Massachusetts regulators have charged Oppenheimer with unethical conduct over sales of auction-rate securities which they claim cost the state $56 million. Secretary of State William Galvin has said that Oppenheimer “underplayed” the investments’ risks, and that Mass. investors were unable to get their money when the securities market froze in February.

[CNN] Oppenheimer target of fraud suit

In a complaint filed by the SEC, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been charged with insider trading in stock of the also-ran Internet search company Mamma.com. According to the feds, Cuban unloaded his 600,000 shares after learning from the company’s CEO that Mamma was going to raise money through a private investment round that would dilute his shares.

After hearing the information, Cuban allegedly said “Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell.” Of course, the allegation is that he did sell, and avoided a loss of $750,000. He reportedly told his broker “sell what you can tonight and just get me out the next day.”

[The Smoking Gun] Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading

[WSJ] SEC Charges Mark Cuban With Insider Trading

A man named Anthony Michaels is trying to get traction on a class action lawsuit against Classmates.com because of this message on their website: “Your former classmates are trying to contact you! Upgrade now to see their messages!”

After he ponied up the $15 membership fee, he realized that the alert from Classmates was just a sales line. Michaels then lawyered up and sued the company for making false statements. There has been no comment from the company, but my money in on a quick settlement and a revision of the message.

[Wired] Classmates.com User Sues; Schoolmates Weren’t Really Looking for Him

LCD monitor makers LG Display, Sharp, and Chunghwa have pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal price-fixing “conspiracy” for working together to artificially inflate the prices of LCD transistors. The companies will pay a fat $585 million for screwing over Apple, Dell, and Motorola.

The naughty LCD manufacturers allegedly held meetings to set price floors in addition to swapping sales numbers of the displays. They also smoked cigars and drank whiskey.

[Cnet] LG, Sharp, Chunghwa admit to LCD price fixing

[CrunchGear] LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa nailed for LCD price-fixing

The busy feds at the FDIC have just seized their 19th bank for the year: Los Angeles based Security Pacific Bank. The minnow only had total deposits of $450.1 million and 4 branches; all be taken over by Pacific Western Bank.

Bon voyage, you bad gamblers

[MarketWatch] Security Pacific Bank seized by FDIC

The FDIC has taken over Texas-based Franklin Bank and given its $3.7 billion in deposits to Prosperity Bank. The 46 branch offices of Franklin will also be turned over to Prosperity.

Franklin was founded by the hero of Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker, Lew Ranieri. In the eighties Ranieri was the Salmon Brothers rabbi who was the driving force in the invention of the mortgage security. After making billions of dollars in mortgages, he was out-politicked and ousted from the office of the vice chairman at the investment bank. His departure from Salmon was bloody, Franklin’s departure from the banking world was the same.

[Bloomberg] Ranieri Becomes Victim of Crisis as Franklin Seized

A former engineer from Intel, Biswamohan Pani, has been accused of stealing $1 billion worth of trade secrets for rival AMD while on the payroll of both companies. When he resigned from Intel, Pani told supervisors that he was going to work for a hedge fund; instead, he alledgedly began stealing confidential docs from Intel’s computers in order to “advance his career at AMD or elsewhere by drawing on it when the opportunity arose.”

For his part, Pani claims the information was for his wife who also works for Intel. AMD has been cooperating with investigators, and has been cleared of all charges. Pani faces up to 10 years in prison for theft and up to 20 years for the charge of wire fraud.

[CNN Money] Ex-Intel engineer accused of stealing secrets

Google has used the pull-out method on its advertising deal with Yahoo after failing to assuage the fears of advertisers and government regulators. In a blog post, Google’s lawyer-in-chief had this to say about the cancelled deal:

“We’re of course disappointed that this deal won’t be moving ahead. But we’re not going to let the prospect of a lengthy legal battle distract us from our core mission. That would be like trying to drive down the road of innovation with the parking brake on.”

Driving down the road of innovation with the parking break on? What the hell?

[TechCrunch] Google Pulls The Plug On Yahoo Advertising Deal

Dell is the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed by four women who used to work in the company’s human resources department. The lawsuit claims that Dell’s latest round of layoffs targeted chicks and old people. The suit also alleges that Dell “systematically blocks women from reaching the top levels of power.” What’s the price tag for this? $500 mil.

[The Dallas News] Class-action suit alleges Dell layoffs targeted women

The Russian Antimonopoly Service has rejected Google’s proposed acqusition of Begun, the country’s second largest search advertising network. ZDnet speculates that the deal was not blocked because of monopoly fears (Russian search engine Yandex has a much larger market share), but because the country doesn’t want American mega-corps invading…

Petters Group Worldwide has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after its founder, Tom Petters, was charge with $3 billion bucks worth of fraud. This much-expected filing comes just a week after the Petters-owned Sun Country airlines filed for bankruptcy. ‘Da group has amassed a total debt between $500 million and $1 bil.

Minneapolis Business Journal: Petters Co. Inc., Petters Group Worldwide file Chap. 11

The CEO and CFO of Entellium were arrested for defrauding their venture capitalists which included Ignition Venture Partners. The company kept two sets of books — the real one with $3.8 million in revenue, and the one they showed to investors with $15.5 million. The dirty financial statements were uncovered by an employee while she was cleaning out a desk.

Paul Johnston, the arrested CEO, wrote a resignation email in which he was repentent for cooking the books since the company’s founding:

“We have both made a grave mistake (in) misrepresenting our revenue to the board… Looking back at the time we thought we would be able to right the wrong and correct our representation, but we have not been able to do this.”

Next time Paul, find a better hiding place and maybe the office snoop won’t find your fraudulent secrets.

More info: Google News

The U.S. government has said that the Labaratory Corporation of America is selling its OvaSure ovarian cancer screening test without regulatory approval. In retaliation, the FDA sent LabCorp a strongly worded letter:

“Because you do not have marketing clearance or approval from the FDA, marketing OvaSure is in violation of the law.”

I’m coming to get you LabCorp and hell follows with me.

Press release: Reuters

The Supreme Court has refused to hear Dish Network’s appeal of the DVR patent infringement case that it lost to TiVo a few years ago. Now the company will have to pay out a hefty $104 million bucks plus interest. According to a statement by the company, the check is in the mail:

“The money is in an escrow account and will be released to Tivo in the next few days.”

Sounds like the same excuse I give my credit card company.

The attorney general of Mississippi has sued energy provider Entergy; probing for information on whether or not the company has engaged in an elaborate price-fixing scheme. The AG alleges that Entergy bought fuel at inflated prices from its sister companies, and resold them to consumers well-above markup.
[ Yahoo Finance ]