Blogs
Scam Diego
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Warner Springs Ranch Ousts Board, Possibly Opening Way for Pala Band to Buy Back Ancestral Homeland
By Don Bauder - January 6, 2009, 7:25 p.m.
Members of North County's financially-troubled Warner Springs Ranch have successfully ousted the board by a vote ratio of more than 4 to 3. A new board has been elected. For some time, there has been a feud among the 1,000 owners. One group, mostly located far away, wanted to sell ...
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Jeff Moorad, Former Players' Agent, Says He Has Reached Agreement in Principle to Purchase Padres
By Don Bauder - January 2, 2009, 9:57 p.m.
Jeff Moorad has resigned as chief executive officer of the Arizona Diamondbacks and says he has an agreement in principle to buy the San Diego Padres, according to the Associated Press. Moorad was a former players' agent; other Major League Baseball owners have therefore been wary of him. Nonetheless, he ...
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Wall Street Journal Puffs Up Sam Wyly, Ignoring Offshore Tax Shenanigans Uncovered by Congressional Investigators
By Don Bauder - December 31, 2008, 10:34 a.m.
In a book review Dec. 29, the Wall Street Journal gives a rave review to "1,000 Dollars and an Idea," a book by Texas billionaire Sam Wyly. James Freeman, an assistant editor of the Journal's editorial page, sings the Wyly song and guzzles the Wyly Kool-Aid. But Freeman should have ...
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San Diego Home Prices Back to Levels of March '03, Down 36% from '05 Peak
By Don Bauder - December 30, 2008, 7:38 a.m.
According to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller data released this morning (Tues. Dec. 30), San Diego home prices in October were back to their levels of March of '03. San Diego existing homes have now dropped 36.4 percent from their peak in November of '05. In October of this year, local ...
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City of Industry to Vote Jan. 20 on $500 Million Infrastructure Bond that Would Serve Planned New Stadium
By Don Bauder - December 27, 2008, 11:08 a.m.
Industry, California (also known as City of Industry) votes Jan. 20 on a $500 million infrastructure bond to serve the area in which billionaire Ed Roski Jr. has proposed building a $800 million pro football stadium. Roski and his partner want to attract an existing team by 2010. The Chargers ...
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Delicious Irony: SEC Clears San Diego Councilmembers at the Time the Public Is Learning What a Worthless Agency It Is
By Don Bauder - December 20, 2008, 8:48 a.m.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its investigation into the involvement of San Diego's elected officials in the fraudulent bond offerings. This comes at the very time that the SEC will be investigating itself (supposedly); it admits that it had credible information on the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme ...
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Lead Indicators of San Diego Economy Continue Steady Decline
By Don Bauder - December 19, 2008, 10:44 a.m.
The lead indicators of the San Diego economy, compiled by University of San Diego economist Alan Gin, continued to drop in November, indicating that the good news is not arriving. The indicator has declined each month this year. The November 2008 reading was 110.6, down 1.9 percent from October. In ...
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County Unemployment Rate 6.9 Percent in November, Up from 4.9 Percent a Year Ago
By Don Bauder - December 19, 2008, 10:19 a.m.
San Diego lost 15,300 jobs in November from a year ago, and 2,200 from October, according to data from the state's Economic Development Corp. The unemployment rate was 6.9 percent, the same as the revised rate of October, but well above the 4.9 percent rate of November, 2007. It was ...
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Gless, Powanda Sentenced for Roles in Peregrine Systems Fraud
By Don Bauder - December 17, 2008, 10:14 p.m.
Matthew Gless, former chief financial officer of Peregrine Systems, was sentenced today (Dec. 17) to 63 months in custody for his role in the massive fraud. Former international sales director Douglas S. Powanda was sentenced to 78 months. Gless and his wife had worked at BMC Software, which was founded ...
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Ex-Madoff Trader, Now Running Cardiff Firm, Was Asked by Hedge Firms about Those Steady Returns
By Don Bauder - December 17, 2008, 3:48 p.m.
Steven Winters is the founder and managing partner of Gemini Strategies, a boutique Cardiff investment firm. His bio says that from 1994 through 1996, he was an equity and derivatives portfolio manager for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in New York, now being liquidated. Bernard Madoff has admitted to running ...
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Wall Street's Goldman Sachs, Which Got $10 Billion Government Handout, Paid Only 1% in Taxes
By Don Bauder - December 16, 2008, 6:25 p.m.
Here's one that should start a revolution. In October, Wall Street's Goldman Sachs, supposedly the best-managed investment firm (calling itself a bank) on the Street, got $10 billion and debt guarantees from the U.S. government, according to Bloomberg.com. But this year, Goldman will pay a mere $14 million in taxes, ...
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San Diegan Who Spearheaded Tax Avoidance Schemes for Dentists and Doctors Indicted on Tax Charges
By Don Bauder - December 16, 2008, 5:21 p.m.
A federal grand jury today (Dec. 16) indicted former dentist L. Donald Guess on two counts of filing false income tax returns. Guess ran a tax avoidance operation for medical professionals named xelan Inc. Four years ago it had more than $500 million of assets belonging to doctors and dentists. ...
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Federal Reserve Essentially Admits It Is Fighting Depression, Not Simply Recession. It Lowers Interest Rate Target to Lowest Level Ever
By Don Bauder - December 16, 2008, 12:32 p.m.
The Federal Reserve today (Dec. 16), essentially admitted it is fighting a depression, not a recession. The central bank dropped the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, to a range of zero to 1/4th of 1 percent, an all-time low. It had been 1 percent. The ...
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New Website Preserves Documents from Aguirre, Gwinn Administrations
By Don Bauder - December 16, 2008, 6:00 a.m.
There is a new website, www.sdcityattorney.com, that preserves documents created by former City Attorney Mike Aguirre. Importantly, this includes his 35 interim reports, which are perhaps the best record of San Diego corruption extant. The website also includes closed session meeting notes, legal opinions, and other significant reports. The new ...
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Copley Employees Likely to Get 5% to 15% Lower Lump Sum Benefits; If Company's Pension Plan Badly Underfunded, May Not Get Lump Sums at All
By Don Bauder - December 15, 2008, 10:39 a.m.
Yesterday afternoon, I posted an entry indicating that severely-ailing Copley Press will no longer be putting money into its defined benefit pension plan, although older employees will still have access to their money. New employees will not have such a plan. The change goes into effect Jan. 31, unless the ...
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Copley Press Tells Employees It Will Put No More Money into Defined Benefit Pension Plan
By Don Bauder - December 14, 2008, 6:22 p.m.
Union-Tribune employees say they were told Friday via the Copley Press's electronic in-house communications system that the company will no longer put money into the defined benefit pension program. New employees will not get into the defined benefit program, although they will be able to get into the defined contribution ...
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Melvyn Weiss, Once Co-Managing Partner of Notorious New York/San Diego Law Firm, Allegedly a Victim of Ponzi Schemer Madoff
By Don Bauder - December 13, 2008, 2:35 p.m.
According to the Wall Street Journal of Saturday/Sunday (Dec. 13-14) one of the persons who lost money in the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme of Bernard Madoff is New York's Melvyn Weiss, former co-head of the now-defunct New York/San Diego law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach. Several partners ...
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Gardner Gets 8 Years for Peregrine Scam; His Lawyer Says Criminal Activity Going on Before Gardner Got There
By Don Bauder - December 11, 2008, 4:42 p.m.
Stephen Gardner, former chief executive of Peregrine Systems, was sentenced today (Dec. 11) to eight years and one month for his role in the fraud. Gardner's lawyer, Reid Figel, said that Peregrine was engaged in criminal activity before Gardner arrived in 1997. "When he came to Peregrine, this type of ...
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Moody's Says Singleton's MediaNews Almost as Sick as Tribune, Headed for Default
By Don Bauder - December 11, 2008, 4:00 p.m.
Moody's Investors Service said today that William Dean Singleton's Denver-based MediaNews Group will soon be in default on its credit agreement, and its debt load is nearly as bad as the one that pushed Tribune Co. into bankruptcy. Despite well-known financial woes, Singleton's company has been considered a candidate to ...
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Goldsmith Continues Cheap Shots on City Website. He Criticizes Predecessor for Politicizing Office, Then Politicizes It Even More
By Don Bauder - December 10, 2008, 7:40 p.m.
Newly-elected City Attorney Jan Goldsmith is stepping up his political potshots even after being elected by a landslide, and even after being criticized for the practice by media who would normally be friendly. Goldsmith is doing so on the City website. Next to his picture he states, "During the past ...