Biz People

Kronthal comes back to Merrill

Merrill Lynch & Co enlisted Jeff Kronthal, a onetime bond-trading executive fired last year by former CEO Stan O'Neal, to advise on stanching the firm's mortgage-related losses.

Kronthal, 53, will become a consultant to New York-based Merrill, Co-President Greg Fleming said in an internal memo that was confirmed by spokeswoman Jessica Oppenheim.

He'll counsel fixed-income chief David Sobotka, Fleming wrote.

Chief Executive Officer John Thain is bringing back one of six top bond-trading executives O'Neal ousted in a shakeup designed to spur risk-taking at the firm.

The push to underwrite mortgage-backed securities backfired, leaving Merrill with a record $2.2 billion third-quarter loss and O'Neal out of a job.

Stark predicts inflation peak

European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark said he expects the inflation rate in the 13-member euro region to peak in coming months, pushing up wage demands, Il Sole 24 Ore reported, citing an interview.

"I see risks of the impact being a chain reaction on other variables," Stark (below left) told the financial newspaper. "Inflation expectations must remain well anchored. This is why we will be monitoring developments closely."

Stark said last week he's concerned that rising oil and food costs will push up consumer prices in the euro area. ECB council members have said they see "upside" risks for inflation.

Ex-Hollinger president jailed

A US judge on Monday gave a 29-month prison sentence to David Radler, one-time president of media giant Hollinger International Inc, whose trial testimony helped convict former press baron Conrad Black.

"I made mistakes and they hurt me and my family," the former publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times said before sentence was imposed. "I will live my life with this and I'm sorry for what I've done."

Radler (right), a 65-year-old Canadian, had pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud in 2005 in an agreement that led to eight days of testimony at a trial that concluded in July.

Radler admitted to a scheme to swindle Hollinger and its shareholders out of millions of dollars.

Black and three other former Hollinger executives pleaded not guilty and were convicted by a jury, with Black sentenced last week by US District Judge Amy St. Eve to six-and-a-half years. He was also fined $125,000 and ordered to forfeit $6.1 million.

St. Eve on Monday affirmed Radler's agreed-to 29-month sentence and a fine of $250,000.

(China Daily 12/19/2007 page16)