Stanford receiver files $1 billion in clawbacks

The Stanford Financial Group receiver has filed suit against more than 500 investors and Stanford employees, seeking to recover nearly $1 billion. Ralph Janvey filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Dallas, saying the clawbacks serve an “ultimate purpose” to reclaim for the estate as much of the fraudulent funds as possible. Those funds, Janvey claims in the suit, do not belong to the investors or employees who obtained them. Instead, “the money the investors received was not their money, was not a return on their investment, and was not generated by any of [Stanford International Bank’s] other business ventures.” They were, according to Janvey, merely funds of a Ponzi scheme being funneled through Stanford Group Company, Stanford Financial Group and Stanford International Bank to maintain the appearance of a working financial institution.

Janvey says Stanford advisers were used by the Ponzi scheme to continue the fraud. It is still unclear whether or not charities that received donations from Stanford entities and advisers will be subject to clawbacks. These clawback claims come from Janvey in direct opposition to an Emergency Motion filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission just over a week ago which sought to discredit the Janvey’s clawbacks and strip him of any power to clawback against what they said are innocent investors. To read the lawsuits, click here and here. For a list of the investors named, click here.—Olivia Watkins

Report says La. will recover from recession by 2012

The number of jobs in Louisiana is expected to return to pre-recession levels by 2012, according to a new report. IHS Global Insight says the state will recover quickly from the recession, since there was never a housing bubble and because of the oil industry.

According to preliminary figures from the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the state had about 15,000 fewer jobs in June, when compared with numbers from a year earlier. IHS says states in the Northeast and industrial Midwest will emerge more slowly from the recession; Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Rhode Island aren't projected to return to pre-recession job levels until after 2015.

Business Report reveals top 100 companies

Business Report is out with its annual list of the Capital Region's Top 100 private companies. It was a good year for industrial construction, with heavy builders comprising six of the top 10 spots. Read the complete coverage of Baton Rouge's big businesses here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.

Shaw gets share of contract for S.C. nuclear plants

A consortium comprised of the Shaw Group and Westinghouse Electric Company has been awarded a contract to provide maintenance and engineering to three South Carolina nuclear power plants. Details of the contract with South Carolina Electric & Gas Company were not released. The deal calls for Shaw and Westinghouse to provide service for the existing V.C. Summer Nuclear Station Unit 1, as well as Units 2 and 3, which are set to open in 2016 and 2019. This is an extension of an existing contract Shaw and Westinghouse have to build the two proposed plants.

Hollywood Casino reports revenue drop

Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge brought in 5% less in the second quarter than it did a year ago. The riverboat casino posted $31.3 million in the three-month period ending June 30, compared with $33.1 million in the second quarter of 2008. Penn National Gaming Inc., Hollywood's parent company, says second-quarter profits were down 23%, below expectations, due to lower-than-expected results at casinos in Indiana, West Virginia and New Mexico. The company says casino revenues were down 6% to $580.8 million from $620.6 million last year.

LSU professor gets grant to study energy source

Blaise Bourdin, an LSU math professor, has been awarded a $314,139 grant from the National Science Foundation to look at ways to use rocks and water to produce energy. Bourdin will study enhanced geothermal systems, an alternative energy source in which heat is created by circulating water through artificially stimulated fractures in rocks. He'll use LSU supercomputers and the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative to develop new models to create fractures in rocks.

Microsoft, Yahoo agree on long-sought search deal

Microsoft Corp. has finally roped Yahoo Inc. into an Internet search partnership, capping a convoluted pursuit that dragged on for years and finally setting the stage for the rivals to make an all-out assault against the dominance of Google Inc. The 10-year deal announced today gives Microsoft access to the Internet's second-largest search engine audience, adding a potentially potent weapon to the software maker's Internet arsenal as it tries to better confront Google, the leader in online search and advertising.

The extended reach will allow Microsoft to introduce its recently upgraded search engine, called Bing, to more people. The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker believes Bing is just as good, if not better, than Google's search engine. Taking over the search responsibilities on Yahoo's highly trafficked site gives Microsoft a better chance to convert Web surfers who had been using Google by force of habit.

In return for turning over the keys to its search engine to Bing and promoting it, Yahoo will get to keep 88% of the revenue from all search ad sales on its site for the first five years of the deal, and will have the right to sell ads on some Microsoft sites. Yahoo estimated the deal will boost its annual operating profit by $500 million and save the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company about $275 million on capital expenditures a year because it won't have to invest in its own search technology.

Durable goods orders drop 2.5% in June

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods plunged in June by the largest amount in five months, reflecting the continuing troubles in the auto industry and a steep drop in demand for commercial aircraft. The Commerce Department says orders for durable goods fell 2.5% last month, much larger than the 0.6% decline that economists had expected. It was the biggest setback since a 7.8% fall in January.

Much of the weakness reflected a 38.5% decline in orders for commercial aircraft, an industry that has been hurt by the global recession, which has crimped air travel and triggered some airlines to cancel existing orders for planes.

Orders for motor vehicles and parts fell by 1% in June, after an even larger 8.7% drop in May. The weakness reflected the disruptions caused by the bankruptcy filings of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which shut their plants for most of June, plus the need for the entire industry to work down a backlog of unsold cars.

Poll: Use money for B.R. to N.O. rail

Just over half of respondents to a Daily Report poll say the state should use its share of federal money to build a high-speed railroad between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Twenty-one percent of people who participated in the survey say the money should be used to tie in with a proposed national high-speed rail network, 16% say the money should be used to upgrade railroad crossings across Louisiana and 8% say the state should turn down the money. Nearly 1,400 people participated in the poll. Congress has dedicated $8 billion to fund high-speed rail and the Obama administration is accepting proposals from the states to use the money to build a national network.

Today's question: A recent report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranked Louisiana 49th for child welfare. Do you believe Louisiana is a good state in which to raise children?