Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Madison man arrested for alleged investment scam

A Mississippi businessman has been arrested by FBI agents on 12 counts of wire fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.

Federal authorities say 47-year-old Jeffrey L. Walker of Madison allegedly devised a scheme to defraud and obtain money from investors by making false representations relating to a Chinese resort project his companies were supposedly developing.

Federal agents said Walker allegedly had investors in Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida and Arizona make bank wire transfers to one of his companies and he converted parts of the money for his own personal use.

Read More: MBJ

Freddie Mac posts $4.1B loss for Q3

Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac on Wednesday posted a narrower loss of $4.1 billon in the third quarter as it asked for an additional $100 million in federal aid - substantially less than the $1.8 billion it sought in the second quarter.

Freddie Mac’s loss attributable to common stockholders for the July-September quarter works out to $1.25 a share. It takes into account $1.6 billion in dividend payments to the government. It compares with a loss of $6.7 billion, or $2.06 a share, in the third quarter of 2009.

The government rescued McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae nearly two years ago to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans, and it estimates the bailouts will cost taxpayers up to $259 billion.

That’s nearly twice the $133 billion Fannie and Freddie are in line to receive from taxpayers so far and would make theirs the costliest bailout of the financial crisis.

Read More: MBJ