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Interesting to see the stock go up in spite of the financing news with Dundee. Perhaps we're about to get some firm dates to start the mining operation. Also, we have the following promotional PR.
According to Lux Research, the global grid storage market is expected to rise from a mere $200 million in 2012 to $10.4 Billion in 2017. Flow batteries are an especially attractive solution given their quick response times, environmentally friendly composition, and long lifetimes. In previous articles we highlighted the zinc flow battery offered by companies such as Primus Power and ZBB Energy. Another type of flow battery is the vanadium redox flow battery. One company which sells a vanadium battery in North America is American Vanadium (OTCMKTS:AVCVF).......
http://www.nanalyze.com/2014/03/american-vanadiums-flow-batteries/
Jatinder Bhogal (Forbes Profile)
http://www.forbes.com/profile/jatinder-bhogal/
From 2/4/14 8K
Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.
On January 9, 2014, MicroChannel Technologies Corporation (the “Company”) entered into a promissory note in the principal amount of $70,000 (the “Promissory Note”) with Mr. Jatinder S. Bhogal, a stockholder of the Company owning in excess of 10% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock. The Promissory Note accrues interest at an annual rate of 7%, is due on January 9, 2016 and may be prepaid by the Company without penalty.
The foregoing description of the Promissory Note is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Promissory Note, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 10.1 hereto.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1413488/000114420414005816/v367238_8k.htm
Ditto
Defense uses witness to attack racketeering case
CAMDEN Defense attorneys in a federal racketeering case against reputed mobsters Wednesday attacked the prosecution's theory, using the testimony of a key government witness who offered insight into the alleged fraudulent takeover of a financial services company.
Cory Leshner, the witness who pleaded guilty in September for his role in the takeover of Texas-based FirstPlus Financial Group, testified in U.S. District Court in Camden that alleged mob associate Salvatore Pelullo launched several business ventures five months before Pelullo knew the financial services firm existed.
Pelullo's attorney said that contradicted the government's theory that Pelullo created the companies with the intent of taking over FirstPlus and defrauding its investors.
Prosecutors say Pelullo, along with reputed mobster Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. and others, acquired the entities in 2007 as part of a scheme to defraud FirstPlus' investors and loot the publicly traded company of millions of dollars.
Prosecutors describe 47-year-old Pelullo - a top associate to Scarfo, son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo - as the de facto chief executive of FirstPlus.
In a 25-count indictment handed down in October 2011, prosecutors said Leshner worked for Scarfo and Pelullo and was responsible for day-to-day tasks at FirstPlus, including managing bank and credit accounts to conceal the source of money pilfered by the mob.
Pelullo's attorney, Michael Farrell, told jurors Wednesday that Leshner took a plea deal of five years in prison so he could avoid the 100 years laid out in the indictment.
Leshner, 30, a Pennsylvania lawyer with a wife and child, said the prospect of less jail time "played a role in my decision, but was not a primary factor."
Rather, Leshner said, "my conscience had caught up with me."
He said he used to be close with Pelullo, though. "I thought of Mr. Pelullo as a father figure," Leshner said, "and he thought of me as a son."
He added: "I was proud being with Sal. He made me feel good about myself. He's a vivacious guy. He makes you believe what he's saying, makes you believe you're a part of it."
The trial, which began in January, is scheduled to continue Thursday.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140306_Defense_uses_witness_to_attack_racketeering_case.html#uVMhV0mXXAJthPyw.99
Strategic Review
In addition, the Company has engaged Deloitte Corporate Finance Inc. as strategic and financial advisor to undertake a strategic review of Claude's business plan and capital structure and to explore alternatives with the objective to maximize value for all shareholders.
The Company has not established a definitive timeline to complete its review and there can be no assurance that this process will result in any specific strategic or financial or other value-creating transaction. The Company does not currently intend to disclose further developments with respect to this process, unless and until the Company approves a specific transaction, concludes its review of the strategic alternatives or otherwise determines there is material information to communicate.
Strategic Review
In addition, the Company has engaged Deloitte Corporate Finance Inc. as strategic and financial advisor to undertake a strategic review of Claude's business plan and capital structure and to explore alternatives with the objective to maximize value for all shareholders.
The Company has not established a definitive timeline to complete its review and there can be no assurance that this process will result in any specific strategic or financial or other value-creating transaction. The Company does not currently intend to disclose further developments with respect to this process, unless and until the Company approves a specific transaction, concludes its review of the strategic alternatives or otherwise determines there is material information to communicate.
Something appears to be "up" today.
From my broker this morning. (new recommendation coming soon???)
EPS estimate up $0.065 to $0.405 for quarter ending 12/2013
CALL magicJack Vocaltec Ltd
Last Price $18.93
Last Update 9:02am ET
Change 0.12 (0.63%)
Open $19.15
Prev Close $19.05
Day Range $18.84 - $19.36
P/E Ratio 7.52x
Volume 264,460
Quarter Ending 12/2013
# Estimates 2
Current Est $0.405
Prev $0.34
Range $0.31- $0.50
Current Rec Buy
Prev Strong Buy
Range Hold- Strong Buy
In "late stage" development.
More Trial News
Scarfo Family's Troubled History Now Part Of FirstPlus Trial
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net
He was nearly killed in one of the most infamous gangland shootings in the violent history of the Philadelphia mob.
His older brother has changed his name to get out from under the family stigma.
A younger brother tried to commit suicide for the same reason and has been comatose for 25 years.
That's part of the depressing personal history of Nicodemo S. Scarfo, a story that has made its way into testimony in the now seven-week old racketeering and fraud trial playing out in federal district court in Camden.
Scarfo, 47, is the lead defendant in the case. He and Salvatore Pelullo, a 45-year-old Mafia wannabe, are charged with orchestrating the secret takeover of a Texas mortgage company in 2007 and then ripping it off to the tune of $12 million.
Along with testimony about corporate structure, SEC filings and lawyerly due diligence, the anonymously chosen jury panel of 18 (six are alternates) has been getting a primer on the turbulent history of the local mob.
Scarfo and his jailed father, Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, are at the center of that story.
"You're aware, aren't you, that he was shot in 1989 and almost killed?" Scarfo's lawyer, Michael Riley, asked his client's probation officer, Sharon O'Brien as she testified earlier today.
O'Brien, who is due back on the stand when the trial resumes tomorrow, said she was. One can assume the jury is also aware since this was not the first time Riley has mentioned the Halloween night shooting at Dante & Luigi's Restaurant that left the younger Scarfo with seven bullet holes in his body.
Both the defense and the prosecution have used elements of the bloody Scarfo family saga to underscore their positions in the trial.
Riley has masterfully laid out the defense claim that prosecutors have used the spectre of organized crime to sensationalize and prop up fraud allegations that have little, if any, foundation. He has also told the jury that his client has been targeted by law enforcement -- often unjustly -- for most of his adult life because he shares the same name with his infamous father.
Little Nicky Scarfo is considered one of the most violent mob bosses in the history of the American Mafia and has been described by some prosecutors as a "psychopath" with a disturbing penchant for violence.
Prosecutors have painted Scarfo and Pelullo as corporate gangsters who used strong arm Mafia tactics, including threats of violence, to take over FirstPlus Financial and then, in a classic mob play, bust the joint out.
Ironically, it is Pelullo, based on witness testimony and on secretly recorded conversations picked up on FBI wiretaps, who has made most of those threats and who has talked like a B-movie bad guy. Scarfo's story, however, is the wheel around which the mob allegations spin.
It could be months before the jury is asked to sort it all out. Scarfo and Pelullo, both convicted felons, could face prison sentences of 30 years or more if convicted. Five other defendants, including four attorneys and the former CEO of FirstPlus are also on trial.
Scarfo's father and Lucchese crime family boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso have been identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the case. Testimony and evidence has included details of visits Scarfo and Pelullo made to a federal prison in Atlanta where Scarfo was serving a 55-year term
on racketeering and murder charges.
The elder Scarfo, 84, has a parole date of 2033, meaning he will probably die in jail. From testimony and evidence offered by the prosecution, he has been portrayed as a sounding board and cheerleader for what authorities say was the plan to takeover and loot FirstPlus.
He also warned his son about problems in the New Jersey underworld, describing several key members of the Lucchese family with whom the young Scarfo was associated as "rats" who should be avoided.
A letter Scarfo wrote to his son from prison in January 2008 -- about the same time the FirstPlus scam was unfolding according to authorities -- was introduced as evidence earlier in the trial. Attached to the letter, according to testimony, were court documents related to a wiretap affidavit and transcript from a 1999 federal investigation of organized crime figures.
The targets of that probe apparently included brothers Michael and Martin Taccetta and several members of the Perna family, fathers and sons, all of whom were members or associates of the Lucchese organization.
"My dear Son," Scarfo wrote, "hold on to these 39 pages for the future. Review them. Tacettas and Pernas are rats and the younger ones are glorified rats by proxy. And who knows how far they will go in the future. As far as I'm concerned, they're all lying rats.
"Love, Dad xxoo"
"Hardly a Hallmark card, is it?" Riley quipped when cross-examining a federal prison official about the letter.
Donald Manno, a former Scarfo lawyer who is a co-defendant in the case, described the note as an attempt "by an old man" to "protect his son as best he could." Manno, who is representing himself, asked the same prison official the question that Riley posed to the probation officer today.
"You're aware that the son was shot seven timse, almost killed, by enemies of the father...you're aware of that?" Manno asked.
There has been no detailed explanation of what led Scarfo to make the allegation about the Taccettas and Pernas. The Taccetta brothers have been jailed on federal racketeering charges and on murder charges tied to a state case in Toms River involving the bludgeoning death of a video poker machine operator with golf clubs.
Martin Taccetta, released from prison a few years ago, is under indictment in Morris County in a pending state racketeering gambling case that includes 30 other mob members and associates, including the younger Scarfo and four members of the Perna family.
Michael Taccetta is due to be released shortly.
One underworld source, while not discounting the possibility that some of those individuals mentioned by Scarfo may be cooperating, added that Scarfo, in jail since 1987, "is delusional. He thinks everybody's a rat."
The letter and bits and pieces of the overlapping mob connections are part of the intriguing back story that the jury in the FirstPlus case has been hearing. The jury also was shown a letter from the elder Scarfo to Pelullo and one from Amuso to the younger Scarfo congratulating him on being remarried.
Scarfo's marital problems were also part of the testimony today. He divorced his first wife in February 2008 and married his current wife on Valentine's Day of that year. His wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo, was indicted in the FirstPlus case and has pleaded guilty to a mortgage fraud charge linked to the couple's purchase of a $715,000 home in Egg Harbor Township.
The down payment for that home came from money siphoned out of FirstPlus, authorities allege, and the mortgage itself was arranged through companies the government has linked to the scam.
O'Brien, the probation officer, was asked about two of those companies today, Global Net and Learned Associates and Scarfo's ties to them. O'Brien said she never determined exactly what the relationship was, but said her office was aware of the ongoing FBI investigation into FirstPlus and did not want to jeopardize it by raising questions with Scarfo.
Evidence introduced at the trial indicates that at the time Scarfo completed his three years of probation under O'Brien's supervision in March 2008 he was being paid $33,000-a-month as a consultant for Seven Hills Management, a Pelullo-backed company that authorities allege was also part of the scam. Scarfo also told O'Brien that he was about to begin working a second job for William Maxwell, a Texas lawyer whose brother John was the CEO of FirstPlus.
William Maxwell was special counsel to FirstPlus at the time. The Maxwell brothers are co-defendants in the ongoing trial. A letter from Maxwell indicated that he was going to pay Scarfo $150,000-a-year to develop business contacts and identify companies that could be purchased in New Jersey. The job also included a car, cell phone and business expenses.
"An opportunity like this is one I can build a tremendous career on," Scarfo said in a note to O'Brien about the job offer. The government alleges the salary from Maxwell and the consulting fee from Seven Hills were part of the scam and ways to funnel money from FirstPlus to Scarfo.
O'Brien said that Scarfo never fully disclosed his finances to the probation department, as he was required to do under the terms of his supervised release. She also said he lied to her by denying he had had contact with convicted felons and organized crime figures, two other prohibitions.
Personal details of Scarfo's life were also part of her testimony. She told the jury that before moving, Scarfo was living in Ventnor with his first wife, his daughter, his mother and his (comatose) brother.
Later, after divorcing and remarrying, she said Scarfo made a point of asking her to come and see his new baby. His second wife gave birth of a baby boy a few months after they were married on Valentine's Day 2008, she said.
O'Brien said Scarfo proudly told her he had named the enfant "Nicodemo Scarfo 3d."
George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.
Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/02/scarfo-familys-troubled-history-now.html#PrMCZjcFWqdjspSx.99
The key word is "disruptive". Let's hope AVCVF can deliver major "disruptive"
The German-American Vanadium Flow Battery Connection
The German-American Vanadium Flow Battery Connection
CellCube, one of the few commercial-scale flow batteries, gets NREL testing via a stateside partner and would-be vanadium supplier.
Jeff St. John
February 24, 2014
Over the past few years, flow battery startups such as Prudent Energy, Primus Power, EnerVault, Imergy (formerly Deeya Energy), and others have been vying for media attention for their attempts to bring this potentially disruptive technology for long-term, grid-scale energy storage to the commercial market.
Meanwhile, there’s another flow battery maker with dozens of commercial-scale projects under its belt that has hardly spoken about its technology. That’s Germany’s Gildemeister, a century-old industrial machine tools maker with a majority stake in Cellstrom, the Austrian-based maker of the CellCube vanadium redox flow battery system.
Gildemeister has reportedly sold more than 50 of its CellCube devices in Europe and Asia, including a project with German utility E.ON. It’s also working with partner Younicos to create “battery parks” meant to serve broad grid-balancing functions in Europe’s increasingly renewable-energy-disrupted energy markets. But the company hasn’t made much of a splash here in the United States.
That hasn’t been for want of trying from partner American Vanadium, however. The Canadian mining company has been Gildemeister’s North American distribution partner since May 2013, and CEO Bill Radvak has been promoting the technology heavily at trade shows and conferences since then.
Last week, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company announced a potential milestone in those efforts, with the delivery of the first Cellcube units for testing by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. That testing could be complete by this summer, at which point at least one U.S. utility, as well as various integration partners, are interested in deploying it stateside, Radvak told me in a phone interview last week.
Radvak declined to say which U.S. utility planned to deploy Gildemeister’s Cellcube units. But a November blog post from Crystal Equity Research noted that American Vanadium has proposed a trial with New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) to demonstrate a Cellcube unit in Manhattan, in partnership with Consolidated Edison and the NY-BEST energy storage industry group.
That jibes with a recent contributed article Radvak wrote for Greentech Media, noting New York state’s newly created grid-scale storage incentives as a development that will open that market to new opportunities. It’s also aligned with ConEd’s work testing new battery technologies as part of its goal of reducing grid congestion and improving reliability in New York City.
As for the NREL tests, “This is a pretty all-encompassing grid trial,” Radvak said, including grid-connected and off-grid applications involving long-term storage and balancing of renewables like solar and wind power. “We don't believe that they’ve been able to test a long-duration, larger battery -- likely because there aren’t any commercially available, long-duration, multi-hour batteries out there.”
Flow Batteries’ Role in Long-Term Grid Energy Storage
He may be right. While lithium-ion batteries developed for consumer electronics and electric vehicles are increasingly finding their way into grid applications, they’re better suited for storing large amounts of energy over shorter durations, rarely for more than an hour or two.
Flow batteries, by contrast, pump liquid electrolytes through stacks of electrochemical cells, instead of containing them in closed systems, allowing for replacement of depleted materials and reduction of the degradation of the anode and cathode materials involved. That could help them store megawatts of grid energy over multiple hours of time at costs that could compete with alternatives like natural-gas-fired power plants.
Gildemeister, which since 2009 has been part of a strategic partnership with Japan’s DMG Mori Seiki and took that company’s name as its own in September, has been very shy about revealing details of its Cellcube deployments. It declined interview requests from Greentech Media in mid-2013.
But piecing together various announcements and company information indicates that the Cellcube devices come in modular units of 200 kilowatts, with a rating of 1.6 megawatt-hours per unit, which indicates they’re capable of delivering power for up to eight hours.
Other grid-scale batteries, such as sodium-sulfur technologies, can store energy for long periods, but operate at high temperatures and require a good deal of hands-on maintenance, whereas flow batteries have been deployed to back up cellphone towers for years now with little complaint. Startup Xtreme Power’s advanced lead-acid batteries have some long-term storage capabilities, but with its recently announced bankruptcy, it’s unclear whether that technology has a future.
While emerging technologies like Eos’ zinc-based batteries, Aquion’s sodium-aqueous batteries or Ambri’s liquid-metal batteries could achieve breakout energy storage durations at competitive cost, they’re still years away from commercial production.
The drawbacks for flow batteries include their reliance on pumps that may be subject to mechanical trouble and expensive maintenance, as well as their relatively low “round-trip” energy efficiency ( a measure of how much energy put into the battery can be retrieved from it). Flow batteries tend to hover at 60 percent efficiency and strive for 70 percent, whereas lithium-ion batteries can theoretically get back more than 90 percent of the energy put into them.
But if the difference between the value of the energy being stored and the energy being put back into the grid is broad enough, those efficiencies may still pay off. Consider wind farm operators that may want to store energy when grid prices go negative and bid it back to firm their output, or solar systems that could store power to meet late afternoon grid ramping needs that are emerging in solar-rich grids.
Business cases like these are already starting to pencil out on isolated grids where storage can replace expensive, polluting diesel fuel-fired generation. Now Gildemeister and American Vanadium are hoping to see broader applications, particularly in markets that are mandating energy storage, such as California, or are beginning to offer incentives for grid-scale projects such as New York state.
Breaking Ground on U.S. Production of Vanadium for Grid Storage
Different flow batteries use different chemicals, including zinc-bromine and iron-chrome combinations, as well as vanadium -- a much rarer metal, but one unique in its ability to undergo multiple phases of electrical charge. Vanadium is used almost exclusively for strengthening steel today, and China, Russia and South Africa are the countries where it’s mined at commercial scale, Radvak said.
American Vanadium was founded in 2006 with the goal of opening up the first large-scale vanadium mining and refining project in the United States. That’s its Gibellini project, a well-known but poor-grade deposit of vanadium in Nevada that has been worked on and off since World War Two.
The vanadium deposits at the Gibellini site will be extracted via a sulfuric acid leaching process, at a cost of about $5 per pound, compared to the $6 to $12 per pound the metal fetches on global markets, he said. Importantly, the vanadium-acid mixture that results could be almost directly put to use as a battery electrolyte, he claimed -- and Gildemeister has agreed to buy all the electrolyte it needs for its North American Cellcube deployments through American Vanadium.
Going from concept to full-scale mining operation will take more time and money, of course. The scale-up of the Gibellini project could cost $100 million or more, and isn’t expected to get underway until 2015 or so, Radvak said. In the nearer term, American Vanadium plans to set up a vanadium electrolyte production facility to supply Cellcube deployments, and potentially other flow battery makers, as long as they’re not competitive with Gildemeister, he said.
American Vanadium, which is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol AVC, raised $1.5 million Canadian ($1.6 million) in late 2012. Late last year it announced the closing of two tranches of private placements of shares and warrants, valued at about $4.065 million Canadian ($3.66 million) and $1.765 million Canadian ($1.59 million), for a total of about $5.25 million, both centered on its role as an energy storage materials supplier.
The company’s stock has been trading in the sub-40 cents per share range in recent months, and has seen a steady decline in price from its early 2011 high of $1.92 per share. A long path lies before it in getting Gildemeister’s Cellcube tested by NREL, deploying it in North America, and building up a resulting vanadium electrolyte business.
TAGS: ambri, american vanadium, aquion, batteries, cellcube, energy storage, enervault, eos, flow battery, gildemeister, grid storage, imergy, primus power, prudent energy, sodium-sulfur
Jeff St. John
Reporter covering the green technology space, with a particular focus on smart grid, demand response, energy storage, renewable energy and technology to integrate distributed, intermittent green energy into the grid.
We Are Not Asking You for a Proxy and You are Requested
Not To Send Us a Proxy.
Remember this phrase. It will become your epitaph one day if you invest in any company associated with Monarch Bay Associates. Think of yourselves as bait fish.
I do have a good feeling about AVCVF, and I think it may take off if, and when, they announce something concrete about the mining operation. As for RMTD, I suspect the Monarch Bay cabal is just wringing a few dollars more out of a dead horse. On a brighter note, take a look at CALL, which might just be the "Magic" ticket of the year.
$AVCVF News on Marketwatch
American Vanadium Announces First Cellcube Vanadium Flow Battery Installation In America
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/american-vanadium-announces-first-cellcube-vanadium-flow-battery-installation-in-america-2014-02-19?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Insider Buying: Jeffrey Moore Buys 128,000 Shares of Sitestar Stock (SYTE)
Sitestar (NASDAQ:SYTE) Director Jeffrey Moore acquired 128,000 shares of Sitestar stock on the open market in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $0.46 per share, with a total value of $58,880.00. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.
Shares of Sitestar (NASDAQ:SYTE) remained flat at $0.044 during trading on Wednesday. The stock had a trading volume of 10,000 shares. Sitestar has a one year low of $0.04 and a one year high of $0.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $0.05 and its 200-day moving average is $0.06. The company has a market cap of $3.3 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67.
Sitestar Corporation (NASDAQ:SYTE), is an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1096934/000154255614000003/xslF345X01/primary_doc.xml
http://zolmax.com/investing/insider-buying-jeffrey-moore-buys-128000-shares-of-sitestar-stock-syte/200082/
Veteran reporter, George Anastasia, free to cover Firstplus Financial fraud trial.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler ruled today that veteran crime reporter George Anastasia is free to cover the fraud trial of Nicodemo S. Scarfo and Salvatore Pelullo.
After a 50-minute hearing at the federal courthouse in Camden, Judge Kugler decided that Anastasia's right to cover the trial under the First Amendment trumped any issue raised by the defense.
J. Michael Farrell, a lawyer for Pelullo, had listed Anastasia as a potential witness in the fraud case. The lawyer wanted the reporter to testify that prior to the issuing of a search warrant in 2006, Anastasia had never heard Pelullo's name mentioned as a member of organized crime.
The names of potential witnesses are kept on a sequestration list. They're not supposed to show up in the courtroom prior to their appearance on the witness stand. By putting Anastasia on that list earlier this month, the defense, in effect, had barred Anastasia from visiting the courtroom as a reporter. But the judge granted a motion today to take Anastasia's name off that sequestration list.
The judge said the defense can still call Anastasia as a witness, but the judge told Farrell from the bench that it might not be advisable for the defense to go down that road.
"Frankly, "I'm not convinced at all that Mr. Anastasia has any admissible evidence," the judge was quoted as saying in a story about the hearing written by Julia Terruso of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
If he allowed Farrell to ask Anastasia the question he wanted to ask, what would it prove, the judge said. The issue of whether Anastasia had heard Pelullo's name prior to 2006 mentioned as a member of organized crime was irrelevant.
And, the judge said, if he allowed Farrell to ask his question, he would have to allow the government to ask Anastasia what he had written since 2006, such as the allegations that Pelullo and his co-defendant Scarfo had looted a Texas-based mortgage company.
Pelullo, an Elkins Park businessman, is one of seven defendants in the federal fraud case being tried along with Scarfo, the son of jailed former Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.
The government alleges that Scarfo and Pelullo, along with several lawyers, orchestrated the systematic looting of FirstPlus Financial by secretly taking control of the board of directors in June 2007. Over the next 10 months, authorities allege, the defendants helped themselves to $12 million.
George Anastasia has been covering organized crime in Philadelphia for nearly 40 years. After he retired from The Philadelphia Inquirer as its ace mob writer in 2012, he's been blogging for big trial.net.
Anastasia was represented in court today by Max. S. Kennerly, a lawyer from The Beasley Firm, the sponsors of big trial.net. Kennerly said the judge recognized the importance of the First Amendment, but kept future options open.
"The court agreed that there was no reason to keep George out of the courtroom, but did not yet rule on the First Amendment issues," Kennerly said. "If any of the defendants want to try to call him as a witness later -- which the court said was likely a very bad idea -- they can try to do so, and we will sort out the First Amendment issues then."
Kennerly said a database search of published articles could produce the same information that Farrell was seeking from Anastasia, so it wasn't necessary for the reporter to appear as a witness.
"I assume this is the end of the issue, but if they try anything else with George, I am happy to come back and defend his right to report on the trial," Kennerly said. He would also be happy to continue to defend "the public's right to know what's going on in their courtrooms, by way of George's singular expertise."
Kennerly said the real credit for today's victory in court goes to Kim Loutey, a third-year law student who did the research, developed the arguments and drafted the brief that the judge sided with.
"All I did was show up," Kennerly said. "The argument was there, and it was irrefutable."
Anastasia was happy with the ruling.
"I think the judge saw the issue for what it was and recognized the importance of the First Amendment," Anastasia said. Also the judge recognized "I don't have any first-hand information," Anastasia said. "That nothing I could have testified about would have added anything to the case."
Read more at www.bigtrial.net/2014/01/judge-rules-anastasia-can-cover-scarfo.html#gaPiOsyOCkCzi77t.99
Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) Reports 2013 Results
Boston, MA – (NYSEPOST) – 02/03/2014 – Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) reported its 2013 results. The company reported production of 8,919,728 ounces of silver in 2013, which is a rise of 39% to the 6,394,235 ounces that were produced in 2012. Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) reported that its 2013 gold production rose from 55,496 ounces in 2012 up to 119,989 ounces. It also reported that it had lead production of 30,374 tons in 2013, in comparison to 21,074 tons that were produced in 2012. It also had an output of 64,249 tons of zinc last year, which was a rise from 61,406 tons that were produced in 2012.
The 2013 cash-cost after the by-product credits stood at $950.79 per gold ounce and the cash cost after by the product credit/ silver ounce was $6.84. For the 2013 Q4, Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) reported silver production of 2,488,722 ounces which is an increase from 2,081,328 ounces in the same quarter of 2012. Gold production for the 2013Q4 was 47,108 ounces, which was a rise the production of 15,563 ounces in the 2012Q4. Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL)’s CEO, Phil Baker said that in the Q4, the company achieved very significant milestones and is continuing its strong production.
Lucky Friday is back to its normalized operations and the Casa Berardi is improving production as well as costs said Phil Baker. He added that Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) looks forward to much lower-cost production from the company’s 3 mines in 2014 and they will continue to be focused in increasing the consistency and reducing risk. Another focus point will be extending the mine life and improving mine production. Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) is also the owner of the Friday Mine located in Idaho. This mine had been shut down for a year post 3 accidents that took place in which 2 miners lost their lives and 7 were injured. The company reopened this mine last year.
http://nysepost.com/hecla-mining-company-nysehl-reports-2013-results-39529
Insider Buying Alert: CrowdGather's CEO and Director pick up shares
Insider Buying Alert: CrowdGather's CEO Picks Up 166,500 Shares
CrowdGather Inc. (OTC Markets: CRWG) CEO Sanjay Sabnani purchased a total of 166,500 shares on the open market at prices ranging from $0.06 to $0.074 per share between December 18 and December 31, 2013. The total dollar value of the transactions totaled more than $10,500 and brought his total stake to approximately 18 million shares, or nearly 30% of the company. Director James Sacks also purchased 50,000 shares at $0.065 a piece on January 14, 2013, according to a subsequent Form 4 filing with the SEC.
The insider buying comes at a key turning point for the social media company. In 2013, management began a restructuring plan that reduced its net cash burn by approximately 40% while keeping its profit margins at approximately 95%. The team improved the financial and operating metrics of the business by eliminating non-performing assets and investing in its online advertising marketplace. As a part of these plans, the company also raised $1 million in Series B Convertible Preferred financing and settled outstanding litigation..
CrowdGather's vertical interest advertising network is designed to connect brand marketers with millions of highly-focused influencers, trendsetters and pioneers that comprise its wide-reaching social network. According to Zack's Research, forum users are generally 3.5x more likely to recommend a purchase, 4x more likely to post reviews online, and 3.5x more likely to share new products, making them a desirable demographic.
Currently, the company's stock trades with a market capitalization of approximately $4.25 million despite reporting about $14.5 million in total assets. Investors have the opportunity to acquire the stock at a significant discount to its book value at a time when other social media stocks are reaching new highs and as the company prepares to launch its new ad platform.
About CrowdGather Inc.
With its growing portfolio of special interest forums and enthusiast message board communities, CrowdGather (www.crowdgather.com/) has created a centralized network to benefit forum members, forum owners, and forum advertisers. CrowdGather provides a highly interactive and informational social network for members, a management and revenue-sharing resource for third-party forum owners, and a largely untapped advertising network for marketers worldwide.
For more information about CrowdGather:
- Company Website
- Investor Presentation
To be updated on company developments click here:
CrowdGather (CRWG) Updates
Disclosure:
Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. For full disclosure please visit: http://secfilings.com/Disclaimer.aspx
Reporter, George Anastasia, may be barred from the courtroom because he has been listed as a potential witness by Pellulo's defense lawyer. (See notes at the end of this article)
Juries Hear Different Versions Of Mob Racketeering Conspiracy
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net
There's racketeering conspiracy and then there's RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY!
Federal juries on opposite sides of the Delaware River began dealing with the differences today as the jury in the retrial of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi started deliberations in his eight-week old trial and the jury in the fraud case against mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of jailed mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, heard opening arguments in his case.
The Ligambi jury got the case in federal court in Philadelphia shortly before 11 a.m. and deliberated for the rest of the day without a verdict. The panel is due back tomorrow. The case, against Ligambi and his co-defendant and nephew George Borgesi, is built around allegations that the two mobsters ran an organized crime enterprise that generated tens of thousands of dollars through illegal gambling, loansharking and extortion.
Scarfo, Elkins Park businessman Salvatore Pelullo and five others went on trial at the same time in federal court in Camden. The government alleges that Scarfo and Pelullo orchestrated the systematic looting of a Texas-based mortgage company, FirstPlus Financial, by secretly taking control of the board of directors in June 2007. Over the next 10 months, authorities allege, Scarfo and Pelullo lined their pockets with cash for the company. The take? A staggering $12 million.
The difference underscores what lawyers in the Ligambi case have argued continuously -- that the government has taken a penny ante gambling case and turned into into a mob conspiracy.
"Racketeering lite," Edwin Jacobs Jr., Ligambi's lawyer, said of the charges which, nevertheless, carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence for the defendants.
Scarfo and Pelullo, both convicted felons, could face even more jail time if they are found guilty at the end of their trial which is expected to last about four months.
The jury, 12 panelists and six alternates, heard about four hours of opening arguments today and will be back for more tomorrow. Testimony is not scheduled to begin until Monday.
In a sharply detailed opening, Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Wiener, one of three prosecutors in the case, used charts, power point displays and snippets of secretly recorded conversations to paint a picture of the case that will be laid out over the coming months.
"This is a case about lying and cheating and stealing," Wiener said.
But lawyers for Scarfo and Pelullo, in their openings, said the prosecution had misinterpreted and slanted the facts. Both lawyers claimed that the alleged mob ties to the case were a smoke screen designed to sensationalize the case. Both said their clients had engaged in legitimate business deals and were innocent.
Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, was one of dozens of spectators in the crowded courtroom for opening arguments,. At the time indictments were handed up in the case two years ago, Fishman said the FirstPlus looting gave new meaning to the phrase "corporate takeover."
Without using those words, Wiener hit on that same theme during his two-hour address to the jury.
Money was funneled out of FirstPlus, the prosecutor said, after Scarfo and Pelullo took control of the board of directors in June 2007. The money was used to fund purchases of bogus or straw companies that Pelullo and Scarfo had set up and as phony consulting fees.
Wiener said $6 million was spent to purchase the phony companies. He also told the jury that Pelullo and Scarfo used FirstPlus cash to support a lavish lifestyle. They purchased a yacht for $8000,000 and named the boat "Priceless." Pelullo also bought a $200,000 Bentley automobile. Scarfo bought a $75,000 Audi and used more than $200,000 as a downpayment on a $700,000 home in Egg Harbor Township.
The prosecutor said the pair used their alleged ties to organized crime to instill fear and to intimidate anyone who tried to block their takeover of the company. Co-defendant William Maxwell, a Texas attorney, aided the scheme after he was appointed special counsel to the company with a contract that paid him $100,000-a-month plus expenses.
Maxwell them arranged consulting contracts for Pelullo and Scarfo that were also financed by FirstPlus.
Other defendants in the case include Maxwell's brother, John, who was CEO of FirstPlus; Scarfo's longtime criminal defense attorney, Donald Manno, and lawyers Gary McCarthy of Philadelphia and David Adler of New York.
Several other defendants in the case, including Scarfo's wife Lisa, have pleaded guilty to related charges.
Wiener cited several secretly recorded conversations which he said supported the government's allegations. On one, he said, Scarfo boasted about how the takeover was set up with a series of business transactions and companies.
"Layer upon layer, like an onion," he said Scarfo told an associate on one tape.
He also said that Pelullo once threatened an associate who he and Scarfo feared might talk to authorities, telling him that his wife would be raped and his children would be sold into prostitution "if you ever rat."
Michael Riley, Scarfo's lawyer, told the jury that his client was paying a price for his father's reputation.
Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, who ruled the Philadelphia-South Jersey mob for most of the 1980s, was considered one of the most violent mob bosses in America. But Riley said the younger Scarfo decided to go in a different direction after he was shot and nearly killed in a mob hit at Dante&Luigi's Restaurant in South Philadelphia on Halloween night in 1989.
That shooting, Riley argued, is the government's jumping off point for organized crime charges that have no basis for being in the case.
"No one's gonna wake up with a horsehead in their bed," Riley said, referring to a classic scene in The Godfather. But, he said, the government wants to portray the case as an extension of that world.
Would you rather watch a financial report on television or The Godfather movie, Riley asked the jury. The government, he said, is trying to glamourize and sensationalize what amounts to a dull, boring financial case by introducing the specter of the mob.
Troy Archie, Pelullo's attorney, hit on that same point, telling the jury that the government "misunderstood" the facts in the case and began an investigation with the premise that "where's there's Mafia smoke, there must be Mafia fire."
He described Pelullo as a "brash talking, foul-mouthed businessman," but said his dealings with FirstPlus were legitimate. Neither he nor Scarfo had broken the law, he said.
Pelullo's only offense, Archie said, was that "he was friends with Nicky Scarfo."
Pelullo, who has two prior convictions for fraud, "turned his life around," Archie said, becoming a "consultant and entrepreneur." But, he added, the government "got confused because he's with Nicky Scarfo and they're making money."
Closing arguments are to continue tomorrow morning in federal court in Camden while in federal court in Philadelphia an anonymously chosen jury to 11 women and one man will begin its first full day of deliberations. (A male juror was dismissed before the start of deliberations after acknowledging that he had fallen asleep during the lengthy charge of Judge Eduardo Robreno.)
Racketeering conspiracy is the overarching charge in both trials.
On a personal note, I may not be able to cover the rest of the FirstPlus trial because Salvatore Pelullo has listed me as a potential witness and witnesses are not permitted in the courtroom during testimony. Judge Robert Kugler permitted me to remain during opening arguments.
The issue may be appealed by Bigtrial.net.
Pelullo's second attorney, J. Michael Farrell, would not say why I might be called and said he was reluctant to discuss the issue with me because I might tell the prosecution. In a brief discussion during the morning break, Farrell would offer not further explanation. I have never discussed the case with Pelullo's lawyers and am hard pressed to understand why I would be called as a witness.
Having me on the witness list, however, would keep me from covering the trial.
Farrell cryptically asked if I had ever written about Salvatore Pelullo before his name surfaced in this case. I told him I believed I had not. What he was getting at remains unclear to me.
I told him, 'You don't want me on the stand.' He called that a `threat' and said I would remain on the list.
Everything I know about this case has appeared in stories that I wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer from the time search warrants were executed in the spring of 2008 until I left the paper in October 2012. I have probably written more about the alleged scam than anyone else.
But what I could provide as a witness for the defense is baffling.
I know and have written a lot (including several books) about the Phiadelphia mob and the Scarfo family. I know about the younger Scarfo's connections to the Lucchese crime family, a key element in the prosecution's case.
Does Pelullo want me on the stand talking about that?
I could also talk about the late Harold Garber, an Atlantic City criminal defense attorney who ended up on the board of directors of FirstPlus after the government alleges Scarfo and Pelullo took over the company behind the scenes.
Garber died of cancer shortly after he was appointed to the board. He had represented Little Nicky Scarfo and Crazy Phil Leonetti in the 1980s. In fact, he had his law license suspended for a year after a witness in a murder case against Leonetti, whom Garber was representing, recanted his story. Garber also represented that witness.
So Garber's appointment to the board of directors of FirstPlus was a red flag for me. How, I wondered, did a criminal defense lawyer from Atlantic County end up on the board of directors of a relatively obscure mortgage company based in Irving, Tx.?
Or maybe Farrell and Pelullo would like me to talk about a story I wrote for The Inquirer in July 2008. That story was based on wiretaps from a mob case in North Jersey tied to the Gambino and Lucchese crime families.
On one tape Pelullo and Martin Taccetta, a Lucchese crime family member, talked about business and the mob; business that had very little to do with FirstPlus but a lot to do with the allegation that Pelullo was a mob associate.
Would Farrell and Pelullo like to ask me about that?
Stayed tuned. We'll see.
George Anastasia can be contacted at George@bigtrial.net.
Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/01/juries-heard-two-different-versionis-of.html#7PBB0Q3OhDS7Qlpq.99
"Little Nicky," Mob Fraud Trial Begins
Federal prosecutors will start making their case to jurors that a group of Philadelphia and southern New Jersey mobsters pulled off a white-collar financial fraud scheme.
The trial of Nicodemo Scarfo and six other defendants is scheduled to start Wednesday. Prosecutors say the defendants used threats to take over a mortgage company and then kept the firm's assets for themselves.
Scarfo is the son of imprisoned crime family boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo.
Other defendants include a reputed mob associate and two lawyers and two men who were executives at FirstPlus Financial Group, the Irving, Texas-based mortgage company.
The trial is in federal court in Camden is expected to last about three months.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Mob-Fraud-Trial-Begins-239241121.html
Why Hecla Mining Company (HL) Stock Might be a Great Pick
December 31, 2013
One stock that might be an intriguing choice for investors right now is Hecla Mining Company (HL - Snapshot Report). This is because this security in the silver mining space is seeing solid earnings estimate revision activity, and is in great company from a Zacks Industry Rank perspective.
This is important because, often times, a rising tide will lift all boats in an industry, as there can be broad trends taking place in a segment that are boosting securities across the board. This is arguably taking place in the silver mining space as it currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 66 out of more than 250 industries, suggesting it is well-positioned from this perspective, especially when compared to other segments out there.
Meanwhile, Hecla Mining is actually looking pretty good on its own too. The firm has seen solid earnings estimate revision activity over the past month, suggesting analysts are becoming a bit more bullish on the firm’s prospects in both the short and long term.
In fact, over the past month, current quarter estimates have risen from 1 cent per share to 2 cents per share, while current year estimates was flat at a loss of 2 cents per share. HL currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which is a favorable signal.
So, if you are looking for a decent pick in a strong industry, consider Hecla Mining. Not only is its industry currently in the top third, but it is seeing solid estimate revisions as of late, suggesting it could be a very interesting choice for investors seeking a name in this great industry segment.
http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/118245/why-hecla-mining-company-hl-stock-might-be-a-great-pick
NJ TRIAL SET IN UNUSUAL WHITE-COLLAR MOB CASE
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MOB_FINANCIAL_FRAUD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) -- In many ways, it's your run-of-the-mill white-collar case. But this one has a mob twist.
The son of a reputed Philadelphia-area Mafia boss and six others are scheduled to be tried starting this week on charges including the usual stuff - racketeering. But the government says Nicodemo S. Scarfo and his co-defendants, used threats of harm to take over the board of FirstPlus Financial Group, an Irving, Texas-based publicly traded mortgage company, and then had the company buy shell companies they owned so they could take out the assets. The company is now defunct.
In court filings, the government said the conspirators plundered $12 million in less than a year, buying homes, weapons, ammunition, a plane, luxury cars, jewelry and an $850,000 yacht they named "Priceless."
Michael Riley, the lawyer for Scarfo, who is the son of imprisoned Philadelphia and southern New Jersey crime family boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, said part of his argument is that it's not a mob case at all.
"What spices it up is the organized crime allegations," Riley said. "We can't defend the case and say Nick Scarfo is not and has never been associated with the mob."
But he said his client had scant involvement with the business deals at the heart of the case.
Government lawyers declined to give interviews. But in the indictment, they do draw a connection with the mob. They say money raised in the crooked business deal was intended to pay Scarfo's dues as a made member of the Lucchese crime family, with whom his father - who was listed as an unindicted coconspirator - allegedly formed an alliance decades ago.
Riley says he'll try to poke holes in the theory that the money was going to the New York-based Lucchese operation. "Not a single dollar is unaccounted for," he said.
Thirteen people were indicted in October 2011. Six, including Scarfo's wife, who admitted a role in mortgage fraud, have since pleaded guilty.
One who pleaded guilty, Cory Leshner, is expected to testify during the trial, set to begin Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Camden and last three months or so. The jury was selected last year.
The defendants who remain besides Scarfo include Salvatore Pelullo, a reputed mob associate who has a previous conviction for bank fraud and whom authorities said ran the business takeover.
Others are brothers John and William Maxwell, who were executives in FirstPlus, and two lawyers accused of helping the alleged scheme. All have pleaded not guilty.
Michael Huff, who is representing William Maxwell, said he did not do anything wrong as special counsel for the board of directors that took over the firm.
"He was doing his job," Huff said. "He was hired by the corporation to help with any legal matters that might come up with the transition from one board of directors to another board of directors."
A lawyer for Pelullo did not return a call. The lawyer for John Maxwell, who served as FirstPlus CEO and President, declined to comment.
---
Follow Mulvihill at HTTP://WWW.TWITTER.COM/GEOFFMULVIHILL
If you're serious about an interview as part of a book or some other publication, we'll probably need to come up with some secure way of communicating outside public forums like this one.
Would you consider an interview should someone actually put together such a project? I think it might have some potential.
It's just that I feel so badly for the pre 2007 principals, who fought so valiantly against evil and powerful shareholders. What reasonable observer would argue they had any choice other than abdicating their fiduciary responsibilities in the face of such a cunning enemy? Just think about the massive resources individual shareholders typically have? Talk about impossible standards! Let's be real here!
Now, some might say that's a flawed argument, given how obviously stupid the activist shareholders were, but not me. They might even question the motives involved, but not me. I know those guys did everything humanly possible to rejuvenate FPFX, and even with millions of dollars at their disposal, those despicable miscreant shareholders were just too much. Who could blame the the BOD for quietly sneaking out the back door when the mafia showed up? Not me, for sure.
Serves them right! The stupid bastards! All shareholders are just dumb asses when you get right down to it!
Damn, they're an evil group!
Post 2007 shareholders?
Do you ever wonder about the circumstances surrounding Jack Draper's untimely death?
Yes, of course, it was the all powerful and evil shareholders who forced the angelic, but powerless, principals like Jack Draper, Daniel Phillips, Robert Freeman, John Fitzgerald, and David Ward, who fought ever so tirelessly for the embattled corporation and what few good shareholders there were. In spite of the enormous odds against them, they fearlessly stood up to the mafia when the "Philadelphia Family" mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Thank God for such principled principals! Shame on those greedy shareholders!
Back Story
1 In 4 Europeans At Risk Of Poverty
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-09/1-4-europeans-risk-poverty
Five freaking years!
The funniest part is that, in the final analysis, the various "legit" lawyers, judges and post bankruptcy administrators took far more than the mob. It's the American Dream - for them.
Five freaking years!
Mob-related case heads to trial in Camden
Five years after the FBI raided the offices and homes of lawyers and reputed mobsters, looking for evidence of a massive business-looting operation that a federal prosecutor said gave new meaning to the term "corporate takeover," the case is headed to trial.
Nicodemo Scarfo, son of infamous jailed Philadelphia mob boss "Little Nicky" Scarfo, is charged along with alleged mob associate Salvatore Pelullo in a 25-count, 107-page indictment peppered with lines from wiretapped conversations that sound like they were ripped from a mob movie script.
On Monday, potential jurors will arrive at the federal courthouse in Camden to fill out questionnaires - the first step of jury selection, expected to take two to three weeks. The trial will likely last six months.
Scarfo, 47, has been on the scene for years, known as "Mr. MacIntosh" and "Mr. Apple" for his tech-savvy cons. In May 2010, he was sentenced to 33 months in prison for running an illegal sports-betting operation.
Pelullo, 45, is an Elkins Park businessman with alleged ties to Scarfo's crime family. Prosecutors say Scarfo and Pelullo targeted the Texas financial-services company FirstPlus Financial for takeover, dismantled its board of directors, and replaced it with pawns who ran a racketeering scheme that defrauded shareholders of more than $12 million from June 2007 to May 2008.
Four lawyers and a former CEO of FirstPlus, John Maxwell, are also charged with mail and wire fraud and other charges related to the operation of the company.
The government will have to prove Scarfo and Pelullo were behind the scam, though their names appear nowhere in business documents. According to the indictment, wiretapped conversations and alias companies associated with the takeover provide evidence of their involvement.
For the lawyers on trial, legal arguments become a little more complex. New York City attorneys Gary McCarthy and David Adler, Texas attorney William Maxwell, and Scarfo's longtime criminal defense attorney, Donald Manno, will aim to prove they were working in a legal capacity - representing mobsters - and not working with them.
Some of the lawyers charged had requested separate trials, concerned that being listed on the same defendant sheet as an organized-crime figure would deny them due process.
Manno, who is representing himself, argued in legal motions for severance based partly on the fact that his main defense is inadmissable. Manno has represented Scarfo for more than a decade and was continuing in that capacity, he says. But to detail their relationship would reveal Scarfo's record to the jury.
The indictment charges that in April 2007, Scarfo and Pelullo devised a plan to take over FirstPlus and then acquired grossly overvalued straw companies to loot hundreds of thousands of dollars from FirstPlus and its subsidiaries through fraudulent consulting agreements. According to the indictment, they used the stolen money to buy jewelry, luxury cars, a yacht, and a plane.
The evidence includes 8,500 recorded conversations, one million hard-copy documents, and tens of millions of electronic files, according to court papers.
The wiretaps, some of which are quoted in the indictment, will likely make up the crux of the government's case.
In one conversation, Pelullo says, "When I get down there, every single check card that's in the company, I'm going to burn myself."
Four defendants have already pleaded guilty.
Cory Leshner, 30, a West Reading lawyer, pleaded guilty in October and is expected to be a cooperating witness in the case.
Scarfo's cousin John Parisi and Scarfo's wife, Lisa Marie Scarfo, pleaded guilty in September. Howard Drossner pleaded guilty and admitted that at the direction of Pelullo, he created false tax returns to help Lisa Marie Scarfo qualify for a mortgage.
From his jail cell in Philadelphia, Pelullo has been blogging and writing letters to Judge Robert B. Kugler, who will hear the case.
In a recent, and somewhat rambling letter, Pelullo lamented what he's missed while in prison, paraphrases Dylan Thomas, saying, "I will not go quietly into the night," and apologizes for previous behavior in court.
"If I seem brazen or rough around the edges that is who I am," he says. "Is that a crime?"
Scarfo and Pelullo also face charges of possession of an arsenal of weapons.
In May 2008, the FBI found three handguns, two rifles, a shotgun, and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition on Scarfo's yacht, called Priceless. Both men face 30 years to life.
jterruso@phillynews.com
856-779-3876
@juliaterruso
Meanwhile in Spain,
Spanish Bad Loans Re-Accelerate To New Record High
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-18/spanish-bad-loans-re-accelerate-new-record-high
Strong Operational Performance Allows Western to Deliver
$27.6 Million of Adjusted EBITDA in the Third Quarter of 2013
http://www.westernforest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Press-Release-Q3-2013-FINAL.pdf
Eco-Safe Receives Fourth Purchase Order for Middle East Expansion
LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/05/13 -- Eco-Safe Systems USA, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ESFS) is pleased to announce a fourth round of purchase orders for its expansion in the Middle East with a major public company restaurant chain.
Michael Elliot, CEO, said, "We are pleased to have filled a fourth purchase order for multiple restaurants from our Middle Eastern client for additional Eco-Safe Ozone Disinfection Systems. Having served this client for several years, their repeat business is genuine validation of the technology and our company. Additionally, this exemplifies the high-reliability of the company's products, with trouble-free usage which allowed for these follow-on orders."
About Eco-Safe Systems:
Eco-Safe Systems, based in Los Angeles, is the manufacturer of patent pending water treatment and water reclamation systems. Our technologies produce ozonated water for food disinfection and water purification at significantly less maintenance cost and greater energy savings than our competitors in a completely green and organic manner. We currently offer supermarkets and restaurants a cost-effective way to safely extend the shelf life of meat, poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables. All Food Industry products are National Sanitation Foundation, International (NSF) Registered. Please visit us at www.ecosafeusa.com for more information.
The foregoing contains forward-looking information within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. The actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements. The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results (expressed or implied) will not be realized.
Eco-Safe Contact:
Michael Elliot
CEO
Eco-Safe Systems USA, Inc.
www.ecosafeusa.com
Email Contact
Source: Eco-Safe Systems USA, Inc.