http://shawcapitalmanagement-headlines.com/
Published October 17, 2011 | By Shaw Capital Management Headlines
Shaw Capital Management News on Hacker chief ‘Sabu’ on Being Fugitive
New York City guy linked to LulzSec and Incognito organizations by Shaw Capital Management news.
Among the reclusive frontrunners in the notorious and disbanded LulzSec hacking organization gave an online interview where he talked candidly concerning living being a sought internet offender, the successes and future of his previous organization and the concerns that one of his peers will ultimately bring him down.
From the conversation, section of a continuing “Ask Me Anything” thread on Reddit, Sabu says he is wedded, talks 3 languages fluently – English, Spanish and German – and started being a self-taught hacker in 2000. Though his answers are not really the facts, it seems Sabu is actually Puerto Rican, 30 years old and dwells within New York City.
Actually, Sabu might not suit the stereotypical “hacker” cast. He explained he likes repairing automobiles, enjoying music and getting together with his family members. “I am loving life a whole lot at the moment,” he said. “I rarely have time for [hacker operations] just like I did before.
What exactly keeps a 30-year-old contentedly wedded guy committed to the shadowy underground realm of activism? Sabu, additionally a part of Anonymous, says he is influenced by a single all-encompassing thought. “Revolution moves on thru my veins and it is denser than blood,” he explained.
It turned out this similar concept that ignited the fire in LulzSec and resulted in its distinctive hacks towards anyone through the U.S. Senate, the CIA and Nintendo to PBS, Fox.com and state internet sites in Brazil and Britain.
While it technically disbanded in late June – this organization came back a month afterwards to compromise The Sun’s web site and leak staff member names in retaliation for Rupert Murdoch’s sanctioned voicemail hacking – Sabu stated LulzSec continues to have a cache with delicate documents out of key companies, which includes more e-mails from The Sun it’s storing in Chinese providers, and data thieved from HSBC as well as “the few other banking institutions.”
LulzSec offers “loads of remarkable dumps we have been looking at because of time,” Sabu claimed.
However he confessed he is “on the run, Sabu is definitely a lot less concerned with the authorities locating him as compared to one of his ex- LulzSec peers ratting him away.
“The interesting angle would be that my very own buddies takes me down, but not those dummies who disguise behind a patriot veil,” he explained, making reference to the Jester, the pro-American hacker that continuously goads Sabu as well as other Anonymous associates on Twitter.
In case he is able to avert detectors and police arrest, Sabu says he intends to switch his intentions to education and desires to one day “release a number of books.” As much as Anonymous, Sabu doesn’t view the organization or its belief ceasing.
“I view it breeding a lot of groups plus political parties,” he explained. “This movement is definitely true. No more a web meme.
Showing posts with label shaw capital management scam warning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shaw capital management scam warning. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Shaw’s History
http://www.shawgrp.com/about/history
Shaw has experienced tremendous growth since it was founded in 1986 by Chairman, President and CEO J.M. Bernhard Jr. and two colleagues. Discover how a company that first specialized in pipe fabrication has become one of the world’s leading providers of engineering, construction, technology, fabrication, remediation and support services.
1986
The company is originally formed in 1986 under the name National Fabricators Inc. In 1987, National Fabricators Inc. changes its name to Shaw Industries Inc. Shortly thereafter it acquires certain assets of B.F. Shaw Inc., a Laurens, S.C., company.
1993
Shaw Industries and Abdulla Ahmed Nass (a Bahrainian entity) form Shaw Nass Middle East W.L.L. to operate a 60,000-square-foot fabrication facility in Bahrain to service the Middle East.
Shaw Industries, through a wholly owned subsidiary, and Formiconi C.A. form Shaw-Formiconi C.A. (now known as Manufacturas Shaw South America C.A.) to operate a 50,000-square-foot fabrication facility in Maracaibo, Venezuela, to service South and Latin America.
Shaw Industries acquires Shaw Sunland Fabricators Inc., a Louisiana pipe fabrication company, with a capability of 4,000 to 6,000 spools per month. This acquisition brings Shaw Industries employment to approximately 1,900 employees.
Shaw Industries changes its name to The Shaw Group Inc. (Shaw) and conducts an initial public stock offering of 3,125,000 shares at $14.50 per share. The common stock is first listed on the NASDAQ National Market.
Jim Bernhard, then president and CEO, is elected chairman of the Board of Directors.
1994
Shaw acquires Fronek Co. Inc. and F.C.I. Pipe Support Sales Inc.
1996
Shaw acquires Word Industries Fabricators Inc.
Shaw acquires stock of Alloy Piping Products Inc., a Louisiana manufacturer of carbon steel, alloy and stainless steel pipe fittings and other pipe products.
Shaw acquires the snubber and hydraulic restraints manufacturing business from Fronek A/DE Inc.
Shaw acquires Naptech Inc., a fabricator of industrial piping systems and engineered piping modules.
Shaw acquires stock of Pipe Shields Inc., a California manufacturer of pre-insulated pipe hanger supports.
1997
Shaw acquires two industrial constructors and project maintenance businesses, United Crafts Inc. (UCI) and Merit Industrial Constructors Inc.
Shaw acquires Cojafex B.V. of Rotterdam, Holland.
Shaw acquires Prospect Industries plc, which consists of Aiton Power Corp. (U.K. and Australia), Dunn Constructors, and C.B.P. Engineering Corp. Shaw added the previously acquired contractor PED to this group to form Shaw UK.
Shaw acquires Lancas C.A. (Lancas), a construction company in Punto Fijo, Venezuela.
2000
Shaw joins with Entergy Corp. to create EntergyShaw L.L.C., a new equally owned and jointly managed company to construct power plants in North America and Europe for Entergy’s unregulated wholesale operations.
Shaw acquires substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of Stone & Webster Inc., a 110-year-old engineering and construction company, bringing the total number of employees to more than 12,000.
Shaw’s Board of Directors authorizes a two-for-one stock split of common stock.
2001
Shaw breaks ground on a new 350,000-square-foot worldwide headquarters in Baton Rouge, La.
Jim Bernhard, Shaw’s chairman, president and CEO, is recognized by Ernst & Young as Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year.
2002
Shaw acquires substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of The IT Group Inc., bringing Shaw’s total number of employees to 18,000.
Shaw opens a new pipe fabrication facility in China.
2003
Shaw acquires stock of Envirogen Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, MWR Inc.
Shaw debuts on Fortune magazine’s Fortune 500 list at No. 479 with $3.2 billion in revenue for 2002.
Shaw acquires assets of Badger/P&C business from Washington Group International Inc.
Shaw acquires stock of Energy Delivery Services from Duke Energy Global Markets Inc.
2004
Shaw is named to Fortune magazine’s Fortune 500 list for the second consecutive year and also debuted on the magazine’s list of "America’s Most Admired Companies."
2005
Shaw is named as one of "America’s Most Admired Companies" by Fortune magazine for the second consecutive year.
Shaw joins Westinghouse in the AP1000® Consortium as architect engineer.
Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast region. A leader in emergency hurricane response work, Shaw is called upon to provide a broad range of services including power restoration, emergency provisions, housing and temporary roof repairs.
Shaw and its Louisiana-based subcontractors pump the floodwaters from New Orleans in 17 days. The experts predicted it would take three months.
2006
Shaw increases its credit facility to $750 million.
Shaw and its employees announce a total cash contribution of $1 million to hurricane relief and recovery efforts.
Shaw acquires maritime engineering and design firm Gottlieb, Barnett & Bridges (GBB).
Shaw reports record revenues of $4.8 billion and record backlog of $9.1 billion for fiscal 2006 and ends the fiscal year with more than 22,000 employees.
Shaw acquires a 20 percent ownership position in Westinghouse Electric Co., the world’s premier provider of power generating technology, equipment, licensing expertise, fuel and services for nuclear plants.
The People’s Republic of China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Co. (SNPTC) selects the Westinghouse/Shaw Consortium and Westinghouse’s AP1000 passive Generation III+ technology as the basis for four new nuclear power plants to be constructed in China.
2007
Shaw booked nearly $11 billion in new awards during fiscal year 2007, and its backlog of unfilled orders at Aug. 31, 2007, rose to a record $14.3 billion. Year-end revenues were $5.7 billion.
Shaw is named "Contractor of the Year" by Associated Builders and Contractors Association.
Shaw names Charlotte, N.C., as headquarters for its Power Group.
Shaw is awarded contracts for four major clean coal electric generating facilities for clients AEP, Dominion, Duke and Entergy.
Westinghouse and Shaw sign historic definitive contracts to provide four AP1000 nuclear power plants in China.
Shaw is awarded a maintenance and modifications services contract for Exelon Generation Co. LLC’s fleet of 17 nuclear stations, the largest nuclear fleet in the U.S.
Shaw increases its pipe fabrication and manufacturing volume capacity with the acquisitions of Mid States Pipe Fabrication, Inc. and Ezeflow (NJ) Inc. (TUBE-LINE), the reopening of its Tulsa, Okla., pipe fabrication facility, the expansion of its Sunland facility and the development of a new fabrication facility in Mexico.
Shaw is awarded a contract to provide technology, design, engineering, procurement and construction for ExxonMobil Chemical’s 1,000,000 tons-per-year olefins recovery facility and 220-megawatt power cogeneration unit in Singapore.
Shaw Capital Inc. is formed to identify, develop and execute proposed investments, including acquisitions of operating assets, expansions and retrofitting of existing facilities, new constructions and project development.
Shaw completes the Comprehensive Master Plan for Coastal Restoration and Hurricane Protection for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and is chosen by the South Florida Water Management District to provide comprehensive engineering services as part of the continued efforts to restore the Everglades.
Shaw is awarded a contract to perform engineering, procurement and construction management services for a 2,000 metric ton-per-year polysilicon manufacturing plant.
2008
Shaw opens a new office in Shanghai, China, to support the rapidly growing Chinese nuclear power industry, which includes Shaw’s ongoing work at plants in Sanmen and Haiyang.
Shaw begins project management, design and construction of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC) Surge Barrier project, the largest design-build project ever awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Shaw and Westinghouse sign historic contracts to build the first new commercial nuclear plants in the U.S. in more than 30 years. The team is awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Georgia Power Co., a subsidiary of Southern Company, for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units and related facilities. The team also is awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., principal subsidiary of SCANA Corp., and the South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units.
Cash flow generation, sizable cash balance and favorable end markets result in an upgrade to Shaw’s credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.
Shaw opens a new fabrication facility in Matamoros, Mexico, significantly increasing pipe fabrication capacity.
Shaw AREVA MOX Services LLC signs a final construction contract for the Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility in Aiken, S.C., where surplus weapons-grade plutonium is set to be transformed into nuclear fuel.
2009
Shaw and Westinghouse are awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Progress Energy Florida Inc., a subsidiary of Progress Energy, for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units in Levy Country, Fla.
Shaw opens a new office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to support its increasing activity throughout the Middle East.
Shaw and Westinghouse receive full notice to proceed from Southern Nuclear on its engineering, procurement and construction contract for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units near Augusta, Ga.
Shaw and Westinghouse, along with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. (SNPTC), reach milestones at the Sanmen nuclear power plant project in China, successfully completing placement of first nuclear concrete and also of the first major structural module.
Shaw and China’s SNPTC sign a strategic cooperation agreement, allowing both companies to issue tasks to support each other in China’s growing nuclear infrastructure business. SNPTC announced plans to build at least 30 new nuclear power plants in China by 2020.
Shaw changes its stock ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange from "SGR" to "SHAW" to better identify the company’s name with its stock.
The Shaw Group reaches record revenues of $7.3 billion for fiscal 2009.
Shaw completes an air quality control retrofit program for a fleet of three clean coal-fired power plants in Maryland for Mirant Mid-Atlantic, modernizing seven units.
2010
Shaw successfully completes an air quality control retrofit project for PPL Generation at its Brunner Island clean coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania.
Shaw achieves substantial completion of a new, 660-MW circulating fluidized bed petcoke-fired power plant for Cleco Power LLC in Louisiana after being awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract in 2005.
Shaw CEO, Chairman and President J.M. Bernhard Jr. participates in President Barack Obama’s announcement of the first conditional federal loan guarantee for new nuclear plant construction. Southern Company was awarded the guarantee for Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia, where Shaw is building two AP1000 commercial nuclear units.
For the third consecutive year, Shaw was named the power sector industry leader, according to Engineering News-Record’s list of Top 500 Design Firms.
2011
Shaw assumes full ownership of a joint venture with engineering company Rolta India Limited, advancing a strategic growth plan for the region.
Shaw acquires Florida-based Coastal Planning & Engineering Inc., expanding its coastal services spectrum and adding its first Brazil office to its global portfolio.
Teams from Shaw dispatch to Japan after an earthquake and tsunami to provide mitigation, remediation and recovery services at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.
Shaw’s IHNC Surge Barrier project helps the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reach 100-year storm protection on May 31, 2011, just before the start of hurricane season.
Shaw has experienced tremendous growth since it was founded in 1986 by Chairman, President and CEO J.M. Bernhard Jr. and two colleagues. Discover how a company that first specialized in pipe fabrication has become one of the world’s leading providers of engineering, construction, technology, fabrication, remediation and support services.
1986
The company is originally formed in 1986 under the name National Fabricators Inc. In 1987, National Fabricators Inc. changes its name to Shaw Industries Inc. Shortly thereafter it acquires certain assets of B.F. Shaw Inc., a Laurens, S.C., company.
1993
Shaw Industries and Abdulla Ahmed Nass (a Bahrainian entity) form Shaw Nass Middle East W.L.L. to operate a 60,000-square-foot fabrication facility in Bahrain to service the Middle East.
Shaw Industries, through a wholly owned subsidiary, and Formiconi C.A. form Shaw-Formiconi C.A. (now known as Manufacturas Shaw South America C.A.) to operate a 50,000-square-foot fabrication facility in Maracaibo, Venezuela, to service South and Latin America.
Shaw Industries acquires Shaw Sunland Fabricators Inc., a Louisiana pipe fabrication company, with a capability of 4,000 to 6,000 spools per month. This acquisition brings Shaw Industries employment to approximately 1,900 employees.
Shaw Industries changes its name to The Shaw Group Inc. (Shaw) and conducts an initial public stock offering of 3,125,000 shares at $14.50 per share. The common stock is first listed on the NASDAQ National Market.
Jim Bernhard, then president and CEO, is elected chairman of the Board of Directors.
1994
Shaw acquires Fronek Co. Inc. and F.C.I. Pipe Support Sales Inc.
1996
Shaw acquires Word Industries Fabricators Inc.
Shaw acquires stock of Alloy Piping Products Inc., a Louisiana manufacturer of carbon steel, alloy and stainless steel pipe fittings and other pipe products.
Shaw acquires the snubber and hydraulic restraints manufacturing business from Fronek A/DE Inc.
Shaw acquires Naptech Inc., a fabricator of industrial piping systems and engineered piping modules.
Shaw acquires stock of Pipe Shields Inc., a California manufacturer of pre-insulated pipe hanger supports.
1997
Shaw acquires two industrial constructors and project maintenance businesses, United Crafts Inc. (UCI) and Merit Industrial Constructors Inc.
Shaw acquires Cojafex B.V. of Rotterdam, Holland.
Shaw acquires Prospect Industries plc, which consists of Aiton Power Corp. (U.K. and Australia), Dunn Constructors, and C.B.P. Engineering Corp. Shaw added the previously acquired contractor PED to this group to form Shaw UK.
Shaw acquires Lancas C.A. (Lancas), a construction company in Punto Fijo, Venezuela.
2000
Shaw joins with Entergy Corp. to create EntergyShaw L.L.C., a new equally owned and jointly managed company to construct power plants in North America and Europe for Entergy’s unregulated wholesale operations.
Shaw acquires substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of Stone & Webster Inc., a 110-year-old engineering and construction company, bringing the total number of employees to more than 12,000.
Shaw’s Board of Directors authorizes a two-for-one stock split of common stock.
2001
Shaw breaks ground on a new 350,000-square-foot worldwide headquarters in Baton Rouge, La.
Jim Bernhard, Shaw’s chairman, president and CEO, is recognized by Ernst & Young as Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year.
2002
Shaw acquires substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of The IT Group Inc., bringing Shaw’s total number of employees to 18,000.
Shaw opens a new pipe fabrication facility in China.
2003
Shaw acquires stock of Envirogen Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, MWR Inc.
Shaw debuts on Fortune magazine’s Fortune 500 list at No. 479 with $3.2 billion in revenue for 2002.
Shaw acquires assets of Badger/P&C business from Washington Group International Inc.
Shaw acquires stock of Energy Delivery Services from Duke Energy Global Markets Inc.
2004
Shaw is named to Fortune magazine’s Fortune 500 list for the second consecutive year and also debuted on the magazine’s list of "America’s Most Admired Companies."
2005
Shaw is named as one of "America’s Most Admired Companies" by Fortune magazine for the second consecutive year.
Shaw joins Westinghouse in the AP1000® Consortium as architect engineer.
Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast region. A leader in emergency hurricane response work, Shaw is called upon to provide a broad range of services including power restoration, emergency provisions, housing and temporary roof repairs.
Shaw and its Louisiana-based subcontractors pump the floodwaters from New Orleans in 17 days. The experts predicted it would take three months.
2006
Shaw increases its credit facility to $750 million.
Shaw and its employees announce a total cash contribution of $1 million to hurricane relief and recovery efforts.
Shaw acquires maritime engineering and design firm Gottlieb, Barnett & Bridges (GBB).
Shaw reports record revenues of $4.8 billion and record backlog of $9.1 billion for fiscal 2006 and ends the fiscal year with more than 22,000 employees.
Shaw acquires a 20 percent ownership position in Westinghouse Electric Co., the world’s premier provider of power generating technology, equipment, licensing expertise, fuel and services for nuclear plants.
The People’s Republic of China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Co. (SNPTC) selects the Westinghouse/Shaw Consortium and Westinghouse’s AP1000 passive Generation III+ technology as the basis for four new nuclear power plants to be constructed in China.
2007
Shaw booked nearly $11 billion in new awards during fiscal year 2007, and its backlog of unfilled orders at Aug. 31, 2007, rose to a record $14.3 billion. Year-end revenues were $5.7 billion.
Shaw is named "Contractor of the Year" by Associated Builders and Contractors Association.
Shaw names Charlotte, N.C., as headquarters for its Power Group.
Shaw is awarded contracts for four major clean coal electric generating facilities for clients AEP, Dominion, Duke and Entergy.
Westinghouse and Shaw sign historic definitive contracts to provide four AP1000 nuclear power plants in China.
Shaw is awarded a maintenance and modifications services contract for Exelon Generation Co. LLC’s fleet of 17 nuclear stations, the largest nuclear fleet in the U.S.
Shaw increases its pipe fabrication and manufacturing volume capacity with the acquisitions of Mid States Pipe Fabrication, Inc. and Ezeflow (NJ) Inc. (TUBE-LINE), the reopening of its Tulsa, Okla., pipe fabrication facility, the expansion of its Sunland facility and the development of a new fabrication facility in Mexico.
Shaw is awarded a contract to provide technology, design, engineering, procurement and construction for ExxonMobil Chemical’s 1,000,000 tons-per-year olefins recovery facility and 220-megawatt power cogeneration unit in Singapore.
Shaw Capital Inc. is formed to identify, develop and execute proposed investments, including acquisitions of operating assets, expansions and retrofitting of existing facilities, new constructions and project development.
Shaw completes the Comprehensive Master Plan for Coastal Restoration and Hurricane Protection for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and is chosen by the South Florida Water Management District to provide comprehensive engineering services as part of the continued efforts to restore the Everglades.
Shaw is awarded a contract to perform engineering, procurement and construction management services for a 2,000 metric ton-per-year polysilicon manufacturing plant.
2008
Shaw opens a new office in Shanghai, China, to support the rapidly growing Chinese nuclear power industry, which includes Shaw’s ongoing work at plants in Sanmen and Haiyang.
Shaw begins project management, design and construction of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC) Surge Barrier project, the largest design-build project ever awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Shaw and Westinghouse sign historic contracts to build the first new commercial nuclear plants in the U.S. in more than 30 years. The team is awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Georgia Power Co., a subsidiary of Southern Company, for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units and related facilities. The team also is awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., principal subsidiary of SCANA Corp., and the South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units.
Cash flow generation, sizable cash balance and favorable end markets result in an upgrade to Shaw’s credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.
Shaw opens a new fabrication facility in Matamoros, Mexico, significantly increasing pipe fabrication capacity.
Shaw AREVA MOX Services LLC signs a final construction contract for the Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility in Aiken, S.C., where surplus weapons-grade plutonium is set to be transformed into nuclear fuel.
2009
Shaw and Westinghouse are awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Progress Energy Florida Inc., a subsidiary of Progress Energy, for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units in Levy Country, Fla.
Shaw opens a new office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to support its increasing activity throughout the Middle East.
Shaw and Westinghouse receive full notice to proceed from Southern Nuclear on its engineering, procurement and construction contract for two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power units near Augusta, Ga.
Shaw and Westinghouse, along with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. (SNPTC), reach milestones at the Sanmen nuclear power plant project in China, successfully completing placement of first nuclear concrete and also of the first major structural module.
Shaw and China’s SNPTC sign a strategic cooperation agreement, allowing both companies to issue tasks to support each other in China’s growing nuclear infrastructure business. SNPTC announced plans to build at least 30 new nuclear power plants in China by 2020.
Shaw changes its stock ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange from "SGR" to "SHAW" to better identify the company’s name with its stock.
The Shaw Group reaches record revenues of $7.3 billion for fiscal 2009.
Shaw completes an air quality control retrofit program for a fleet of three clean coal-fired power plants in Maryland for Mirant Mid-Atlantic, modernizing seven units.
2010
Shaw successfully completes an air quality control retrofit project for PPL Generation at its Brunner Island clean coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania.
Shaw achieves substantial completion of a new, 660-MW circulating fluidized bed petcoke-fired power plant for Cleco Power LLC in Louisiana after being awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract in 2005.
Shaw CEO, Chairman and President J.M. Bernhard Jr. participates in President Barack Obama’s announcement of the first conditional federal loan guarantee for new nuclear plant construction. Southern Company was awarded the guarantee for Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia, where Shaw is building two AP1000 commercial nuclear units.
For the third consecutive year, Shaw was named the power sector industry leader, according to Engineering News-Record’s list of Top 500 Design Firms.
2011
Shaw assumes full ownership of a joint venture with engineering company Rolta India Limited, advancing a strategic growth plan for the region.
Shaw acquires Florida-based Coastal Planning & Engineering Inc., expanding its coastal services spectrum and adding its first Brazil office to its global portfolio.
Teams from Shaw dispatch to Japan after an earthquake and tsunami to provide mitigation, remediation and recovery services at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.
Shaw’s IHNC Surge Barrier project helps the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reach 100-year storm protection on May 31, 2011, just before the start of hurricane season.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Shaw Capital Management
Specialist in International Shipping
Welcome to Shaw Capital Management
Value of great service... Help grow your business...
Shaw Capital Management and Financing provide same-day-funding. We can help you meet your cashflow needs immediately without entering into a long term factoring relationship. The money you get for the freight bills we purchase is payment in full.
Shaw Capital Management and Financing offer a complete line of factoring services, purchase order funding, asset based financing, accounts receivable management, and other related financial services.
Shaw Capital Management and Financing offer funding for a wide range of industries and flexible funding requirements that most businesses can easily qualify for.
Based in Baltimore, Maryland. Importing into the tri-state area mostly from the far east such as China, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.
For your convenience, we have associate offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Seoul in S Korea.
At Shaw Capital Management - No financials needed - and with Flexible terms...
Welcome to Shaw Capital Management
Value of great service... Help grow your business...
Shaw Capital Management and Financing provide same-day-funding. We can help you meet your cashflow needs immediately without entering into a long term factoring relationship. The money you get for the freight bills we purchase is payment in full.
Shaw Capital Management and Financing offer a complete line of factoring services, purchase order funding, asset based financing, accounts receivable management, and other related financial services.
Shaw Capital Management and Financing offer funding for a wide range of industries and flexible funding requirements that most businesses can easily qualify for.
Based in Baltimore, Maryland. Importing into the tri-state area mostly from the far east such as China, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.
For your convenience, we have associate offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Seoul in S Korea.
At Shaw Capital Management - No financials needed - and with Flexible terms...
Monday, October 3, 2011
Shaw Capital Management Scam Info: Royal Scam: Why Media’s Excessive Royal Wedding Coverage Is Appalling And Wrong
http://warning.shawcapitalmanagementscaminfo.com/2011/05/shaw-capital-management-scam-info-royal-scam-why-media%E2%80%99s-excessive-royal-wedding-coverage-is-appalling-and-wrong/
http://www.mediaite.com/online/royal-scam-why-news-medias-excessive-royal-wedding-coverage-is-apalling-and-wrong/
by Colby Hall | 12:05 pm, April 29th, 2011
Watching the wall-to-wall royal wedding coverage on the network morning shows and cable news networks this morning, it is easy to forget that every one of them is supposedly run by a “news” division. Wall-to-wall is not figurative term but a literal one. Give the people what they want right?
But wait, a recent poll by the New York Timesand CBS found that about 28% of Americans were following the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton “very closely” or “somewhat closely,” a number that eclipses even the rosiest estimates of NASCAR fandom. Now, imagine if every NASCAR race of the past 20 years happened on the same day.
Yes, it has become fashionable to bash the saturation coverage of the royal wedding, but the the problem isn’t with the amount of coverage, or even the expense, but with what it costs us. This spectacle illustrates the degree to which profit-driven “giving the people what they want” has undercut journalism’s true purpose.
There have been a great number of people who have openly admonished the news media for royal wedding “circus act.” In fact, the only subject more hackneyed than royal wedding commentary on Twitter of late, is people complaining about the royal wedding commentary. These hipper-than-thou critiques ignore the fact that the royal wedding is a rare “real-life” vestige of a myth that runs deep in our culture. Quick, name a Disney movie that didn’t have a princess or a prince in it.
There was a time, though, when you could have a gloriously decadent royal wedding cake, and eat it, too, by having a news media that devoted adequate resources to fulfilling its public service obligation. But times have changed, and so too have the apparent strategy of network news. Former ObserverEIC Kyle Pope summed it up best on a recent tweet, writing “The big TV networks show their true stripes, investing hugely in royal wedding coverage while letting their foreign bureaus die.”
Yes, by any measure, the decision makers at both network and cable news divisions went long on the royal wedding, spending millions of dollars of the very budget that they constantly carp about being so diminished. And remember lay-offs of the last year? Think of the poor news producer who was recently let go due to a lack of funds, who must be thinking “I was fired for this?!”
The thinking behind the news director’s decisions is crystal clear; British royalty (particularly with regards to Princess Diana) was big media business in “the Colonies,” and so the thinking is that we will collectively be very interested in the next Princess. Given the difference in the times, and the public hits that the Monarchy has taken in the interim, it’s doubtful that Kate Middleton will ever get to Princess Di status. In much the same way, we are unlikely to enjoy an omnipresent news media with resources in every corner of the world.
Of course, there were only three (real) channels back then, and only sixteen or so programming hours to fill. E! was just another letter in the alphabet, Bravo was just something you hollered at the opera, and MTV was just a jukebox with pictures. You didn’t have to do much more than point your camera at the happy couple to be guaranteed a huge audience. Nowadays, the fierceness of the competition is manifested in amped-up graphics, increasingly tangential guest “experts,” and a crowding-out of…everything else. Especially — and rather sadly — real news coverage.
But its not just the news media, the media watchdogs are largely complicit. Even the thoughtful Poynter Institute collected Twitter reactions from a various media critics, and nary one was actually critical of the coverage, nor questioned the gross amount of overkill involved.
The recent Tornado disaster in the Southern part of the country perfectly illustrates the stark disconnect between NY based news staffers and, well, the rest of the country. Over 300 people have died as a result of this catastrophe, but the cable news networks have all reported more on the royal wedding than the tornadoes in the South, judging by a topic search on TV Eyes. Don’t worry though, real-time reports on the devastation in the South could still be found…by civilians on the ground uploading videos and reports via YouTube and Twitter. Is it any wonder that so many Americans so deeply distrust the American media?
One can cynically presume that many in the news business saw a trip to London (vis-à-vis the royal wedding) as a classic media boondoggle. And while its too soon to know the ratings and how this investment has paid off, the coverage does feel a little shoved down our collective throats right now. With apologies to Steely Dan, it all feels a lot like the royal scam.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/royal-scam-why-news-medias-excessive-royal-wedding-coverage-is-apalling-and-wrong/
by Colby Hall | 12:05 pm, April 29th, 2011
Watching the wall-to-wall royal wedding coverage on the network morning shows and cable news networks this morning, it is easy to forget that every one of them is supposedly run by a “news” division. Wall-to-wall is not figurative term but a literal one. Give the people what they want right?
But wait, a recent poll by the New York Timesand CBS found that about 28% of Americans were following the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton “very closely” or “somewhat closely,” a number that eclipses even the rosiest estimates of NASCAR fandom. Now, imagine if every NASCAR race of the past 20 years happened on the same day.
Yes, it has become fashionable to bash the saturation coverage of the royal wedding, but the the problem isn’t with the amount of coverage, or even the expense, but with what it costs us. This spectacle illustrates the degree to which profit-driven “giving the people what they want” has undercut journalism’s true purpose.
There have been a great number of people who have openly admonished the news media for royal wedding “circus act.” In fact, the only subject more hackneyed than royal wedding commentary on Twitter of late, is people complaining about the royal wedding commentary. These hipper-than-thou critiques ignore the fact that the royal wedding is a rare “real-life” vestige of a myth that runs deep in our culture. Quick, name a Disney movie that didn’t have a princess or a prince in it.
There was a time, though, when you could have a gloriously decadent royal wedding cake, and eat it, too, by having a news media that devoted adequate resources to fulfilling its public service obligation. But times have changed, and so too have the apparent strategy of network news. Former ObserverEIC Kyle Pope summed it up best on a recent tweet, writing “The big TV networks show their true stripes, investing hugely in royal wedding coverage while letting their foreign bureaus die.”
Yes, by any measure, the decision makers at both network and cable news divisions went long on the royal wedding, spending millions of dollars of the very budget that they constantly carp about being so diminished. And remember lay-offs of the last year? Think of the poor news producer who was recently let go due to a lack of funds, who must be thinking “I was fired for this?!”
The thinking behind the news director’s decisions is crystal clear; British royalty (particularly with regards to Princess Diana) was big media business in “the Colonies,” and so the thinking is that we will collectively be very interested in the next Princess. Given the difference in the times, and the public hits that the Monarchy has taken in the interim, it’s doubtful that Kate Middleton will ever get to Princess Di status. In much the same way, we are unlikely to enjoy an omnipresent news media with resources in every corner of the world.
Of course, there were only three (real) channels back then, and only sixteen or so programming hours to fill. E! was just another letter in the alphabet, Bravo was just something you hollered at the opera, and MTV was just a jukebox with pictures. You didn’t have to do much more than point your camera at the happy couple to be guaranteed a huge audience. Nowadays, the fierceness of the competition is manifested in amped-up graphics, increasingly tangential guest “experts,” and a crowding-out of…everything else. Especially — and rather sadly — real news coverage.
But its not just the news media, the media watchdogs are largely complicit. Even the thoughtful Poynter Institute collected Twitter reactions from a various media critics, and nary one was actually critical of the coverage, nor questioned the gross amount of overkill involved.
The recent Tornado disaster in the Southern part of the country perfectly illustrates the stark disconnect between NY based news staffers and, well, the rest of the country. Over 300 people have died as a result of this catastrophe, but the cable news networks have all reported more on the royal wedding than the tornadoes in the South, judging by a topic search on TV Eyes. Don’t worry though, real-time reports on the devastation in the South could still be found…by civilians on the ground uploading videos and reports via YouTube and Twitter. Is it any wonder that so many Americans so deeply distrust the American media?
One can cynically presume that many in the news business saw a trip to London (vis-à-vis the royal wedding) as a classic media boondoggle. And while its too soon to know the ratings and how this investment has paid off, the coverage does feel a little shoved down our collective throats right now. With apologies to Steely Dan, it all feels a lot like the royal scam.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Shaw Capital Working Management Tips: A nuclear stock that’s not radioactive
It took a bit of looking…but here’s a nuclear stock that’s UP today.
Shares in nuclear services provider EnergySolutions Inc. (ES-N 6.93 0.05 0.73%) have jumped more than 11 percent on hopes that the company, which manages spent fuel and decommissions site, will benefit both from more stringent regulation in the industry and the big cleanup in Japan. Avondale Partners analyst Daniel Mannes says the company has relatively little exposure to new nuclear plants.
Meanwhile, investors are once again dumping engineering and construction giant Shaw Group (SHAW-N 33.87 -0.42 -1.22%), which is part of a group planning to build nuclear plants around the world. The shares have dropped from more than $40 US last week.
Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions may be up today but the stock has been a miserable performer longer- term—as of this morning it was down 60 percent in three years.
After founder and CEO Steve Creamer resigned last month (the CFO quit in December), FBR Capital Markets analyst Alex Rygiel cut his rating to underperform, warning that the company had lost its “architect.”
Utah politicians have been trying to ban imports of foreign nuke waste after EnergySolutions tried to biring in low-level waste from closed Italian plants, a plan that has since been scrapped.
"Utah is not the place for the world's radioactive garbage," says one local Democrat.
The House of Representatives has passed the ban but it sounds like its advocates may have trouble getting Senate support. The Salt Lake Tribune says “new U.S. Senator Mike Lee was an attorney representing EnergySolutions in its legal fight to win the right to import foreign waste.”
Shares in nuclear services provider EnergySolutions Inc. (ES-N 6.93 0.05 0.73%) have jumped more than 11 percent on hopes that the company, which manages spent fuel and decommissions site, will benefit both from more stringent regulation in the industry and the big cleanup in Japan. Avondale Partners analyst Daniel Mannes says the company has relatively little exposure to new nuclear plants.
Meanwhile, investors are once again dumping engineering and construction giant Shaw Group (SHAW-N 33.87 -0.42 -1.22%), which is part of a group planning to build nuclear plants around the world. The shares have dropped from more than $40 US last week.
Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions may be up today but the stock has been a miserable performer longer- term—as of this morning it was down 60 percent in three years.
After founder and CEO Steve Creamer resigned last month (the CFO quit in December), FBR Capital Markets analyst Alex Rygiel cut his rating to underperform, warning that the company had lost its “architect.”
Utah politicians have been trying to ban imports of foreign nuke waste after EnergySolutions tried to biring in low-level waste from closed Italian plants, a plan that has since been scrapped.
"Utah is not the place for the world's radioactive garbage," says one local Democrat.
The House of Representatives has passed the ban but it sounds like its advocates may have trouble getting Senate support. The Salt Lake Tribune says “new U.S. Senator Mike Lee was an attorney representing EnergySolutions in its legal fight to win the right to import foreign waste.”
Shaw Capital Working Management Tips: Fred Stephens: How lax management contributed to Seattle school scandal
In early 2005, as construction cranes dominated the skyline, African-American activists demanded that Seattle Public Schools give more work to minority contractors. Their complaints had grown louder as public agencies ended affirmative action in the years after passage of Initiative 200.
"I want my jobs back, or I'm going to be a thorn in somebody's side, OK?" Harold Wright, an electrical contractor, said during a February 2005 School Board meeting.
Within weeks, Wright said, he and other contractors were introduced to Fred Stephens at a meeting with then-schools Superintendent Raj Manhas.
Stephens, who had spent most of his career in government, soon was hired as the district's facilities director and began mending relations between the School Board and minority-owned construction firms.
And on paper, he succeeded. Millions of dollars in contracts were flowing and the tension with minority contractors eased.
In reality, the program was steadily collapsing under the weight of mismanagement. On June 28, five years after he took the job, the district called Seattle police to report an alleged theft of $35,000 by the man Stephens hired as a liaison to the contractors.
That very day, Stephens was nailing down details of his new job, a top post with former Gov. Gary Locke at the U.S. Commerce Department in Washington, D.C., that he had sought for more than a year.
Stephens would be there, 2,700 miles away, as auditors closed in on a financial scandal that would cost Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson her job.
While political and financial costs for the district have mushroomed, Stephens, 64, has been largely silent. He declined to answer more than a dozen detailed questions, responding only with a few terse e-mails to The Seattle Times. He puts the blame solely on Silas W. Potter Jr., the manager who ran the contracting program.
Stephens' friends say a family tragedy may have contributed to his lax oversight of Potter. Stephens says he believes investigations "will demonstrate that I have committed no wrong doing."
But a series of expert reviews found that, despite one warning after another, Stephens allowed Potter to turn the minority-business program into a favor factory, doling out at least $1.8 million in questionable or wasteful contracts.
The consequences of Stephens' "major management failure," as one investigator called it, are piling up.
Stephens' bosses got fired this month. The well-intended program he built was quietly killed. At least two contractors say they've hired lawyers in anticipation of a criminal investigation by Seattle police and King County prosecutors.
And because auditors found the program was improperly funded with construction money, the district was forced to reimburse $2.4 million from operating funds, which pay for teachers.
The School Board itself became a target of angry parents, having played an enabling role in the scandal by lavishing praise on Potter and Stephens instead of asking hard questions.
"A huge success"
Stephens came to the school district with decades of government experience. He worked 11 years for Locke, following him from King County government to Olympia. Stephens was the governor's deputy chief of staff before joining his Cabinet as the state Department of Licensing director.
A number of former colleagues said Stephens, who holds a divinity degree from Yale University, was quietly competent and a straight-arrow.
As facilities director, he was responsible for renovating and constructing new schools, maintaining nearly 100 buildings and fielding concerns from moldy classrooms to lead pipes. Minority contracting was a small part of his portfolio. He started at $106,000, but over time Goodloe-Johnson raised his salary to $150,000.
One of his first hires was Potter, who he put in charge of the district's Historically Underutilized Business program, intended to help minority- and female-owned firms.
Although Potter, who had been a furniture mover with the district, was considered unqualified by a hiring committee, Stephens gave him authority to award small construction contracts. The program took off.
"I was the toast of the town in the black neighborhood," Potter told The Times in a recent interview.
Stephens also basked in the praise, Potter said. An African-American business group, Tabor 100, gave Stephens its Crystal Eagle award at a 2006 banquet.
Potter made his first presentation to the School Board that year and talked about the program's huge success. As he spoke, Ron English, one of the district's attorneys, grew alarmed by what he felt was an exaggerated amount of contracting work.
He later went to Stephens to warn him about Potter's numbers.
According to English, Stephens replied, "Yeah, but we need to make the program look good."
Signs of trouble
Contracts approved by Potter began crossing the desk of Richard Staudt, the district's risk manager. Staudt saw a disturbing pattern. Invoices in 2006 and 2007 were so overpriced, he would later tell auditors, that he went to Stephens and raised the potential of fraud.
One $32,000 contract, to remove portable classrooms, was awarded without bidding; the contractor then turned around and subcontracted the same job for $9,000. To Staudt, such contracts appeared ripe for kickbacks.
Potter's work was "sloppy" but not fraudulent, Stephens later told auditors. He claimed he informally reprimanded Potter.
Charges of favoritism and shoddy construction work emerged as well. Just before school started in 2007, a manager inspecting two remodeled kitchens found the floors unfinished. At one school, the plumbing sat in a pile.
By summer 2008, the trade unions latched on to problems with one of Potter's preferred contractors, Solar West, after learning the firm hired day laborers outside a Home Depot for $8 an hour.
State regulators later ordered Solar West to pay $57,000 in back wages, but it failed to do so, and the district had to pay instead.
Dave O'Meara of the painters union said he went to Stephens to complain about Potter. "I definitely got the feeling when I walked out of there that Fred (Stephens) was acting as a firewall."
Some district employees viewed Potter as a con man and were puzzled why Stephens seemed to protect him.
Amid mounting concerns, a confident Potter again briefed the School Board in September 2008. While his presentation was even rosier than the last, Potter admitted his written report contained bad numbers and that he had lobbied lawmakers in Olympia in "secret."
Stephens took the microphone from Potter, saying he planned to hire someone else to manage the small construction projects.
Board members, who didn't seem fazed by their admissions, heaped praise on Potter. Board member Cheryl Chow went so far as to plead with him not to look for work elsewhere.
"This is really a huge success, and we're grateful to you and Mr. Stephens ... " said board member Michael DeBell.
"You're one of the most highly respected individuals in the small-business community," board member Harium Martin-Morris told Potter. "You represent the district very well in that community."
Violent death of son
As Stephens was trying to manage Potter, his personal life was in turmoil.
His son Frederick Stephens III, 25, drowned in a hot tub on Feb. 3, 2008, after a night of partying ended in a fight with an acquaintance. The incident led to a three-week murder trial for which Stephens took leave to attend.
"Fred was obviously distracted," said John Charles, a friend and former co-worker.
As the trial was about to get under way, The Sutor Group, a consultant hired by the district, issued what would be the first of three critical reports.
It found a small number of contractors got a disproportionate amount of the district work and that Potter was ignoring policies and procedures with little oversight.
Stephens formally reprimanded him and took away his authority to grant small construction contracts.
But he let Potter keep the original program created in 2005 that focused on preparing minority contractors to do business with the district. The annual budget for the program ballooned to more than $1 million.
Stephens also let Potter hire three new employees — all of whom appeared to have had personal connections to Potter — despite a hiring freeze. They were so unqualified that a consultant had to be hired to train them, according to former King County prosecutor Patricia Eakes, an investigator hired by the School Board.
Potter's program relied on the use of outside consultants, some of whom did little or no apparent work. Potter, in an interview with The Times, said, "The bottom line is that I followed directions from Stephens."
One consultant, Tony Orange, a longtime civil-rights activist, submitted a single, vague $45,000 invoice for all of 2009. He was paid to recruit apprentices for the building industry, including getting them drivers' licenses. But he billed for classes and meetings that did not occur, according to the recently released state audit.
Efforts to reach Orange by state auditors, the district and The Times were unsuccessful.
By late 2009, Potter, on district time, began planning to create a private version of the district's program. He sent Stephens his plan last March. Stephens warned Potter not to work on the venture during business hours, but later admitted to Eakes that he failed to follow up. Stephens told her he hadn't clamped down harder because he "trusted" Potter.
If Stephens was too trusting, it wasn't the first time he had a blind spot.
When Stephens was with King County, his secretary stole about $24,000, court records show. Carol Stevenson forged her name on county-issued checks, ran up a county credit card and gave herself an unauthorized $10-an-hour raise. She was convicted of theft and reimbursed the county.
Stephens told the court he had given her "total access to every operation."
Looking ahead
As Potter was planning his future on district time, so was Stephens.
Within a week of Locke's swearing in as secretary of commerce in 2009, Stephens sent and received a flurry of e-mails from work as he sought a top job with the former governor.
His initial attempts weren't fruitful, but he kept lobbying for a job with Locke.
Last May, John Charles, Stephens' friend who was working for Locke, told Stephens he would soon be brought to Washington for interviews. "I felt Fred needed a change of venue," Charles said, referring to Stephens' family tragedy.
At least on paper, Potter and Stephens appeared to still hold each other in high regard. In a May e-mail copied to Goodloe-Johnson, Stephens wrote: "Silas, you are awesome."
A week later, Stephens learned that Potter nominated him for an award given by the group Our Black Fathers.
But the two men soon parted ways.
Potter resigned June 7, although Stephens would keep him on as a $55-an-hour consultant. The same day, Stephens was in Washington, D.C., for interviews.
On June 15, the program Stephens and Potter had built imploded.
State auditors effectively killed it by ruling the district could not spend capital funds on minority-outreach programs unless the money was tied to a specific construction project.
Potter's consulting contact was terminated days later. The district was soon calling police about its missing $35,000 check that had been deposited in Potter's bank account. He later returned the money.
Stephens resigned July 14. In September, the school district quietly ended the small-business program.
By then Stephens had settled into his new $155,000 job as Commerce's deputy assistant secretary for administration, where his duties include oversight of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.
Staff reporters Jim Brunner, Mike Carter, Linda Shaw, Christine Willmsen and news researcher David Turim contributed to this report. Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com. Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com.
"I want my jobs back, or I'm going to be a thorn in somebody's side, OK?" Harold Wright, an electrical contractor, said during a February 2005 School Board meeting.
Within weeks, Wright said, he and other contractors were introduced to Fred Stephens at a meeting with then-schools Superintendent Raj Manhas.
Stephens, who had spent most of his career in government, soon was hired as the district's facilities director and began mending relations between the School Board and minority-owned construction firms.
And on paper, he succeeded. Millions of dollars in contracts were flowing and the tension with minority contractors eased.
In reality, the program was steadily collapsing under the weight of mismanagement. On June 28, five years after he took the job, the district called Seattle police to report an alleged theft of $35,000 by the man Stephens hired as a liaison to the contractors.
That very day, Stephens was nailing down details of his new job, a top post with former Gov. Gary Locke at the U.S. Commerce Department in Washington, D.C., that he had sought for more than a year.
Stephens would be there, 2,700 miles away, as auditors closed in on a financial scandal that would cost Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson her job.
While political and financial costs for the district have mushroomed, Stephens, 64, has been largely silent. He declined to answer more than a dozen detailed questions, responding only with a few terse e-mails to The Seattle Times. He puts the blame solely on Silas W. Potter Jr., the manager who ran the contracting program.
Stephens' friends say a family tragedy may have contributed to his lax oversight of Potter. Stephens says he believes investigations "will demonstrate that I have committed no wrong doing."
But a series of expert reviews found that, despite one warning after another, Stephens allowed Potter to turn the minority-business program into a favor factory, doling out at least $1.8 million in questionable or wasteful contracts.
The consequences of Stephens' "major management failure," as one investigator called it, are piling up.
And because auditors found the program was improperly funded with construction money, the district was forced to reimburse $2.4 million from operating funds, which pay for teachers.
The School Board itself became a target of angry parents, having played an enabling role in the scandal by lavishing praise on Potter and Stephens instead of asking hard questions.
"A huge success"
Stephens came to the school district with decades of government experience. He worked 11 years for Locke, following him from King County government to Olympia. Stephens was the governor's deputy chief of staff before joining his Cabinet as the state Department of Licensing director.
A number of former colleagues said Stephens, who holds a divinity degree from Yale University, was quietly competent and a straight-arrow.
As facilities director, he was responsible for renovating and constructing new schools, maintaining nearly 100 buildings and fielding concerns from moldy classrooms to lead pipes. Minority contracting was a small part of his portfolio. He started at $106,000, but over time Goodloe-Johnson raised his salary to $150,000.
One of his first hires was Potter, who he put in charge of the district's Historically Underutilized Business program, intended to help minority- and female-owned firms.
Although Potter, who had been a furniture mover with the district, was considered unqualified by a hiring committee, Stephens gave him authority to award small construction contracts. The program took off.
"I was the toast of the town in the black neighborhood," Potter told The Times in a recent interview.
Stephens also basked in the praise, Potter said. An African-American business group, Tabor 100, gave Stephens its Crystal Eagle award at a 2006 banquet.
Potter made his first presentation to the School Board that year and talked about the program's huge success. As he spoke, Ron English, one of the district's attorneys, grew alarmed by what he felt was an exaggerated amount of contracting work.
He later went to Stephens to warn him about Potter's numbers.
According to English, Stephens replied, "Yeah, but we need to make the program look good."
Signs of trouble
Contracts approved by Potter began crossing the desk of Richard Staudt, the district's risk manager. Staudt saw a disturbing pattern. Invoices in 2006 and 2007 were so overpriced, he would later tell auditors, that he went to Stephens and raised the potential of fraud.
One $32,000 contract, to remove portable classrooms, was awarded without bidding; the contractor then turned around and subcontracted the same job for $9,000. To Staudt, such contracts appeared ripe for kickbacks.
Potter's work was "sloppy" but not fraudulent, Stephens later told auditors. He claimed he informally reprimanded Potter.
Charges of favoritism and shoddy construction work emerged as well. Just before school started in 2007, a manager inspecting two remodeled kitchens found the floors unfinished. At one school, the plumbing sat in a pile.
By summer 2008, the trade unions latched on to problems with one of Potter's preferred contractors, Solar West, after learning the firm hired day laborers outside a Home Depot for $8 an hour.
State regulators later ordered Solar West to pay $57,000 in back wages, but it failed to do so, and the district had to pay instead.
Dave O'Meara of the painters union said he went to Stephens to complain about Potter. "I definitely got the feeling when I walked out of there that Fred (Stephens) was acting as a firewall."
Some district employees viewed Potter as a con man and were puzzled why Stephens seemed to protect him.
Amid mounting concerns, a confident Potter again briefed the School Board in September 2008. While his presentation was even rosier than the last, Potter admitted his written report contained bad numbers and that he had lobbied lawmakers in Olympia in "secret."
Stephens took the microphone from Potter, saying he planned to hire someone else to manage the small construction projects.
Board members, who didn't seem fazed by their admissions, heaped praise on Potter. Board member Cheryl Chow went so far as to plead with him not to look for work elsewhere.
"This is really a huge success, and we're grateful to you and Mr. Stephens ... " said board member Michael DeBell.
"You're one of the most highly respected individuals in the small-business community," board member Harium Martin-Morris told Potter. "You represent the district very well in that community."
Violent death of son
As Stephens was trying to manage Potter, his personal life was in turmoil.
His son Frederick Stephens III, 25, drowned in a hot tub on Feb. 3, 2008, after a night of partying ended in a fight with an acquaintance. The incident led to a three-week murder trial for which Stephens took leave to attend.
"Fred was obviously distracted," said John Charles, a friend and former co-worker.
As the trial was about to get under way, The Sutor Group, a consultant hired by the district, issued what would be the first of three critical reports.
It found a small number of contractors got a disproportionate amount of the district work and that Potter was ignoring policies and procedures with little oversight.
Stephens formally reprimanded him and took away his authority to grant small construction contracts.
But he let Potter keep the original program created in 2005 that focused on preparing minority contractors to do business with the district. The annual budget for the program ballooned to more than $1 million.
Stephens also let Potter hire three new employees — all of whom appeared to have had personal connections to Potter — despite a hiring freeze. They were so unqualified that a consultant had to be hired to train them, according to former King County prosecutor Patricia Eakes, an investigator hired by the School Board.
Potter's program relied on the use of outside consultants, some of whom did little or no apparent work. Potter, in an interview with The Times, said, "The bottom line is that I followed directions from Stephens."
One consultant, Tony Orange, a longtime civil-rights activist, submitted a single, vague $45,000 invoice for all of 2009. He was paid to recruit apprentices for the building industry, including getting them drivers' licenses. But he billed for classes and meetings that did not occur, according to the recently released state audit.
Efforts to reach Orange by state auditors, the district and The Times were unsuccessful.
By late 2009, Potter, on district time, began planning to create a private version of the district's program. He sent Stephens his plan last March. Stephens warned Potter not to work on the venture during business hours, but later admitted to Eakes that he failed to follow up. Stephens told her he hadn't clamped down harder because he "trusted" Potter.
If Stephens was too trusting, it wasn't the first time he had a blind spot.
When Stephens was with King County, his secretary stole about $24,000, court records show. Carol Stevenson forged her name on county-issued checks, ran up a county credit card and gave herself an unauthorized $10-an-hour raise. She was convicted of theft and reimbursed the county.
Stephens told the court he had given her "total access to every operation."
Looking ahead
As Potter was planning his future on district time, so was Stephens.
Within a week of Locke's swearing in as secretary of commerce in 2009, Stephens sent and received a flurry of e-mails from work as he sought a top job with the former governor.
His initial attempts weren't fruitful, but he kept lobbying for a job with Locke.
Last May, John Charles, Stephens' friend who was working for Locke, told Stephens he would soon be brought to Washington for interviews. "I felt Fred needed a change of venue," Charles said, referring to Stephens' family tragedy.
At least on paper, Potter and Stephens appeared to still hold each other in high regard. In a May e-mail copied to Goodloe-Johnson, Stephens wrote: "Silas, you are awesome."
A week later, Stephens learned that Potter nominated him for an award given by the group Our Black Fathers.
But the two men soon parted ways.
Potter resigned June 7, although Stephens would keep him on as a $55-an-hour consultant. The same day, Stephens was in Washington, D.C., for interviews.
On June 15, the program Stephens and Potter had built imploded.
State auditors effectively killed it by ruling the district could not spend capital funds on minority-outreach programs unless the money was tied to a specific construction project.
Potter's consulting contact was terminated days later. The district was soon calling police about its missing $35,000 check that had been deposited in Potter's bank account. He later returned the money.
Stephens resigned July 14. In September, the school district quietly ended the small-business program.
By then Stephens had settled into his new $155,000 job as Commerce's deputy assistant secretary for administration, where his duties include oversight of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.
Staff reporters Jim Brunner, Mike Carter, Linda Shaw, Christine Willmsen and news researcher David Turim contributed to this report. Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com. Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com.
Shaw Capital Working Management Tips: Time to Pause: Risks of Nuclear in the Volatile Middle East and North Africa Region
Over the last few years, while talk of a nuclear power ‘renaissance’ was spreading globally, Middle Eastern and North African countries have been rushing to jump on the commercial nuclear power bandwagon. As posted in Green Prophet recently, the unfolding Japanese nuclear crisis should serve a warning for a politically volatile region prone to earthquakes and other man-made disasters. Here’s a brief review of how far some of these countries have come in building their first commercial nuclear plants and key issues at stake.
Major nuclear plans
According to the World Nuclear Association, the Arab region holds the densest concentration on earth of countries seeking to generate nuclear electricity for the first time. If all goes according to plan, it is estimated that reactors will start coming online by 2017 or 2018, with more following through 2030.
Virtually all the Middle East and North African countries are actively considering the development of a nuclear power program. Even Sudan, Algeria, Libya and Morocco have nuclear energy proposals in earlier stages. However, the United Arab Emirates’ program is the one that is the most developed, with nuclear power from the first plant of a 14-strong fleet planned to be on the electricity grid by 2017.
The UAE’s demand for electricity over the next 10 years is forecasted to grow at a rate of 9 per cent per year, and nuclear power is seen as a key component of the country’s long-term energy strategy.
Jordan, which imports approximately 95 per cent of its energy needs, is planning to introduce nuclear power calls for nuclear energy to generate 30 per cent of the country’s electricity by 2040. Building a 750-1100MW nuclear power plant will start in 2013, to begin operating in 2018. A second plant is to begin operating in 2025.
Unlike most of the other countries in the region, Egypt has been considering developing a civilian nuclear power program for approximately 60 years. Egypt’s refusal to ratify the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons until 1981 put a delay to these ambitious plans. However the decision was taken in 2007, to proceed with a national nuclear power program involving building four nuclear power plants by 2025.
Saudi Arabia seeks nuclear too
Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, increasing energy demand is forcing the Kingdom to look at all possible sources of energy, including nuclear. In August 2009, Saudi Arabia formally announced that it was considering implementing a nuclear power program. This announcement was followed in April 2010 by the establishment of King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energy which states that “the development of atomic energy is essential to meet the Kingdom’s growing requirements for energy to generate electricity, produce desalinated water and reduce reliance on depleting hydrocarbon resources”.
Last April, Saudi Arabia announced it would set aside a section of the capital, Riyadh, to be powered solely by nuclear energy, and two months later, the Saudi government announced a joint venture with a Japanese company, Toshiba, and two American companies, the Shaw Group and Exelon, to build and run two nuclear plants to generate electricity.
Which brings us to the business dimension of nuclear energy. There’s big business deal making in building and operating nuclear plans, which explains the international corporate and political interests involved. Reactors cost billions of dollars to set up, and require foreign know how and expertise.
The U.S. signed a nuclear cooperation deal with Tunisia similar to the one it inked with the United Arab Emirates last year. Russia signed agreement to help Kuwait develop a nuclear power program, and France has deals with both Tunisia and Kuwait. Meanwhile, Jordan drew up a pact earlier with Japan, allowing huge suppliers like Mitsubishi and Toshiba to sell reactors there while Egypt was until recently seeking international bids for the construction contract for its first coastal Mediterranean site.
Why the rush?
Motivations for going nuclear differ but diversification of the energy sectors to cope with the growing energy needs has been the major publicly stated factor. There is of course a general underlying fear that Iran will use its nuclear facilities to manufacture fuel for atomic bombs and a long held assumption that Israel, already secretly joined the nuclear weapon countries.
In addition to the widespread suspicion that civilian nuclear power is a “covert preparation for a nuclear arms race”, for anyone monitoring the news on nuclear the last few years, there is also a sense that for may of these governments having nuclear power is a symbol of national prestige or honor, showcasing regional leadership in scientific and technological knowledge.
Absence of “nuclear culture”
While all the nuclear power programs in MENA are at different stages of development, in each case nuclear plants will be newly built. Each state must develop the infrastructure, legal/security framework, as well as nuclear safety procedures needed for a building a nuclear power program entirely from scratch. In a region with limited qualified worker expertise and unique labor market conditions, building a “nuclear culture” committed to quality, safety, accountability, and performance will be a challenge.
The complexity on the human resources side cannot be pushed aside. Building and operating nuclear plants also requires hundreds of specialists and trained engineers potentially creating an over-reliance on foreign nuclear expertise and technology. It will take decades of careful and planned preparation to make this skill available domestically as importing low skilled foreign workers, common practice in the construction industry, is not a viable option.
At an agency meeting last summer, Abdelmajid Mahjoub, Chairman of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency, said “the use of atomic energy is an inevitable choice in the development of Arab countries.”
But the world has changed since last summer. Revolutions are breaking up, tensions and frustrations on the street are running high, political divisions across the region are widening, while natural disasters are threatening sophisticated reactors which have been built to withstand “known” quakes, all of which make the idea of nuclear plants in North Africa and the Middle East very unsettling.
Nuclear commercial energy is still too risky anywhere in the world, but particularly in the Arab world, it cannot be part of the solution for the future energy security of the region.
Major nuclear plans
According to the World Nuclear Association, the Arab region holds the densest concentration on earth of countries seeking to generate nuclear electricity for the first time. If all goes according to plan, it is estimated that reactors will start coming online by 2017 or 2018, with more following through 2030.
Virtually all the Middle East and North African countries are actively considering the development of a nuclear power program. Even Sudan, Algeria, Libya and Morocco have nuclear energy proposals in earlier stages. However, the United Arab Emirates’ program is the one that is the most developed, with nuclear power from the first plant of a 14-strong fleet planned to be on the electricity grid by 2017.
The UAE’s demand for electricity over the next 10 years is forecasted to grow at a rate of 9 per cent per year, and nuclear power is seen as a key component of the country’s long-term energy strategy.
Jordan, which imports approximately 95 per cent of its energy needs, is planning to introduce nuclear power calls for nuclear energy to generate 30 per cent of the country’s electricity by 2040. Building a 750-1100MW nuclear power plant will start in 2013, to begin operating in 2018. A second plant is to begin operating in 2025.
Unlike most of the other countries in the region, Egypt has been considering developing a civilian nuclear power program for approximately 60 years. Egypt’s refusal to ratify the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons until 1981 put a delay to these ambitious plans. However the decision was taken in 2007, to proceed with a national nuclear power program involving building four nuclear power plants by 2025.
Saudi Arabia seeks nuclear too
Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, increasing energy demand is forcing the Kingdom to look at all possible sources of energy, including nuclear. In August 2009, Saudi Arabia formally announced that it was considering implementing a nuclear power program. This announcement was followed in April 2010 by the establishment of King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energy which states that “the development of atomic energy is essential to meet the Kingdom’s growing requirements for energy to generate electricity, produce desalinated water and reduce reliance on depleting hydrocarbon resources”.
Last April, Saudi Arabia announced it would set aside a section of the capital, Riyadh, to be powered solely by nuclear energy, and two months later, the Saudi government announced a joint venture with a Japanese company, Toshiba, and two American companies, the Shaw Group and Exelon, to build and run two nuclear plants to generate electricity.
Which brings us to the business dimension of nuclear energy. There’s big business deal making in building and operating nuclear plans, which explains the international corporate and political interests involved. Reactors cost billions of dollars to set up, and require foreign know how and expertise.
The U.S. signed a nuclear cooperation deal with Tunisia similar to the one it inked with the United Arab Emirates last year. Russia signed agreement to help Kuwait develop a nuclear power program, and France has deals with both Tunisia and Kuwait. Meanwhile, Jordan drew up a pact earlier with Japan, allowing huge suppliers like Mitsubishi and Toshiba to sell reactors there while Egypt was until recently seeking international bids for the construction contract for its first coastal Mediterranean site.
Why the rush?
Motivations for going nuclear differ but diversification of the energy sectors to cope with the growing energy needs has been the major publicly stated factor. There is of course a general underlying fear that Iran will use its nuclear facilities to manufacture fuel for atomic bombs and a long held assumption that Israel, already secretly joined the nuclear weapon countries.
In addition to the widespread suspicion that civilian nuclear power is a “covert preparation for a nuclear arms race”, for anyone monitoring the news on nuclear the last few years, there is also a sense that for may of these governments having nuclear power is a symbol of national prestige or honor, showcasing regional leadership in scientific and technological knowledge.
Absence of “nuclear culture”
While all the nuclear power programs in MENA are at different stages of development, in each case nuclear plants will be newly built. Each state must develop the infrastructure, legal/security framework, as well as nuclear safety procedures needed for a building a nuclear power program entirely from scratch. In a region with limited qualified worker expertise and unique labor market conditions, building a “nuclear culture” committed to quality, safety, accountability, and performance will be a challenge.
The complexity on the human resources side cannot be pushed aside. Building and operating nuclear plants also requires hundreds of specialists and trained engineers potentially creating an over-reliance on foreign nuclear expertise and technology. It will take decades of careful and planned preparation to make this skill available domestically as importing low skilled foreign workers, common practice in the construction industry, is not a viable option.
At an agency meeting last summer, Abdelmajid Mahjoub, Chairman of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency, said “the use of atomic energy is an inevitable choice in the development of Arab countries.”
But the world has changed since last summer. Revolutions are breaking up, tensions and frustrations on the street are running high, political divisions across the region are widening, while natural disasters are threatening sophisticated reactors which have been built to withstand “known” quakes, all of which make the idea of nuclear plants in North Africa and the Middle East very unsettling.
Nuclear commercial energy is still too risky anywhere in the world, but particularly in the Arab world, it cannot be part of the solution for the future energy security of the region.
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