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Dan Christensen
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Florida Bulldog
P.O. Box 23763
Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33307

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sec_us-securities-and-exchange-commissionBy Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org

The $100 million-plus scam behind the collapse of Fort Lauderdale’s Certified Services is a classic South Florida courtroom tale of greed and woe.

Hundreds of investors who bought Certified’s publicly traded stock were wiped out as insiders looted the company, buying luxury cars and diamonds. Insurance companies who did business with Certified got stiffed for tens of millions of dollars in claims. And injured low- and middle-income employees across the country who counted on Certified to provide worker’s compensation insurance learned too late that their coverage was actually a mirage.

“There are victims everywhere,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Christopher Martin said in an interview.

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Charlie Crist

Charlie Crist

Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio

UPDATED: 11:40 a.m.

By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org

In a stunning onslaught of political spending, conservative political action committees tied to Republican strategist Karl Rove have paid out more than $2 million in the past three weeks to boost Republican-Tea Party U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio.

Federal election records show that money was spent between Sept. 28 and Oct. 16 on a television and direct mail ad blitz supporting Rubio and opposing his closest challenger, independent Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Election Day is Nov. 2.

“The money coming from these outside interest groups is unprecedented overall, and especially in the Senate races like that of Florida,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.

Election records show that the Rove-backed “superPAC” American Crossroads recently has begun wading into key House races.

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By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org

G. Steven Fender

G. Steven Fender

John K. Olson

John K. Olson

South Florida’s chief federal judge will hold a hearing this month to decide whether a Fort Lauderdale bankruptcy judge should be kicked off a case. It has been alleged the proceedings are tainted because one side’s law firm hired the judge’s fiancé in the middle of the litigation.

Federal rules require judges to disqualify themselves in any case where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned.

But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John K. Olson refused to step aside this summer when he was challenged for not disclosing that his fiancé had gone to work a year ago as a bankruptcy lawyer for Fort Lauderdale-based Ruden McClosky.

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Melanie May

Melanie May

Robert Butterworth
Robert Butterworth

By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org

The federal insider trading trial of top Republican fundraiser Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah wrapped up Friday without hearing testimony from two big-name defense character witnesses. A judge’s verdict is expected in a few weeks.

Zachariah, the director of the Fort Lauderdale Heart Institute at Holy Cross Hospital, is accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of using nonpublic information to make nearly $1 million in illegal profits in 2005 trading the stock of two Florida companies.

On the witness stand last month, Zachariah denied the SEC’s accusation that he used inside connections to make a killing in the stock of two Florida corporations whose shares rose during takeovers.

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Broward Water and Wastewater Services web site banner

Broward Water and Wastewater Services web site banner

By Dan Christensen, Broward Bulldog
 
Four Broward water and sewer employees – including three managers – have been suspended without pay after an internal investigation of sexual harassment allegations found widespread workplace misconduct.

The division’s assistant director was reprimanded, and a mechanic was fired for refusing a reassignment prompted by his role in the matter, according to Water and Wastewater Services director Alan Garcia.

“The work environment at WWS is permeated with managers, supervisors and their subordinates engaging in inappropriate behavior and language of a sexual nature,” says a nine-page report by the county’s professional standards office. It also said supervisory staff has not reported harassment complaints up the chain of command as required by county policy.

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Referrer: https://floridabulldog.org/2010/10/