Chipotle CEO resigns; founder to step in
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. founder Steve Ells, dispensing with a co-leadership role that had become untenable, will take over as sole chief executive officer and set about fixing the embattled burrito chain.
Co-CEO Monty Moran is stepping down from the job and vacating his board seat immediately, leaving Ells in the top job alone, the Denver-based company said in a statement Monday. Moran, 50, will retire altogether from Chipotle next year.
The move follows a tumultuous year for Chipotle, which suffered a series of foodborne-illness outbreaks in 2015 and then struggled to repair its image. The company renewed investor fears last week when it warned that customer service has slipped, partly because Chipotle has been focused on the food-safety crisis.
To drive its turnaround effort, Chipotle has invested in marketing programs and coupons aimed at luring diners back to its restaurants. But those returning customers haven't always had the best experience, Ells said in an interview.
The company's shares closed up 3.3 percent at $382.48 in New York trading Monday. Chipotle had slid 23 percent this year through the end of last week, dogged by the slow recovery from E. coli and norovirus outbreaks last year.
-- Bloomberg News
Supreme Court rejects AIG execs' appeal
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from two former American International Group executives seeking to avoid civil fraud claims over accusations that they hid hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from investors.
The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that said former Chief Executive Officer Maurice Greenberg and former Chief Financial Officer Howard Smith must stand trial.
New York state has accused the former executives of manipulating AIG's accounting records to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from investors.
The state seeks an order banning Greenberg from working in the securities industry or as an executive for any public company. It also is seeking $53 million, including bonuses Greenberg received during the period he is alleged to have manipulated the company's finances.
Greenberg was seen at Trump Tower in New York on Monday. He did not stop to speak with reporters.
-- The Associated Press
Venezuelans deposit invalidated notes
Venezuelans were wearily rushing to deposit bank notes or dump their cash savings entirely on Monday after an announcement by President Nicolas Maduro that he was invalidating the country's biggest bill because of what he says is an attack on the nation's liquidity.
The socialist leader said Sunday that the 100-bolivar note would be removed from circulation within 72 hours. For months, the South American nation has suffered a hard-cash shortage as inflation spirals toward 500 percent, which Maduro insists is the product of an "economic war" and an attempt by his political foes to smuggle currency out of Venezuela.
Higher-denominated bills are scheduled to be released later this week, but Venezuelans are already reeling from a deep recession marked by triple-digit inflation and rampant shortages of consumer basics.
According to a report by Torino Capital, a New York investment bank, the 100-bolivar notes account for more than three-quarters of Venezuela's cash outstanding and 11 percent of the nation's money supply, making Maduro's decree a difficult task for a nation in the throes of an economic crisis.
-- Bloomberg News
First offshore wind farm in U.S. a go
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The nation's first offshore wind farm has opened off the coast of Rhode Island.
Deepwater Wind built five turbines 3 miles off Block Island to power about 17,000 homes, a project costing about $300 million. It announced Monday that the wind farm has begun producing energy for the grid.
Deepwater Wind Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Grybowski calls the opening a momentous occasion that unlocks the code of how to do offshore wind in the U.S. at a crucial time when states are trying to figure out how to replace aging power plants.
Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said the wind farm proves that offshore wind can happen safely and efficiently.
"We've gone from the theoretical to the actual, and you can't replace that with any model," she said in a recent interview. "To be able to go and see turbines spinning in U.S. waters is incredible."
-- The Associated Press
2 charged in $26M-profit securities fraud
NEWARK, N.J. -- Two men were charged Monday with running a securities fraud scheme that, investigators said, netted them more than $26 million in illegal profits.
Joseph Taub, 37, of Clifton and 21-year-old Elazar Shmalo, 21, of Passaic were arrested Monday, federal prosecutors said. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges against the men.
Attorneys listed for the men did not immediately return calls seeking comment on their behalf. Both men made initial court appearances and were released on bond. They were barred from trading in securities on others' accounts as a condition of their release.
The men used dozens of brokerage accounts to drive up the cost of $10 billion worth of securities and then sold securities they owned at inflated prices, investigators said. They used at least one account to make multiple small orders to get a stock to go up or down and then used another account to buy and sell larger quantities of stock to make money, investigators said.
Some of the accounts were listed in the names of family members or in the names of people not involved in an attempt by Taub to conceal the scheme, investigators said.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison plus fines. The SEC filing seeks a return of money made illegally plus interest and penalties.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 12/13/2016