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Government wants $12.7m from Lay estate

By TIMES WIRES
Published October 25, 2006

The U.S. government sued the estate of Enron Corp.'s deceased founder Kenneth Lay, seeking to strip it of $12.7-million in ill-gotten gains from an accounting fraud that investors claim cost them $30-billion. Prosecutors linked the suit, filed Monday in federal court in Houston, to the Oct. 17 voiding of Lay's conviction on 10 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and bank fraud. A federal judge tossed out the May verdict on grounds that Lay hadn't had a chance to appeal it before he died of heart disease in July. The ruling blocked the government's effort to seize the estate's assets in the criminal case.

Study: Hispanics save less to retire

Seven in 10 Hispanic adults have saved less than $5,000 toward retirement, according to a study released Tuesday by the Latino Coalition, a nonprofit group, and Americans for Secure Retirement, a coalition of ethnic and insurance groups. Both are based in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, the Employee Benefit Research Institute's annual retirement readiness survey found that while 40 percent of Americans had saved less than $10,000, about 35 percent had put aside at least $50,000.

State Farm client files fraud claim

A homeowner claims State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. coerced him into signing a statement that he is satisfied with its handling of his claim after Hurricane Katrina. In a suit filed Monday, Thomas McIntosh of Biloxi claims State Farm obtained his "false and fraudulently induced 'statement' " in an attempt to quash media reports about the company's handling of claims following the hurricane. State Farm paid McIntosh and his wife only $36,228 for their claim, citing an engineering report that blamed Katrina's storm surge for most of the more than $1-million in damage to his home. However, McIntosh says the insurer never told him that State Farm's engineers initially concluded that wind, not water, was responsible for most of the storm damage.

Ex-Comverse exec enters guilty plea

A former executive with leading voice mail software maker Comverse Technology Inc. pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud Tuesday after agreeing to cooperate in the investigation of a scheme to make millions of dollars by manipulating stock options. Former head of finance David Kreinberg, 41, told a federal judge in Brooklyn that he conspired with former chief executive Jacob "Kobi" Alexander to backdate options and falsify statements to conceal the fraud from shareholders. He faces up to 15 years in prison at sentencing on Feb. 23.

Amazon objects to Google's request

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. has objected to providing details about its book search feature to rival Google Inc., which says it needs them to fight copyright infringement allegations from a group of authors and book publishers. In the filing, Amazon.com described Google's request, made via a subpoena served on Oct. 6, as "overly broad and unduly burdensome" and said it would expose Amazon's trade secrets.

[Last modified October 25, 2006, 00:19:12]