“The Sam Peter thing has been agreed to,” Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Peter’s promoter, said. “They’re coming into the [Las Vegas] office to sign [on Thursday]. It was a relatively easy negotiation.”
Bernd Boente, Klitschko’s manager, told ESPN.com in an email, “We found an agreement which is not signed yet, but hopefully [Thursday] so that we can send out a press release.”
“Peter came close last time. This time he has the experience that if he gets Klitschko in trouble again, he can finish him,” Arum said. “If Peter happened to upset Klitschko that would really start a lot of talk in the heavyweight division.”
Said Boente, “This is a very interesting fight especially with the history of the first one in 2005. By the way, we have already sold 15,000 tickets in the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt without an opponent.”
“We’re going [Thursday] morning to sign. We’re good to go,” said Ivaylo Gotzev, Peter’s manager. “My prediction has always been the same if we got a rematch. This time we’re going to finish the job and not leave it to the judges’ scorecard. We are going into the lion’s den to take him out.”
Bowling Green, Ky., financial officer charged with embezzling tax receipts.
Daily News (Bowling Green, KY) April 4, 2005 Byline: Jim Gaines Apr. 4–At all revenue meetings with Bowling Green elected officials and top city staff, Chief Financial Officer Davis Cooper reiterated that revenue from the city’s insurance premium tax fluctuated wildly, Mayor Elaine Walker said.
All of his predictions for other revenue sources were very accurate, she said.
“But that was the one that he kept saying, ‘There’s just no way to predict it,’ ” Walker said. “And that’s, in the end, what made it vulnerable.” Cooper was hired as city treasurer in 1980 and promoted to chief financial officer at the start of 2002. He was arrested March 18 and charged with embezzling from that very insurance tax’s receipts.
The insurance premium tax makes a good target for embezzlement because the amount of revenue it generated was known to be uneven, according to a federal affidavit by FBI Special Agent Richard Glenn.
The insurance premium tax collected $1,872,000 in fiscal 2004, $1,958,000 in the previous year, and $1,891,000 in 2002, City Treasurer Jeff Meisel said.
Those numbers add up to annual fluctuations of 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively. go to website bowling green ky
A total of 354 Kentucky cities taxed insurance premiums in fiscal year 2003, as allowed by state statute, according to Bobbie Bryant, director of communications for the Kentucky League of Cities. At least 10 more cities are doing so this year, she said.
Those taxes brought in $175 million in fiscal 2003, the last year for which the league has complete figures, Bryant said.
The tax was established in Bowling Green in 1952, Meisel said. Beginning in 1972, a large portion of the tax was set aside for the Fire Improvement Fund to buy equipment for the Bowling Green Fire Department, he said. The bulk of its funds are still earmarked for that purpose. go to web site bowling green ky
Life, health, accident, burial, casualty and auto insurance policies are taxed at 2 percent. Multiple-line policies with indivisible premiums pay a 5.5 percent tax. Inland marine, fire and allied perils, and policies for all other risks pay a 7 percent tax.
Cities can change tax rates for any of those types of policies, Bryant said.
The average tax rate on insurance premiums in Kentucky cities was 6.7 percent in fiscal year 2003, she said.
The insurance tax payments, usually in check form, are mailed to the city treasurer’s post office box, which is emptied by a courier.
They are supposed to be entered into the city computer system and deposited in a city account at U.S. Bank.
Cooper is suspected of taking envelopes containing payments on the city’s insurance premium tax from a city post office box and depositing them in a bank account he opened in 1985 at U.S. Bank.
Within the last five years, $2.3 million has passed through Cooper’s account, and at least one check he is suspected of taking dates from 1996, according to Glenn’s affidavit.
Cooper is free on a $50,000 unsecured bond. The FBI has said he is cooperating.
Cooper’s attorney, Alan Simpson, said Cooper intends to plead not guilty. A conviction on embezzlement charges could bring 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution.
It’s easy and natural to let your guard down with someone who’s well-known and trusted, Walker said.
“That’s a very sad lesson, but I think that what it tells us in city government is that we need to set up our systems so that we protect even the people we do trust from any temptation,” she said.
The city will look at how the tax checks are transported from the post office and secured once they reach city offices, Walker said. More than one person should be present with the receipts at all times, she said.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
