Bernard Madoff
“Bernie” Madoff is a former stockbroker and financier who perpetrated what is considered to be the largest stock fraud scheme in American history. Madoff was a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market and was on the board of governors of the NASD. In 2009, Madoff was arrested on 11 felony counts of turning his wealth management business into a giant Ponzi scheme. It is believed that investor losses were nearly $65 billion. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his crimes. His bankruptcy proceeding was…
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody was a western personality and showman in the 1800s and early 1900s. When he was young, Cody was hired by the U.S. Military to provide buffalo meat, which is where he acquired his name. He was a soldier, a scout, and one of the most colorful figures in the American old west. He started a world-famous show called “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” which showcased the characters and lifestyle of the American west. The shows toured throughout Europe and the Eastern…
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody was a western personality and showman in the 1800s and early 1900s. When he was young, Cody was hired by the U.S. Military to provide buffalo meat, which is where he acquired his name. He was a soldier, a scout, and one of the most colorful figures in the American old west. He started a world-famous show called “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” which showcased the characters and lifestyle of the American west. The shows toured throughout Europe and the Eastern…
M.C. Hammer
M.C. Hammer is an American rapper and entrepreneur who enjoyed great commercial success and popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is known for his flamboyant dance movements and clothing and his upbeat style of rap. In the mid-1990s, gangsta rap became popular and his upbeat and poppy style of rap went out of style. His music sales plummeted and because of his lavish lifestyle he went into $13 million of debt. He eventually filed for bankruptcy. Hammer later became an ordained minister. …
Miguel De Cervantes
Cervantes was a Spanish novelist and playwright who, in 1605, published what some consider to be the best work of fiction ever written, Don Quixote. It is a classic of literature and considered to be the first modern novel published in Europe. Cervantes served in the Spanish navy and was badly wounded in the Battle of Lepanto where he was shot twice in the chest and once in the arm which caused him to lose the use of his left arm. He spent six months…
San Bernadino, California
The city of San Bernadino, California lies about 60 miles east of Los Angeles in the San Bernadino valley. Like other California cities, San Bernadino was squeezed financially during the post-2008 recession by unemployment, declining property values and rising pension costs, on top of some significant accounting errors and years of deficit spending. It projected a $46 million budget shortfall for 2012. Concerned that creditors may take action which would inhibit the city’s ability to deliver services to its 200,000 residents, San Bernadino filed for…
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch was founded in 1892 as an upscale sporting goods store. The company expanded in the twentieth century but began to fail after one of the founders, Ezra Fitch, retired. The company declined significantly in the 1960s and 1970s and after losing $1 million in 1975 it filed for Chapter 11 in 1976 and finally closed its doors in November 1977. Abercrombie was purchased out of bankruptcy by other retailers and has become an iconic purveyor of clothes for Gen?X since then.
Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey is a financial author, radio host and motivational speaker from Tennessee. He has a syndicated radio program that is heard on more than 500 radio stations throughout the United States and Canada and has written numerous books on the subject of personal finances and wealth building. He has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, 60-Minutes, The Early Show (CBS) and the FOX Business Network. Mr. Ramsey started out as a real estate investo,r and in his twenties built a rental real estate portfolio…
DISCHARGING DEBTS ARISING FROM “BAD CONDUCT”
DISCHARGING DEBTS ARISING FROM “BAD CONDUCT” One question that we’re commonly asked, especially now that a number of casinos have opened in northeastern Ohio, is whether or not gambling debt can be cancelled in bankruptcy. The answer is yes, it can. This might seem odd to some people, but the courts have universally held that losing money in games of chance does not constitute any sort of misuse or abuse that would affect a person’s ability to cancel those debts in bankruptcy. So for your…
WILL ANYONE AT MF GLOBAL GO TO JAIL FOR TAKING CUSTOMER FUNDS?
WILL ANYONE AT MF GLOBAL GO TO JAIL FOR TAKING CUSTOMER FUNDS? Imagine you are a banker and you remove funds from a depositor’s account and use them to pay the bank’s creditor card bill. Would that be illegal? Of course it would. It’s theft. But when MF Global Holdings, Limited, a New York brokerage firm formerly run by Jon Corzine (the former governor of New Jersey), took $175 million out of customer accounts to pay corporate obligations, no one got in trouble. MF Global…