TOP
STORIES:
Homeowners
encroaching onto public sand - (www.latimes.com)
California has
ordered homeowners along some of Orange County's most coveted coastline to rip
out the landscaping, sprinklers and other upgrades that have crept steadily
seaward. On the tip of Balboa Peninsula, where multimillion-dollar homes sit
snug against the sand and the legendary waves draw crowds of bodysurfers, an
unlikely battle is taking shape. At the center are the lawns, lounge chairs,
hedges and playground equipment — even a rusty metal shark sculpture — that for
years have sprawled out from oceanfront homes onto the public sand. It's all
illegal, says the state of California, which has ordered homeowners along some
of Orange County's most coveted coastline to rip out the landscaping,
sprinklers and all the other upgrades that have crept steadily seaward.
Foreclosure
activity declines hurting investors, says report - (www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com)
The pace of foreclosures in California is slowing to a crawl, according
to figures for the month of April compiled by foreclosure information company
ForeclosureRadar Inc. of Discovery Bay. In California, Notice of Default
filings were down 69.8 percent from the peak in March 2009, and 15.8 percent
from April 2011. Foreclosure sales also declined, however, foreclosure
investors purchased a record percentage of the limited inventory that was
actually sold. California investors purchased 41.3 percent of foreclosure sales
last month, the report says. Here are ForeclosureRadar’s figures for April for
Central Valley counties. The first figure is the number of homes entering the
foreclosure pipeline. The second is the percentage difference from April 2011.
Don't Forget About JPMorgan's
Other Huge Derivatives Losses - (www.businessinsider.com)
In an August 2010 commentary about JPMorgan's losses in coal trades I
wrote: "The commodities division isn't the only area in which JPMorgan is
vulnerable. Credit derivatives, interest rate derivatives, and currency trading are vulnerable to leveraged hidden bets.
Ambitious managers strive to pump speculative earnings from zero to hero."
At issue is corporate governance at JPMorgan and the ability of its CEO, Jamie Dimon, to manage its risk. It's reasonable to ask
whether any CEO can manage the risks of a bank this size, but the questions
surrounding Jamie Dimon's management are more targeted than that. The problem
Jamie Dimon has is that JPMorgan lost control in multiple areas. Each time a
new problem becomes public, it is revealed that management controls weren't
adequate in the first place.
"Realtor Charged with
Embezzlement, Grand Larceny and Fraud" - (www.patrick.net) A Watsonville real estate agent charged with nearly 50 counts of
embezzlement, forgery and theft pleaded not guilty to all charges in court
Friday morning and now faces trial. Grimaldo L. Sanchez Jr., 29, was arrested
in October and is accused of bilking clients out of thousands of dollars.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him, Sanchez is accused of
committing these crimes over a period of at least three years, with the most
recent incident named in the complaint having occurred on or about March 8,
2011. Among the 49 counts listed in the complaint, Sanchez is accused of
numerous charges of embezzlement by a public or private officer, in which he
allegedly misappropriated clients' funds in his capacity as a real estate agent
with Quintero Realty. According to Assistant District Attorney William
Atkinson, in the case of one of the victims, Sanchez allegedly bilked them out
of approximately $48,000, although he later repaid that money to them.
This
Is Clearly Going To Cost JPMorgan Much More Than $2 Billion - (www.businessinsider.com) JPMorgan
announced a $2 billion loss Friday. When compared to its market cap and
other indicators, that goes Ouch!, but not much more. However, there’s
more going on. The bank has refused to state where in its operations the loss
was incurred. For good reason perhaps: the positions that caused the loss are
still rumored to be open. The main problem JPMorgan may be facing, and the 8%
loss in pre-market trading may be a sign players are on to this, is that we
probably already know where the loss is. A few weeks ago, the financial sphere
was full of stories about the London Whale, a JPM trader in London named Bruno
Michel Iksil, who had taken such massive - synthetic - derivative (gambling)
positions in a 125 company index that they were moving the market itself.
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