“If Madoff was a crook that had planned everything upfront, wouldn’t he have had some exit strategy with some island somewhere,” says Dan Ariely, author of a new book “The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty.” Behavioral economist at Duke University, Ariely found that people who lie don’t think long term. The same trend applies to Wall Streeter who are caught cheating, he says. Read Business Insider report here.
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Before you give another dime to a charity, take a close look at how the organization oversees and invests the money it receives from donors. You may be shocked at how irresponsible, or even reckless, charities can be when it comes to managing their investment portfolios. Don’t be surprised to learn the charity you’re considering is rolling the dice, or squandering its investment assets as a result of back-scratching arrangements involving board members, donors and investment firms. It’s your money and you can do with it as you wish but why give it to an organization that is deviating from its charitable mission? Read more on Forbes [...]

A U.S. bankruptcy judge barred a class-action lawsuit filed in Florida against the estate of former Bernard Madoff investor Jeffry Picower. The Madoff brokerage trustee, Irving Picard, settled a lawsuit against the Picower estate for $7.2 billion in 2010, after alleging Picower knew of and profited from Madoff’s fraud. Pamela Goldman and a related partnership asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan to let their suit go forward, even after similar actions had been barred by Lifland and other judges on appeal, the judge said yesterday in an order filed in court. More on Bloomberg Businessweek [...]

After the financial crisis and the recent insider trading convictions of Raj Rajaratnam and Rajat Gupta, perhaps it is time to reconsider the plight of Jeffrey K. Skilling. The former chief executive is serving a 24-year sentence arising from his conviction in a Houston trial of 19 counts after the stunning 2001 collapse of Enron. Until the financial crisis, Enron’s bankruptcy was viewed as Exhibit A of corporate crime and executives run amok. After trial that lasted months, Mr. Skilling was convicted of securities fraud, among other crimes. Judge Sim Lake sentenced him to the low end of the recommended sentencing range after Mr. Skilling expressed remorse, asserting that he was “innocent of these charges.” More in the New York Times DealBook [...]

A council of U.S. financial regulators should speed up Dodd-Frank Act rules delayed by inaction at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Bart Chilton, a Democrat on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The commissions are required by Dodd-Frank to jointly define which derivatives contracts are swaps and will fall under clearing, trading and reporting requirements. The definition is needed before limits on speculation in oil, natural gas, wheat and other commodities can take effect, Chilton said in a speech prepared for a conference of the Mutual Fund Directors Forum in Washington. More on Bloomberg here.
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On a party-line vote, the House Appropriations Committee voted for a 12 percent cut in funding for the U.S. futures regulator on Tuesday, moving a step closer to a showdown with the Senate, where a large increase is proposed. The House panel cleared for floor debate a bill giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission $180.4 million in the fiscal year that opens on Oct 1, down from $205 million this year and far below the $308 million pending in the Senate. Read Reuters report [...]

In another sign of Twitter’s ubiquity, the trustee seeking to recover assets for convicted Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff’s victims has joined the information-sharing service. Irving Picard, the Madoff trustee, and his lawyers have started a Twitter account, @MadoffTrustee, to share updates and announcements regarding his recovery efforts, his spokeswoman said Tuesday. Read Wall Street Journal Blog [...]