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No Fannie Mae Findings Yet
HealthSouth founder Richard M. Scrushy had an obstruction-of-justice and a Sarbanes-Oxley Act charge dismissed. U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre ruled that a charge he obstructed justice by telling his finance chief to lie was government "spin" and that another remark fell short of illegal encouragement to sign a false financial statement. The jury will begin deliberating on the remaining 50 charges on Tuesday.
(By Joe Songer -- Associated Press)
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Berkshire Hathaway is paying more to sell debt on concern the company's ties to American International Group will hurt its credit rating. The extra yield investors demand to hold Berkshire Hathaway bonds over government debt has more than doubled since the company came under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer.
Applebee's International shareholders rejected a proposal that the restaurant chain adopt a more humane way of slaughtering chickens. The proposal offered by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals received less than 6 percent of the total votes during Applebee's annual meeting. The organization wanted the company's suppliers to kill the chickens by putting them to sleep with an inert gas.
Ronald O. Perelman's counsel told jurors in his closing argument that Morgan Stanley deliberately hid a fraud at its client, appliance maker Sunbeam, to collect on its $33 million in fees. Perelman, chairman of cosmetics giant Revlon, is suing Morgan Stanley for $2.7 billion in damages, alleging that he relied on the investment bank when he sold his camping-gear company Coleman to Sunbeam in 1998 for $1.5 billion, including Sunbeam stock.
TIAA-CREF named John Wilcox senior vice president in charge of corporate governance, effective immediately. Last week, a report commissioned by the company's board of overseers cited a series of "substantial missteps" by management. A spokesman said the retirement of Peter Clapman, whom Wilcox is succeeding, was planned and not a response to the report.
INTERNATIONAL
Germany's economy grew 1 percent in the first quarter, the strongest rate in four years, government statisticians said. The Federal Statistics Office said it expects the expansion to slow for the rest of 2005.
Italy's struggling economy plunged into recession in the first quarter as its gross domestic product shrank 0.5 percent, the country's national statistics office said. The decline followed a 0.4 percent drop in 2004's final three months.
LOCAL BUSINESS
Freddie Mac said it would increase its 2004 income by $110 million after reducing its tax reserves under an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service. The McLean-based mortgage finance company had set aside reserves as it worked out a dispute with the IRS over tax deductions on dividend payments to holders of $4 billion of preferred stock in two real estate investment trusts formed in 1997.
An MCI investor holding about 3 percent of the Ashburn-based telecommunication company's 325 million outstanding common shares plans to withhold votes for the company's directors to protest MCI's $8.44 billion buyout by Verizon Communications. Leon G. Cooperman, chairman of Omega Advisors, a New York hedge fund, said MCI should have accepted a $9.75 billion bid from Qwest Communications International.
EARNINGS
Dell said first-quarter profit rose 28 percent, to $934 million. Sales increased 16 percent, to $13.39 billion.
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones News Service and Washington Post staff writers.
