We have to hope at this moment that JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), America
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European policy makers were urged to be tougher and more agile in their efforts to end two years of debt turmoil as the International Monetary Fund won more than $430 billion to safeguard the world economy.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde
Please remember that a payday loan is a rather expensive line of credit. Much like taking something to the pawn shop.
The yen fell against most of its major counterparts as Bank of Japan (8301) officials signaled they
ST. LOUIS Former Missouri Gov. Roger Wilson and a St. Louis lawyer were indicted on a federal misdemeanor charge late Wednesday for allegedly laundering campaign contributions to the Missouri Democratic Party through a St. Louis law firm, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Thursday morning.
State campaign finance records show that the contributions, $5,000 on Aug. 28, 2009, and $3,000 on Dec. 22, 2009, were from the Herzog Crebs law firm in St. Louis to the Missouri Democratic State Committee.
But Wednesday’s indictment says that the $8,000 actually came from a state-created workers’ compensation company, Columbia-based Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance Co., and Wilson.
They were made at the direction of former MEM board member Doug Morgan and with the knowledge and approval of Wilson, the indictment says, and came through former Herzog partner Ed Griesedieck, who was also indicted. Herzog was repaid for the $5,000 contribution by billing MEM for legal work. The $3,000 contribution was billed to Morgan, but Wilson eventually wrote a personal check to cover the contribution and MEM’s in-house counsel learned of the political contribution.
The other MEM board members did not know about or approve the contributions, the indictment says.
The criminal charge, misappropriation of money by someone in the insurance business, carries a potential penalty of up to a year in prison, but both men will likely face no more than probation and perhaps a fine.
The indictment sheds light on a mystery that has surrounded Wilson for nearly a year.
Since June 2011, when he was ousted as CEO, Wilson has refused to talk about the matter. That silence contrasted with his two decades in public office, when he was known as a straight-shooter who was always quick with a quip.
The indictment is the latest scandal for Columbia-based Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance Co., the state-created workers’ compensation firm that has endured a year of setbacks to its public image.
Two former board members were indicted separately last year for alleged theft and fraud involving other organizations. The company’s former chairman, Doug Morgan, resigned in May, and questions mounted in June when the company forced out its chief executive officer, Wilson, without explanation.
Chuck Hatfield, a longtime political adviser to Gov. Jay Nixon, was retained by Missouri Employers Mutual to help manage the crisis. Jim Owen, a former law school classmate of Nixon, became the CEO.
During Wilson’s tenure, the state-sponsored insurance company made at least one political donation to Jay Nixon’s gubernatorial campaign, even though the governor controls the 5-member board of Missouri Employers Mutual by appointing three of the insurer’s board members.
According to the Missouri Ethics Commission, the firm contributed $4,000 to the “Jay Nixon for Missouri” committee on Dec. 30, 2008. The contribution was made after Nixon’s election but before he took office in January 2009.
A recent state audit took issue with Missouri Employers Mutual’s spending practices, but did not dwell on its political contributions. However, the audit noted that company funds since 2003 were used for $8,000 in political contributions to the Missouri Democratic Party; $7,400 in cash and in-kind donations to the Missouri Insurance Coalition Political Action Committee; and $4,000 in donations to gubernatorial inaugural festivities in 2005 and 2009.
State Auditor Tom Schweich portrayed a company that operates like a private entity, handing out hefty bonuses to employees, while enjoying federal tax-exempt status and other advantages that its private competitors lack.
The company was created by the Legislature in 1993 in response to a crisis in the state’s insurance industry, when small businesses struggled to afford workers’ compensation coverage business card design. As an “independent public corporation,” the firm has avoided about $50 million in federal taxes since its founding, which has enabled it to accumulate a surplus of $163 million and become the state’s leading workers’ compensation provider.
The insurer paid about $1.58 million in severance benefits or settlement payments to four former top executives and employees who either resigned or who left the company in 2009 and 2010, the auditor found. The firm also has bankrolled lavish business jaunts to Hawaii and Mexico, along with sports tickets and suites for its board members, executives, employees and guests.
Amid state lawmakers’ questions about the company’s large surplus and tax-exempt status, Missouri Employers Mutual recently decided to pay its first dividend to members
Griesedieck’s firm worked for Missouri Employers Mutual, but he had another connection.
He also represented a development company in a failed bid for a casino in north St. Louis County.
Last year, federal prosecutors claimed in an indictment that MEM board member and former chairman of the St. Louis County Planning Commission Doug Morgan told at least two friends he was a secret partner in the development company, North County Development LLC.
POLITICAL PAST
Politics ran in Wilson’s family.
Wilson was an assistant elementary school principal in Columbia in 1976 when friends persuaded him to run for Boone County collector, an office his father had held. Wilson’s grandfather had been Boone County sheriff when he was killed in a gunbattle with bank robbers in 1933.
Roger Wilson moved to the state Senate in 1979. Education and law enforcement were his focus, along with the state budget. He headed the Appropriations Committee for six years.
He won his first statewide election in 1992, edging out State Auditor Margaret Kelly in the lieutenant governor’s race. He won re-election in 1996.
Wilson was expected to run for governor in 2000 but dropped that quest in March 1998, citing a distaste for raising the millions of dollars needed for the campaign and a desire to spend more time with his family.
Wilson was nearing the end of his term as lieutenant governor in October 2000, when Gov. Mel Carnahan was killed in a plane crash. Wilson took over as governor for three months, until Democrat Bob Holden was inaugurated.
After leaving the Capitol, Wilson worked for a money management firm. He served as the Missouri Democratic Party’s chairman from 2004 to 2007.
The county government building in Columbia is named after him. A statute of him stands outside the building.
Griesedieck’s profile has been removed from the Herzog website, and a reporter was told Wednesday that he was no longer with the firm.
In his 2008 profile, the firm said that Griesedieck was a partner and member of the firm’s management committee and did corporate and real estate work and acted as general counsel for a number of medium and large corporations throughout the Midwest.
He also is a former city attorney and prosecuting attorney for several St. Louis County communities and hosted the “Ask the Attorney” program on KMOX for 20 years.
He graduated from Notre Dame and St. Louis University Law School, the site says.
The International Monetary Fund wants measures attached to a potential loan to Egypt to have
Asian stocks rebounded Thursday on signs that a debt relief deal for Greece will go through and as an upbeat report on U.S. payrolls added to optimism about the world’s biggest economy.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.3 percent to 9,697.99. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7 percent to 20,765.51 and South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.4 percent to 1,989.46.
Growing investor participation in a massive Greek debt relief deal bolstered the mood in stock markets. By Wednesday night, investors owning around half of Greece’s privately held debt had committed to a bond swap that would see them accept losses to avoid facing even bigger ones in case Athens defaults.
Greece needs at least 67 percent of investors to sign up by Thursday night, so it can get a related euro130 billion ($171 billion) bailout from European countries and the International Monetary Fund.
A private monthly report on U.S. payrolls that estimated companies added 216,000 workers last month, beating expectations, also helped boost investor sentiment.
“Risk assets are set to benefit from the improved sentiment, though trading may still be cautious ahead of a slew of events later this week,” including interest rate decisions by the European and British central banks and U.S. jobs data, strategists at Credit Agricole CIB wrote in a research note.
In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9 percent to 2,416.54 and Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 was up 0.5 percent to 4,165.10. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand also rose.
On Wall Street on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.6 percent at 12,837.33. The S&P 500 index gained 0.7 percent to close at 1,352.63. The Nasdaq composite index 0.9 percent to close at 2,935.69.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3156 from to $1.3150 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar rose to 81.21 Japanese yen from 81.19 yen.
Benchmark oil for April delivery was up 14 cents to $106.02 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose by $1.46 to end at $106.16 per barrel in New York.
South Korean inflation may accelerate above the government
There’s still no sign of flinching in the game of chicken between two proposed outlet mall centers in Chesterfield.
Both projects have been going full steam ahead even though it’s apparent that only one will end up getting built.
They both have submitted site plans to the city – though Chesterfield Outlets is a bit further along in the vetting process than its rival. And now St. Louis Premium Outlets has got the ball rolling on applying for financing.
The developers of the proposed St. Louis Premium Outlets recently filed an application with the city to form a community improvement district.
It would raise as much as $30 million through bonds, which would be paid back through a sales tax of up to one percent that would be levied on this property.
I might add that back in October, Stephen Coslik, chief executive of Texas-based Woodmont Co., one of the backers of this $85 million outlet project, said he would not seek tax-increment financing. But he didn’t rule out then the possibility of seeking assistance through other government programs. Now we know why. (Simon Property Group, owner of St. Louis Mills, is the other major partner on this project.)
The city gave a preliminary OK to the special taxing district earlier this month, but it still has to go through another round of scrutiny before coming up for final approval.
In the meantime, the city has not yet received any financing applications from the other proposed project – Chesterfield Outlets, which is being spearheaded by Taubman Centers. But there have been informal discussions with city officials about creating a transportation development district, which would help provide some funds for the project.
The site plans for this development are a couple steps ahead of the other project and have already been approved by the city’s architectural review board and are now going before the planning commission next week.
On a conference call with investors earlier this month, Robert Taubman, the company’s chief executive, said that he expects Chesterfield Outlets to receive final site plan approval and to start construction in April, with an opening slated for fall of 2013.
“With 2.8 million people and no outlet center in the market, tenants have responded strongly,” he said, though he didn’t mention any specific retailers.
So, yes, neither is backing down. It will be interesting to see who blinks first.
AMERICAN GIRL
Of all the stories I’ve written in the past year, perhaps no other has spurred as many phone calls as the news that an American Girl store is coming to Chesterfield Mall no credit check payday loans.
Well, I’m now happy to report (so people can stop asking me) that the store is scheduled to open in April. It will hold a grand opening on April 21 and 22, but there will be a “soft” opening a couple days earlier, according to a mall spokeswoman.
The arrival of a new American Girl store often creates a lot of buzz because of its devoted following and few stores. The Chesterfield store will be the retailer’s 12th nationwide and the first in the St. Louis region.
The American Girl store undoubtedly will boost Chesterfield Mall, where Abercrombie & Fitch, Franklin Covey, and Johnston & Murphy recently closed stores. Francesca’s Collections is already planning to open in the latter location this spring.
But I’m guessing that those other vacant spaces will be a bit easier to fill now that American Girl is moving into the neighborhood.
MORE ON BLOCKBUSTER
There was confirmation this week that the Blockbuster store closings in the St. Louis region are mirroring what’s going on nationwide.
Last week, I wrote about how 10 of 26 local Blockbuster stores are closing. The company wouldn’t say much about it at the time — nor would it provide a total number of store closings.
Well, in a fourth-quarter earnings call this week, a Dish Network executive said the company is closing about 500 Blockbuster stores in the first quarter. That is about a third of stores nationwide.
Dish, which bought Blockbuster at a bankruptcy auction last year, has about 1,500 stores (at least until this recent round of store closings began.)
Joe Clayton, Dish’s chief executive, said that the overall Blockbuster business was “break even” for the third straight quarter, according to a transcript of the earnings call.
“The overall business came in very close to where we’d expected,” he said.
But he added that the company has said from the beginning that it would take action when necessary and soit was closing these stores for reasons such as underperformance, size of the stores, or inflexible landlords.
Walt Disney Co. gave a 2011 pay package valued at about $31.4 million to CEO Bob Iger, up 12 percent from a year earlier, according to an Associated Press analysis of data disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday.
The company said Iger merited the raise, citing Disney’s growth in the face of a challenging economic environment. Burbank-based Disney generated record-breaking profit and revenue for fiscal 2011.
The boost in Iger’s compensation came after Disney’s share price slid 12.5 percent to $29 during the company’s fiscal year, which ended Oct. 3. That was also the same day the stock market reached its low for 2011 after a turbulent summer and early fall that drove the stocks of many companies sharply lower. Disney shares have since recovered and closed Friday at $39.31.
Iger, 60, received a base salary of $2 million, unchanged from the previous fiscal year, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He also received stock awards valued at $8.1 million at the time they were granted, an increase of 10 percent from a year earlier, and option awards valued at about $4.8 million on the day they were granted, up 9 percent from the year before.
Iger’s performance-based cash bonus grew 15 percent from the prior year to about $15.5 million.
His other compensation jumped 21 percent to $962,932, including $371,439 for personal use of company aircraft and $561,303 for security costs.
Iger’s total compensation in fiscal 2010 was $28 million.
Disney’s net income for fiscal 2011 grew 21 percent to a record $4.8 billion, or $2.52 per share, aided by the success of films such as “The Lion King” in 3-D, and improved revenue from its consumer products, TV and theme park businesses.
Revenue rose 7 percent to a record $40.9 billion.
The Associated Press formula calculates an executive’s total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The value that a company assigned to an executive’s stock and option awards for 2011 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company’s stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.
Shares in Research In Motion are sharply higher amid a new report that the BlackBerry maker is considering selling all or parts of the company.
The report, from The Boy Genius Report blog, which closely follows RIM, says South Korean electronics giant Samsung is the frontrunner among possible bidders for assets of the Waterloo, Ont.,-based maker of smartphones and other products.
The Boy Genius Report also says RIM is currently in talks to license its software to other vendors.
It says one of RIM’s biggest assets is its BlackBerry Messenger instant texting service, which would allow Samsung to differentiate itself from the Android operating system that it uses in its smartphones.
Shares in RIM, which has been the subject of takeover or sale rumours for months, were up 61 cents at $17.47 in afternoon trading after been up more than 75 cents in earlier trading.
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