The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page B004

4B pagelabeltag 4B THE PALM BEACH POST TUESDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2009 Stanford acknowledges SEC probe MAGENTA BLACK The commission is looking into high returns in a tough market. not authorized to provide information about it. The probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Au- i Ail By BEN FOX The Associated Press cies that this was a routine examination," spokesman Brian Bertsch said. In an e-mail Thursday to employees, Stanford said his company was cooperating with the probe. He also said "former disgruntled employees" made complaints that could complicate an "otherwise routine examination," without going into details.

Stanford, 58, is one of the most prominent businessmen in the Caribbean, with investment advisers around the world helping him grow a personal fortune estimated at $2.2 billion by Forbes magazine. Deposits in his Stanford International Bank Ltd. grew from $624 million in 1999 to $8.4 billion in December. The bank is based in the twin-island Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, which has carved out a niche as a tax haven and offshore base See STANFORD, 5B www.palmbeachpost.combusiness U.S. financial markets were closed Monday for Presidents' Day.

Oil edges higher on OPEC talk LONDON Oil prices rose above $37 a barrel Monday after OPEC members said over the weekend they were considering more production cuts to adjust to weakening global demand for crude. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 11 cents to $37.62 a barrel by midafter-noon European time in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange though volumes were limited with U.S. markets closed for Presidents' Day. The contract rose $3.53 on Friday to settle at $37.51. thority the u-s-broker- OLJl3 age industry's self-policing body and the Florida Stanford 0ffice of Financiai Regula tion seeks to determine if R.

Allen Stanford's company violated financial rules as it prospered and delivered big returns on certificates of deposit. A spokeswoman for the Florida agency, Holly Hinson, confirmed its investigation but said she could not disclose details. A Stanford spokesman earlier denied anything was unusual about the regulators' visit to company offices in Florida. "We were informed by the three agen SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico A Texas billionaire sought to reassure his employees as U.S. regulators probed his investment firm and Caribbean bank, which have delivered higher-than-average returns to investors and depositors despite the global meltdown.

Investigators visited Florida offices of the Houston, Texas-based Stanford Group Co. in January as part of a probe that dates back at least three months, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the probe who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was Switch to digital TV today FPL chief Hay urges new plan for energy He suggests ways to shift to a low-carbon U.S. economy. lllljj lly By SUSAN SALISBURY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer FPL Group Inc.

Chairman and CEO Lew Hay said Monday that prompt action is needed to expand the nation's clean-energy economy and doing so will strengthen its economic, energy and climate security. Speaking before the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in Washington, Hay said, "Our nation is at a critical moment in history, confronted by a triple threat of challenges an economy in Miami banker gives millions in bonuses MIAMI Citing a desire to reward his employees, a Miami banker doled out $60 million in bonuses to all 399 staffers and even 72 retirees after he sold a majority stake in the company for close to $1 billion. Especially coming at a time when financial leaders are being publicly chastised for rewarding executives even as their institutions lost billions of dollars, the move by Leonard Abess Jr. caused many jaws to drop. The board chairman and CEO of Miami-based City National Bancshares said by way of explanation: "I sure as heck don't need (the money)." Abess said he was concerned that employees' 401 (k) plans had suffered major losses as stock values plummeted last year.

Sirius XM creditors: Karmazin out NEW YORK A group of Sirius XM Radio Inc. creditors will seek the removal of Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin if the company files for bankruptcy instead of making a deal to remain solvent. "Creditors believe that a precipitous bankruptcy filing will not be in their best interests," said Edward Weisfelner, a lawyer with Brown Rudnick LLP who's representing the creditors. "Our group is concerned that management not use the threat of bankruptcy as a negotiating tool," he said in a telephone interview today. Sirius XM said last week it may be forced to file for bankruptcy as soon as today if it can't reach an agreement to refinance $175 million in bonds held by Charles Ergenis EchoStar Corp.

Smashable Madoff doll offered NEW YORK Mad at disgraced investor Bernard Madoff? There's a toy just for you. One of the vendors at this week's Toy Fair is offering the "Smash-Me Bernie," a $99.95 Madoff lookalike doll that wears a devil-red suit and carries a pitchfork. It comes with its own hammer so you can pulverize it. Phoenix, ModelWorks is behind the caricature Mini-Me figures, which can be customized to look like celebrities or whomever a buyer chooses. FPL group declares dividend JUNO BEACH FPL Group board on Friday declared a quarterly common stock dividend of 47.25 cents per share, up 6.2 percent from the previous quarterly dividend of 44.5 cents.

The dividend will be paid March 16 to those who own FPL (NYSE: FPL, $50.91) shares as of Feb. 27. The move raises the annual dividend to $1.89. PAUL SAKUMAThe Associated Press Digital TV converter boxes await buyers last week on Best Buy shelves in Mountain View, Calif. According to research firm MRI, 17.7 percent of Americans live in households with over-the-airTV.

Analog shutdown to leave millions dark recession, an over-dependence on foreign energy, and a warming planet." Hay outlined a seven-point plan to make the transition to a low-carbon economy. He said policymakers must enact mandatory climate change 1 Hay More on broadcast changes Phone: (888) DTV (388)-2009 or (888) 225-5322 Web sites: www.dtv.gov; www.dtv.govconsumercorner.html; www.dtvanswers.com; or www.dtv2009.gov E-mail: DTVinfofcc.gov Antenna: www.antennaweb.org legislation this year that puts a price on carbon. "We must 'make polluters pay' Only when carbon carries a price equal to its cost to society as a whole will we have a level playing field among all forms of electricity generation," Hay said. Last year, FPL Group announced it would spend $2.4 billion on thermal energy and reducing carbon emissions. Hay called for investment incentives for renewable electricity generation.

He also urged support for expanded transmission capacity and for converting 50 percent of the nation's automotive fleet to plug-in vehicles by 2030. Energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances should be strengthened and incentives should be provided for homeowners and utilities to invest in energy efficiency, according to Hay. Coal should not be abandoned entirely, Hay said, but legislation providing for research and development for carbon capture and storage should be passed. Hay also said there's a need for more nuclear power plants, the only current source of energy that is abundant and carbon-free. Regulators need to ensure that utilities remain financially capable of investing in clean energy.

The credit crisis has made it more difficult for all but the most credit-worthy companies to raise capital, and even they have to pay more, Hay said. "Now more than ever, establishing reasonable returns on equity is essential," he said. "Utilities cannot afford to suffer credit downgrades. Impatient capital will either find another home, or it will become far more expensive, saddling customers with unnecessary costs." susansalisburypbpost.com By ELLIOT SPAGAT The Associated Press SAN DIEGO Isidro Diaz surfs channels on his old television set about three hours a night in the trailer he rents for $350 a month. Today his limited choice of programs will be much more limited.

Although the government delayed the mandatory shutdown of analog TV signals by four months to give people with older televisions more time to prepare, that's small comfort to Diaz and other people who live in cities where some broadcasters are switching to all-digital broadcasts today, as originally planned. Because it is costly to keep broadcasting analog signals, nearly 500 stations said they would make the transition today rather than June 12. The Federal Communications Commission told 123 stations that they may have to reconsider, so no city loses all of its analog network broadcasts, and many stations have agreed. Still, there will be an odd patchwork of programming for millions of Americans who rely on analog TV signals. To deal with the change, they need a digital converter box or a new TV with a digital tuner, or cable or satellite service.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a coalition of 200 advocacy groups, has digital TV assistance centers in seven metropolitan areas Atlanta; Detroit; San Antonio; San Francisco; Seattle; Portland, and St. Paul, Minn. to answer questions, demonstrate converter boxes and sometimes send out house calls. Locally, WTVX-34 in Fort Pierce switched off its analog signal in December. As of Monday, no other local station planned to switch by today's deadline.

In San Diego, the nation's eighth-largest city, the ABC, CBS, Fox and CW affiliates plan to end analog broadcasts today. Diaz, 63, a Mexican immigrant who was laid off a month ago by a garden nursery that paid $10 an hour, figures he eventually will muster $200 for a digital television; the least expensive model on Best Buy Web site costs $130. He recently shopped at an electronics store for a digital converter box for the $40 used Sony TV he bought from a newspaper classified ad four years ago. But the $60 converter box did not seem worth it because he can get a new TV for a little more. Subscribing to cable or satellite TV is out of the question.

"There's no work right now; $40 a month is very difficult," Diaz said while scarfing a dinner of beef tacos at a stand in San Diego's Barrio Logan neighborhood. The Obama administration sought the delay in the analog TV shutdown after the government ran out of money for the $40 coupons that subsidize digital converter boxes. The program has a waiting list of 4 million coupons; each household can get up to two. According to research firm MRI, 17.7 percent of Americans live in households with only over-the-air TV. The Nielsen Co.

said last week that more than 5.8 million U.S. households, or 5.1 percent of all homes, were not ready for the analog shutdown. However, officials at stations that plan to make the switch today believe the transition will mainly go smoothly and that the delay will confuse consumers. "They've had two years to get ready is our feeling," said Larry Patton, general manager of KSWO-TV, an ABC affiliate in Lawton, Okla. "We feel there's always going to be a few people who are going to wake up on the morning of Feb.

17 or June 17 or whenever it is and not be ready." World markets fall on Japan news LONDON World stock markets fell Monday, after new figures showed Japan's economy contracted at its quickest pace in 35 years and a weekend summit of Group of Seven finance ministers provided few concrete proposals to counter the economic crisis. Drops in Europe followed losses in Asia, but trading volumes were subdued as U.S. markets remained closed for Presidents' Day. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 1.3 percent at 4,134.75, Germany's DAX sank 1.1 percent to 4,366.64, and France's CAC 40 dropped 1.2 percent to 2,962.22. Bank of England likely to cut rates LONDON Bank of England Deputy Gov.

Charles Bean warned Monday that Britain may fall into a deeper recession than forecast and fueled expectations of interest rate cuts as he said the central bank would probably need to take more action. Bean said that there was a "three in four chance" that domestic economic growth would turn out to be weaker than the bank's central case, which points to the economy pulling out of recession at the end of the year. L'Oreal 2008 net profit falls 27 percent PARIS French cosmetics maker L'Oreal said Monday that annual net profit fell 27 percent after disappointing American holiday sales. The maker of Maybelline mascara and Lancome fragrances posted a net profit of 1.95 billion euros ($2.49 billion), weighed down by 115 million euros of special charges. The results compared to 2.66 billion euros in 2007, when L'Oreal made a 617 euros gain on the sale of shares in Sanofi-Aventis.

Sales rose 2.8 percent in the year to 17.54 billion euros ($22.39 billion). More LG cellphones to use Microsoft BARCELONA, Spain Microsoft said Monday that LG Electronics had agreed to use Microsoft's new mobile operating system on 50 of its smartphone models, increasing the software maker's bid to gain a bigger share of the fast-growing mobile software business. LG had previously used the software, called Windows Mobile, on only one handset model. Palm Beach Post staff and wire services GM seeks concessions as it readies aid request It and Chrysler must present business plans today in Washington. General Motors wants unions and creditors to alter agreements as it attempts to rebound from massive losses.

Its request for government aid may exceed $18 billion. DAVID ZALUB0WSKI The Associated Press which fell to the fewest in 27 years in January, have increased cash consumption by the Detroit automaker, and GM will need additional US. aid to survive, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the plan isn't final. Now, they say, the total request in today's report to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner may exceed the $18 billion GM originally sought in December. The deadline intensified the importance of negotiations with the United Auto Workers union, which walked away Friday in a dispute over changes to retiree health care.

The union returned to bargaining over the By JEFF GREEN, SERENA SAITT0 and MIKE RAMSEY Bloomberg News DETROIT General Motors Corp. is pushing for union and creditor concessions as it races to complete a report that asks the U.S. to increase a $13.4 billion emergency aid package, people familiar with the plan said. Plunging US. auto sales, lions of lives, livelihoods that depend on it, not just at the auto companies, but spinoff manufacturers, dealers and so on." Axelrod said President weekend.

GM also continued talks with creditors. "We need an auto industry in this country," senior White House adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press newscast. "There are mil-.