Two former Bear Sterns Cos. investment bankers pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud as part of a federal public-corruption investigation in Texas that has implicated firms that underwrite municipal bonds. Roberto Ruiz, former managing director at Bear Stearns's Dallas office, and Christopher Pak, former vice president in the office, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in El Paso to conspiracy charges related to bribery schemes in El Paso.

An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas focused initially on vendor kickbacks and has involved several local elected officials and business leaders, some of whom were involved in overseeing bond-related matters for the city and area school districts. Some of the local officials have pleaded guilty in the case.

The latest El Paso pleadings come as federal officials pursue a yearlong nationwide criminal probe into alleged widespread bid-rigging in the municipal bond industry. Several Wall Street firms that underwrite the deals as well as insurers that handle part of the business have reported receiving subpoenas.

It isn't clear how the El Paso case, which is still open, is related to other parts of the bid-rigging investigation.

Many details of the El Paso case remain under seal. Documents filed in one of the first parts of the case to become public include references to meetings earlier this year at which the Bear Stearns bankers, not identified by name, discuss paying for a personal trip to New York for one local official implicated involved in the case and his wife. The documents also describe local officials' discussions allegedly seeking bribes from another financial firm handling local bond deals, First Southwest Co., of Dallas, in order to keep their county contract. First Southwest was later fired, prosecutors suggest in court papers, for refusing to pay.

Russell Sherman, a Bear Stearns spokesman, said the men are no longer employees, adding, "Bear Stearns is not the subject of the inquiry. We will continue to cooperate with the authorities regarding this matter."

First Southwest CEO Hill A. Feinberg on Friday said the company has been assured that it isn't a target of the El Paso public-corruption investigation. "We remain ready, willing, and able to cooperate with the federal government, if contacted," he said.

The two officers placed on paid leave for using a Taser on a University of Florida student explained Wednesday why they felt it necessary to use a stun gun on the unruly student.

Andrew Meyer, 21, refused to sit down at the end of a question-and-answer session with Sen. John Kerry and insisted that his questions be answered, they said.

The officers added that Meyers' rant, directed toward Kerry after the question and answer period was over, included a reference to a sex act.

Police also suggested Meyer staged the incident. They said he handed a woman next to him a camera and asked her, "are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?"

When, police said, Meyer would not be quiet to let Kerry answer, his microphone was cut off and organizers of the event asked officers to escort him out.

"The man lifted me up and pushed Officer Wise to avoid being taken in to custody," Officer Nicole Mallo said.

When more officers were called in, they said he continued to "push, kick and elbow the officers."

When officers were only able to place one handcuff on Meyer, Sgt. Eddie King gave the order to use the Taser.

"One contact Tase to the man's left shoulder was deployed," King said.

One officer said he drew his Taser on Meyer but was ordered not to use it.

Police said it was only after his continued, active, physical resistance to being arrested that the order was given to Tase Meyer.

On his way to jail, Meyer became lighthearted, police said.

According to the police report, Meyers told officers: "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job."

Meyer's lawyer said the Taser was unnecessary and promised to vigorously fight the charges police filed, which include inciting a riot and disrupting a school function.

The videotaped incident in Gainesville, Fla., has rekindled a national debate over the controversial stun guns.

One of the five remaining defendants in the government's high-profile tax-shelter case against former KPMG LLP employees is expected to plead guilty ahead of a criminal trial set to begin in October, according to a person familiar with the situation. The defendant, David Amir Makov, is expected to enter his guilty plea in federal court in Manhattan this week, this person said. It is unclear how Mr. Makov's guilty plea will affect the trial for the remaining four defendants. Mr. Makov's plea deal with federal prosecutors was reported yesterday by the New York Times.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, which is overseeing the case, declined to comment. An attorney for Mr. Makov couldn't be reached.

Mr. Makov would be the second person to plead guilty in the case. He is one of two people who didn't work at KPMG, but his guilty plea should give the government's case a boost. Federal prosecutors indicted 19 individuals on tax-fraud charges in 2005 for their roles in the sale and marketing of bogus shelters.

The government billed the case as the largest tax-fraud case in U.S. history. But last month the federal judge overseeing the case dismissed the charges against 13 of the defendants after finding that prosecutors violated their constitutional rights by pressuring KPMG to cut off payment of their legal fees.

The government denies using any undue influence in KPMG's legal fee decision and plans to appeal. If the judge's ruling is reversed, the 13 former defendants could be indicted again.

For now, opening statements in the trial against the remaining defendants is scheduled for Oct. 16. Two of the defendants -- John Larson and Robert Pfaff -- left KPMG and formed Presidio Advisory Services, where Mr. Makov worked. Prosecutors allege the firm earned fees helping to sell bogus tax shelters. The other defendants are R.J. Ruble, a former law partner at Sidley Austin LLP, and David Greenberg, a former partner at KPMG.

Each of the remaining defendants has pleaded not guilty and is fighting the charges.

KPMG admitted to criminal wrongdoing but avoided indictment that could have put the tax giant out of business. Instead, the firm reached a deferred-prosecution agreement that included a $456 million penalty. Last week, the federal court in Manhattan received $150,000 from Mr. Makov as part of a bail modification agreement that allows him to travel to Israel.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, who heads the Senate Banking Committee, joined a number of lawmakers and officials of both parties Tuesday in calling on the Bush administration not to side with defendant companies in a Supreme Court case that could determine the fate of a separate Enron lawsuit.

At issue in the case is shareholders' ability to recover damages from parties, such as investment banks and accountants, that are accused of aiding corporate fraud.

Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat seeking his party's presidential nomination, wrote President Bush urging him "to take appropriate steps to discourage" the Justice Department's solicitor general from filing a brief in the case in support of the defendants.

His letter was sent Tuesday, the day before the deadline for Solicitor General Paul Clement to submit such a brief.

Dodd urged Clement not to file a friend-of-the-court brief that contradicted the Securities and Exchange Commission's position "that parties who contribute to defrauding investors should be held accountable."

On the other side, a bipartisan group of three former SEC chairmen, 13 other former SEC officials and 11 academic experts filed a brief with the court Tuesday supporting the defendant companies. The three ex-chairmen were Roderick Hills, appointed by President Ford; Harvey Pitt, one of Bush's former appointees to the position; and Carter appointee Harold Williams.

On Tuesday, a group of people who lost retirement savings in the collapse of Enron Corp. renewed their plea to Bush to support the share- holders' position, Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific-Atlanta.

In an effort to support the public dissemination of information on the state of U.S. corporate governance, independent corporate governance research firm The Corporate Library has initiated a series of comparative reviews of large corporations' governance practices. The first study in the series, a review of a compilation of Household Services-related industry sectors, was run using The Corporate Library's Corporate Benchmarker analysis tool. The result of this evaluation suggests that there is still no overall consistency in corporate governance policies and practices.

Examples of two of the largest variations as identified by the tool include:

--  Multiple classes of voting stock are in place at more than half of
   media and entertainment companies, but virtually absent in the rest of the
   Household Services-related industries.
  
--  Around half of communications services, financial services and retail
   grocery companies have a formal governance policy posted on their website,
   compared to 90% for residential construction and 100% for health &
   disability insurance.
   In conducting the analysis, the 41 fundamental corporate governance policy and compliance variables that make up The Corporate Library's Governance Practices Compliance Score were compared using Corporate Benchmarker in an industry-averaged, side-by-side analysis.

Data for the study was derived from The Corporate Library's database which contains information on over 3,000 U.S. public corporations. This data resource is updated on a regular basis from governance-related filings and policy statements. Additional reviews are planned to take place throughout the year.

About The Corporate Library

The Corporate Library is an independent research firm that provides corporate governance information products, research services and data to a broad variety of clients including institutional investors, corporations, D&O liability insurers, law firms, accounting firms, executive search firms, academic institutions and the media. The Corporate Library produces the definitive ratings of U.S. corporate boards of directors, allowing businesses that subscribe to the service to evaluate governance as an element of investment and other risk. The Corporate Library is also a leading publisher of corporate governance reports and studies, including reports on executive compensation, governance practices, and mutual fund proxy voting, which its analysts compile using its extensive database of over 3,000 public companies. Additional information on The Corporate Library and its suite of online corporate governance data and analysis products can be found on its website at www.thecorporatelibrary.com.

Netlist, Inc. (Nasdaq: NLST) announced today that it and certain of its officers and directors have been named as defendants in purported class action lawsuits alleging violations of Federal securities laws. Netlist believes the claims in the suits are without merit and it will defend against them vigorously.

In a Separate Release - Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of all person or entities who purchased shares of Netlist, Inc. in connection with the Company's Initial Public Offering ("IPO") on or about November 30, 2006, or who purchased shares thereafter in the open market (the "Class Period"). The class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

An agreement by Tyco International Ltd. to settle shareholder lawsuits in a massive corporate fraud case puts the industrial conglomerate on firmer ground as it prepares to split into three companies.

Tyco said Tuesday it had agreed to set up a $2.975 billion cash fund to pay claims filed by shareholders against the company arising from actions by ex-chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski and other top officers convicted of looting Tyco and inflating its value.

The company said it would take a charge of that amount during the current quarter. Tyco spokesman Paul Fitzhenry said the company also would pay interest on the $2.975 billion and turn over half of any money it recovers from ongoing lawsuits against Kozlowski, former Chief Operating Officer Mark Swartz and former board member Frank Walsh.

"With this settlement, we are taking an important step to resolve our most significant remaining legacy legal matter," Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Breen said in a statement. "Our balance sheet and cash flow remain strong and will allow us to readily absorb these costs while removing much of the uncertainty around legacy legal matters."

Investors, including union and state pension funds and Tyco retirees, were permitted last summer to proceed with a consolidated class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire, where Tyco was formerly headquartered. The settlement still must be approved by the largest shareholders and the court.

The settlement covers shareholders from December 1999 to June 2002 and, in some of the consolidated cases, investors who owned stock starting in October 1998, the company said.

Tyco's share price rose 19 cents to $32.38 Tuesday.

Tyco is breaking up into three publicly traded companies: Tyco Healthcare, which will be renamed Covidien and based in Mansfield, Mass.; Tyco Electronics, to be based in Berwyn, Pa., near Philadelphia; and Tyco International, which will remain in New Jersey and include the fire and security and engineered products units. The breakup has been delayed twice, but is now slated for the end of June. Each company will assume a portion of the settlement debt.

Lawyers for the shareholders said the settlement would top $3 billion with interest, making it the largest payout ever by a single corporate defendant in a securities fraud lawsuit.

"This is a fantastic resolution and closes a chapter on one of the largest and most appalling examples of corporate fraud in U.S. history," said Jay Eisenhofer, managing partner at Grant & Eisenhofer.

Total settlements involving securities fraud lawsuits against Enron Corp. ($7.1 billion) and WorldCom Inc. ($6.1 billion) were larger, but those companies are now bankrupt and the payments were made primarily by outside co-defendants including investment banks and auditors. Cendant Corp. agreed to settle a shareholder lawsuit for $2.83 billion in December 1999.

"This is a settlement of historic proportions for the investors who suffered significant financial losses and it also sends a strong message to those who would engage in this type of misconduct in the future," said Richard Schiffrin, of Schiffrin, Barroway, Topaz & Kessler.

Shareholder claims against the company's former auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, are still pending, so the total amount recovered by shareholders could be larger, Eisenhofer said. Tyco also has agreed to assign its claims against PricewaterhouseCoopers to the shareholders, who will pursue them "vigorously" alongside the shareholders' existing claims, Eisenhofer said.

"The fraud couldn't have taken place without them. They totally abdicated their responsibility as independent auditor, and had they performed as they should have, this fraud wouldn't have taken place," he said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesman David Nestor declined to comment.

The portion of the settlement that will go toward attorneys' fees has not been determined yet because that portion of the lawsuit is still pending, Eisenhofer said.

Kozlowski and Swartz were convicted in a New York State court in 2005 of multiple counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, securities fraud and falsifying business records.

Prosecutors said the two conspired to defraud Tyco of $600 million to fund their extravagant lifestyles. They were sentenced in September 2006 to eight to 25 years in prison. A judge refused to release them on bail while they appeal.

The shareholders' lawsuits alleged the company misrepresented the value of Tyco and companies it acquired under Kozlowski's leadership in a giant accounting fraud scheme, causing losses estimated at $1 billion to $2 billion.

Tyco makes everything from telecommunications equipment to home alarm systems. The company, which is registered in Bermuda, was run from Exeter at the time of the alleged fraud. It now operates from West Windsor, N.J.