Headlines—

 

  The Fed Cuts ¼ Only

     Virginia Man Charged With Scheme To Defraud UST Leasing

        John Taylor Leaves Leasing

            SDI/TotalFunding

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Percentage Point, Sixth Cut This Year

                     By DAVID STOUT  , New York Times.

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, arrived for the second day of the Fed's policy meeting on interest rates on Wednesday morning.

 

 The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate today for a sixth time this year. But the rate cut was only a quarter-point, instead of the half-point moves it had been making.

 

The speculation about the cut was not over whether the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee would lower interest rates, but by how much. Some Fed watchers expected it to cut rates by half a percentage point, as it did last month. But others thought the Fed would opt for a more conservative quarter-point cut.

 

Nobody seemed to be expecting the Fed to sit tight and do nothing. Its decision was announced shortly after 2 P.M. Eastern time, at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Washington.

 

Even before this week's meeting, the Fed had cut rates five times this year, for a total of 2.5 percentage points.

 

The most recent reduction, on May 15, was by half a percentage point. That cut in the Fed's benchmark rate quickly prompted banks to cut their prime rate to 7 percent from 7.5 percent. Sooner or later, of course, lowering the prime rate affects not just banking institutions but real people, whose mortgages, home equity loans, car financing and credit card burdens become easier to bear.

 

After the May 15 cut, the Fed dismissed fears of inflation - whose specter not many months ago was inspiring rate increases - and hinted strongly that more cuts were in the offing to rejuvenate the economy.

 

But even before today, the Federal Reserve's half-year campaign to jump-start the economy amounted to perhaps the most concerted effort in the central bank's history. In the recession of 1990-91, for example, the Federal Reserve took more than a year to lower the rates by as much as it has done since last January.

 

In many ways, a decade is not such a long time, especially for people of a certain age. But conditions were much different then. For one thing, dot-com businesses were in their infancy, and few people could predict the sudden fortunes and sudden falls that lay ahead.

For another things, the slowdown of 1990-91 was indisputably a recession. By contrast, there is considerable debate today as to whether the economy has actually entered a recession, is on the verge of one - or is simply going along a bumpy stretch of road that will disappear around the next bend, or the one after that.

 

The problem for investors and analysts alike is that no one can be sure how many bends, or months, lie ahead before recovery. But some experts say that no expertise is needed to see that recent unemployment statistics are not good omens.

Unemployment actually declined in May, to 4.4 percent from 4.5 percent in April, for the first time in nine months, but that decimal point of seeming good cheer masked a grimmer truth. The May figures reflected the fact that some people out of work have stopped looking for work and are therefore no longer included in unemployment statistics.

Some economists have argued that the economy's underpinnings are basically sound and that the technology world that has spawned so much volatility has also been a great blessing to more traditional industries, giving them the data they need to avoid making too many goods when conditions turn sour and to rev up again when brighter times are ahead.

Statistics or not, a non-expert's definition of a recession is likely to be ``when it feels like one.'' When a lot of people feel that way, they hesitate about buying houses or cars, doing remodeling or taking expensive vacations. Thus does feeling become reality.

________________________________________________________________________

 

John Taylor Leaves Leasing

 

It is with regret that I must announce that effective June 30, 2001, John

Taylor is leaving both Ablenet and the equipment leasing industry.

 

Taylor joined Ablenet in September of 1998 as Sr. VP - Sales, after about a

dozen years as President of National Equipment Leasing of Reno, Nevada.

John built Ablenet's sales force from scratch to 5 reps doing about $750K

per month through early this year. 

 

I think that the events in our industry, over the last few months, have

simply disheartened Taylor and like some others, he's looking for a change

in industry.

 

Our best wishes go with John for much success in his new endeavor.

 

 

Paul D. Bob, CLP

Chief Executive Officer

5050 SW Griffith Dr., Ste 101

Beaverton, OR 97005-2932

www.able-net.com

800-255-7430 ext. 21

Fax: (253) 660-8796

 

 SDI/TotalFunding

 

As you know, SDI Capital,  shut their doors & let everyone go.  A few of the principles

& a couple of reps are starting a new leasing company.  They are working out of the house of one of the principles from SDI is my understanding.  Jeff Castner (former SDI employee) is now working for his former boss. The last we heard there was over $20 million raised from investors and the portfolio had huge defaults and very serious problems.  I have the Daniels home and cell telephone number, if you would like to contact them directly.

 

Name Withheld

 

 ( We were not able to reach the Daniels. editor )

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Virginia Man Charged With Scheme To Defraud US Trust Subsidiary, Reports U.S. Attorney

 

BOSTON, -- A Virginia man was charged  in federal court with one count of interstate transportation of property taken by fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud UST Leasing Co. of Boston, a subsidiary of US Trust, of approximately $120,000.

    United States Attorney James B. Farmer announced today that a criminal information was filed today charging JAE HOON KIM, a/k/a Peter Kim, age 37, of 6105 Grogans Court, Centreville, Virginia, with one count of interstate transportation of property taken by fraud.

    According to the charges filed today, in January, 1998, KIM, then a resident of Las Vegas, contacted a representative of UST Leasing Corp. in Boston about obtaining a loan purportedly to assist a customer of his to purchase dry-cleaning equipment from him. KIM and his wife Min Kim had previously owned several dry cleaning stores in Las Vegas under the name Expert Cleaners, Inc., but had sold the business in April, 1997. The information alleges that KIM told UST Leasing that the customer was Expert Cleaners, Inc., which he represented was owned by Min Kim, however KIM did not disclose that Min Kim was his wife, nor that he and his wife had sold the dry-cleaning business in April, 1997.

    The information charges that UST Leasing approved the transaction and sent KIM a check for $121,900 for the purpose of purchasing equipment for use by Expert Cleaners. However, no equipment was purchased for Expert Cleaners and neither KIM nor his wife made any payments to UST Leasing. The information alleges that KIM and his wife made personal use of the funds, and that KIM also used some of the funds to purchase dry-cleaning equipment for other customers which had no obligation to pay UST Leasing.

    If convicted, KIM faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, and restitution.

    This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Mark J. Balthazard of the U.S. Attorney's Economic Crimes Unit.