Last year, a U.S. District Court in Manhattan secretly froze $2 billion held in a Citigroup (C) account. The money was believed to have been held on behalf of Iran, through Luxembourg's Clearstream Banking S.A. In what the Wall Street Journal reports could be the largest seizure of Iranian assets abroad since the Islamic revolution of 1979, several parties are lining up to claim the cash. And, it looks like the battle is headed for trial.

The order to freeze the funds was executed 18 months ago by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and hasn't been made public. In issuing the legal order, the court used information from the U.S. Treasury Department. Though the money is frozen, the struggle is heating up.

Continue reading Global fight brewing over frozen funds from Iran

Global fight brewing over frozen funds from Iran originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bernie Madoff, at 71 years old, may be staring down what would be effectively a life sentence. The prosecution and defense have vastly different views heading into court today, but the answer will come at 10 AM (EDT), when the hearing is scheduled to begin. Approximately 100 letters have been sent to the judge, and 10 people will relate their opinions directly.

Madoff's family members are not expected to be in the courtroom for the sentencing, as they haven't been to any of his appearances following his arrest last September.

Continue reading Madoff sentence to come today

Madoff sentence to come today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: When complacency becomes concerning (AET, AIG, JBLU, TIVO, VLO)

Closing Bell: When complacency becomes concerning (AET, AIG, JBLU, TIVO, VLO) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.