J. Rowland Perkins, who was co-chief executive officer along with Gault, and California-based attorney Mitchell Stein were also accused of defrauding investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint filed today at U.S. District Court in California.

Gault was installed as a figurehead co-CEO to generate publicity for the company and foster investor confidence, the SEC said. Stein controlled most of the company’s business activities, hiring promoters to tout Heart Tronics stock on the Internet and reaping nearly $8 million from trades he orchestrated without telling investors, according to the complaint.

Heart Tronics repeatedly announced millions of dollars in sales orders for its heart-monitoring devices between 2006 and 2008 even though the company never had viable sales orders from actual customers, the SEC said.

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Once upon a time, long, long ago the vast majority of workplace pensions were final-salary defined benefit schemes run by trustees. Everyone could agree that periods of short membership of such schemes were an administrative headache all round. The law therefore allowed schemes to give employees their contributions back if they left before two years service, and to give the employer theirs back too.

Today workplace pension provision is very different. More people are paying into defined contribution workplace pensions than defined benefit pensions. Some defined contribution schemes are run as occupational schemes with trust based governance, but most are contract-based. These are provided by a commercial pensions company and cannot make short service refunds as this provision is only available to trust-based schemes.

Next year auto-enrolment starts.

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WASHINGTON – The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level since May 2008, a hopeful sign that layoffs are declining and hiring is picking up.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 366,000 last week.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 387,750. That is the lowest reading for the average since July 2008. The four-week average has declined in 10 of the past 12 weeks.

Applications for unemployment benefits are a measure of the pace of layoffs. Job cuts have fallen sharply since the recession, but so far employers are hiring at only a modest pace.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s 44,000 airport screeners would lose the title “officer,” their metal badges and maybe even the stripes down their pant legs under a bill sponsored by a Transportation Security Administration critic.

Called the “STRIP Act,” for “Stop TSA’s Reach In Policy Act,” the bill was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, on Thursday in response to a series of alleged strip searches by TSA officers.

The TSA denies that strip searches were conducted.

“Congress has sat idly by as the TSA strip-searches 85-year-old grandmothers in New York, pats down 3-year-olds in Chattanooga, and checks colostomy bags for explosives in Orlando.

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Being a landlord is not always easy, because you have to find a tenant who is responsible and trustworthy. The task of getting a good tenant is very important, even if you are a tenant as well. This problem arises when you want to move out but have a few months left on your leasing agreement. This article provides you with some tips on how to obtain excellent tenants as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Read all post…

Payday lenders are taking over many high streets across the UK. This new form of high cost credit lending is growing rapidly but still operates as a wild west. Yesterday the Prime Minister said there should be self-regulation – I disagree. A voracious and dangerous industry like this needs hardcore controls, not self-regulation.

To explain, here’s the transcript of the evidence to the Business Select Committee I, alongside others gave a couple of weeks ago. I think the collective view explains the problem and solutions perfectly.

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Kingstonians will ring in the New Year with the clink of glass milk bottles being delivered to their doors when the Limestone Organic Creamery opens in early 2012. The sound will be music to the ears of Kathie and Francis Groenewegen and their children, Patrick and Olivia, who will be processing and selling the organic milk from their own herd of cows just north of Kingston at 3113 Sydenham Road. The farm will be able to process and market its own milk thanks to a new pilot program introduced by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) earlier this year. The Groenewegen farm has been certified organic since 2002 and already has a loyal customer base for its organic beef, chicken, turkey, pork and eggs. Until Project Origin was launched, the Groenewegens had been selling all of their milk to Organic Meadow, a co-operative of over 100 family farms across Canada.

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Supports Buyout of CoSentry

NEW YORK–CIT Group Inc., a leading provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies, announced that it was one of the providers of a senior secured credit facility to TA Associates, a leading middle market private equity firm, to facilitate its acquisition of CoSentry, an Omaha-based provider of outsourced IT infrastructure services.

CIT Communications, Media & Entertainment served as Documentation Agent for the transaction. Financing was provided by CIT Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIT. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“This transaction highlights CIT’s expertise in the IT infrastructure market and our long-term support and commitment to private equity firms in the middle market,” said Joseph E. Junda

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