Biz News: Yoga, nutrition store opening Saturday
Find Your Zen Yoga & Nutrition Studio will open Saturday in Corona del Mar, offering a new style of interval yoga created by the studio’s founder, Christina Ratusznik, as well as power, vinyasa flow and yin yoga styles. The studio also will offer nutrition coaching and a retail boutique with yoga wear, mats, water bottles and more.
The studio will offer 20 or more yoga classes per week, private yoga sessions and nutrition coaching by appointment. The studio will open with two free weeks of unlimited yoga classes.
Find Your Zen is at 2744 E. Coast Hwy. For more information, visit findyourzenwellness.com.
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Irvine’s Plaza Bank settles U.S. suit
The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that Plaza Bank of Irvine has agreed to pay $1.225 million to settle a government civil lawsuit alleging that the bank, in exchange for fee income, deliberately ignored red flags and let a third-party payment processor make millions of dollars of unauthorized withdrawals from consumer accounts at other banks on behalf of fraudulent merchants.
According to the proposed settlement filed with the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Plaza Bank also will be required to implement strict reforms of its business practices to prevent future fraud, the Justice Department said.
The bank did not admit liability.
The complaint alleged that the fraudulent actions occurred between July 2007 and mid-2010.
In a statement, the bank said it replaced its managers and in 2010 stopped doing business with the payment processor, which prosecutors did not identify. The bank said Plaza has had no further relationships with third-party payment processors, which act as intermediaries between banks and merchants.
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Irvine Co. 97% owner of MetLife tower in New York
Billionaire Donald Bren’s Irvine Co. has built a 97.3% ownership stake in New York City’s 58-story MetLife Building in the past decade, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Tishman Speyer, which acquired the property in 2005 for $1.79 billion and is still its managing partner, now owns less than 3%, the report said.
The Irvine Co., based in Newport Beach, first acquired a stake in the tower at 200 Park Ave. in 2005 and has been increasing its investment since, Dan Young, an executive vice president with the Irvine Co., told Bloomberg.
The Irvine Co.’s control of the building came to light as banks are negotiating to refinance debt backed by the tower. The deal values the property at almost $3 billion, Bloomberg reported.
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Clients pull $18.5 million from Gross’ new fund
Bill Gross, who left Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. in September to manage the Global Unconstrained Bond Fund for Denver-based Janus Capital Group, saw clients pull $18.5 million from the fund in February, leaving it with its first month of net asset loss since he joined, research firm Morningstar Inc. said. The redemptions left $1.45 billion in assets in the fund, which has declined 1.7% in the past three months, Morningstar said.
Gross, 70, joined Janus last year after seeing continued withdrawals as manager of Pimco’s Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund.
Assets in Janus’ Global Unconstrained Bond Fund surged from about $13 million after Gross joined, according to a report by Bloomberg. Janus Chief Executive Richard Weil said in January that more than $700 million of the fund’s assets came from Gross himself, Bloomberg reported.
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Experian packs 10,000 meals to help hungry
Employees of global data services company Experian packaged more than 10,000 meals Tuesday to help Stop Hunger Now, an international hunger relief organization, during an event at Experian’s North American headquarters in Costa Mesa.
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Irvine dental software company honored
Irvine-based Planet DDS was honored at the Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County’s Leaders in Oral Health awards Feb. 26 in Santa Ana.
Planet DDS, which develops software for the dental industry, was recognized for donating its services and electronic dental record system to Healthy Smiles for Kids, a Garden Grove-based nonprofit that promotes children’s dental health through prevention, treatment, advocacy and education programs.
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Irvine prosthetics maker expands
Irvine-based Freedom Innovations has expanded its headquarters with a new 3,500-square-foot manufacturing facility for its microprocessor-controlled and -powered prosthetic ankles and knees.
The company, which has 152 employees, said it will add more than 30 this year.
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Realty Mogul comes to Irvine
Realty Mogul, a Los Angeles-based online real estate investing company, has a new location in Irvine.
The firm also named Bill McKnight as senior vice president of product and technology and Shea Pallante as senior vice president of residential lending. Pallante will head the new Irvine office, which is scheduled to open Sunday.
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CPA firm brings on new partner
Irvine-based Allen, Haight & Monaghan LLP, a certified public accounting and business advisory firm, announced that CPA Kenneth Gundersen will join the company as a partner.
Gundersen has 20 years’ experience in public accounting at several firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to a news release.
From staff reports