The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • B8

Page: BizPlusPub. 1stSection, change THE BUSINESS REPORT BUSINESS STARTS ON 10B MiamiHerald.com| THE MIAMI HERALD H1 8B JANUARY 19, 2012 FLORIDA BRIEFS BANKING BankUnited: We plan to stay independent Miami Lakes-based BankUnited said late Wednesday that it plans to stay independent instead of finding a buyer. preliminary process did occur whereby the company considered its strategic the bank said in a statement process has and BankUnited will continue an independent BankUnited ended the sale process after bids from Toronto-Dominion Bank and Corp. came in below the expectations, according to people with knowledge of the matter BLOOMBERG NEWS Fort Lauderdale says no to casinos: Fort Lauderdale commissioners voted this week to oppose a push to bring mega casinos to Florida. The unanimous vote follows a similar decision by Miami Beach commissioners last month.

Other political leaders, including Miami Mayor Regalado and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, have embraced the proposal to bring casino resorts to South Florida. Florida lawmakers are considering bills that would loosen state law to allow three $2 billion casino resorts to open in Florida, following approval by county voters. DOUGLAS HANKS New condo sales slowed in 2011, report says: New condo sales in Greater Downtown Miami slowed by 53 percent in 2011, compared to 2010, as developer inventory decreased and the average price rose by 21percent, according to a recently released report from CondoVultures.com Buyers purchased nearly 1,750 new units for a combined $800 million in 2011, cutting the number of unsold units controlled by the original developers to 8 percent of 22,250 condos created in Greater Downtown Miami during the South Florida real estate boom, according to the report, which is based on an analysis of Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser data. The remaining unsold developer units are in two dozen of the 80-plus condo projects that were created in a 60-block stretch of the Brickell Avenue Area, Downtown Miami, and the Biscayne Boulevard Corridor during the real estate boom, CondoVultures- said. MIAMI HERALD STAFF Markets close higher Encouraging news about the U.S.

housing market and the prospect of a beefed-up International Monetary Fund bailout effort for troubled countries helped stocks to their highest close since last summer. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96.88 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 12,578.95. The Standard 500 index gained 14.37 points, or 1.1percent, to 1,308.04. The Nasdaq composite index added 41.63 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,769.71. ASSOCIATED PRESS Northern Trust to cut 700 jobs: Northern Trust Bank said it will eliminate about 700 jobs worldwide, or 5 percent of its full-time staff of 14,053.

The move is the Chicago-based latest step in an effort to boost revenue and cut costs by $250 million by the end of 2013. Of the 700 job losses, about half are in Europe. The rest are largely in the United States and are to be distributed business-unit-by-business-unit, a bank spokesperson said. Most will be notified in the first quarter, with the remaining in the next 12 to 18 months. The spokesperson could not say how many employees here would be affected.

Northern Trust operates seven locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. INA PAIVA CORDLE Seven charged in Dell insider trading case: Seven people including Jesse Tortora of Pembroke Pines were charged in Manhattan federal court with securities fraud and conspiracy as part of a five-year investigation of insider trading at hedge funds by the FBI and the Justice Department. Prosecutors said the alleged scheme, which involved trades in Dell netted $61.8 million in illegal profits. Among those charged are Level Global Investors LP co-founder Anthony Chiasson; Todd Newman, formerly of Diamondback Capital Management LLC; Jon Horvath and Dannie Kuo. Three other men have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the probe.

They are Tortora, Spyridon Adondakis and Sandeep Goyal, MIAMI HERALD STAFF Pe-Stkofpay- riodraterecordable IRREGULAR Itau Unibanco zM.00672-33-12 z- Approx. amount per ADR or ADS. STOCK Ralcorp x- 0.5 of a share of Post Holdings Inc for each share RAH held. INCREASED Alexanders IncQ3.751-302-21 Crestwd MdstrmQ.491-312-10 Enterprise BancQ.112-93-1 Fastenal CoQ.172-12-29 Finish LineQ.063-23-19 Kinder Morg IncQ.311-312-15 Linear TechQ.252-172-29 New Eng Rlty Q.253-153-31 Oneok IncQ.611-312-14 Vanguard NatRsQ.58752-72-14 INITIAL Agilent TechQ.104-34-25 Poage BankshQ.041-302-14 SPECIAL Internet Winmark REGULAR Adtran IncQ.092-22-16 Bank NY MellQ.131-302-7 Brown BrownQ.0852-12-15 Cardinal FinanQ.032-22-17 Carpenter TechQ.181-313-1 CitigroupQ.012-62-24 Cmt Bnk Shs INQ.102-92-28 EQT Corp Q.222-173-1 EarthLink IncQ.053-53-19 Fst Advant BncpQ.052-12-17 Fst Comm CorpQ.042-12-15 Global PartnersQ.502-32-14 Marsh McLenQ.221-302-15 Mine Safe ApplQ.262-143-10 Ocean Shor HldgQ.062-32-24 Realty IncomeM.14552-12-15 SI FinancialQ.032-62-27 Signet JewelersQ.101-272-27 Susquehan BcshQ.031-312-17 TC PipelinesQ.771-312-14 UMH PropertiesQ.182-153-15 Union BankshQ.251-282-9 Vornado Rlty TrQ.691-302-21 Winmark CorpQ.032-83-1 g- Payable in Canadian funds. DIVIDENDS Rothstein who defrauded she said by email, referring to the confidence law firm.

will continue to defend the bank against claims of In closing arguments on behalf of the bank, Holly R. Skolnick said the Coquina investment firm must have known that returns of 50 percent in a few months were too good to be legitimate. was obvious to Coquina that these were fraudulent Skolnick, of the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, told jurors. had to be obvious. These deals make no In its complaint, Coquina said officers of the bank an active role in the scheme and facilitated its continued by meeting with victims to create the appearance of a legitimate enterprise.

FICTIONAL CASES While operating the fraud, Rothstein told his victims that they were buying stakes in settlements of cases in which his Fort Lauderdale law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA, had amassed evidence and confronted potential defendants in sexual and employment discrimination cases. The settlements were fictional, as were the cases. He used the bank to make payments to investors that supposedly came from the settlements, and to provide documents conceal the truth from the investors, to keep the investors and encourage them to re-invest, and to attract additional according to the complaint. Investors regularly met with bank Vice President Frank Spinosa, contributing to the of Coquina said in the complaint. Spinosa, who is no longer with the bank, refused to testify during the trial, citing his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

The bank is facing three other suits by groups of in- vestors claiming it helped keep fraud afloat by providing Rothstein with documents that he used to convince investors their money was safe and could be disbursed only to him, when he actually was siphoning money out of the accounts. COOPERATING Rothstein pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. He is cooperating with authorities and those seeking to recoup losses using lawsuits against third parties. Seven of his employees and associates have been criminally charged. Five pleaded guilty, and two are awaiting trial.

SCOTT ROTHSTEIN SCANDAL TD Bank loses $67M verdict ROTHSTEIN, FROM 10B cians, lobbyists and charities, not unlike convicted Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for running a $1.2 billion investment racket. Steinger whose investors lost $837 million, more than double the losses incurred by victims has become a pauper, according to court records. He even be able to stay in his house if he pay to maintain it while on the market this winter. defendant must ensure that the lawn and external premises are kempt and that the water and electric bills are paid in a timely Scola wrote in a court order. If Steinger fails to maintain the property, the judge warned, the defendant would have vacate the According to court records, Steinger has struggled to sell his waterfront home in upscale Himmar- shee Village, which had been on the market for about $4 million.

It has been sinking under the weight of at least two mortgages and an IRS tax lien in a still-weak real-estate market. Shohat, who was fourth in line to collect any potential profits from the sale, began his exit strategy as lawyer when a federal prosecutor made a move to seize the property last year. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerrob Duffy argued that tainted profits from company paid for his residence. Duffy said the businessman, who had been convicted of securities fraud in the early 1980s, concealed his leading role in Mutual Benefits and set up shell companies to disguise his ownership of certain assets, including his home.

Duffy is also seeking to seize the Fort Lauderdale waterfront home and Maine oceanfront property of brother, Steven Steiner, who was also charged in the fraud conspiracy in late 2008. brothers spell their last names The prosecutor decided to go after properties after he was charged again last year with laundering millions of dollars through the Maine residence and a Manhattan condominium. Steiner, 60, a former Mutual Benefits vice president, was charged with conspiring to divert tainted proceeds from the company to buy the properties in the Northeast to support a with longtime partner Henry Fecker III, who was also indicted. Steiner, who violated his $3.5 million bond and is being held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami, could lose his 1920s Mediterranean Revival estate in the exclusive Riviera Isles area at a federal court hearing Monday. Steiner had a sales contract for $2.5 million on the residence, but it fell through last year.

He also might lose his and property in Camden, Maine. Meanwhile, prominent attorney, Richard Lubin, withdrew from the case in November before he was ordered to turn over $750,000 in legal fees that he had collected from his sale of his Fifth Avenue condo overlooking Central Park. Lubin deposited a check in that amount in the court registry earlier this month. The prosecutor has sought to preserve that money for Mutual Benefits victims, noting that Steiner was prohibited from selling any property as a condition of his bond, including to pay his lawyer. To date, the U.S.

Office has convicted 10 executives, brokers, lawyers and a doctor associated with business. Prosecutors say it was a front for buying and selling life insurance policies held by people dying from AIDS between 1995 and 2004 in what amounted to a FRAUD CASE Executive loses home, lawyer STEINGER, FROM 10B Steinger headed Mutual Benefits which sold life insurance policies held by people dying of AIDS before it was shut. Well, at least we in Moscow. The Russian capital is one of 17 major metropolitan areas that fared worse than the Miami area in a new study of economic performance during the recession. South Florida earned 183rd place out of 200 met- ropolitan areas the Brookings Institution ranked by job losses and income growth, a score that put the region just ahead of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and slightly behind Orlando.

Such a brutal score in the Brookings ranking marked a big switch for South Florida, which was a stand-out during the economic booms of the 1990s and 2000s. Between 1993 and 2007, it held the 69th slot on the Brookings global economic scorecard. Though using hiring and income data already well documented during the U.S. recession and recovery, the Brookings report adds a global perspective. For instance, the report gave Shanghai the No.

1slot for economic performance in 2011. With a No. 8 slot, Santiago, Chile, was the closest city to Miami to land on the global Top 10 list. There is a bright side for Miami. When Brookings ranked 200 global economies on the basis of their recovery since 2010, South Florida fared much better.

It landed on the 133rd slot thanks largely to a rebound in tourism, retail and wholesale trade. The broad decline in the U.S. real estate market dragged down much of South score during the recession. Orlando did only a little better, taking the 180th slot during the 2007-10 period. Other American cities Detroit, Atlanta, Phoenix joined South Florida in the bottom 20.

Las Vegas finished last in the United States at 199th place, while Valencia, Spain, took the dreaded 200th slot. GLOBAL ECONOMY recession among worst It was an ugly recession for South Florida, but not quite as bad as it was in Russia, Spain or the U.K., a new report shows. BY DOUGLAS HANKS Ajury award of nearly $1million to former WSVN- Fox 7 health reporter Marilyn Mitzel for age discrimination at the hands of station management was wiped out Wednesday by an appellate court. The Third District Court of Appeal reversed the 2010 jury finding that Sunbeam Television owner, fired Mitzel three years earlier because she was too old for television, and ordered a Miami-Dade court to reconsider the case. The appellate court ruled that the trial judge have allowed Mitzel to add a charge of sex discrimination to her lawsuit late in the case.

And it was harshly critical of an expert witness who testified on behalf, saying her reached beyond the scope of this case to come to conclusions she was not competent to reach, and served only to interject irrelevant conjecture into the William Amlong, attorney, shrugged off the ruling. would like to have won it, he said. won this trial once, and now go back and win it But Michael Casey, attorney, said move for an immediate dismissal. ruling essentially eliminated their whole he said. Mitzel, once a ubiquitous presence on WSVN her health and medical news segments aired eight times a week, and she was also a back-up anchor was 52 years old when WSVN fired her after 17 years.

She testified at the trial that WSVN offer any reason for her dismissal. But she noted that she lost her anchor duties after she turned 50 and believed that her age also played akey role in her firing. Her testimony was supported by Sherlynn Howard- Byrd, chairman of the communications department at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, who told the jury that WSVN staffed its stations with young rather than seasoned WSVN executives countered that they got rid of Mitzel only because television audiences were more interested in news about terrorism and politics after the Sept. 11attacks. The appellate court said that Mitzel waited too long and a half years into her case before adding the charge of sexual discrimination to her suit.

And testimony, the court said, amounted to nothing more than unsupported running theory that age discrimination against women is pervasive within the broadcast news rather than specific evidence against WSVN. Mitzel briefly took a job at aNorth Dakota station after leaving WSVN but soon returned to South Florida and has done little work in television since. TELEVISION age-bias win reversed won this trial once, and now go back and win it Amlong, Marilyn attorney An appellate court tossed a jury award of nearly $1million to former WSVN-Fox 7 reporter Marilyn Mitzel. BY GLENN GARVIN.