La FTC enmienda la Regla de Telemercadeo para prohibir métodos de pago utilizados por los estafadores

Luego de cumplido un período de comentarios públicos, la Comisión Federal de Comercio (FTC, por su sigla en inglés) ha aprobado las enmiendas finales de su Regla de Ventas de Telemercadeo (TSR) que contienen un cambio que ayudará a proteger a los consumidores contra el fraude por medio de una prohibición de cuatro diferentes tipos de métodos de pago preferidos por los estafadores oportunistas y defraudadores.

Jessica Rich, Directora del Buró de Protección de la FTC, dijo al respecto: “A los estafadores oportunistas les gustan los métodos de pago que son difíciles de rastrear o revertir. Las nuevas reglas de la FTC aplicables al telemercadeo prohíben los métodos de pago preferidos por los estafadores pero que los telemercaderes honestos no utilizan.” 

Los cambios efectuados a la Regla de Ventas de Telemercadeo impedirán que los telemercaderes echen mano directamente en las cuentas bancarias de los consumidores por medio de ciertos tipos de cheques y “órdenes de pago” generados “de manera remota” por el telemercader o por el vendedor. Estos dos mecanismos de pago les permiten a los telemercaderes inescrupulosos debitar fácilmente las cuentas bancarias de los consumidores sin contar con el debido permiso y pueden dificultar la reversión de las transacciones de los consumidores con sus respectivos bancos.

Además, las enmiendas les prohibirán a los telemercaderes recibir pagos a través de transferencias de dinero en efectivo tradicionales llamadas “punto-a-punto” – provistas por compañías como MoneyGram, Western Union y RIA. Los estafadores dependen de las transferencias de dinero en efectivo como un método rápido, anónimo e irreversible para quitarles dinero a los consumidores que victimizan – una vez que el destinatario retira el dinero es imposible recuperarlo.

Los cambios efectuados a la Regla de Ventas de Telemercadeo también les prohibirán a los telemercaderes aceptar pagos a través de mecanismos de “recarga de dinero en efectivo” – como MoneyPak, Vanilla Reload o Reloadit que se usan para agregar fondos a tarjetas pre-pagadas existentes. Los estafadores utilizan el mecanismo de recarga de dinero en efectivo para aplicar los fondos a sus propias tarjetas de débito pre-pagadas y desaparecer con el dinero. En 2015, los principales proveedores de sistemas de recarga de dinero remplazaron sus mecanismos por un proceso de recarga que requiere que el usuario deslice la tarjeta en una terminal, que es una alternativa más segura y que no está afectada por las enmiendas de la Regla de Ventas de Telemercadeo.

Tal como se detalla en el aviso publicado en el Registro Federal anunciando la Regla Final, las enmiendas se ocupan de los cambios que se presentan en el mercado financiero con el fin de garantizar que los consumidores continúen estando protegidos por las disposiciones anti-fraude de la Regla de Ventas de Telemercadeo, pero paralelamente, están estrictamente adaptadas para permitir las innovaciones con respecto a otros métodos de pago utilizados por las compañías legítimas. De acuerdo a la declaración de bases y objetivos anexada al aviso, la regla final también:

• Ampliará la prohibición aplicable a los cargos adelantados por parte de los servicios de recuperación de modo de incluir las pérdidas en las transacciones de telemercadeo previas y también en las transacciones previas no relacionadas con el telemercadeo.

• Exigirá que en la cinta grabada que se usa para pedir la autorización de cobro expresa y comprobable de un consumidor se incluya una descripción de los bienes o servicios comprados.

Además, las enmiendas de la Regla de Ventas de Telemercadeo actualizan varias disposiciones relacionadas con el Registro Nacional No Llame (DNC), entre otras cosas:

• Establece expresamente que cuando un vendedor o telemercader llame a un consumidor que ha inscrito su número de teléfono en el Registro Nacional No Llame tiene que demostrar que posee una relación comercial existente con ese consumidor, o que ha recibido un acuerdo expreso escrito de parte de ese consumidor.

• Ilustra los tipos de cargas que niegan o interfieren con el derecho de un consumidor de ser incluido en una lista no llame de la entidad específica del vendedor o del telemercader.

• Especifica que un si un vendedor o telemercader no obtiene la información necesaria para incluir el número de teléfono de un consumidor en su lista no llame específica de la entidad, el vendedor o telemercader quedará descalificado para acogerse a las salvaguardas establecidas para las infracciones aisladas o accidentales.

• Enfatiza que los vendedores tienen prohibido compartir el costo de los cargos para acceder al Registro Nacional No Llame.

El resultado de la votación de la Comisión para aprobar la publicación del aviso en el Registro Federal fue 3-1, la Comisionada Maureen Ohlhausen votó no.

La Chairwoman Edith Ramirez y las Comisionadas Julie Brill y Terrell McSweeny votaron a favor y expidieron una declaración de mayoría, y la Comisionada Maureen Ohlhausen votó en contra y expidió una declaración de disentimiento parcial por separado. La mayor parte de las disposiciones de la regla final entrarán en vigor 60 días después de su publicación.

La FTC trabaja en favor del consumidor para la prevención de prácticas comerciales fraudulentas, engañosas y desleales y para proveer información para ayudar a los consumidores a identificar, detener y evitar dichas prácticas. Para presentar una queja en internet use el Asistente de Quejas de la FTC o llame al 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). La FTC ingresa las quejas presentadas por los consumidores a una base de datos segura llamada Red Centinela del Consumidor (Consumer Sentinel) que es utilizada por más de 2,000 agencias de cumplimiento de las leyes civiles y penales en los Estados Unidos y del extranjero. El sitio web de la FTC provee información gratis sobre una variedad de temas del consumidor. Haga clic en la opción “me gusta” la FTC en Facebook, “síganos” en Twitter, y suscríbase a los comunicados de prensa para acceder a las noticias y recursos más recientes de la FTC.

Fear Spreads as China's Finance Firms Face Arrests (BusinessWeek)

• "People are worried" as hedge funds, traders, CSRC targeted
• At least 16 connected to finance world caught up in crackdown

The high-drama highway arrest of a prominent hedge fund manager. Seizures of computers and phones at Chinese mutual funds. The investigations of the president of Citic Securities Co. and at least six other employees. Now, add the probe of China’s former gatekeeper of the IPO process himself.

The arrests or investigations targeting the finance industry in the aftermath of China’s summer market crash have intensified in recent weeks, creating a climate of fear among China’s finance firms and chilling their investment strategies. At least 16 people have been arrested, are being investigated or have been taken away from their job duties to assist authorities, according to statements and announcements compiled by Bloomberg News. 

The authorities’ goal is to root out practices such as insider trading as part of China’s anti-corruption campaign, and a desire by "some in the political leadership to find scapegoats to blame" for the market crash, according to Barry Naughton, a professor of Chinese economy at the University of California in San Diego.

“Together these are creating uncertainty and anxiety that can only undermine the effort to make these markets work better,” he said by e-mail.

New Products

Chinese authorities have long encouraged funds and brokerages to create new investment products to keep the finance industry along a development path. Now that’s been halted by regulators’ raids, arrests by police and anti-corruption investigations of even regulators themselves by the Communist Party’s disciplinary committee. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse Group AG have scaled back products that allowed foreign investors to bet on stock declines. At least one Chinese research firm has withdrawn information it used to provide to the market, calling it "too sensitive." 

The government’s response to the market crash was intervention: state-directed purchases of shares, a ban on initial public offerings and restrictions on previously allowed practices, such as short selling and trading in stock-index futures. Next, high-ranking industry figures came under scrutiny as officials investigated trading strategies, decried “malicious short sellers” and vowed to “purify” the market.

Policy makers say “now we’re innovating, so you can all come in -- using high-frequency trading, hedging, whatever -- to play in our markets,” Gao Xiqing, a former vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told a forum in Beijing on Nov. 6. “A few days later, you say no, the rules we made are not right, there are problems with your trading, and we’re putting you in jail for a while first.”

‘Hardly Predictable’

“That makes our markets hardly predictable -- such rules won’t bring stability,” said Gao, who later led China’s sovereign wealth fund and now teaches at Beijing-based Tsinghua University.

The products scaled back by Credit Suisse and JPMorgan are called synthetic shorts, which enabled clients to indirectly wager against Chinese stocks through Hong Kong’s stock exchange link with Shanghai, according to a memo to investors seen in September and people with knowledge of the matter. A scarcity of stocks that could be used for synthetic shorting led to limited usage of the product, said one of the people. The banks scaled back the offerings, which were legal, after Chinese authorities restricted short-selling and trading in index futures. Spokeswomen at both firms declined to comment at the time and again when contacted this week.

Stopped Trading

About a third of China’s futures-focused hedge funds had to stop trading as regulators restricted practices such as short-selling. Howbuy Investment Management Co. in September said it stopped providing data on premature fund liquidations because the information was too sensitive. The Shanghai-based fund research firm had previously said almost 1,300 hedge funds closed this year amid the stock rout.

In the latest probe announced last week, Yao Gang, a vice chairman at the CSRC, is under investigation for “alleged serious disciplinary violations,” the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said. Known as China’s "King of IPOs," he supervised China’s initial public offerings until earlier this year, when he changed to approve bonds and futures, according to Caixin magazine. He joins two other CSRC officials being investigated, one of whom, Zhang Yujun, was formerly the general manager of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

Unannounced Inspections

The securities regulator carried out unannounced inspections of several Chinese investment firms including Harvest Fund Management earlier this month, taking away hard drives and mobile phones, according to people familiar with the seizures. Police in Shanghai also confiscated computers and froze $1 billion of shares in listed companies connected to Xu Xiang, the manager of Zexi Investment known as “hedge fund brother No. 1,” who was arrested Nov. 1 on a highway between Shanghai and Ningbo.

Among Xu’s fellow money managers who performed well this year, anxiety has been palpable following his arrest, according to hedge fund manager Lu Weidong, chairman of Xinhong Investment based in China’s southern city of Dongguan. Lu’s Fuguo No. 1 fund was the best-performer among the 236 Chinese multi-strategy hedge funds from June to August, according to Shenzhen Rongzhi Investment Consultant Co., which tracks the data.

It isn’t uncommon for Chinese money managers to trade on unpublished information, according to Lu. Everybody that ever traded on such tips would “restrain themselves a bit” going forward, Lu said by phone.

“People are worried,” he said.

While Zexi Investment’s Xu kept such a low profile that few knew what he looked like until a photo of him in handcuffs when he was arrested as part of a probe of alleged insider trading went viral on the Internet, he has long attracted attention for his funds’ exceptional performance, which had been “an outlier from a statistical point of view,” according to Yan Hong, Shanghai-based director of China Hedge Fund Research Center.

Amid tumult in China’s stock market, five funds managed by Xu yielded an “astonishing” 249 percent on average this year through September, according to Shenzhen Rongzhi data. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 5.6 percent in the same period, after a 41 percent market plunge since June 12 wiped out earlier gains. His returns prompted speculation about the methods and strategies he used, according to analysts including Hao Hong, chief China strategist at Bocom International Holdings Co. in Hong Kong.

Surpassed Expectations

"The extent of this round of clampdown in the financial industry has surpassed everybody’s expectations," he said. "Over the longer term, the clampdown on corruption in the financial industry will level the playing field in the market for smaller investors."

Others caught up in the probes include executives at trading firms Yishidun International Trading and Huaxin Futures, who were arrested after police alleged Yishidun made 2 billion yuan ($316 million) in “illegal profit," according to a report by the Xinhua News Agency, citing the Ministry of Public Security.

Bloomberg News hasn’t been able to contact any of the 16 individuals through their firms, the CSRC or public records to get their responses to the allegations at any time since the announcement of their arrests or investigations. Officials at all of the companies either declined to comment or couldn’t be contacted. Citic Securities has repeatedly declined to comment on the cases of its employees.

‘It’s Unprecedented’

“We’ve never seen anything like it in the past,” said Fraser Howie, a co-author of “Red Capitalism,” a book on China’s financial system, referring to the scale and scope of the probes. “Without question, it’s unprecedented.”

There have been no shortage of bad practices over the past 20 years, including manipulation and offenses such as insider trading, for the authorities to investigate -- had they chosen to do so, Howie said.  “It begs the question: where were the investigations in past years?”

Trading volume of China’s CSI 300 Index and CSI 500 Index futures have plunged after authorities in early September raised margin requirements, tightened position limits and started a police investigation into bearish bets. A total of 181 futures funds suspended trading in October amid liquidity scarcity, up from 165 in September and accounting for 34 percent of all funds tracked by Shenzhen Rongzhi, which provides the data monthly.

China entered a bull market this month as investors began returning to stocks. The Shanghai Composite Index has risen 22 percent from its Aug. 26 low.

“Everybody knows that insider trading and market manipulation is something that repeated crackdowns have failed to eradicate in China’s stock market,” China Hedge Fund Research’s Yan said by phone. “It could be just the tip of the iceberg. For this market to grow to a relatively mature level, like the U.S., we still have a fairly long way to go.”

Black Friday's Losing Its Mojo and Retailers Might Be Relieved (BusinessWeek)

• Americans are taking a darker view of post-turkey madness
• Earlier deals mean more people do holiday shopping sooner

Black Friday’s death has been greatly exaggerated before. This year, not so much.

True, crazed bargain-hunters will never give it up, hooked on middle-of-the-night queues for blenders and fisticuffs over beds-in-a-bag. But the shopping day after Thanksgiving is growing less appealing for all involved. Retailers like Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. are spreading discounts through more of November, skimping on costly race-to-the-bottom tactics geared to getting people in the door as soon after the holiday meal as possible. And surveys are finding consumers are less interested in participating in the industry ritual.

“I will never set foot in a store on Black Friday,” said Cindy Feinstein, a shopper making holiday purchases at Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan this week. “Those sales can be found at other times of the year. There’s no way it’s worth it.”

This could actually be good news for merchants, which can boost profits by cutting back on the rock-bottom discounts Black Friday has come to demand, not to mention the security guards needed to keep order. Target is planning 10 days of specials beginning Nov. 22. Best Buy and Home Depot Inc. are among those offering Black Friday pricing way before Thanksgiving.

“Retailers have shifted gears and said, we’re going to spread this out,” said Keith Jelinek, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting. “You’re going to see a lot more retailers pull back.”

Store Stampedes

The industry is also facing the reality that more and more people are going online. Annett Rodriguez of New York is one of them, a former regular at Wal-Marts where she would wait hours to endure an experience she called “terrible, horrible and crowded -- people were fighting and stampeding in the stores.”

The National Retail Federation is forecasting online sales will rise between 6 and 8 percent in November and December to as much as $105 billion. At the same time, more than half of consumers -- 52 percent -- said they’re relying less on going out on Black Friday to make holiday purchases, according to a Deloitte survey. That’s 5 percentage points higher than last year.

“The fact that we’re seeing such a ramp up in online purchasing, the fact that you don’t have to be the first person in line when a store opens -- how profitable is it really?” said Jonathan Eyl, lead consumer analyst at Nasdaq Advisory Services. People who venture out on Friday are more deal-driven than retailer-loyal, he said, and stores have to wonder about focusing on generating traffic on one day “if those customers aren’t going to come back.”

‘Extremely Important’

None of this is to say that Black Friday will ever be buried, or that retailers want it to be. “Black Friday is different, but it’s not dead,” said Kathy Grannis Allen, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. “It’s always going to be important.”

Even though sales over the holiday weekend fell 11 percent last year after people did more shopping earlier in the month, the NRF said overall holiday spending was up 4.1 percent. And the federation estimates the weekend still accounts for 10 to 15 percent of the total. Allen said there will continue to be a focus on the Friday, which is “about getting people into the stores and getting them to come back throughout the season.”

J.C. Penney Co. is opening at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving, two hours earlier than last year. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will start offering steep discounts starting on its website early Thanksgiving morning and in stores starting at 6 p.m. And for Macy’s Inc., the Thanksgiving Day parade host that just missed third-quarter sales estimates and cut its annual profit forecast, Black Friday is still the mother of all sales days. 

“It’s extremely important to us,” Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren said. “Customers will come out -- they always do.”

During the recession, retailers ramped up promotions and stretched their Black Friday weekend hours. Then they began the encroachment on Thanksgiving itself. This year some, including Staples Inc. and Hennes & Mauritz AB, are reversing course and won’t be open on Thursday. Recreational Equipment Inc., the outdoor-gear retailer, will be closed on Black Friday as well. (In the U.K., Wal-Mart’s Asda supermarket and some other chains are scrapping Black Friday promotions two years after introducing them -- in a country that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving -- in part because of crashing websites and fights between customers.)

Increasingly, Black Friday “really doesn’t make a ton of sense for the retailers,” said Bryan Gildenberg, chief knowledge officer at the consulting firm Kantar Retail LLC. “They’re selling too much stuff at too low a price.”

The Oil Industry Has Been Put on Notice (BusinessWeek)

Keystone rejected, Exxon investigated—this doesn’t end well for oil.

There were two huge developments today, both for the oil industry and the earth's climate. New York’s top lawyer issued a subpoena to Exxon, seeking information on whether the world’s biggest oil explorer deceived the public for almost 40 years about climate change. Hours later, President Obama announced that the U.S. would reject the Keystone pipeline.

The rejection of Keystone is more symbolic than substantive. The pipeline would have added $3.4 billion in economic growth but contributed to climate change by speeding up production of oil-sands crude, which is about 17 percent more carbon-intensive than the conventional barrel. Rejection will neither halt oil-sands production nor damage the broader economy. Perhaps anticipating rejection, TransCanada had asked to postpone the final review earlier this week. 

The investigation of Exxon could have more far-reaching implications. Alleged disinformation by oil companies has long been compared to the actions of big tobacco, which eventually agreed to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in settlements. The New York probe follows investigative articles by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times alleging that Exxon’s scientists had evidence that carbon dioxide emissions were damaging the environment as far back as 1977. At a minimum, the probe could put a chill on anti-climate change funding during a critical U.S. election year.  

Both actions come as more than 80 world leaders prepare to meet in Paris this month to hammer out final details on the most ambitious global pact yet to curb the future course of climate change. The biggest current and future polluters—including the U.S., China, and India—have already made aggressive long-term pledges ahead of the meeting. 

The world will depend on oil for decades to come. But 2015 may very well be remembered as the beginning of the end, with the rejection of Keystone and the investigation of Exxon as key markers on the timeline. Here’s a chart of oil forecasts from the International Energy Agency since 1994, from a Bloomberg New Energy Finance keynote presentation this week in Shanghai. Forecasts have been dropping, and the transformation of oil markets may be coming sooner than we think.  

Declining Prospects for Oil

Saudi Wells Running Dry — of Water — Spell End of Desert Wheat (BusinessWeek)

Cultured farms in sit in Saudi Arabia.

• Riyadh will import all the wheat needed for 2016 consumption
• Aquifers that had irrigated wheat crops depleting rapidly

For decades, only a few features punctuated the vastness of the Saudi desert: oil wells, oases -- and wheat fields.

Despite torrid weather and virtually no rain, the world’s largest oil producer once grew so much of the grain that its exports could feed Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen. The circular wheat farms, half a mile across with a central sprinkler system, spread across the desert in the 1980s and 1990s, visible in spring to anyone overflying the Arabian peninsula as green spots amid a dun sea of sand.

The oilfields remain, but the last wheat farms have just disappeared to save the aquifers supplying them. For the first time, Saudi Arabia will rely almost completely on wheat imports in 2016, a reversal from its policy of self-sufficiency. It will become a full member of the club of Middle Eastern nations that, according to the commodity-trade adage, "sell hydrocarbons to buy carbohydrates."

The shift toward imports, which started eight years ago, is reverberating beyond the kingdom, providing business opportunities for grain traders such as Cargill Inc and Glencore Plc as well as for farmers in countries such as Germany and Canada. 

"The Saudis are the largest new wheat buyer to emerge," said Swithun Still, director of grain trader Solaris Commodities SA in Morges, Switzerland.

Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Fares, managing director of the Grain Silos and Flour Mills Organization, the state agency in charge of cereal imports, told an industry conference in Riyadh last month that Saudi Arabia will import 3.5 million metric tons in 2016. That’s a 10-fold increase from about 300,000 tons in 2008, the first year local crops were curtailed.  An agency presentation says the kingdom will rely on imports for "100 percent" of its wheat in 2016 for the first time.

By 2025, demand is forecast to rise to 4.5 million tons as population growth drives demand for flour, positioning Saudi Arabia as one of the 10 biggest wheat buyers worldwide.

The shift is propitious as the wheat market weathers the largest glut in nearly 30 years, with bumper harvests filling up silos from Russia to Argentina. Prices for high-quality wheat, which reached an all-time high in Kansas City of more than $13 per bushel in 2008, have fallen to less than $5 this year.

Saudi Arabia is already the world’s largest importer of barley, used to feed camels; and among the top 15 in sorghum, another cereal used as animal feed; and of corn. 

It may not be the last country to turn away from growing its own crops. Aquifers in other key agricultural regions, including northern India and northern China, are also under pressure. The stress is compounded by erratic rains, which some blame on climate change.

Depleting Water

Saudi Arabia became a net exporter of wheat in 1984 from producing almost none in the 1970s. The self-sufficiency program became a victim of its own success, however, as it quickly depleted aquifers that haven’t been filled since the last Ice Age. In an unexpected U-turn, the government said in 2008 it was phasing out the policy, reducing purchases of domestic wheat each year by 12.5 percent and bridging the gap progressively with imports.

The last official local harvest occurred in May, although the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization projects that a small crop of about metric 30,000 tons for traditional specialty bakery products will "prevail" in 2016. At its peak in 1992, Saudi Arabia produced 4.1 million tons of wheat and was one of the world’s top 10 wheat exporters.

In the Middle East, only Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Syria grow significant quantities of wheat, although they often import to cover domestic shortfalls. Egypt, for instance, is the world’s largest importer because of its booming population’s demand for subsidized bread

.

Bright Spot

Wheat traders said that rising purchases from Saudi Arabia were one of the few bullish factors in the grain market. The kingdom has become particularly important for Canada, Germany and the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia, from which it procures the bulk of its wheat.

"Saudi is going to need more imports -- but the world market can right now easily meet the increase in demand," said Stefan Vogel, head of agricultural commodity research at Rabobank International in London.

In turn, Saudi Arabia has been investing in foreign farmland -- so far generating more headlines than crops -- and grain-trading operations. In April, a Saudi-backed company agreed to buy a majority stake in the former Canadian Wheat Board in a C$250 million ($203 million) deal that gives it access to grain exports from Canada.

Bunge Ltd., one of the world’s largest grain traders, and state-owned Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) partnered for the acquisition. SALIC was established in November 2011 to secure adequate food supplies for Saudi Arabia, according to its website. 

"Middle East food-deficit countries are moving into investing into agribusiness," said Monika Tothova, an economist at the FAO in Rome.

Latin America in the New Era of Globalization : Essays in Honor of Enrique Iglesias @ Georgetown University Center for Latin American Studies

UPCOMING EVENT Latin America in the New Era of Globalization Monday, November 16, 2015, 6:00 - 7:30 pm Inter-American Dialogue (1211 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 510, Washington, DC)   The Inter-American Dialogue and the Georgetown University Center for Lain American Studies are pleased to host a presentation of the book: Latin America in the Era of Globalization: Essays in Honor of Enrique V. Iglesias. The former secretary general of the Ibero-American General Secretariat and former president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Enrique V. Iglesias stands as one of the most important figures for inter-American cooperation in memory. This book is a testament to his expansive career with 15 essays—on global governance, democracy, and the socio-economic development of Latin America—written by many of the most respected political and academic leaders from across the hemisphere. Speaker: Enrique V. Iglesias, former Secretary General, Ibero-American General Secretariat; former President, Inter-American Development Bank; former Foreign Minister, Uruguay; and former Executive Secretary, UNECLAC  Commentators: Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development Nora Lustig, Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics, Tulane University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Inter-American Dialogue Peter Hakim, Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, Inter-American Dialogue Introduction:  Oscar Echevarría, Co-Editor, Latin America in the Era of Globalization: Essays in Honor of Enrique V. Iglesias Moderator: Michael Shifter, President, Inter-American Dialogue  The remarks will be followed by a vin d'honneur reception and a book signing with Enrique V. Iglesias. Copies of the book will be available for sale.  The editors and hosts of the book launch would like to thank Oscar I. Echevarria P.E., President of INNOVO Construction LLC and Dr. Guillermo Zuloaga N., President of TV Venezuela for sponsoring the English edition of this volume. EVENT PARTNER This book launch is co-hosted with the Georgetown University Center for Latin American Studies   RSVP NOW

FPL bills to decrease again in 2016

 FPL bills to decrease again in 2016 as investments in efficiency deliver continued savings for customers

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) business and residential customers can expect to see a decrease in their monthly electric bills starting January 2016 following the Florida Public Service Commission’s recent approval of FPL’s request to lower electric rates. The decrease is largely the result of the company’s ongoing investments in highly efficient power generation, which continue to reduce fuel consumption, combined with savings from lower fuel prices.

Businesses can anticipate savings of about 2 to 6 percent, depending on the business customer’s rate class and type of service.

Residential customers will also see a decrease of about $2.50 a month on average in 2016 compared with current rates. FPL’s typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is already lower now than it was in 2006 – in addition to being the lowest in Florida and one of the lowest in the nation among reporting utilities.

Since 2001, FPL’s investments in clean generation have saved customers more than $8 billion by using less fuel to generate electricity. These efficiency savings are in addition to the savings from recent low market prices for natural gas.

The company’s fleet of efficient power plants has also enabled FPL to achieve a carbon emissions rate that is 35 percent cleaner than the U.S. utility average. In fact, while other utilities around the country are facing potentially higher costs to comply with the U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan, FPL is already cleaner than the goal the plan has set for Florida to reach by 2030.

A good energy plan is a good business plan. Customers can identify even more ways to save with FPL’s custom solutions to help businesses manage their electricity expenses. Visit FPL.com/savingsplan to view your Online Business Energy Dashboard and schedule a free Business Energy Evaluation.

  

Newsletter from the Miami-Dade State Attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle

STATE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE  NEWSLETTER  I am excited to take part in the Advisory Board of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution (IIP), a pioneering new project intended to support the development of the next generation of ideas in the field of prosecution. To achieve this goal, the IIP will reunite prosecutors, academics, law enforcement officials and other leaders to address the existing and emerging criminal justice challenges in our society. This initiative along with many other achievements will surely elevate the role and voice of District Attorneys in addressing these critical national issues; promote intelligence-driven prosecution, and enhance the public's trust in the criminal justice system. The need to address issues of fairness and effectiveness in the criminal justice system prompted us, as prosecutors and leaders from around the country, to form this broad coalition. I will continue to work with our partners from around the country to address these issues and others that may arise with the intent of ensuring the well-being of all of our communities.                                                            Sincerely, State Attorney at National Human Trafficking Summit State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle at Human Trafficking Summit State Attorney with Florida delegation at the Human Trafficking summit State Attorney at the summit with George Sheldon, former Florida Secretary of the Department of Children and Families State Attorney alongside Cook County, Illinois State Attorney Anita Alvarez State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle attended The National Summit on Human Trafficking in New York City, an event organized jointly by the State Justice Institute, the Office of Court Administration, the New York State Bar Association, the Conference of Chief Judges, the Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Center for State Courts.    The summit brought together more than 300 judges, court administrators, prosecutors, legislators, and academics from 46 states in a continued effort to identify issues and propose solutions to combat this heinous crime that affects so many young and promising lives.    Attendees agreed that although Human Trafficking Awareness has increased and new legislation to combat the crime has come about, there is still plenty of work to be done to change the way the justice system treats sex trafficking victims.    "It's a long road to recovery," commented State Attorney Fernandez Rundle. "It's our moral and legal responsibility to stop this modern-day form of slavery. We must rescue these girls, help them with their recovery and remain committed in our efforts to prosecute their predators." Adult Education Principal Facing Felony Charges  Source: Miami-Dade Corrections As the result of a joint collaborative investigation by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office Public Corruption Task Force, the Miami-Dade County Office of the Inspector General, the Miami-Dade Schools Police, and the City of Miami Police Department, the Principal of the North Miami Adult Education Center (NMAE Center), Jean C. Ridore was arrested and charged, with Unlawful Compensation, Official Misconduct, and Grand Theft. All of these charges are felonies. Acting on various anonymous complaints about Ridore's hiring and employment practices at NMAE, an undercover officer met with Ridore to discuss employment. The undercover officer had been posing as a handyman looking for a school position. Ridore accepted $1000 in cash in exchange for hiring him as a Community Schools Activity Leader III at the NMAE Center. Ridore not only took the cash for the job but also arranged a "kickback" of his new employee's salary. Ridore agreed that the handyman would be a "ghost employee", therefore did not need to show up for work, as long as Ridore received 50% of his salary.  Ridore, as Principal, approved 40 hours of work for the undercover who never reported to work at NMAE Center. Ridore had been the NMAE Center Principal since July 2005. The NMAE Center, while housed within North Miami Senior High School is an afternoon and night school entity administratively separate from North Miami Senior High School. "Thinking that you can use government money to benefit yourself is the mentality of a thief, not a public servant," commented State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. "Each educational dollar is intended to better individuals and our community, not someone who can manipulate the system. I am proud that this multi-agency law enforcement effort has been able to end such financial abuse. This kind of collaborative Public Schools and law enforcement anti-corruption investigation is one of the strengths of our local community." State Attorney's Office Alumni Profile  Joseph Frederick, Assistant District Attorney, Travis County, Texas Travis County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Frederick has had an interesting career path. He went from horse trainer to prosecutor. His early life was spent like that of the children's book character Eloise who lived in a hotel. "My dad was Senior Vice President at Hilton Hotels, so we lived in hotels all over the country," He explains. "Eventually, we moved to Chicago and I went to high school there." Joseph attended the University of Illinois, where he was the student body president. He later earned his Juris Doctorate at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. Joe also clerked for the county's District Attorney. "I always had an affinity for logic and doing the right thing. I am very altruistic and that is why I became a lawyer. The funny thing is that I don't like to argue!" he said laughingly. "After law school, I was staying with my sister in Las Vegas. She was a horse trainer and while I was there I helped her with her business." It was his sister who suggested that he apply at Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. So the young man that "did not like to argue" ended up applying to be a prosecutor in a very trial active jurisdiction. "I came down to interview with State Attorney's Office when the World Series was going on in Miami. I stayed at the Holiday Inn on Le Jeune Road in Coral Gables...Is it still there?" he asked. "I had my first two interviews in one day. I then interviewed with State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. She gave me tough hypotheticals and asked me who my favorite Supreme Court Justice was," he explained. "We also talked about my first Cuban meal which I had eaten just before the interview. I ate at La Esquina de Tejas on Flagler Street. I had my first of many Cuban coffees that day." "Joe always had a real passion for the work we do here at the State Attorney's Office," commented State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. "He was always highly charged with enthusiastic energy. Most importantly, he embraced our ethical philosophy of always doing the right thing and serving justice." Frederick began at SAO in 1998 and found himself immersed in the New Lawyer Training Program for 4-6 weeks. "We really learned the law. It was the equivalent of a medical residency program at a hospital." "I will never forget my first trial because something really crazy happened. I made sure that I looked good. I wore a brand new dark suit to properly impress my jurors. As soon as I walked in, an elderly lady came right up to me and clapped her hands in my face. As she did this, a white powder shot out from her hands and went everywhere, especially on my new suit. That is how my first trial began," he recalled. "That was my first experience with a uniquely Miami courtroom event. I quickly learned that people who practice the Afro- Cuban religion of Santeria will sometimes try to influence the outcome of a case by rituals that may involve powder and other materials." He chuckled. "That was my welcome to trial work." Joe's first year and a half at the SAO were filled with long hours, gaining valuable courtroom and investigative experience intermingled with lots of fun. During this time, he met colleagues that would become lifelong friends. One even became the best man at his wedding. Joseph started in the County Court Domestic Violence Unit. He went through the Juvenile division and moved up the ranks in the Felony division. "One of the cases that I remember most was a Domestic Violence case where a stepfather attacked his stepdaughter. When it was the victim's turn to testify, she was hiding in the bathroom crying. Her mother had called and threatened her." Emotions ran high in that trial." "The stepfather testified on direct examination that he couldn't have stepped on and kicked the victim because he needed a cane to walk. After he left the stand, I called him back. As he walked over to the witness stand he did not use a cane. I asked the court to note that the witness did not need a cane to walk as he had previously testified. It was my Perry Mason courtroom moment." Assistant District Attorney Frederick credits his time as an Assistant State Attorney at the Miami SAO with his learning how to effectively conduct direct and cross examination. "I've taken what I have learned at the Miami SAO to the private sector and back to the public sector. In Miami, you certainly learn how to be a trial attorney." After several years as a prosecutor, Frederick went over to the criminal defense side. "It took me about a year to get into the flow of criminal defense work. I realized that the criminal defense side is all about holding the State's feet to the fire and making sure that they have proof beyond a reasonable doubt." He met his wife while he was a criminal defense attorney in Miami. She was an Assistant State Attorney. "We had a case opposite each other. My client ended up accepting a plea offer. In my opinion, I won the case but I don't know if she would agree," he chuckled. Frederick and his wife, Julie Stone, moved to Austin in 2007, where he is currently a Travis County Assistant District Attorney. "I am now a Court Chief and help with the staff training in our office." Federick's advice to young ASA's is to know your judge and your evidence; know your motions. In his mind, it's all about teamwork with your investigators and officers. When asked why he left the field of criminal defense and went back to the prosecution side he said, "I missed being a prosecutor because you are a minister of justice. You get to do the right thing even though sometimes it can be hard," he explained. "Without the Miami-Dade SAO, I wouldn't have my present career. The Miami-Dade SAO taught me to be a litigator. That experience has been invaluable." Courthouse Highlights Division Chief (DC) Lara Penn and Assistant Chief Denise Georges obtained a guilty verdict on two counts of DUI Manslaughter and two counts of Vehicular Manslaughter in front of Judge Miguel de la O. DC Christine Hernandez Baldwin and DC Joe Mansfield got a Second Degree Murder with a Deadly Weapon conviction before Judge Teresa Pooler. DC Annette Del Aguila and fellow DC Christine Hernandez Baldwin obtained a conviction on a First Degree Murder case in front of Judge Miguel De La O. DC Katheline Cortes, Assistant State Attorney Josh Weintraub, and Assistant Chief of Legal Unit Fariba Komeily were successful in obtaining convictions for First Degree Murder and Five Counts of Attempted Murder.

REPORT PUBLIC CORRUPTION !  Don't Allow the Public's Trust to be Jeopardized. Hotline: 305-547-3300 Quick Links State Attorney Victim Services Clerk of Court Miami-Dade Police  Grand Jury Reports Need the latest Grand Jury Report or any other Grand Jury Report dating back to 1965? Click Here Our Community Outreach Events November 3 - Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting, Doral Police Department, 9101 NW 25 Street Doral, FL, 33172, 6:30PM - 8:30PM November 4 - Citizens Crime Watch of Miami-Dade Meeting, 1515 NW 79 Avenue, Doral, FL, 33126, 9:30AM - 12:00PM  November 5 - Sealing & Expungement Event, Phicol Williams Community Center, 951 SW 4 Street, Homestead, FL, 33030, 4:00PM - 7:00PM November 7 - Coconut Grove Ministerial Alliance, Greater St Paul AME Church, 3680 Thomas Avenue, Miami, FL, 33133, 8:00AM - 10:30AM November 7 - Health & Resource Fair, The Bethel Church, 14440 Lincoln Blvd, Miami, FL, 33176, 8:00AM - 1:00PM November 7 - Connect Familias 9th Annual Caring for the Kids Event, Miami-Dade College Interamerican Campus, 627 SW 27 Avenue, Miami, FL, 33135, 10:30AM - 2:00PM November 9 - Walking One Stop at Miami Gardens, Miami Gardens Police Station, 1020 NW 163 Drive, Miami Gardens, FL, 33169, 9:30AM - 12:00PM November 10 - Coconut Grove Crime Watch, Greater St Paul AME Church, 3680 Thomas Avenue, Miami, FL, 33133, 6:30PM - 8:30PM November 13 - Career Awareness Month, Carrie Meek Westview K-8 Center, 2101 NW 127 Street, Miami, FL, 33167, 8:30AM - 1:00PM November 19 - Lindsey Hopkins 7th Annual Career & Wellness Fair, Lindsey Hopkins Tech College, 750 NW 20 Street, Miami, FL, 33127, 8:30AM - 12:00PM November 21 - Compassion Project, Gangs Alternative Inc, 6620 North Miami Avenue, Miami, FL, 33150, 9:00AM - 2:00PM November 21 - South Kendall Community Church 10th Annual Community Picnic, South Kendall Community Church, 16550 SW 147 Avenue, Miami, FL, 33187, 10:00AM - 2:00PM Follow Me On To Receive Future Newsletters    M I A M I S A O . C O M