Powerball Jackpot Currently Sitting At $139 Million

The Powerball Jackpot is currently at $139 million, with the next drawing to happen on Saturday night, 7/28/2012.

Drawings occur every Wednesday and Saturday. Wednesday’s winning numbers were 3, 14, 35, 38, 46 Powerball: 16. There were no jackpot winners. At the time, the pot was at $120.9 million.

There were four tickets that won the $1 Million Match 5 prize on Wednesday. They were from two from Florida, one from Illinois, and one from Louisiana. There were no tickets that added the Power Play to win $2 million. There were, however, 568,737 tickets that won about $7.8 million in cash prizes.

Odds of winning the jackpot, according toMulti-State Lottery Association, are 1 in 175,223,510.

My picks, so don't use them, for information only:

1       7     18     25      52                               3

Super rich hold $32 trillion in offshore havens

LONDON (Reuters) - Rich individuals and their families have as much as $32 trillion of hidden financial assets in offshore tax havens, representing up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues, according to research published on Sunday.


The study estimating the extent of global private financial wealth held in offshore accounts - excluding non-financial assets such as real estate, gold, yachts and racehorses - puts the sum at between $21 and $32 trillion.

The research was carried out for pressure group Tax Justice Network, which campaigns against tax havens, by James Henry, former chief economist at consultants McKinsey & Co.

He used data from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and central banks.

The report also highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139 developing countries of money held in tax havens by private elites, putting wealth beyond the reach of local tax authorities.

The research estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these 139 countries had amassed $7.3 to $9.3 trillion of "unrecorded offshore wealth" by 2010.

Private wealth held offshore represents "a huge black hole in the world economy," Henry said in a statement.

Weiner, keeping his plans "zipped" up

When it comes to former Representative Anthony D. Weiner’s political future, there are a few indisputable facts.

He has roughly $4.5 million in the bank for a political candidacy and a deadline to use it next year or miss out on getting up to $1.5 million in public matching funds.

He wants to return to politics, according to friends and former staff members.

And, as much as he might desire to run for office, he faces a major challenge in overcoming the scandal over the lewd online behavior that spurred him to resign his House seat last year.

Beyond that, there are mostly questions, the biggest of them being when Mr. Weiner may attempt a comeback. On Sunday, he declined to comment when asked directly about his immediate political ambitions.

An article in The New York Post, taking note of expenditures reported in a recent campaign filing and his deadline for receiving matching funds, suggested that Mr. Weiner was considering running for public advocate or even mayor next year.

His refusal to address his political future only stirred further speculation.

Biden Spends $1 Million Annually for Weekend Trips

By Ronald Kessler

Washington, D.C. — Last June, President Obama appointed Vice President Joe Biden to root out wasteful government spending. But behind the scenes, it’s a different matter.

Every Friday, Biden takes a helicopter designated as Marine Two from the vice president’s residence to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and then hops on Air Force Two to fly back to his home in Delaware.

At the end of the weekend, he returns on Air Force Two, usually a Boeing C-32.

During warm weather, Biden regularly returns to Andrews on the airplane on Saturdays to play golf at the Air Force base with President Obama. After the golf game, he flies back to Delaware and returns to Washington on the plane on Sunday evening — all at taxpayer expense.

The cost of flying Air Force Two is $22,000 an hour, so each half-hour trip to or from Delaware costs about $10,000. Each golf game costs taxpayers $20,000. At that rate, the annual cost to taxpayers of Biden’s weekend trips is well over $1 million.

In addition, the Secret Service rents more than 20 condominiums in the Wilmington, Del. area for agents who must accompany Biden when he returns to his home state.

Biden’s press office had no immediate comment.

Small Illinois town’s comptroller accused of stealing millions

By Jeff Stacklin

  The chief financial officer of Dixon, Ill., has been put on unpaid leave after she was arrested by FBI agents and charged with defrauding the city of $3.2 million and misappropriating another $30 million in city funds.

  The arrest of Rita Crundwell, who was charged with a single count of wire fraud, has shaken the northwest Illinois town, which has a population of just under 16,000, according to the Chicago Tribune. Authorities say Crundwell stole the funds over six years to support her luxurious lifestyle.

  Crundwell, an award-winning quarter horse breeder, spent the money on jewelry, a motor home, and her horse farms in Wisconsin, reports the Tribune.

  Federal agents seized the contents of two bank accounts, seven trucks and trailers, three pickups, a $2.1 million motor home, and a Ford Thunderbird convertible -- all of which were purchased with illegal proceeds, according to federal authorities.

  Dixon Mayor James Burke today told an audience of reporters and citizens that independent auditors had not noticed any issues of non-compliance and the city's bank had not noticed anything out of the ordinary, according to the Tribune.

  The city will hire an investigator to determine how the alleged theft occurred.

  The mayor initially reported Crundwell, 58, to federal authorities last fall, after another employee had assumed the comptroller's job while she was on an extended unpaid vacation, authorities said. After reviewing bank statements for September 2011 through March 2012, the FBI expanded the investigation and began reviewing the city's finances dating back to 2006.

  Crundwell moved city funds into multiple city accounts, including a joint account for the city of Dixon and herself, according to federal authorities. She then withdrew $3.3 million from the account, using only $74,274 for city operations. The FBI expanded its investigation, and discovered from July 2006 to March 2012 she allegedly deposited more than $30 million into the joint account. She allegedly then paid out more than $30 million for her own personal and business expenses.

She had earned an annual salary of $80,000.

Obama outspends Republican campaigns by millions

By JACK GILLUM and STEVE PEOPLES

CHICAGO (AP) — With Republicans locked in a contentious and expensive primary, President Barack Obama has spent a small fortune in recent months to build and maintain a campaign operation that is larger, more diverse and more focused on November's general election than any of his opponents' organizations.

Republican contenders like Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have surely been watching their expenses during their primary elections: millions here for ad spending, millions there for travel, rallies and consulting fees. What's left keeps the lights on, the phones ringing and the staff paid.

But Obama, who faces no serious challenger for the Democratic nomination, has sunk his cash into an expansive brick-and-mortar operation with offices in nearly every state.

His campaign has spent more than $135 million on operations through February, according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Election Commission records.

That's about $3 million more than all his GOP challengers combined.

I wonder if any sitting president has ever spent this much in the past, must be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that we are not aware of. And, the campaign has not started yet, or has it?

Record Sale at $88 Million

The most expensive apartment in New York has passed from the hands of a retired American banker to the family of a Russian billionaire, setting some new milestones in the Manhattan real-estate market.

The sale for a penthouse with a wraparound terrace at 15 Central Park West owned by Sanford I. Weill, the former head of Citigroup Inc., closed on Wednesday, brokers said.

The price paid, as expected, was $88 million, 66% above that the previous record sale.

The purchase was made in the name of a trust for Ekatarina Rybolovleva, a 22-year-old college student and daughter of Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian now based in Monaco who made a fortune in potash fertilizer.

Hall F. Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens, confirmed that the sale had closed at the full asking price. He said that he understood that the buyers would keep the custom-designed space as is, including an oval bedroom, and a study paneled in Brazilian rosewood.

The sale generated close to $2.5 million in city and state taxes, and produced what brokers said was a record commission on a residential sale of about $3.5 million for two brokers at Mr. Willkie's firm. Kyle W. Blackmon represented Mr. Weill, while Maria Torresy represented the Rybolovlevs, brokers said.

The marquee sale shows the growing footprint of international buyers in New York in the past few years. Many of the units at One57, a new 1,004-foot tower under construction on West 57th Street, have gone to Russian and Chinese buyers, brokers said.

Romney Backed by Goldman Sachs, Bailout Banks

The top donor to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs, received over $10 billion in emergency lending and bailouts from the Federal Reserve after the 2008 financial meltdown, according to public sources and published reports.


Goldman backed Obama for election in 2008, and the firm, like many Wall Street institutions, is now backing Mitt Romney for president.


Romney has long had a close relationship with Goldman Sachs.


In 1999 Romney purchased initial IPO shares in Goldman that netted him $1.1 million in profits when he sold them in 2010. 

Another Ponzi Scheme - Why can't I think of these things?????

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors made new allegations on Tuesday in a probe of the Full Tilt Poker website, accusing self-styled "Poker Professor" Howard Lederer and professional poker champion Christopher Ferguson and others of paying themselves more than $440 million while defrauding other players.


In a motion filed in federal court in New York to amend an earlier civil complaint, the prosecutors accused Full Tilt Poker of running a Ponzi scheme that continued even after the original charges were filed.

Prosecutors unsealed the earlier charges on April 15, accusing three Internet poker companies -- Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars -- and 11 people, including Full Tilt director Raymond Bitar, of bank fraud, illegal gambling and money laundering offenses.

Lederer is described on his website as "The Poker Professor" and Ferguson has won five World Series of Poker events. The men are directors and owners of Full Tilt Poker.

"In reality, Full Tilt Poker did not maintain funds sufficient to repay all players, and in addition, the company used player funds to pay board members and other owners more than $440 million since April 2007," the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

"Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme."

A Ponzi scheme is usually one in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients and it collapses when funds run out.
 
As we used to say in Reno, "If you're gonna be a sucker, be a silent one."

Under suspicion: Millions paid to former suspects

The Associated Press – Mon Mar 21, 5:21 am ET

In recent years the federal government or its contractors have paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits filed by people who say they were unfairly detained or harassed because of terrorism fears. The payments include:
• $2 million in 2006 to Portland, Ore., lawyer Brandon Mayfield, who was jailed after FBI agents mistakenly linked him to a fingerprint found after the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
• $2.5 million in attorney fees and damages, ordered by a judge who found that the U.S. government failed to get court warrants before wiretapping the calls of an Oregon charity accused of supporting terrorists.
• $1.8 million in 2006 and 2009 to seven men detained for months in New York and New Jersey shortly after Sept. 11. Other plaintiffs in the case are still pursuing it in court, and their lawyers say it could eventually involve about 1,200 former detainees.
• $250,000 in 2009 to Abdallah Higazy, jailed for 34 days after an aviation radio was found in the safe of a hotel room he was occupying near the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The radio had been left in the room by a previous guest, a pilot.
• $240,000 paid to Raed Jarrar by the Transportation Security Administration and JetBlue Airways after the TSA forced him to cover a shirt with Arabic script before boarding a flight.
• $225,000 paid by the San Francisco Police Department and a TSA contractor to Rahinah Ibrahim, who was detained at the San Francisco International Airport and lost her U.S. visa after her name appeared on a no-fly list. The Department of Homeland Security is still fighting her lawsuit.