Law and legal issues

BRADENTON, Fla. — Larry Langford, convicted on 60 bond-related corruption felony charges late Wednesday, was removed from office as Birmingham’s mayor.

WASHINGTON — Some municipal issuers and their advocates yesterday came out swinging against the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The $700 million of bonds to finance a professional basketball arena at the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn could be sold and the proceeds placed into escrow as legal challenges to the project are resolved, an official at the Empire State Development Corp. said yesterday.

A federal grand jury Thursday indicted CDR Financial Products, Inc., its founder David Rubin, as well as a current and former firm official, on nine criminal counts in connection with bid-rigging tied to municipal investment agreements and other contracts such as derivatives.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — A bankruptcy judge indicated this week that he is likely to approve a liquidation plan for the assets of Copia, the failed Napa, Calif. nonprofit wine museum.

WASHINGTON — Financial advisers in the municipal market would have to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission under an amendment added to the Investor Protection Act of 2009 yesterday by House Financial Services Committee members.

Congress should repeal the Tower Amendment and other securities law exemptions for municipal issuers so that the Securities and Exchange Commission can require them to comply with certain disclosure requirements as well as with generally accepted governmental accounting standards, SEC commissioner Elisse Walter said Wednesday night.

BRADENTON, Fla. — ­Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford was convicted on 60 federal charges, nearly all related to his tenure as president of the Jefferson County Commission when $3.2 billion of sewer debt was refinanced.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will likely seek ­legislation “sometime next year” to expand its authority over the municipal market, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro told reporters yesterday after speaking at the Securities Industry and ­Financial Markets Association’s annual conference in New York.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The pay-to-play corruption trial of Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford began last Monday in Tuscaloosa, and before the week ended two of the government’s star witnesses described their roles in bribing Langford while he was president of the Jefferson County commission.

As it had promised for weeks, the California Redevelopment Association Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court to stop a $2.05 billion shift of redevelopment funds from local agencies to help balance the state general fund.

Erickson Retirement Communities, developer of 19 continuing-care retirement communities throughout the U.S., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas.

Transportation officials and an advocacy group in Virginia are battling over whether a Virginia or District of Columbia judge should decide whether drivers on the Dulles Toll Road are being illegally charged tolls used to back bonds issued for the Dulles Metrorail project.

CHICAGO — The promise of personal financial benefits drove former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s decision in 2003 to choose Bear, Stearns & Co. to run the books on the state’s general obligation pension bond sale and to give his go-ahead on the day of pricing to issue the full $10 billion authorization, the governor’s former chief of staff alleged in a plea agreement with federal prosecutors filed yesterday.

Opponents of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn yesterday filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan to try to stop the mega-development from going forward.

SAN FRANCISCO — A bond deal expected to approach $2 billion is heading for the November calendar, after a California Senate vote this week.

SAN FRANCISCO — The recent bankruptcies of two community hospitals in California show how difficult the current economic environment is for health care providers — and how much effort is required to actually bankrupt a hospital.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The long-awaited pay-to-play trial of Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford is slated to start Monday with jury selection.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has asked that a statewide grand jury be impaneled to investigate government corruption in the Sunshine state.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Alabama Public School and College Authority next week plans to sell $775.8 million of revenue bonds, much of which will refund outstanding debt associated with swap options that the issuer is challenging in federal court.