Romney Appears the Ohio Winner; Santorum Strong [NYT]
Mitt Romney appeared to pull off a narrow victory in Ohio on Super Tuesday but lost several other states to Rick Santorum, a split verdict that overshadowed Mr. Romney’s claim of collecting the most delegates and all but ensured another round of intense infighting on the road to the Republican presidential nomination.
Stanford Guilty in Ponzi Scheme [WSJ]
A federal jury found R. Allen Stanford guilty of masterminding a $7.1 billion Ponzi scheme, completing an extraordinary fall from grace for a wealthy financier once feted as a successful entrepreneur. After a criminal case that dragged on for nearly three years, a jury of eight men and four women on Tuesday convicted Mr. Stanford on 13 of the 14 charges brought by prosecutors, including fraud, obstructing investigators and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The verdict is a victory for the U.S. government, which targeted the chairman of Stanford Financial Group as part of a crackdown on white-collar crime following the financial crisis. He faces a maximum of 230 years in prison. Mr. Stanford's attorneys, while still under a court order to not discuss the case, told reporters they would appeal but didn't specify on what grounds.
Young Adults See Their Pay Decline [WSJ]
In data compiled for a coming report, the Economic Policy Institute, a center-left think tank in Washington, found that the average inflation-adjusted hourly wage for male college graduates aged 23 to 29 dropped 11% over the past decade to $21.68 in 2011. For female college graduates of the same age, the average wage is down 7.6% to $18.80. "New college graduates have been losing ground for 10 years," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the institute, which derived the figures from regular government wage surveys. The drop in average wages for young adults is in contrast to U.S. government figures showing that average inflation-adjusted hourly wages for production and nonsupervisory workers of all ages and education levels are up 3% from a decade ago.
Japan prosecutors charge key figures in Olympus scandal [Reuters]
Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday charged Olympus Corp and six key figures in the $1.7 billion accounting fraud at the camera and endoscope maker, tightening their case in the investigation of one of Japan's biggest corporate scandals. Prosecutors charged ex-chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice-president Hisashi Mori and former auditor Hideo Yamada with inflating the company's net worth in financial statements for the fiscal years ended March 2007 and 2008, in violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law.
Alabama, since you're wondering.
During a subcommittee hearing today where Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Schapiro was seeking an 18.5% budget increase, the chair of a congressional oversight committee contended that she would be “reticent to throw money at the SEC” until the regulator can prove it’s made significant improvements. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, a Missouri Republican who chairs the Committee on Appropriations subcommittee, expressed wariness about granting “another substantial funding increase” to the SEC and questioned Schapiro about whether the many pending rules on the agency’s docket will withstand scrutiny.