Billionaire Gives a Big Gift but Still Gets to Invest It - New York Times

Billionaire Gives a Big Gift but Still Gets to Invest It - New York Times: "By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: February 24, 2006

Boone Pickens, the often controversial and always colorful Texas oilman turned investor, took advantage of a temporary tax break to make a gift that propelled him into the ranks of the nation's top philanthropists last year.
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Steve Sisney/Oklahoman, via Associated Press

Boone Pickens at a January news conference about his gift.
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Graphic Top Philanthropists in 2005
Top Philanthropists in 2005

But what Mr. Pickens gave away with one hand he continues to control with the other.

At the end of the year, he gave $165 million to a tiny charity set up to benefit the golf program at Oklahoma State University, reaping Mr. Pickens a tax deduction. Records show that the money spent less than an hour on Dec. 30 in the account of the university's charity, O.S.U. Cowboy Golf Inc., before it was invested in a hedge fund controlled by Mr. Pickens, BP Capital Management.

'It's all his money, and he's on the investment committee' of Cowboy Golf, said Mike Holder, the university's athletic director and former golf coach, who is on the board. 'If a person's making a gift of that size, he can stipulate what he wants it invested in.'

Asked whether investing in BP Capital had been a condition of Mr. Pickens's gift, Mr. Holder said no. 'That was my decision,' he said.

Lawyers said that even though Mr. Pickens still had investment power over the gift, the transaction appeared to be legal under federal law.

'Sadly, it's another case of a rich man manipulating charity for his own benefit,' said Marcus Owens, a lawyer who formerly headed the division of the I.R.S. that oversees tax-exempt groups.

To some, the question is whether a wealthy person should get a tax break now for money that has essentially not yet been put to charitable use. By giving the money before 2005 expired, Mr. Pickens was able to take advantage of a provision in Hurricane Katrina relief legislation that allowed him a deduction for a charitable gift equal to 100 percent of his adjusted gross income, double the normal limit of 50 percent. If he does not have that much income in 2005, he can carry the deduction into future years."

How to make Terrorists

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Nigeria's shadowy oil rebels: "Nigeria's shadowy oil rebels
Villagers in the Niger Delta
Delta residents want to share in the region's oil wealth
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has threatened 'total war' in Nigeria's main oil-producing region and is behind the recent kidnapping of oil workers is a shadowy group, about which little is known.

The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar managed to meet one of the group's leaders, who used the alias Major-General Godswill Tamuno.

But he refused to be interviewed on tape or for his location to be disclosed.

Our correspondent says the 'general' was not visibly armed and you could easily walk past him in the streets without noticing him.

Mend's leaders like to be faceless, our reporter says, and they usually send statements to the media via e-mail.

Yet their threats and attacks on oil installations in the region have caused a 15% cut in Nigeria's oil output and a surge in world oil prices.

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Mr Tamuno told our reporter that Mend was fighting for 'total control' of the Niger Delta's oil wealth, saying local people had not gained from the riches under the ground and the region's creeks and swamps.

He said the Delta had been exploited for the benefit of other parts of Nigeria and foreign companies and ordered all oil companies and Nigerians whose roots lie elsewhere to leave the region.

Nigeria's oil hope and despair

This argument has been made by several other militant groups who have staged attacks in the Niger Delta in recent years.

Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters and yet most Delta residents live in poverty.

(there's more, but blogger.com's "blogthis" can't handle it, follow the link to read the rest)

Remember the Ijaw - we're creating the next Al Quaeda

BBC NEWS | Africa | Shell told to pay Nigeria $1.5bn: "A Nigerian court has ordered oil multinational Shell to pay $1.5bn to the Ijaw people of the Delta region.

The Ijaw have been fighting since 2000 for compensation for environmental degradation in the oil-rich region.

They took the case to court after Shell refused to make the payment ordered by Nigeria's parliament.

Ijaw militants have staged a spate of attacks against Shell facilities recently and are holding seven foreign oil workers hostage.

Shell intends to appeal against the judgement.

Shell's lawyers argued in the federal court in Port Harcourt that the joint committee of the National Assembly that made the order in 2000 did not have the power to compel the oil company to make the payment.

But Judge Okechukwu Okeke ruled that since both sides had agreed to go before the National Assembly, the order was binding on both sides.

Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters but despite its oil wealth, many Nigerians live in abject poverty. "

BBC NEWS | Americas | White House admits Katrina flaws

BBC NEWS | Americas | White House admits Katrina flaws: "Inexperience and a lack of planning, discipline and leadership undermined the US response to Hurricane Katrina, a White House report has concluded.

Federal disaster response plans had 'significant flaws', it says.

Among 125 recommendations in the report is a call for more control to be handed to the Pentagon in similar disasters.

The report is the latest in a string of critical judgements on the response to the hurricane which hit last August, killing about 1,300 people.


No matter how prepared we think we are, we must work every day to improve
Frances Townsend
White House adviser

Gulf Coast road trip: Part 3

Compiled by White House homeland security adviser Frances Townsend, the report highlights 11 key areas in need of improvement in case of future disasters.

Most of the recommendations focus on the need for communication between government departments, federal agencies and relief organisations.

Among the suggestions, the report says:

* A Pentagon contact should be embedded within emergency teams handling potential disasters, but the department should lead the disaster effort only in 'extraordinary circumstances'

* The federal government should not be the first authority to respond to a disaster, but should help state and local authorities

* The departments of homeland security and defence should jointly plan the military's support in disasters

* There should be closer ties between the National Guard and homeland security forces."