "I like to pay attention to detail."

Sitting at dual monitors in the captain's cabin of his houseboat, Heede takes me on a tour of his data set, a seemingly endless series of color-coded and cross-indexed spreadsheets. Each sheet lists hundreds of entries, with columns showing the year and total production volumes for products such as crude oil, natural gas, and varieties of coal. Clicking on a company's name opens additional spreadsheets with the company's year-by-year production, plus screenshots of its annual reports for verification. Color-coded flowcharts display the evolution of companies as they separated or merged. The flowcharts from Russia are particularly ornate, as they incorporate the transformation of companies after the fall of the Soviet Union. (Heede got production data for the Soviet companies from Central Intelligence Agency analyses and the International Energy Agency.) Detailed annotations reveal his methods and calculations. The structure of these charts, so layered and interlocking, seems almost medieval in its complexity, and Heede seems monklike in his devotion to compiling it.

The result, peer reviewed and published in Climatic Change, showed that just 90 companies contributed 63% of the greenhouse gases emitted globally between 1751 and 2010. Half of those emissions took place after 1988—the year James Hansen of NASA testified to Congress that there was no longer any doubt that global warming had begun.

The data "just blew me away," says Naomi Oreskes, a science historian at Harvard University and co-author of the book Merchants of Doubt, which compares the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry in its efforts to raise doubts about science. "Everyone talks about this as a problem since the Industrial Revolution, but I now think that's incorrect," she says. Heede has shown that the roots of the problem are more recent and easier to trace. In 2011, Oreskes joined Heede in creating the Climate Accountability Institute, a nonprofit devoted to quantifying the contribution of fossil fuel companies to climate change and investigating their alleged attempts to obfuscate the science.

Other people criticize the work as oversimplified and naïve. David Victor, a political scientist and energy policy specialist at UC San Diego and a co-author of the 2015 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, doesn't question Heede's numbers but says his approach is wrongheaded. "It's part of a larger narrative of trying to create villains; to draw lines between producers as responsible for the problem and everyone else as victims. Frankly, we're all the users and therefore we're all guilty. To create a narrative that involves corporate guilt as opposed to problem-solving is not going to solve anything."

Heede concedes that the responsibility is shared. "I as a consumer bear some responsibility for my own car, etcetera. But we're living an illusion if we think we're making choices, because the infrastructure pretty much makes those choices for us." He focused on fossil fuel companies, he says, because unlike industries that produce greenhouse gases as a byproduct (such as the automobile industry, which has adhered to increasingly strict mileage standards), the mission of fossil fuel companies is to pull carbon out of the ground and put it into commerce.

His data, together with an emerging line of research that uses computer models to discern how likely it is that a given storm, flood, or heat wave was related to human-caused emissions, are now driving efforts to allocate responsibility for climate change. Last year, for instance, several nongovernmental organizations in the Philippines filed a petition with that nation's Commission on Human Rights. It asks the "carbon majors" to take remedial actions on behalf of typhoon survivors in the islands, which suffer devastating storms that may have worsened as a result of climate change. "Heede's report is one of the bedrock pieces of science and research that helped form our campaign," says Kristin Casper, litigation counsel for Greenpeace's Global Climate Justice and Liability Project in Toronto, Canada. In late July, the commission sent orders to 47 of the world's largest investor-owned fossil fuel companies, asking them to respond to the human rights charges in the petition. Similar actions and lawsuits are proceeding in several other countries.

Now, Heede is extending his carbon accounting into the future, quantifying the potential carbon release from future fossil fuel exploration. Like the other recipients of Representative Smith's subpoena, he has no intention of complying with what he calls a "campaign to intimidate us and stop scientific research." At the same time, he confesses an admiration for the fossil fuel industry, which has made "fantastic efforts to find resources for the betterment of humanity," often in the harshest environments. They've done such a good job that we haven't paused to reflect on the unintended consequences, he says. "And now we have to cope with the result."

[peppernephew7-blog]

Jina L. Choi, Regional Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Office, to Leave the Agency After Over 16 Years of Service

Washington D.C., Nov. 29, 2018 —

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Jina L. Choi, Director of the agency’s San Francisco Regional office, will leave the agency at the end of this month after more than 16 years of service. Under Ms. Choi’s leadership since 2013, the San Francisco office has brought numerous groundbreaking enforcement actions that have benefited Main Street investors, including most recently actions involving Tesla and its CEO and now former Chairman Elon Musk, Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes, as well as Yahoo!.

Since 2013, Ms. Choi has led a staff of approximately 130 enforcement attorneys, accountants, investigators, and compliance examiners who investigate and enforce the federal securities laws and perform compliance inspections in the San Francisco region. The San Francisco office has jurisdiction over nearly 1,200 investment advisers with over $6 trillion in assets under management, over 50 mutual fund complexes, and over 240 broker-dealers, as well as many public and pre-IPO companies in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon.

“Jina’s leadership and thoughtful approach to new and complex issues has served the Commission and investors very well,” said Chairman Jay Clayton. “Under Jina’s direction, our dedicated staff in San Francisco has established important precedents that benefit the interests of our long-term investors which we will continue to follow in the years ahead.” 

“Jina is an exceptional attorney and a dedicated public servant who has led and supervised an array of complex and high-impact actions,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “She has demonstrated time and time again her commitment to protecting Main Street investors and the integrity of our markets and we will miss her.”

“Under Jina’s leadership, the San Francisco Regional Office brought a series of ground-breaking enforcement actions, including against public and private technology companies in Silicon Valley and their senior officers,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  “Through these and other actions, Jina has left an enduring stamp on securities enforcement in the San Francisco region.”

“Jina has made significant contributions to the examination program during her tenure,” said Peter B. Driscoll, Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations.  “Her strategic thinking on examination initiatives, particularly those involving developing technology, has advanced OCIE’s mission and protected investors.”

Ms. Choi added, “It has been an honor and a privilege to have served the public with so many skilled and dedicated professionals. The talent, values, and unwavering dedication of the San Francisco office staff is extraordinary and I am grateful to have been part of the culture of excellence, integrity, teamwork and generosity that exists in San Francisco and throughout the SEC.”

During Ms. Choi’s tenure as Regional Director, she has supervised investigations into financial reporting fraud, insider trading, misconduct by investment advisers and brokers, and other securities law violations, including those that led to SEC charges against:

Ms. Choi began her SEC tenure as a staff attorney and rose through the ranks to her leadership position. Prior to her work at the SEC, Ms. Choi served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. She also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Texas. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York after which she worked in private practice.

Ms. Choi earned her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and her J.D. from Yale Law School.

Source: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-267