Robert Vesco - Luigi's Liquor, The Wild Parties on Old Denville Road and Fidel Castro

Connecting Success Factors to Bennett

The Dubious Phone Call and Time Wasting Project

The folks at TPG will have to answer to my Whistleblower Complaints on the truly odd collection of RFPs emanating from companies connected to Richard Blum, William McGlashan, CBRE, Regency Centers, Trammel Crow, Lennar, Catellus.

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My story is about witness murders, private equity, mergers and acquisitions linked back to the Matter of Bennett v. Southern Pacific lost in 1989.  It was a winnable case as long the witnesses testified.  

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Ex‐Vesco Aide Indicted on Fraud

My Vesco connection is Mountain Lakes NJ to Denville NJ on Old Denville Road 

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23—Thomas P. Richardson. an associate of the fugitive financier Robert Vesco, and four other men were indicted by a Federal grand jury today for allegedly conducting a massive stock short‐selling plan in which some of the nation's most prestigious universities, several brokerage houses, and other investors lost more than $14million.

Short‐selling is the practice in which a person sells stock he does not own in the expectation that the price will go down in the future, enabling the seller to profit by later buying the same stock at a lower price before returning it to the owner of the original stock, In a bear market, short sellers can theoretically make a profit. but, government attorneys charge, the defendants in this case ran into a bull market.

In a 94‐page, 46‐count indictment, the now defunct T. P. Richardson and Company was accused of a systematic shortselling scheme involving stock that at times exceeded $25‐million in value. The company was a so‐called third‐market broker—one that matches buyers and sellers, predominantly institutions, of large blocks of stock without using the machinery of a stock exchange.

According to Stephen V. Wilson, an Assistnnt United States Attorney who presented the indictment, the victims in the alleged fraud included Harvard University, which lost $532,500; Cornell University, $374,450; Carnegie ‐ Mellon University, $347,800; Yale University, $245.775. and Columbia University, $48,150 New York's Bowery Savings Rank lost $881.075, flip Govornment charged.

Additionally, the indictment charged that a number of brokerage firms including Edwards & Manly, and L. F. Rothschild, both of New York, and the North American Equity Corporation, Los Angeles, subsidiary of the Equity Funding Corporation, lost a total of more than $3‐million.Mr. Wilson estimated that the universities lost a total of about $11‐million in the scheme, because they were unable to obtain stock from the Richardson company and thus were unable to trade it at time of peak values early this year.

According to knowledgeable sources, the company, founded in 1908, was profitable until mid‐1974, when generally poor stock market conditions affected it along with other securities companies, and then publicity regarding Mr. Richardson's as. sociation with Mr. Vesco became known and scared off some of the firm's institutional clients.

Mr. Richardson was identified during Senate hearings last summer as the owner of private jet aircraft that carried weapons and prostitutes to Mr. Vesco, who fled to Costa Rica to evade prosecution for stock manipulation and other charges.

Eugene Bell, temporary receiver from T. P. Richardson & Company, Inc., had charged that according to his investigation, Mr. Richardson, who is 36 years old, lived lavishly and charged the costs to the company, adding a further drain on its resources.

Besides the personal jet, Mr. Bell said that company funds had been used to acquire a 44‐foot fishing boat, a 42‐foot pleasure boat, 9180,000 worth of antique furniture for Mr. Richardson's home in the suburb of Bel Air here, and to lease a fleet of 11 luxury cars, including five Rolls Royces, three Cadillacs, a Maserati and a Ferrari.

Mr. Bell alleged that the company began selling on a wide scale in November, 1974, based on the expectation that the nation was on the threshold of a severe economic depres sion and that stock prices would continue to fall.

For a while, the temporary receiver of the company said, the fund profited from its short‐selling transactions. But, he continued, in January, 1975, an upturn in the stock market quickly wiped out the paper profits and losses began to mount. Then the company allegedly began a series of manipulations and issuance of fraudulent checks in an effort to meet its obligations.

In addition to Mr. Richardson, who lives in Los Angeles, also named in the indictment were Thomas C. Thomas Jr., 41, treasurer, of Los Angeles, Kevin Kelley, 37, of West Newton, Mass., a vice president in charge of the Boston office and a trader specializing in institutions in that area; John E. Kelley, 37, of Newport Beach, Calif., also a vice president and trader. Joseph C. Werba, 39, of Waldwick, N.J., formerly president of the Wells Fargo Security Clearance Corporation, a subsidiary of San Francisco's Wells Fargo Bank, who allegedly participated in the scheme, was also indicted. The defendants were charged with conspiracy, fraud, mail fraud and for allegedly violating several provisions of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

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OBIT: Matthew Miller Ratliff '80 - Pete's best friend commits suicide -- no warning?

The Playtex Connected Suicide

Pete Bennett's relocated to Mountain Lakes NJ. Back in 1968 the Vietnam war was developing into a national issue. My next door neighbor Matt Ratliff became my best friend along with his family we all got along.

Then the goodfellows at the AFL-CIO a division Contra Costa Politics

Matthew M. Ratliff

Matthew Miller Ratliff '80, a longtime resident of Vero Beach, FL, was born on February 14, 1958. The youngest son of Dale Ratliff, a corporation executive vice president, and the former Bettie C. Messer, an antiques dealer, Matt Ratliff grew up in Mountain Lakes, NJ, where he was graduated from Mountain Lakes High School in 1975. He entered Hamilton that year and, interested in radio broadcasting, became a disc jockey for campus radio station WHCL. He also served as a staff photographer for The Spectator and was an ultimate-frisbee enthusiast. His interest in filmmaking led him to take several courses in that field. Having majored in sociology, he was awarded his diploma in 1980.

Matt Ratliff returned to New Jersey but later settled in Vero Beach, where he held a series of property caretaking jobs. He also conducted an antiques and collectibles resale business on the side. He was a dedicated sports fisherman and scuba diver, and an avid beachcomber.

Matthew M. Ratliff, who had returned to New Jersey just last year, died on March 20, 2008, in Montclair. Unmarried, he is survived by two brothers, Mitch and Mark Ratliff, and a sister, Lynn Hove, as well as nieces and nephews.

My best friend, my nephews, Girl Friend and Daughter, my former employee and his wife, a neighbor in Danville CA, my Roommate, My Attorneys Son, City Clerk from San Ramon and local Contra Costa Board of Realtors and the band played.

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The Max Factor Connection

Max Factor & Company, the cosmetics concern, has turned to Revlon, its high‐class competitor, for its new president and chief executive officer. It named Dale Ratliff, one of Revlon's ranking sales executives, to succeed Sam Kalish, who resigned as Max Factor's top executive last July 1.

Mr. Ratliff, 47, executive vice president of sales for the Revlon domestic cosmetics and fragrances division, will assume his new title at the $350 million company on Jan. 1 and will report to Timm Crull, president and chief operating officer at Norton Simon Inc., Max Factor's parent company.

Max Factor has seen its operating profits decline dramatically over the last year. Its cosmetics and fashion division (which includes Halston fashions and the McCall Pattern Company) had pretax profits of $34.1 million for the year ended June 30, 1977. Just 12 months later that figure had slipped to $12.6 million.

A sore spot has been Its domestic cosmetics division, greatly weakened by last year's disastrous introduction of the fragrance “Just Call Me Maxi.” David Mahoney, chairman of Norton Simon, said at the annual meeting this month that the company had withdrawn funds from its basic cosmetics lines to support the “Just Call Me Maxi” introduction and found these regular lines suffered in the process.

“Ratliff is a good choice,” said one industry expert. “He knows sales and he knows the domestic cosmetics market. But he has little marketing background.” (Mr. Ratliff has been a group president at the B.V.D. Company and senior vice president and general manager of the apparel division at International Playtex.)

Just last week a cosmetics marketing executive was named to a senior post at Norton Simon. Robert Kamerschen will resign his position as president of Chanel Inc. to become senior vice president and assistant to Mr. Crull in December. Mr. Ratliff and Mr. Kamerschen worked together at Revlon.

Meanwhile, Sam Kalish, whose resignation was announced last May 30, remains on the Norton Simon payroll as a consultant. His annual salary as president of Max Factor was $190.000.

Then the goodfellows at the AFL-CIO a division Contra Costa Politics

Memorial services will be held Saturday in Mountain Lake, N.J., for Dale Ratliff, president of Max Factor & Company, who died last Saturday in Los Angeles of a heart attack.

Mr. Ratliff, 47 years old, joined Max Factor in January following six years as executive vice president of the domestic cosmetics and fragrances division of Revlon Inc. Previously, he had been group vice president with the BVD Company Inc. and had also served as senior vice president and general manager of the apparel division at International Playtex Inc.

Born in Hinton, W. Va., Mr. Ratliff was a graduate of Duke University. He served in the Marine Corps, attaining the rank of captain.

Mr. Ratliff is survived by his wife, the former Bettie Messer; three sons, Mitchell, Mark and Matthew; a daughter, Lynn, and his mother, Augusta J. Ratliff. The memorial services will be held at P.M. at the Community Church in Mountain Lake.

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