Brazilian settles insider-trading charges tied to Burger King buyout

Igor Cornelsen — a 64-year-old Brazilian man who lives part time in Boca Raton and is a resident of the Bahamas — agreed to pay $5.1 million to settle insider trading charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with trading in securities of Burger King ahead of its acquisition by New York private-equity firm 3G Capital Partners Ltd.

The SEC said Cornelsen, a retired banker and customer of Wells Fargo bank, was tipped off to confidential information about the Burger King deal by his broker Waldyr da Silva Prado Neto, who worked for Wells Fargo in Miami.

“Is the sandwich deal going to happen?’’ Cornelsen asked Prado in one of several emails cited by the SEC.

Prado, 42, a Brazilian with a U.S. work visa, left the United States in September and returned to Brazil when the SEC filed charges against him, the agency said. He was working at Morgan Stanley at the time. Prado’s U.S. assets have been frozen and charges against him are pending, the SEC said.

“Cornelsen shamelessly prodded Prado for details on ‘the sandwich deal’ and Prado happily obliged to satisfy his customer’s appetite for inside information,” Daniel M. Hawke, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit, said in a statement.

Insider trading has become a high-profile priority of the SEC in recent years. In a statement, SEC attorney Sanjay Wadhwa, associate director of the agency’s New York Regional Office, said, “Foreign investors who access the U.S. capital markets must play by the rules and not rig the market in their favor, otherwise they face getting caught by the SEC and paying a hefty price as Cornelsen is here.”

According to the SEC, Cornelsen bought call options through his British Virgin Island holding company, Bainbridge Group, giving him the right to purchase Burger King stock at a certain price.

He netted more than $1.68 million in profit when Burger King’s stock price jumped on the news of the buyout by 3G Capital. Burger King went public again this year.

According to the SEC, Prado “was stealing the information from another Wells Fargo brokerage customer involved in the Burger King deal.” That person isn’t named in the court papers. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman said the bank had no comment on the case.

Cornelsen’s settlement, which is subject to federal court approval in the Southern District of New York, includes forfeiting $1,681,090 in ill-gotten gains and paying a $3,362,180 penalty and $136,621 in interest, the SEC said. Cornelsen neither admitted nor denied the charges in the settlement, the SEC said.

In a statement, Cornelsen’s attorney, James Benjamin of Akin Gump in New York said: “Mr. Cornelsen is an honorable man with a distinguished career. He is pleased to resolve this unfortunate situation.”

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Friend testifies foster mom borrowed dog cage for Rilya

A dozen years ago, Geralyn Graham called a friend and asked to borrow a dog cage — where Graham planned to keep her foster child, Rilya Wilson, during the night.

Graham “said she was going to use it to keep [Rilya] from doing harm to herself,” Graham’s friend, Detra Coakley Winfield, told jurors this week in Graham’s trial on murder and child-abuse charges.

Winfield said she supplied the dog cage, but she never saw Rilya inside it.Graham, 66, is accused of killing 4-year-old Rilya sometime around Christmas 2000, when the girl disappeared from the Kendall home that Graham shared with her domestic partner, Pamela Graham. Child welfare workers — who were supposed to be monitoring the foster child — did not notice Rilya’s disappearance until April 2002. The child’s body has never been found.

Graham has maintained that Rilya was taken from her home in January 2001 by an unidentified woman who claimed to be a worker with the Department of Children and Families — a story that prosecutors have called a lie, part of a cover-up to conceal the child’s death.

Miami-Dade prosecutors began their case this week by focusing on Geralyn Graham’s treatment of Rilya, and Graham’s shifting explanations for Rilya’s absence after December 2000.

Winfield said she once saw Rilya confined in a laundry room as punishment for misbehavior. She said Rilya — born to a crack-addicted mother and later placed in foster care — often seemed “sad” during the eight months she lived at the Graham house. Winfield said Rilya appeared to have behavior problems, and she once watched the child play with feces.

“To me, she had some issues, some mental issues,” Winfield told jurors Thursday.

Around Christmas 2000, Graham told Winfield that Rilya was going to go on a trip to New York with a “Spanish lady” who had befriended the child. Winfield said she saw the woman, but never spoke to her.

Winfield said she never saw Rilya again after that.

After Rilya’s disappearance made the news in 2002, Winfield said she called Graham, who told her that the “Spanish lady” had returned Rilya — before a DCF worker came to take Rilya away again.

But during her testimony, Winfield often appeared confused about the sequence of events, and said she didn’t recall many details after all these years.

And under questioning from defense attorney Michael Matters, Winfield said that she never saw Graham strike Rilya.

But on Wednesday, another family friend, Laquica Tuff, told jurors that she saw Rilya with scratches and a gash on her forehead about two months before the girl’s disappearance. Tuff said Graham told also told her that Rilya was going on a “road trip” to New York and Disney World.

Graham “said she would be gone for awhile,” Tuff said.

Graham’s trial will resume on Tuesday.

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Zynga slides after updated agreement with Facebook

NEW YORK (AP) — Zynga shares tumbled nearly 12 percent in after-hours trading Thursday after the online game company and Facebook disclosed that they changed their relationship status to become less attached to each other.

Zynga Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it will no longer have to display Facebook ads or use Facebook payments on its own properties — such as Zynga.com. In addition Zynga will no longer be required to use Facebook as the exclusive social site for its games, or to grant Facebook exclusive games.

Facebook Inc., which filed a similar disclosure, will also be able to develop its own games after the end of March. Its deal with Zynga previously prohibited that.

The amendments change the companies’ 2010 contract that gave Zynga special status among Facebook game developers. San Francisco-based Zynga relies on Facebook for most of the revenue it generates, but the company has been working to establish its independence — while also maintaining ties with Facebook.

Zynga’s titles range from “FarmVille” to “CityVille” to “Words With Friends,” the Scrabble-like game made popular on mobile devices.

Zynga shares fell 31 cents, or 11.8 percent, to $ 2.31 in after-hours trading. The stock closed up 11 cents, or 4.4 percent, at $ 2.62 in the regular session.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Hip Hop producer gets 2 years for attempted gun possession

Hip Hop producer Bryan Leach -- credited with discovering Lil Jon and the Yin Yang Twins -- was sentenced to two years prison on attempted gun possession today, but is being allowed to remain free until April pending appeal.

Leach had been busted two years ago after allegedly driving his 2006 Bentley Continental erratically on West 72nd Street. His Kel-Tec handgun -- loaded with hollow-points -- was recovered from the car's console. His sentence before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone includes one and a half years of probation.

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California Pizza Kitchen brings prototype to Sawgrass Mills

The restaurant chain that took barbecued chicken pizza mainstream is ready to push the culinary envelope again. How about a pizza topped with roasted Brussels sprouts and applewood smoked bacon or a Korean barbecue pizza with pork loin and spicy kimchee salad?

Innovative menu items are just one piece of what’s unique about California Pizza Kitchen’s new flagship restaurant unveiled Thursday at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise. The first of its kind, the Sawgrass location aims to reinvigorate the brand that started in 1985 in Beverly Hills.

“The whole idea is about taking the best of what put us on the map and making it relevant for 2012 and beyond,” said G.J. Hart, who took over as chief executive officer of the chain just over a year ago. “Over the years the brand morphed from being a leader and it became a follower of food trends. We want to bring back the hip, cool feel.”

The changes are obvious from the moment you walk into the restaurant, which opens to the public Monday. The new look is all about focusing on the chain’s California roots. Very little of the bright yellow and chrome remains. The design is California-casual with earth tones and reclaimed wood everywhere from the walls to the floor and tables. An outdoor terrace with couches and fire pits is designed to encourage lingering. Large windows and glass doors let in lots of natural light and fold open to enjoy the weather.

Pizza is center stage with the kitchen designed so diners can watch the pizza makers at work. At the Sawgrass location — and by mid-2013 at all restaurants — pizzas will once again by hand-tossed. Currently the chain uses a pizza press to make the dough more uniform.

The new focus is on upping the culinary quotient across the board with dishes like a roasted beets and whipped goat cheese salad, plus a sweet pea carbonara featuring pea-filled pasta purses tossed with Italian pancetta and a Romano cream sauce. These are some of the unique items only on the Sawgrass menu, which also features a specialty menu of hand-crafted cocktails.

Chain-wide the company has actually slimmed the menu from more than 100 items to 74 in order to improve execution. But there are also more healthy choices like quinoa and arugula salad or a fire-roasted chile relleno stuffed with chicken, cheese, mushrooms, spinach and eggplant that dishes up at only 380 calories.

“As we grew, we didn’t keep up with the creativity on the menu and we tried to be all things to all people,” said Brian Sullivan, senior vice president of culinary innovation, who has been with the company for 24 years. “We’re always going to be pizza-centric. But we’ll continue to push the envelope with these specialty items that resonate with who we are. We don’t want items that you are going to see in other restaurants.”

The chain chose Sawgrass to unveil its new flagship location because of a combination of the area’s diverse demographic base and the influx of international visitors. South Florida has already been a strong market for the brand, which has seven locations in the tri-county area stretching from Coral Gables to Palm Beach Gardens.

The opening is the culmination of a new vision that began to take shape when Golden Gate Capital purchased California Pizza Kitchen in July 2011 for $470 million, taking the company private and bringing in Hart as the new chief executive.

“They saw a brand that was undervalued,” said Hart, who has an ownership stake in the chain. “This is an iconic brand with so much brand equity. If we can bring the excitement and enthusiasm back we’re only going to see it go up.”

Industry experts say the changes make sense because the brand still has a loyal following, although it has not kept pace with the competition.

“It’s a good time for them to go back to what were the fundamental things that made the brand so intriguing,” said Dennis Lombardi of WD Partners, a restaurant industry consultant. “The difficulty is going to be getting the word out to consumers that this is different. The devil is always in the details in these kind of evolutions.”

Based on consumer reaction, the plan is to take pieces of the Sunrise concept and introduce it into the chain’s other 268 existing restaurants. Some restaurants could be completely remodeled, but most will only get elements of the new prototype, which cost $2 million in Sunrise, Hart said. The company’s Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton locations could be strong candidates for remodeling next year or early 2014, he said.

Community and business leaders, who got a first look at the restaurant on Thursday, were impressed.

“This is phenomenal,” said Luanne Lenberg, general manager of Sawgrass Mills. “We’re so excited to have this caliber of restaurant and to be their test for the rest of the world.”

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Miami-Dade ethics board rebukes two city of Miami commissioners

The county ethics commission dinged Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo this week for phoning the police chief after Carollo was pulled over for a traffic stop.

Separately, Miami Commission Vice Chairman Marc Sarnoff was reprimanded for not filing a gift disclosure when the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau paid his way to Brazil.

Sarnoff said his travels did not constitute a gift because he carried out public business. “I did everything I could do, including getting legal advice, to determine that the trip was not a gift,” he said.

Carollo denied wrongdoing in a response to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust written by his attorney. He declined comment Wednesday.

The grievance against Carollo said that he called Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa during a traffic stop in Coconut Grove in August. Carollo was pulled over after attempting to drive his black Lexus around a stopped recycling truck. He called the chief, who called the district commander, who reached out to the officer making the traffic stop.

The officer let Carollo go with a warning.

In the written response to the ethics commission, Carollo’s attorney said the commissioner had never asked Orosa for special treatment. Rather, Carollo called the chief “to inquire ‘what the problem was’ since the circumstances seemed odd.”

The “odd circumstances” included another car stop in the area.

“Commissioner Carollo’s request for a status [report] was well within his authority to communicate with the police chief, and was not accompanied by any request to obtain any resolution of the vehicle stop,” attorney Benedict Kuehne wrote.

Kuehne added: “The officer made the very reasonable decision to issue no traffic citation because the circumstances did not warrant the issuance of a ticket.”

Orosa also told investigators that Carollo had not asked for any favors.

But the ethics commission concluded that Carollo “clearly intended to use his influence with the police chief to avoid a traffic citation.”

“There was no legitimate reason for Carollo to call the chief of police other than to put into motion a chain of events that Carollo hoped would extricate him from a traffic situation that ordinary citizens find themselves in every day,” the ethics commission wrote.

The complaint against Sarnoff involved a trip he and his wife took to Brazil in April.

The pair went to watch the yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race depart Itajai for Miami, the next port of call. Sarnoff also travelled to Rio and Sao Paulo, with the Convention & Visitors Bureau footing the bill for his travel, lodging and meals.

Sarnoff did not disclose the trip as a gift, nor did he disclose that the Volvo Ocean Race had reimbursed him for his wife’s roundtrip airfare.

Sarnoff said he was acting on advice from Miami City Attorney Julie O. Bru. In a legal opinion, Bru said disclosure was unnecessary because the trip did not constitute a gift, but rather city business.

“I never held this secret,” Sarnoff said. “I did everything I was supposed to do. I talked about it openly.” He described the trip as “105 percent work.”

As for Teresa Sarnoff’s travel expenses, Marc Sarnoff said they, too, were incurred during “official” city business.

“The commissioner was unquestionably assisted in his official duties by Ms. Sarnoff and he quite honestly believed that Ms. Sarnoff was conducting city business,” Sarnoff’s attorney, John Dellagloria, wrote in a response to the ethics commission’s findings.

The ethics commission has said that elected officials don’t have to declare tickets to local events they attend for professional reasons. But according to the final report on the Sarnoff case, “all-expense paid trips to distant and exotic locales deserve different consideration since the grandiose scale of the gift creates a larger appearance of impropriety.”

The ethics commission will send a letter to Sarnoff suggesting he report his wife’s travel expenses as a gift. Another letter will be sent to the Miami city attorney to clarify when business trips must be reported as gifts.

The two complaints were filed last month by blogger Al Crespo.

Sarnoff also took a trip to China this year, where he watched the Miami Heat play a preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers. In October, Sarnoff said the Heat paid for his flight and hotel. On Wednesday, he said the Shanghai Sports Bureau paid for him and his wife.

He now plans to declare that trip as a gift, he said.

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Mark Hamill's 'Star Wars' Sequel Jedi Mind Trick

Does Mark Hamill know more about the upcoming Star Wars sequels than he's leading us to believe? Will Luke Skywalker appear in Episode VII? Is the man just using a Jedi mind trick on ET?

Related: Mark Hamill Tells New Stories from 'Star Wars'

"That's a really good question! I mean, it's also exciting, but I don't really know enough to be able to answer these questions – I have to watch Entertainment Tonight to find out," said the cagey star with a smile at the Tuesday premiere of his gritty new gangster movie, Sushi Girl.

As for whether or not he think Steven Spielberg may still opt to helm an installment of his buddy George Lucas' franchise, Mark said, "Anybody that loves movies would love for Steven Spielberg to be in the director's chair, but I understand why he probably wouldn't want to. He's a trendsetter. He doesn't really follow anybody else."

Mark volunteered that up next he'd like to climb into the director's chair himself with an adaptation of The Black Pearl, and told ETonline that he's working on the project with the writers of The Fighter.

Sushi Girl, out this week on VOD, follows a group of gangsters who reunite for dinner -- fresh sushi atop a naked girl -- several years after a diamond heist gone wrong. Determined to find out where the missing diamonds are, they torture one of the members who last had the jewels in his possession. Directed by Kern Saxton, the film boasts such co-stars as Tony Todd, James Duval and Noah Hathaway and features cameos by Danny Trejo, Sonny Chiba, Michael Biehn and Jeff Fahey.

Video: Sushi Girl -- Yes, This is Mark Hamill from 'Star Wars'

So why take on such a dark tale? "Because I don't get offered these kind of bizarre roles, and I get jealous of people like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Steve Buscemi, and I had fun playing a psycho when I did Joker [for the animated Batman series], so I should do it on camera once instead of just in cartoons. … Certainly darker characters and villains are a lot of fun to play, especially when you're known for something 180-degrees removed from that."

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Parachute Jump getting LED light system

Coney Island’s landmark Parachute Jump is finally getting its “bling.”

The city’s Economic Development Corp. has tapped the seaside neighborhood’s biggest amusement operator to fulfill Borough President Marty Markowitz’s vision of overhauling the 262-foot-tall structure’s lackluster lighting system with more “bling” so it could become Brooklyn’s “Eiffel Tower.”

Zamperla USA – which runs Luna Park and other attractions – was selected to install 8,000 colored LED lights across the Parachute Jump that will be programmable for shows and special events with music.

“The Parachute Jump will finally have enough ‘bling’ to be visible even from outer space,” crowed Markowitz, who secured $2 million in city funding for the project.

The new lighting proposal is set to go before city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission on Dec. 11 for final blessing.

If approved, the lights are expected to be installed and running by next summer, city officials said.

“With this new lighting design, the Parachute Jump will become a beacon for the neighborhood and show that Coney Island will not only recover from Hurricane Sandy, but continue its revitalization into New York’s premier oceanfront destination,” said EDC spokesman Kyle Sklerov.

The current lighting system, created by renowned lighting artist Leni Schwendinger, was installed in 2006.

But Markowitz was so unimpressed with it – he thought it was too “artsy,” and needed “blinging up” to capture Coney Island’s flash – that he convinced the mayor and City Council in 2008 to set aside $2 million to bring a new lighting system to long-inoperable ride.

The Parachute Jump is a former ride from the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens that was relocated to Coney Island in 1941. It ceased operations in 1968 and was declared a city landmark in 1989. It is part of a revamped Steeplechase Plaza that the city is hoping to create.

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Gift ideas for the techie on your list

The holidays are coming fast, and if you’re like me, you’ve probably gotten very little of your gift shopping done.

Here are suggestions for a variety of gifts for the techie and the not-so-techie people on your list.

Some of these items can be found in stores and some are only available online, but you should be able to order them in time for Christmas or Hanukkah.

IOMEGA EZ MEDIA & BACKUP CENTER

What is it? A hard drive that lives on your home network so you can share files, store all your photos and music and back up your home computers. Works on Macintosh, Windows and Linux computers.

The EZ Media & Backup Center is available in 1-, 2- and 3-terabyte capacities. It is simple to set up. It lives next to your home router and plugs into the network via Ethernet.

Major features include a built-in iTunes server so your music is available to all connected computers, Time Machine support for easy Macintosh backups and Iomega’s Personal Cloud to access your data from any Internet connection.

It can also stream your video files to your TV if you’ve got a compatible streaming box or an Internet-connected TV.

Software for backing up Windows PCs is also included.

Who’s it for? Any family that wants central storage for their digital lives. This is a great home for your digital photo, music or video library.

What does it cost? One terabyte for $169.99, two terabytes for $209.99, three terabytes for $279.99.

Where can you get it? Online at www.iomega.com, Amazon, Best Buy, Apple store, Fry’s.

NETATMO URBAN WEATHER STATION

What is it? A wireless indoor/outdoor weather station that displays through an application on your Apple or Android mobile device.

There are two parts, one that lives in your house and one you place outside.

The indoor component plugs into the wall and monitors the temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, carbon dioxide level and even the sound level in decibels.

The outdoor module is battery-powered and measures temperature and humidity.

Once you connect the Netatmo to your home Wi-Fi network, you can download the free app and see your weather stats from anywhere.

Setup was easy enough, and you can set the app to notify you when carbon dioxide rises to levels that you should be warned about — which is great.

Who’s it for? Weather geeks and people who like to know what the temperature is without having to fire up a browser.

What does it cost? $179

Where can you get it? www.netatmo.com

3M LED ADVANCED LIGHT

What is it? 3M’s first foray into the home light bulb market is with the LED Advanced Light, which uses light-emitting diodes (LED) to produce 800 lumens (the light of a 60-watt bulb).

The Advanced Light has a life span of 25 years and costs just $1.63 per year if it’s turned on for three hours per day.

The bulb lights instantly and is dimmable.

It’s a little intimidating to start buying light bulbs that might outlive me, but my wallet approves.

Who’s it for? Anyone who wants to save money or wants a bulb that might not have to be changed until 2035.

What does it cost? $25

Where can you get it? Select Wal-Mart stores. For more information, go to www.3mlighting.com/LED.

STEM IZON 2.0 WI-FI VIDEO MONITOR

What is it? A small, wireless video camera that you can monitor remotely with an iOS device.

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Citizens leader criticize media coverage of firm’s problems

TALLAHASSEE --
Beleaguered by allegations of corporate misconduct and exorbitant executive spending, leaders at Citizens Property Insurance Corp. expressed outrage — at the media.

During a special hearing on Tuesday to address several corporate improprieties first reported by the Times/Herald, Citizens CEO Barry Gilway reserved some of his harshest criticism for news outlets that uncovered the laundry list of scandals at the state-run company.

“I am committed to making sure the reputations of innocent employees are appropriately protected,” said Gilway, claiming that reporters had defamed former Citizens employees accused of wrongdoing.

Gilway used words like “preposterous,” “absurd,” “pathetic,” and “shameful,” when discussing media coverage of the company’s internal troubles.

He defended his top officials — who have been beset by a laundry list of scandalous allegations in recent months, including questionable severance packages, sexual impropriety, and falsified documents.

The board largely voiced support of Gilway — who took the helm of the state-run insurer in June — and saved criticism for the media, the former CEO and a few “bad apple” employees.

In recent months, at least two top executives at Citizens have resigned and Gov. Rick Scott has called for two separate investigations into its top management.

Gilway stood by a claim that Citizens terminated internal investigators who discovered the misconduct as part of a company restructuring effort – not as retaliation for exposing the company’s dirty laundry.

Scott’s chief inspector general is looking into the terminations.

Gilway and board members acknowledged that Citizens needed to make some changes, and said the company is beginning to take “corrective action” to address the various scandals.

“We have a new day in this company,” said board chairman Carlos Lacasa. “And we will win back the credibility of the company in the eyes of the public.”

Lacasa also lashed out at the media, referring specifically to a recent editorial in the Palm Beach Post that branded Citizens a “corruption-ridden scam artist that threatens Florida’s economic recovery.”

Such media criticism of Citizens is “shameful” and “designed to incite the public,” he said.

Homeowners covered by Citizens have expressed outrage this year over the company’s unpopular home re-inspection program, an 11-percent rate hike and news that executives were spending upwards of $600 per night for luxury hotel rooms across the globe.

Scott’s inspector general is investigating such expenditures.

“The state of Florida gave them this blanket ability to pull in money from homeowners,” said Sharon Goessel, a 65-year-old from Palmetto Bay whose Citizens insurance rates are skyrocketing. “I want to be one of those executives at Citizens and go spend the night in a $580 hotel room.”

Sean Shaw, a former insurance consumer advocate who works for a law firm that represents insurance policyholders, blasted the board at Citizens and called for the resignation of top executives.

“Instead of spending time talking about fixing abuses of the public trust, the board seems more interested in blaming the media for finding out about it,” he said.

Some board members attacked Shaw, whose employer regularly battles Citizens in court, as someone who “has a direct financial stake” in seeing the company tarnished.

The board had less criticism for former employees and executives whose actions sullied Citizens’ reputation, including the underwriting executive who resigned after a sex scandal blew up and the Chief Administration Officer who resigned after several allegations of misconduct occurred within her unit.

Both received lucrative agreements worth tens of thousands of dollars after resigning, and Citizens helped the underwriting executive apply for unemployment compensation.

Gilway stopped short of criticizing the hefty severance agreements, but said a new policy will be drafted to clean up the process.

Citizens’ board also spent much of Tuesday’s meeting discussing the company’s preliminary budget for next year.

The company expects to shrink from about 1.5 million policies to 1.2 million policies by the end of 2013, advancing Gov. Rick Scott’s push to downsize the state-backed insurer.

“Unlike the private sector, that’s a good thing if we’re shrinking,” said Chief Financial Officer Sharon Binnun.

Toluse Olorunnipa can be reached at tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com or on Twitter at @ToluseO.

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