NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS WERE DUPED BY A PONZI SCHEMER

BERNARD MADOFF established a reputation in Wall street only to be uncovered that he is a fraud and a scammer using the old Ponzi scheme. His total loot..50 billion dollars.

Deborah Coltin learned yesterday morning that the $8 million foundation she has led for a decade, which supported a wide range of Jewish programs on the north shore of Massachusetts, did not actually exist.

The foundation had invested its endowment with Bernard L. Madoff, a storied name on Wall Street. Every year, Madoff paid out several hundred thousand dollars to the foundation. But on Thursday, Madoff was charged with securities fraud after confessing to his sons that his business was a Ponzi scheme, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The returns paid to investors came from money invested by other people. And there was almost nothing left.

It may be the largest fraud in the history of Wall Street, authorities said. Madoff is charged with stealing as much as $50 billion, in part to cover a pattern of massive losses, even as he cultivated a reputation as a financial mastermind and prominent philanthropist.

Rod Blagojevich asked to step down

The travails of the Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich who was accused of selling the position vacated by President-elect Barack Obama continue as the Attorney General asked te highest court to remove him from office.

This is from CNN

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Friday asked her state's highest court to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office temporarily.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says Gov. Rod Blagojevich needs to step down.

Moments after Madigan's announcement, news broke that Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris, had resigned, a spokesman for the governor said.

Blagojevich, 52, and Harris, 46, were arrested this week on federal corruption charges relating in part to the selection of a successor to President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

The governor's attorney has said Blagojevich did nothing wrong.

Madigan's office also asked the Illinois Supreme Court to strip Blagojevich of duties, including appointing Obama's Senate replacement.

"I recognize that this is an extraordinary request, but these are extraordinary circumstances," Madigan said Friday in Chicago.

Madigan said she wants Blagojevich out of office because, given the charges against him, she does not think he can do his job. The court filing asks that Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn become acting governor.

"As governor, Mr. Blagojevich's duty is to do what is best for the people of the state of Illinois, not for himself.

UK Reopening its door to Philippine Nurses

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday in Dec. 4 that the United Kingdom has re-opened its doors to Filipino nurses.

“After a lull of over a year, the United Kingdom is again hiring Filipino nurses,” Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said in an interview.

Roque said an initial batch of 160 Filipinos would be deployed to various hospitals and retirement homes in Britain.

Over a year ago, the United Kingdom adopted stricter regulations in the hiring of foreign nurses, thus virtually closing the door for the employment of Filipino nurses there.

“For a while there has been no vacancy for Filipino nurses in UK, but because of the aging population there, they realized they need our Filipino nurses to take care of them,” Roque noted.

Roque expressed confidence that the recruitment of 160 Filipino nurses in UK signals the start of growth in demand for Filipino nurses worldwide.

“We hope that more Filipino nurses will be recruited to work in UK and other countries abroad,” Roque said.

The Philippine Nursing Association reported that the country is now experiencing a surplus of Filipino nurses due to the declining demand in the United States.

Roque had previously ordered a dialogue with all the stakeholders at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) office to determine the real situation of the country’s nursing sector.

He said DOLE conducted the dialogue to determine whether there is really a shortage or a surplus of nurses so that the government could come out with appropriate measures.