Former Sen. John Edwards campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa during his 2008 presidential run.
After a drawn-out trial and nine days of jury deliberations, John Edwards was acquitted on one charge and his case was ruled as a mistrial, but the campaign finance landscape is no clearer than it was before.
The jury found Edwards not guilty on count 3—that he broke campaign finance law in accepting $700,000 from a billionaire supporter in 2008.
[Read: Jurors in John Edwards' Case Reach Verdict]
Neither side denied Edwards took the money and used it to cover up an affair. But U.S. Attorney George Holding indicted Edwards last summer under the belief that doing so was a crime under one interpretation of campaign finance law.
The case turned on deceptively complex question: Were the secret payments made, with Edwards' knowledge, for the purpose of influencing his 2008 presidential campaign? If so, they were illegal campaign contributions. If not, they were personal gifts.
The prosecution argued that Edwards solicited the money to hide his mistress and illegitimate child in order to maintain his public image during the 2008 presidential campaign. The defense depicted Edwards' actions as morally, not legally, wrong. The money was personal, Edwards' lawyers argued, used to hide the affair from his cancer-stricken wife, not keep afloat a 2008 campaign which was effectively over.
Had Edwards been found guilty, the legal definition of a campaign contribution, now defined vaguely as money given with the intent to "influence an election," would have been made more clear. The campaign finance implications of that would have been vast, but it would have taken a stronger case, legal experts say.
"In terms of campaign finance, you have to have that smoking gun," says Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center. "The prosecution was unable clearly to provide clear evidence, beyond the testimony of Mr. Young, that there was willful and knowing illegal activity by Mr. Edwards."
Given the current law and legal precedents, the prosecution's case was novel and the verdict a dodged bullet, says Allison Hayward, vice president of policy at the Center for Competitive Politics.
"Had there been a guilty verdict, especially on count 3, you would've had a lot of confusion among the bar and other prosecutors," Hayward says. "That the court would instruct the jury that the donor's purpose was somehow what made this a camp contribution, not the person being charged, that was a bit scary."
[Read: Justice Dept. Unlikely to Retry Edwards]
Edwards' case was interpreted differently by legal experts on both sides: the judge, the prosecutors, and Edwards' team. But however campaign finance law is interpreted, prosecutors should build a strong case before bringing an indictment, says Rick Hasen, a campaign finance expert and professor at UC-Irvine.
"This was a weak case to begin with," says Hasen. "(The verdict) doesn't have broad implications for campaign finance other than it might make prosecutors worry."
In many campaign finance law prosecutions, those being indicted are motivated by alleged political motivations, Hasen says. In this case, Edwards' indictment was brought by a Bush-appointed attorney general, George Holding, who this month won a GOP primary for a Congressional seat in a district that includes the courthouse where Edwards was tried.
"Whether or not there's any truth to that in this case or others I don't know," Hasen says. "But given the nature of the campaigns, I think prosecutors have a motive to chase the big fish. The incentives for prosecuting a political are very high."
Edwards case made one thing clear for both sides: campaign finance law is complex and prosecuting it is not easy.
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Trade Forex News in 5 Low-Risk Steps - Moneyshow.com
Step 4: Manage Orders
What if price comes down to open up our short position and then moves directly back to prior resistance to trigger us in a long position?
For traders in the United States, where first-in/first-out (FIFO) execution is the standard, it may close out our short position at a loss. So going into the trade, you have to know how you would want this situation handled.
If you would like the entry order to go long to be canceled as soon as the short position is entered (or vice versa), you can set a One Cancels Other, or OCO order. That way, when the short position is entered into, the long entry gets canceled. This can be done very easily from the FXCM Trading Station platform (and most every currency trading platform out there).
After all orders are entered, you can click on the tab for “Trading” on the platform, then choose “Orders,” followed by “Complex OCO.” Doing so will bring up the following box:
Initially, all entry orders will show in the top box. We can simply highlight the orders we want to be part of the OCO order (or clicking on “select all” will select all available orders), followed by the button below the top box and to the left for “Add.”
Step 5: Add Stops/Limits
Because we are anticipating volatility during a fast-moving environment, it benefits us to add proper risk management parameters in our trades.
We have to keep in mind that the number-one mistake forex traders make is risking too much to make too little. Despite lofty winning percentages, that type of inverse risk/reward ratio doesn’t allow for much long-term success.
Directly from the Traits of Successful Traders series compiled by DailyFX, David Rodriguez states:
“Traders are right more than 50% of the time, but lose more money on losing trades than they win on winning trades. Traders should use stops and limits to enforce a risk/reward ratio of 1:1 or higher.”
Because we have identified support and resistance previously when setting up our entry orders, we can look to place our stop on the other side of the range. So, for the short entry looking for breaks of support, stops can be placed slightly above resistance. And, for the long entry hoping for breaks of resistance, stops can be placed slightly below support.
Also, profit targets or limits should be, at minimum, 100% of that amount. If you are risking 50 pips on the trade idea, look for a minimum of 50 to make sure that is worth your time. Many traders will actually look for much more than the number of pips risked, seeking a much higher risk/reward ratio, such as 1:3 (50 pips risked, 150 pips sought) or even 1:5 (50 pips risked, 250 pips sought).
See also: Make Sure Risk/Reward Is on Your Side
By James Stanley, instructor, DailyFX.com
VOLTA FINANCE - INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT MAY 2012 - PR Inside
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Finance Executive R. Brent Jones Joins Pall Corporation and Assumes Responsibility for Investor Relations - Yahoo Finance
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Pall Corporation (NYSE:PLL) announced today that R. Brent Jones has joined the Long Island-based filtration, separation and purification company as VP of Finance. In this new role, Mr. Jones will assume responsibility for Investor Relations, Treasury, and Corporate Financial Planning. In this capacity, Mr. Jones will work closely with the investment community as Pall’s direct point of contact for investors, analysts and bankers. He will also support Pall’s business development function.
Larry Kingsley, president and CEO commented, "The integration of these finance activities combined with Brent’s experience will serve the company and its shareholders well as we evolve our growth strategies and profitability profile and related communications. Brent provides significant added bench strength to our management team."
Mr. Jones has more than 15 years of broad financial experience in the areas of capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and capital structure. He has significant experience with the life sciences, industrial and technology sectors. Most recently Mr. Jones, who earned his bachelor’s degree at Dartmouth and his law degree from Yale, served as managing director for Corporate Finance and Restructuring at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
About Pall Corporation
Pall Corporation (NYSE:PLL) is a filtration, separation and purification leader providing solutions to meet the critical fluid management needs of customers across the broad spectrum of life sciences and industry. Pall works with customers to advance health, safety and environmentally responsible technologies. The company’s engineered products enable process and product innovation and minimize emissions and waste. Pall Corporation, with total revenues of $2.7 billion for fiscal year 2011, is an S&P 500 company with almost 11,000 employees serving customers worldwide. Pall has been named a “top green company” by Newsweek magazine. To see how Pall is helping enable a greener, safer, more sustainable future, visit www.pall.com/green.
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