Blumenthal airs wireless concerns
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is asking for information from Google Inc., Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and several other high-tech companies on their history and use of wireless signals Blumenthal said are intercepted from home and business computers as they gather data for online maps and associated applications.
As Connecticut attorney general, Blumenthal ran a similar query focusing on whether Google was improperly gathering personal information as part of that process. He did not give any immediate indication whether he planned to file a federal bill addressing the practice.
“The construction of Wi-Fi maps ”¦ has the potential to raise serious privacy concerns,” Blumenthal wrote. “Attempting to document the locations of personal wireless networks in individuals”™ homes without their knowledge or consent raises issues regarding what constitutes a reasonable expectation of privacy for an ordinary citizen who installs such a network in their home.”
AG focuses on BofA
foreclosure measures
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen asked Bank of America Corp. CEO Brian Moynihan to devote more resources to help borrowers who are having trouble paying their mortgages or obtaining loan modifications.
Jepsen recently met with bank representatives following numerous complaints from consumers with mortgages from Bank of America. Those complaints include the bank losing documents repeatedly, lack of communication, conflicting and contradictory instructions from bank employees, receiving foreclosure notices at the same time the borrower is under consideration for a loan modification, failure to honor a loan modification the bank has already agreed to and lack of any single employee who is familiar with a customer”™s file.
“Given that Bank of America is apparently poised to lift its moratorium on Connecticut foreclosures, I do not see that it has any credible plan,” Jepsen wrote. “Despite having had more than two years to right-size your staff and establish effective procedures and systems, Bank of American has so far not prevented even the most common consumer complaints.”
$58M malpractice award
A Stamford surgeon is appealing a $58 million verdict awarded a Norwalk family, the largest medical malpractice award in Connecticut history according to Bridgeport-based Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, which represented the family.
A jury agreed with plaintiffs Dominic and Cathy D”™Attilo that by delaying a Caesarean section in 2003 among other decisions, Dr. Richard Viscarello and Maternal-Fetal Care caused brain damage in the D”™Attilo”™s son Daniel, who cannot walk, talk or ingest food without a tube.
Citizens Bank defrauded
A Fairfield man pleaded guilty to bank fraud, several years after his Waterbury-based F&S Oil Co. Inc. shut down leaving customers in the lurch who had prepaid for their winter deliveries of home heating oil.
Christopher T. Carr, 55, admitted to a scheme to defraud Providence, R.I.-based Citizens Bank of millions of dollars by falsifying statements he filed to maintain access to lines of credit, on which he was drawing to build a biodiesel plant.
U.S. Attorney David Fein said that Carr caused at least $2.5 million in losses to the bank. He faces up to 30 years in prison and up to $9 million in fines at sentencing this September.
Garage owner pleads guilty
A Stratford garage owner admitted to structuring some $950,000 in cash transactions between 2006 and 2009.
John A. Ortiz, 54, owns towing and auto repair shops in Stratford and Bridgeport. U.S. Attorney David Fein said Ortiz repeatedly deposited and withdrew cash in amounts under $10,000, the amount at which banks must file a currency transaction report. Among other expenditures, Ortiz spent the money on properties in Connecticut and Florida as well as to settle a business dispute with his former partner.
Ortiz is scheduled to be sentenced in August. The crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and fines of $500,000. He also agreed to forfeit nearly $400,0000.
