Billionaire French money manager found dead in his NY office

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From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Dec 24: R. Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a French money manager, who invested $1.4 billion with fraud-ridden enterprise of Bernard Madoff, was found dead in his office on Madison Avenue. The evidence pointed to suicide, the police said Tuesday, the New York Times (NYT) in a report said today. During the past one week as the scale of fraud was being unfolded Villehuchet had vainly tried to recover his client's money. One of his clients said he (Villehuchet) felt that he had been robbed and betrayed by his friends and clients. Access International, of which Villehuchet was the founder, managed a $3 billion fund, funneled money from investors across the globe into Madoff's collapsed firm.
The Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) is the best known private bank which became the worst victim of Madoff fraud with $700 million of its clients' money gone. UBP said it was a victim of a massive fraud but hastened to add that it was 'not affected and remained top class'. UBC said the money lost was a tiny fraction of its $125 billion assets. UBP is a handful number of banks which reported a gross profit of $331 million up 5.8 per cent from a year ago. Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world and also home to readymade garments from Bangladesh, yesterday announced it would pay at least $352 million to settle law suits across the US for forcing its employees to work overtime. Several lawyers described it as the largest settlement ever for lawsuits over wage violations, the NYT in a report said.
The Wal-Mart payment could reach as high as $640 million depending on how many claims affected workers submitted, the same report said. These lawsuits were filed much before the recession set in. SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) a very common car in the US, will perhaps not be seen any more on American highways Reeling under financial crisis and a collapsing market despite petrol price dropping to $1.0 plus a gallon from $3.0 a gallon, the General Motors, one of the three US giant automakers, closed its factories in Wisconsin and Ohio marking the demise of an era when big SUVs ruled the road.
Chrysler, another giant US automaker, had earlier abandoned the production of SUV. Alarmed by the dwindling oil and gas price, energy ministers from 12 of the world's leading exporters of natural gas met in Moscow to create cartel in the line of Opec. Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying " the era of cheap gas was coming to an end". Russia is the major exporter of gas to Europe. It will have a sympathetic effect on the price of oil, the experts predicted. Gas Exporting Countries Forum, as the new cartel will be known, will try to drive up the price of gas.
Ivory Coast, the largest producer of cocoa, has something to cheer about even in the midst of deepening global economic crisis. Cocoa price surged to 23-year high amid concerns about dwindling supply. And China with its economy weakening has made its intention clear about building aircraft carrier. It will be a reflection of a nation's comprehensive power, a Chinese official said.
Bangladesh will have reasons to bemoan the fact that it did not cultivate the Naga (Bombai marich) that was originally grown in the country. Naga has been a runaway success, the Economist in a report said. The demand for hot chillies has risen by 18 per cent. Testo, largest retailer of hot chillies, has taken to Naga business with resounding success. Demand for the Naga has been so high that Testo has been forced to sell unripe green ones.