A Virginia man will spend more than seven years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme that bilked more than $5 million from more than 30 investors. John Mark Donnelly was sentenced Friday in federal court.


 
 President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law Friday, giving tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump. The bill-signing came a day after the House, displaying rare bipartisan agreement over the troubling employment picture nationally, voted 403-12 to pass the measure. The Senate had approved it unanimously on Wednesday.

I am glad that a company called Teletech Governmental Solutions in Englewood, Colorado used our stimulus funds to hire 635 call center employees to provide assistance to people transitioning to digital TV’s. But I would be happier if a single one of those TV’s were being made in the United States.


 
 Over the past couple of months a number of broker-dealers have been asked a new question by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority: How do you vet your cleaning crews? “This was the third question asked of three of our broker-dealer clients during their last exams,” said Rick Nummi, executive consultant at Accounting and Compliance International, and a former attorney in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s office of compliance and examinations. “The reason I think they are asking that question is that Charlie Sheen dressed up as a cleaning person to get insider information in the movie “Wall Street.’” In the wake of the Bernard Madoff investment scam, both Finra and the SEC have become much more aggressive in their audits — highlighted recently by the 14 arrests in the widening insider trading ring that allegedly ran through the hedge fund manager Galleon Group.

Members of Congress and the general public may not be aware of “potential emerging threats to the stability of the financial system,” thanks to a Thursday vote by a House panel shepherding the bill that’s supposed to end “too big to fail.” The vote was on an amendment offered by Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, and unanimously approved via a voice vote by the House Financial Services Committee during a meeting in which the bill was discussed.

Now it gets interesting. With the recovery at least beginning, European and now British regulators are clearly leaning toward a more competitive banking system with smaller players.


 
 A former hedge fund manager arrested earlier this year has been indicted on federal charges he participated in a $7 million insider trading scam. The indictment against 45-year-old Joseph Contorinis, a former managing director at Jefferies & Company, Inc.