DEFENDANT WANTS TO BUY-OFF LIFE SENTENCE BY PAYING COURT $19,000,000

Strib - Defense Attorney Douglas Altman will present a 68 page sentencing memo Monday, 12/17/12, outlining why his client should not receive a life sentence for various crimes including fraud and money laundering as money manager for business associate convicted Trevor Cook.  To sweeten the arguments against a harsh sentence, the defendant, Jason Beckman, is offering to immediately pay a check for $19,000,000 to the court to pay victims of his latest charges.  Mr. Beckman is no stranger to court antics.  He tried to fraudently buy a part ownership in the Minnesota Wild hockey team for               $5,000,000;  tried to defraud an elderly couple of  $4,000,000 life insurance proceeds; is carrying 3 current tax charges; had to borrow with court permission $5,151 for living expenses;  looted the estate of his grandfather; was forced out of the U. S. Air Force Academy for dishonesty; forged his mother 's signature on a student loan application; and committed perjury during a divorce  proceeding to avoid child support, all contained in an article about Mr. Beckman in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper.  It's going to  be difficult for the judge to go easy on a sentence, it would seem.

ATER 4 YEARS, MADOFF MONEY IS STILL FLOWING BACK TO INVESTORS

 Strib - A seemingly improbable 4 years ago, Mr. Bernard Madoff confessed to his two sons his 20-year run as Bernard L. Madoff   Investment Securiteies LLC with as much as $60 biliion of investors' real money in the firm was all a big ponzie scheme.. It was on December 11, 2008 the 2 sons reported the disclosure to federal authorities and Madoff was arrested the next day.  Mr. Madoff is today serving a 150-year sentence in a federal prison. Court-appointed trustee Irving Picard and a gang of lawyers headed by David Sheehan of the New York law firm of Baker-Hostetler have recovered $9.3 billion of the estimated $17.5 billion possible to recover.  The time and efforts to recover the money comes with a high cost.  To date, legal fees have been as much as $600 million.  Records have shown the $60 billion invested by investors was never re-invested by Madoff on their behalf but instead was used "bit by bit" to pay other investors as returns on their "investment" with him.  Additional money to recover can be from accounts in Great Britain, Spain and Israel according to the Associated Press.

GOLDMAN SACHS FINED $1.5 MILLION

NYT - Matthew Marshall Taylor was a market trader for Golden Sachs from 2007 to  recent times.  During his tenure, he is accused of "fabricating" transactions and trades that improperly hid $8.3 billion that translated  into $119 million in losses for the firm.  Goldman was accused by the Feds for not properly monitoring such trades and fined the firm $1.5 million. A Democrat Commissioner on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission labeled the fine "a token sum" for a firm the size of Goldman.  It was pointed out  the 60 violations cited could have been reasons for a fine of as much as $7.8 million and would have been more appropriate.

EX-CFO DIVERTS CHARITABLE MON EY TO PERSONAL USE

WSJ - Mr. Glen W. Albanese worked for the brokerage house Needham & Co.  As CFO, he collected money from the firm to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, especially children in a scholarship fund.   Wearing a hooded gray sweatshirt and with handcuffs and waist chains in court, he was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and was released on a $200,000 bail.   Supposedly, he maneuvered invoices to the firm and diverted the proceeds for personal use including 2009 World Series tickets, interior decorating, a Labradoodle Poodle Cross, fitness equipment and "tens of thousands of other  expenses". He agreed to seek mental-health counseling as a condition of his bail.  Sentencing will be later .