Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Youtube daily report Jan 3 2017

It's been more than twenty years since astronomers began detecting planets around other stars.

They weren't surprised to find planets in other star systems.

But they were surprised by how those planets were arranged, and they ended up having to

rethink what they thought they knew about how planets form.

We used to think that our Solar System was pretty standard, as star systems go.

Our arrangement of four smaller inner rocky planets and four bigger outer gaseous ones

makes a lot of physical sense:

When you're farther away from the Sun, space is colder, which allows more molecules to

condense and build up larger planets.

But then, we found our first exoplanet — the first planet we'd discovered outside of

our solar system.

And it revealed a situation we used to think was impossible.

The first exoplanet was a world the size of Saturn, orbiting more than seven times closer

to its star than Mercury does to the Sun!

There's almost no way it could have formed so close to its star — all the light gases

would have boiled off before they could've formed a planet.

As astronomers collected more data, they started to find more and more of these big, gas planets,

which we now call Hot Jupiters, close to their stars.

They realized that Hot Jupiters migrated from somewhere else, and they started trying to

figure out how.

Since then, they've come to realize that planets can actually move around a lot in

their early lives.

Planets form in regions called protoplanetary disks, made up of the leftover gas and dust

after a star forms.

We see these disks surrounding young stars all over our galaxy.

They provide a place for solid matter to clump together, and eventually, the largest clumps

become massive enough to pull in gas, giving rise to worlds like Jupiter and Saturn.

Once they form, these new planets are still embedded in the protoplanetary disk.

And that disk is the key to how they move around.

A new planet's gravity affects the nearby disk material, bunching it up into giant waves

called spiral density waves.

They're the same kinds of structures that give galaxies their arms and Saturn's rings

their details.

There's one density wave inside the planet's orbit, closer to the star, and one outside

the planet's orbit, on the side farther from the star.

Now, the closer you are to a star, the harder its gravity pulls you and the faster you travel.

So, over time, the wave towards the star starts to creep ahead, while the one outside the

planet's orbit starts to fall behind.

But these density waves are made up of actual, physical stuff and therefore exert gravity

of their own.

So that wave ahead of the planet is pulling it forward in its orbit, which gives the planet

a little boost in energy, sending it a bit farther from the star.

Meanwhile, the wave behind the planet is doing the exact opposite.

Its gravity tugs the planet backwards, reducing its energy and forcing it to fall into a smaller

orbit.

If these forces exactly balanced out, the planet wouldn't move at all, but usually

the protoplanetary disk is less dense in some places than others.

That difference makes the pull of one wave more powerful than the other, so the planet

moves.

In simulations, this process is so effective at moving planets around that some scientists

aren't really sure why so many survive at all.

So, finally an explanation for how those strange Hot Jupiters could exist where they do!

They probably formed much farther away from their stars before migrating in to where they

are now.

Even the planets in our own Solar System probably migrated long ago.

Astronomers call this idea the Nice Model, after the city in France where it was developed.

The Nice Model says that when the outer planets were forming four and a half billion years

ago, they were much more closely spaced than they are today.

Over time, interactions with the disk drove them to where they are now, but they might

have made some major detours along the way.

Jupiter, for example, might have spent some time in what today we'd call the inner Solar

System.

If it wandered close to the orbit of Mars as both planets were forming, it could have

dramatically reduced the amount of material left to make the Red Planet.

This would help explain why many models of planet formation suggest that Mars should

be roughly Earth-sized, when really, it only has about a tenth of our mass!

And Neptune may have started its life closer to the Sun than Uranus.

Then, once they began to move, they would have swapped places.

It might have taken hundreds of millions of years for things to settle down to how we

see them today.

By that time, the disk of gas and dust would have blown away, leaving behind only the scattered,

rocky remains of planet formation.

As those rocks encountered a world like Jupiter, the planet's gravity could have flung them

towards the Sun — and in the process, propelled the gas giant just a little bit farther.

Slowly, the Solar System we know today took shape — one rock at a time.

And if our search for planets around other stars has taught us anything, it's that

this is only one possible way things might have played out.

We now know that planets don't just stay put after they're formed — there are all

kinds of processes that can move them around.

Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space, and thanks especially to our patrons

on Patreon who help make this show possible.

If you want to help us keep making episodes like this, just go to patreon.com/scishow

to learn more.

And don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishowspace and subscribe!

For more infomation >> Were the Planets Always in the Same Order? - Duration: 5:17.

-------------------------------------------

L' EURO, UNE MONNAIE FORTE - Duration: 3:56.

For more infomation >> L' EURO, UNE MONNAIE FORTE - Duration: 3:56.

-------------------------------------------

Épisode 4 – Partagez la salle de sport, pas la grippe - Duration: 0:29.

For more infomation >> Épisode 4 – Partagez la salle de sport, pas la grippe - Duration: 0:29.

-------------------------------------------

Sony Camera Accessories: Remote Control for Sony Alpha and Nex Cameras | RMT-DSLR2 & RMT-DSLR1 Repl - Duration: 4:05.

Hello again, Izzy at Digital Goja

showrooms. Today we're going to take a

look at an infrared remote control for

your Sony Alpha and mirrorless cameras.

This is a full-feature remote, it gives

you a lot of control so you don't have

to kill your battery using the Wi-Fi to

do a lot of the same features. As always,

if this video helps you please hit me up

with a like button underneath and

remember to subscribe to our channel for

future tutorials, sessions and unboxings.

And when in Miami come say hello at

Digital Goja showrooms.

Alright so, here we have the IR remote

for Sony cameras, it gives you a lot of

capabilities without having to murder

your battery with the Wi-Fi, but of

course it is an IR remote so it's only

line of sight but you know what that

works a lot of times for most of us.

It comes with a very popular battery and it

is provided the CR2025, this is a very

popular button cell battery very readily

available in many different outlets, whether

you're in particular in supermarkets,

drug stores or online like Amazon.

It shows you in the back over here how to

place the battery in there which is with

the positive side up and you just pull

this out...

place the battery with the positive

insignia up, which is a little plus sign and

then you gently insert it back into the

remote. Now we're going to set up the

camera, so here I have a very popular

camera, this is the a6000. Now what you

need to do is you need to set up the

camera for IR remote, there is your IR

sensor, that's what has to be viewed by

the remote so they can make the contact.

So we're going to go into our menu and

we're going to go into the tool menu,

scroll over to the third folder and down

to where it says remote control and you

want it on the ON position, default is

OFF but I was already playing around

with this so I had it on ON. Face the camera

forward and I'm going to aim the remote

control at the IR indicator and I'm

going to press a button and there it goes,

it took a picture. Now remember, as I said,

you should have the remote in front of

the camera but right now in the Digital

Goja showroom I'm working with reflectors

so the IR beam is actually bouncing. If you

have a way to set it up that way it will

work for you but theoretically you

should be in front of the camera, but I

want to show you how all these work.

Here's the single shot, here is your two

second delay, here's your menu button you can

access the menu and using the up and

down arrows you can toggle around, here's

your playback button. So with this one

you can use the playback feature and you

can scroll back and forth between your

images by using again the toggling

arrows, you can even delete and it allows

you to delete the image. So this remote

is going to allow you to do a lot more

than you usually could do with a

standard IR remote, I mean look I can

even activate the info screen and check

my exposure my histogram everything.

So, there you have it

this is a very economical way to save

your battery and to be able to control

your Sony Alpha or NEX camera with an IR remote.

Happy shooting!

For more infomation >> Sony Camera Accessories: Remote Control for Sony Alpha and Nex Cameras | RMT-DSLR2 & RMT-DSLR1 Repl - Duration: 4:05.

-------------------------------------------

Get lifted - Eve LTD - Duration: 1:07.

For more infomation >> Get lifted - Eve LTD - Duration: 1:07.

-------------------------------------------

Update your channel icon on a computer - Duration: 0:42.

In this video, we'll show you how to update your channel icon on YouTube.

To get started, visit your channel.

You can do this by opening the Guide and clicking "My Channel".

Now hover over your channel icon and click the pencil icon.

When this window pops up, click "Edit".

>From here you can upload the new photo.

When you're finished, click on "Set as profile photo".

Now when you visit your channel, you should see your updated channel icon!

And that's it!

Subscribe to our channel for more tips and tricks.

For more infomation >> Update your channel icon on a computer - Duration: 0:42.

-------------------------------------------

Earth turmeric is good for what? See 10 Benefits of Earth Saffron for Your Body - Duration: 5:47.

ground turmeric is good for what?

See 10 Benefits Earth saffron for your body

Many people use saffron in your kitchen.

The main characteristics Crocus is the smell like the pepper aroma,

the sharp flavor and golden color.

Turmeric is known to decrease swelling, killing bacteria and virus and for many other

stuff.

It is also rich in nutrients such as protein, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamins C and E

and K, calcium, potassium, copper, iron, magnesium and zinc.

Because of this, saffron is excellent for cure health problems.

Here are the main uses of saffron:

1.

Cancer prevention Turmeric may block prostate cancer

and even kill cancer cells.

It can also prevent the growth of tumor cells, to protect the body

getting cancer in the first place.

2.

Relieves Arthritis Saffron reduces swelling, so it is

great for use in the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

It also kills the germs that harm body cells.

People with rheumatoid arthritis who eat saffron usually able to alleviate pain and

swelling in the joints.

3.

Controls diabetes Saffron can help in curing diabetes,

maintaining normal insulin levels.

It also helps control the sugar, and improves the result of the drugs used

to combat diabetes.

But if used with strong medications, turmeric may lower blood sugar levels

blood, so consult your doctor before taking turmeric capsules.

4.

Lowers cholesterol levels The use as a spice turmeric

You can lower cholesterol levels.

Because high cholesterol can cause other health problems, it is important to care

to prevent heart disease.

5.

Enhances immunity The turmeric help keep the immune system

body working well.

It also helps strengthen the immune system, since it kills bacteria, viruses and fungi.

This prevents colds, cough and flu.

To help you feel better if you get sick, mix one teaspoon of

turmeric in a glass of warm milk and drink once a day.

6.

healing wounds Saffron naturally kills germs and

bacteria, so it can be used to cleanse wounds.

If you have a cut or burn, sprinkle a little turmeric powder on it to

help heal faster.

It can also help treat psoriasis, itching, skin-dead and other disorders

skin.

7.

Weight control The turmeric powder can help maintain

body in a proper weight, helping to decompose the fat.

It is advisable to lose weight or treat obesity and the diseases that come with it,

eat a teaspoon of turmeric with every meal.

8.

Prevent Alzheimer's disease The swelling of the brain is a major

reasons to contract cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Saffron can keep the brain healthy, helping the flow of oxygen.

It can also slow down or stop completely Alzheimer's disease.

9.

Improves digestion Saffron can help in digestion, decreasing

swelling and gases.

It can also help in the treatment of disease inflammatory bowel.

But be careful, because if you suffer from a gallbladder disease should not take

saffron, it may make it worse.

Also, if you have a digestive problem, It is best to eat raw turmeric, not

capsules.

10.

Prevents liver disorders Saffron is a natural way to eliminate

liver poisons.

The liver removes blood poison, and saffron It helps to form the enzymes that keeps working.

It also helps to strengthen and improve blood flow.

All this helps keep the liver healthy.

Because of all the ways that saffron can help your health, add this plant

in your diet is a great idea.

Enjoy this video?

If you like the video, short, sign the channel and share with your friends.

For more infomation >> Earth turmeric is good for what? See 10 Benefits of Earth Saffron for Your Body - Duration: 5:47.

-------------------------------------------

Beth Hart and Jeff Beck I'd Rather Go Blind - Duration: 3:35.

For more infomation >> Beth Hart and Jeff Beck I'd Rather Go Blind - Duration: 3:35.

-------------------------------------------

Meg Smith - "Girls Like You"

For more infomation >> Meg Smith - "Girls Like You"

-------------------------------------------

Livestream of home robbery leaves couple terrified - Duration: 0:57.

For more infomation >> Livestream of home robbery leaves couple terrified - Duration: 0:57.

-------------------------------------------

Platinum Partners' Founder & CIO Among 5 Indicted In A $1 Billion Investment Fraud - Duration: 35:40.

OK. Good morning everyone and thank you

for being here today.

My name is Rob capers, I'm the US

Attorney for the Eastern District of New

York. I'm joined here today to my left by

William Sweeney Jr. He's the Assistant

Director in Charge of the New York

office of the FBI.

He's got his Assistant Special Agent in

Charge John Cazale to his left. To his

left is Thomas Boyle. He's the Assistant

Postal Inspector in Charge for the New

York Office of the Postal Inspection

Service. To his left is Andrew Ceresney.

He's the Director of Enforcement for the

SEC. Today we're announcing the arrest of

seven individuals associated with a New

York based hedge fund called Platinum

Partners. The defendant Mark Nordlicht,

Platinum's founder and Chief Investment

Officer, and co-defendant David Levy,

Platinum's co-Chief Investment Officer,

are both charged together with three other

co-defendants, with carrying out of 1

billion dollar scheme that defrauded

Platinum's investors. Beginning in 2012

and continuing through this year.

Nordlich and Levy are also charged

with together with two other

co-defendants with a scheme that

defrauded public bondholders. Now the

schemes are described in an eight count

indictment that was unsealed a short

time ago.

Director Ceresney will also discuss

the filing of a civil complaint by the

SEC and their parallel investigation.

But let me start by giving you some

background on the defendants. Nordlicht had

primary responsibility for the fund's

investment decisions and valuation of its

assets. Levy, who functioned as Nordlicht's

second-in-command, also drove

investment decisions and managed the

hedge fund's investment in Black Elk, an

Oil company that was one of Platinum's

largest assets. Uri Landesman was Platinum's

president and managing partner of

platinum's premier fund, the Platinum

Partner's Value Arbitrage Fund, or PPVA.

Joseph Sanfilippo was PPVA's Chief

Financial Officer. And Joseph Mann was a

Platinum employee,

who worked in their marketing department. And

these defendants have all been charged

for their participation in a 1 billion

dollar investment scheme. In short, these

defendants defrauded Platinum's

investors by falsely portraying that

their flagship -- hedge fund, PPVA was

thriving, when in fact was not. And by

overvaluing its assets, when in reality the assets

were doomed. And the fun was a sinking

ship.

Nevertheless between 2012 and 2016 Platinum

collected more than a hundred million

dollars in fees from the fund, based on

their inflated valuations. Now the

defendant, Daniel Small co-managed

Platinum's large investment in a company

named Black Elk. Black Elk Oil, along with Levy, and was

was also a member of Black Elk's

board of directors. Co-defendant Jeffrey

Schulse worked at Black Elk as its Chief

Financial Officer and later as its Chief

Executive Officer. Small and Schulse are

charged together with Nordlicht and Levy

with the second scheme which was a

scheme to defraud holders of Black Elk's

bonds. By beginning with the investment

scheme Platinum created the PPVA fund

in 2003. And every year since then,

through 2015, it reported on average

positive annual returns of 16.8 percent.

And not a single down year. This past

March, Platinum reported to the SEC that

its funds had 1.7 billion in assets

under management, or AUM, with 1 billion

of those assets in the PPVA fund. And

Platinum told investors that they could

redeem their investments from PPVA every

quarter, upon 60 days notice. Yet as early

as 2014 PPVA found itself in a cash

crunch, struggling to pay investors

redemptions, despite reporting in AUM of

nearly 1 billion dollars. Today

PPVA is in liquidation. So what happened?

As I said a moment ago, PPVA had a large

stake in the oil company Black Elk.In

November of 2012, a

Black Elk oil platform exploded, killing

three workers. Consequently Black Elk's oil

production went dramatically down it and

couldn't pay its bills. But that didn't

stop Platinum from continuing to

overvalue Black Elk at more than 280

million dollars.

Almost 40% of PPVA's assets. That

overvaluation of Black Elk came at a time

when PPVA was already struggling to pay

its investors redemptions. With PPVA so

heavily invested in oil, and specifically

and unprofitable oil companies, the defendants--

the defendants knew that they were in

too deep. But instead of changing course,

they just repackaged their oil and gas

portfolio under different names and kept

valuing those assets in the hundreds of

millions of dollars. They did this even

after the price of oil plummeted in late

2014.

Despite--and despite the price of oil

dropping from a hundred and five dollars

per barrel in 2013 to a low of 37

dollars per barrel in 2016, the

defendants still reported PPVA's oil

assets as worth between

184 and 245 million dollars, as a

December of last year. And what did those

high valuations get Platinum? Hefty fees

that they collected from the fund, which

further diminished PPVA's liquidity. The

defendants reacted to this cash crunch

by making high interest rate loans among

their various funds and selectively

paying investors redemptions, contrary to

PPVA's governing documents. And they also

hid these desperate measures from their

investors. Now if you look to my right,

your left, the first board shows just

what I've summarized. And if you can see the

board on the top shows PPVA in the

middle and the various funds, and how the

monies move through the funds through a

series of high interest loans and other

things, all to keep PPVA afloat. At the

bottom you can see that while Platinum

said PPVA's

AUM was going up year after year, in that

same period of time, the corresponding

price for barrels of oil went down. So

as you can see, Platinum's valuation of

their AUM didn't make sense, or square

with the fact that oil continue to

plummet. Now...Okay...

Now...

Now this is board number two. And number two

if you look at this board, this board

highlights the two stories related to

the financial health of PPVA. There was

the truth at the top, which was they were

in dire straits. And you can see that

they talked openly amongst themselves. And at

the bottom is the lie that they spun to

investors. So beginning with the first

email in the top row, from March of 2014 from Nordlicht

to Small, Nordlicht discusses PPVA's

illiquidity, or cash crunch, how the end of

the fund could actually be near, and how

they admitted that their mismanagement

of Black Elk or quote unquote the

Black Elk position was the blame.

Now in the next email on the bottom, from

Nordlicht to Sanfilippo, in April of 2015

Nordlicht asked if any new investors came in

and said, and I quote, the next use of

capital for PPVA should be to selectively

payback one Platinum investor and two

partners, including Landesman. And then

there's a December 2015 email between

Nordlicht and Landesman, which is the

third email, Nordlicht forwarded Landesman his

email between Landesman--

I'm sorry Nordlicht and a co-conspirator-- in

that email Nordlicht talks about how his

wife urged him to fly to Israel, if he

couldn't quote, "get a loan" unquote to say

PPVA. Landesman replied, and I quote, you

should get on the flight if there is no

loan, probably even if there is. And they

spoke about how very rough and

a shame it would be to share this with clients and employees,

that being the demise of the fund.

and Landesman hoped that Nordlicht's girls would re-acclimate nicely

to life outside of the country in Israel.

And so those are the three emails that

talk about the truth about how dire the

straits were. And in the bottom is the story

that they spun to investors. And you can

see in that bottom email in February

2016 Landesman,

copying Mann, emailed an investor and said

quote "the is fund sound" "new structure is

ideal" and "Mark", meaning the defendant

Nordlicht, "is really energized." Now if that

investment scheme wasn't enough, as I

mentioned before, there was a second

scheme. A fifty-million-dollar scheme to

defraud Black Elk's

bondholders by selling certain of

Black Elk's assets and diverting the

proceeds of that sale to Platinum itself

instead of to the bondholders who had

priority and being paid from those

proceeds over Platinum's interests. And

now how they do that? In short, the defendants

rigged a bondholder vote in mid-2014 by

lying to them and withholding the fact

that Platinum interest owned a majority

stake in the bonds and therefore

a majority vote on the issue.

Notably Platinum was required to

disclose its bond ownership to its other bondholders

and to exclude them from the

vote tally. However, that fact was never

disclosed, the vote passed, and Platinum

successfully diverted the proceeds from

that sale to themselves, instead of to

the bondholder. And if you look at the third

board, it lays out the scheme and shows

how once again the defendants spoke openly

to each other and lied to their investors,

in this case their bond holders. And as you

can see on the left, there is a July 2014 email

from Small to Nordlicht and Levy, all

co-conspirators in this crime, and Small

gives a breakdown of the total number of

bonds owned or controlled by Platinum. And

And you see on the bottom in red dots it's some

$98 million dollars in bond holdings.

Then you see on the right

how to defend it lied to the bondholders

about the number of bonds Platinum

actually controlled. And that on the

right captures the sum and substance of a letter

that was issued to the bondholders. And then

the bondholders in that letter where

they solicited their vote, the defendants

disclosed Platinum's control of only $18.3

million in bonds falsely

omitting the extra $80-plus million in

dollars and bond holdings

they actually controlled. And driving

home that lie, they said that other

than those $18.3 million in bond holdings, no one

else held under common control

of Platinum of any of those bonds. And

with those bonds, the defendants made sure

only $18.3 million of

their bond holdings were barred from

voting, and that the rest, that some $80

plus million bond holdings, cast their

vote in favor of Platinum taking the

proceeds. And in the email below in

August of 2014 where Schulse emailed Nordlicht,

Levy, and Small, they celebrated the fact

the vote had passed and they were able to collect

those proceeds. Now the charges relating

to these two schemes highlight the

brazenness and the breadth of the

defendants' web of lies and deceit.

These defendants name their fund after a

valuable and precious precious metal and

promised handsome annual returns to

its investors, returns that were befitting

of the 'platinum' designation. However, that

tangled web of lies and deceit became

even too much for the defendants to handle

and Platinum's house of cards came crashing

down earlier this year. Sadly, it was only

at that moment when the fund's investors

and the world finally got to see that

Platinum Partners held no more value than

a tarnished piece of cheap metal. Now in

conclusion, I'd like to thank the FBI and

the Postal Inspection Service for their

partnership an incredible investigative

work performed by the agents and postal

inspectors assigned to this case. I'd

also like to thank the SEC for their

continued partnership and for the

incredible work that their staff

attorneys did as part of this matter. And

finally I'd like to congratulate the

AUSAs who worked on this case. They're to my

right

AUSAs Winston Paes, Lauren Elbert, Alicyn Cooley,

and Sarah Evans, for their superior

work on this matter.

At this time I'll step aside and I'll call

to the podium Assistant Director in

Charge Bill Sweeney.

[William Sweeney] Good morning. As Mr. Capers just outlined,

for you

this case shows how several members of the

Platinum Partners allegedly manipulated

and lied to investors about the health

of investments they were making and then

plotted ways to cover up their actions. A

few things I'd like to highlight for

everybody here: emails detailed in the

indictment show these co-conspirators

discussed how to hide their lies from

investors one calling everything they

did to cover up their losses as the

quote "big stew".

When investigator--when investors

started asking for the returns that

would do to them on their own investments,

everyone started to panic.

That's when they went in search of new

money and new investors whom they also

lied to about the solvency of the

business. And then when the subjects in

this case realized they couldn't keep

hiding the fact that there was no money

they decided the easiest way out, was to

book flights out of the country. A

plan that was about as solid as their

fraud scheme to begin with. People who

invested their money did so hoping to

make a profit from Platinum Partners,

they didn't hand over large sums of cash

so the subjects could -- manipulated lie and

cheat them out of it.

The bureau and our law enforcement

partners work hard and we worked

together to stop these schemes and keep

fraudsters from be able to steal from

investors. But the people cooking the

books are very savvy at keeping their

actions hidden from view. This case

should prove that eventually the money

will run out, and those doing these types

of frauds will get caught. There is one

thing I'd like to stress, we do need

people who see things, and when they

don't make sense, or when they're getting

the runaround, to call us. What an

investor seas may be nothing, or as

illustrated in this case it could be a

fraud scheme resulting in millions of

dollars in losses for people who can't

afford to lose their money.

It is always worth a call. I'd like to

thank our partners in this, and so many

other cases, US Attorney Rob Capers the

Assistant US Attorneys to my right,

Winston Paes, Alicyn Cooley, Lauren Elbert,

and Sara Evans. United States Postal

Inspection Service Assistant

Inspector In-Charge Tom Boyle and the

Securities and Exchange Commission

Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney.

I'd also like to congratulate the

investigative team who are standing off

in the back who did an outstanding job of

putting this case together,

investigators Amber Jordan with the

Postal Inspection Service and FBI

Special Agents Craig Minsky, Julia Motto

and Supervisory Special Agent Tracie Razzagone

Your efforts did make a

difference. Thank you.

[Robert Capers] Next up will be Assistant a Postal

Inspector In-Charge Tom Boyle. [Tom Boyle] Thank you, Rob.

Good morning.

As one of the nation's oldest federal law enforcement agencies,

postal inspectors have a long proud and

successful history of fighting criminals

who misuse our nation's postal system to

defraud consumers and investors.

Postal Inspectors as well as our

partners here today from the US Attorney's

Office, the FBI and the SEC, have an

undaunted believe that there should be a

safe, honest, and fair playing field for

all investors, and not just for those who

have the means, expertise and access to

circumvent the system. This investigation

is emblematic of this commitment. The

crimes of these individuals from

Platinum were born out of nothing more

than deceitfulness and the continuation

of the contempt to fair

investment rules and regulations

governing the fair market. As alleged in

the indictment, defendants fraudulently

overvalued some of the funds level three

assets in order to boost performance

numbers, attract new investors, retain

existing investors, and extract high management

fees for themselves. From approximately

2012 through 2014 Platinum Management

received more than $91 million in

management and incentive fees, while

making misrepresentations and omissions

to investors and potential investors,

regarding the status of the fund. To make

matters worse, these individuals

selectively chose who would receive funds

from their redemption

requests as a way to further control what

is paid and to whom. When a redemption ,

request was made, they either paid it

with a loan or other companies they controlled

at a high interest rate --passing those

costs on to other investors. Some of -- Some

people believe this is a victimless

crime, only impacting trading houses that

have the means to to take a loss or

those who are wealthy; but this crime

touches many victims, including

people in this room.

The first being the average investor,

like you or me who dream of financial

independence. Second the economic markets

are damaged and left very unstable when

stock prices become manic based on these

fraudulent investments. And companies as

well as their investors lose millions.

These losses can have a rippling affect

from job security to the instability of the

financial well-being of the innocent

investors. What troubles me

about this case is a total disregard and

recklessness of the law, if you think

about it, these individuals manipulated

investments they were entrusted with the

investors. The money that the investors gave

them with the trust, they took full

advantage of it and they took it for

themselves.

Postal Inspectors and the investors--

Postal Inspectors want the investors to know

while these are no guarantees when investing,

will award you profits or money or

independence, that we are here to protect

the investors.

We work with the FBI the SEC and the US

Attorney's Office and we're undaunted

to protect your investments.

Thank you. Thank you, Rob. [Rob Capers] Next up will

be a SEC Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney.

[Andrew Ceresney] Thank you, Robert. Lower this a bit.

Today the SEC filed an enforcement

action charging Platinum Management one

of its principles, Mark Nordlicht and

seven other defendants with a wide range

of fraudulent practices at Platinum

Hedge Funds, which had over $1.6 billion

dollars in assets under management and

over 600 investors. We allege that this

scheme included overvaluation of illiquid

fund assets improper commingling of

monies among funds, improper preferential

redemptions, concealment of the funds'

liquidity problems, and a scheme to route

money to Platinum funds by defrauding

another company's investors. In brief, we

allege that this scheme centered around the

flagship Platinum fund – Platinum Partners

Value Albert Arbitrage fund, called PPVA, that

had, over time, weighted its investments

heavily in illiquid assets. Our complaint

alleges that the PPVA fund began

experiencing liquidity problems as early

as 2012 and that those problems kept

growing as investors look to redeem

their investments.

Despite the high-flying returns that

Platinum was reporting to investors in PPVA

of an average of 17 percent

annually from 2003 to 2015— and which were

largely comprised of unrealized gains in

illiquid investments— PPVA found itself

without sufficient catch to pay the

redemptions. In a candid email from June

16, 2014, Nordlicht admitted to Uri Landesman,

a managing partner of PPVA and a

co-defendant today's action, the dire

condition the fund was in. He wrote:

"It can't go on like this or practically

we will need to wind down. This is not a

rhetoric thing, it's just not possible to

manage net outflows of this magnitude.

I think we can overcome this, but this is

code red, we can't go on with the status

quo... ... We can't pay out 25 million dollars

in [redemptions] per quarter and have five come in."

Our complaint alleges that this

candid opinion of the dire situation was

not shared with fund's investors, or the

prospective investors they were pitching

to and obtained additional funds from.

Also hidden from investors was that one

of PPVA fund's

most highly valued assets of the last

few years, an oil production company

called Golden Gate Oil LLC, was significantly

overvalued. At the end of 2014, PPVA had

Golden Gate valued at $140 million

dollars.

However, we allege that in September of

2014, PPVA entered into a private

transaction in which it obtained complete

equity ownership of the company from its

partner at enterprise value of $6.2

million dollars – about a hundred thirty

four million dollars less than where that

... investment was being valued

on PPVA's balance sheet. Desperate to

manage the cash flow problem caused by the

ever-increasing redemptions an

overvalued illiquid investments, instead of

leveling with investors, we allege that

Nordlicht and his co-defendants opted for a

number of improper measures: First as

redemption requests came in, and the

fund's liquidity problems prevented full

payment of those requests, we allege that

Nordlicht and some of the other

defendants worked to hide the depth of the

problems from investors, concealing the

liquidity problems while attempting to

raise money from new investors. They also

paid certain redemption requests while

failing to pay others, improperly

favoring certain investors. Second, we

alleged that the defendants transferred monies

from one Platinum fund to another

contrary to the offering documents,

treating the funds as if they were

interchangeable in order to stave off

shortfalls in the PPVA fund. Defendants

also caused the funds to take out high-interest

loans to meet certain

redemption requests and other cash needs,

without disclosing the nature and

purpose of these loans to investors. And

third, we alleged the defendants

improperly extracted money out of a

portfolio company at the expense of the

company's non-Platinum investors.

According to the complaint, the

defendants hit their control over a

majority of publicly-traded notes in one

of their portfolio companies, Black Elk

Offshore Operations LLC, while arranging

for noteholders to vote on yielding

their payment priority to preferred

shareholders. Platinum affiliates

...constituted the vast majority

of the preferred shareholders, and that

rigged vote enabled Platinum entities to

benefit from about a hundred million

dollars that Nordlicht and is

co-defendants had Black Elk distribute to

the preferred shareholders, there by

defrauding the non-Platinum investors in

that portfolio company. In addition to

charging responsible individuals with

fraud, the Commission today is also

seeking a temporary restraining order to

install a receiver over the PPCO fund

and another fund, the Platinum Partners

Liquid Opportunity Fund, which remains

under Mr. Nordlicht's control. PPVA has been

in liquidation in the Cayman Islands, and

just this Friday the court there

appointed the interim liquidators to be

the joint official liquidators of the

PPVA master fund, so a receiver over

that fund is not necessary at this time.

Holding hedge fund managers accountable

for their wrongful conduct is critical

to the SEC's mission of protecting the

investing public. Over the years, we have

brought numerous cases against hedge

funds arising from improper valuations,

redemptions, misrepresentations to

investors, and other types of misconduct.

We allege that Nordlicht and the defendants

engaged in many types of misconduct and

abused their abuse their positions of

trust. Through today's action, we seek to

hold them accountable. In closing, I'd

like to thank US Attorney Rob Capers, William

Sweeney from the FBI,

Tom Boyle from the Postal Inspecton

and their teams for their amazing work

on this matter. Their work represents the

best in professionalism, dedication, and

public service. And I thank them for

their close collaboration and

coordination with the SEC on this matter

and on others.

Last I want to recognize the hard work

and dedication of the SEC staff in our

New York office that conducted this

investigation diligently and with great

enthusiasm. Their effort has been

exceptional, and I'm very proud of what

they have accomplished. The SEC personnel

are: Andrew Calamari, Sanjay Wadhwa,

Adam Grace, Jess Velona, Danielle Sallah,

Kenneth Bryne, Janna Berke, and our

litigation team of Kevin McGrath, Neal

Jacobson, and Alistaire Bambach.

Thank you very much.

[Robert Capers] Any questions, folks?

Yes, ma'am? [Reporter] Can you give us a sense of how many investors lost their money. And were they unions? Individuals?

[inaudible]...[Robert Capers] Well I think the victims vary. There are

various people invested in the funds.

There are individuals. There are other

hedge funds, funds of funds who invested

in PPVA. So the victims vary widely.

Yes, sir. [inaudible]

[Robert Capers] I don't know if it would be fair to call

it strictly a Ponzi scheme. There are

multiple layers to the fraud, including

overvaluation, failing to disclose the

...illiquidity of the fund. There

are certain allegations that are laid

out in the indictment that we've

discussed where there were high-interest

loans and new members who came in who

bought into the fund. And that those

monies were used to pay existing people

who were in the funds who were due

redemptions. So to some extent, there is a

Ponziesque portion to this scheme, but

it's only one of ...one part of a

multi-layered scheme. Yes, ma'am....[inaudible]

[Robert Capers] Well I can't speak to what the

liquidation is because there are... there

are proceedings that will deal with

assets on hand and so on and so forth.

I can tell you that we calculate the

loss from the scheme at $1 billion

dollars, based upon the defendant's

representation that there was assets

under management that... in that fund

that amounted to about 1 million...

$1 billion dollars.

Yes, ma'am....[inaudible]...[Robert Capers] I think that they

misrepresented to...to the people in the

fund, where the monies were coming from.

They misrepresented to various people

who were involved with auditing, and so

on and so forth,

how much assets were under management,

were on hand...Yeah....[inaudible]

[Robert Capers] I'm going to let ADIC Sweeney...

[William Sweeney] No. I wasn't trying... I wasn't trying to

reference a tip in this case, just a

general reminder to the public, if you

think something's wrong,

say something. And let the what the pros

in the room try to figure that out

for them, rather than let something

fester like this....[inaudible]

[William Sweeney] No I do not...[laughter]...[Robert Capers] Yes, ma'am....[inaudible]...Ceresney

[Andrew Ceresney] Yeah, we typically don't discuss the

source of the case. We do have an exam

program and they're active in

looking at funds like this, but I'm

not going to talk today about what their

role was...[inaudible]...[Andrew Ceresney] I'm not gonna talk about

what specifically...what's in

there is what we're going to say....[inaudible]...

[Robert Capers] I won't comment on I guess any of the

aspects of that question except to say

that we asked our investigation

continues as the indictment lays out and

that Southern District indictment that

is a matter related to public corruption

this is a securities fraud investigation

which is being which is a separate

investigation

yes sir [inaudible]...

[Robert Capers] Well I can't speak to that what i can

say is as far back as our investigation

which is alleged in the indictment to be 2012

we believe that these defendants

overvalued the value of the fund, misrepresented.

the amounts of

assets under management and and other

things as alleged in the indictment so I

can't say what the original intent was. I

can say what our investigation has

yielded. Yes sir?

[inaudible]...([Robert Capers] Well that liquidation proceeding is

occurring in the Cayman Islands. Our

investigation is the track that is laid

out in our indictment. I think that there

are aspects of that maybe the director

can speak to? You can speak to it? [Andrew Ceresney] We're typically in

touch with the liquidators and so I

think they would be communication with

them and and our team on the matter. [Robert Capers] Yes ma'am? [Inaudible]...

[Robert Capers] I mean actually it's a scheme to

defraud the bondholders, right? Platinum

Partners or there are people who

purchase bonds as a fundraising

mechanism for Black Elk Oil right? And so

there are rules and regulations that

allow for among other things

who should be compensated

first if there are certain assets that

are being sold and in that order the

bondholders have preference over Platinum Partners. What Platinum Partners did is they is

they hatched a scheme to have those

proceeds diverted to them as opposed to

the bondholders who were first in line

to be paid from the proceeds of that

sale and so they tried many things and

finally settled on rigging this

bondholder vote where they did not

disclose to them that they had a

majority holding in the bonds. By their

rules and regulations any preferred

bonds or bonds that were held by

Platinum Partners would be excluded from

the vote and if those folks knew that

they had a majority of them and they

would have known to ensure that those

folks voted that Platinum's entities

didn't have a place in the vote. They

didn't know that so Platinum voted for

the diversion of funds from these

people who were first in line, to them. I just

want to make sure I got that right. [inaudible]...[Robert Capers] Well

I don't guess. What I do is I

rely on what it was for purposes of our

investigation what they represented to

regulators and to their investing public and

that was 1 billion dollars. I won't

hazard a guess what their valued at now

and as the director stated they're in liquidation proceedings. [inaudible]

[Robert Capers] I can't say whether he did or not, but it

sounds like by the terms of the email

that he decided not to. Yes ma'am? [inaudible]...

[Robert Capers] Well there's a restitution component to

this and is a forfeiture component to this.

What we can never promise the investing

public is that we can make them whole

because we don't know how many assets or

how much assets on hand will be

available at the time that there is

either a guilty plea or finding of

guilt by a jury. Thanks everybody happy

holidays to you.

No comments:

Post a Comment