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February
3 , 2003
Post time7:00 a.m. PST |
“We will
never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning, as they
prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds
of earth to touch the face of God.”
President Ronald
Reagan
---the words of President
Ronald Reagan in 1986 about the Challenger crew.
Headlines---
Senator John Glenn-Former Astronaut on
"Meet the Press"
Pictures
from the Past---1994-Pat Roberts
Full
Story on Four indicted on charges of fraud in the PinnFund case
Cash-out'
refinancing slowed in 4thQ, Not Taping Equity
US
buys up Iraqi oil to stave off crisis--Count Down to War
CORRECTION---Apology
to Wendy Bren, Not a "Nudist"
Latest
from Bob Cragin, who just retired from CIT
Ditka
to Lions: “If Mariucci passes, call me”
U.S. economy in holding pattern
Threat
of war has corporations, consumers feeling boxed in
Carolyn
Said, San Francisco Chronicle
### Denotes Press
Release
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senator John Glenn—Former Astronaut on “Meet the Press,”
Sunday, Feb 2,2002
with Tim Russert,
NBC News
“....to remember that we’re not up there in space just to
joy ride around. We’re up there to do things that are of value to everybody
right here on Earth. It’s not always just looking on out and planning
to go to Mars. That’ll happen sometime. But the reason we’re up there
and have the station and spend all this money is to do things that right
here on Earth—and some of the things that they had on this particular
flight on the Columbia flight were things like tissue generation of
a certain type, human tissue generation that could be done up there
in 3-D in a bioreactor that give a hope of maybe preventing the
transfer of cancer cells from the prostate to the hip bone, which is
a normal metastasis that they go through. Now, my dad died from that.
Every male, if he lives long enough, will have some cancer cells in
the prostate, they tell us. Maybe we can stop that. We have crystal
growth up there of a type that’ll let us do chemicals of greater purity
and better refining perhaps. We have combustion experiments that were
going on. And these were all on this particular flight, where combustion
now is being done with lower fuel-air mixtures than ever done before,
which may apply to automobiles and better conservation right here on
Earth. These are things that, you know, the reason we do these experiments—and
they had 90 on this particular flight—was for the benefit of people
right here on Earth. We’re not doing things that are going out into
space.
“We have 16 nations involved up there on this station right
now. Greatest engineering cooperative effort ever, a whole new leap
forward in international relations. We’ve led the world because of that
kind of leadership. We have the respect of the rest of the world because
of that kind of leadership that has benefited not only us, but all mankind.
Medicine, research, life expectancy is longer, standards of living is
up, mainly with American leadership in these areas because we’ve been
willing to push back these frontiers of the unknown.
MR. RUSSERT:
How old are you now?
MR. GLENN:
I’m 81.
MR. RUSSERT:
And you still have that pioneer spirit?
MR. GLENN:
Yeah, like to go again.
MR. RUSSERT:
You do? You would go up on the next shuttle flight?
MR. GLENN:
Oh, yeah. I think what we should be doing, if they send someone else
up, we should be developing a database of more than just one person
so it should be somebody else. But if NASA said we found something we’d
like to look at on your body again in space, would I be willing to go?
I’d be down there tomorrow morning.
The
Week's Economic Events
February 3
MONDAY
Construction Spending:
December
February 4
TUESDAY
Factory Orders: December
February 5
WEDNESDAY
None
February 6
THURSDAY
U.S. Productivity-4th
Qtr.
Sales of Leading
Retailers: January
Weekly Jobless Claims
February 7
FRIDAY
Unemployment: January
Consumer Borrowing:
December
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pictures from the Past---1994-Pat
Roberts
“Shiver me Timbers.”
Western Association of Equipment Leasing Newsline,1994
"It's hard to believe 9 years
have passed and I'm still
plugging along writing leases.
What great memories of the past 25 years in
UAEL and leasing!"
Pat
M & R Leasing, Inc.
7500 West Mississippi, Suite F20
Lakewood, CO 80226
303/455-5860
303/455-5771 Fax
perts1@aol.com
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############# #################################
FIRSTCORPT
Sold to IFC Credit Corporation
(It’s
Official—Again we had the news first----
“You reported Jim Merrilees has left Firstcorp, but here
is
the rest of the story, Firstcorp has been sold to IFG, in
IL. John Estok
will be moving to Chicago. Len (Ludwig) of course has his
new business
(venture leasing-Ven???) so this looks like the end of Firstcorp
as a local
Pacific Northwest lessor.”
January 22,2003
Leasing News had several subsequent stories, but here is
the official
press release: )
MORTON GROVE, Illinois- IFC Credit Corporation announced
that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire First Portland
Corporation dba FIRSTCORP, based in Portland, Oregon.
FIRSTCORP is a leading small-ticket lessor of office equipment.
The company serves equipment suppliers and end-users of equipment through
a direct sales force, and through an advanced online lease processing
system.
Rudolph D. Trebels, President and CEO of IFC Credit, commented:
“The acquisition of FIRSTCORP is an excellent strategic fit for IFC
Credit, and results in our becoming one of the largest independent lessors
in the industry.”
Len Ludwig, Chief Executive Officer of FIRSTCORP commented,
“Since the two companies have complimentary strengths and areas of expertise,
the new combined entity will be in a position to offer customers a complete
menu of products and services.”
Mr. Trebels concluded: “We expect a smooth integration of
FIRSTCORP’s business into our operations, and will work to maximize
the benefits of the expanded services and customer base. These factors,
combined with greater financial resources and broadened management and
service teams, should result in efficiencies and further growth.”
As a result of the acquisition, IFC Credit will have an expanded
market presence through staffed offices in Chicago, Irvine, Dallas,
Atlanta, New Jersey, Portland, and Morton Grove, IL.
The transaction is expected to close by February 10, 2003.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
IFC Credit Corporation is a national, independent equipment
leasing company providing innovative services to manufacturing, wholesale,
and professional service industries for both small-ticket and middle
market leasing transactions. Headquartered in Morton Grove, Illinois,
the company was founded in 1988 and serves a broad market from small
businesses to Fortune 500 companies. The company also serves the healthcare
market through Spectrum Medical Leasing, a company it acquired in 2002.
Contact:
Brian Cascarano
Vice President of Marketing
IFC Credit Corporation
(847) 663-6700
Len Ludwig
Chief Executive Officer
First Portland Corp. dba FIRSTCORP
503-598-4133
############## ##################################################
Full Story on Four indicted on charges of fraud in the PinnFund
case
By Mike Freeman
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Federal prosecutors indicted four people on fraud and other charges in connection with
PinnFund USA, a mortgage lender that was at the center of one of the
largest financial scams ever in San Diego County.
PinnFund, which on the surface looked like a legitimate mortgage
business employing 200 workers in Carlsbad, was in fact a sophisticated
pyramid scheme, say federal regulators. In the end, unsuspecting investors
were bilked out of $330 million.
Already, the company's chief executive and chief financial
officer have pleaded guilty to various fraud charges in the case and
are awaiting sentencing.
Named in the latest indictments are James Hillman, an Oakland
lawyer and key money raiser for PinnFund; Piotr Kodzis, Hillman's business
associate; Tommy Larsen, president of a PinnFund subsidiary called PinnLease;
and Larsen's son Kim Larsen, who also was involved in PinnLease.
"We are holding accountable those who committed one
of the largest frauds to have occurred in San Diego history," U.S.
Attorney Carol Lam wrote in a statement.
Meanwhile, two others linked to PinnFund pleaded guilty to
federal charges yesterday before the indictments were announced. Former
company president and co-owner Keith Grubba admitted to fraud and tax
evasion charges and agreed to cooperate with investigators. Also, Michael
Trap, a former PinnLease employee, admitted he lied to a federal grand
jury.
Both men are free pending sentencing, which is scheduled
April 21.
PinnFund abruptly shut down and went bankrupt in March 2001
after the Securities and Exchange Commission raided the company and
filed a securities fraud civil lawsuit.
Since then, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and the Internal
Revenue Service have been pursuing a criminal probe that paralleled
the SEC action. Prosecutors have had the help of former chief executive
Michael Fanghella, who pleaded guilty in March 2002 to several federal
charges. Fanghella agreed to help investigators in hopes of reducing
his possible 14-year prison sentence. Chief financial officer John Garitta
also pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced
April 14.
PinnFund was a classic pyramid scheme, prosecutors allege.
Investors were told that their money was being used to finance mortgage
loans. But instead, it was being used to cover PinnFund's massive losses,
pay for Fanghella's lavish lifestyle and to give investors a promised
17 percent monthly return.
Fanghella's lifestyle grabbed most of the headlines. Using
investor money, he purchased homes in Rancho Santa Fe, bought a yacht
and paid $100,000 for dinners and wine at 5-star restaurants. He also
gave more than $10 million in gifts to an ex-girlfriend, who at one
time had been a porn star.
Fanghella disappeared after the SEC filed its lawsuit. He
turned himself over to authorities in August 2001 and has been behind
bars since. He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
Tommy Larsen was arrested yesterday by the FBI and Escondido
police. He is expected to be arraigned today. His attorney, Douglas
Brown, said Larsen will plead not guilty and fight the charges.
Kim Larsen, Hillman and Kodzis are expected to be arraigned
Feb. 4.
Tom Brown, a Los Angeles lawyer representing Hillman, declined
to comment until he had read the indictment. The Union-Tribune was unable
to contact the lawyers for Kodzis and Kim Larsen.
The SEC settled its civil case in 2002. As part of the settlement,
Hillman agreed to turn over $47 million in personal assets to investors.
Hillman maintained throughout the civil case that he was duped by Fanghella,
who Hillman claimed was the ringleader of the scam.
Meanwhile, the roughly 160 investors who lost millions in
the scam have filed lawsuits against PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other
accounting agencies that audited the books of PinnFund and Hillman-run
entities. The lawsuits are ongoing.
Tom Frame, an investor, lost $8 million in the scam and was
forced to sell a house at a $1 million loss because his finances were
in a shambles. At one time, he had mixed feeling about criminal charges
being brought against Hillman. But now he has changed his mind.
"Even if he did not know exactly what Mike had done,
he told us several things that were absolutely not correct," said
Frame. "If he's found guilty by a jury of his peers, I don't have
any problems with it."
Hillman, 63 and Kodzis, 43, were charged with one count of
conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, 18 counts of mail fraud and
10 counts of wire fraud. Each count has a maximum penalty of five years
in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Tommy Larsen, 53, faces a 23-count indictment that includes
charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit
money laundering, perjury, subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice
and tax evasion.
Kim Larsen, 32, faces charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and
conspiracy to commit money laundering.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash-out'
refinancing slowed in 4th quarter
Fewer homeowners tap housing equity
BLOOMBERG NEWS
WASHINGTON – Fewer Americans raised cash by refinancing their
home loans in the fourth quarter, a sign consumer spending may slow,
according to a survey released last week by Freddie Mac, which buys
home loans.
New loans with balances at least 5 percent or higher than
the original mortgage fell to 41 percent of Freddie Mac-owned refinanced
loans, from 45 percent in the third quarter and 66 percent in the second
quarter, Freddie Mac's survey of so-called "cash-out" loans
showed.
The drop in the number of cash-out loans signals the housing
sector's influence on the U.S. economy may be waning, analysts said.
Without the rise in spending made possible by homeowners tapping their
property's equity to buy items such as cars and home furnishings, the
economy would have grown at a slower pace last year, said Freddie Mac
chief economist Frank Nothaft.
"Had this extra source of cash not been available, it
would be safe to say that the national economy would have been in much
worse condition," Nothaft said.
Home price appreciation slowed in the fourth quarter, with
the median rising 9 percent for a property where a homeowner refinanced,
down from 11 percent in the third quarter and 22 percent in the second
quarter.
The average size of a refinanced loan fell to $175,000 in
the fourth quarter, from $195,000 in the prior quarter, according to
the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. That puts the average refinanced
loan size at the lowest since the year-earlier quarter, when it was
$173,000.
"I suspect that the people who refinanced in the fourth
quarter were simply going for the lower rate, and had already done a
cash-out in a previous refinancing," said Phil Colling, an economist
with the banker's group.
Total refinancing volume in the fourth quarter reached $447.8
billion, a gain of 7.6 percent from the previous quarter, making it
the second- best quarter on record after the fourth quarter of 2001
when $476 billion was refinanced, Colling said.
The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.54
percent in 2002, down from 6.97 percent in 2001, according to Freddie
Mac. On Jan. 3 the rate hit a 37-year low of 5.85 percent.
Freddie Mac rival Fannie Mae is the largest buyer of mortgages.
The two were chartered by Congress to help people buy homes by providing
funds for mortgages. The two control about 41 percent of the housing
market.
US buys
up Iraqi oil to stave off crisis
By
Faisal Islam & Nick Paton Walsh
Guardian News Service
LONDON: Facing its most chronic shortage in oil stocks for
27 years, the
United States has this month turned to an unlikely source
of help - Iraq.
Weeks before a prospective invasion of Iraq , the oil-rich
state has
doubled its exports of oil to America, helping US refineries
cope with a
debilitating strike in Venezuela.
After the loss of 1.5 million barrels per day of Venezuelan
production in
December the oil price rocketed, and the scarcity of reserves
threatened to
do permanent damage to the US oil refinery and transport
infrastructure. To
keep the pipelines flowing, President Bush stopped adding
to the 700m
barrel strategic reserve. But ultimately oil giants such
as Chevron, Exxon,
BP and Shell saved the day by doubling imports from Iraq
from 0.5m barrels
in November to over 1m barrels per day to solve the problem.
Essentially,
US importers diverted 0.5m barrels of Iraqi oil per day heading
for Europe
and Asia to save the American oil infrastructure.
The trade, though bizarre given current Pentagon plans to
launch around 300
cruise missiles a day on Iraq, is legal under the terms of
UN's oil for
food programme. But for opponents of war, it shows the unspoken
aim of
military action in Iraq, which has the world's second largest
proven
reserves - some 112 billion barrels, and at least another
100bn of unproven
reserves, according to the US Department of Energy.
Iraqi oil is comparatively simple to extract - less than
$1 per barrel,
compared with $6 a barrel in Russia. Soon, US and British
forces could be
securing the source of that oil as a priority in the war
strategy. The
Iraqi fields south of Basra produce prized 'sweet crudes'
that are simpler
to refine.
On Friday, Pentagon sources said US military planners "have
crafted
strategies that will allow us to secure and protect those
fields as rapidly
as possible in order to then preserve those prior to destruction".
The US military says this is a security issue rather than
a grab for oil,
after a 'variety of intelligence sources' indicated that
Saddam planned to
damage or destroy his oil fields - which would inflict up
to $30bn damage
on the US economy and cause irreparable environmental damage.
But the
prospect of British and US commandos claiming key oil installations
around
Basra by force has pushed global oil diplomacy into overdrive.
International oil companies have been jockeying position
to secure
concessions before 'regime change'.
Last weekend a Russian delegation flew to Baghdad to patch
up relations
after Iraq's cancellation of its five-year-old contract to
develop the huge
West Qurna oil field - worth up to $600bn at today's oil
price. Lukoil was
punished by Baghdad for negotiating with the US and Iraqi
exiles on keeping
its concession in a post-Saddam Iraq.
The delegation of Ministers and oil executives returned to
Moscow with
three signed contracts. Oil is the state budget's lifeblood,
and Russia
requires an oil price of at least $18. Russians fear a US
grip on a large
reserve of cheap oil could send prices tumbling. But Saddam
has offered
lucrative contracts to companies from France, China, India
and Indonesia as
well as Russia. It is only the oil majors based in Britain
and America that
don't have current access to Iraqi contracts.
Richard Lugar, the hawkish chair of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee,
suggests reluctant Europeans risk losing out on oil contracts.
"The case he
had made is that the Russians and the French, if they want
to have a share
in the oil operations or concessions or whatever afterward,
they need to be
involved in the effort to depose Se Saddam as well,"
said Lugar's
spokesman.
A delegation of senior US Republicans was in Moscow last
Tuesday trying to
persuade Kremlin officials and oil companies that a war in
Iraq would not
compromise their concessions. A leaked oil analyst report
from Deutsche
Bank said ExxonMobil was in 'pole position in a changed-regime
Iraq'.
Washington is split along hawk-dove lines about the role
of oil in a
post-Saddam Iraq. Two sets of meetings sponsored by the State
Department
and Vice-President Dick Cheney's staff have been attended
by
representatives of Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhilips
and
Halliburton, the company that Cheney ran before his election.
The dovish line, led by Colin Powell, places the emphasis
on 'protection'
of Iraq's oil for Iraq's people. His State Department has
pointed to a
precedent in the US interpretation of international law set
in the 1970s.
Then, when Israel occupied Egypt's Sinai desert, the US did
not support
attempts to transfer oil resources.
While the State Department is mindful of cynical world opinion
about US war
aims, officials do not always stick to the script. Grant
Aldonas, Under
Secretary at the