Immediately after the settlement was announced, some investors, including AIG, challenged the deal, alleging that $8.5 billion is only a “small fraction of the potential liability that [BofA] would have faced in litigation,” and that a number of the other investor groups involved in the settlement either do a significant amount of business with BofA or were part-owned by the bank. Thus, contended the rogue investors, these groups had an interest in keeping the damage to BofA to a minimum.
In total, the 22 investor groups held $105 billion worth of disputed securities.
The investors claimed that the trustee in charge of the securities involved in this dispute, Bank of New York Mellon, failed in its fiduciary duty to the investors, and that it was remiss in investigating $31 billion worth of loan modification claims brought by the investors.
On the first allegation, a New York State Supreme Court judge ruled today that BoNY Mellon “did not abuse its discretion in entering into the settlement agreement and did not act in bad faith or outside the bounds of reasonable judgment.”
However, regarding BoNY Mellon’s investigation into the loan mods, the court found that the trustee “acted ‘unreasonably or beyond the bound of unreasonable judgment’ by failing to investigate claims over loan modifications.”
This unresolved issue leaves the settlement in a spot where discontent investor groups can continue to challenge the deal.
A rep for AIG tells the Wall Street Journal that “This case is very far from over because the settlement will not take effect until a variety of potential post-trial motions and appeals are resolved.”
Court approves Bank of America’s $8.5 bln mortgage settlement [Reuters]
Judge Approves $8.5 Billion Pact Between Bank of America, Investors [WSJ.com]
When Pizza Hut failed to brings its oft-discussed pizza perfume to full retail reality, it seems a space was created in the eau de food space-time continuum, waiting for some other product to waft in and fill the void. So of course, one company did, and thus we have $20 1-ounce bottle of pizza perfume on the market.
The company’s website admits that it’s a “departure” from its usual fare — despite the fact that Demeter also sells dirt, bourbon and earthworm as scents — and this one stretches “the boundary of the concept of wearable fragrance.”
“But we had to try – tomato sauce, creamy mozzarella, a touch of oregano – perfectly balanced for the adventurous.”
Yeah, or for the hungry who just can’t be eating pizza all day, every day because some people in society frown on that. Stupid society.
Anyway, Gothamist checked out a bottle of it and it sounds like the reviews are a bit mixed. On the one hand, pizza! On the other, smelling like you rolled around in pizza!
“It’s like what living with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles must smell like,” one staffer notes.
And another: “Crust. Slightly burnt. Few days old. The job is getting you down but you persevere. You haven’t tasted anything but mozzarella and tomato sauce in months. You’ve forgotten what the ocean smells like. The line between thin crust and thick crust seems monumental. Life is what happens when you’re too busy smelling like pizza. Fin.”
I don’t know if I’m intrigued, scared or hungry. Or all three. Someone hold me. And bring pizza.
Pizza Perfume Is Here To Seduce That Mutant Turtle Jailbait You Long For [Gothamist]
The good news is that Walmart has set their prices to encourage customers to buy larger quantities of water. The bad news is that they’re also giving us price incentives to drink more Dr Pepper. Mmm, sugar water.
Adan spotted this soda display at his local Walmart. It’s hard to see in the photo, but the regular Dr Pepper bottle on the left is a 1.5 liter bottle, and the on on the right is a 2-liter bottle.
Soda makers keep trying to bring the 1.5 liter bottle back, and somehow it’s never caught on. Maybe pricing shenanigans like this are the reason why.
Homer noticed this odd Dasani pricing and sent it along. “I noticed that Walmart really wants us to drink more water,” he writes. “I’m comforted by Walmart’s concern for my hydration.”
To bring newcomers up to speed, for several years the couple operated fake travel clubs under a variety of names, including Dreamworks Vacation Club, Bentley Travel, Modern Destinations Unlimited, Blue Water Gateway, Five Points Travel Company, La Bonne Vie Travel and Vacation Clubs LLC.
They would lure unwitting consumers into 90-minute sales presentations for these clubs with the promise of a free cruise or other perk for attending. At the sales pitch, people were given the bad news that the cruise wasn’t free but would actually cost hundreds of dollars in fees and taxes.
Even then, some people would continue on with the scam, figuring that these costs were still less than they’d otherwise pay for the same trip.
All was revealed when the victims eventually realized that every date they wished to travel on just happened to be blacked out.
The couple had been running this scam since at least 2009. In 2011, they settled with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs and agreed to pay $2.2 million in restitution to victims and to stop operating these travel clubs.
Except they must have had their fingers crossed when they made that promise, because these bogus travel clubs kept popping up all over the Mid-Atlantic and into New England.
“After law enforcement shut down [defendant Daryl] Turner’s shady travel companies, he opened a new one and went back to his old tricks,” said Elie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “By sending Turner to prison, we have ended his fraud spree and warned the public that this is not a man you want to trust with your money.”
After the 2011 settlement, authorities in NJ put a lien on the couple’s $751,300 home and seized eight bank accounts, five luxury cars including a Ferrari and a Bentley, and the requisite speedboat that all big-time scammers must buy so that its seizure by law enforcement can later be mentioned.
As part of the 2013 plea deal, the couple will turn over the home and other assets to help pay their $2.6 million restitution tab.
Consumerist’s Karin Price Mueller, who has been following this story for years with the Newark Star-Ledger, talked to some of the couple’s victims about the sentencing.
“I’m proud of the state,” one travel club victim tells the Star-Ledger. “Seven years is good. He’s not going to get his cappuccinos and steak and martinis.”
Travel club con-artist books trip to prison after stealing millions; wife receives probation [NJ.com]
