The "Cricket Tycoon" Nabbed

And just like that, the hunt for wanted Texas financier Allen Stanford was wrapped up in Virginia, business pages across the world are reporting, with the alleged swindler turning himself in to federal agents in Fredericksburg. The "cricket tycoon," as the Guardian calls him, surrendered without a struggle. "He wasn't hard to find," an FBI spokesman told the newspaper. "We said, 'Are you this guy?', he said, 'Yes', and we served the papers on him." Now, his legal troubles begin. The Wall Street Journal cites sources in the Justice Department as saying they have now opened up an investigation to determine whether Stanford was operating an $8 billion Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors around the globe.

Adding a little color to the story, the New York Times went to Stanford's hometown of Mexia, Texas, (population 6,600) to speak with Oliver Goswick, the man Stanford appointed to oversee investments for the board of Stanford International Bank. The problem is Goswick had succumbed to a stroke in 2000 and can no longer speak. Still, the town is mystified about all the fuss and townspeople seem determined to defend the Stanford name. "As regulators try to unravel the web of favors and influence spun by Mr. Stanford, residents of this rural town about 85 miles southeast of Dallas are reeling from allegations that one of its most successful sons is the mastermind of one of the biggest international investment frauds of the modern era," the newspaper writes.

Staying on the crime beat, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has slapped a subpoena on Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis as its investigation widens into "whether the bank withheld information from investors in violation of state law," the WSJ reports, citing people in the know. Cuomo's office has been investigating for months whether shareholders were misled about the depths of Merrill Lynch's losses before its sale toBofA. The AG is also trying to unearth "whether details of the bonuses to Merrill employees, contained in a nonpublic document, should have been disclosed to investors," the newspaper writes. Meanwhile, the big target, former Merrill CEO John Thain, spent the day being grilled by investigators, questioned about the $4 billion in bonuses distributed in Merrill's final days.

And now, the tax cheats. Not content with getting Swiss bank UBS to cough up 250 names of suspected tax dodgers Wednesday, federal authorities now want an additional 52,000 names in an effort to unravel what bank officials code-named the "Swiss solution," the NYT reports. Under a 2004 scheme allegedly cooked up in the bank, UBS officials saw a way "to help rich customers evade taxes by hiding money in offshore havens like the Bahamas." Bloomberg reports, citing a Justice Department lawsuit filed against UBS yesterday that the scheme enabled American banking customers to create 32,940 secret accounts containing cash and another 20,877 accounts holding securities. The sum total is $14.8 billion in unpaid taxes, the newswire writes. The U.S. case against the Swiss banking giant will not end the country's famed code of banking silence, the country's finance minister proclaimed yesterday, the Guardian reports.

The markets have hit a new crisis low. The Dow slid a further 89 points yesterday, to a level last seen in October 2002, CNNMoney.com reports. The culprit is a familiar one: that we won't be crawling out of this recession anytime soon. The WSJ says the value of the Dow has nearly halved since its record close 16 months ago. Despite yesterday's impressive gains, the price of crude oil is down 13 percent this year, Bloomberg reports, thanks to another tumble in Asia trading Friday.

Even with lower fuel prices and a worsening global recession, don't expect the combo to result in reduced prices of staples like toothpaste and laundry detergent. Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley told analysts Thursday the firm, makers of Crest toothpaste and Tide, is determined to keep prices steady, the WSJ writes. Other major manufacturers of household brands such as Kimberly-Clark, Nestlé, and Clorox also plan to stand pat as increasingly desperate retailers insist on price cuts across the board. Economists, though, continue to watch these negotiations closely to see whether it creates a damaging deflationary effect on the economy. For now, deflationary fears are not quite as acute as a few months ago, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. Still, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart told reporters yesterday, "the inflation rate is at sort of an acceptable level, but we are watching for further price disinflation to a point where it might pose problems." Deflation, he added, "is a concern, but it not a major concern."

And, finally, a rare bit of promising news from the auto sector—but not for everyone. According to the WSJ, Ford is already seeing the benefits of opting to go it alone while its cross-town rivals General Motors and Chrysler muddle through negotiations with unions on restructuring issues and with lawmakers for bailout cash. In these first early days, Ford is succeeding in wooing customers away from its stricken rivals and has won some tough concessions from the UAW sooner than its rivals, the newspaper says.