Author: admin

A divided nation entered a new week still processing and debating a long, harrowing day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee involving Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual misconduct against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The judiciary committee voted 11-10 along party lines on Friday to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor, but only after Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., crafted a one-week delay on the floor vote that would allow the FBI to investigate allegations against Kavanaugh by Ford and at least one other accuser.

“This country is being ripped apart here,” Flake said from the dais of the committee room. “I think we can have a short pause and make sure the FBI can investigate.”

At the hearing, Ford, a research psychologist and professor, detailed her account that Kavanaugh and a friend pushed her into a bedroom at a party in 1982 when both were high school students; got on top of her while both remained clothed; and sexually assaulted her.

“Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes,” Ford said Thursday. “He had a hard time because he was very inebriated, and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit underneath my clothes. I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from yelling.”

Continue reading “Kavanaugh hearings leave the country divided”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk on Thursday of fraud and sought to remove him from his role in charge of the electric car company, saying he made a series of “false and misleading” tweets about potentially taking Tesla private last month.

In a lawsuit, the regulator described Musk surprising members of his own team and investors with a series of tweets, starting with the Aug. 7 announcement that he was thinking of taking Tesla private. Twelve minutes after the first tweet, Tesla’s head of investor relations texted Musk’s chief of staff to ask whether Musk’s announcement was “legit”, the SEC said.

Musk, 47, is the public face of Tesla and losing him would be a big blow for the money-losing car maker which has a market value of more than $50 billion, chiefly because of investors’ belief in Musk’s leadership.

The Department of Justice, which has the authority to press c

Continue reading “U.S. regulator sues Musk for fraud, seeks to remove him from Tesla”

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc will pay $34.5 million to settle charges it misled investors about the increased risk that it would miss a key financial goal related to its merger in 2012, the top U.S. securities regulator said on Friday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it had also charged former chief executive officer Gregory Wasson and former finance head Wade Miquelon, who agreed to each pay a $160,000 penalty.

The settlement does not involve any current officers or executives, nor does it allege that anyone acted intentionally or recklessly at any time, Walgreens said in a statement.

Continue reading “Walgreens to pay $34.5 million to settle U.S. charges of misleading investors”

A university professor on Thursday said she was “100 percent” certain that Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, sexually assaulted her 36 years ago, telling a dramatic U.S. Senate hearing she feared he would rape and perhaps accidentally kill her.

Christine Blasey Ford, her voice sometimes cracking with emotion, appeared in public for the first time to detail her allegation against Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge chosen for a lifetime job on the top U.S. court. He also faces allegations of sexual misconduct by two other women.

Kavanaugh was due to testify later in the day before the Judiciary Committee in a momentous hearing that could determine whether he will be confirmed by the Senate after a pitched political battle between Trump’s fellow Republicans and Democrats who oppose the nominee. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations by all three women.

Continue reading “At U.S. hearing, Kavanaugh accuser ‘100 percent’ certain he assaulted her”

Most post-judgment enforcement remedies employed by creditors result in easily understood and predictable tax consequences to the parties involved. A charging order is different, however, because it peculiarly combines two remedies; namely, an involuntary lien (attachment) against the debtor’s interest in an LLC or partnership, and a non-wage garnishment of the income stream from that interest such that the creditor receives the distributional income and not the debtor. To add to the confusion, in the majority of states the charging order lien may be foreclosed by way of a judicial sale at which the creditor or a third-party may be the winning bidder. All of these actions may result in unforeseen tax consequences to the affected parties as the following article demonstrates.

Once a charging order has been entered, certain tax issues arise. As will be discussed, the treatment of these issues differs between the stage at which the charging order has simply been issued but prior to foreclosure (preforeclosure) and after the creditor’s charging order lien has been foreclosed upon by the creditor (post-foreclosure). Due to the fact that these issues may impact the creditor, the debtor, the entity itself, and the buyer at a judicial sale (who might not be the creditor), consideration of the effect upon these parties at each phase is likewise necessary.

Here, we must be reminded that a charging order is merely the legal vehicle by which a lien is placed by the creditor upon the debtor’s economic right to distributions from the entity. Foreclosure of a charging order correspondingly means that the creditor has liquidated its lien only in the debtor’s economic right to distributions, and whoever ends up owning that interest merely takes that right without more.

Continue reading “Charging Orders and Taxes: Some of the Answers May Surprise You”