Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Pair to serve time for fraud

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 28, 2006

A man barred from selling leveraged commodities and his partner in a "boiler room" operation have been sentenced to prison for cheating about 1,000 investors out of $14-million.

The barred broker, Charles Paul Hoffecker, who owned Amitex Investment Services Ltd., and his partner, Charles Edward Myers, told clients that Amitex would buy gold, silver and other commodities for them. But evidence at their trial showed that no purchases were made, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Hoffecker, 53, of Pompano Beach, was sentenced June 19 to 17½ years in prison, while Myers, 65, of Fort Lauderdale, was sentenced Monday to nine years. They were ordered to pay a total of $2.67-million in restitution by U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden.

Hoffecker and Myers, who were convicted in March, were charged in 2003 after a sting operation in which investigators used an undercover business to infiltrate fraudulent telemarketing investment schemes.

Amitex told would-be clients that their money would be used to buy commodities and that Amitex would finance up to 80 percent of the purchases at 12 percent interest, the indictment said. However, Amitex did not buy any commodities and charged investors for loans that were never made, the indictment said.

Univision board agrees to sale terms

Univision Communications Inc.'s board has agreed to sell the nation's largest Spanish-language broadcaster for $12.3-billion in cash to a consortium of investors, the parties involved in the sale announced early Tuesday.

The company's shares soared more than 6 percent.

The figure agreed upon late Monday equals $36.25 a share, according to a news release on the sale. That's a 13 percent premium to Univision's closing stock price Monday. The group of investors will also assume about $1.4-billion in debt.

The consortium, led by private equity firms Texas Pacific Group Inc. and Thomas H. Lee Partners, also includes Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, Providence Equity Partners Inc. and media mogul Haim Saban.

"Univision is truly a one-of-a-kind property," the acquiring group said in a joint statement. "It is an outstanding media brand with exceptional positions in the fastest growing markets in the country, world-class assets, strong management, popular programming and unmatched ratings."

Delphi hires 2,000 temporary workers

Delphi Corp. has hired more than 2,000 temporary employees to fill jobs expected to be vacated by some of the 12,600 hourly workers accepting early retirement.

The Troy, Mich., auto supplier, which has been in bankruptcy since October, announced the results of its attrition program Monday. Delphi has about 33,000 workers, 24,000 of which are represented by the United Auto Workers.

More are likely to leave Delphi - which is trying to shed workers and reduce wages - since the company, former parent General Motors Corp. and two of its unions have agreed to an expanded early retirement and buyout program. That program awaits bankruptcy court approval this week before being rolled out to workers.

Although Delphi plans to close all but eight of its U.S. plants eventually, it still needs to supply its customers.

Knight Ridder closes up shop

When the markets closed on Tuesday, so did Knight Ridder.

The San Jose newspaper company went out of business when forms finalizing its sale to McClatchy were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

At 1:56 p.m. Pacific time, a final e-mail arrived at the San Jose Mercury News from Knight Ridder corporate offices - official termination of the corporation's registration with the SEC.

Wall Street showed little excitement for the deal: Knight Ridder stock dropped 1 percent to close at $60. McClatchy was battered again, dropping $1.42 to close at $39.03 - another new 52-week low.

Based on those closing prices, McClatchy will pay $4.018-billion in cash and stock to Knight Ridder shareholders - plus it will assume $2-billion in debt. That places a final value on Knight Ridder at $59.98 per share. McClatchy stock has now fallen 20.1 percent since the deal was announced, and the value of the deal has dropped 10.8 percent.

Oracle chief pulls gift to Harvard

Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison has decided not to give Harvard University a planned gift of $115-million, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

Ellison canceled the gift because Lawrence H. Summers stepped down as Harvard's president this month after a stormy tenure at the university, Oracle spokesman Bob Wynne said. Summers announced his resignation in February, after being embroiled in controversy throughout 2005. Wynne said Ellison began to reconsider his donation when it appeared that Summers would step down.

"It was really Larry Summers' brainchild, and once it looked like Larry Summers was leaving, Larry Ellison reconsidered," Wynne said

Ellison's promise to Harvard last year created a sensation throughout the philanthropic community because it would have been the school's largest single contribution. The gift would have created a global health foundation named after Ellison.

- TIMES WIRES

[Last modified June 28, 2006, 01:23:20]