Trade

SHENZHEN, China - Gov. Jerry Brown, visiting the headquarters of an electric car and bus manufacturer here, announced Tuesday that the company would open a factory in Lancaster, the first Chinese-owned vehicle plant on American soil. The firm, Build Your Dreams, or BYD, will put 10 new plug-in buses on the streets of Long Beach beginning next year after assembling them in the Lancaster facility, with hopes of producing dozens more in coming years. "It's very significant," said Brown, speaking in this southern port city on the last full day of his weeklong visit to China.

A couple of months ago, Kobe Bryant and I sat down over coffee in Minneapolis to discuss his future. I mentioned Michael Jordan, who was playing for Washington late in his career, and being there the night Kobe dropped 55 points on the old man. "There's not a chance you'll see me" like that, promised Kobe. So I guess I won't be seeing him play again. Bryant is done. He's so done I could run circles around him now, easily defeating him one-on-one. Now he's a Pau Gasol cheerleader, which has to be amusing to Gasol, given how frustrated he was to never get the ball.

SACRAMENTO - Maybe Gov. Jerry Brown has been in China too long. Because some presumably serious comments by him while riding a bullet train were amusing head-shakers. "People here do stuff," the governor marveled, according to an article by Times reporter Anthony York. "They don't sit around and mope and process and navel-gaze. " Compared to California, Brown continued, "the rest of the world is moving at Mach speed. " Time out, governor. Back to reality. First, China is a nation with deep pockets, not a state that until very recently was hemorrhaging red ink. Second, and more important, it is an authoritarian regime that just shoves people off any land wanted for building a rail line, a toxic dump or a massive water project.

Federal prosecutors say phone and brokerage records show that former KPMG senior auditor Scott London and golfing buddy Bryan Shaw spoke by telephone several times in advance of significant news in companies that were clients of KPMG. After the news broke, Shaw made trades that generated $1.245 million in profits. Here are some examples: Herbalife Ltd. Shaw purchases Herbalife shares and call options (a bet that the stock will rise) after a number of telephone calls with London from March to April 2011.

NEW YORK - Auditor Scott London isn't the only one dealing with a dented reputation. His former employer, KPMG, is scrambling to do damage control after an insider-trading scandal swept through its Los Angeles office. It has put many of the Big Four accounting firm's clients on edge, wondering if there's more to come as the federal government continues its investigation. The Department of Justice said London leaked inside information on five public companies, including Herbalife Ltd. and Skechers USA Inc., to a golfing buddy who then executed trades.

WASHINGTON -- Japan moved closer Friday to joining the negotiations for an Asia-Pacific free-trade pact as it concluded preparatory talks with the U.S. that highlighted key sticking points that could delay an agreement among the dozen trading nations. Last month, Japan announced its desire to take part in the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership, a wide-ranging and ambitious effort involving the U.S., Canada, Mexico and eight other countries. President Obama has welcomed Japan's participation, as the world's third-largest economy would add greater heft to a pact that, for Washington's part, is aimed at enhancing U.S. economic and geopolitical interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

It's the kind of audacious but small-stakes insider trading that normally wouldn't have merited much attention. Golfing buddies Scott London and Bryan Shaw netted just $1.3 million, a blip in a world where Wall Street kingpins pocket hundreds of millions in ill-gotten gains. The two men made one misstep after another. Their haplessness virtually guaranteed they'd get nailed, experts said. The scope of their ill-fated caper was made clear Thursday when federal prosecutors in Los Angeles filed a criminal charge against London, alleging that he passed insider tips to Shaw from 2010 to 2013.

SHANGHAI - Gov. Jerry Brown's trade mission to China this week is intersecting with one of the most controversial issues of his governorship: California's $68-billion bullet train. The governor has staked part of his legacy on the rail network, a centerpiece of his vision for California. He is hoping that China, which is enjoying an economic boom and spent $77.6 billion on overseas investments last year, according to official figures, will pump some of its cash into the troubled project.

Prosecutors filed a criminal charge against disgraced former KPMG partner Scott London, saying he gave a stock-trading friend inside information about his firm's clients in exchange for cash, jewelry and expensive dinners. The criminal case filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles conflicted with the version a contrite London gave reporters earlier this week; London said that the information he gave his buddy was sparse and that his involvement in the stock trades was minimal.

WASHINGTON -- The World Trade Organization on Wednesday lowered its forecast for global trade growth in 2013, saying economic improvement in the U.S. would not be enough to offset Europe's struggles. The dimmer outlook for trade this year follows a historically poor 2012. Global trade expanded just 2% last year, down from 5.2% in 2011. Excluding years in which worldwide trade contracted, last year was the smallest annual increase since 1981, the WTO said. Growth will improve this year, but not as much as forecast last fall, the WTO said.