Now the Attorney General Is Investigating UCAN
Recently, the board of watchdog Utility Consumers' Action Network wrote a letter to its co-founder, Michael Shames, demanding that he return $474,000 that he took as bonuses on intervenor fees the organization was awarded for participation in matters of the …
What? A Nevada Tarkanian Getting Drained?
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) made a move yesterday (Oct. 10) to register a $17 million judgment against Danny Tarkanian, who is running for Congress in a new district in Nevada, according to political observer Jon Ralston, Las Vegas …
Gamblers Grab Low-Priced SD Homes
Speculators are buying bottom tier San Diego homes at one of the fastest paces in the nation, according to Zillow.com. First-time homebuyers are being squeezed out as speculators buy low-price homes with the idea of renting them out to people …
Mother-Son Scamsters Get Prison Sentences
Orange County attorney Stephen Kenneth Chrysler was sentenced today (Oct. 9) to 37 months in prison and his mother, Aida Agusti Castro of Carlsbad, got a 33-month sentence. The two pulled an $8 million mortgage fraud involving homes in Oceanside, …
SD Gas Prices Soar Past 94-Year Record
San Diego gas prices are now $4.69 a gallon for regular, higher than Los Angeles's $4.66 and Orange County's $4.65, according to Charles Langley of Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN). The current price is now the highest in California history. …
Meeting Tonight on SDGE's Huge Profits
Officials of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will hold a meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at Al Bahr Shriners Hall, 5440 Kearny Mesa Road, for a discussion of SDGE's profits. The public is invited. According to the Utility Consumers' …
Good News for Obama: Unemployment Drops Below 8%
The unemployment rate was 7.8% in September, the lowest since President Obama took office, according to the Labor Department. The economy created 114,000 jobs, slightly above the 110,000 economists expected. August job creation was revised up to 142,000 from the …
UCAN Demands Shames Return $474,000 in Bonuses
Michael Shames, former head of financially ailing watchdog Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN), has been told to return $474,019 to UCAN as a result of consultation with the Attorney General's office. As reported by the Reader in July of 2011, …
Lawyer, Telemarketer Charged with Loan Modification Scam
Oceanside attorney Dan Chandler and telemarketer Shelveen Singh were arraigned today (Oct. 2) in federal court on charges of defrauding thousands of homeowners in an $11 million loan modification scam. Chandler's Oceanside office, 1st American Law Center, was home base. …
Shames's Divorce, Computer Seizing Further Roil UCAN
Richard Ravreby, attorney for Katherine Wolf, cannot get financial records from Michael Shames, former head of financially drained watchdog Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN). Wolf was Shames's second wife. The marriage lasted from November 2006 to December 2008. The breakup …
Foreclosure Filed Against SD-Operated Golf Course
General Electric Capital has filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Heritage Golf Eagle Trace LLC and San Diego-based Heritage Golf Group, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The troubled course is the TPC Eagle Trace golf club in Coral Springs, …
Another Ponzi Scheme Targets Seniors
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late this week charged that Oregonian Bradley Holcom and San Diegan Jose Pinedo ran a fraudulent scheme selling $42 million of promissory notes to more than 150 investors, many of them seniors. Holcom lured …
Bridgepoint Won't Appeal Accreditation Denial
Ashford University, the overwhelmingly major part of San Diego's controversial for-profit Bridgepoint Education, said today (Sept. 28) that it will not appeal the decision by Western Association of Schools and Colleges to deny Ashford accreditation. The denial came in July. …
U-T Not Trimming Much Staff at NC Times
Yesterday (Sept. 24), Peggy Chapman, regional human resources director for Lee Enterprises, which is selling the North County Times to the Union-Tribune, wrote to Times employees that the "UT intends to bring on all employees as of October 1 in …
SD Home Values Rise in July
Home prices nationwide rose impressively in July, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller data released today (Sept. 25). Values in all 20 major metro areas rose. San Diego values rose 1.1% in the month versus the composite 1.6% for the top …
Did You Buy Illicit Viagra Online?
Bay Area resident Ian Fischman was sentenced to serve six months in custody today (Sept. 24) and forfeit $100,000 for his role in an illicit Internet pharmaceuticals scheme. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Fischman admitted that between 2002 and …
Mortgage of U-T's Lynch in Default
Assessor/recorder/county clerk records show a mortgage of Union-Tribune Chief Executive John T. Lynch is in default. The document lists his wife Catherine and the Lynch Family Trust. (This blog is a collaboration of three Reader journalists: Dorian Hargrove exchanged three …
UCAN's Request for Relief Tentatively Turned Down
Financially troubled watchdog Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) has been turned down in its request for interim relief by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). On Aug. 17, UCAN asked the CPUC to establish an emergency fund allowing UCAN to …
Group to Ask for Full Disclosure on San Onofre
The DAB Safety Team, a group of San Diego and Orange County citizens with engineering backgrounds, will shortly ask Southern California Edison, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for all e-mails, letters, notes from meetings, phone calls, and …
SD August Unemployment Drops, Jobs Up
The San Diego County unemployment rate dropped to 9% in August from a revised 9.3% in July. The county gained 900 non-farm jobs in the month and 30,300 from August of 2011, when the unemployment rate was 10.3%.