SIRTI finance chief to take Avista job
Scott Simmons, who has been director of operations and finance at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, has resigned.
Simmons will take a job as vice president of client services at Avista Advantage. He leaves SIRTI on May 13, he said.
SIRTI, a state-funded agency, provides business services, consulting and office and lab space for growing technology companies. Avista Advantage provides services to help big businesses manage their utilities and telecommunications expenses.
Sterling reports 31% increase in earnings
Sterling Financial Corp., the Spokane-based parent company of Sterling Savings Bank, said Monday it earned $15.9 million, or 68 cents a share, in the first quarter. That’s a 31 percent increase from first-quarter 2004 earnings of $12 million, or 52 cents a share, the company said.
Sterling’s total assets were a record $7.01 billion on March 31. Deposits were $4.11 billion, up $245 million from the preceding quarter.
Sterling Financial had 1,640 full-time equivalent employees at the end of the first quarter, up about 100 from the same time the previous year.
Adelphia, Rigas family settle fraud case
Bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp. will receive $1.5 billion in cable television systems and other assets from founder John Rigas and family members and will pay the government just under half that amount to settle a federal fraud investigation, authorities said Monday.
Adelphia, one of a string of businesses in recent years accused of cheating investors out of billions, will not face criminal charges, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said. The settlement sends a message that the government will continue moving aggressively against corporate corruption, including trying to help victims recoup some of their losses, Gonzales said.
Adelphia will deposit $715 million in a fund the government will use to compensate investors hurt by the fraud — making the settlement one of the largest of its kind, Gonzales said.
As part of the settlement, members of the Rigas family have agreed to forfeit more than 95 percent of their assets, which the Securities and Exchange Commission said would exceed $1.5 billion. More than $500 million of the forfeited assets are in Adelphia stock, for which the company was never paid, Gonzales said.