Iowa Brokerage Head Gets 50 Years for Embezzlement
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A judge sentenced Peregrine Financial Group Inc. founder Russ Wasendorf Sr. to 50 years in prison on Thursday for stealing $215 million from investors and concealing his theft for 20 years. U.S. District Judge Linda Reade told Wasendorf at the hearing in Cedar Rapids that he knowingly caused “staggering losses” to investors, employees and creditors that grew larger over 20 years. Reade said Wasendorf, 64, lacked the courage to stop his fraud sooner and admit his company was a failure from its inception in the early 1990s. (MORE: How Spending More on Academics Can Actually Hurt College Enrollment) She also said the collapse of Peregrine Financial Group had rippled across the financial industry, affecting regulatory agencies and the nation as whole. “By imposing a substantial sentence, the court sends a message that white collar criminals may serve long prison sentences for stealing money from other people,” Reade said. Wasendorf appeared frail at the sentencing. ...
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Group says major companies involved in tax scheme
CHICAGO -- A Chicago-area transportation agency on Wednesday alleged that some of the nation's largest and best known companies including AT&T, Sears Holdings Corp., Verizon and Target are running "sham" offices as part of a scheme with two small northern Illinois communities to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in Chicago and Cook County....
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LT Group Equity Sale Raises $912 Million
Filipino billionaire Lucio Tan's LT Group raised $912.2 million in the country's largest ever equity sale.
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Platform upgrade IDs game breakthroughs, offers rewards
Social media isn't just about sharing photos or quippy status updates. Social media is also about gaming, and an upgrade to the MediaBrix platform may help advertisers increase the engagement factor between gamers and their games. Called Breakthrough Moments (BTMs), the platform identifies when a gamer reaches a certain point in a game - a breakthrough moment - and that moment is then rewarded, through MediaBrix's new Rewards product. Why is this type of ad/reward scenario important? According to a recent MediaBrix study Facebook users spend about half their social network time using Facebook apps or playing games; about 250 million Facebook users are playing social games, and with the mobile explosion, even more gamers are logging on from tablets and smartphones to play. "We have always believed in delivering meaningful advertising experiences that engage users and add to the experience during gameplay and we're excited to add Rewards to our product suite," said Ari Brandt, ...
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Mobile Marketing on Facebook
Want to grow your business? Embrace mobile marketing and tap in to the legions of smartphone-wielding Facebook fans. As important as it is to growing your business, an entrepreneur can allocate only so many hours a week to marketing. You need to be strategic about how – and where – you spend that time. And unless you’re simply not paying attention, you know that Facebook is one of the most effective platforms a small business can use to reach a wider audience. Still, unless you’ve tapped into mobile marketing, you’re missing out on the most active pool of Facebook fans. A study by the Web.com Group shows that of the small businesses who embrace mobile marketing, more than 80 percent have seen an increase in new business as a result. Pedro Hernandez at Small Business Computing reports on an IDC study of smartphone owners that shows just how popular Facebook is with the mobile crowd. According to the study, Facebook ranks as one of the top-three things people do on a smartphone. ...
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