Greeley – Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned to at least one Swift & Co. meatpacking plant Tuesday with arrest warrants for people suspected of identity theft in an operation that garnered union support.
ICE regional spokesman Carl Rusnok confirmed one “worksite enforcement operation” in Greeley but would not say how many people were arrested.
December raids resulted in 1,200 arrests at Swift plants in six cities.
Dave Minshall, spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 7, said agents had at least 40 arrest warrants for suspects in Greeley; Cactus, Texas; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn. Five people were taken into custody, though it was unclear where the arrests were made.
Additional business news briefs:
DENVER
JohnstonWells buys Accent PR firm
JohnstonWells Public Relations has purchased Accent Public Relations. The deal brings Accent PR owner Gina Seamans back to the JohnstonWells fold. Seamans worked for JohnstonWells from 1994 until she founded Accent PR in 1998.
Clients she brings to JohnstonWells include Bernina of America, Enstrom Candies, Laser Technology, SmartCare Family Medical Clinics and Sterling-Rice Group.
The acquisition is the second in a year for JohnstonWells, which acquired Center Reach Communications in September 2006.
SEATTLE
Ex-Boeing worker charged in media leaks
A former Boeing Co. worker accused of downloading sensitive internal documents and leaking them to the media was charged Tuesday with 16 counts of computer trespass.
Gerald Lee Eastman was arrested in May 2006, briefly held in jail and subsequently fired from his job as a quality-assurance inspector in Boeing’s Seattle-based propulsion division, the company confirmed.
In a statement of probable cause, a Seattle police detective said Eastman downloaded hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that contained information he did not have authorization to access and shared some of it with reporters at The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
WASHINGTON
Plan OK’d to switch stock-exchange letters
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a plan to allow companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange to retain their three-letter ticker symbols should they transfer to rival Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.
Traditionally, investors have been able to differentiate between companies traded on the Nasdaq and other exchanges based on how many letters a stock symbol contains. The American Stock Exchange uses three characters, while Nasdaq-listed companies use four or five characters.
NEW YORK
Average hedge fund up 1 percent in June
The average hedge fund gained about 1 percent in June as the Standard & Poor’s 500 index declined, according to a hedge fund investor advisory firm.
The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index rose nearly 0.9 percent in June, with the S&P 500 falling nearly 1.8 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining 1.6 percent, according to Hennessee Group LLC.
ATLANTA
Home Depot issues bleaker outlook
The Home Depot Inc., the world’s largest home improvement store chain, on Tuesday cited continued weakness in the housing market and the sale of its wholesale distribution business as it issued a bleaker-than-expected financial outlook for the year.
But the Atlanta-based company also said it was launching a tender offer for 250 million shares of its common stock at a price range of $39 to $44 per share as part of a larger program to buy back up to $22.5 billion of its stock.
WASHINGTON
SEC mulls plan for naming board picks
The Securities and Exchange Commission is circulating a draft proposal of a plan to give shareholders an easier route to nominating candidates to corporate boards, under an approach that already has drawn criticism from investor groups.
A major sticking point, according to critics, is that the SEC is considering a high ownership threshold, equal to at least 5 percent of shares, for those looking to propose bylaw changes that would give shareholders a greater hand in nominating director candidates.
SALT LAKE CITY
Bidder faces deadline in pitch for Huntsman
All parties involved in the bidding war for chemical company Huntsman Corp. said Tuesday that today is the deadline for Dutch company Basell to raise its $5.6 billion bid and top a rival suitor.
The deadline was reset Sunday when private-equity firm Apollo Management LP boosted its offer to $6.5 billion from its original offer of $6 billion.
Apollo, making bids through its Columbus, Ohio-based Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. unit, acted to pre-empt a counteroffer or to impress the Huntsman board, analysts said.
DENVER
Jeweler can’t parrot Shane Co.’s slogan
A federal judge in Denver has issued a temporary restraining order against a company that jeweler Shane Co. accused of ripping off its slogan.
Pacific Diamond and Swiss Watch Exchange Inc. of Hawaii may not use “Now you have a friend in the diamond business” phrase in its advertising, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Blackburn ordered Tuesday.
