Avalon Ventures Big Winner in Zynga
At left: Zynga's Farmville social game San Francisco's social games maker Zynga filed for an initial public offering on Friday, expecting to raise up to $1 billion. It's almost certain to be a hot IPO; the company is now very …
SEC Charges Former Silberman Associate with Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged San Diegan Peter L. Jensen and another executive with fraudulently inflating revenues of Cucamonga's Basin Water, now defunct. The securities agency charges that Jensen and Thomas Tekulve fraudulently pumped up revenues for the …
Hallelujah! NFL Admits Football Has No Economic Impact
For decades, the National Football League, and other professional sports organizations such as Major League Baseball, have claimed that a new sports facility generates huge economic activity for a community. Making this claim has been one essential part of the …
SD Wages Dropped in Decade
The average annual wage in the county was $38,148 in 2001 and rose 28% to $48,802 last year, reports economist Kelly Cunningham of the National University System Institute for Policy Research, who has culled the latest numbers from the California …
SD Home Values Up in April, Down Over 12 Months
County home values rose 0.4% from March to April, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller data released this morning (June 28). That was less than the rise for the 20-metro-area composite, 0.7%. It was the first monthly gain for the composite …
Foreclosures Wallop SD Tax Receipts, Homeowner Wealth
City of San Diego homeowners will have lost $19.2 billion in wealth between 2008 and 2012 (estimated), according to a study by Corinne Wilson of the Center on Policy Initiatives, released today (June 23). Using zip code data from RealtyTrac, …
Union-Tribune Edits Out Name of Owner
In its "People" feature on page A-2 today (June 23), the Union-Tribune blue-penciled the name of its owner from a gossip item. The paper was reporting on La-La Land celebrities playing unlicensed poker games in upscale Beverly Hills hotels. Lawsuits …
Manchester Didn't Rake in Big Bucks on Hotel Sale
Host Hotels and Resorts has filed the official statement for its most recent quarter. It indicates that San Diego's Papa Doug Manchester didn't clean up on the March 17 sale of the Manchester Grand Hyatt to Host. According to information …
SD Unemployment Rate Drops to 9.6%
The May unemployment rate in the county dropped to 9.6% from April's revised 9.8%, according to the California Employment Development Department. During the same period, California had an adjusted rate of 11.4% and the nation 8.7%. Non-farm county jobs increased …
Burl Stiff Leaves Money, Items to San Diegans
Burl Stiff, former society columnist for the Union-Tribune who died recently, left money and gifts to San Diegans, according to his estate trust. Stiff left $20,000 to socialite Judith Harris, who frequently appeared in his columns, and was executor of …
More Layoffs at Union-Tribune
More employees went to the guillotine at the Union-Tribune today (June 14). The move was completely unexpected, according to sources who know the inside. Getting laid off were David Ogul of the metro desk; Cathy Snapp of the business section; …
Loan Fraudster Gets 30 Months
Michael Trap, owner of a loan modification scheme, was sentenced to 30 months in prison today (June 10) and ordered to pay $460,249 in restitution to victims. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Trap admitted that in 2009, he and …
WFP Securities Closes Down
WFP Securities, the San Diego County brokerage whose extremely dubious investments were featured in my April 20 column, has told the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that it is shutting its doors, according to Investment News. WFP has $14 million in …
May Jobs Growth Anemic, Unemployment Rate Rises
The nation created a mere 54,000 jobs in May as the unemployment rate rose to 9.1% from 9.0% in April. Economists were expecting 175,000 jobs. Stock market futures sank on the news. The average work week was unchanged from April …
Government Waters Down For-Profit College Regulations
The Department of Education last night (June 1) issued Milquetoast, pusillanimous new regulations for the for-profit colleges, as many such as myself expected. Programs could lose their federal aid (thus be shut down) if over the next four years their …
He Offered Investors More Than 60% a Year
An indictment was unsealed today (June 1) charging Steven Bartko of Vista with running a Ponzi scheme and accusing him of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney's office. The indictment charges that Bartko used …
SD Housing Values Down 38.5% from Peak
Much of the nation has fallen back into a double-dip housing recession, according to March data released this morning (May 31) by Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller. The national index dropped 4.2% in the first quarter following a 3.6% decline in the …
Coronado Attorney Gets 10 Months for Tax Evasion
Attorney Craig Shaber of Coronado was sentenced today to 10 months in prison for evading taxes on $3 million in income, according to the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service. He will have to pay $555,000 in restitution to …
Big Bank Sues WFP, Other Brokers over MedCap Offering
San Diego-based WFP Securities sold California residents $27.1 million worth of notes in Medical Capital Holdings, which the Securities and Exchange Commission considered a fraud, according to a suit filed April 29 by Bank of New York Mellon. WFP sold …
Bridgepoint Stock Soars. Will It Get Bought Out?
Stock of Bridgepoint Education, the for-profit online university that appears more like a boiler room than an educational institution, zoomed once again today, soaring almost 12% to $22.89. As pointed out by Congress and the Department of Education, Bridgepoint uses …