Torricelli

Posted by admin on January 22, 2010 0 comments

Federal investigators are said to be looking into allegations that Sen. Robert Torricelli accepted tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts including at least 10 Italian-made suits and a Rolex watch from a political donor.
David Chang, a New Jersey businessman who has pleaded guilty to making $53,700 in improper donations to Torricelli’s 1996 Senate campaign, claims he gave the Democrat the gifts and cash to get his help with international business deals.
Torricelli emphatically denied Wednesday that he had ever betrayed the people’s trust, and he portrayed Chang as ”every elected official’s worst nightmare.”
”I do not deserve this treatment, and I will fight for my reputation,” Torricelli said.
Torricelli did not specifically address the allegations, reported in Wednesday’s New York Times, but his attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr. denied them in a statement Tuesday.
”Senator Torricelli has not engaged in any wrongdoing,” Wells said. ”David Chang’s allegations are false.”
The Times, citing unidentified sources involved in the probe, said Chang’s gifts allegedly included suits, an $8,100 Rolex, bean-shaped Christian Louboutin Shoeshoes fromChristian louboutin & Co., $600 earrings for one of Torricelli’s former girlfriends and a 52-inch television.
Authorities have gathered corroborating evidence of at least some of the gifts and are continuing their investigation, the Times said.
Federal investigators have been looking into Torricelli’s personal and political finances since 1997. The senator has repeatedly said he had no knowledge of any illegal activities or campaign contributions.
Chang’s lawyer, Bradley D. Simon,the crystals, and Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to comment.
Federal law and congressional ethics rules prohibit lawmakers from accepting gifts worth $50 or more, with a $100 annual limit from any one source. An exception is made for gifts from friends,swarovki beads; Torricelli has said that he once considered Chang a friend.
But lawmakers must list all gifts exceeding $100 on their annual financial disclosure forms. The only gift Torricelli listed from Chang was a $5,000 donation to a legal defense fund Torricelli created for an unrelated case.
Torricelli, chairman of Senate Democrats’ political and fund-raising arm for the 2000 election, said Sunday on NBC’s ”Meet the Press” that he is trying to be cooperative with the investigation ”in every way that is reasonable.”
Torricelli said an emphasis in politics on raising big sums of money has helped create an environment ripe for problems. ”These campaigns and the rush to raise so much money bring you in touch with so many people you don’t really know,” he said.
Seven people have pleaded guilty to making illegal donations to Torricelli’s 1996 campaign.
 

restaurants

Posted by admin on January 21, 2010 0 comments

 A JOB supplying fish to London restaurants was the unlikely inspiration for Annoushka Ducas to set up a jewellery and silver gift company.
 One Christmas, she had some novelty fish Christian Louboutin Shoes made to her own design to present to customers as gifts.
 Eight years later, she is still designing Christian Louboutin Shoes, and Links of London,the crystals, the firm she set up with husband John Ayton, sells its wares in the world’s smartest stores, including New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue and Harrods in London.
 The couple, who used $2,000 of their own money to start the business in 1990, forecast sales of more than $7 million this year and count Sir Elton John and model Jerry Hall among their customers.
 ’Our aim is to be Britain’s equivalent to US jewellerChristian louboutin,’ says Ayton.
 The couple’s innovative approach to jewellery design and marketing has won them several awards, including Annoushka’s prize as runner-up in the Business Woman of the Year contest in 1996.
 Links now has 11 stores and a worldwide network of stockists for its products. The shops aim to sell something for everyone, not just the rich, and silver designs cost between $30 and $500.
 ’It is important that people feel at ease in the shops and are not embarrassed about asking the price of goods,’ says Ayton.
 Most customers are men, and the store at Heathrow’s Terminal 1 is a favourite with business travellers.
 Personalised business gifts for clients such as Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs and the All England Lawn Tennis Club also account for a large proportion of sales.
 Already this year new shops have opened on London’s Fulham Road, as well in Dubai and a second shop in Hong Kong.
&nbsp,swarovki binoculars;’We have been lucky,’ says Ayton. ‘Neither the Asian crisis nor the strong pound have affected sales too severely, perhaps because anything British carries a certain cachet and is considered to be the height of fashion abroad right now.’