The Latest Greenwich News Briefs:
Poky Police Late Yet Again on Ponzis, Thieves Since Feb. 12, the National Futures Association, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Justice Department have all swept in with charges that range from securities fraud to conspiracy to wire fraud against the two firms and the money managers who are principals at both entities: Paul Greenwood and Stephen Walsh. The two men were arrested Feb. 25 and released on bonds of $7 million apiece. Reached by telephone, their lawyers declined to comment on allegations that their clients misappropriated $554 million from investors over the past 13 years. Greenwood and Walsh were high-life money managers who didn’t shy from public view. (If you think you’ve read this story before, it’s because you have.)
Glossy Clippings
Greenwood over the years has been the subject of write-ups in the New York Times, the glossy Bedford Magazine and the Web page of the North Salem Bridle Trails Association, which gushed over Greenwood’s farm, “They call it Grand Central Farm and grand it is.” Bedford fussed over Greenwood’s collection of Steiff teddy bears. “Noah had nothing on us,” Greenwood told the magazine in an article that ran last year, comparing his menagerie to the biblical ark loaded with animals. “At last count, we’ve given shelter to more than 1,350 Steiff toys, and there’s no way our collecting days are over.” Ah, but his money-management days might be. While Greenwood and Walsh were hiding in plain sight, regulators say they also were collecting hundreds of millions ($667 million, to be exact) from investors and then writing checks to themselves -- a total of $293 million to Greenwood and $261 million to Walsh. Disappearing Act You’ll be shocked to know that after the NFA showed up to begin auditing the books at the Greenwich office starting Feb. 5, Greenwood and Walsh made themselves very scarce. They even played little games with their regulator. As described in the NFA’s Feb. 12 “notice of member responsibility,” Greenwood told NFA officials during a phone conversation that he’d get back to them about where some missing money was; e-mailed them to say he’d be in the Greenwich office on Feb. 10; and then had an assistant tell the regulators that he was at a meeting in New York City when they showed up that day. Maybe, though, none of that should be a surprise, because regulators already knew that Westridge wasn’t too keen on having financial cops look at their books. In 1989, a business conduct committee of the NFA issued a complaint against the firm alleging that it had broken the rules “by failing to cooperate with NFA in an NFA audit.” Other allegations included “failing to provide customers with a disclosure document.” Denying the Allegations There are all sorts of violations that financial regulators can allege against firms, but if it isn’t a big, fat, waving red flag when a firm doesn’t want to cooperate with an audit, I don’t know what is In the end, though, Westridge filed an answer in which it denied the allegations, then settled the case for a paltry $5,000 fine and an agreement to get in line with CFTC rules in its disclosure documents. No one at Westridge let that little problem get in the way when it filled out its most recent investment adviser application with the SEC. In a document dated Jan. 29, 2009, Westridge had to answer the question, “Has any self-regulatory organization or commodities exchange ever found you or any advisory affiliate to have been involved in a violation of its rules?” Westridge checked the box that said “No.” Nor did Westridge flag the fact that Walsh, Greenwood & Co., the broker-dealer that Walsh and Greenwood ran from 1979 to 1992, had come into the SEC’s crosshairs in 1987, when the agency said that the firm had failed to maintain minimum net capital requirements; was using customer securities as collateral for bank loans; and was not keeping accurate records. The firm consented to a censure and said it would “comply with undertakings to prevent recurrence of similar violations.’ So many red flags. So few regulators who know how to spot them. What About The Poky Reporters And Editors At That The Green Kitty Litter Liner Totally Missed The Story And Still Have Failed To Report On The Greenwich Ponzi Scheme Arrests....
If You Want To Know Whats Going On In Greenwich You Have To Read The Out Of Town Newspapers Maybe, The Incompetent Hearst Newspaper Editors Will Get The Billion Dollar Greenwich Ponzi Scheme Story Up On The Web Later Today Or Tomorrow But The Greenwich Time Always Misses The Big Ponzi Scheme Stories That Has A Greenwich Connection. If You Search The Greenwich Time Web Site For Walter Noel Of Fairfield Greenwich You Get This Greenwich Time Managing Editor Bruce Hunter And Hearst Newspaper Fairfield County Editor Jim Zebora Are Walking Around The Green Kitty Litter Liner Offices Saying, "Who The Heck Is Bernard Madoff And What Does He Have To Do With Greenwich?" | ||
| Greenwich cafe gets visit from feminist icon Greenwich Time ... poet and feminist icon Erica Jong offered herself up to Aphrodite Thursday, during a poetry reading and book signing at Arcadia Cafe in Old Greenwich. ... | ||
| Chiropractor pleads not guilty in punching death Stamford Advocate William Lindemann, 47, of 12 Wyckham Hill Lane, Greenwich, and 425 Dockside Drive, Unit 406, Naples, Fla., was released after posting $1 million bond. ... | ||
| Greenwich seniors celebrate staying put Greenwich Time By Colleen Flaherty Marylin Chou, right, one of the founders of At Home Greenwich, greets her friend, Bea Emery, during a party at the Second Congregational ... | ||
| Mexico's Peso Falls to Record Low on Pared Interest-Rate Bets Bloomberg ... billion to defend the peso," Flavia Cattan-Naslausky, a currency strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut, wrote in a report today. ... | ||
| US workers on jobless benefits at record high Reuters India - Mumbai,India The economy is going to continue to contract, probably at least until the middle of the year," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich capital....... | ||
Darien Times - Darien,CT,USA She who popped the winning goal up stairs at the end of a lone effort, racing the puck in from center to put the tight game away 1-0 over top-seed Greenwich ... |
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