Fausta's Blog

Easter Sunday was on Sunday, April 8, 2012.

On Easter Sunday this year, aircraft records obtained by TheDC show that Melgen’s plane left Florida the morning of Easter Sunday, stopped at the Teterboro private airport near Menendez’s home in New Jersey, and flew on to the Dominican Republic.

Two days later it returned to the United States, from a private airport near Casa de Campo.

While he was there,

Two women from the Dominican Republic told The Daily Caller that Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez paid them for sex earlier this year.

In interviews, the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000 acre resort in the Dominican Republic. They claimed Menendez agreed to pay them $500 for sex acts, but in the end they each received only $100.

You would think that politicians would know by now that they ought to pay hookers.

On April 17, 2012

Sen. Menendez was interviewed by NJ Today Online and was asked about what the consequences should be for the secret service agents who were involved in the sex scandal in Cartegena, Colombia.
(video above cue at 1:54)
He answered, “If the facts are true, they should all be fired. The reality is is that the secret service not only protects the president of the United States, they represent the United States of America. They were on duty. If the facts are true as we are reading in the press, they shouldn’t have a job.”

The sex part is not the big issue,

1) Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic. This doesn’t make it right or any less sleazy, but it takes away the most vivid “senator accused of illegal acts” angle. Although I suppose paying only 20 percent of what you promised could get you in legal trouble…

2) Menendez is not married.

3) Most New Jersey residents have much bigger issues on their minds right now, thanks to Hurricane Sandy. In fact, this might be the very best possible time for this story to break for Menendez.

What I want to know if Menendez reports the free vacation(s) and free use of Salomon Melgen’s private jet.

It’s New Jersey Dems, folks.

but you wouldn’t know it if you owned property near the shore.

And then there’s this.

Things at home are unharmed, & I’m so pleased!
No heat, no electricity, but OK.

Thank you for all your prayers.

Assange first:
As expected, Ecuador Grants Asylum to Assange, Defying Britain

Ecuador announced Thursday that it was granting political asylum to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who has been holed up for two months in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London awaiting the decision.

The move leaves Mr. Assange with protection from arrest only on Ecuadorean territory, meaning he could only leave the embassy for Ecuador with British cooperation.

Huffing and puffing,

Just before the announcement by Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño at a news conference in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, President Rafael Correa said on his Twitter account: “No one is going to terrorize us!” The night before, Mr. Patiño said that the British authorities had threatened to force their way into the embassy, to which he responded: “We are not a British colony.”

Reading from a government communiqué, Mr. Patiño said: “The government of Ecuador, faithful to its tradition of protecting those who seek refuge in its territory or in its diplomatic missions, has decided to grant diplomatic asylum to Julian Assange.”

He added, “There are indications to presume that there could be political persecution,” and that Mr. Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States and could face the death penalty there.

The article points out that “Mr. Assange arrived at the embassy on June 19, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden“, but never mind,

Mr. Patiño said he hoped Britain would permit Mr. Assange to leave the embassy in London for Ecuador — a request Britain has rejected, saying it has a binding, legal obligation to extradite Mr. Assange to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over accusations that he sexually assaulted two women.

The British Foreign Office said it was disappointed by the Ecuadorean announcement but remained committed to a negotiated outcome to the standoff. Sweden called the decision “unacceptable” and summoned Ecuador’s ambassador, The Associated Press reported.

Mr. Patiño’s news conference was broadcast live on British television and Mr. Assange watched the announcement as it happened, British news reports said. He told embassy staff members: “It is a significant victory for myself and my people. Things will probably get more stressful now.”

Particularly if it serves a propaganda purpose. The Mex Files is expecting the masses to rise,

While war is the extension of diplomacy by other means, that doesn’t mean a shootin’ war, by any means, but the British are likely to pay a very high price for these intemperate claims: I would expect at a minimum that British Embassies throughout Latin America are going to be besieged and quite a few windows broken, and various Latin American (and probably other) states enacting policies and procedures designed to make life difficult for British passport holders (amazing what Immigration and Customs service types can come up with when they want) and I fully expect British-owned businesses (some of which — like HSBC — are already seen as “dodgy” to use Brit-speak ) might be in a zealous application of existing regulatory and oversight functions.

I’m too cynical to get a rise over Assange. Perhaps that’s why The Mex Files refers to my blog as “The far right-wing Latin American website.”

Speaking of cynicism, No Criminal Case Is Likely in Loss at MF Global, surprise, surprise!

In the most telling indication yet that the MF Global investigation is winding down, federal authorities are seeking to interview the former chief of the firm, Jon S. Corzine, next month, according to the people involved in the case. Authorities hope that Mr. Corzine, who is expected to accept the invitation, will shed light on the actions of other employees at MF Global.

Those developments indicate that federal prosecutors do not expect to file criminal charges against the former New Jersey governor. Mr. Corzine has not yet received assurances that he is free from scrutiny, but two rounds of interviews with former employees and a review of thousands of documents have left prosecutors without a case against him, say the people involved in the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Imagine that: Prosecutors can’t build a case against a guy who simply doesn’t know where $1.2 billion of his clients money is, but who also managed to raise $500,000 for Obama.

Ed Morrisey‘s asking,

Ahem. What kind of “porous risk controls” allowed MF Global to bet money that wasn’t theirs on Euro-zone debt?

Good question.

But, fret not,

Mr. Corzine, in a bid to rebuild his image and engage his passion for trading, is weighing whether to start a hedge fund, according to people with knowledge of his plans.

Can’t wait to see what he calls it!

Cross-posted in The Green Room.

UPDATE,
WARNING: Language not suitable for work Here’s why Julian Assange is the most annoying and arrogant person in the whole world

The most dangerous town in America: Inside Camden, New Jersey where 39 people have been murdered this year

Read this post from a Philly fireman on what Camden is doing wrong.

h/t Ed Driscoll.

I asked last night,

And he says he doesn’t know where the money went? Corzine OK’d MF Fund Transfer, Probe Finds on.wsj.com/GTbxnK via @WSJ

— Fausta (@Fausta) March 23, 2012

MF’s Corzine Ordered Funds Moved to JP Morgan, Memo Says, and Email Ties Corzine to Missing Funds

The Oct. 28 email was disclosed in a five-page memo released Friday afternoon by a House Financial Services subcommittee. The panel is investigating what caused an estimated $1.6 billion shortfall in customer funds at MF Global, which collapsed into bankruptcy Oct. 31.

Memo on MF Global

View Document

Edith O’Brien, an assistant treasurer who was among the employees involved in moving money at MF Global, wrote in the email that the $200 million transfer to an MF Global account at J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +1.14% & Co. in London was “Per JC’s [Jon Corzine's] direct instructions,” according to the memo.

The transfer was needed to fix a $175 million overdraft in the bank account that was making it harder for MF Global to buy and sell securities as it scrambled to survive in late October, according to the memo.

Customer accounts hold both firm money and customer money that isn’t supposed to be touched under federal regulations. In testimony to lawmakers in December, Mr. Corzine, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS +1.15% chairman and New Jersey governor who was MF Global’s CEO, said he never directed anyone to misuse customer funds.

“He stands by that testimony,” a spokesman for Mr. Corzine said…
…
The $200 million transfer is one of three types of key transactions that led to the large shortfall in customer funds, the subcommittee found. The others are intraday loans between MF Global’s futures commission merchant and its broker-dealer and transactions related to the funding of outgoing broker dealer client money, the subcommittee found.

The Journal previously disclosed a $165 million transfer sent to the broker-dealer that came from the customer account.

Is this going to become a she said/he said?

Read the document.

Again, Corzine doesn’t know where the client funds went?

NJEA (the teacher’s union) Executive Director Vincent Giordano, who makes $550,000 a year, when asked about s
NJEA Executive Director to Poor Families: “Life’s Not Always Fair”

When questioned about the fairness of New Jersey’s low income families being financially unable to afford the option of moving their children to better performing schools, Mr. Giordano was cold, dismissive, and completely unsympathetic to their plight.

The exact quote?

“Well, you know, uh, life’s not always fair and I’m sorry about that…” (click here and listen to the clip)

Ah, that 1%…

Bingley’s dinner, THE social event of the NJ blogosphere, took place last night and I was honored to have been a guest.

Suzette brought the wonderful delicate phyllo triangles and posted about the procedure. Here’s what the finished product looked like,

The Chinese pilgrims added to the festivity,

Gregor and Mr & Mrs PRS were there, too. It was a great evening.

This actually looks interesting,

First Look: Governor Chris Christie on Oprah’s Next Chapter

Tune in Sunday, January 15 to see Oprah travel to the home of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to discuss his lifelong struggle with weight, why he resisted a run for the White House and more.

He went chateau shopping!

Yup, the guy who doesn’t know where the $1.2 billion of clients’ money went, went house hunting, big time.

You can’t make it up if you try:
On Eve of $41 Billion MF Global Bankruptcy Filing, Jon Corzine Was Château Shopping in France

In an exclusive report from three of Vanity Fair’s premier business writers—contributing editors Bryan Burrough, William D. Cohan, and Bethany McLean—the February issue delivers a sprawling account of the personal and professional battles of Jon Corzine, the former Goldman Sachs C.E.O. and ex-politician whose helming of MF Global resulted in a notorious $41 billion filing for bankruptcy and a $1 billion loss in firm equity. According to the piece, for the fiscal year that ended in March 2011, MF Global recorded day-one gains of $85 million on the former New Jersey governor’s risky trades on European sovereign debt and other assets, thanks to an accounting ploy. Because there were barely any expenses associated with such trades, the gains were almost pure profit. “Corzine would later tell investors that he made a $6.3 billion bet on sovereign debt, but the company’s filings made it look like he had a much bigger long position at the end of June 2011—$11.4 billion, offset by ‘short’ positions of almost $5 billion,” Vanity Fair reports. One analyst says: “If those trades had not been there, MF Global would have been forced to sell or go out of business.”

Go read the whole article, at Vanity Fair, that arm of the vast right-wing conspiracy. Be advised you may need a barf bag.

Frank Lautenberg, Senator for my district,
Sen. Charles Schumer’s brother-in-law was quietly nominated this month to a federal judgeship in New Jersey

What no one mentioned is that McNulty, 57, was the last-minute choice of Lautenberg, who had been leaning toward other candidates until surprisingly submitting McNulty’s name to the White House.

Lautenberg and his aides have given no public explanation for the decision to go with McNulty even though the latter had never been publicly touted as a contender for the job, which carries life tenure and a $174,000-a-year salary.

Now comes the good part,

People involved in the judicial-nomination process in New Jersey told The Post they believe the surprise nomination was a naked political maneuver by the 87-year-old Lautenberg to stay in Schumer’s good graces. Lautenberg is worried that party elders will try to push him out of his beloved Senate seat because of his advanced age — something that Schumer, one of the party’s top opinion makers and fund-raisers, would be able to stop.

ELDERS?!
Instapundit:

A reader emails:

While such naked nepotism is usually reserved for filling the village dog catcher’s job, that’s not the aspect of this that caught my eye. This is: Sen. Lautenberg is 87 years old and is so pathetically desperate to remain attached to the federal teat that he would do something so obvious as this. I know the Obama economy is pretty ugly, but what’s the matter Frank, afraid you won’t be able to find a job if you get pushed out?

Please leave me anonymous if you mention this, I’m an at-will government employee in an adjacent navy blue state.

The addiction to power — and, even more, to a feeling of importance — is stronger than the addiction to heroin or cocaine. And more destructive, to society if not to the addict. . . .

And an update on our former governor,
Surprise! Obama Still Pocketing Corzine Cash, according to the New York Post,

Before the MF Global episode, Corzine had been a key figure for Wall Street contributions to Obama and was openly being considered for the top spot at the Treasury Department in a second Obama term.

Corzine is not the only connection between MF and Obama. Three other MF honchos, including Corzine’s second-in-command, Brad Abelow, and his wife have given $5,000 to the president’s re-election campaign and another $30,800 to the DNC.
In addition to Abelow, the other MF donors are former board member David Schamis and Joseph Patt.

Did Jon remember where the money went yet?

UPDATE,
So out of almost a million dollars connected to Corzine, which may or may not include part or all of the other $150,000 from MF Global, Obama and the DNC are returning only $70,000?

Yes.