Monthly Archive for March, 2003

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Ivy Industries Nabbed in Bank Theft

The (now-former) CEO of moulding-manufacturer Ivy Industries, John Reid, has confessed to stealing $2.4MM from Albemarle First Bank. Reid says that he set up the check-kiting scheme between Albemarle First and SunTrust in an effort to keep his business afloat. He was caught when he tried to tie a new bank, Southern Financial, into the scheme. Ivy Industries laid off 40 of their 50 employees last Friday. Monday, Albemarle First filed a $10MM suit against Reid and four of the organizations’ officers. David Dadurka has the story in today’s Progress. 4:09pm Update: Also, see The Hook’s story for a whole mess more information.

WVIR Launches New Website

WVIR (NBC 29) has a fancy new website. Of relevance here, they’re back to providing local news, although it looks like they’re not archiving it at all, but presumably overwriting it every day. Not linkable, unfortunately, but certainly worth reading. Remember not to go to WVIR.com, boys and girls, because that’s a porn site.

Albemarle First Gets Scammed

Albemarle First Bank has lost somewhere in the vicinity of $2.4MM in a scam known as “check kiting.” It involves a chain of checks between banks, the final one in the chain being left holding the bag when it comes time to produce the money. Albemarle First does not think that they’ll be able to recover the money. Consequently, the bank will now has a first-quarter loss of $1.94. In heavy trading, their stock dropped 28% on the news. Dow Jones has the story.

Fridays After 5, Not Free?

It looks as if the free ride with Fridays After 5 may be coming to an end. For fifteen years, acts of local, regional, and national note have performed for crowds of thousands on the east end of the Downtown Mall without cost, supported by sales of alcohol and sponsorships. Citing declining sponsorship dollars, Charlottesville Downtown Foundation is considering instituting an admission fee of $3-$5. In addition, they may end up banning outside food and drink, so that vendors at the event can have a monopoly on sales and, presumably, the amount that they can pay CDF will increase. No decision has been made on these things yet, but it seems as if the organization’s hands are tied. Lisa Provence has the story in this week’s Hook.

Ntelos Files Chapter 11

Ntelos has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, various business news outlets are reporting. The company seeks to continue operations, and does not think that they’ll be affected by the filing. Ntelos has been in financial trouble for some time, so this filing should come as no great surprise to observers.

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