Lyndon Cooper's Padlet by Lyndon Cooper

Michael Keeley Cornerstone Research Economic and Financial Consulting and Expert Testimony: Staff

lyndoncooper — 2015-02-19 02:52:22 UTC

Michael C. Keeley

Senior Vice President
Menlo Park, CA
T 650.470.7120
F 650.324.9204
mkeeley@cornerstone.com

Practices

Antitrust and Competition
Consumer Fraud and Product Liability
Energy and Commodities
Financial Institutions
Intellectual Property
Labor and Employment
Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare
Real Estate

Education

University of Chicago, Ph.D.
University of Chicago, M.A.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.B.

Michael Keeley provides economic, financial, and statistical consulting and expert testimony. He has consulted and served as an expert in a variety of cases, including antitrust, intellectual property, product misrepresentation and consumer fraud, securities fraud, breach of contract, and environmental matters. He also has served as an expert and consultant on class certification in antitrust, fraud, product misrepresentation, and breach of contract matters. Dr. Keeley has provided business consulting on pricing, auction design, and strategy as well as public policy consulting on a variety of issues involving energy, labor, and financial regulation. He has worked on cases in a range of industries, including oil and gas, health care, computer software and hardware, medical devices, automotive, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, financial, and real estate.

Dr. Keeley joined Cornerstone Research in 1989 and has led the firm’s work in antitrust and intellectual property matters. He has testified in more than twenty cases at trial and arbitration. Prior to joining Cornerstone Research, he was a Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and before that, he headed Stanford Research Institute’s Antitrust Economics Consulting Group. Dr. Keeley has also taught economics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Keeley has published his research in major economics and finance journals, was awarded the Garn Prize for his research on bank risk taking, and was selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in Economics based on citations of his research.

Antitrust litigation

Dr. Keeley has served as an expert in more than thirty cases dealing with a variety of antitrust issues, including price fixing, monopolization, tying, bundling, exclusive dealing, predatory pricing, price discrimination, mergers, and class certification. He has served as an expert in cases such as People of the State of California et al. v. Chevron Corporation et al. (MDL 150), Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Corporation et al., Mozart v. Mercedes-Benz, and In re Flash Memory Antitrust Litigation. He also has served as a consultant on several prominent cases, including In re Cigarette Antitrust Litigation, In re High Fructose Corn Syrup Antitrust Litigation, and In re Compensation of Managerial, Professional and Technical Employees Antitrust Litigation.

Class certification

Dr. Keeley has provided testimony and consulting related to class certification in antitrust, disclosure, product misrepresentation, and breach of contract matters. His cases have involved financial products, pharmaceutical products, medical devices, cigarettes, chemical products, labor markets, crude oil, computer software and hardware, semiconductors, Internet marketing, and gasoline marketing. Dr. Keeley’s recent class certification work includes the Neurontin Off-Label Marketing cases, the fixed-index annuity litigation, and In re Flash Memory Antitrust Litigation.

Intellectual property litigation

Dr. Keeley has served as an expert in patent, copyright, trade secret, trademark, and trade dress infringement matters; assessed damages in matters involving alleged breaches of technology sharing agreements; addressed economic issues in Section 337 cases before the International Trade Commission; and addressed tax issues in cases involving technology transfer and licensing. He has served as an expert in more than twenty-five intellectual property cases, including Power Integrations, Inc. v. Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. and Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, Brandeis University and GFA Brands, Inc. v. Keebler Co. et al., Monsanto Co. v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., LG. Philips LCD Co., Ltd. v. Tatung Co. of America et al., and Verizon Services Corp. et al v. Cox Fibernet Virginia, Inc., et al. Dr. Keeley consults with intellectual property owners, has helped negotiate licenses, is a member of the Licensing Executives Society, and authored “Infringement: Valuing IP for Damages,” which appeared in les Nouvelles.

Meir Ezra: Jealousy

lyndoncooper — 2015-09-29 06:37:30 UTC

Meir Ezra - No one wants a jealous mate and no one likes being jealous. Jealousy creates anxiety, anger, loneliness, hate, fear. No one thinks clearly when feeling jealous.

Having a relationship with a jealous person is tough. The jealous person acts untrusting or unworthy. Jealousy makes the person unattractive, even repulsive.

What causes jealousy?

"Jealousy is the largest factor in breaking up marriages. Jealousy comes about because of the insecurity of the jealous person and the jealousy may or may not have foundation. This person is afraid of hidden communication lines and will do anything to try to uncover them." -- L. Ron Hubbard

When you are jealous, a line of communication appears to exist with your spouse or lover that is hidden from you. The mystery causes the pain. If you witnessed your spouse's communication line, so it was not hidden from you, you would not feel jealous.

Hidden communication lines or mysteries make you think of questions. "Will she find someone she likes better than me?" "Is he having an affair?" "Is she going to leave me?" "Does he think I'm unattractive?"

When you are jealous, the mystery makes you assume the worst. "Maybe he'll fall in love with his cute receptionist and leave me." "She's going to lunch with her old boyfriend because she's still attracted to him." "He'll come home and tell me he wants a divorce."

How to Dissolve Jealousy

"Communication is the root of marital success from which a strong union can grow, and non-communication is the rock on which the ship will bash out her keel*." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*Keel: The main structural part of a ship that goes from bow to stern-front to back.)

If you are jealous, you need to communicate. You need to stop assuming the worst and ask questions. Communicate your feelings so you can work out solutions.

Bob says to his wife, "I don't want to feel this jealously. I want to get rid of it by asking you a question, okay? Good. So are you attracted to Joe?"

His wife says, "Heavens no! Joe just wanted some help with his son. I love YOU like crazy!"

Bang! The hidden communication is revealed. The mystery is resolved. Bob feels much better.

If Bob doesn't communicate, his wife's communication with Joe makes Bob jealous, afraid and angry. Their marriage suffers.

If your mate is jealous, make sure you have no hidden lines of communication. "Would you like to read this letter from Jill?" "Can you meet with Joe to help with his son?"

Use communication to resolve the problem. For example, you notice Marcia is acting upset and not talking. You ask yourself, "What communication line might be hidden from Marcia?" You realize she's been acting annoyed ever since you started working for an attractive female boss.

"Marcia, have I told you about my new boss?" Marcia jumps up and now wants to talk. You communicate the facts and remove the mystery. Marcia is cheerful and wants to go to a movie.

As well as using communication to resolve mysteries, communicate your feelings for your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend. Tell him or her how you feel. Express your love. Show your affection.

Resolve the mysteries of the past. Discuss your feelings in the present. Make plans for the future. Because of communication, your relationship will be a big success.

Ron Hubbard also writes, "Jealousy comes about because of the insecurity of the jealous person. . . ." Mr. Hubbard's discoveries on insecurity are outlined in his book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, available in our bookstore or at www.dianetics.org.

France Acknowledges that Panama is no “Tax Haven” by Mossack Fonseca

lyndoncooper — 2015-12-09 06:45:52 UTC

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lauren Fabius, Senator Jacques Gautier, Vice-president of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Secretary General of the French Presidency, Jean Pierre Jouyet, all agreed that Panama “is no tax haven” and they recognized the “solid financial platform” of the Central American country, as stated by the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This information was provided following meetings held between the Panamanian Vice-president and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Isabel de Saint Malo, and the above-mentioned authorities during an official visit to Paris.

Mossack Fonseca & Co. - Office Profile

The Panamanian Foreign Minister applauded France, a member of the OECD Peer Review Group, for offering support to remove Panama from the European Union’s discriminatory lists.

Like Mossack Fonseca (Official) Facebook Page for more updates.

Best IT Employers for the 5th Consecutive Year

lyndoncooper — 2016-08-17 01:20:47 UTC

FINRA Named One of the Best IT Employers for the 5th Consecutive Year

According to IDG’s Computerworld, FINRA ranks as one of the best places to work in information technology, specifically in the field of financial regulation. It is the fifth consecutive year that FINRA made it to Computerworld’s list of top 100 companies.

Computerworld’s Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Steve Randich said, “FINRA has a lot to provide technologists in terms of a chance to work in pioneering the causes of investor protection and market integrity. We’re proud that Computerworld has contributed to empowering technologists to produce and innovate in accordance to FINRA’s stable role in financial regulation.”

Randich cited as a prime example Comuterworld’s use of the cloud to make storage and processing of vast amounts of information scalable and safe. It has also included improved facility in performing regulatory analysis by technologists. He also said that producing open-source software and hosting hackathons has allowed their technology group in a dynamic environment, inside and outside the company.

In this year’s list of Best Places to Work in IT, Computerworld had this to say about FINRA, “The employees at this independent, non-governmental regulatory office of securities companies are fully aware that their employer supports them a 100%.” He adds, “FINRA also provides ample parental leave benefits for child birth or adoption, gives a maximum of $5,000 for every child for adoption-related expenses, money for additional emergency support when regular child-care or elder-care is not available, and allows adjustable work schedules to aid workers balance their job and family concerns.

Moreover, FINRA gives workers two paid-vacation-days each year to do social outreach in their communities and their chosen charities.”

This year’s Best Places to Work in IT list have made it to the magical circle of organizations which have produced an innovative and fulfilling IT work environment,” stated Scot Finnie, Computerworld’s Editor-in-Chief. “In a highly competitive world of tech skills, these excellent employers can draw highly-talented IT professionals by offering attractive fringe benefits, fresh educational opportunities, utilization of cutting-edge digital systems and challenging, business-centered ventures.”

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is recognized as the biggest independent securities regulation agency for all firms operating in the United States. FINRA commits to safeguard the interests of the investor as well as the integrity of the securities market through efficient regulation and appurtenant compliance and technology-based systems. FINRA covers substantially every aspect of the securities market – beginning with registration and education of all industry players to evaluation of securities companies, writing regulations, enforcement of such regulations and the federal securities laws, and the education of the investing public in general. Moreover, FINRA conducts investigations and other regulatory tasks for equities and options markets, including trade updates and other related industry services. Finally, FINRA serves as the main administrator for resolutions of disputes for investors and securities firms.

Fraud Labs Pro Fraud Detection and Fraud Detection Solutions: How is the sequence of execution of fraud validation rules?

lyndoncooper — 2016-09-16 02:49:26 UTC

FraudLabs Pro allows user to configure multiple fraud validation rules with multiple actions, such as Approve, Manual Review, and Reject. But, how is the sequence of execution if I had configured multiple validation rules with different actions? Below are the explanations of the execution logic.

FraudLabs Pro adopts an easy-to-understand sequential checking for the validation rules. It basically checks the validation rules starting from the 1st rule to the last one in the sequence. If the system found the match during the sequential check, it will stop the checking process and flag the transaction based on the action defined. However, if the system completed the sequential check with no match found, it will flag the transaction as Approve. It's as simple as explained. Below is the summary of the validation logic:

If match found during the sequential check, stop the checking process and flag the transaction based on the action defined, such as Approve, Manual Reviewor Reject.
If sequential check completed with no match found, flag the transaction as Approve.

Example of validation scenarios.

Assuming you created 3 validation rules for Free Email, Email in Blacklist and Anonymous Proxy as above. (Note: to ease the explanation, this tutorial will not display the exact rule name but a short representation)

Scenario 1: User's email address is a yahoo email.

The validation process will be stopped at Rule #1 and the transaction will be flagged as Manual Review.

Scenario 2: User's email address is a company email but had been previously blacklisted by FraudLabs Pro.

Rule #1 pass the validation. However, the validation process will be stopped at Rule #2 and the transaction will be flagged as Reject.

Scenario 3: User's email address is a company email with clean record, and not using Anonymous Proxy.

The validation process completed successfully and the transaction will be flagged as Approve.

Coalition Against Insurance Fraud: Anti-fraud efforts removed from MLR

lyndoncooper — 2016-10-31 01:41:20 UTC

Keeping in MLR improves healthcare for everyone

Health insurer anti-fraud expenses will be left from the Medical Loss Ratio in a rule released by the feds. This decision deals with Medicaid managed care, and frustrated state and federal fraud busters. The impact will spread throughout the world of healthcare.

First, a short history: The Affordable Care Act requires health insurers to spend 80 or 85 percent of costs on claims and health services. This limits how much insurers can spend to run the business.

Regulators were left to decide what insurer expenses will be included in the MLR. The Coalition and other fraud fighters diligently tried to show federal and state regulators why anti-fraud expenses should be included. Effective fraud fighting is directly linked to the quality of healthcare that consumers receive in many cases.

What makes this decision a bit grating is that federally funded health programs like Medicaid are required to have anti-fraud efforts. Yet those expenses are excluded from the MLR, and thus, health plans have little incentive to invest more in combating fraud.

This decision has impact well beyond state-federal Medicaid.

States usually look to the feds for guidance when writing their own regulations. If the feds exclude fraud expenses from the MLR, then states will be reluctant as well.

We’ve urged insurance regulators to include the MLR. They’re often sympathetic, yet gamely stick to excluding anti-fraud expenses.

Fraud fighting is essential to quality patient care; this isn’t mere overhead. Scams often harm patients with worthless and botched treatments that also can max out their policy limits. Stopping money-draining schemes also helps reduce the cost of health services. This benefits everyone.

That’s the rub. Fraud fighters know that good anti-fraud efforts reduce healthcare costs and improve services. Yet regulators stubbornly stay reluctant to even consider including anti-fraud expenses in the MRL.

It’s time for fraud fighters to speak out, and tell regulators and policymakers that fraud-fighting expense should be included in the cost of paying healthcare claims.

About the author: Howard Goldblatt is director of government affairs for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.

Tourism Roadshow to Shanghai and Chengdu Promotes 'Ten New Balis'

lyndoncooper — 2017-06-01 05:46:07 UTC

Jakarta. Indonesia's Tourism Ministry organized a sales mission to Shanghai and Chengdu in China on May 22-25 to attract more Chinese tourists to Indonesia.

The ministry’s deputy for foreign marketing I Gde Pitana said they took along ten businessmen from Jakarta, Bali, Yogyakarta and Surabaya on the trip, which they dubbed the "Sales Mission Greater China 2017."

Flag career Garuda Indonesia representatives in Shanghai helped out to arrange meetings with dozens of Chinese travel agents interested in tour deals in Indonesia.

Pitana said he hoped the sales mission will help to attract even more Chinese tourists to Indonesia this year. Last year, almost 1.5 million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia.

Ten New Balis

The ministry's assistant deputy for Asia Pacific market development Vinsensius Jemadu said the ministry’s mini tour to Shanghai and Chengdu was earmarked to promote ten new priority tourist destinations the ministry calls the "Ten New Balis."

"Bali is still our number one tourist destination. But we have many other attractive destinations all over the country, including these Ten New Balis," Vinsensius said in a statement on Monday (29/05).

The Ten New Balis are Morotai, Tanjung Kelayang, Tanjung Lesung, Borobudur, Lake Toba, the Thousand Islands, Mt. Bromo, Mt. Semeru, Mandalika and Wakatobi.

Tourists from Greater China

Attracting more tourists from "Greater China" — China, Taiwan and Hong Kong — is one of the Tourism Ministry's priority targets in 2017.

The ministry officially targets 2,453,000 visitors from Greater China, with China alone making up 2,037,000 of that total. Until March, a total of 525,035 tourists from China have already visited Indonesia.

Pitana said the ministry has partnered with Baidu — the Chinese Google — for its "Wonderful Indonesia" marketing campaign in China. Baidu currently has over 300 million users.

"We've also partnered with the number one travel app in China, Qunar, to help Chinese travelers find information on flights, accommodation and holiday packages in Indonesia," Pitana said.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said Indonesia will have to compete with the rest of the world to win over the Chinese market — the largest in the world.

"More than 120 million Chinese travelers fly out of their country each year. They are also going more and more digital, 70 percent of Chinese travelers look, book and pay for flights and accommodations using digital [services]," Arief said.

Arief pointed out that tourists from China tend to spend a lot during their travels overseas. The average spending of Chinese tourists is $1,057 per person during a visit.

"Chinese tourists love beaches, and we have plenty of those. More and more of them also do a lot of shopping when they travel," Arief said.

Arief said the ministry had asked Sriwijaya Air and Garuda Indonesia to add more direct flights from China to Indonesia.

"Garuda should add more direct flights to and from China. Seven secondary cities in China still use chartered flights to travel to Indonesia. It would be better if scheduled flights are available," he said.

Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants Review: Dygtiggorelsen din virksomheds kultur med kunstvaerker

lyndoncooper — 2017-11-08 03:47:16 UTC

Det er vigtigt at have en god virksomhed kultur uanset hvad er storrelsen af din organisation, det vaere sig en stor virksomhed eller en lille virksomhed. Det bor vaere normerne for virksomheder at fremme en positiv atmosfaere at undga hoj omsaetning og give anledning til tilfredshed for bade medarbejdere og kunder. Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants tyder pa en enkel made at bidrage til gavn for virksomhedens kultur, og der ved hjaelp af skonhed af kunstvaerker til din virksomhed.

Husk, at dit kontor inviterer positiv energi ikke at tiltraekke den negative ene. Ved hjaelp af kunstvaerker kunne hjaelpe lette stemningen af folk inde jeres kontor. Kort sagt op dejlige fotografier, pop af farve eller inspirerende kunst til at lokke lykke. Specifikke undersogelser viser ogsa, at have kunst pa arbejdspladsen kan hjaelpe medarbejderne samle gode og positive folelser og reducere stress, i takt med stigende kreativitet.

De folgende tips er udarbejdet af Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants til at hjaelpe dig med at forbedre din virksomheds kultur med kunstvaerker:

Bestemme folelsen

Taenk pa stemningen onskede dine medarbejdere eller besogende til at fole sig om illustrationen, nar de indtaster en bestemt plads i din erhvervs-byggeri. Det er ofte rades til at fa ekspertisen af en art consulting service kan bedre hjaelpe dig vaelge, hvilken slags kunst vil passer perfekt til dine behov.

Repraesentere dit brand

Sorg for at din valgte kunst kunne repraesenterer dit brand i nogle mader. For eksempel bor illustrationen ogsa klassiske og traditionelle, hvis din virksomhed er i sadanne sti. Hver person, der gar ind i din kontorbygning bor let forsta begrebet din virksomhed gennem din udvalgte kunstvaerker. Du kunne erhverve service af en professionel kunstnerisk konsulent ligner Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants til at give dig en ekspert radgivning om valg af kunstvaerker, der let kunne give din virksomhed centrale budskab og branding til folket. Med dette, kan du vaere sikker med konsekvensen af din organisation og dine klienter og endda de habefulde medarbejdere vil have en klar idé til personlighed af din virksomhed.

Acceptere udtalelser

Som en virksomhedsejer, sikre for at bemaerke udtalelser fra dine medarbejdere. Har en kunstnerisk konsulent udover du er god og gavnlig, men synspunkter hos dine medarbejdere bor ogsa vurderes til at forbedre din hele virksomhedens kultur med din udsmykning valg. Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants opfordrer virksomhedsejere til at gennemfore en undersogelse blandt medarbejderne pa deres vaeg kunst valg. Hvis fleste foretraekker natur scener eller fotografier, bor du overveje kunstvaerker med dette tema. Medarbejdere vil blive mere inspireret til at arbejde i et sted med deres foretrukne design. Altid tage hensyn til deres forslag og gore dit bedste for at gennemfore dem.

Bor du kraeve yderligere bistand i denne henseende, sa tov ikke med at kontakte Devin Fitzpatrick Art Consultants, da de er mere end villig til at vaere til hjaelp.