A December study of Justice Department records showed that federal prosecutions of financial crimes have dropped dramatically nationwide over the past six years, despite the recent media frenzy over big-time Ponzi schemes and insider trading scandals. The Southern District of New York saw a similar trend, which some may find disturbing considering Wall Street has been the epicenter of most financial scandals of the past two years. Washington legislators have latched on to a USA Today study that found in 2009 there was a 55% drop in corporate fraud cases, a 44% drop in bankruptcy fraud cases, and a 17% drop in securities fraud charges when compared to 2003

Remember the last scene of “The Shawshank Redemption,” when Andy Dufresne is fixing his boat on the beach in Mexico? I’ve always loved the resolution of that movie because our innocent hero has triumphed over evil and walked away with enough money to live the rest of his life exactly as he wants. The rebel in me also delights in the fact that because Andy is officially missing, he has slipped through the bureaucracy and is finally free of the Internal Revenue Service

A look at where investors should put their money next year, with Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup, and Gene Peroni, a portfolio manager at Advisors Asset Management.

Will the “January Effect” Prove Faithful This Year? by Sheena Martin , Contributing Editor Tuesday, December 29, 2009 If you want to bank on a reliable market opportunity, you’d better pay close attention. January is just around the corner and a trend known as the “ January Effect ” gives your money potential to multiply.

New York-based Optima Fund Management, a $6 billion fund of hedge funds, thinks farming is a growing business. Chief Executive Dixon Boardman announced Monday that Optima has already raised $100 million for a new fund called American Farmland Co., with the intention of acquiring about 10,000 acres of Arizona farmland and California vineyards in the next year. According to Mr.

If it felt like you were reading a story about a different Ponzi scheme nearly every day, that’s because you probably were: There were an estimated 150 such investment scams broken up this year, for an average of roughly three Ponzis a week in 2009. ( View the year of the Ponzi, in pictures.

E lectricity producer Boralex Inc. BLX-T said Tuesday that it has teamed with new European partner Cube Infrastructure Fund to buy three wind farms in France for $115-million. Boralex, which employs 300 people at 22 power stations in Canada, the United States and France, said the acquisition will increase its installed wind power capacity in Europe to 170 megawatts.