Subject: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

• Judge Rejects $19 Ionic Breeze Class-Action Settlement: SF's Sharper Image Gets Blurry Financial Outlook

  October 12, 2007

• Local Madoff Victim Speaks Out

  Although Bernie Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme engulfed its share of wealthy East Coasters, a comprehensive list of victims made public today as part of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing revealed 43 Madoff accounts attached to San Francisco addresses. Some belonged to investment firms and venture capital giant Arthur Rock, but regular folks in San Francisco also lost their shirts.    Take Sherry Maccabee, for example. "I've worked hard, done my job, paid my ta

  February 6, 2009

• Bonfire of the Profanities

  An investigator who exposed dishonest savings and loan regulators in the '80s re-encounters an old rival in the latest banking crisis.

  March 4, 2009

• Free association economy

  September 17, 2008

• Book Events in September

  August 27, 2008

• For Sale - KRON-TV Channel 4, $800 Million, Fixer-Upper

  January 23, 2008

• iPhoney iDol?

  June 27, 2007

• Untouchable

  Half of U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan's lawyers have quit. But as he remains bunkered against criticism, who's minding the shop?

  October 4, 2006

• Cops Who SPY

  September 27, 2006

• Filling the Civic Gap

  Meet Donald Fisher, the private billionaire with unprecedented sway over ordinary San Franciscans' lives

  June 21, 2006

• Political Affairs

  When authors stand up for a cause, the unexpected happens

  January 25, 2006

• Muscle & Fitness for Office

  Did a multimillion-dollar deal with bodybuilding magazines sour you on the Schwarzenegger? Take quiz, find out.

  July 27, 2005

• Darth Vega to the Rescue

  New Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega has been cast as a villain, but he may be just what the Hearst empire needs to defeat the dark forces of the new economy

  May 4, 2005

• The Parmalat Syndrome

  How U.S. financial firms -- including Bank of America -- allegedly abetted a multibillion-dollar fraud, and how U.S. regulators are letting them get away with it

  January 12, 2005

• Gutted

  How the nursing home industry, organized labor, John Burton, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are cooperating to guarantee giant health care corporations huge profits -- using billions of your dollars

  August 25, 2004

• Looking Inside INdTV

  Al Gore and ex-Stanford prof Joel Hyatt say their S.F.-based cable news channel for twentysomethings won't be ideological. But do the Democratic moneymen behind the venture know that?

  July 28, 2004

• Puppy Love

  May 26, 2004

• Rolling in War Bucks

  How the state public employees' retirement system and the politically connected Carlyle Group profit from defense

  October 22, 2003

• Son of Super Swindler

  The unsettling link between a group of firms that sell financial planning services to elderly Californians and one of the most notorious con men in U.S. history

  September 10, 2003

• Business as Usual

  August 21, 2002

• Sleeping With the Auditor

  Why San Francisco and its outside accountants are a little too close for comfort -- and how it could threaten the city's financial integrity

  June 26, 2002

• The Ghost of Scandals Past

  Previous "creative financing" debacles should haunt city officials who've approved a risky $1 billion lease of Muni streetcars

  April 17, 2002

• Tail of Two Races

  Matt Gonzalez should be backed in District 5 runoff; George W. Bush should be ashamed for considering a coup

  December 6, 2000

• Coulda Been a Contender

  Scrounging for cash in the strangest places, the creators of the karate-themed Adventures With Kanga Roddy children's TV series infuriate investors

  May 31, 2000

• Bitter Medicine

  May 10, 2000

• From Schlubs to Sharks

  February 16, 2000

• Letters

  June 9, 1999

• Salon.con

  The fanciful stylings of an Internet stock offering

  May 5, 1999

• Eat This Logo, Sucker

  March 24, 1999

• Dog Bites

  May 27, 1998

• What's the Harman a Big Checchi Account?

  Conflict of interest and the Democrats' wealthy wannabe governors

  March 25, 1998

• The Great Bank Thievery

  The city and state say the Bank of America stole hundreds of millions -- even billions -- of dollars from the government. But didn't San Francisco finance officials know what was going on? And shouldn't B of A executives be under criminal investigation?

  December 31, 1997

• Giving Away the Hospital

  University of California regents are set to vote next week on finalizing a merger of the UCSF Medical Center with Stanford University's health service. Supporters claim the merger -- a transfer of $380 million in public assets to the private sector -- is

  September 10, 1997

• Falling for the Gap

  May 28, 1997

• Under His Skin

  Dermatologist Michael Franzblau goes national with claims that a Marin newspaper ran an anti-Semitic column about him

  April 30, 1997

• Letters

  July 17, 1996

• System Crashing

  Buying Wired magazine may align you with the digerati, but buying its stock might sink you into poverty

  July 10, 1996

• Surprise, Surprise, Surprise: Holes Emerging in Woman's Zodiac Killer Claim

  Questions arise...The carnival-like Wednesday press conference in which Deborah Perez claimed her father was the Zodiac Killer -- alongside her lawyer Kevin McLean (disbarred this month), other lawyer William DeGarmo (who paid out $54,332 in a Securities and Exchange Commission settlement regarding insider trading) and a handwriting expert who also stands to gain as a producer of her pending documentary -- certainly brings to mind the phrase "guilt by association." And never mind the fact that

  April 30, 2009

• All that Glitters: Foster City Woman Slapped with SEC Suit Over Alleged Gold Mine Stock Scam

  Don't buy itAll you underpaid and unemployed folks trying to get by in today's bad economy can file this one away in the "Why Didn't I Think of That?" category. Don't worry -- most of us wouldn't believe we could successfully sell loads of fake stock in a non-existent Filipino gold-mining corporation. But according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials, Foster City resident Elvira Gamboa, 57, did just that -- and made off with a nice pot of cash.Until now.On Friday, the SEC filed

  June 15, 2009

• Apparent Ponzi Scheme Advertised in Sunday Chronicle, Fraud Investigator Says

  Banking experts qualify the service being hawked in this San Francisco Chronicle ad as a potential Ponzi schemeReaders skimming the ads on page D-2 of the Sunday, July 12 San Francisco Chronicle might have been surprised to see an extraordinary investment opportunity in a quarter-page advertisement running a couple columns below Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoon. "You can now earn: 1 year -- 11.00 percent," the advertisement announces, urging readers to go to a Web site describing "investment notes"

  July 17, 2009

• Advanta Corp.'s dubious investment offer in the Chronicle

  July 29, 2009

• Law Catching up to 'Son of Super Swindler' Just as Infamous Dad Gets Out of Prison

  ​Paul Noe II, the apparent mastermind of a scheme the California Attorney General says was designed to bilk thousands of defaulted homeowners out of their remaining savings, appears even closer to having to suffer for his deeds. "He's such an ass. I would love to see these people jailed, because they are so bad,"  said Palm Springs attorney Marla Tauscher, who in May filed suit against Noe and his business partner Mitchell Roth accusing them of fraud and deceit in connection with their fo

  August 7, 2009

• Stimulus Wreckage

  September 30, 2009

• No Justice

  October 28, 2009

• Department of Can't Say We Didn't Warn Ya: Dicey Investment Offer Advertised in Chronicle Goes Bad

  ​On Friday, July 17 The Snitch warned readers that an advertisement published in the previous Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle seemed intended to lure mom-and-pop investors into possible financial disaster.News headlines Monday suggest our warning was valid. Advanta Corp., a bank holding company specializing in small business credit cards announced today it was filing for bankruptcy, throwing into question whether the company would pay in-full investment notes advertised in the Chronicle's bus

  November 9, 2009

• S.F. Green Business Program rewards polluter

  November 18, 2009