<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><atom:link href="http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/resources_rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><title>CBS 4 - South Florida's Source for Breaking News, Weather, and Sports</title><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl</link><description><![CDATA[CBS 4 - South Florida's Source for Breaking News, Weather, and Sports]]></description><language>en-US</language><copyright><![CDATA[(c)  MMIX, CBS Television Stations Inc. All Rights Reserved.]]></copyright><pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:03:21 GMT</pubDate><ttl>5</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[Stanford Investors To Antigua: Remove Liquidator]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Investors.seeking.Stanford.2.1326322.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Investors.seeking.Stanford.2.1326322.html</link><description><![CDATA[A group of investors is urging an Antiguan court to remove a British accounting firm appointed to collect assets of a Caribbean offshore bank at the center of an alleged Ponzi scheme by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford. Martin Kenney, a lawyer for the group led by Florida businessman Alexander Fundora, said his clients have asked the High Court of Antigua to remove Vantis Business Recovery Services as liquidator because a Canadian court found earlier this year that it had deleted data from computers in the Montreal branch of Stanford International Bank Ltd. "In order to recover and apportion the bank's assets in the fairest and most efficient way possible for the victims of this apparent grand fraud, it is crucial to have Vantis removed and replaced as soon as possible," Kenney said Friday from the British Virgin Islands.]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:43:33 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Neb.-based Student Loan Company To Hire 250]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Lincoln.Neb.student.2.1325394.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Lincoln.Neb.student.2.1325394.html</link><description><![CDATA[Student loan company Nelnet Inc. says it plans to hire more than 250 people to expand its Lincoln work force. Nelnet spokesman Ben Kiser said all the jobs are permanent positions and most are full-time. They include customer service, bill collection, accounting and supervisory positions. He says the hiring will occur over the next six months. The Lincoln work force currently stands near 800.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:44:53 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Small Florida Bank Shuttered, 124th This Year]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Regulators.shut.Commerce.2.1325234.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Regulators.shut.Commerce.2.1325234.html</link><description><![CDATA[Florida banking regulators on Friday shut down Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida, marking the 124th U.S. bank to succumb this year to the struggling economy and rising loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the small bank in Fort Myers, Fla., with $79.7 million in assets and $76.7 million in deposits. Central Bank, based in Stillwater, Minn., agreed to assume the deposits and assets of Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida. The failed bank's sole branch will reopen Monday as a branch of Central Bank. In addition, the FDIC and Central Bank agreed to share losses on roughly $61 million of Commerce Bank's loans and other assets.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:13:52 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Fla. Unemployment Climbs To 11.2 Percent In Oct.]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Florida.s.unemployment.2.1324246.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Florida.s.unemployment.2.1324246.html</link><description><![CDATA[Florida's unemployment rate continued its steady upward climb in October to 11.2 percent — a mark last seen in the 1970s and a tenth of a percentage point higher than September's adjusted rate, state officials said Friday. The number of unemployed Floridians topped 1 million in September for the first time. It remained slightly over that mark in October at just over 1 million out of a labor force of nearly 9.2 million. Florida's October rate was the seventh highest — tied with Kentucky — among the 50 states and District of Columbia and exceeded the national figure by a full percentage point. It was Florida's highest since June 1975, when it also was 11.2 percent. The last time it was higher was 11.9 percent in May 1975. It's up 4.3 percentage points from October 2008.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:36:40 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Investors Sue Fla. Lawyer In Fraud Probe For $100M]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Investors.file.100M.2.1324538.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Investors.file.100M.2.1324538.html</link><description><![CDATA[Investors claiming they were fleeced by a high-profile South Florida attorney filed a $100 million lawsuit Friday contending that the lawyer orchestrated a massive Ponzi scheme with the help of a Canadian bank's U.S. subsidiary and several accomplices. The 147-page lawsuit, filed in Broward County Circuit Court, alleges that attorney Scott Rothstein and others in his now-defunct firm used faked legal settlements — or faked their involvement in real cases — to promise fat returns for investors. TD Bank, the lawsuit claims, "was complicit in this scheme" by making the deals appear more legitimate and reassuring investors. "The Ponzi scheme simply could not have gained traction without TD Bank's involvement in sanctioning, or otherwise, willingly failing to authenticate the origin of the enormous amounts of money coming through its doors," said the lawsuit, filed on behalf of six investors by attorney William Scherer. "TD Bank was the financial epicenter of the Ponzi scheme."]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:28:13 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Officers Behind Junk Fax Scam Face Kan. Sentencing]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Florida.officers.behind.2.1323825.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Florida.officers.behind.2.1323825.html</link><description><![CDATA[The president of a Florida consulting firm convicted in a massive fax blast scam blinked back tears Friday as he was sentenced to 68 months in prison for his role in defrauding thousands of small business owners across the United States, Mexico and Canada. Richard Hagan, chief executive officer of the Melbourne, Fla.-based PBS Global Inc., also was ordered to make more than $1.02 million in restitution and forfeit a similar amount in ill-gotten gains. The sentence was agreed upon in advance as part of his guilty plea in September to charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Hagan told U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown in a lengthy statement read in court that his biggest regret was not acting more aggressively to screen new hires and stop the fraud. He said his intentions always were good, and he was never motivated by money.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:40:40 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Real Estate Agents See Return Of Foreign Buyers]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Low.prices.weak.2.1324903.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Low.prices.weak.2.1324903.html</link><description><![CDATA[Canadian investor Arthur Wong is buying condos in Las Vegas and Phoenix like a shopper at Costco: In bulk, with slashed prices. Wong, president of Optimus U.S. Real Estate Fund, has bought 60 condos at heavy discounts from developers in financial trouble. Wong paid about $62,500 each for 18 Las Vegas condos that once were priced at about $250,000 apiece. "This could be a once-in-a-generation opportunity for real estate investment," said Wong, whose Calgary, Alberta-based fund has already invested $5 million cash and will spend millions more in the U.S. Southwest over the next several months.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:25:42 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Investors Sue Fla. Lawyer In Fraud Probe For $100M]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Investors.file.100M.2.1324526.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Investors.file.100M.2.1324526.html</link><description><![CDATA[Investors claiming they were fleeced by a high-profile South Florida attorney filed a $100 million lawsuit Friday contending that the lawyer orchestrated a massive Ponzi scheme with the help of a Canadian bank's U.S. subsidiary and several accomplices. The 147-page lawsuit, filed in Broward County Circuit Court, alleges that attorney Scott Rothstein and others in his now-defunct firm used faked legal settlements — or faked their involvement in real cases — to promise fat returns for investors. TD Bank, the lawsuit claims, "was complicit in this scheme" by making the deals appear more legitimate and reassuring investors. "The Ponzi scheme simply could not have gained traction without TD Bank's involvement in sanctioning, or otherwise, willingly failing to authenticate the origin of the enormous amounts of money coming through its doors," said the lawsuit, filed on behalf of six investors by attorney William Scherer. "TD Bank was the financial epicenter of the Ponzi scheme."]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:47:20 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[AirTran Giving Double Rewards For Milwaukee Travel]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/AirTran.Airways.giving.2.1324664.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/AirTran.Airways.giving.2.1324664.html</link><description><![CDATA[Discount carrier AirTran Airways, a unit of AirTran Holdings Inc., said Friday that it will offer double reward credits to all of its frequent flier club members when they travel between Milwaukee and any AirTran destination through Feb. 10. When A-Plus Rewards members purchase travel, they will earn four A-Plus Rewards credits for every roundtrip to or from Milwaukee, instead of the usual two credits. Membership in the club is free, and credits are given for each one-way trip, regardless of distance. 16 credits are needed for a free roundtrip flight in coach.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:37:25 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Ex-smoker's Lawyers To Discuss $300M Fla. Verdict]]></title><guid>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Lawyers.for.former.2.1323263.html</guid><link>http://cbs4.com/wireapbusinessfl/Lawyers.for.former.2.1323263.html</link><description><![CDATA[A former smoker who just won a $300 million verdict in Florida against Philip Morris USA has pulled out of a news conference about the case. Lawyers for 61-year-old Cindy Naugle will talk at the Friday news conference in Fort Lauderdale. But a spokesman for the attorneys said Naugle canceled plans to speak due to health reasons. Naugle has emphysema. A jury on Thursday ordered Philip Morris to pay Naugle what is believed to be the largest award to date among thousands of lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies.]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:41:37 GMT</pubDate></item></channel></rss>