Archive for the 'Florida' Category
Madoff’s “Auditing” Firm: Friehling & Horowitz, One Room Office, Three Employees
December 16th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: The auditor for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, whose namesake was charged in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme last week, is under investigation by the district attorney in New York’s Rockland County, a northern suburb of New York City. The New City, New York, auditing firm Friehling & Horowitz signed off on […]
SEC Didn’t Act on Madoff Tips
December 16th, 2008Imagine my shock. Friehling and Horowitz… Just where is that rabbit hole going to lead? Via: Washington Post: The Securities and Exchange Commission learned about what it describes as one of the largest securities frauds in history when Bernard L. Madoff volunteered his confession, raising questions about the agency’s ability to police the financial marketplace. […]
The Desperate Final Hours of the World’s Biggest Ever Financial Fraud
December 15th, 2008UPDATE: Madoff Claims to Have Acted Alone Impossible. It’s like I said when the news first broke. He’s trying to stay alive. This one goes all the way up the ladder. One wrong word and he’s dead, his family is dead, etc. He knows it. He’s sticking to a script. For the first time, I’m […]
Activist Moves Homeless Into Foreclosed Homes
December 5th, 2008By placing this story in Collapse, I’m not making a value judgment on it; this is simply to indicate that we’re seeing the beginnings of a failed state situation. From this story alone, it should be clear just how little power that state actually has. If somebody told you five years ago that homeless people […]
Florida Pension Fund Loses a Quarter Its Value
November 18th, 2008This isn’t your usual Florida story. It also contains the phrase, “No need to panic.” Via: Forbes – AP: Florida’s public employee pension plan has lost more than a quarter of its peak value, but Gov. Charlie Crist and other officials Monday said the fund is built for the long haul and there’s no need […]
Mutant Seeds for Mesopotamia
October 22nd, 2008Via: Uruknet: One would think that Iraqi farmers, now prospering under “freedom” and “democracy,” would be able to plant the seeds of their choosing, but that choice, under little-known Order 81, would be illegal. … What makes this Order 81 even more outrageous is that Iraqi farmers have been saving wheat and barley seeds since […]
Florida: Elderly Man Jailed, Can’t Afford to Maintain His Lawn
October 12th, 2008UPDATE: Man Jailed for Brown Lawn Gets Help from Neighbors Via: St. Petersburg Times: On Friday morning, Joseph Prudente put on a pair of shorts and his “Grandpa Gone Wild” T-shirt. He took off his wedding band and put his heart medication in a plastic Wal-Mart bag. Then his daughter drove him to jail. Grandpa […]
Confirmed: Mexico Drug Plane Used for U.S. ‘Rendition’ Flights
September 7th, 2008Mmm hmm. Via: AFP: A private jet that crash-landed almost one year ago in eastern Mexico carrying 3.3 tons of cocaine had previously been used for CIA “rendition” flights, a newspaper report said here Thursday, citing documents from the United States and the European Parliament. The plane was carrying Colombian drugs for the fugitive leader […]
Boy Doles Out Hundreds of Fake $20 Bills at School
September 6th, 2008Via: AP: OCALA, Fla. — Authorities say an 8-year-old boy was handing out hundreds of dollars in fake $20 bills at an Ocala elementary school. School officials reported the boy to police on Tuesday. The fake bills were discovered when a child tried to use one to pay for lunch. An administrator then tracked down […]
Abramoff Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
September 5th, 2008Via: Reuters: Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced Thursday to serve four more years in prison in a corruption scandal that rocked Washington’s power elite and helped Republicans lose control of Congress. Abramoff is already serving a nearly six-year term on unrelated charges and the new sentence will be served at the same time, meaning […]
