Archive for the ‘Consumer Protection’ Category

‘Stress Tests’ Show Banks May Need More Capital

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

BofA and City have not officially responded but reports are that they may each need more than the $45 billion they already took from the government. While these reports are preliminary apparently the government has told the banks they may have to raise more money. If the final results reveal the banks need more money they can either raise more money from investors, the government could convert their loans into common stock, or the government could release more bailout money.

The stress tests are designed to see if the banks can handle the expected loan losses as the recession continues.

IRS getting serious about chasing down offshore tax dodgers…

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Some estimates are that the United States could be missing out on tax revenues of up to $50 billion.  So is it any surprise that tax enforcers are vowing to increase their efforts to crack down on business and citizens who try to evade taxes using offshore bank. The IRS plans to roll out new rules that would make it easier for them to go after bank accounts held by offshore banks and the US will be pushing for more global cooperation to knock down banking secrecy laws.  It could be that the US gets some support on this as England has already asked governments around the world to eliminate tax havens.  Of course some countries object to such a call because operating tax havens helps their economies.

One way the IRS is trying to gain access to these lost revenues is to cut deals with people and businesses that voluntarily give up their tax havens and pay the taxes due.

April 27, 2009 – another financier runs and hides…

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

California financier Danny Pang has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with allegations that he defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars.  Although Pang apparently is in China (on a religious pilgrimage) the SEC has a temporary order freezing his assets along with the assets of his companies  Private Equity Management Group, Inc. and Private Equity Management Group LLC.

Apparently Pang raised much of the money in Taiwan in part by lying about his past acheivements at Morgan Stanley and his earning an advanced degree at UC, Irvine.

A receiver has been appointed – hopefully he will be able to protect what assets he can easily find and recover other assets through clawback lawsuits or agreements with various people and companies.