Hyper Local News Pages

Saturday, March 21, 2009

03/21/09 SUPRISE AIG LIED:Greenwich Resident Richard Blumenthal Says AIG Paid It's Fat Cat Pirates $218 Million In Bonuses !!!!!

Greenwich Resident Richard Blumenthal Has Discovered That The AIG Pirates Are Lying To America

THE FAILURES:

Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz Has Doomed His "100 Days Of Change" Initiative To Failure, Because He Continues To Employ An Incompetitant Editor At The Greenwich Time

Apparently, Greenwich Time Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Has No Contacts In The CT AG's Office

Hearst Newspaper Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Is A Sleep At The Switch As Out Of Town News Organizations Are Covering The Story In The Greenwich Time's Backyard

Ex- Greenwich Time Managing Editor And Now Hearst Newspaper Reporter Jim "I Like Writting About Beer" Zebora Is Clueless That AIG Lied And Paid Out An Additional 53 Million In Tax Dollars To The Jackpot Jimmys At AIG

THE QUOTE:

'If the numbers are changing, we want to know what number is accurate.'Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut attorney general

THE STORY:

Conn. official says AIG underestimated bonus pool


MarketWatch

Wallace Witkowski - MarketWatch Bussiness News Editor In San Francisco

American International Group Inc. paid out millions more than previously reported in bonuses to employees of its troubled financial-products unit, according to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the state official's office said Saturday, citing documents subpoenaed from the insurer.

Employees of the company's financial-products unit were paid $218 million in retention bonuses rather than the $165 million reported last week, according to Blumenthal's office

The attorney general's office received subpoenaed documents from AIG (AIG) late Friday and has commanded AIG Chief Executive Edward Liddy and 11 other employees to appear at a March 26 hearing. Other AIG employees subpoenaed are Douglas Polling, James Haas, Jonathan Liebergall, Christopher Phole, Steven Pike, Robert Powell, Joseph Rooney, Gregory Ruffa, Leonid Shekhtnam, Christian Toft and Steven Wagar.

"We want to know there is a full accounting at this point," Blumenthal told CNN in a phone interview. "If the numbers are changing, we want to know what number is accurate, what time periods are covered, but most important how we recover that money because these bonuses should have never been paid."


WHY ISN'T ANYONE LISTENING
TO GREENWICH ROUNDUP



THIS WAS ONLY THE FIRST ROUND
OF BONUS PAYMENTS TO THE AIG FAT CATS



THE CLOCK IS TICKING ON A SECOND
TAXPAYER FUNDED MULTI MILLION DOLLAR

AIG BONUS PAYMENT



Here Is A News Flash For The Incompetent
Bruce Hunter And Jim Zebora:

The AIG Employee Retention Plan That Is Causing
Working Folks Sharpening Their Pitchforks.
Has Two Componets




There Are Two Sets Of Bonus Payments

This Is The First Bonus And Covers December 01, 2007 To November 30, 2008 That Was To Be Paid No Later Than March 15th of 2009.

Most People Including The Clueless Bruce Hunter Don't Realize That The Clock Is Already Ticking On A Second Round Of Bonus Payments.

The Is Second Bonus Payments Cover December 01, 2008 To November 30, 2009 That Was To Be Paid No Later Than March 15th of 2010.



Next Years Taxpayer Funded Bonus Payments Are A Done Deal

San Francisco Market Watch Business Editor

Wallace Witkowski Continues.....


AIG spokesman Mark Herr told CNN that the company believes Blumenthal's office is taking into account payments that were made in December that were separate from the $165 million that was paid in March and widely reported upon last week.


"We want to know exactly what these numbers cover, whether in fact they are specifically identifiable as 2009 payments as appears to be the case from the documents," Blumenthal told CNN.


Last week, AIG disclosed it had paid out the $165 million in retention bonuses, with 73 financial-products-unit employees receiving bonuses of $1 million or more and 11 of those employees having already left the company.
Maybe, Hearst Newspapers Managing Editor Is Just Ignoring The Fact That Greenwich Resident And Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal Just Found 53 Million In Additional AIG Payments, Because He Is Posiing The Greenwich Time To Be The Hearst News Wanna Be Of Lower Fairfield County.
Just Look How Greenwich Time Editors Were Sticking Up
For Poor Little AIG In A Greenwich Time Editorial:
PLEASE SEE:


UPDATE:

03/22/o8

2AM

Virtually Every Newspaper In America Has Reported On The Fact That Greenwich Resident Richard Blumenthal Says AIG Gave Out An Additional $53 Million Bucks

Only One Hearst Newspaper Left It's Readers In The Dark......

The Greenwich Time

AIG bonuses $218 million, not $165 million, AG says
Los Angeles Times

AIG Financial Products handed out $218 million in bonuses, not $165 as had been previously reported, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said ...

Reports: AIG Gave Out $50 Million More in Bonuses
Voice of America

Published reports Saturday say documents submitted to the attorney general of Connecticut show AIG paid $218 million in bonuses. That is $53 million more ...

A Real Simple Solution to the AIG Bonus Mess
Huffington Post

... news broke over the weekend that instead of the previously reported $165-million AIG handed out in retention bonuses, the total is actually $218-million ...


State finds more in AIG bonuses
Chicago Tribune
The new total of $218 million comes from calculations made by Blumenthal's office after it received documents from the company Friday. ...


Bus Tour Swings By Homes Of Executives Who Received Bonuses
Hartford Courant

While more than 400 AIG employees received bonuses — now estimated by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal at $218 million in all

In Fact There Are 2,266 News Articles At Google News About The $218 Million In Bonuses

However, Hearst Newspaper Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Is Not Covering The Story In The Ultra Conservative Greenwich Time

Bruce Hunter Is Unfair And Unbalanced

Yes, The Fox News Wanna Be Of Lower Fairfield County Is Always Slow To Cover Greenwich Democrat Richard Blumenthal's Announcements

If You Search The Greenwich Time Web Site For "$218 million" In The Greenwich Time's Search Box You Get 0 Results

That's Why If You Want To Know What's Going On You Have To Read The Out Of Town Newspapers

All The Other Hearst Newspapers Covered The Story Hours Ago:

For Example, The CT Post Put The Story Up Yesterday

Blumenthal: $218M paid in AIG bonuses
Connecticut Post - ‎13 hours ago‎
Documents turned over late Friday show AIG paid $218 million in bonuses last weekend, higher than the $165 million that was previously disclosed, ...

Will Somebody Go Wake Up

Greenwich Time Managing Editor Bruce Hunter

From His Self Induced Coma

MAYBE BRUCE HUNTER AND HIS LAME GREENWICH TIME NEWS TEAM WILL COVER THE STORY SOMETIME SUNDAY

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03/21/09 GREENWICH GARDNERS ARE GETTING EXCITED: The Pansies Are Here!! ... The Pansies Are Here !! ... The Pansies Are Here!!

McArdle's Florist & Garden Center: Pansies!!

by McArdle's

It's official, the pansies have arrived! From periwinkle blue to buttery yellow they are indicative of spring. So feel free to fill your outdoor pots with them now, just make sure to cover them up if the temperature drops below 27 degrees (let's hope that doesn't happen!). Happy Spring!

Make sure to visit us at 48 Arch Street Greenwich, CT 06830 McArdle's Florist and Garden Center has been "Keeping the Green in Greenwich" since 1910. Our "resident blogger" is Heather O'Gorman, who has been with McArdle's ...

McArdle's Florist & Garden Center - http://mcardlesflorist.blogspot.com/

PLEASE NOTE:
As Of Today The
Has Been Added To The
Raw Greenwich Blog Feed

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03/21/09 Threats Against Greenwich Blogger May Be Comming From No Other Than Ex-Bear Sterns Fat Cat Robert Steinberg

Zeroing In On Nasty Fat Cat Robert Stienberg .....

WOW - Greenwich Bloggers Sure Do Have High Net Worth And Infamous Readers !!!!

Ace Detective And Citizen Journalist Chris Fountain may have traced the threats against him to a guy Greenwich Roundup wrote about. You may remember he was the guy who got a pardon for that other crooked real estate guy, only to have Ex-President George Bush rescind it when he found out who the crook was.

There is no way that Greenwich Roundup or Blogger Chris Fountain can't say positively that he's sending me drunken, threatening emails, but it sure seems to be him.

Fat Cats Behaving Badly Story Is Playing Out At For What Its Worth. Follow Link Below To Get All Of The Details.

This could get really juicy, before the weekends over.

http://christopherfountain.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/is-former-bear-stearns-director-robert-steinberg-sending-drunken-emails-at-220-am/


MORE INFORMATION:

PLEASE ALSO SEE:


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03/21/09 Old Greenwich Resident Forgets About The Insignifigant Greenwich Time And Sends His Writtings To The CT Post

Dodd's actions speak louder than his words

Connecticut Post


Washington D.C. has failed us on many levels over the last many decades. We have allowed our elected officials to serve as politicians instead of principled leaders. Far from being "statesmen," they embarrass themselves and mock our democracy by spending time raising money across the nation, instead of indicating interest in their job, which is to govern, not constantly run for office. Why does this happen? Most of them have such a strong desire to win re-election that they will corrupt the system and abort their duties as stewards to see to it that this happens.

Let's take our own U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd as a prime example. As a ranking member of the all-important U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs between 2003 and 2008, Dodd accepted donations from the nearly defunct insurance giant American International Group totaling nearly $225,000. In 2008, while we looked to him to represent our best interests, he received $157,194 from a now-quasi-nationalized Citigroup Inc., part of his total annual take of $854,200 from all TARP recipients, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

How can he truly represent his constituents' best interests when he is accepting vast sums of money from organizations that the government has assisted through the infusion of federal tax dollars? While legal, an objective observer should question the judgment and ethics of our state's senior senator......

.....Aaron Kennon, a resident of Old Greenwich, is an investment manager in New York City. His e-mail address is aaron.kennon@gmail.com.

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03/21/09 READER SUBMITTED COMMENTS: Threats Against Greenwich Blogger Chris Fountain Should Be Traced

Get your enemy’s IP, trace him with Google Map

PHOTO: The title says it all. Get the IP address, insert into ip-address.com and trace them till their area with Google Map, like the image above. Cool Huh!

Fans Of Greenwich Citizen Journalists Don't Mind When Someone Debates Or Disagrees With Local Bloggers...... That's The American Way

But, These Same Citizen Journalists Want To Trackdown Morons When Their Source Of Alternative News Is Threatened

To the Editor,

I've been coming to this web site for quite a while. Certainly long enough to know Chris and Bill are two of the few writers who know what is going on in Greenwich, CT.

I can't wait until the local newspapers go under, taking all past and present employees with them. The facts are usually wrong, late, and poorly written. For 50 cents? Not even for free.

I agree with Tony. Trace that IP ADDRESS. Show the scum so we can skim it and toss it.

Peace,
GMB













Another way--if you are using a Windows computer--to find out some information about someone is to go to Command Prompt (if you do not know how to do that, go to the Start menu, Run, and type "cmd" and press OK) and type in tracert . On UNIX (including Linux and OS X), open a shell and use the command traceroute

There Are Other Legal Measures For Tracing An IP Address, But They Are A Little To Detailed And Technical For This Blog About Greenwich



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03/21/09 Chef Francios Kwaku-Dongo Will Appear At The James Beard Foundation Event

Chef and Omanhene partner Francios Kwaku-Dongo presents decadent desserts made with Omanhene chocolate at a James Beard dinner Tuesday.


OnMilwaukee

Milwaukee's Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company is making a special appearance at the James Beard House in New York City on Tuesday, March 23.

Chef and Omanhene partner Francios Kwaku-Dongo is presenting a culinary retrospective hosted by The James Beard Foundation, the national organization that promotes professional culinary talent.

... For the event, Kwaku-Dongo has created a singular menu inspired by the places he has cooked during his 25-year career, including desserts made with Omanhene chocolate. He worked as executive chef at Wolfgang Puck's famed Spago restaurants in both Hollywood and Chicago for 20 years before becoming the executive chef at L'Escale in Greenwich, Conn. This marks the fourth time Chef François has been invited to cook at the James Beard House. ...
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03/21/09 READER SUBMITTED COMMENTS: Fairfield They Laughs At The Toubled AIG, But Greenwich Residents Don't Like It When Their Bloggers Are Threatened

Tony The Tiger Says It Is About Time To Smackdown Some Clown That Is Threatening Citizen Journalist Chris Fountain

Greenwich Roundup Will Go After Failed Editors At The Greenwich Time In A New York Minute

But Even Greenwich Roundup ThinksTwice Before Criticizing Chris Fountain And The "For What It's Worth" Blog
This Moron Harrassing Chris Fountain Is Really Getting Tony, Who Is A Greenwich Roundup Reader, And Obviously A For What Its Worth fan Very Upset.


EDITOR:

I'm sitting here laughing at the stupid email sent in by the person with the IP address.

I know Chris Fountain's real estate advice is sound and accurate. In addition, I believe he's a reliable source for the NEWS, unlike all the crappy, half-assed reporting done in The Greenwich Times and Post. Obviously, Chris Fountain is a very talented writer too. His numbers/hits prove that.

So, to the wanna-be smart ass, who will not be just an anonymous IP address for very long:

Get a life, you moron. Let's see who has balls when YOUR NAME appears here.

You like to send threatening emails? You think anyone takes you seriously? Obviously, you are a complete LOSER.

Get in line with the rest of the incompetent Greenwich newspaper employees, the hedge fund thieves, and the self-proclaimed rich and famous. Step to the front of the line of complete assholes. Be the line leader!

But first, get your S H I T straight, if you're going to write anything here.

When I find out who you are, maybe I'll put a fist in your face so fast your head will spin. I have zero tolerance for cowards.

Stay tuned Greenwich.

Tony P.




Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com or click on the comments link at the end of this post;

03/21/09 The Raw Greenwich News Feed: This Just In.....

The Latest Greenwich News Briefs:

Greenwich's Ketchum, Resor find success with Yale women's hockey team
Greenwich Time
By Mike Pignataro

Ever since the Greenwich native first laced up a pair of skates, she's always set high expectations for herself on the ice. ...

Then and now: Greenwich residents return to march after 30 years
Greenwich Citizen
by Patricia McCormack

Left to right: Selectman John Taintor with Greenwich natives Sue Jasensky Cassano, Color Guard captain and Patti DeFelice, ...

Greenwich Post
FSU captures fifth grade Greenwich basketball title
Greenwich Post
The Florida State University Seminoles capped a 15-0 undefeated season with a 44-27 win on Saturday over Wake Forest to capture the Greenwich Basketball ...
Memorial Service Friday for Greenwich Librarians
WNLK - Norwalk
Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei reflected on the losses saying that "It is very appropriate that the community reflect and celebrate the lives of ...

Greenwich Wins first Open crown since 2006
Greenwich Time
By David Fierro

Greenwich High School's coach Terry Lowe gets a celebratory bath from captains Chris Thai and Ross Schofield at Thursday night's State Open ...

Bond Expert: Friday Outlook
Seeking Alpha
Analysts David Ader and Ian Lyngren of RBS Greenwich Capital calculate that the supply next week is equivalent to $46.2 billion 10 year notes. ...

The Latest Greenwich Blog Posts:

Hedge Fund Collapse Hurts Connecticut's Greenwich Avenue
Greenwich Avenue is known as the "Rodeo Drive" of the Northeast but conditions for the popular shopping district have gone downhill ever since the stock market and hedge funds ran into trouble. Retailers closing up shop haven't helped ...
ShoppingBlog.com - http://www.shoppingblog.com/



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03/20/09 GREENWICH BLOGGERS SAY QUIT YOUR CRYING AND GROW A PAIR: It's Not Just Greedy AIG Bailout Thieves That Get Harrassed And Threatened

Same writer (check ip address) different language

From For What It's Worth

By: Chris Fountain


IP ADDRESS: 76.109.133.44

Submitted on 2009/03/21 at 1:40am


there will soon be a complaint filed with the board of realtors, regarding your disinformation about real estate in greenwich.

IP ADDRESS: 76.109.133.44

Submitted on 2009/03/21 at 1:37am

you are all a bunch of a**h****s. f***k you chris fountain, if i see you see you around, g-d have mercy on you, you f*****g piece of s**t. get a life scumbag. print this you f*****g degenerate washed out real estate broker. you and your readers are jealous that your houses aren’t selling.

[edited for clarity by CF]

COMMENT:
The AIG Fat Cats Should Toughen Up And Stop Belly Aching
Chris Fountain Should Consider Buying A Pit Bull And Hiring A Greenwich Police Officer To Be His Personal Body Guard. The Go See A Judge About A Pistol Permit.

HERE IS TODAY'S RAW GREENWICH BLOG AND RSS FEED

Citizen Journalists And Bloggers Who Are From, Work In Or Used To Live In Greenwich, As Well As, Local RSS feeds....

More From: For What It's Worth By Riverside Blogger Chris "Don't Shot The Messenger" Fountain
No one’s going to steal my house! New Canaan edition - I learned from a client (well, a client if I can find him something here in Greenwich) that he recently bid 75% of the asking price on a New Canaan property...

Tribune Company's Greenwich News RSS Feed
State's AIG Workers In Wilton Face Unwelcome Spotlight - The employees of AIG Financial Products — from the secretaries to the managing directors previously enjoying quiet lives in the posh cul-de-sacs of Fairfield...

Cos Cob Blogger Iggy Makarevich At High Strangeness
Snakes Alive? - The following post originates from my What's All This, Then blog. What can I say, the thing caught my eye, so, here you go... Baby Snakes? Mars? What? •March...

Greenwich Time: Local Sports - RSS Feed
Greenwich's Ketchum, Resor find success with Yale women's hockey team - Bray Ketchum is a bit of a perfectionist. Ever since the Greenwich native first laced up a pair of skates, she's always set high expectations for herself ...

Today's Greenwich Time Most Emailed Web Article - RSS Feed
Hundreds remember influence of two librarians - Whether it was Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz's persuasive and inspiring demeanor toward children, authors, and storytellers, or their continuing ...

Today's Greenwich Time Letters To The Editor
Letters from Readers - Discharging town workers - Dismissal of employees was done properly To the editor: Roger Pearson should have recognized the good service of previous employees of the town ...

Rock Star Diary
Cooking myself! - So now that I'm cohabitating, I've been cooking. I'm okay, not great, but I'm learning. I made Dalton tortilla soup which he loved! Then I made fish tacos ...

The Fox Trot By Nick "The Sly" Fox
Confirmed Matches for Tonight's 500th Episode of Smackdown! - The following matches have been taped for tonight's edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown: Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov United States Championship Match: ...

Greenwich Blog : The Blog of Greenwich, Connecticut :: USA
‘Pura Vida’: Ted’s Costa Rican Eco-Adventure - ‘Pura Vida’: Ted’s Costa Rican Eco-Adventure Audubon Greenwich 613 Riversville Road 2:00-3:00 pm Audubon’s own Ted Gilman shares stories and photos from ...

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03/21/09 Will Jon Green's Working Family Buses Be Comming To Visit Greenwich's Backcountry Bonus Fat Cats

State's AIG Workers In Wilton Face Unwelcome Spotlight

Hartford Courant


The employees of AIG Financial Products — from the secretaries to the managing directors previously enjoying quiet lives in the posh cul-de-sacs of Fairfield and Greenwich — have come under siege.....

.....Doug Poling, the Financial Products executive who reportedly received the company's largest "retention payment" of $6.4 million, has a security guard stationed in the circular driveway outside his sprawling Fairfield estate — even though he agreed to return the bonus.

"People are scared," said one former employee, who has been in touch with her former co-workers in recent days.

Even as AIG remains the focus of state and federal investigations, and of debates in Congress, much of the anger is aimed broadly at the culture of bonuses on Wall Street.

....AIG spent Friday working with state and federal law enforcement officials to ensure the employees' safety, a person familiar with the efforts said.

Jon Green, director of Hartford-based Working Families, and his band of activists are exactly the sort of thing AIG's Wilton workers fear — indignant citizens coming after them. The organization has mounted a tour this morning that will carry a busload of people, some facing the loss of their homes, jobs and health coverage, to AIG employees' homes in Fairfield County.

It is scheduled to conclude with a rally outside AIG's Danbury Road offices in Wilton.

One neighbor of Poling's who read about the Working Families bus tour in the newspaper sarcastically said Friday, "It's going to be fun."...

....New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that he had received names of those who received bonuses from AIG, and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Friday that it was only a matter of time before Connecticut officials get them too.

If they do, Blumenthal said Friday, the state's freedom of information law might compel his office to release the names publicly.

.....Wilton employees have been swapping comments on each other's Facebook walls about how to sneak out of work without getting mobbed.....

....Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management, said the growing outrage over the AIG bonuses reflects the extreme value of "fairness" in American culture."We're a very meritocratic society. We are thrilled that Bill Gates is as wealthy as he is — he earned it," Sonnenfeld said.

"But we have an awful lot of people who didn't earn it. It wasn't their capital at risk, it was ours. …There's something very parasitic about it."

PLEASE SEE:




MORE INFORMATION:

Showing Up At A Greedy CEO's House Isn't All That Bad

First The Financial Fat Cats Who Got Bailed Out Were Calling Working Men And Women, Who Didn't Get A Damn Dime Losers For Losing There Houses To Foreclosure

Now The Bailed Out Fat Cats Say:

"What's With All This Class Warfare?"

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03/21/09 Clever Nigerian Hustlers Now Using The NY Times To Get Through Greenwich Residents Spam Filters - NYTimes.com: It's the Regulations.....

The New York Times E-mail This
This page was sent to you by: markkabore0@yahoo.fr

Message from sender:
Dear, It is my pleasure to reach you after our unsuccessful attempt on our business transaction, Well I just want to use this medium to thank you very much for your earlier assistance to help me in receiving the funds without any positive outcome. I am obliged to inform you that I have succeeded in receiving the funds with the help of a new partner from Paraguay Mr Fernando Alvaro Gomez, Everything was perfectly done because we strike a deal with one of the Lady Accountant who works with the B.O.A Bank and she rendered a tremendous help to us My new partner initiated this idea and everything worked out successfully In appreciation of your earlier assistance to me in receiving the funds I have decided to compensate you with the sum of $850,000,00. Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars in a Cashier's cheque. This is from my own share I did this simply to show appreciation to you for your kind support and assistance even though we could not succeed due to some unforseen circumstances and reason. Presently I am in Paraguay for investment project with my own share under the advice of my partner Meanwhile I didn't forget your past efforts and attempts to assist me in transferring this funds despite the fact that we could not succeed I will be sending you e-mail from time to time to know if you have received your share or not. In the light of the above you are therefore to contact my Barr, and do send him your contact address where you want the cheque to be sent to you, His e-mail address is:Barr. Amed dogado Email: amed_dogado@universia.cl Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the joy together after all the suffering at that time In the moment I am very busy here in Asuncion the capital city of Paraguay because of the investment projects which the new partner and I are having at hand So feel free to get in touch with him to send the cheque to you without any delay. With My Best Regards, Mr. Mark kabore

OPINION March 19, 2009
Editorial: It's the Regulations, Not the Regulator
The financial crisis is not just the result of a missing regulator, but also deregulatory zeal that eclipsed rules and regulations - and the very will to regulate.


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03/21/09 The Downfall Of RBS Greenwich Capital And It's Parent Bank

Sir Fred Goodwin: RBS Chief Executive Sir Fred Goodwin

Photo: DANIEL JONES

RBS was 'disaster waiting to happen'
Telegraph.co.uk


When the outgoing board of directors at RBS met for the final time in January, the scale of the business disaster they had overseen was abundantly clear.

The bank was preparing to announce the biggest British corporate loss in history; the Treasury was about to underwrite £325 billion of RBS’s questionable assets; and even the Prime Minister had “gone white” when given details of the bank’s trading activities.

Gathered around the table at RBS’s luxurious corporate headquarters, each member of the board was asked where they believed the mistakes had been made.

“You never stood a chance,” said one non-executive director to the executives in charge of the day-to-day running of bank. Another complained how the board was not given the information required to have questioned what are now seen as disastrous business decisions......

.....At RBS Greenwich Capital in Stamford, Connecticut, the bank established what is reputed to be the “largest trading floor in the world”. Those in charge were earning up to $25 million a year in cash bonuses.

Another unit of RBS was also embarking on an equally risky strategy to move into sub-prime mortgages.

Citizens Bank was a well-established New England institution which had not engaged in the more risky mortgage businesses.

It had been owned by RBS since the 1980s but during the past decade it took over several US regional banks.

In 2007, it is understood to have begun buying up sub-prime mortgages from other banks.

Although Citizens, headed by Larry Fish, was not offering sub-prime loans itself, it quickly amassed billions of pounds in sub-prime exposure.

It is not known why it adopted this strategy, which was not authorised by the RBS board. It went disastrously wrong and Citizens is understood to have about £14 billion in “toxic” loans....

PLEASE SEE:

... disclosed in a Delaware court that it had agreed to sell 2000 existing sub-prime mortgages to a unit of RBS – RBS Greenwich Capital Financial Products. ...
BUT WAIT THERES MORE ....

RBS Greenwich Capital is described in the claim as a company that “underwrote more than $180billion in securities backed by sub-prime mortgages”. ...


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03/21/09 The Raw Overnight Greenwich News Feed (Updated)

Conn. forces AIG bonus recipients to testify
Stamford Advocate



....Besides Liddy, these AIG staffers are to be visited with subpoenas by state marshals: James Haas, Douglas Poling and Joseph Rooney of Fairfield; Leonid Shekhtman of Redding; Robert Powell and Diane Cenci of Westport; Christian Toft and William Kolbert of Weston; Steven Wagar of Norwalk; Gregory Ruffa of Darien; Jonathan Liebergall and Christopher Pohle of New Canaan; and Steven Pike of Stamford...

With the exception of Cenci and Haas, each donated $2,100 to U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd's presidential campaign in December 2006. Haas donated a total of $2,000 to previous Dodd campaigns. Dodd has been under fire for his role in creating legislation that allowed AIG to pay the bonuses.....

....Blumenthal said the state has been unable to compel AIG to provide names and addresses, so his office used media reports to determined whom to subpoena.....


PLEASE SEE:




If The Hunter And Zebora Don't Get Off Their Rear Ends, Then The New York Newspapers Are Going To Start Scooping The Greenwich Time In It's Own Backyard.

Everyone Town Knows That The Greenwich Time Has A Long History Of Not Name Names In The Backcountry. But These Greedy Backcountry Sleazeballs Should Face The Judgement Of Every Working Greenwich Resident They Encounter As They Spend Their Dirty Bonus Bucks.
Incompetent Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Has No Nose For News And Doesn't Realize That This Is Not Going To Just Blow Over.

Here Is A News Flash For The Clueless Bruce Hunter:

An AIG Sourse Tells Greenwich Roundup That The AIG Employee Retention Plan That Is Causing Working Folks Sharpening Their Pitchforks, Has Two Componets.

There Are Two Sets Of Bonus Payments.

This Is The First Bonus And Covers December 01, 2007 To November 30, 2008 That Was To Be Paid No Later Than March 15th of 2009.

Most People Including Bruce Hunter Don't Realize That The Clock Is Already Ticking On A Second Round Of Bonus Payments.

The Is Second Bonus Payments Cover December 01, 2008 To November 30, 2009 That Was To Be Paid No Later Than March 15th of 2010.

Next Years Bonus Payments Are A Done Deal

Good weather, more bands on tap for St. Patrick's parade
Greenwich Time
By Meredith Blake

With more bands, bagpipers, and Irish dance groups than previous years, the Greenwich Hibernian Association kicks off its 34th annual St. ...

Here Is The Latest on The Greenwich Ponzie scheme
The GreenwichTime Managing Editor Bruce Hunter
Has Failed To Cover On Line.....

Testimony of Elisse B. Walter Commission of SEC Before the US ...
Lawfuel (Securities and Exchange Commission press release)
... an unregistered investment vehicle; WG Trading Company, a registered broker-dealer located in Greenwich, Conn.; and Westridge Capital Management, ...

Business calendar
Norwalk Advocate

Greenwich Chamber of Commerce will meet from 5:30 to 7 pm at Frederic Fekkai. Cost is $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers. ...

Geriatrics ; Home Health ; Hospice ; Long Term Care ; Management ...
ADVANCE

An exciting opportunity for an exp., energetic and entrepreneurial nurse with a home care company based in Greenwich, CT and serving surrounding Fairfield ...

Stew to Pen Midsummer Score for Shakespeare on the Sound...
Playbill.com

Now in its 14th season, Shakespeare on the Sound presents free summer theatre along the Long Island Sound in Rowayton and Greenwich, CT parks. ...

Lightning strikes Big Green as Boldt named captain
Greenwich Post
It’s only March and already Greenwich resident Peter Boldt can’t wait to drop the puck on another season with the Dartmouth men’s ice hockey team. ...

Stamford Plus Magazine, The New York Guard, And Rev. Everett J. Wabst Get Suckered By Medicade Fraudster Michael Lonski......

Life Matters of Old Greenwich receives recognition for work at World Trade Center
Stamford Plus Magazine (Press Release)


Life Matters, Inc., is headquartered in Old Greenwich, Conn., and Dr. Lonski is the only TRICARE psychologist in Greenwich, specializing in psychological ...

In Fact, Old Greenwich Medicade Fraudster Michael Lonski
Is Pulling The Wool Over Evryones Eyes....

Fraudster Lonski's Press Release Continues.....

In addition to the World Trade Center Commemorative Plaque and Photo awarded to Life Matters, Inc., the organization has received numerous other recognitions and was recently nominated for the Defense of Liberty Medal in relation to its work at the World Trade Center. Dr. Mike Lonski also testified before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations in 2004, as well as the Connecticut Federal Defender’s Office on matters regarding Post Traumatic Stress Disorders.

PLEASE SEE:


The Raw Greenwich News Feed....

A Charity Fails Families Of Fallen Firefighters After 9/11

Hartford Courant

On a mild day in late November 2001, Stephen Careaga stood under the brick facade of a storied New York fire station, an unlikely benefactor from the Pacific Northwest who traveled to Manhattan with a cashier's check for nearly $4 million.

Three miles downtown, workers were still recovering the bodies of firefighters entombed in the twisted wreckage of the World Trade Center, and the New York Fire Department's hastily assembled funeral desk was scheduling the last few dozen memorials for the 343 firefighters killed on 9/11.

Careaga, a one-time volunteer firefighter and reserve police officer, had been trying to make money selling computer software to rural fire departments in Washington state. To get a foot in the door, he created a tiny nonprofit called FireDonations, with a website that would-be customers could use to collect online donations for fallen firefighters.

That was in August 2001.

A month later, when jumbo jets plowed into the World Trade Center towers and hundreds of firefighters trudged up the stairs to their deaths, Fire-Donations was the only fire-services charity on the Internet equipped to take online contributions for the cause.

Boosted by links on Yahoo and other national websites, money poured in from around the globe, peaking at a rate of $250,000 an hour. The nonprofit, hastily registered with the IRS and renamed Firefighters National Trust, collected $4 million in a week's time, and $6 million by the end of September.

In all, donors contributed $11 million to Firefighters National Trust, which promised that the money would go "directly to the spouses and children of the New York Firefighters and Rescue workers who lost their lives in the World Trade Center tragedy."

... show. In the charity's final act, Careaga transferred the $2 million still in the bank to a psychologist in Greenwich who had set up a nonprofit counseling service after a federal fraud case cut off his access to lucrative Medicare reimbursements.

Soon afterward, tax records show, that Greenwich nonprofit paid $150,000 to a consulting company Careaga had set up out of his house. Careaga acknowledges being paid by the charity, but says he can't recall specifically what he did or for how long he worked....

...Careaga took a $125,000 salary, while his No. 2 official received $100,000 a year. The charity also ran up large legal bills -- nearly all of which went to the Otto Law Group, led by the charity's secretary, David M. Otto, who was also the lawyer for Civil Communications.
Overall, Firefighters National Trust paid Otto's firm $400,000.There were laptops and BlackBerrys and airport lounge memberships for the charity's officers. In time, there were $10,000-a-month marketing deals ....

...There also were allegations of misspending, including airline tickets, expensive meals and other perks for the spouses of charity officials. Eighteen days after the terrorist attacks, according to a lawsuit filed by a former employee, charity funds were used to pay a $695 bill at Le Salon Paul Morey Spa in Seattle for Careaga's wife and the wives of two associates...
ONE LAST DONATION
...the beginning of 2005, the fundraising was over and Careaga made plans to shut down the charity and transfer all remaining funds -- more than $1.9 million -- to Life Matters, a Greenwich charity run by husband-and-wife psychologists Michael Lonski and Evelyn Llewellyn that provided psychological counseling to firefighters.But the money flowed both ways.

While Careaga was working to send the leftover cash to Life Matters, he was also negotiating to have the charity hire a company he had recently created out of his home, called CDF Consulting. Within the year, Life Matters sent $150,000 to CDF Consulting.Careaga defended the payment.
"There was a significant amount of knowledge that needed to be transferred, and Life Matters felt it was in their best interest to get that knowledge and to have some assistance setting up some programs, so that's what I did," he said in a recent interview.

Careaga initially said he helped develop a counseling program, a post-traumatic stress program and scholarship programs, though he later acknowledged that LifeMatters has no scholarship program.

"You might want to talk to them specifically about the programs," he said, "because it's been quite a few years and I don't really recall off the top of my head what the programs were."
Peter Chavkin, a lawyer speaking for Life Matters and Lonski, said Careaga was not hired to help the charity develop counseling programs, but rather to help find new sources of funding, as well as identify additional firehouses and other sites that might benefit from Life Matters' services.

He said Life Matters retained Careaga's company for two years, but terminated the arrangement after a year because it was dissatisfied with Careaga's work......

...... suggest exploring the possibility that any individuals currently associated with the Firefighters National Trust may personally benefit from a transfer to Life Matters," Jeffrey T. Even, an assistant attorney general, wrote in a January 2005 letter to Tracy Shier, one of the lawyers in Otto's law firm.

Shier, who was later disbarred in an unrelated matter, assured regulators that the transfer was clean, and Even sent another letter approving the plan "based on your representations that the distribution of assets is not conditioned upon any agreement to provide employment or any other financial arrangements to benefit any officer or director" of Firefighters National Trust....

...Chavkin, the lawyer for Life Matters, said the paperwork committing the $1.9 million from Firefighters National Trust was completed before Life Matters had finalized its consulting deal with Careaga."

My clear impression from Mike [Lonski] and from the lawyer that handled this is that on Mike and Life Matters' side of things, there was no link between the distribution of moneys and the ultimate retention for one year of CDF," Chavkin said. "And Mike had been told that the attorney general's concern was only that the two not be linked as a quid pro quo."
Lonski and Llewellyn created Life Matters in April 2002, at the same time federal investigators were probing millions in questionable Medicare claims made by Lonski and his private practice, L & L Psychological Services. In October 2002, Lonski and L&L agreed to pay $4 million to settle allegations that they had bilked the federal government by filing false claims in the 1990s.
According to a civil complaint filed by the Justice Department, Lonski submitted bills to Medicare for as many as 106 diagnostic exams for the same patient, and for performing as many as 67 diagnostic exams in a single day. The complaint also alleged that Lonski charged Medicare for services provided to relatives, claimed movie screenings as "group therapy" and then billed the government for as many as 75 clients who watched the movies, and charged for specialized psychological services that were never delivered.
...Careaga said he was introduced to Lonski by New York firefighters who had high regard for the Greenwich couple's programs. In late 2003, Firefighters National Trust began sending money to Life Matters to pay for grief counseling and training, and grants to the Greenwich charity topped $700,000 by the end of 2004 -- accounting for nearly half of Life Matters' income.

Bolstered by the funding, Lonski and Llewellyn paid themselves more than $480,000 in 2004, and an average of about $360,000 in the following two years. Lonski is still paying off his debt to the federal government -- and still counseling those affected by 9/11; on Friday, Chavkin said, Lonski was working at the World Trade Center site....

Dodd fights for his political life amid AIG mess
NECN

Greenwich businessman and millionaire Tom Foley and State Senator Sam Caliguri are both considering taking on Dodd. And former congressman Rob Simmons has ...
Westerly Land Trust broadens mission, undertakes downtown ...
TheDay

Approached by philanthropist Charles Royce of the Greenwich-based Royce Family Fund four years ago, the nonprofit trust has purchased an assortment of ...
Free breast cancer symposium features leading experts
Greenwich Post

The symposium will feature experts from Greenwich Hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ...
NCC student Donata Arden to receive award at State Capitol
Norwalk Plus Magazine
... Tanzania village, Ms. Arden moved to the United States three years ago after marrying Jim Arden, a retired educator from Greenwich Country Day School. ...
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