David Stockman, the former budget director in the Reagan White House, was charged Monday with overseeing a sweeping fraud at a troubled auto parts supplier that he led before the company sought bankruptcy protection.
The 60-year-old Stockman, 60, was one of four former top Collins & Aikman Corp. executives named in the federal indictment that was unsealed Monday. Four other former company employees, including a one-time treasurer, have already pleaded guilty in the case, prosecutors said.
At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said Stockman and his co-defendants "resorted to lies, tricks and fraud" from 2001 to 2005 to hide the truth about his failing company from investors and creditors. The company was forced to enter bankruptcy in May 2005.
Stockman, who was freed on $1 million bail, said: "I have done absolutely nothing wrong, except to help save this company from a very dire circumstance," he told reporters.
NEW YORK
Reports suggest Citigroup will cut jobs
Citigroup expects to have completed its corporate cost review by mid-April, company officials said Monday, as published reports suggested the nation's largest bank was considering cutting about 15,000 jobs.
The Wall Street Journal said the job cuts -- which would amount to about 5 percent of Citigroup's worldwide work force -- were part of the New York-based bank's restructuring plan, which was disclosed late last year and is aimed at improving the bank's financial performance.
The bank holding company declined to comment on the impact the potential job layoffs would have on Citibank employees in Nevada. The bank employs 1,700 workers at its Las Vegas customer service call center and another 400 at its 22 retail bank branches around Nevada.
A spokeswoman said the company will announce its decisions resulting from the expense study with earnings reports on April 16.
NEW YORK
Northwest can seek backing for plan
Northwest Airlines can begin seeking creditor approval of a plan to exit bankruptcy that values the company at an estimated $7 billion, a judge ruled Monday.
The decision puts the airline in the last stages of bankruptcy before it can emerge from court protection.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper said that once Northwest revises its disclosure statement to incorporate agreements reached Monday, the statement could be released to creditors along with a restructuring plan.
Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines Corp. wants to cancel all existing shares in the company and issue 272 million new ones, with a stock offering to sell 27.78 million shares at $27 a piece.
Northwest shares, which trade on the Pink Sheets, fell 12 cents, or 11.54 percent, Monday to close at 92 cents.
CINCINNATI
Comair union workers will split $68 million
Comair's union employees will split about $68 million when the Delta Air Lines subsidiary and its parent emerge from bankruptcy.
Comair and Atlanta-based Delta are expected to emerge from Chapter 11 protection in May.
The unions representing Comair's pilots, flight attendants and mechanics had filed claims with the creditors' committee in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to recover some of what union members would lose through contract concessions made to Comair. The airline said it needed the concessions in order to emerge from bankruptcy and spent much of the past year and a half negotiating agreements for those concessions from all three unions.
Flight attendants will share $5.5 million, mechanics will share $750,000 and Comair's pilots will divide about $61.8 million after the airline emerges from bankruptcy.
REDMOND, Wash.
Microsoft says Vista sells fast in February
Microsoft Corp. said Monday it sold 20 million consumer copies of the new Windows Vista operating system worldwide in February, but analysts said the data shed little light on the program's popularity during its first month on the market.
By comparison, Windows XP, Vista's predecessor, sold 17 million copies in the two months following its 2001 launch, Microsoft said.
But given that the personal computer market has nearly doubled since XP launched, Vista sales "probably should be more," said Michael Silver, vice president of research at Gartner, a technology research group.
Microsoft shares rose 20 cents, or 0.71 percent, Monday to close at $28.22 on the Nasdaq National Market.
Hold on a few minutes for a healthier pie
Hungry as pizza eaters often are, they might be wise to wait a few minutes longer for a healthier whole-wheat crust, according to a study.
Cooking whole-wheat crust longer and at hotter temperatures increases levels of antioxidant molecules that protect human cells from damage, said the researchers, including Jeffrey Moore, a nutrition student who doesn't mind a slice of pizza himself occasionally as he works on his doctoral thesis.
Antioxidants scrub tissues clean of harmful, reactive chemicals that can break down cell walls and damage DNA, said Liangli Lucy Yu, an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Maryland in College Park, who oversaw the study. The scientists say the molecules speed up aging and may contribute to heart disease and other ailments.
WASHINGTON
Interest rates decline in T-bill auction
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction with three-month bills dropping to the lowest level since late December.
The Treasury Department auctioned $19 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.925 percent, down from 4.93 percent last week. An additional $15 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.875 percent, down from 4.91 percent last week.
NEW YORK
Bonds swing up but then bounce back
A poor report on new-home sales in February briefly boosted U.S. Treasury bond prices Monday, but prices sank back by the end of the day to end almost unchanged.
At 5 p.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was up 94 cents per $1,000 in face value, or 0.09 points, from its level at 5 p.m. Friday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 4.61 percent from 4.62 percent.
The 30-year bond rose 0.03 points. Its yield was unchanged at 4.80 percent.
The 2-year note rose 0.03 points. Its yield fell to 4.59 percent from 4.61 percent.
