Going back on the Majestic Mo'Mints Radio Show to talk about the National Foreclosure Settlement (its impact on the ability to get a loan mod and other effects), state of foreclosure challenges in VA, and US, state, county and municipal debt - how it will impact you.
You can listen or even watch on Ffx Public TV / online!! Mo has advised me that those interested in listening / watching should go to:
Radio Show-Majestic Momints
http://www.fcac.org
Please forward to anyone you think might benefit from hearing the interview -- those seeking loan mods, short sales, to challenge a foreclosure, or those interested in the state of the economy given the economic downturn caused by the reckless and criminal behavior of the largest banks (libor rigging, money laundering, targeting minorities with predatory loans, defrauding investors into purchasing "certificates" backed by loans designed to go into default, defrauding Fannie and Freddie by selling them loans that did not comply with underwriting requirements, bribery in municipal bond deals, etc).
MajesticMo'Mints: Interview with Chris Brown on September 14, 2011
http://majesticmomints.blogspot.com/2011/09/interview-with-chris-brown-on-september.html
Christopher Brown followed in his grandfather and father’s footsteps as a third generation principal of BB&B. He graduated from Duke University with a degree in philosophy and history, excelling in the classroom and on the football field as running back for Duke's 1989 ACC Championship football team. Mr. Brown graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995 and joined the firm in 1997 after a judicial clerkship in the D.C. Superior Court. He immediately made an impact litigating insurance defense cases and to date has tried over 75 jury trials in the DC and Virginia State and Federal Courts.
Mr. Brown has experience handling matters involving government leaders, top government officials, and local administrative bodies. He is widely-known and widely-cited in briefs across the country for his 2003 record-setting $5.2 million verdict in the case of White v. BFI, an employment discrimination case in the Eastern District of Virginia - a reputedly difficult jurisdiction for discrimination claimants.
A seasoned litigator, Mr. Brown consistently proves that a small firm with the right talent can truly "level the playing field."
Contact Info:
Brown, Brown & Brown, P.C.
6269 Franconia Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22310
Phone: 703.924.0223
Fax: 703.924.1586
brownfirm@lawyer.com
http://www.metrotriallaw.net
http://www.facebook.com/virginiaattorney
*
Ex-UBS Bankers Guilty Of Scamming U.S. Cities
Basil Katz and Grant McCool
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/ex-ubs-bankers-guilty_n_1847501.html
Christopher Brown's Note: Manipulating Libor, laundering drug cartel money, selling assets to clients knowing they are worthless (mortgage backed securities), targeting minority communities with toxic loans, lying to shareholders about risk, using legally meaningless documents to foreclose on homes, and now bribing officials to get contracts to handle municipal bond transactions. Is there anything these banks do with any integrity?
NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Three former UBS AG executives were convicted on Friday of conspiring to deceive U.S. cities and towns by operating a scheme to rig bids to invest municipal bond proceeds.
The verdict by a federal court jury in Manhattan is the latest victory for the U.S. Department of Justice in its broad investigation of the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market. The widespread probe has touched some of the world's largest banks.
The three defendants, Peter Ghavami, Gary Heinz and Michael Welty, were charged in 2010 as part of a probe focused on rooting out schemes to fix prices and rig bids on bond transactions. The former bankers denied wrongdoing and said government witnesses had lied to ensnare them.
Each defendant was found guilty on two counts of conspiracy. The jury also convicted Heinz and Welty on other charges, but found Welty not guilty on one wire-fraud count, and Heinz not guilty of witness tampering. Heinz was the only one of the three to face that charge.
Ghavami, a Belgian national, left UBS in 2007 as global head of commodities. Both Heinz, of Jersey City, New Jersey, and Welty, of New York, worked on UBS' municipal bond reinvestment and derivatives desk at the time of the suspected offenses.
The two conspiracy charges involved rigging bids in 2001 and 2002 for guaranteed investment contracts, which cities and counties use to park proceeds from municipal bond sales.
The conspiracy charges carry a maximum of five years in prison each. No sentencing date has been set.
Charles Stillman, a lawyer for Ghavami, told reporters: "We are obviously disappointed with the verdict. We are looking forward to an appeal ... "
Lawyers for the other two defendants declined to comment.
Stillman told the jury in his closing arguments this week that his client "did nothing more than his job entirely in good faith and that he never intended to and never did cheat a municipality, the Internal Revenue Service, anyone."
During the trial, the jury heard from government witnesses who pleaded guilty to similar crimes and agreed to testify against the defendants, and also heard audio recordings of conversations between the bankers.
"It was fraud, plain and simple. It involved greed, deception and betrayal," prosecutor John Van Lonkhuyzen said in his closing statement to the jury on Aug. 27.
The jury began deciding the case on Wednesday afternoon. The trial began on July 30.
"It was horrendously difficult. It was a big deal, what we had to weigh," said one juror, who asked not to be identified, after the verdict.
Thirteen people and one company have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the bid-rigging investigation. A total of 19 people have been charged.
The U.S. government has a 10-year window to bring criminal charges over suspected crimes that affect financial institutions.
In this case, since the three bankers were charged in December 2010, the case falls within the statute of limitations, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood has ruled.
In May, three former financial executives were convicted of similar charges by another federal jury in Manhattan.
In July, former JPMorgan Chase & Co banker Alexander Wright pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for manipulating the bidding process for a June 2002 contract.
Wright and former UBS employee Mark Zaino testified for the government at the trial of the former UBS executives. Zaino pleaded guilty in 2010 to bid-rigging charges.
The case is USA v. Peter Ghavami et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 10-cr-1217.
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