| A trail of dubious dealings
They expected to refinance the loan in about a year, when Moreno would sign the house over to them. After paying off what they owed on the Pittsburg house, they said they believed about $190,000 would remain for the down payment on the Antioch house. It seemed perfect until the bills arrived. The payments were $2,700 a month and soon ballooned higher, they now say in court records. That was because, the lawsuit alleges, only $77,793 actually went to down payment. Johnson, the suit alleges, had diverted almost $58,000 of equity from their old home to others, including someone named Harry Hawkins who allegedly received $45,830 as repayment of loans. Machado's lawyer, Ken Koenen, said attempts to locate Hawkins have been fruitless. Reporters also could not locate Hawkins.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
A reflation rally ignites Wall Street and global bourses late, but first we do penance for leveraged excess. Predictions 2008: Doom, gloom and silver liningsThe bears take all in early 2008 as the insolvency crunch tightens on the real economy. The Baltic and Balkan bubbles pop. The Swiss franc rockets as Europe's carry trade unwinds. A version of the East Asia 1998 crisis hits half the ex-Communist bloc. .
Fishers warned of new rules as marron season starts
RECREATIONAL marron fishers are expected to be out in force for the 2008 marron season, which started on Australia Day. Thousands of West Australian fishers are expected to take advantage of the 23-day season (between noon Friday January 25 and noon Sunday February 17) to enjoy the experience and the chance to take home some tasty freshwater crayfish, which are unique to WA. Department of Fisheries principal management officer Nathan Harrison said some rule changes were made before last season and it would be wise for fishers to make sure they had the latest information. "A detailed brochure Fishing for Marron can be downloaded from www.fish.wa.gov.au and it contains the rules and information that fishers need to know, before heading out to their favourite marron fishing spot," Mr Harrison said.
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