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Spain could become the fourth euro-zone country to make a formal request for financial help from other members of the currency bloc during a two-day meeting of European finance ministers that begins Thursday. The likely request, coming in the ...Sopranos star 'was friend of real-life mobster who tried to extort money from Joe Pesci's cousin' - Daily Mail
By Lyle Brennan and James Nye
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A star of hit TV series The Sopranos made a dramatic appearance in the trial of a real-life mob boss today - as a court saw a gangster accused of trying to recover a loan for the actor.
Federico Castelucci, who played a feared hitman in the hit HBO series, allegedly lent $50,000 to a restauranteur - Joe Pesci's cousin - and struggled to get the money back.
A recording played in a New York courtroom today appears to shows Mafia boss Andrew 'Mush' Russo ordering one of his lieutenants to 'recover' the money.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Liz Geddes for the prosecution says Russo can be heard talking about how his friend, Castelluccio had invested thousands in Gino Pesci's New Jersey Italian bistro, and orders one of his 'captains' to demand the money back from Mr Pesci.
Courtroom drama: Federico Castelluccio, left, played Furio Giunta on The Sopranos and allegedly loaned $50,000 to Gino Pesci to open a restaurant in New Brunswick. Mob boss Andrew 'Mush' Russo is accused of ordering one of his associates to demands the money back
The New York Post reports Russo says: 'Joe Pesci’s cousin. He [cheated] some kid... took $70,000. When they went, when they went to grab him, [he said] "I blew it, I don’t have it'.
'This kid, you know the kid, Federico Castelluccio?... The kid who played Furio on the Sopranos.'
The mafioso does not appear to give his man specific instructions on how he should get the money back, but federal agents believe it would be through means of extortion.
'I'll get you all the information,' Russo is heard to promise.
However, court papers show Russo's lawyer, George Galgano insisted the conversation was merely an innocent discussion between film fans.
He contends that his client had been talking about the role played by Joe Pesci - his alleged target's famous cousin - in the hit children's Christmas movie Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin and directed by John Hughes.
Arguing in court papers that Russo never intended to extort any money from Gino Pesci, Mr Galgano wrote, 'This never happened'.
Sticking to their claim the Russo was only discussing Joe Pesci's role in 'Home Alone', Mr Galgano wrote that Russo also mentioned a script that Gino Pesci is supposed to have borrowed money for.
Edie Falco (left) and Federico Castelluccio (right) appearing as Carmel Soprano and Furio Giunta respectively on the hit HBO show
Countering the prosecutions version of events, Mr Gargano seems to suggest in the court documents that Russo had been misinformed, and that there was no script, no dispute and no money owed to Mr Castelluccio.
Regardless of Russo's claims it was enough for Judge Kiyo Matsumoto to reject a bail request by Russo, who is due to go on trial for racketeering, saying: 'The evidence in this case is strong.'
The origin of the case against Colombo street boss Russo stems from Castelluccio investing $50,000 in 2002 in Gino Pesci's Attilio Pasta Kitchen, based in New Brunswick.
Folding two years later, Gino Pesci acknowledged that his relationship with Castelluccio fell apart.
Andrew 'Mush' Russo's defence claimed that he was talking about Joe Pesci (pictured right) and his appearance in the hit 1990 film 'Home Alone' which Joe Pesci starred in
'Federico is an incredible artist, but he’s not a businessman. Maybe that’s why he took it harder than the rest,' said Pesci to the New York Post.
However, a bone of contention opened up between the two when Pesci went on a spending spree after the closure, while Castelluccio felt that his investment should have been returned claims the New York Post.
It is known that Castelluccio and Russo are friends and in 2011 the actor showed up at Russo's bail hearing in Brooklyn.
Ray Liotta (left), Robert de Niro (second left), Paul Sorvino and Joe Pesci (right) starred in the 1990 film 'Goodfellas' about organised crime in the 1960's and 1970's
At the time of a an October 2011 article in the New York Post investigating his friendship with Russo, Castelluccio issued a statement.
'Gino Pesci has never owed me any money, and therefore, it is hard to imagine why anyone would even think about asking him for anything on my behalf.
'It never happened. And anyone who claims that it did happen is simply not telling the truth.'
Both the Sopranos star and Gino Pesci deny any knowledge of an extortion plot.
As well as the charge relating to Mr Pesci, Russo is accused of extorting medical expenses from the rival Gambino crime family, after one of their number allegedly stabbed a Colombo family mobster.
Greek coalition to plead for leniency on bail-out - Daily Telegraph
Top of the requests Mr Zanias is likely to be a two-year extension for a deadline to find €11.5 billion in public spending cuts by the end of 2014.
Aides to Mr Samaras have said that reductions in sales and corporate taxes and increases to the lowest pensions were also among his priorities, in a bid to alleviate the social hardships deepened by the austerity measures attached to two bailouts totalling €240 billion.
The Eurogroup talks "will be the first big battle on the revision of the bailout agreement", said Evangelos Venizelos, the Pasok leader and former finance minister. With Greece in danger of running out of money in a month, he stressed that the coalition sought "the creation of a framework that will allow us to move to positive growth and to combat unemployment".
Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday taht there was scope to discuss "extensions" to Greek austerity measures but not "changing the substance of the agreements". Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat MPs, warned Greece that the German parliament, which has a veto over bailouts, was not ready to make any major concessions.
Spain's finance minister insists no bailout needed - CBC
Spain's finance minister insisted again Wednesday that the country's government does not need a full-blown bailout, even as the country's sky-high borrowing costs remained at dangerous levels.
On Tuesday, the interest rate on the government's 12-month treasury bills rose to 5.07 per cent from 2.98 per cent at the last such auction on May 14. The rate on the 18-month bills soared to 5.10 per cent from 3.3 per cent.
By Wednesday, the interest rate, or yield, on the Spanish benchmark 10-year bond fell 22 basis points to 6.78 per cent, below the seven-per-cent level it has been hovering above since Monday. But such high rates are still considered by market-watchers to be unsustainable over the long term rate and eventually forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to ask for international financial help.
Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro told Parliament, however, that Spain's government won't need the same kind of assistance "because it does not need to be rescued."
After years of insisting its banks were among the healthiest in Europe, Spain did recently acknowledge its financial sector will need a rescue package to protect it from a property boom that went bust in 2008. But investors are now more concerned that the country itself may have to be bailed out and this could seriously test the strength of the entire European Union's finances.
Fears about high public debt
Worries about Spain's ability to repay its debt grew last week when the country agreed to accept a eurozone loan of up to $129 billion to shore up its ailing banks, which are sitting on massive amounts of soured real estate investments.
The big fear is that, as the money will count as a loan and raise Spain's overall debt load, the country's financing costs will suffocate the government as it tries to wade its way through a recession and a 24.4 percent jobless rate.
Because the government is ultimately responsible for repaying the banks' bailout money, the deal has increased fears about the size of public debt. If the government cannot get the bailout money back from the banks, it will be saddled with the losses.
Those losses could prove too much to handle for the government, which is already struggling with a second recession in three years and the highest jobless rate among the 17 countries that use the euro.
Independent audits on the state of Spain's banks are due Thursday and these will help Spain determine how much it needs from the $129-billion lifeline the 17-country eurozone has agreed to set up.Stratton Finance Turns to Network Performance Experts SevOne to Monitor Its Mission Critical Network - msnbc.com
WILMINGTON, DE — SevOne, the leader in IT performance management, today announced it has been successfully deployed by Stratton Finance, one of Australia's leading finance and insurance brokers, where it was selected as the supplier of choice for infrastructure performance monitoring capabilities and capacity planning.
"With a dramatically increasing number of network devices to monitor and manage, only SevOne provides me with truly real-time reports on my network's health," stated Damien Emmerson, System Administrator, Stratton Finance. "This is critical because I need to know that I have an emerging network problem before it occurs, not after the fact. While other solutions claim the ability to scale to accommodate the dramatic increase in devices on the network, only SevOne is able to actually deliver on that promise."
Following an evaluation of a few performance management tools, the organization identified SevOne to help ensure real-time data access so that it can actually see what requirements are needed and better plan for future infrastructure needs as well. As a financial services firm, the company needs to always know that it has ample access to network and system resources, and the SevOne solution meets this need with the highest levels of performance, scalability, and interoperability.
"We are pleased that Stratton has selected SevOne to improve the way in which it is conducting business," stated Bill Conners, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales for SevOne. "One item that has proven to be valuable for the company is response time in terms of being able to diagnose network issues. The company is now able to predict problems before they occur. We look forward to helping Stratton achieve success as it continues its network monitoring efforts."
About Stratton Finance
Stratton Finance is one of Australia's leading finance brokers, providing car finance, equipment finance, property finance, boat finance, insurance broking and more. Established in 1998, Stratton has grown into a national business with tens of thousands of happy customers all over Australia. Stratton Finance has achieved impressive growth over the past 14 years, cementing a competitive advantage in the industry with a focus on technology. As a result Stratton is the leading provider of finance and insurance solutions in Australia.
About SevOne
SevOne, Inc. delivers the industry's fastest, most scalable, and comprehensive real-time network monitoring, troubleshooting and performance reporting solution. SevOne created a proprietary, next-generation distributed technology, called the SevOne Cluster™, that combines the cutting edge principles behind peer-to-peer sharing and big data clusters to scale smoothly so that millions of network elements, across all monitoring technologies, can be monitored and provide a single view to the user. Hundreds of customers, including the top cable companies in North America, wireless network and managed service providers, and top financial services institutions rely on SevOne. Visit www.sevone.com.
© Marketwire 2012
Julian Assange's leading supporters face losing £240,000 in bail money - The Guardian
Some of Julian Assange's most prominent supporters stand to lose up to £240,000 in bail money, provided to secure the WikiLeaks founder's freedom when he first faced extradition proceedings.
A leading criminal lawyer said that following Assange's decision to seek asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London and breach the terms of his bail, they would have to persuade the courts why they should not forfeit their money and prove they had done all they could to prevent him breaking the court order.
A group of celebrities and activists, including the socialite Jemima Khan, film director Ken Loach and publisher Felix Dennis, posted cash security of £200,000 to Westminster magistrates court with a further £40,000 as promised sureties when Assange was freed in December 2010.
"The people who have posted the money would have to go to court and plead their case as to why they shouldn't lose their money," said Oliver Lewis, partner at solicitors Powell Spencer and Partners. "There would have to be a pretty good reason why the money shouldn't be forfeited. Usually the court says 'thank you very much, you have lost your money'. You have to show that you have been vigilant and put every effort in to stop it happening."
Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline Club for journalists, hosted Assange at his Norfolk home for over a year and stands to lose £20,000.
"It is not clear to me whether I have a liability but either way I am concerned," he said. "I do believe Julian genuinely feels he will be sent to America – and of course I think the money is important because it relates to the welfare of my wife and children, but they don't feel they are at risk of being sent to America.
"I remain a supporter and it is important we recognise he is a western dissident. There are a lot of people who believe the work he did at WikiLeaks was in the public interest."
Khan confirmed on Twitter that she had also posted bail money for Assange. "I had expected him to face the allegations," she said. "I am as surprised as anyone by this."
Tracy Worcester, the model and actress turned environmental campaigner, confirmed that she had put up a surety for Assange but said she had not yet been able to speak to his legal team about the latest developments and declined to comment further.
The human rights activist Bianca Jagger denied reports that she had contributed to the bail money, tweeting: "I would like to set the record straight. I didn't post bail for Julian Assange."
A spokeswoman for the courts service said it was normal for breaches of bail to be considered at the court that set the bail conditions in the first place, in this case Westminster magistrates court.
"What happens to the money will be decided by a judge if and when he is brought back before the court," she said. "It depends on what the police say about what they think a person has done and what should follow on from that."
David Cameron: no 'bottomless pit of money' to fund fuel duty cut - Daily Telegraph
"I think people sitting at home know that the Government doesn't have a bottomless pit of money," he said.
"Obviously we look at all these things, I think there are dos and don’ts for the Government. What the Government mustn’t do is try and borrow its way out of debt. You can’t borrow your way out of the situation we’re in, it would be very dangerous for Britain.”
He suggested that the Coalition would focus on making sure householders and businesses have access to cheap loans.
"What we can do is use the fact that we have credibility, we have some of the lowest interest rates we’ve had in Britain for hundreds of years, use that credibility to make sure those interest rates are also available to the homeowner, to the small businessman wanting a loan,” he said.
Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has already signaled that the Government is unlikely to be able to afford to scrap the increase.
“Given the huge issues we have with public finances, we also need to make sure that we’ve got the money coming through the tax system, and the increase in fuel duty is part of that,” he said earlier this week.
Motorists groups have urged the Government not to take advantage of the recent falling petrol prices to argue that the 3p tax rise should go ahead.
Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, said it would be “opportunistic” of the Treasury to hope that people would not notice the extra tax.
“David Cameron knows it is right to scrap this increase while the country struggles with a second recession,” he said. “The decision to do so would not be a U-turn, but common sense prevailing as the economic outlook deteriorates.
“Road fuel is no longer a luxury but an essential part of everyday life. The planned duty increase will penalise lower income earners, pensioners and the unemployed and will push inflation up."
The average price of petrol has fallen by 9.83p a litre since its peaks in April to around 132.65p this week.
The price of oil on the international markets has fallen by around a quarter since March, helping to bring down inflation.
However, Paul Watters, head of public affairs at the AA, warned that the planned duty rise will only "increase the inflation rate and put more pressure on hard-pressed families and business in the UK once again”
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