U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Arrested Development's Orange County

A partial list of the show locations and their real-life equivalents

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, A Future Secretary of Defense?

What do Robert McNamara, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta have in common with Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez?Almost nothing, but just wait.It's highly unlikely that President Barack Obama would ever name Sanchez to be a Secretary of Defense in his administrati ... More >>

Chris Cox Still Sits on 2004 Campaign Cash While Bob Dornan Remains In Debt For 1996 Presidential Run

It's been eight years since Newport Beach Republican Congressman Christopher Cox last campaigned for office and, though his seat was never in jeopardy in the Republican-rich coastal Orange County district, he collected millions of dollars in contributions.Cox, long an opponent of pro-consumer financ ... More >>

STEC Inc. Spins and is Spun Back in My Inbox

I swear I am not making this up: Last week, I received two emails, one immediately followed by the other in my inbox, concerning STEC Inc., the Santa Ana-based multinational company that creates solid state drive technologies and products.The photographic proof follows after the jump . . .

Diane Harkey Faces Assembly Voters Tuesday, Those Suing Her for Fraud and Abuse Always

Those suing state Assemblywoman Diane Harkey and her husband for alleged elder abuse and investor fraud learned last week the civil court trial has been delayed yet again. That spared the Dana Point Republican the indignity of having to face jurors while facing voters Tuesday, when she seeks reelect ... More >>

Richard H. Nickles Gets 12 Years in Federal Pokey for Brazen Ponzi Scam That Took Seniors

The owner and operator of a Santa Ana investment firm that advertised safe investments in the pages of the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times has been sentenced to 144 months in federal prison for operating a Ponzi scheme that collected more than $10 million from more than 35 victims, man ... More >>

Investors Sue Coldwell Banker for $50 Million for Alleged Fund Scheme

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford in Santa Ana has ruled that a $50 million lawsuit against Coldwell Banker on behalf of 1,300 investors in seven real estate investment funds can move forward.Five plaintiffs are named in the suit that alleges an investment scheme was perpetrated by Real E ... More >>

[UPDATED with Santa Ana Hypocrisy?] "Bain" of Mitt Romney's Existence: Shitty Stewardship of Anaheim Company

​UPDATE, JAN. 13, 10:42 A.M.: Even those who question Mitt Romney's commitment to conservatism would agree that, when it comes to business, he has steadfastly advocated in public speeches that government must get out of the way so they can flourish. But now, a second Orange County connection to Ro ... More >>

Playground Festival: Anatomy of Fail

Scheduled headliner Game files suit, others complain of fraud, and the organizers have clammed up

Pyramid Scheme

Men boasting CIA and FBI ties met in Newport Beach to convince a mysterious billionaire to buy into a secret economy, and nothing was what it seemed

Disneyland Jacks Up Ticket Price For Local Residents

​Attention Anaheim visitors:This time the unsavory character eyeing your wallet isn't a local hoodlum or a hooker.It's Mickey Mouse and he's profit hungry again.

'Wall Street' Bailout

Oliver Stone's sequel lets the bad guys off easy

Thanh Viet Jeremy Cao Indicted for Allegedly Filing Tax Liens Against Fed Officials, Tax Returns With $20 Billion in Refunds for Himself

​A Rancho Santa Margarita man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas, where he also lives, for allegedly filing 22 false liens ranging from $25 million to $300 million against four federal judges and employees of the IRS, Secret Service, Securities and Exchange Commission and the ... More >>

James Halstead, Once Accused of Slipping Date-Rape Drug to an Olympian, Gets 10 Years

James Halstead, off to do a dime.​Sure, James Halstead was sentenced last night to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a Ponzi scheme that took in more than $61 million before it crashed and caused around 140 investors to suffer more than $20 million in losses.But, a ... More >>

Ahmad Noory Could Get 45 Years for Alleged Role in Insider Trader Scheme

​A Ladera Ranch man is expected to surrender to federal authorities this afternoon to face charges connected to an insider trading scheme in which he and four others allegedly used confidential information obtained from two investor relations firms to generate more than $1.7 million in illegal ... More >>

5 Hard-Ass Ways the Government Should Treat a Blockbuster Bankruptcy

​Blockbuster Inc. reveals in its annual financial report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the video-store chain may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.The one-time king of DVD and videotape rentals reveals in the filing it ended the last year in the red, the ne ... More >>

[UPDATED WITH SENTENCE:] 3-Time GOP Congressional Candidate Delecia Holt Convicted for Defrauding Hotels, Stealing Car

Courtesy of Orange County District AttorneyDeleica Holt's booking photo.​Delecia Holt, the 48-year-old Aliso Viejo Republican who ran three times for Congress in Orange and San Diego counties, was released from the jail she's been sitting in since her Oct. 7, 2008, arrest for defrauding Orange Cou ... More >>

3-Time GOP Candidate for Congress in Court for Thefts From Hotels, Comedians, Phone Company and Mercedes Dealer

Not Deleica Holt's campaign poster but her booking photo.​Delecia Holt, 48, of Aliso Viejo, ran as a Republican in special elections to replace Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who left Congress in 2005 to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-San Dieg ... More >>

Criminal Charges Against Ducks Owner Henry Samueli Dropped

Then can we seek criminal charges against the other guy?​Henry Samueli is on a roll.Last month, the National Hockey League reinstated him as the owner of the Anaheim Ducks, as Clockwork informed you.This afternoon, a federal judge set aside the Broadcom Corp. co-founder's guilty pleas and dismisse ... More >>

Crime Time: Is Tobias Fünke the "Blue Note Bandit"?

It's the Weekly's weekly crime round-up--now with more blatant Arrested Development imagery.Could Tobias Fünke be the "Blue Note Bandit" (Wednesday) or the man making "blown" offers (Thursday)?​TUESDAY, DEC. 1Nice Racks! After pulling over a silver 2004 Acura TL four-door at Newport Boulevard and ... More >>

Western Medical Center's Owners Sued Their Doctors to Muzzle Them, But One Wouldn't Shut Up

Diane Harkey Stink Smeared on Linda Ackerman, Who Seeks "Dripper" Duvall's Vacated Assembly Seat

Harkey's ethical challenges produced recall calls. Assemblywoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point) has endorsed Linda Ackerman to fill the vacancy left by ex-Assemblyman Mike Duvall, who resigned in disgrace quickly after the Weekly's R. Scott Moxley and KCAL/KCBS reporter Dave Lopez exposed the Yor ... More >>

Anaheim Ducks Owner, Broadcom Co-founder Samueli May Be Prison Bound

Wikipedia.org Henry Samueli's next uniform may be an orange jumpsuit.The Anaheim Ducks owner, Irvine's Broadcom Corp. co-founder and UC Irvine Henry Samueli School of Engineering namesake may be prison bound. Orange County Register reports a federal court today dismissed an appeal ... More >>

Ex-Coto de Caza Fraudster Gets 27 Years in Federal Pokey

​Former Coto de Caza resident golf equipment company CEO Colin Nathanson was sentenced today to 27 years in federal prison for his admitted masterminding of a multifaceted fraud scheme that bilked hundreds of victims out of approximately $55 million. ... More >>

Irvine Protesters Fear Reprisals for Relatives in Iran

Photo by Christopher VictorioHeading to a protest in Irvine, for the people of Iran. Daniel B. Wood of the Christian Science Monitor spent some time with Iranian-Americans in Irvine over the weekend and discovered while they want to expose atrocities taking place in their homeland to the world, they ... More >>

Orange County May Become the Avis of Municipal Bankruptcies

Since 1994, Orange County has held the . . . um . . . honor of having achieved the . . . erm . . . distinction of the largest municipal bankruptcy in history, a $1.64 billion financial fuck-up that has managed to stick like Roger Maris' single-season homerun record.But the seemingly unbeatable alway ... More >>

The Lawsuit Against the Husband of Assemblywoman Diane Harkey Has Generated an Internet Shitstorm

It's a Quick Read 5

Orange County Register: Four earthquakes have shook North Orange County in a week. Jeez, gay people, what have you done to piss off God now? . . . OC banruptcies jumped 57 percent in January. So you've got to love Southern California Edison's timing in these fucked-up financial times: included ... More >>

More Blast From the Past Fraud Allegations in Irvine Election

This examines a fraud case from the past involving a big donor to, ironically enough, Irvine Citizens for Ethics in Government, the independent committee against Irvine's Measure R, which asks residents to give a vote of approval to the Irvine City Council's planning of the Great Park on the old El ... More >>

[Election 2008] 10 Signs That People Besides Us In OC Think John McCain Sucks, Too

OC Conservatives Have Something to Cheer!

On Monday, Orange County conservative activists lost the fight to block liberal law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky from becoming the first UC Irvine law school dean. But this morning must feel better. The United States Attorney's Office based in Los Angeles announced that it has won a guilty plea from Wi ... More >>

Monday's Headlines & Surprises: Rhinotillexomania

Saturday's Headlines & Surprises

Prop 90: Enriching the Rich, Making Us Their Bitch

Congressman John Campbell (R-Irvine Company) has signed on to support Proposition 90, the Taxpayer Trap Initiative (or Save our Homes, if you're gullible). This is no surprise; back in September 2005, Prop 90's main backers poured $120,000 into Campbell for Congress, the campaign committee formed to ... More >>

Film Flam

Your favorite Co-ed Dorm Wall Clock was shocked--SHOCKED!!!--to read our fresh-pressed copy of the Monday edition of the Chapman University Panther student newspaper (where, little known factoid, we twice toiled as a fill-in faculty advisor, until a certain former LA "By God" Times slacker slid in a ... More >>

Ryan's Hope

It came from Chapman U: believe it or not!

Harmin' Harman

Another law the Fullerton-based California Rifle and Pistol Association sponsors, and had introduced by Assemblyman Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) would allow those brought up on non-violent weapons charges to enter a "pre-trial diversion program," like traffic school for minor vehicle law offender ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Record of the year?

Vitamin C

Even Dr. Chaudhuris critics say hes a genius

a Clockwork Orange

Angry Liberals

To Tell the Truth

Hermosa Beach ills, the Liquid Dens 17 Seconds Thrills

The Real The O.C.

Foxs Arrested Development captures Newport

Monopoly Man

The dailies slept while Edison bosss income rose to $503,000 per month

It's the Economy, Stupid

Diary of a Mad County

Diary of a Mad County

Chicken Soup for the Prez

And the annual 2002 Puss award!

Time to Roll Up Our Sleeves

Okay, now roll them down. Now back up again. . . . Now: down, quick!

Somethings Remiss

El Toro Airport Watch No. 111