Grayson wins $852,000 in stock case

[Baitball Blogger]

Well, we now know he's effective when he's personally invested.

Article snips below:

Former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has won $852,000 in a federal securities case he claimed involved a "Ponzi scheme" that defrauded him and other investors of up to $1 billion.

The award was far smaller than the $30 million Grayson sought. He contended he lost at least that much money, including capital gains, in deals made in 2002 and 2003 with a company called Derivium Capital LLC, and involving Wachovia Securities LLC.

"We are pleased that some measure of justice has finally been achieved for our family, and that hope has been restored for all of the Derivium victims. This was a terrible event in the lives of the hundreds of unfortunate people who lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the Derivium scheme," Grayson said in an announcement released by his lawyers at Morgan and Morgan's The Business Trial Group.

A Democrat, Grayson was elected to Congress from Orlando in 2008, but lost a re-election bid in 2010. He's campaigning for Congress again, this time in another district that stretches from southeast Orange County through Osceola County.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-23/business/os-grayson-wachovia-award-20120423_1_alan-grayson-stock-case-offer-stock

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Oh, and it doesn't go unnoticed that he has ties to

Morgan and Morgan.

[HangOnKids]

4. Do You Have An Issue With Grayson?

I guess I m not sure where you are going with this.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. I have an issue with a huge law firm that

takes in a lawyer into their firm because of their political clout. Especially when "The People" might have been wronged by some of their decisions. (I'm not referring to Grayson.)

You do know that half of the Morgan and Morgan (partners) sides with Republicans, don't you?

I just don't know how Grayson is going to work through this gauntlet without making some kind of compromises. He may be just the perfect candidate for people outside of Florida, but Floridians need a champion who is ready to take on the good ole boys.

[Bake]

11. Every large law firm brings in partners because of political clout.

M&M is no exception. Further, any large law firm is likely to include people on both sides of the political aisle.

Bake

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Yeah, well. That's the problem.

If you're trying to straighten a mess helped along by someone who is shrewd enough to hide in the roster of one of the largest law firms in Central Florida, or one of the largest, well, that presents challenges.

[trumad]

12. Uh which half?

John Morgan is a huge Democrat.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. Trumad! Wake up out of your suburban sleepwalk!

Check out his wife's political affiliations. It's no secret. Next, check the GOP supporters which that law firm harbors.

Is this the same Trumad who was ready to tombstone any new DUer who quacked like a duck?

If we're going to clean up Central Florida, we need to cut through the networks that harbor each other's political friend buddies, whatever.

[trumad]

16. Quack

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Trumad, Trumad.

You can't possibly be that naive. I'm sure that on a federal level they will come through for Democrats. The question is, are they willing to shake up the networks in Central Florida that reinforce the double standards that make life impossible for many of us.

My position is, they can't possibly be effective when their law firm harbors rainmakers for the other party.

[trumad]

20. LOL---keep up the good fight...

BTW: Oviedo here...

[Baitball Blogger]

21. You bet.

[Bake]

18. OMG! It "harbors" GOP supporters!

That's not a crime. Pick any law firm with more than one or two lawyers, and there's at least one GOPer in the ranks. It doesn't make them lousy lawyers and it doesn't make them criminals.

I've worked with some damn good lawyers who happened to be GOPers. We just didn't talk politics.

Bake

[Baitball Blogger]

19. I don't work alongside of them.

I just live in the world that they helped fuck up.

[Enrique]

2. he had 30 million invested it it?

it boggles the mind.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. The comments in the reader's forum

were hard to argue against.

But that was the price we all paid for deregulating Wall Street. Or whatever it was we did between 1998 and 2010.

The point is, someone put up a fight.

[Jim Lane]

10. I have no problem with letting rich people be liberals, or letting liberals get rich.

As rhett o rick points out below, Grayson didn't invest $30 million, but even if he had, so what?

Before running for Congress, Grayson was a successful lawyer. Here's how Wikipedia describes one aspect of his practice:

In the 2000s, he worked as a plaintiffs' attorney specializing in whistleblower fraud cases aimed at Iraq war contractors. One contractor, Custer Battles, employed individuals who were found guilty of making fraudulent statements and submitting fraudulent invoices on two contracts the company had with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.[11][12] On behalf of his clients, Grayson filed suit under the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions.[11] The jury verdict was more than $13 million, which was upheld on appeal in April 2009. The case remains the only successful prosecution of those who profited illegally from the war in Iraq.

I don't know what his share of the $13 million was but it was probably significant.

Apparently, though, more of his money came from his work as a businessman. Wikipedia again:

Grayson made his fortune as the first president of IDT Corporation (International Discount Telecom), which pioneered competition and discount pricing in the long-distance telecommunications industry and became a $2-billion-a-year Fortune 1000 company.[9][15]

You can read the full bio here.

His personal financial success certainly made it easier for him to run for Congress, so more power to him.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. We all get screwed. We all make mistakes.

Last edited Tue Apr 24, 2012, 02:43 PM - Edit history (1)

What makes us different is the resources we have at our disposal to overcome the misfortunes. What's important is to find a way around the patterns. Because, eventually, people figure out who are the easy ones to take advantage of, and which ones will fight back.

[frazzled]

3. What can one say?

What Derivium Capital offered, according to reports, was an investment strategy that allowed people to offer stock as collateral on loans, receiving up to 90 percent of the value of the stock, with the option to reclaim the stock later.

Totally out of my league, or really out of my comprehension. And I daresay it's probably out of the league of most of his would-be constituents.

Investing $30 million dollars. Well, my my.

[rhett o rick]

5. It doesnt say he had $30 million invested. nm

[grasswire]

6. Alan Grayson is a DU member. n/t

[Baitball Blogger]

9. I liked his last post.