Financial Mines

We’re not sure if Attilio Anthony Foschini is a fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but it sure sounds like it from an investigation by the Connecticut Banking Department.

The Circus performers often put on odd skits involving strange situations, including ones about a pet store that sold a dead parrot nailed to a perch, an entire government agency devoted to registering silly walks and often had the men dress as women and doing terrible impersonations of how women speak.

Anyway, these skits came to mind in reading the DOB’s consent order settling the Foschini case.

According to the DOB:

Foschini had left his job with a Connecticut securities brokerage when he was contacted by three former clients of that brokerage who wanted to sell some securities in their accounts.

Instead of giving them a contact number for the firm, Foschini, according to the DOB, called his old brokerage pretending to the be the clients to make the sale.

“There is no evidence of that,” a DOB staffer said, when asked if Foschini disguised his voice to sound like the clients and it was unclear if any of them were women.

The staffer noted that investigators learned the clients were sitting in the room with Foschini when he made the phone calls and they provided Foschini identification materials for him to use while conducting the alleged ruse.

So why did Foschini do it?

“We can’t speculate on motive,” the banking department said.

But it is apparent he didn’t do it for the money.

In its consent order with Foschini the department noted, “Foschini did not have any financial gain from the transactions and believed that he had the clients’ consent to place the calls…”

Foschini agreed to not do it again and will pay a $2,500 fine.

“Ye be warned.”

According to an SEC complaint and lawsuit after lawsuit filed in federal courts in California and New York, China-based Puda Coal, sold shares to a shell company to American investors and raised millions.

The SEC allegations are mirrored in several investor lawsuits against Puda and they say the chairman of the company, Ming Zhao and his CEO Liping Zhu pitched the company to investors as a consolidator in the business. That means the government allegedly tapped Puda to take over coal plants in China. However, what the company allegedly failed to mention to investors when it was raising money through two offerings, was that its chairman had transferred the only coal plant the company had a stake in to himself. Zhao is named by the SEC in its lawsuit and so is Zhu, who is charged with helping Zhao move the plant.

The transfer of the key asset was first exposed on AlfredLittle.com, which is now posting that its supporters are being threatened by Chinese companies.

George S. Canellos, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, said in a prepared statement, “The massive fraud perpetrated by Zhao and Zhu wiped out hundreds of millions of dollars in shareholder value and was compounded by their brazen obstruction of the SEC’s investigation.”

Still holding out for snow on Feb. 22, 2012

Some business owners refuse to surrender, like this one on Surf Ave, who has continued to advertise for snow removal help all season.

Still, temps are expected to get securely into the 50s today as we roar out of winter and into spring.

But, we’re pulling for you! Snow!

Tampa-based Marine Odyssey Exploration lost its bid to hang onto $500 million in Spanish gold coins it recovered from an 1804 shipwreck, but has won the backing of some big investors, including Blackrock.

Marine Odyssey was told by a U.S. Judge to turn the coins over to Spain this week, but the publicly traded treasure hunter said it’s not sunk. The international lawsuit was touched off after Odyssey found and recovered the wreck in the Atlantic. Spain’s demand for the return of the silver and gold might create concern for salvage operations that scour the see for artifacts.

Here’s a full story on it from the Daily Mail:

http://bit.ly/zxdnzw

In SEC filings this month, Odyssey revealed it has agreements in place that could help it salvage the HMS Victory, a ship sunk in 1744. It’s also working on the salvage of the SS Gairsoppa, a British merchant ship sunk during World War II.

And Marine Odyssey also filed paperwork showing Blackrock holds a more than 5 percent stake in the salvage company.

Shares of Odyssey were down slightly Tuesday to $3.25 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly passed the 13,000 mark Tuesday, the first time since 2008 the index of 30 blue chips has crossed that level before the 2008 swoon.

The index, after much fanfare, has struggled throughout the day. Were investors looking for profits? Moving money out of the big companies on fears the global economy won’t swallow higher gasoline prices? Oil by the way was up more than 3 percent and topped $106 a barrel.

Still, people seemed pretty sure 13,000 is a story.Some called it significant, some said it’s just a number and still others said it points to how painfully slow the recovery has been, since the market is nowhere near the high of 2007, when it was in the 14,000 range. But all were talking about it.

The 13,000 mark ultimately represents a 4.47 percent gain from a year ago and about a 30 percent gain from the high of the mark on Feb. 21, 2002, when the DJIA broke 10,000 before closing below that level.

On the same day the Dow finally recrossed 13,000, investors showed an appetite for rising share prices for Connecticut companies, Sturm Ruger, Terex and FuelCell Energy.

Southport-based Ruger hit a 52 week high Tuesday trading at $45.62 and and was still up more than 3 percent at $45.28 heading toward afternoon. Ruger reports fourth quarter and year-end earnings on Wednesday.

Westport-based Terex, the maker of construction equipment, was also up more than 3 percent to $26.45. The company is seen by some analysts as an affordable alternative  to Caterpillar, which is trading at $115 a share. One issue for Terex is its exposure to Europe.

Danbury-based FuelCell Energy, the maker of industrial fuel cells, was up more than 6 percent to $1.42. The company has carved out a position in the Asian market for its products at a time when expansion of the economy hinges on energy prices and pollution.

Arguably, Wall Street already pays in Connecticut, at least according to some gold coasters with big tax bills. But this is a different message coming from the campaign trail.

Former Connecticut Secretary of State Susan  Bysiewicz is running again, this time  for the Senate seat Joe Lieberman is going to vacate. And she has a Google ad called “May Wall Street Pay,”  which popped up on an LA Times page Monday.

Campaign against the Street

The former SOTS offers up a plan to try to recoup money from Wall Street banks by levying a transaction tax and then using that money to pay down mortgages in homes that are underwater. If you follow the link you’ll see some 60 Minutes reports on the meltdown along with Bysiewicz’ pitch.

The ad caught The Mine’s eye (get it?) because it is being run as a way to try and capture a senate seat from Connecticut, home to hedge funds and who knows how many Goldman Sachs VPs. By the way, does everyone at GS become a VP?

It appears to be a way to tap into the Occupy Wall Street movement, but it’ll be interesting to see if that message has legs, here, especially as so many campaigns here rely on that flow of money from Greenwich.

It's srping

While winter has not yet surrendered on the calendar, and even took some nippy swipes this morning with a bone chilling wind, the grills and lawnmowers of spring have taken command of the sales’ floors.

If you got out this weekend and hit some stores like Lowe’s, you were well aware spring has sprung in retail. Let’s hope you’re prepared for any last minute winter strikes, because finding the supplies to dig out, might be difficult.

Still, with this early sign of spring before us, who cares about a blizzard or two.

In the meantime, the HPBA, (Hearth Patio and Barbecue Association) said total shipments of grills in North America topped 14.7  million in 2011. Still down from 2007, the peak year for shipments when 17.4 million were shipped.

The gas grill market has been the hardest hit since the downturn, and remains about 2 million below peak. Charcoal grills, while still not back to 2007 levels, saw 700,000 fewer shipped last year than in 2007. (Analysis: Clearly, the consistency of sales among charcoal grills, shows the charcoal griller is far more invested in the economy and a much better person to be friends with than the fickle natural gas user)

Grills range on average from $20 to $500, according to the HPBA.

Electric grills are back at peak, but shipments were equivalent to the population of Alaska or some other deserted state.

For sticklers about the season, the old spring equinox hits March 20 this year. Daylight savings, is on March 11.