Today the defense team for Mikhail Khodorkovsky is running a letter, bearing the signature of Robert Amsterdam, in the global edition of the Financial Times.  The story has been covered by Dow Jones and some other news outlets.  Below is the full text of the letter.An open letter to the boards of directors, management, auditors, and shareholders of Rosneft, Gazprom, Eni, Enel, and other purchasers of Yukos assets.

RE: Russia's obligation to seize your assets?

Beginning in December 2004 with the sham tax auction of Yukos's main production subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz, management and lawyers and shareholder representatives for major oil companies as well as private investors have had to evaluate the risk of purchasing Yukos assets and, subsequently, the oil produced by one of the prior production subsidiaries. This dilemma continued during the illegitimate Yukos bankruptcy where the receiver

...

Highlights include Visa, Inc. (V), MasterCard, Inc. (MA), American Express Co. (AXP), Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC).Oh Great -- Potentially Another Government AgencyBased on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's comments that extensive changes are needed to see that the current financial crisis (arguably the worst in past 50 years) never is revisited, it appears that the Obama Administration is considering the concept of creating a new agency to focus on consumer financial products such as credit card, mortgages, mutual funds and 401K programs from such companies as but not limited to Visa, Inc. (V), MasterCard (MA), American Express (AXP), Capital One (COF) and Bank of America (BAC).We have long agreed with Elizabeth Warren, head of the Congressional Oversight Panel (Troubled Asset Relief Program), in her argument that the government ...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /There is no doubt about it: Italy's economic situation has worsened considerably during the current quarter. Only last week the OECD forecast that Italy's gross domestic product is likely to fall by 4.2 percent in 2009. This follows hot on the heals of an earlier statement where the OECD said the situation in Italy this year and next was "much worse" than it had previously thought, and that Italy would not come out of its recession until "sometime" in 2010 at the earliest. According to the earlier forecast the OECD expected GDP to fall this year by one percent and then by a further 0.8 percent in 2010.br /br /The Bank of Italy has also changed its forecast, and now suggest that GDP this year will fall by 2.6 percent. In January (the last time they revised their Italy forecast), the IMF forecast ...

A majority of Americans aged 55 to 80 have fears about investment risks that are undermining their confidence to invest in the stock market.1 But with traditional pension plans becoming more rare and Social Security’s future in question, many Americans may need to pursue stock market gains in order to avoid a retirement income shortfall.

One way to pursue gains in the stock market while also limiting downside risks is through the use of living benefit guarantees that are offered with some variable annuities (for an additional cost).

Living Benefits A variable annuity is a long-term financial vehicle designed for retirement purposes. The contract holder makes one or more payments to an insurance company in exchange for the promise of an income stream or lump-sum payment to be made at a future date. During the accumulation period, the insurance company invests some of the payments in subaccounts selected by the contract holder

...

A majority of Americans aged 55 to 80 have fears about investment risks that are undermining their confidence to invest in the stock market. But with traditional pension plans becoming more rare and Social Security’s future in question, many Americans may need to pursue stock market gains in order to avoid a retirement income shortfall.

One way to pursue gains in the stock market while also limiting downside risks is through the use of living benefit guarantees that are offered with some variable annuities (for an additional cost).

Living Benefits A variable annuity is a long-term financial vehicle designed for retirement purposes. The contract holder makes one or more payments to an insurance company in exchange for the promise of an income stream or lump-sum payment to be made at a future date. During the accumulation period, the insurance company invests some of the payments in subaccounts selected by the contract holder

...