By Jonathan Spicer/Reuters

A U.S. watchdog agency is preparing to investigate whether the Federal Reserve and other regulators are too soft on the banks they are meant to police, after a written request from Democratic lawmakers that marks the latest sign of distrust between Congress and the central bank.
Ranking representatives Maxine Waters of the House Financial Services Committee and Al Green of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations asked the Government Accountability Office on Oct. 8 to launch a probe of “regulatory capture” and to focus on the New York Fed, according to a letter obtained by Reuters.
In an interview, the congressional agency said it has begun planning its approach.

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Posted on March 7, 2016

By Allan Sloan/ProPublica

Tim Cook got almost $400 million of restricted stock when he was named Apple chief executive in 2011, succeeding Steve Jobs. Regardless of whether Apple shareholders fared well or badly over the grant’s 10-year term, all Cook needed to do to collect that stock (worth about $700 million at today’s price) was keep his job. It was the kind of deal that pay mavens derisively call “pay for pulse.”
But two years later, Apple and Cook retroactively changed the terms of his grant, making about 40 percent of it “pay for performance” based on how Apple shares do relative to those of other companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. Apple quoted Cook as saying he wanted to align his interests with those of regular shareholders.
What Apple didn’t say then – and now says only in passing – is that the change also gave the company a chance to get more than $200 million in tax deductions. Under Cook’s initial deal, Apple, which declined to comment, would have received no deductions because a 1993 tax law would have barred it from treating Cook’s grant as an operating expense.

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Posted on March 5, 2016

By Ed Hammer

Ex-convict and former governor George Ryan will be the guest speaker at the St. Patrick’s Day Salute to 3 Governors fundraiser dinner on March 19 at the Civic Auditorium of Kankakee, according to the Bourbannais Herald.
The purpose of the event is to raise $117,000 for three life-size statues to be erected in a Kankakee Park and dedicated to Len Small, Sam Shapiro and George Ryan, three former Illinois governors from Kankakee.
Of course, Len Small has been labeled by some as the worst Illinois governor in history; George Ryan was convicted of 20 federal felonies and linked to multiple highway fatalities.
The fundraiser was initiated by the GFWC-Il Woman’s Club of Kankakee. There is an ongoing dispute whether the club is officially sponsoring the fundraiser and event or not.

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Posted on March 3, 2016

By Suzanne Barlyn/Reuters

The founder of Winnetka-based Nanex, a real-time financial markets data company, said on Tuesday he will receive a $750,000 whistleblower award for a tip that triggered a $5 million U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fine against the New York Stock Exchange in 2012.
Eric Hunsader, an outspoken critic of high-frequency traders, said he qualified for the award after tipping off the SEC that NYSE gave certain customers a head start on trading information.

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Posted on March 2, 2016

By Michael Grabell/ProPublica and Howard Berkes/NPR

A campaign by some of America’s biggest companies to “opt out” of state workers’ compensation – and write their own plans for dealing with injured workers – was dealt a major blow Friday when an Oklahoma commission ruled the alternative system unconstitutional.
Company plans were supposed to provide equal benefits to workers’ comp. But in its unanimous ruling, the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission compared that notion to “a water mirage on the highway that disappears upon closer inspection.”

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Posted on March 1, 2016