Bank of America agreed to pay $315 million to settle claims by investors that they were misled about mortgage-backed investments sold by its Merrill Lynch unit.
The settlement was disclosed in court papers filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and requires the approval of a judge.
The class action lawsuit was led by the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi pension fund. The fund claimed that the investments were backed by poor quality mortgages written by subprime lenders Countrywide Financial Corp., First Franklin Financial, and IndyMac Bancorp, a bank that failed in 2008.
The settlement represents another attempt by Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp. to put its legal issues behind it. In the first half of the year alone the bank put up $12.7 billion to settle similar claims from different groups of investors.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has to approve the settlement, something that could prove difficult since the settlement includes no admission of guilt from Bank of America no fax cash advance.
Just last week, Rakoff struck down a $285 million settlement that Citigroup Inc. reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement would have imposed penalties on Citigroup even as it allowed the company to deny allegations that it misled investors.
Rakoff said the public has a right to know what happens in cases that touch on “the transparency of financial markets whose gyrations have so depressed our economy and debilitated our lives.” In such cases, the SEC has a responsibility to ensure that the truth emerges, he wrote.
In 2009, Rakoff had rejected a $33 million settlement between the SEC and Bank of America on similar grounds, calling it a breach of “justice and morality.”
Toyota will begin taking orders Tuesday for the plug-in version of its hit Prius hybrid, announcing efficient mileage and a relatively affordable starting price of 3.2 million yen ($41,000), which comes down with green vehicle subsidies.
Toyota is targeting Prius Plug-in sales of 35,000 to 40,000 a year in Japan, and 60,000 globally. The car is set for delivery in Japan in January. With subsidies the cost comes down to 2.75 million yen ($35,200). It starts at $32,000 in the U.S. and 37,000 euros in Europe, according to Toyota.
Japan’s top automaker says the plug-in, which it calls the Prius PHV, is for those who want something more innovative than a regular gasoline-electric hybrid, but are worried about running out of power on the road, as can happen with pure electric vehicles.
When a plug-in runs out of power to keep the electric vehicle going, it becomes a hybrid.
“The plug-in is the premier next-generation ecological car that will follow the hybrid,” said Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada, the Toyota Motor Corp. engineer known as the “father of the Prius.”
The Prius Plug-in has an estimated electric vehicle cruise range per charge of 26.4 kilometers (16 miles), according to Toyota.
Its mileage is estimated at 61 kilometers per liter for Japanese test conditions, which converts to a whopping 143 miles per gallon. Such numbers vary depending on road conditions. Toyota is promising 87 mpg for the U.S. Prius Plug-in, which will be delivered starting in March. Orders are already being taken online in the U.S.
Green cars such as the Prius Plug-in are expected to take centerstage at the Tokyo Motor Show, which opens to the public this weekend.
Japanese consumers have taken to the Prius, despite a languishing auto market overall, thanks to government-backed subsidies. Nations around the world are offering similar perks, boosting its chance for success.
The Prius Plug-in, which seats five people, comes with a new lithium-ion battery that can be charged from a household outlet, much like an electric car. It also recharges itself while driving like a gasoline-electric hybrid. The battery is more powerful and compact so the back trunk fits three golf bags.
Uchiyamada told reporters that the plug-in was the best solution for green cars as most Japanese don’t drive more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) a day and Toyota studies showed that most people don’t want to use EVs for drives longer than 100 kilometers (60 miles).
How the plug-in fares in coming months will help show whether Toyota can keep riding on its success of the Prius as a global leader in green technology. Toyota said it had collected data from 600 people around the world who had leased the plug-in on a trial basis.
Toyota has sold more than 3.4 million hybrids worldwide so far, including models other than the Prius.
Selling in big numbers is important because it helps cut costs and allows the automaker to offer products at affordable prices.
Honda Motor Co., which has also been aggressive with hybrid technology, has sold 770,000 hybrids worldwide.
Nissan Motor Co., which hasn’t released a global hybrid sales number, is banking more on pure electric, selling 17,500 Leaf cars around the world so far.
In Japan, Toyota will work on services with its housing unit to support plug-in owners’ charging stations, it said.
Iraq on Sunday signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. to tap natural gas in the south, one of the biggest agreements by the OPEC member to develop an energy sector battered by years of neglect and war.
The $17 billion deal forms a joint venture to gather, process and market gas from three oil fields in the oil-rich province of Basra. That gas, pumped in conjunction with crude oil, is currently burned off _ or flared _ due to lack of infrastructure.
The 25-year joint venture is called Basra Gas Company. Iraq will hold a 51 percent stake, to Royal Dutch Shell’s 44 percent and Mitsubishi’s 5 percent shares. The gas will be used mainly for domestic energy needs, but there is also an option for exports.
Iraq’s Oil Minister, Abdul-Karim Elaibi hailed the signing as “historic turn in Iraq’s oil industry.”
Shell CEO Peter Voser told reporters that Iraq is now a “…substantial part of Royal Dutch Shell’s portfolio in the Middle East.”
For Iraq, the deal is a key part of its strategy to alleviate power generation woes. Despite billions of dollars spent since the 1990s to rebuild Iraq’s dilapidated electrical grid, Iraqis still suffer through chronic power outages that have led to sometimes violent protests.
The deal is Shell’s third in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and it will bolster the company’s presence in a country which sits atop 143.1 billion barrels of crude oil and 126.7 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
A memorandum of understanding on the Shell gas deal was signed in September 2008, but the venture has been bogged down ever since. Some lawmakers argued that the deal should have been approved by parliament and officials in Basra wanted more benefits for their province cash advance today.
Iraq burns off almost half of the 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas that it produces. The deal will help the country capture more than 700 million cubic feet per day of gas from three fields.
They are the 17.8 billion-barrel Rumaila field being developed by a BP-CNPC consortium, the 4.1 billion barrel Zubair field, handled by an Eni-led consortium and partners Occidental Petroleum Corp. and KOGAS, as well as the 8.6 billion barrel West Qurna Stage 1, which is being developed by ExxonMobil-Shell consortium.
ExxonMobil has recently been embroiled in controversy after it became known that the company had signed a contract with the Kurdish regional government _ and not the Oil Ministry in Baghdad _ to develop oil fields in northern Iraq.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has clashed with Baghdad over who has the right to sign deals with international oil companies to develop Iraq’s vast energy resources.
The Kurds, who control three provinces in northern Iraq, want to be able to sign contracts with international oil companies to develop their own fields, while Baghdad maintains it has final authority.
On Sunday the oil minister said the ministry sent letters to ExxonMobil asking for an explanation of the reports that they signed these deals, but has not yet heard a response. He declined to comment on what penalties the Texas-based company might face.
A California solar panel manufacturer that received a half-billion dollar loan from the federal government before declaring bankruptcy says it’s been unable to attract much interest from potential buyers to take over its operations.
Instead, Solyndra LLC is looking at a piecemeal sale of its assets, with separate auctions for its machinery and equipment, real estate and intellectual property.
Solyndra officials told a U.S. bankruptcy trustee Tuesday that no qualified bidders have come forward to buy the company and take over its manufacturing operations.
Chief restructuring officer Todd Neilson said Fremont, Calif.-based Solyndra had received only one bid for a sale of the whole company.
“It was extremely low-ball,” he explained. “It was mainly designed to take the equipment and the real estate at an extraordinarily low price.”
Neilson said fewer than five potential bidders, mostly from other countries, are still conducting due diligence. But it is “highly unlikely” that a buyer willing to buy Solyndra outright and continue its operations would emerge, he said.
Solyndra representatives blamed the lack of interest on the economy, not on the political fallout stemming from Solyndra’s failure.
“It’s a difficult economic environment. It’s a difficult industry,” Debra Grassgreen, a Solyndra bankruptcy attorney, said after a creditors meeting Tuesday.
Solyndra, which received a $528 million federal loan and was touted by the Obama administration as a “green jobs” creator, filed for bankruptcy protection in September. The filing came several months after a February loan restructuring in which some $70 million borrowed from private investors got priority over $385 million in taxpayer money for repayment in the event of a default.
Under the February restructuring, Argonaut Ventures and another private investment firm, Madrone Partners LP, stand to be repaid before U.S bad credit payday advance. taxpayers. Congressional leaders have said allowing private investors to move ahead of taxpayers for repayment may have been illegal.
Argonaut is an investment vehicle of the George Kaiser Family Foundation of Tulsa, Okla. The foundation is headed by Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser, a major Obama campaign contributor and a frequent visitor to the White House.
Following its bankruptcy filing, Solyndra became the target of separate investigations by the FBI and congressional Republicans.
Testifying before a House committee last week, Energy Secretary Steven Chu defended the federal loan to Solyndra, but at that same time said he was unaware of many details about the loan or financial problems that Solyndra faced, including predictions by DOE staff two years ago that the company would likely face severe cash-flow problems.
Chu also denied that he was influenced by Kaiser, who invested $400 million in Solyndra. Kaiser has said he played no part in helping Solyndra win the 2009 loan, but emails released earlier this month show that he discussed Solyndra with the White House on at least one occasion. Kaiser also directed business associates on how to approach the White House and the Energy Department to help Solyndra deal with its financial problems.
Chu denied that anyone in the White House ever contacted him to make a political decision on the loan and said cheap imports from China, the collapse of the European market for solar panels, and other market changes led prices for Solyndra’s product to fall.
While prospects for a takeover of Solyndra’s operations appear dim, officials said an auction of the company’s non-core assets, such as office equipment, went better than expected.
Guyana has signed a $1 billion agreement with a Canadian-based company for what the government says is the largest private mining investment for the South America country.
Toronto-based Guyana Goldfields Inc. said the Aurora Gold Project agreement signed Friday is the first large-scale gold mining license that Guyana has issued since 1991.
The government said it is expected to create more than 1,900 temporary and permanent jobs and Guyana Goldfields CEO Patrick Sheridan said it is expected to generate $1.6 billion in government revenues at a time of record gold prices.
The company announcement said it will pay a mining royalty of 5 percent when gold sells for $1,000 an ounce and 8 percent when the price is greater. It will also pay a corporate income tax of 30 percent.
The agreement is for 20 years, with provisions for extension.
The company said construction should start early next year and the mine and mill should be operating by early 2014.
Guyana’s government on Friday also announced a $138 million contract with the Beijing-based China Harbor Engineering Co faxless payday loans. to build a new airport terminal and add more than 3,200 feet (1,000 meters) to the main runway at the country’s principal airport, Cheddi Jagan International.
The current 7,400-foot (2,255-meter) runway cannot accommodate fully loaded jumbo jets. A Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft that landed late on the runway on July 20 crashed through a fence, breaking in two. No one died.
The two deals come just ahead of Nov. 28 parliamentary elections, and the main opposition coalition complained the airport deal should have been debated by the legislature.
Rupert Roopnarine, the prime ministerial candidate of the Partnership For National Unity, criticized the government for making the deal after Parliament was dissolved for the general election.
Yemen’s embattled president must speed up reforms and begin a transfer of power according to a plan backed by the international community, said a U.N. envoy on Monday.
Jamal Benomar visited Yemen for a week to promote a Gulf-backed proposal that calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Saleh told a TV interviewer that he will sign, but he did not say when.
Saleh has resisted the proposal despite nearly nine months of protests against his 30-year rule. Several times he said he would sign, only to back away at the last minute. Months of international diplomacy has failed to resolve the crisis.
Benomar held meetings with opposition figures on Monday, including Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who leads a military unit of defectors siding with the opposition and protecting protesters.
Earlier in his trip, Benomar met with Saleh and his deputy.
In a rare interview with foreign media, Saleh told the TV channel France 24 that he would sign the Gulf-backed package, but he would not say when that would happen or what was preventing him from doing so, vaguely noting that there was no time mechanism in the accord online payday loan lenders. The interview was broadcast late Monday.
“Definitely, definitely,” Saleh replied when asked if he intended to leave power. “I believe that anyone who grips on to power is crazy.” He said he would step down 90 days after the agreement goes into effect, but he did not say when that would be.
Mediators and opposition figures have become exasperated with what they see as Saleh’s stalling tactics.
He said that the media was lying when reporting he refused to sign the agreement. He accused armed militias of infiltrating peaceful demonstrations in Yemeni cities.
Pro-Saleh forces regularly engage in deadly clashes with armed tribesmen and military defectors who support the protesters in Yemen’s largest cities, and al-Qaida-linked militants have taken control of entire towns in the country’s restive south.
Security has collapsed across the Arab world’s poorest nation during the nine-month popular uprising.
Kellwood’s chief has indeed been lured away by J.C. Penney.
Michael Kramer, 47, who has been the head of the Town and Country-based apparel company since 2008, will start as chief operating officer of J.C. Penney on December 5. His potential departure had been reported last week.
Kramer said today that the major draw of the new job was Ron Johnson, J.C. Penney’s new chief executive and his former boss at Apple’s retail division, and his vision to revamp the company.
“If this opportunity with Ron wouldn’t have come up, I would still be here moving Kellwood forward,” he said.”If this team can turn J.C. Penney around and restore it back to being America’s favorite store, that will be a story.”
His successor at Kellwood has not yet been determined. But there are a couple of internal candidates being considered for the job, he said.
“I accomplished what I came here to do at Kellwood,” he said, adding that the company is now the most profitable on a percentage basis than it has been in 15 years. Kellwood is a private company and so does not publicly report its results.
Since he arrived at Kellwood, Kramer has helped restructure the company and steered it on a path to acquire a number of designer brands such as Rebecca Taylor, Scotch & Soda, and Adam. Kellwood had previously been known mostly for its moderately-priced brands like Sag Harbor and private-label clothes for outlets like Walmart.
“Mike will help ensure that J.C. Penney is a strong partner to our suppliers, which will be essential to our success as we set out to re-imagine the department store experience,” Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson has also recruited other former Apple colleagues to be part of his team at J.C. Penney. Daniel Walker, a former Apple executive, will be chief talent officer at J.C. Penney. And he has lured Michael Francis, who had been chief marketing officer at Target, to be J.C. Penney’s president.
But even though Kramer is taking the new job, he may stick around St. Louis. His wife and children like it in St. Louis, he said, so he may commute to Texas (where J.C. Penney is based) during the week and come back to St. Louis on the weekends.
Greece’s finance minister is breaking ranks with Prime Minister George Papandreou over his call to hold a referendum on a hard-fought European debt deal to rescue the country’s economy.
Evangelos Venizelos issued a written statement Thursday on returning from an emergency meeting in Cannes, France, where he accompanied Prime Minister George Papandreou for meetings with top European officials.
After the meeting, the French and Germany leaders said a Greek vote would decide whether the country stays in the eurozone, and vowed Athens would not get critical bailout funds until after the vote free credit score online.
Venizelos said Greece’s position within the euro was a “historic conquest” of the country that “cannot be put in doubt” and “cannot depend on a referendum.”
Bank of America is nixing its plans to charge a $5 debit card fee.
The bank says in a statement that the decision to scrap the plan came after listening to customer feedback in recent weeks.
The news comes after other major banks, including Chase and Wells Fargo, said last week that they were canceling tests of similar fees.
“Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so,” David Darnell, co-chief operating officer, said in a release.
The about-face by the banking industry comes amid growing public anger over fees. A movement to get customers to switch to credit unions had marked this Saturday as “Bank Transfer Day.”
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