Business tycoon sued in Broward court--Choicepoint mentioned

[Carolab]

12:12 PM EST Friday (11/30)

http://wichita.bizjournals.com/southflorida/dailyedition.html#5

Kenneth Langone, a co-founder of Home Depot, was sued Nov. 30 by Boca Raton millionaire businessman Hank Asher for more than $1.6 billion in damages in Broward County Circuit Court.

Asher is also known to have been on the other side of accusations. According to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report, Asher admitted to smuggling drugs in 1982. The account of the entrepreneur's illegality has been widely reported.

Asher charged Langone and several other parties, including ChoicePoint - a Georgia company with business dealings in Florida - of conducting an alleged "malicious scheme" that interfered with Asher's business relationships in the county, destroyed his reputation, and sought to eliminate him as a competitor in the investigative data management and information services industry.

Langone, a resident of Florida and New York, was a former head of the compensation committee of the New York Stock Exchange. He was criticized for his role in granting NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso a $140 million compensation package.

In July, Langone moved to dismiss another lawsuit filed against him by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, claiming Langone misled the NYSE board. Langone publicly questioned Spitzer's "political motivations."

The NASD in 2003 filed a complaint alleging that Langone's investment firm, Invamed Associates, violated NASD rules by charging customers grossly inflated commissions. The firm is also charged with engaging in unlawful profit-sharing in connection with IPOs sold to its customers.

Invamed is also a defendant in the Asher lawsuit.

Asher - former president of Pompano Beach-based DBT Online, consultant to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a major political contributor - was hired by the FDLE last year to help create a 13-state anti-terrorism network to be launched with $4 million in Justice Department funding. He is a resident of Naples.

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What do you make of this?

[phantomvotes]

1. KICK

[newyawker99]

4. Hi phantomvotes!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. What I make of this?

Many chickens on multiple fronts are coming home to roost

[aquart]

3. Thieves is thieves?

Divying up the Home Security money, they had a falling out?

Mind you, this is a flying guess. My mind is so fried by the Daily Kos info on the board, I don't know what I know or what I believe.

But if it gets more complicated, and I suspect it has to, I'm worried about how to sell it on the street.