NATIONAL
January 26, 2012 | By Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger, Washington Bureau
Some investments listed in Mitt and Ann Romney's 2010 tax returns — including a now-closed Swiss bank account and other funds located overseas — were not explicitly disclosed in the personal financial statement the Republican presidential hopeful filed in August as part of his White House bid. The Romney campaign described the discrepancies as "trivial" but acknowledged Thursday that it was reviewing how the investments were reported and would...
BUSINESS
December 30, 2011 | By Ken Bensinger, Los Angeles Times
Car dealers have found a new way to profit from people with money trouble: leasing them hand-me-down vehicles. The deals are pitched to customers as the cheapest way to drive a used car off the lot, with the added benefit of an easy escape for those who can't keep up with the payments. Few customers are told about the advantages on the other side of the trade. Leases can allow dealerships to sidestep interest rate caps, and there are fewer financial disclosures rules than with a conventional car loan.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 8, 2011 | By Paul Pringle and Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
By the time the NFL's Carolina Panthers took the field for the 2009 season, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had been out of the pro football business for more than a decade. But that didn't stop a member of the Coliseum's governing commission, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, from using his position at the agency to score $560 worth of Panthers tickets ? on the public's dime. Neither Ridley-Thomas nor the commission reported the gift of the tickets in financial disclosures required by state law, and their value exceeded the legal limit on gratuities for government officials.
OPINION
October 17, 2011 | By Larry Harris
Last week, hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced to a record 11 years in prison for insider trading: making a killing by buying and selling stocks using information that most of us didn't and couldn't know. The media emphasized the "symbolic significance" of the long sentence. But as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice celebrated, others asked: "Why do we even have these rules? How do you draw the line between smart research and illegal information?
NEWS
July 25, 2011 | By Kim Geiger, Washington Bureau
Newt Gingrich had a net worth of at least $6.7 million and income of at least $2.6 million in 2010, according to financial disclosure forms that were released Monday. That's a considerable jump from 2006, when financial disclosures filed by Callista Gingrich reported the couple's net worth at between $873,000 and $2.4 million. The former House speaker's assets were valued between $7.3 million and $30.7 million in 2010, the majority...
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 22, 2011 | By Joel Rubin and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles police officials have launched a formal investigation into concerns that officers in one of the city's most gang-plagued areas are intimidating other cops from signing a controversial financial disclosure form that is required to join the department's anti-gang units. So far, five officers have been removed from their field assignments at the LAPD's 77th Street Division and will be transferred out of the area for their roles in two recent incidents. The inquiry at the 77th Street Division comes six months after department leaders suspended anti-gang operations there and at a handful of other stations in order to rebuild units vacated entirely by officers who refused to comply with the disclosure rule.