Avery Dennison Press Release:

Avery Dennison to Sponsor Emerging Fashion Brand Award at WGSN Global Fashion Awards 2013

Emerging Designer will Receive €12,000 in Funding to Build Collection Brand

Thursday, May 30, 2013 3:00 am PDT

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LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Avery Dennison Retail Branding and Information Solutions (AD/RBIS) the world’s leading apparel branding solutions provider will sponsor the WGSN Global Fashion Awards, including offering a new award in support of emerging apparel designers and the successful development of their independent fashion brand. The Avery Dennison Emerging Fashion Brand Award will not only give these rising talents the opportunity to showcase their work in front of an international jury of 50 prominent fashion designers, opinion leaders and journalists, but will also fund €12,000 to help the winners further develop their brand.

A global leader in apparel branding solutions, Avery Dennison empowers designers with the latest innovative product branding solutions which enable design creativity, brand integrity, and ultimately the ability to tell a compelling brand story. With these solutions, Avery Dennison works with leading global apparel brands to enable designers to create high-impact brand graphics and distinctive finishing touches as part of a garment’s design.

Branding is essential to the appeal of a garment to the consumer and the success of any apparel company, and the more integral branding becomes to the apparel design process, the more effectively a company can communicate its brand values. This is why Avery Dennison has challenged the WGSN finalists to unleash their creativity and create an inspiring brand story for their collection by considering the conceptual application of the company’s full complement of branding solutions and tools – from woven and printed labels, to standout heat transfer embellishments, and sustainable hangtags and packaging solutions.

To qualify for the awards, brands or designers must have their own independent label, which should be no more than two years old as of 30 June 2013. Entries are welcome from around the world; however, the award is not open to currently enrolled students. The best submissions will also benefit from being posted on Arts Thread™, the only creative graduate website which aims to promote new talent on a global scale. Through their partnership with Arts Thread, Avery Dennison and WGSN will increase visibility of the award among the emerging designer community.

Judges will consider not only the independent designer’s collection branding but also his or her collective brand vision, from the website through to their marketing. The brand with the most coherent and creative vision will win the award.

“Converting hard-earned recognition on the catwalk into building a successful brand is the biggest challenge facing every designer,” says Tim Voegele-Downing, global creative director, Avery Dennison RBIS. “We are looking for a designer who is not only capable of creating an inspired fashion collection, but who also truly understands the importance of product branding and is capable of telling a compelling brand story.”
Lauretta Roberts, WGSN Global Fashion Awards director, says: “Avery Dennison is a leading expert in apparel branding, something that is key to success in modern retail. Together we’re looking for someone we believe has a long future in fashion demonstrated by the vision they have for their brand.”

“We work on a regular basis with design teams from some of the world’s largest apparel brands, and we are excited to partner with WGSN and Arts Thread to bring our insights to emerging designers and help them understand the importance of product branding in realizing their vision,” said Tracy Van Hoven, vice president, global marketing communications, Avery Dennison RBIS. “Branding is such a vital part of the fashion industry, and we are excited to see how these talented designers integrate our unique branding solutions into their collection and their marketing vision to effectively compete.”

The Awards take place on October 30, 2013 in London. Entries for the award are now open at www.globalfashionawards.com/categories with a closing of Wednesday, June 12th.
Judges for this year’s WGSN Global Fashion Awards include designers Giles Deacon, Bora Aksu, Stephen Jones and Rebecca Minkoff, model and writer Laura Bailey, Eco-Age founder Livia Firth, blogger Bip Ling, singers VV Brown and Kate Nash, Tim Voegele-Downing, and Mr Porter editor-in-chief Jeremy Langmead.

About Avery Dennison RBIS
Avery Dennison RBIS, a global leader in apparel and footwear industry solutions, is a $1.5 billion division of Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY). Avery Dennison RBIS provides intelligent, creative and sustainable solutions to elevate brands and accelerate performance from design to retail store floor. The company’s industry leading, end‐to‐end solutions include innovative heat transfer technology, RFID and price management supply chain solutions and sustainable packaging services. Based in Framingham, Massachusetts, Avery Dennison RBIS has 115 locations in 50 countries and across six continents. For more information, visit www.rbis.averydennison.com.

About Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) is a global leader in labelling and packaging materials and solutions. The company’s applications and technologies are an integral part of products used in every major market and industry. With operations in more than 50 countries and 30,000 employees worldwide, Avery Dennison serves customers with insights and innovations that help make brands more inspiring and the world more intelligent. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, the company reported sales from continuing operations of $6 billion in 2012. Learn more at www.averydennison.com.     

Press release:

Chevron’s Fuel Your School Program Expands to Support Nine Communities Across the U.S.

Innovative program to fund classroom projects adds seven communities to the 2012 program; consumers can help generate nearly $5 million for teachers and students

SAN RAMON, Calif., Sept. 5, 2012 – Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (NYSE: CVX) announced the expansion of its Fuel Your School program to nine communities this fall from two communities in 2011.  Fuel Your School will provide useful funding for eligible classroom projects developed by public school teachers and posted to DonorsChoose.org in the following communities:

• Alameda and Contra Costa counties, California

• Orange County, California

• Kern County, California

• Sacramento County, California

• St. Tammany, Orleans and Plaquemines parishes, Louisiana

• Jackson County, Mississippi

• Multnomah County, Oregon

• Harris County, Texas

• Salt Lake and Davis counties, Utah

Chevron will donate $1 for every eight gallon or larger fill up from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31 at participating Chevron and Texaco stations in those communities, up to a total contribution of nearly $5 million.

"Educating today's students remains critical to our country's future, but America's schools face significant challenges and have fallen behind in science, technology, engineering and math," said Dale Walsh, president of Chevron Americas Products. "Fuel Your School provides teachers with essential tools and resources that help students learn, explore and get excited about STEM education to help prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow."

The program is an innovative collaboration with DonorsChoose.org, an online charity to help students in need. All year, public school teachers across the U.S. post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org, ranging from pencils to microscope slides and even live tarantulas for use with biology lessons.

"Teachers spend more than $350 of their own money every year on materials for their students," said Charles Best, CEO of DonorsChoose.org. "Our site enables public school teachers to post projects for funding from their community and companies like Chevron who want to improve students' education."

The lack of adequate school funding across the nation has become so dire that some teachers do not have basic supplies to help students complete their classroom assignments. During the last school year, public school teachers shared more than 100,000 requests on the DonorsChoose.org website. One of those requests came from Ms. Lim-Breitbart, who teaches high school physics at Aspire California College Preparatory Academy in Berkeley, Calif., but lacked the resources to provide students with hands-on scientific activities. With the help of the Fuel Your School program, she and her students received digital thermometers and hot plates to use during physics lessons.

"[The] donation helped change our classroom from 'getting by' to 'doing real science' this year," said Lim-Breitbart. Students now believe that "science is a real option for them in the future."

Chevron partners with local communities, governments and non-profit organizations to increase learning opportunities for students and support the social and economic vitality of communities where the company has significant business operations. Chevron has contributed nearly $100 million for education in the U.S. over the past three years.

Since its inception in 2010, Fuel Your School has funded more than 3,000 classroom projects at nearly 600 schools, and the program has grown each year to support students in additional communities. Public school teachers and other educators are invited to post eligible projects starting on September 1 to www.DonorsChoose.org, for possible funding as part of the Fuel Your School program.

Consumers can track the classroom projects in need of funding and see how much money is being earned for public schools in each city by visiting www.FuelYourSchool.com. Donations earned through Fuel Your School will be used to fund eligible classroom projects from Oct. 2 through Nov. 30, 2012, or until funds generated by this program have been exhausted by eligible projects. Consumers and Chevron employees may also independently fund classroom projects on the DonorsChoose.org website by making separate, individual donations.

About Chevron

Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide. The company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

About DonorsChoose.org

Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need.  Public school teachers from every corner of America post requests, and individuals can give directly to the ones that inspire them. To date, 237,000 public and charter school teachers have used DonorsChoose.org to secure $120 million in books, art supplies, technology, and other resources that their students need to learn.

S.E.C. Member’s Role in Failed Mutual Fund Reform

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Monday, August 27, 2012

S.E.C. Member’s Role in Failed Mutual Fund Reform

By NATHANIEL POPPER

Luis A. Aguilar, one of five members of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is generally known as one of its strongest advocates for tougher oversight of the securities industry. In public statements this year, he has pushed his S.E.C. colleagues to be more aggressive, contending that the commission was not protecting investors assiduously enough.

But last week, Mr. Aguilar derailed one of the most significant current efforts to tighten regulations on the financial industry. His opposition to a proposal put forward by the S.E.C. chairwoman, Mary L. Schapiro, which was intended to improve the safety and soundness of a popular investment, money market mutual funds, put Mr. Aguilar in lock step with the powerful and aggressive mutual fund industry in which he worked as a lawyer from 1994 to 2002. Mr. Aguilar’s decision to oppose Ms. Schapiro’s plan last week became the third and deciding S.E.C. vote against the proposal.

His public criticisms of the approach taken by Ms. Schapiro closely echo those made by the industry in its fierce lobbying effort to scuttle a regulatory plan that had won support from nearly every top financial regulator, including the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.

It is not uncommon, of course, for regulators to side with the industries they oversee. But Mr. Aguilar has been adamant that he is not against prudent reform. He has said instead that he wants to be sure regulators have enough information before they move forward with new rules.

Behind the scenes, though, Mr. Aguilar had not requested that additional information, according to people briefed on his actions in recent months.

In his statement outlining his opposition to Ms. Schapiro’s plan, for instance, he said “there are larger macro questions and concerns about the cash management industry as a whole” that needed to be studied before the S.E.C. could move forward with efforts to improve money market funds. Mr. Aguilar did not mention the need for further study to Ms. Schapiro until two days before he went public with his opposition last week, commission officials said.

Possible changes to money market funds have been discussed within the agency for over a year, and Ms. Schapiro distributed the 414-page proposal in June to the four other members of the commission, including Mr. Aguilar. During that time, S.E.C. staff members made numerous overtures to Mr. Aguilar to address any concerns he might have had about the proposal, but most were rebuffed, the people said. On the other hand, Mr. Aguilar met with mutual fund companies 11 times this year as the proposal was being developed, according to S.E.C. records.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

GE healthymagination Fund Joins Leading Investor OrbiMed in $20 Million Series B Financing Round for Ornim, Inc.

Press release:

21 August 2012

GE healthymagination Fund Joins Leading Investor OrbiMed in $20 Million Series B Financing Round for Ornim, Inc.

 

MILWAUKEE & HERZLIYA & LOD, Israel--21 August 2012-- GE (NYSE: GE), together with OrbiMed Israel and Ornim, Inc., announced today a $20 million investment in Ornim, Inc., a developer of the CerOx™ monitor that non-invasively monitors blood flow and oxygen saturation in brain and muscle tissue.

OrbiMed is a leading investment firm dedicated to building world-class biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. The investment in Ornim, Inc., is being made through OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, OrbiMed's investment fund in Israel, which focuses on Israeli life science investments.

GE’s investment is being made through the GE healthymagination Fund, an equity fund that makes investments in highly promising healthcare technology companies and is jointly managed by GE Capital and GE Healthcare, GE’s financial services and healthcare divisions, respectively. In addition to their financial investment, Ornim and GE Healthcare will be exploring development of potential strategic relationship as part of a broader collaboration.

Maintaining adequate blood flow and oxygenation are primary clinical goals for critical care patients. However, today, a full measurement is only achievable using multiple, often invasive devices. There is a strong clinical need to provide accurate, multi-parameter, continuous monitoring of blood flow and oxygenation in the brain that is both non-invasive and cost-effective.

By using near-infrared spectroscopy combined with ultrasound waves, Ornim’s CerOx is a United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared device that enables clinicians to monitor two critical parameters in adult patients: regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the brain or in a region of skeletal muscle tissue beneath the CerOx sensor and microcirculation blood flow in tissue. It is also the only device that does so in tandem.

The investment was made as part of a Series B financing round that was led by OrbiMed and that also included Agate Medical Investment LP’s Agate-MAC Fund. The financing will be used for further development, clinical studies, international marketing and commercialization of Ornim’s CerOx monitor. The financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

“The decision to invest in Ornim was based on the growing realization that there is a crucial need to monitor vital organs (such as the brain) during a variety of medical procedures,” said Dr. Nissim Darvish, Senior Managing Director of OrbiMed. “The uniqueness of Ornim’s technology results from its ability to monitor in real time oxygen saturation in brain tissue, along with microcirculation blood flow. The potential market of this technology is very large, and the current solutions are not adequate. This potential, along with a very professional and experienced team, could allow the company to become a world leader in its field.”

Ornim also announced today the appointment of Mr. Israel Schreiber as the company’s new CEO. Mr. Schreiber has more than 20 years of managerial experience in the medical device industry both in Israel and in the United States. He served as the CEO of Itamar Medical and, most recently, as the CEO of ITGI Medical.

“The investment announced today will enable Ornim to accelerate product development and promote the introduction of the CerOx™ monitor to the international market,” said Schreiber. “The relationship with GE, a world leader in patient monitoring, alongside OrbiMed, one of the largest healthcare venture capital fund managers, provides important benefits, including an in-depth understanding of the market as well as vast operational and marketing experience.”

The investment also is aligned with GE Healthcare’s expanding focus on patient monitoring solutions that can improve healthcare globally, as well as GE’s broader healthymagination initiative, which focuses on reducing cost, increasing patient access and improving quality in healthcare.

“Ornim’s technology is not only innovative but it presents great promise to better monitor patients in a critical care setting, providing additional information to aid clinicians in the care of their patients,” said Thierry Leclercq, General Manager, GE Healthcare Systems Life Care Solutions.

"Ornim is Agate-MAC’s first investment in an Israeli subsidiary,” said Agate-MAC Fund Managing Partner Michel Habib. “We chose to invest because Ornim Medical has developed a market-changing technology that will dramatically improve the ability of the intensivist to monitor the brain condition of patients in critical care procedures, non-invasively.”

Ornim plans to launch the CerOx™ monitor – which also has received CE marking – in the U.S. and European markets within the next 18 months.

About Ornim, Inc.

Ornim, Inc., through its fully owned subsidiary Ornim Medical Ltd., is bringing to market the CerOx™ monitor, both FDA-cleared and CE marked device that, using near infrared light and ultrasound waves, continuously, non-invasively and in tandem, monitors two critical parameters in adult patients: regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the brain or in regions of skeletal muscle tissue beneath the sensor and microcirculation blood flow in tissue. It is the only solution that offers measurement of this combination. Ornim anticipates that the combined measurement of oxygen saturation and blood flow will become essential during every medical procedure done under general anesthesia, for monitoring brain-injured patients, and during resuscitation. The CerOx monitor is designed for use in a variety of clinical settings including the operating room and the intensive care unit.

Ornim Medical, based in Lod, Israel, was founded in 2004 by Dr. Revital Shechter and Dr. Michal Balberg and is a fully owned subsidiary of Ornim, Inc., a Delaware Corporation. Mr. Israel Schreiber is Ornim Medical’s new CEO. Dr. Shechter is the company’s president and VP of R&D. Dr. Balberg is the company’s chief technology officer and Dr. Moshe Kamar is the company’s VP of medical affairs. Its proprietary technology is protected by 5 issued United States patents and numerous worldwide patent applications.www.ornim.com

About OrbiMed

OrbiMed is a leading investment firm dedicated exclusively to the life sciences sector, with approximately $6 billion in assets under management. OrbiMed invests across the entire spectrum of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies on a worldwide basis. Investments are made through venture capital funds, public equity funds, and other investment vehicles.

Since inception of its venture capital activities in 1993, OrbiMed has partnered with over 100 companies across a wide range of therapeutic categories and stages of development. OrbiMed’s investment team includes over 40 experienced investment professionals with offices in New York City, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Shanghai and Mumbai. Recently OrbiMed launched OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, a $222 million fund dedicated to Israeli life science investments. As the largest investment firm dedicated to the healthcare sector by net assets under management, OrbiMed seeks to be a capital provider of choice, bringing the global resources required to be an exceptional long term partner for building world-class biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. www.OrbiMed.com.

About Agate Medical Investments LP

Agate Medical Investments LP is a group of funds founded by Dani Naveh, specialized in providing growth capital to mature Medtech companies. Agate, as one of Israel's leading healthcare investors, has established a leading position in the healthcare VC industry, resulting in quality deal-flow and investor partnerships. Since its formation in late 2007, Agate I has invested in 9 promising companies. Agate II was established in February 2012, for Korea-Israel MedTech investments, under partnership in the MAC fund.www.agate-invest.com

About the GE healthymagination Fund

The GE healthymagination Fund is part of GE’s $6 billion healthymagination initiative, a global commitment to deliver better healthcare to more people at lower cost. The Fund targets three broad areas for investment: Broad-based diagnostics, Healthcare Information Technology, and Life Sciences. The Fund draws on capabilities from across GE Healthcare, GE Capital and GE Global Research, and has a global footprint. For further information about the fund, visit www.healthymaginationfund.com.

About GE Capital

GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visitwww.gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapital).

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

Goldman Sachs, Still Playing in Bayou’s Mud — Fair Game

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Sunday, August 19, 2012

Goldman Sachs, Still Playing in Bayou’s Mud — Fair Game

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

THE story of the Bayou Group, the hedge fund firm that collapsed in a whirl of lies and drugs, was always a little weird. But it just keeps getting weirder.

You may recall Bayou — or at least its founder-turned-con man, Samuel Israel III. To the world, Mr. Israel was a trading whiz. Then, one August afternoon in 2005, the police responded to a 911 call from Bayou’s offices in Stamford, Conn., and found a note explaining how he had perpetrated a giant fraud.

Mr. Israel, it turned out, wasn’t managing a hedge fund at all. He was running a Ponzi scheme — a small-time version of the Madoff racket that, at that very moment, was still going strong. Mr. Israel, who said he’d become addicted to painkillers, was later sentenced to 20 years in prison — then two more for jumping bail, faking his suicide and going on the lam. His abandoned vehicle was found on the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River, the words “suicide is painless” written in the dust on the hood.

Now, as Mr. Israel sits in jail, this tale has taken yet another twist. It came late last month from, of all places, Goldman Sachs.

Goldman had executed and cleared trades for Bayou, and there were questions about how well Goldman supervised the account. On July 30, Goldman paid $20.7 million to roughly 200 Bayou investors in the United States. Those investors, unsecured creditors in a separate Bayou bankruptcy case, were awarded that amount by a securities arbitration panel in June 2010.

It was one of the few bright spots of the Bayou story, but it didn’t last. The same day Goldman paid the investors, the firm filed its own creditor’s claim for the same amount — $20.7 million — in the Bayou bankruptcy. Goldman contended that paying the award had made it, too, a Bayou creditor. If the court agrees, the investors who won their arbitration case — also unsecured creditors of Bayou — will be out of luck.

Ross B. Intelisano, a partner at Rich, Intelisano & Katz in New York who represented the Bayou investors, said they would fight Goldman’s latest filing.

I asked Goldman last week about the bankruptcy court filing. Michael DuVally, a spokesman, said Goldman never controlled the money at issue in the arbitration.

“Our claim is consistent with bankruptcy law,” he said in a statement. “The arbitration panel, which was not ruling on wrongdoing, determined that money the Bayou funds deposited with us while insolvent needed to be returned to the estate to distribute to creditors. With the ruling, we became a creditor entitled to compensation along with the other victims of the fraud.”

The statement continued: “We were harmed by the Bayou funds and those funds should bear responsibility for the actions we took on their behalf and at their direction.  At the end of the day, it was their fraudulent behavior that was the principal cause of any damage suffered by Bayou investors.”

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

A Renewed Multilateral Effort to Protect East European Banks

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A Renewed Multilateral Effort to Protect East European Banks

By JACK EWING FRANKFURT — A group of officials and bankers who helped prevent Eastern Europe from being thrown into the financial crisis in 2009 has reconvened, seeking to avoid a credit squeeze and economic downturn caused by problems at parent banks in Western Europe.

The International Monetary Fund, European Commission, World Bank and other institutions this week formally revived an effort known as the Vienna Initiative, which three years ago succeeded in preventing panicked West European banks from draining capital from their subsidiaries in Eastern Europe.

Vienna Initiative 2.0, as it has been named, is concentrating on ensuring that national regulators do not work at cross purposes, inadvertently provoking a flight of capital as banks respond to pressure to reduce risk.

The first Vienna Initiative “was based on voluntary commitment by banks,” said Otilia Simkova, an analyst at the consulting firm Eurasia Group in London. “Now it seems everything is focusing on regulators.”

Banks in the euro area supply 80 percent of the foreign lending in emerging Europe, which includes countries like Poland and Hungary as well as Turkey. That means problems among euro area banks can quickly spread east.

In fact, West European banks drained $35 billion from the region in the third quarter of 2011, according to figures published this week by the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland.

A shortage of credit would undercut economic growth at a time when countries like Romania are still recovering from the last crisis.

Next Time, Greece May Need New Tactics

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Next Time, Greece May Need New Tactics

By LANDON THOMAS Jr.

LONDON The Greek government was able to legally strong-arm most of its private bondholders into accepting the debt reduction deal it completed Friday. But next time — and experts predict there will almost certainly be a next time — Greece might have much less leverage.

That’s because as a result of Friday’s deal, the bulk of Athens’s 260.2 billion euros ($341 billion) in remaining government debt will now be held by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the individual European nations that have lent Greece money and contributed to the region’s bailout fund.

Politically, Greece would be hard-pressed to force debt losses on such a formidable international group, the way it did with the private banks and hedge funds that have just been forced to accept a 75 percent loss on their Greek bond holdings. Greece’s main creditors, in effect, are now foreign taxpayers — who are likely to be much less malleable than the private creditors if Greece needs to renegotiate its staggering debt load a year or two down the road.

“From now on, whatever happens in Greece, it will be a matter between Greece and the taxpayers of the rest of the euro area,” said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, an analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

The final private creditor deal announced Friday was agreed to by nearly 86 percent of the bondholders; the number was expected to rise to 95 percent after Athens invoked a so-called collective action clause forcing others to join in. Without such a deal, Greece had strongly implied, it might default altogether, with no one getting paid. The outcome has enabled Greece to reduce its debt load by just over 100 billion euros, or about $132 billion.

Later in the day, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association ruled that the agreement was nonetheless a technical default by Greece — a ruling that will mean payouts on some insurance contracts, known as credit-default swaps, that various investors had taken out on the privately held Greek debt. Around $70 billion in default swaps on that debt are outstanding, although analysts expect the net payout to end up at only $3.2 billion or so.

TX Teacher Pension Buys Stake in Hedge Fund

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Texas Teacher Pension Buys Stake in Bridgewater Hedge Fund

By AZAM AHMED

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas just went from hedge fund investor to hedge fund owner.

Last month, the Texas pension took a $250 million stake in Bridgewater Associates, the giant money manager. Now, rather than plowing money into specific portfolios, it can claim a piece of the whole operation.

It is an unusual move for a pension. By investing directly in Bridgewater, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas can share in the upside return without paying the high costs. But the large state pension is also betting on the long-term viability of a firm whose fortunes are associated with a single enigmatic founder, Ray Dalio.

"They are essentially making a double bet in this particular firm," said Elizabeth B. Nesvold, managing partner at Silver Lane, an investment banking adviser that specializes in asset managers. "When you think about the downside, you get a double whammy."

Unlike many businesses, hedge funds are often closely linked to one person who has driven their success. SAC Capital has Steven A. Cohen; Pershing Square Capital Management, William A. Ackman.

But as the largest hedge funds mature, many founders want to sell stakes in the businesses they have built. In the last year, firms like Millennium Management, started by Israel Englander, and the Rock Creek Group have sought outside investors.

In addition to handsome paydays, hedge funds want to diversify their ownership base, in part to fund a more stable supply of capital.

News Release from the FBI, Charlotte Division

Four Hedge Fund Managers Indicted in $40 Million Ponzi Scheme 
Defendants Join Seven Others and CommunityONE Bank Charged in Connection with the Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s OfficeFebruary 23, 2012

Western District of North Carolina(704) 344-6222

CHARLOTTE, NC—A federal grand jury sitting in Charlotte returned an indictment against Jonathan D. Davey, 47, of Newark, Ohio, Jeffrey M. Toft, 49, of Oviedo, Fla., Chad A. Sloat, 33, of Kansas City, Mo., and Michael J. Murphy, 51, of Deep Haven, Minn., on February 22, 2012, on four criminal charges relating to an investment fraud conspiracy, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Joining U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement are Chris Briese, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Jeannine A. Hammett, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI).

According to the criminal indictment, the defendants operated “hedge funds” as part of a conspiracy that took in $40 million from victims for a Ponzi scheme operating under the name Black Diamond Capital Solutions (Black Diamond). The indictment alleges that the conspiracy lasted from about October 2007 through about April 2010. The indictment alleges that the defendants lied to get money from their victims by claiming, among other things, that they had done due diligence on Black Diamond and were operating legitimate hedge funds with significant safeguards, when in reality, neither claim was true. The indictment also alleges that, as Black Diamond began collapsing, the defendants and others created a new Ponzi scheme and with a separate Ponzi account that Davey administered. Thereafter, new victim money was deposited into the Ponzi account and used to make Ponzi payments to other victims and to fund the defendants’ lifestyles.

The indictment also charges Davey with tax evasion for claiming to the IRS on his 2008 tax return that $810,000 that Davey stole from victims was a “loan.” In reality, the indictment charges, Davey stole that $810,000, plus approximately $500,000 in 2009, from victims to build Davey’s personal mansion. Davey attempted to evade the taxes due and owing in 2008 by calling the money a “loan” from his investors to “Sovereign Grace, Inc.,” a Belizian corporation that Davey created as a diversion for his victims and the IRS.

The first charge against all four defendants, alleging conspiracy to commit securities fraud, carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. The second charge against all four defendants, alleging conspiracy to commit wire fraud, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. The third charge against all four defendants, alleging a money laundering conspiracy, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of criminally derived proceeds. The final charge against Davey only, alleging tax evasion, carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.

The defendants will be making their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in the coming weeks.

This indictment follows a series of convictions and other charges in this matter. On December 16, 2010, Keith Simmons was convicted following a jury trial of securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Simmons is in custody awaiting sentencing.

On April 27, 2011, a criminal bill of information and a Deferred Prosecution Agreement were filed against CommunityONE Bank, N.A., for its failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. As alleged in that bill of information, Simmons was a customer of CommunityONE, and used various accounts with the Bank in furtherance of the Ponzi scheme. However, as alleged in that bill of information, the Bank did not file any suspicious activity reports on Simmons, despite the hundreds of suspicious transactions that took place in his accounts.

Other defendants convicted in this case are set forth below. It should be noted that those defendants already sentenced had their sentences reduced by the Court to reflect their cooperation with the United States in its investigation and prosecution of others.

• Bryan Keith Coats, 51, of Clayton, N.C., pled guilty on October 24, 2011, to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Coats is awaiting sentencing.
• Deanna Ray Salazar, 54, of Yucca Valley, Calif., pled guilty on December 7, 2010, to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and tax evasion. Salazar is awaiting sentencing.
• Jeffrey M. Muyres, 36, of Matthews, N.C., pled guilty on May 17, 2011, to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Muyres was sentenced to 23 months’ imprisonment by Chief Judge Robert Conrad, Jr., on January 18, 2012.
• Roy E. Scarboro, 47, of Archdale, N.C., pled guilty on December 3, 2010, to securities fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to the FBI. Scarboro was sentenced to 26 months’ imprisonment by Chief Judge Robert Conrad, Jr., on May 4, 2011.
• James D. Jordan, 49, of El Paso, Texas, pled guilty on September 14, 2010, to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Jordan was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment by Chief Judge Robert Conrad, Jr., on June 29, 2011.
• Stephen D. Lacy, 52, of Pawleys Island, S.C., pled guilty on December 9, 2010, to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Lacy was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment by Chief Judge Robert Conrad, Jr., on May 4, 2011.

The details contained in this indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The conviction or guilty plea of any other person is not evidence of the guilt of any of the defendants.

This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kurt W. Meyers and Mark T. Odulio of the Western District of North Carolina, and the case against Jeffrey Muyres was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark T. Odulio. The investigation is being handled by the FBI and the IRS.

Man Sentenced for Ponzi Scheme

News release from the FBI:

Atlanta Man Sentenced for Operating Ponzi Scheme
Vaughn Received Over $10 Million from Victims

U.S. Attorney’s Office February 07, 2012

Northern District of Georgia (404) 581-6000

— filed under: Breaking News, Press Release, White-Collar Crime

ATLANTA—CHARLES MICHAEL VAUGHN, 43, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to federal prison today by United States District Judge Richard W. Story on wire fraud charges in connection with a $10 million Ponzi scheme.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “Despite the fact that Ponzi schemes are one of the oldest types of fraud schemes, they continue to be quite successful because of the creativity of the con artist, the slick presentations, and the promises of lucrative investment returns. Fraudsters with a computer and printer can come up with phony spreadsheets and paperwork that make their investments look golden when really the returns are an illusion. Potential investors should carefully scrutinize every aspect of a salesperson’s pitch before parting with their hard-earned money.”

Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, said, “While Mr. Vaughn will now be held accountable for his elaborate fraud scheme, the many victims harmed in this matter are forced to rebuild their lives as best they can. Because of the victim impact often seen in such cases, the FBI will continue to aggressively pursue those individuals who engage in this type of high dollar investment fraud activity.”
United States Postal Inspector in Charge Keith Morris said, “Our Postal Inspectors are trained to follow the money, even if the paper trail is difficult to find. Innocent victims hand over their hard-earned savings, and criminals often only invest it in themselves. No matter how complex the case, our Inspectors will make every effort to help those victims, by bringing the fraudsters to justice.”

VAUGHN was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,833,686. VAUGHN pleaded guilty to the charges on October 24, 2011.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and the evidence presented in court: VAUGHN founded and operated “CM Vaughn, LLC,” a tax and financial consulting firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. From July 2004 through March 2008, VAUGHN sold investments in a pooled investment fund or “hedge fund” called “CM Vaughn Emerging Ventures Fund.” Over 50 individuals sent money to VAUGHN for purposes of investing in the fund.

VAUGHN falsely represented to investors that his fund earned from 15 percent to as much as 50 percent per year, and stated that their investments would be “insured” and could not decrease below a certain amount. He also prepared client statements that falsely indicated the current value of each investor’s accounts. While the statements generally showed substantial investment gains, the numbers included in the statements were false, as none of the investors’ monies had actually been invested in any fund. Instead, VAUGHN had used the investments to finance a lavish lifestyle and to make payments to earlier investors. VAUGHN obtained over $10 million from his victims.

This case is being prosecuted through President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and inspectors of the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant United States Attorney Shanya J. Dingle prosecuted the case.