Analyst's arrest puts Cohen's SAC in spotlight again (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen is once again in the spotlight over allegations of improper trading at his $14 billion SAC Capital Advisors.

The arrest on Wednesday of technology analyst Jon Horvath marks the fourth time in two years that U.S. authorities have implicated or charged a person with engaging in insider trading while working at SAC Capital. It is the latest to come from an investigation FBI agents have coined Operation Perfect Hedge.

Federal authorities did not charge Cohen or SAC Capital with any wrongdoing in the case against Horvath, who is accused of using inside information to help the Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund generate a $1 million profit from trading in shares and option contracts of PC maker Dell Inc..

Horvath's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

The case against Horvath comes less than a month after SAC Capital capped another successful year, generating an 8 percent return while most hedge funds lost money in 2011.

But the new allegations of improper trading are a fresh reminder that SAC Capital remains a major focal point for U.S. prosecutors as they continue a multi-year crackdown on insider trading in the $1.7 trillion hedge fund industry.

And while industry observers and investment managers say the newest case is not likely to prompt investors to rush to pull money from Cohen's fund, it could cause some discomfort for some of his wealthy patrons.

"There is a feeling that the Feds' web around Cohen might be slowly tightening and that is bound to get people to think about what to do with their money," said one industry investor familiar with Cohen's fund but who asked not to be named.

A spokesman for Cohen's SAC declined to comment beyond saying that the firm is continuing to cooperate with the government investigation.

It is no secret in the hedge fund world that the federal authorities have been probing possible wrongdoing at SAC for years. Reuters previously has reported federal prosecutors and regulators have been investigating allegations of improper trading at SAC Capital since at least 2007.

But it was not until last year that those years of investigation began to get uncomfortably close for Cohen when two former traders, Noah Freeman and Donald Longueuil, pleaded guilty to insider trading charges. Another former SAC Capital employee, Jonathan Hollander, settled civil charges of insider trading with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Now that a fourth SAC Capital employee has been accused of improper trading, hedge fund industry analysts, lawyers and investors say the scrutiny of Cohen's roughly 800 employees is bound to increase.

"I suspect that remaining with a fund that's implicated is just bad business from a reputational standpoint," said Nicole Boyson, a finance professor at Northeastern University, who has researched the implications of hedge fund fraud.

Over the years, SAC Capital, in response to other trading scandals, has noted that it has some of the strongest compliance systems in the hedge fund industry. But in a deposition taken last year in a civil lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, Cohen said federal laws on insider trading were "very vague."

To be sure, Cohen, a 55-year old trader who founded SAC Capital in 1992 with just $25 million, continues to maintain a large reservoir of support. And a good deal of that stems from the fact that Cohen himself has never been charged with wrongdoing and that despite the negative headlines, SAC Capital continues to post strong returns.

"It is unfortunate, but I do not think Steve is involved with this and, yes, we have money with him and I stand by him," said Anthony Scaramucci, who runs Skybridge Capital which featured Cohen as a prominent speaker at his investment conference last year.

The improper trading Horvath is alleged to have engaged in occurred at Sigma Capital, a division of SAC Capital that is based in New York City. Horvath reported to Michael Steinberg, a long time top trader with SAC Capital, who talks frequently to Cohen, according to people familiar with the matter. Steinberg could not be reached at his office on Wednesday.

Ron Geffner, a partner at law firm Sadis & Goldberg, which specializes in representing hedge funds, said just because some employees at a fund are doing something wrong, it is incorrect to infer "that their employer put them on a path of bad decision-making."

Others also note that for hedge fund investors, solid performance counts for more than anything. These people say investors will put up with a lot of bad behavior at a hedge fund as long as the returns are good.

Still, the new charges come at an awkward time for Cohen, who has expressed some interest in submitting a bid to buy the financially strapped Los Angeles Dodgers professional baseball team. A spokesman for Major League Baseball said it is premature to discuss the sale because the deadline for submitting bids is still open. One of the many factors considered in vetting prospective buyers of teams is their business practices, a person familiar with the process said.

One of the biggest investors with SAC Capital is an investment fund managed by Blackstone Group Inc., sources have told Reuters. Blackstone's investment advisory arm is running the sales process for the Dodgers. A Blackstone spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

(Reporting By Svea Herbst-Bayliss, with additional reporting by Jennifer Ablan in New York. Editing by Matthew Goldstein and Martin Howell.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/bs_nm/us_hedgefunds_saccapital

tony blankley steelers blue ivy carter pittsburgh steelers charles barkley beyonce hines ward

2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Test Drive

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/reviews/drives/2012-chevrolet-camaro-zl1-test-drive?src=rss

al sharpton izon gaddafi dead steve wynn lytro camera lytro camera st. louis cardinals

Most Popular Wallpaper Site: Digital Blasphemy [Hive Five Followup]

Every week we give you a fresh batch of wallpapers to download in our Wallpaper Wednesday series, but if you're looking for more selection, there are plenty of sites on the web with great images, huge databases, and lots of wallpapers to choose from. Last week, we asked you which site you visited to download new wallpaper, and then we took a look at five best wallpaper sites based on your nominations. Now we're back to highlight the winner.

Voting was fierce in this one, largely because the owners of the various sites put the call out on their social networks to get their fans and users to vote. Nevertheless, Digital Blasphemy took the top spot with 38% of the overall vote. Hot on its heels with just under 31% was WallBase.cc. In third place with 15% of the vote was InterfaceLift, and just behind that with close to 10% of the votes cast was DeviantArt. Bringing up the rear in fifth place was minimalist wallpaper site SimpleDesktops.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/h-FA3p2cCyk/most-popular-wallpaper-site-digital-blasphemy

2011 election results 11/11/11 11 11 11 activision blizzard acrylamide advent calendar adobe air

Planned actions improve the way we process information

ScienceDaily (Jan. 16, 2012) ? Preparing to act in a particular way can improve the way we process information, and this has potential implications for those with learning disabilities. Researchers funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have shown that using a grabbing action with our hands can help our processing of visual information.

'The research is still at an early stage,' cautions Dr Ed Symes of Plymouth University. 'But our next step is to see how these results might inform ways of helping children with severe learning difficulties.'

The discovery was made in an experiment on what is known as 'change blindness'. Think of spot the difference games -- researchers use the problem of seeing changes in almost identical pictures to see if preparing to act can help us to spot these changes.

The study found that if people were asked to look at two pictures of fruit alternating on a computer screen, they noticed which fruit was different quicker if they were going to grasp an object similar in size of the fruit. Dr Symes found that the 'intention' to grasp something helps with the processing of visual information.

Dr Symes asked his participants to look at pictures of both large and small fruits -- apples, oranges, pears, lemons, mangos, apricots, strawberries and gooseberries etc. When the participants detected which fruit had changed, the participants had to grasp one of two devices. The key to this was that one device was similar in size of the small fruit and the other was similar in size of the big fruit.

The study found that the intention to grasp the small device helped participants notice changes in the smaller fruits quicker. Similarly, the brain processing that occurred in preparing to grasp the large device meant that participants noticed the changes in the larger fruits quicker.

Dr Symes explains this might help to improve the communication skills of children with complex physical and mental special needs. The first problem in assisting such children is assessing what they understand about the world, when they have no reliable means of communicating. They may not be able to speak and may have limited physical capabilities.

The new findings will help test different ways of establishing communication. For example, a child wants a particular toy but they are unable to point; they may be able to make other physical movements such as grasping. Preparing the action of grasping may help the child process information about the toy easier and it might help them communicate this information better. Dr Symes hopes that pairing actions such as grasps with objects such as toys could generally help the child to signal their responses more easily.

'Understanding the world around them is a major problem for these children,' says Dr Symes. 'We are now investigating whether this kind of aligning of stimuli and responses might be one way to making information processing more fluent for these children.'

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120116095531.htm

war of the worlds a christmas story prime rib ny knicks sound of music ihop green bean casserole

US forward Buddle has try out at EPL club Everton

updated 2:27 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2012

LIVERPOOL, England - The agent of Edson Buddle says the American forward is having a trial at English Premier League club Everton, which already has compatriots Tim Howard, Landon Donovan and Marcus Hahnemann on its roster.

The 30-year-old Buddle, who appeared at the 2010 World Cup, is currently at German second-tier club Ingolstadt.

Buddle's representative Richard Motzkin said on Twitter that the former Los Angeles Galaxy player is at Everton this week during the German season's winter break.

Another of Motzkin's clients, Donovan, has been loaned to Everton from the Los Angeles Galaxy during Major League Soccer's offseason. Howard has been Everton's goalkeeper since 2007, and Hahnemann joined as a backup in September.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More news

Man City's road woes over

Edin Dzeko ended Manchester City's two-month road winless streak, scoring on a header in the 22nd minute for a 1-0 victory over Wigan.

Arsenal ouch

Arsenal's slim chance to contend took a serious blow on Sunday when the Gunners lost 3-2 at Swansea.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46015286/ns/sports-soccer/

insight bowl russell brand files for divorce bowl game schedule julia child clippers katy perry and russell brand katy perry divorce

Keystone XL pipeline would be hard to kill, analysts say

Reporting from Washington?

A provision attached to the recent payroll tax bill requires President Obama to decide by Feb. 21 on the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S.

But even if the administration rejects the project, it may not be enough to kill it, industry analysts said. Americans' thirst for oil probably will push the administration and TransCanada Corp., the pipeline's sponsor, to find a way to transport Canadian crude across the United States even if it's not through a pipeline called Keystone XL, industry analysts said.

"We think it will be built," said Jamie Webster, senior manager for markets at PFC Energy, a Washington consulting firm. "The interesting bit is, what is 'it'? The future of the pipeline could go a couple of different ways."

TransCanada said it had already started to work with Nebraska authorities to find an alternative route. Once one has been determined, the environmental review could take about nine months, TransCanada said.

Over the next six weeks, TransCanada could pull the Keystone application to avoid deepening the political fight over the permit and submit it later with a new route through Nebraska, said Frank Verrastro, director of energy and national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.

TransCanada also might begin building the Keystone XL in pieces, Verrastro said. "They have spent millions of dollars on land rights and easements" along much of the route in the U.S., he said. "They could put these other parts in place. It's a gamble."

Even environmentalists who expect the project to be rejected concede that may not be the end of oil-sands crude from Canada. "If it is rejected, TransCanada can come back and apply again," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, international program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "But the whole process starts again then."

The pipeline would carry oil from Alberta that is mined from soil rich in a tar-like petroleum called bitumen and refined to separate the heavy crude. The project's backers contend Keystone XL would provide oil from a stable, democratic neighbor and spur the creation of thousands of jobs, though estimates vary widely.

The project's critics argue that the mining and refining of bitumen would substantially increase greenhouse gas emissions, pollute water and destroy the region's boreal forests. Many Nebraska residents also oppose the pipeline because it would traverse the Ogallala aquifer, the main source of drinking water in the upper Midwest.

Facing rising resistance from environmentalists and Nebraskans, including the governor and state legislators, the administration decided in November to conduct additional reviews of the proposal, such as alternative routes bypassing the aquifer. The step allowed Obama to delay a decision on a hugely divisive issue until after the presidential election, but it infuriated the pipeline's backers, whose congressional allies added the Keystone pipeline rider to the payroll tax bill.

A State Department official said the agency was reviewing the legislation "to figure out where to go from here."

With the global appetite for oil increasing because of the growing industrialization of China and India, the demand for Canadian crude will only grow and lead to the breaking of logjams against pipelines, Verrastro said. TransCanada has indicated that it will not give up readily on the pipeline project.

"We will continue to move forward in a positive way as we have done since the review process began in 2008," TransCanada spokesman James Millar said in an email. "This project is too important to the energy security of the U.S. And also the jobs it would create to be denied."

neela.banerjee@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/nqnWcNI_DE0/la-na-keystone-pipeline-20120116,0,4195518.story

personhood herman cain press conference joe frazier dead joe frazier dead topamax lexapro trazodone

Taiwan re-elects president

TAIPEI?? Taiwan voters re-elected incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou on Saturday, endorsing his push for closer ties with Beijing and removing a potential irritant in Sino-U.S. relations as those two powers head for a year of political transition.

The election had been expected to be tight, but the Central Election Commission said the Nationalist Party's Ma Ying-jeou won about 51.6 percent of the vote versus about 45.6 percent for Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

"In the next four years, cross-strait relations will be more peaceful, with greater mutual trust and the chance of conflict will be less," Ma, 61, told thousands of his supporters, many clapping, waving red and blue Taiwan flags and cheering in the pouring rain outside the party headquarters in downtown Taipei.

There was no official comment from Beijing, but the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, welcomed the outcome.

"This result shows that striving for peace, development and stability has become mainstream public opinion on the island of Taiwan, and this will promote the advance of cross-strait relations," said a commentary on its website.

"In recent years, the peaceful development of cross-strait relations has brought dividends, and many members of Taiwan's public feel this deeply."

U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Ma on the win. "Cross-strait peace, stability and improved relations, in an environment free from intimidation, are of profound importance to the United States," he said.

China claims Taiwan, a U.S. ally, as a renegade province that must be re-unified eventually with the mainland. U.S. arms sales to the island are a major bugbear for Beijing.

The election outcome would be a relief to China. The opposition DPP's independence-leaning stance has long angered Beijing, even though Tsai had tried to distance herself from that position in the campaign. Analysts had said a DPP win would have put ties with China in limbo, and sharpened Beijing's differences with the United States.

Ma's victory lifted a potential cloud over China's own leadership transition later this year. China's President Hu Jintao, who considers forging detente with Taiwan as a proud part of his legacy, is due to step down as Communist Party chief this year and as president next year as part of the leadership reshuffle.

One irritant
For the United States as well, the result removes at least one prickly issue from its ties with China as Obama readies for his own re-election bid later this year.

"It's a good result for Ma's China policy, and it is probably also a good result for Beijing's Taiwan policy," said Alex Huang, professor of strategic studies at Taipei's Tamkang University.

1. Only on msnbc.com

   1. Outsourced jobs coming back from China
   2. Recreating Afghanistan's soundtrack, one young musician at a time
   3. Gingrich booed over Romney jab
   4. Bachmann campaign: Stop playing Gingrich ad
   5. Smuggled bush meat brings viral threat to US
   6. Ron Paul: The candidate and his 'relaxed' schedule
   7. Pardon power varies widely

"It is also a good result for the United States and for regional stability," he added, noting also that business will benefit from the continuity the same administration will provide.

However, Ma's victory was much reduced from the near 17-point margin he had over the DPP at the last election in 2008.

Year of the Dragon woes for China-U.S. ties?

The Nationalist Party also won a clear majority in parliament, which should give Ma a fillip in pushing through policy. The election commission said the Nationalists won 64 seats in the 113-member legislature, although that is also lower than the 81 seats they had in the outgoing house.

"We will continue to let economic growth flourish, protect cross-strait peace and friendly relations to achieve more concrete results in cooperation in important areas," said Lien Chan, the honorary chairman of the Nationalists.

But in an acknowledgement of the reduced majority, he added: "We need to discuss thoroughly the criticism the voters have handed to us."

Ma's China policy is centered on not declaring independence but also not not moving toward unification. Despite critics saying that his policy of detente could lead to unification with China, he is seen unlikely to allow that.

"There's a majority position that is in support of maintaining the status quo, the numbers of people that want unification or independence are very, very small," said Bonnie Glaser, a leading U.S. scholar on Taiwan issues.

"He (Ma) wants to do what is in the interests of the majority in Taiwan. I think it's extremely unlikely that he'll move away from that position."

China also was more relaxed about this election. Unlike in 1996, when China fired missiles into waters off Taiwan before the island's first direct presidential election, Beijing has learnt to temper any response to avoid antagonizing voters into backing the DPP.

Trend against outsourcing brings jobs back from China

Nearly 200,000 Taiwanese returned from overseas for the poll according to local media reports, cramming flights in a last minute rush to cast ballots. In a measure of the easing ties with the mainland, most of them came over from China.

Ma and Tsai are both former law academics with doctorates from Harvard and the London School of Economics respectively. Tsai, the first woman to bid for Taiwan's presidency, appeared unable to press home her charges that Ma had pursued his pro-China policy with little regard to rising costs of living and a widening income gap at home.

"Ma has lost a lot of votes," said former DPP legislator Luo Wenjia. "But the people's dissatisfaction was not enough to make him lose the election."

A third presidential candidate, former Nationalist party member James Soong who now leads a splinter party, trailed far behind with around 2.8 percent of the vote.

Ma's victory is likely to provide a short-term boost to Taiwan stocks and the Taiwan dollar when markets reopen on Monday, analysts said. Economists see stronger ties with China's vast markets as vital for Taiwan's heavily export-dependent economy because of the slowdown elsewhere in the world.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45997749/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

oklahoma state santonio holmes raheem morris mt rainier winter classic norco stanford vs oklahoma state