The link to Paradigm Global was what raised my eyebrows. Paradigm is an asset manager (for funds of hedge funds) owned by Hunter Biden and James Biden. These are the Vice PresidentÂ’s son and brother respectively. I have written about Paradigm extensively before as it has an unfortunate habit of being associated with scams.
The Biden connection was what prompted me to look at Absolute Alpha and hence what led me to write my “Markopolos letter” to ASIC and hence what rapidly led to the closure of Astarra and Trio. It is worth asking how deep that connection is.
The boys from Absolute Alpha went to New York and co-marketed with people from Paradigm. Indeed I know someone who thought that Absolute Alpha were OK because staff at Paradigm had vouched for them. Whether Paradigm knew that Shawn and Eugene in Australia were using “Paradigm inspired” marketing material however is unknown.
Paradigm – the Biden’s firm – had unwittingly got involved in another funds management firm which has been closed by regulators or been exposed as Ponzis. That is four I know of now – and I have yet another one that I suspect of being unsound.
Posted by: ed ||
01/02/2010 11:16 Comments ||
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#2
huh.
Ima surprised anybody with Biden genes was smart enough to pull off a scam...well... Sheriff Joe was able to convince 52% that he was capable of being VP.
huh
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/02/2010 16:29 Comments ||
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The White House nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration gave Congress misleading information about incidents in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database, possibly in violation of privacy laws, documents obtained by The Washington Post show.
The disclosure comes as pressure builds from Democrats on Capitol Hill for quick January confirmation of Erroll Southers, whose nomination has been held up by GOP opponents. In the aftermath of an attempted airline bombing on Christmas Day, calls have intensified for lawmakers to install permanent leadership at the TSA, a critical agency in enforcing airline security.
Southers, a former FBI agent, has described inconsistencies in his accounts to Congress as "inadvertent" and the result of poor memory of an incident that dates back 20 years. He said in a Nov. 20 letter to key senators obtained by The Post that he had accepted full responsibility long ago for a "grave error in judgment" in accessing confidential criminal records about his then-estranged wife's new boyfriend.
His letter to Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, and Susan Collins (Maine), the ranking Republican on the panel, attempts to correct statements about the episode that were made in a sworn affidavit on Oct. 22 and have been reported.
Southers did not respond to a request for an interview.
'A serious error'
Southers's admission that he was involved in a questionable use of law enforcement background data has been a source of concern among civil libertarians, who believe the TSA performs a delicate balancing act in tapping into passenger information to find terrorists while also protecting citizens' privacy.
Southers first described the episode in his October affidavit, telling the Senate panel that two decades ago he asked a San Diego Police Department employee to access confidential criminal records about the boyfriend. Southers said he had been censured by superiors at the FBI. He described the incident as isolated and expressed regrets about it.
The committee approved his nomination Nov. 19. One day later, Southers wrote to Lieberman and Collins saying his first account was incorrect. After reviewing documents, he wrote, he recalled that he had twice conducted the database searches himself, downloaded confidential law enforcement records about his wife's boyfriend and passed information on to the police department employee, the letter said.
It is a violation of the federal Privacy Act to access such information without proper cause. The law says that "any person who knowingly and willfully requests or obtains any record concerning an individual from an agency under false pretenses shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $5,000."
In his letter, Southers said he simply forgot the circumstances of the searches, which occurred in 1987 and 1988 after he grew worried about his wife and their son, who had begun living with the boyfriend. The letter said: "During a period of great personal turmoil, I made a serious error in judgment by using my official position with the FBI to resolve a personal problem." He did not specify the data system he accessed.
"I am distressed by the inconsistencies between my recollection and the contemporaneous documents, but I assure you that the mistake was inadvertent, and that I have at all times taken full responsibility for what I know to have been a grave error in judgment," the letter said. "This incident was over twenty years ago, I was distraught and concerned about my young son, and never in my career since has there been any recurrence of this sort of conduct."
Partisan divide
Southers's nomination has been delayed by partisan bickering. Though two Senate committees have endorsed him, and he received recommendations from other law enforcement officials, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) recently held up his approval because of concerns that Southers would support the unionization of TSA workers.
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro defended Southers and said the changes in his account should not affect his nomination. "Southers has never tried to hide this incident and has expressed that these were errors he made in judgment that he deeply regretted and an error that he made in an account of events that happened over 20 years ago. Senators Lieberman and Collins were satisfied with Southers's letter and voiced their support for him. Southers's nomination has not been held up over this as he has been entrusted with significant and increasing responsibilities in the area of homeland security over the years since, but he is being held up by Senator DeMint over a political issue," Shapiro said.
A spokesman said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) will work quickly to overcome DeMint's procedural block and force a vote when the Senate reconvenes this month.
People involved in the vetting process for Southers debated the significance of the change in his account. But they concluded that he was still a good choice. In a statement, a spokeswoman for Lieberman said the senator "believes that Erroll Southers is an outstanding candidate to lead the TSA. Twenty-two years ago, Mr. Southers committed a serious error in judgment. He admitted that error and was disciplined for it."
"Mr. Southers was forthcoming about his past censure during his nomination process and about errors he made in recalling the details," the statement said. "Senator Lieberman is satisfied that the totality of Mr. Southers' career more than qualifies him for the position to which he was nominated."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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so he deliberately lied (you don't believe he "misremembered", do you?) and then cleared it up once the vote came through. Unacceptable. Buh-bye
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/02/2010 7:38 Comments ||
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Democrats have lost yet another touted recruit, this time in Kansas. State Sen. Laura Kelly (D) just announced her withdrawal from the race to face Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.). She becomes the fifth formidable recruit to bow out in recent weeks.
"I have been forced to make a decision between honoring the pledge I made to the people in my Senate district and my firm conviction that the people of the 2nd congressional district deserve a truly independent voice in Congress," Kelly said in a statement. "This has been a very hard decision, but it is the right one."
Kelly joins several recent dropouts, including businessman Jack McDonald, a well-funded challenger to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) who announced last week that he wouldn't run. The others are Ohio state Rep. Todd Book, who was running against Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio); former Tennessee Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers, who was running for Rep. Zach Wamp's (R-Tenn.) seat; and Solana Beach City Councilman Dave Roberts, who was running against Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.).
Both McDonald and Kelly were cited in a late October memo from DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) that touted the committee's recruiting successes.
On top of that, Democrats have lost four incumbents in vulnerable districts to retirement recently. It has been a distinct shift, taking five seats off the map on offense and adding four on defense.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Democrats are still in search of a candidate to take on newly Republican Rep. Parker Griffith (Ala.)
Public Service Commissioner Susan Parker's name rose to the top when state Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said no to the race, but she said Wednesday that she won't run either. And the other top non-Sparks option, 2008 state Supreme Court nominee Deborah Paseur, is unlikely to run, according to the Doc's Political Parlor blog -- a respected source of political news in Alabama.
Democrats would like to send a message in this race, but so far no Democrats seem to be jumping at the chance.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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We've been skeptical that he would take the plunge, but it sounds like former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) may run for Senate after all.
The Arizona Republic reports:
J.D. Hayworth continues to tease about his possible 2010 political ambitions.
Hayworth, who became a radio talk show host after losing his 2006 House re-election bid, has been talking about possibly challenging Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in next year's GOP Senate primary.
On his KFYI radio show Monday, Hayworth told his listeners that he went to Washington, D.C., this month and "we may have moved past due diligence into something that is more than a legal term of art ... something called 'testing the waters.' So stay tuned on that."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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I hope J.D. does run. McCain needs to retire, or be retired.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) reached out Thursday evening to South Carolina GOP Attorney General Henry McMaster, the leader of a group of 13 Republican state attorneys general who are threatening to file suit against the Senate health care bill, and urged him to forgo any legal action, POLITICO has learned.
According to a copy of a memo sent by McMaster's chief of staff to other GOP state attorneys general detailing the call, Nelson asked McMaster to "call off the dogs," a reference to recent threats by the state AGs to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Medicaid provision in the bill that benefits Nebraska at the expense of other states.
Under the terms of a deal Nelson cut with Senate leaders to secure his crucial vote for the health care package, Nebraska would be exempted from having to pay for the coverage of its new Medicaid enrollees--leaving the federal government to pick up the tab. The deal is expected to cost the federal government $100 million over the next 10 years.
Jake Thompson, a Nelson spokesman, declined comment when reached by POLITICO Friday.
The memo, written by McMaster Chief of Staff Trey Walker, explains that Nelson told McMaster that the Medicaid deal had not been his idea, and that the same Medicaid exemption would be extended to other states.
"Senator Nelson insisted that he had not asked for the Cornhusker Kickback to be placed in the U.S. Senate version of the health care bill to secure his vote. Senator Nelson told the attorney general that it was simply a 'marker' placed in the U.S. Senate version of the bill and assured the attorney general that it would be 'fixed,' says the memo.
The document goes on to say: "Senator Nelson said it would be 'fixed' by extending the Cornhusker Kickback (100% federal payment) on Medicaid to every state."
Senate Democratic leaders have made no reference to a plan to expand the Nebraska deal to the remaining 49 states -- a move that would be prohibitively expensive to the federal government and raise serious questions about whether health reform would lower the expected federal deficit, as President Barack Obama claims it would.
At the same time, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said after the Nebraska deal came to light that he envisions other states lining up to seek a similar deal down the road. Under the Nebraska provision, all added expenses from expanding Medicaid to cover the uninsured in Nebraska starting in 2017 would be borne by the federal government forever, not split with the state as they are now.
According to the memo, McMaster responded to Nelson by saying that the goal of the GOP attorneys general was to remove the Nebraska Medicaid provision from the bill and that "he saw no way that he--nor any of the state attorneys general--will support extension of the Cornhusker Kickback to every state nor be a part of a deal like that."
A source familiar with the call said Nelson called McMaster Thursday evening after first contacting South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham to express his desire to speak with McMaster. Graham and fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint asked McMaster late last month to investigate the Nebraska provision.
Nelson has been under tremendous political pressure since details of the deal emerged and on Tuesday, Rasmussen Reports released the results of an automated poll that showed troubling numbers for Nelson, who is not up for re-election until 2012.
One day later, Nelson aired a television ad explaining his vote.
"With all the distortions about health care reform, I want you to hear directly from me," the Democratic senator said in the ad.
The telephone survey of 500 Nebraskans, conducted Monday, suggested Republican Gov. Dave Heineman would defeat Nelson in a potential 2012 Senate race by a 61-30 margin.
The poll showed Nelson with a 55 percent unfavorable rating and 64 percent disapproval for Democratic health care reform legislation.
"With all the distortions about health care reform, I want you to hear directly from me," the Democratic senator says in the ad.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Sounds like ol' Ben is desperate to save his political life. Good.
#2
As a general rule, you should avoid taking the advice of anyone in the other party. Keep the heat on until both Nelson and this turkey "healthcare" bill are cooked through and through.
#4
"Senator Nelson said it would be 'fixed' by extending the Cornhusker Kickback (100% federal payment) on Medicaid to every state."
Senate Democratic leaders have made no reference to a plan to expand the Nebraska deal to the remaining 49 states -- a move that would be prohibitively expensive to the federal government and raise serious questions about whether health reform would lower the expected federal deficit, as President Barack Obama claims it would.
There's the story. This pig of a bill is already more than any nation could afford. the S-AGs should call BS on this and go for the jugular.
#6
Extending the deal to all 50 states isn't just prohibitively expensive, it also completely federalizes Medicaid, which is and has been a joint effort between the states and the feds.
Once you do that why not federalize all of education, etc?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/02/2010 11:18 Comments ||
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Once you do that why not federalize all of education, etc?
Why even have states? Think of the costs savings in reducing 50 redundant administrative units and bureaucracies to a couple dozen or less. /sarc off
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in alphabetical order, includes:
1.Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 "Ten Most Corrupt" list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him. In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch's complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms. However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.
2.Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power. The year's worst offender might just be Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign admitted in June to an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in exchange for his silence. According to The New York Times: "The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide..." The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby Mr. Ensign's office immediately upon leaving his congressional job, despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban. Ensign seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to his office as a payment for his silence about the affair. (These are potentially criminal offenses.) It looks as if Ensign misused his public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual shenanigans.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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What we NEED is to get rid of a permanent political class in this nation, and return to amateur government. It's not capable of doing quite as much damage to the nation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/02/2010 4:57 Comments ||
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They left out one - Senator Harry Reid. This scumbag is constantly using stolen money (taxes) to bribe, buy, or barter other congresscritters into doing what he wants. Bribery is bribery, whether it's another senator that's doing it, or George Soros. Both Reid and Nelson need to be hanged in the Rose Garden.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/02/2010 4:59 Comments ||
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President Obama held off Thursday on shaking up his national security team over the undies bomber fiasco, but the nation's top spy says heads will roll.
The task is to "commend those who did their job well and hold accountable those who did not," said retired Adm. Dennis Blair, the director of National Intelligence.
In an all-hands message to his troops, Blair, who could be in the cross hairs, sounded almost a valedictory note.
"I could not be more proud of this community, of all we have accomplished together," Blair said. But he acknowledged that "mistakes were made" in the tangled tale of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his underwear bomb.
In Hawaii, Obama received from White House counterterror chief John Brennan the preliminary review he had demanded on the intel and security screwups that allowed Abdulmutallab to board a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas Day.
In a statement, Obama said he would convene a major White House sitdown of agency heads next Tuesday before deciding on "intelligence-sharing improvements."
He planned to pore over reports before leaving Hawaii, but took a break Thursday to join his family at the movies to see "Avatar."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, under fire since her "the system worked" gaffe last Sunday, dispatched top aides around the world to check on airport security at major hubs. The aim, she said, was "to determine exactly what went wrong" in the screening process.
Yemeni officials said that Abdulmutallab may have met in an Al Qaeda safehouse in Yemen with radical Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, The Washington Post reported. Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi, Yemen's deputy prime minister, said that al-Awlaki was believed to have survived recent air strikes on Al Qaeda hideouts.
Awlaki communicated with Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood massacre, and also allegedly met with Abdulmutallab while the 23-year-old Nigerian was in Yemen ostensibly to study Arabic.
Alimi complained that the U.S. kept Yemen out of the loop when Abdulmutallab's father went to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to warn about his son last month. The father acted after Abdulmutallab called to say it would be his last contact with the family, ABC News reported.
"If we had received the information at the appropriate time, our security apparatus could have taken obvious measures to stop him," Alimi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Remember President Obama's credo: Tough with your friends, easy on your enemies.
Some Democrats have joined in calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down following the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight a week ago.
Though the CIA and an agency under the Director of National Intelligence have been under particular scrutiny in the preliminary review of possible missteps, Napolitano so far has taken the most heat from lawmakers. Not only does her department oversee the Transportation Security Administration, but her initial claim Sunday that "the system worked" was widely ridiculed and interpreted by critics as a sign that she's in over her head.
Some Republicans, who've taken issue with her in the past for calling terrorist acts "man-caused disasters" and other remarks, started calling for her ouster in the spring. The failed bombing on Christmas Day revived those calls.
Now Democrats have joined the chorus. New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey, a Democrat, wrote a letter to Napolitano this week calling on her to step down. He said Napolitano, an attorney and former Arizona governor, does not have the experience for the post she is in.
"We should have someone who doesn't need to go in there and learn about terrorism, learn about security," Codey told Fox News. "How close were these 300 people on this plane from losing their lives because homeland security broke down? Boy, it was really close."
Codey said a candidate "well-versed" in intelligence should step into the job.
Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein also said Napolitano's response to the incident should be the last straw. "I tend to think she will be pushed out in the next couple of months," Gerstein, a former adviser to Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said.
For now, the administration says it has absolute confidence in Napolitano. She is an active part of the internal review and on Thursday took additional steps to improve security at international airports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Can't wait for "I can no more disown Secretary Napolitano than I can disown my grandmother..."
#3
It is, of course, treasonous on my part to suggest that alQaeda get on the stick and make another move similar to the recent underwear attempt ( something novel and equally murderous) and even if it fails with another chump... just get those headlines in the Media.
Its doesnt have to "succeed" all it has to do is happen and get the headlines. You can use some other Nigerian or stooge Booga as Clarabelle...just get him out there and make the news.
Obama doesnt really have the controls of Homeland Security...and Napolitano doesnt either...the field is vast and amorphous and the leadership simply isnt there in any real sense...but the Public thinks that Obama can "do something" or that replacing clueless Napolitano will actually mean something.
Obama and Napolitano are just convenient to take the blame.
alQaeda with proper leadership can punch a hole in a thousand places. The only reason they havent is because they are goombahs themselves.
All it takes is imagination and leadership. The United States is wide open. Guarding the entire United States is impossible. Security is , in actuality, an illusion shared by all concerned.
The only thing that stops alQaeda is an illusion.
They "think" there are defenses in place against them and they stay within boundaries and dont exhibit the daring and creativity to think big and Lethal like Osama did in the first place.
Osama is dead. And the second rank is putz..murderous loonies like Zarquawi who was simply identified and then sold and killed...and Zawahiri who is a bumpy noggined old man who thinks like an Egyptian.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Democrats have lost yet another touted recruit, this time in Kansas. State Sen. Laura Kelly (D) just announced her withdrawal from the race to face Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.). She becomes the fifth formidable recruit to bow out in recent weeks.
Some Democrats have joined in calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down following the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight a week ago.
