Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi prince whose fortune is an estimated $19 billion, has invested $300 million—or 1.5% of his wealth—in the social networking service Twitter. He made the investment through his Kingdom Holding Company and Bloomberg News reports that Kingdom called it a "strategic stake": "A strategic holding means more than 3 percent, Ahmed Halawani, a Kingdom Holding director, said in an interview. That would give the San Francisco-based company a valuation exceeding $10 billion." more ›

Recession or no recession, there's always something worth investing in, and if you're not the rare coinage type, perhaps you'd like to sink your cash into something a little more...alcoholic? Whisky is apparently the investment of the moment, so put down that $117G wine bottle and grab some Johnnie Walker instead. more ›

Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs invested $450 million in Facebook, helping give the social media company a $50 billion valuation. Clients reportedly went "gaga" over having an inside track to sign some money into the growing business, but now it turns out that the investment firm isn't offering its American clients any of the $1.5 billion private offering. Why? The pesky government! The Wall Street Journal reports, "Goldman said the move came after officials at the New York securities firm 'concluded the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a U.S. private placement under U.S. law.'" more ›

All right, stop, collaborate and listen: Vanilla Ice told the NY Times about real estate buying spree when he was "young and dumb" (and cash-flush), "I bought houses in L.A., in Laurel Canyon right next door to Michael J. Fox; on Star Island, next door to Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith; in Utah; and on Bleecker Street in New York City. Three years went by. I never used any of them, and I thought it was the worst investment of my life. So I said, 'Let’s sell everything, and I’ll have one primary house here in Miami.' When I sold them, I made, on each one of them, $300,000 to $400,000. I stopped in my tracks and said, 'It can’t be that easy.' But it was." [Via Curbed] more ›

Powerhouse Democratic fundraiser Hassan Nemazee was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his $292 million Ponzi scheme. Nemazee, who was Hillary Clinton's national finance chairman for her 2008 presidential campaign, John Kerry's NY finance chairman for his 2004 presidential campaign, and raised $500,000 for Barack Obama in 2008, said in court, "I'm guilty of these crimes. I'm also guilty of hypocrisy. I have spent countless hours trying to understand why and how I came to cross the line: pride, ego, arrogance, self image, self-importance. All were among the reasons I traveled down this destructive path." more ›

Yesterday, the federal authorities raided an alleged Garment District boiler room operation and arrested a suspected member of the Bonnano crime family and six others. According to the Wall Street Journal, Anthony Guarino, an alleged Bonanno foot soldier, "was accused of masterminding an alleged 10-year investment scam that hoodwinked mostly elderly investors out of more than $12 million." And another man arrested was "formerly employed by the Securities and Exchange Commission." more ›

The tale of accountant-turned-alleged Ponzi scammer Kenneth Starr has plenty grist for the mill, thanks to his celebrity clients like Uma Thurman, Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese and his stripper-turned-pole dancing philanthropist third wife Diane Passage. An "insider" tells the Daily News, "The story of Ken Starr is simple. He was one of the world's greatest salesmen whose entire life was turned upside down by his infatuation for a stripper." more ›

Actor John Malkovich is Malkovich Malkovich MALKOVICH over his investment with Ponzi king Bernard Madoff. His lawyers are trying to get his entire $2.2 million investment back—because the trustee dissolving Madoff's assets will only give him $670,000—and filed a petition in federal bankruptcy court. more ›

Friends and clients of real estate investor Adam Hochfelder thought they were buying shares in Lake George's Sagamore Resort and another property in Telluride, Colorado, but instead the money was going up Hochfelder's nose, among other places. The onetime-mogul—who underwent nasal reconstructive surgery because of his coke problem—says substance abuse led him to take over $2.5 million from investors and spend it on debts, private school for his kids, private jets, lawyer fees and expensive trips. He was arrested yesterday, and previously, in 2008, Hochfelder was charged with taking banks, family and friends for $17 million. “The facts of this case speak volumes about the defendant’s character,” the prosecutor said. “He did it with an outstanding level of arrogance and entitlement.” more ›

Today wasn't a good day on Wall Street. Concerns about the domestic job market and debts facing foreign countries lead to drops of 2.61 percent on the Dow Jones, 2.99 percent on the NASDAQ, and 3.11 percent on the Standard & Poor's 500, "feeding anxiety about the health of the global recovery," the Times reports. The cost of insuring debt in Greece, Portugal and Spain surged on Thursday because growing deficits "could put them at risk for default." According to Uri Landesman, head of global growth at ING, investors must ask: "How big is this fire going to be? What is panic, and what is legitimate, we don't know at this point. These things tend to turn on a dime." Not helping the situation was the release of a "bleaker-than-expected" report on the US labor market. more ›

A Queens judge threw out a patient's lawsuit against his doctor for purportedly giving him bad investment advice. John Otto, a former patient of renowned erectile dysfunction expert Dr. Arnold Melman, claimed that the physician abused his power by repeatedly suggesting that Otto put money into his drug development company. Throughout years of treatment of a "highly special nature," Melman allegedly recommended that Otto buy $1 million of shares in Ion Channel Innovations — an investment that Otto claims hasn't paid off, the Daily News reports. According to court documents, the doctor's lawyer says it's too early to expect results. "Dr. Melman is also an investor in Ion Channel, and he, too, has yet to receive a return on his investment," the attorney said. "That is the nature of investing in a startup biotech company." more ›

Irving Picard, the trustee who is liquidating whatever can be found of Ponzi king Bernard Madoff's fortune for in order to repay his thousands of victims, says that he's going to sue Madoff's two sons, Mark and Andrew, as well as his brother Peter and niece Shana, noting that they made $150 million over the years. All four were employed at Madoff's firm and Picard said he'll sue them for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, "Whether or not they have a criminal problem we will pursue them as far as we can pursue them and if that leads to bankrupting them, then that's what will happen." more ›

Hey, you've lost your life savings of $120,000 to $150,000 with an investor who was apparently running a $40 million scam out of a Bay Ridge storefront—what do you tell the Daily News? If you're Barbara Grebin, you say, "I don't hate him; I wouldn't want to waste my time hating anybody," but you make sure to add, "But I would like to throw him down the sewer." Philip Barry is accused of running a Ponzi scheme with dozens of victims—even NY State Conservative Party boss Michael Long lost $15,000, yet Long said, "I don't think he's a crook. I think he really felt that he was investing wisely and making money for people." Hence Barry's comment to the Daily News, "It's all in real estate. I'm going to keep on working to make sure everyone gets the profit they are entitled to." (Maybe his modest behavior had people hooked, too: "Investors said he was even too cheap to buy a sandwich for lunch... he brought in packets of cheese and bread to make his own.") While the authorities haven't charged him with a crime—though documents show he was promising clients returns of 12-36%—a judge ordered that he pay "hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages" to clients. more ›

A group of NHL players is suing developer Ken Jowdy for taking the $25 million they invested in golf courses because they accuse him of "blowing it on parties packed with porn stars, hookers and his preferred baseball buddies, including ex-Yankees Roger Clemens and Reggie Jackson." The Post reports that one lawsuit's claims include: "Put a Clemens gal pal named Adrian Moore, described as a 'regular party attendee who was close to Clemens,' on his payroll 'as a personal favor' to the former Yankee Cy Young winner" and "Hired Brian MacNamee - the onetime Clemens trainer who told Congress he supplied the ballplayer with steroids - as a fitness trainer." The plaintiffs are seeking the $25 million back plus $15 million in damages, but Jowdy told the News, "There's not one statement of fact in the [lawsuit]...All I have to do is tell the truth. I have nothing to hide." Jowdy says he'll sue for libel. more ›

Police sources say that William Parente apparently was in financial trouble when he killed his wife and two daughters (before killing himself) in a Maryland hotel room. Papers found in the hotel room indicted that investors wanted their money back from the lawyer's investment scheme. A friend told Newsday that "he took calls from the worried investors, who had given Parente as much as $6 million and as little as $50,000" and the Post suggests Parente may have handled $20 million of investor money. more ›

At first, we thought this Bloomberg News lede was from The Onion: "The New York Lottery is proposing a gamble where the odds aren’t always in its favor -- moving its $1.3 billion prize fund into investments such as stocks, corporate bonds, real estate and hedge funds and out of the safety of U.S. Treasuries." But it turns out lottery officials are really considering the risky move in order to increase revenue, as the state faces a huge budget deficit. Lottery director Gordon Mendencia tells Bloomberg News, “We’re not going to be wild and crazy with investments" and is looking for “solid investments, like a pension fund or endowment" that will perform well, versus the Treasury bonds that have been yielding very little. If the NY Lottery did switch to higher-performing investments, it might be able to reduce the lump sum payments given to winners and free up money for state education funding. One lottery enthusiast is okay with that: "If I win $30 million, it won’t break my heart if the cash prize is $18 million instead of 20.” more ›

Bernard Madoff, who says his investment business was actually a Ponzi scheme estimated at $50 billion, is scheduled to appear in court today for a bail hearing. Bloomberg News reports, "The government may ask that Madoff’s bail conditions be modified, including that bail be withdrawn and the former executive imprisoned." Madoff is currently on $10 million bond and is under house arrest at his East 64th Street penthouse apartment. more ›

It's time for billion-dollar Ponzi schemester Bernard Madoff to come clean... or at least as clean as he can: According to the NY Times, a judge has "established Wednesday as the deadline for Mr. Madoff to provide federal securities regulators with a full accounting of his and his New York firm’s assets — from real estate to art works to bank accounts." more ›

A federal judge ruled that Bernard Madoff, who admitted to running a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme with investor money, must disclose all his assets to regulators. Bloomberg News reports that he "must provide a detailed list of all investments, loans, lines of credit, business interests, brokerage accounts and other holdings" to the SEC by New Year's Eve, as investors hover to recoup some of their money. more ›

being threatened. According to the Daily News, a source "who knows several of Madoff's affluent victims" said, "Bernie has been told that if he doesn't cough up every dime he has hidden in offshore accounts, someone in his family will be killed." Another source adds "at least one of the threats was aimed solely at Madoff, and that the matter was referred to the FBI." more ›

The NY Post caught Bernard Madoff, who admitted his business was actually Ponzi scheme and probably lost around $50 billion of investors' money, "skulking" out of his East 64th Street apartment building and calls him "the Grinch who stole...everything"—as well as the "Most Hated Man in NYC." The Daily News runs down some developments, like how the FBI is looking for witnesses (like "the auditors working from a New City, Rockland County, storefront who certified Madoff's investment firm as 'solvent'") and the NY Times says that, so far, Madoff's family does not appear to be involved in the scam. more ›

Securities and Exchange Commission inspectors have been working overtime to go through the records of Bernard Madoff and his investment firm. Bloomberg News reports that investigators "found evidence he ran an unregistered money-management business alongside his firm’s brokerage and investment-advisory subsidiaries." Also, "Investigators are still trying to figure out where customers’ money went," as Madoff's estimate of $50 billion in losses may be "roughly accurate." more ›

The Securities and Exchange Commission's associate director of enforcement Andrew Calamari (Calamari!) said, "Our complaint alleges a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions." The criminal complaint suggests that Madoff "deceived investors by operating a securities business in which he traded and lost investor money, and then paid certain investors purported returns on investment with the principal received from other, different investors, which resulted in losses of approximately billions of dollars." Yup, that sounds like a Ponzi scheme! The complaint also says, per employees, Madoff ran the "investment business" on a separate floor and was "cryptic" about it. The NY Times says this might be the largest fraud in Wall Street history. more ›

The artificial turf being used to replace natural grass in NYC parks has been pointed out as a source of unhealthful emissions, but it's also just plain hot. The Daily News dispatched reporters with thermometers to five City parks with artificial grass and found that urban athletes had more to fear than ill-fitting footwear when it comes to blistered feet.

Over two mildly warm days last month, The News took surface temperature readings at five synthetic fields across the city accompanied by NYC Park Advocates, a group that has been critical of the fake grass. more ›