David Lorber leaves Fisher Communications board

http://rbr.com/david-lorber-leaves-fisher-communications-board/ 

Fisher Communications management won’t have to deal with hedge fund manager David Lorber any longer. He’s resigned from the Fisher Board of Directors.

However, FrontFour Capital Group remains a Fisher investor. There won’t be a battle for board seats this year because Fisher has struck a deal with FrontFour under which two people acceptable to the hedge fund will be nominated as part of the management-endorsed slate for the . They are Matthew Goldfarb, one of two directors elected last year from the FrontFour dissident slate, and Frank P. Willey, Vice Chairman of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. and a partner in the law firm of Hennelly & Grossfeld LLP.

The two FrontFour-approved candidates are nominated for three-year terms on the board of directors, through the 2015 annual shareholders meeting. Joseph Troy, who was also elected from the FrontFour slate last year, remains on the board through the 2014 meeting.

Also up for re-election to a three-year term is Paul Bible, who was elected non-executive Chairman of the Board after last year’s election.

The election ballot will also ask shareholders to approve Peter Murphy, who was appointed to the board in January to fill the seat vacated by Roger Ogden. That seat runs through the 2014 meeting.

Lorber had been a Fisher director since 2009 and had pressed for asset sales to unlock value for shareholders. “During my term, Fisher’s Board has taken decisive actions to improve the Company’s balance sheet and position the Company for ongoing success and shareholder value creation. As I leave the Board to focus on other companies within the FrontFour portfolio, I have confidence in the current composition of Fisher’s Board and believe that Frank Willey would be a strong contributor to the Company’s continued success,” he said in a statement released by the company.

“During David’s tenure on the Board, Fisher’s management and Board strengthened the Company by repaying its $150 million of outstanding long-term debt and selling its non-core asset, Fisher Plaza, for $160 million,” said Bible. “We share David’s commitment to create lasting value for our shareholders and appreciate FrontFour’s recommendation of Frank Willey to serve on our Board. We remain focused on executing our strategic plan for the benefit of all of our stakeholders.”

Fisher Capital Management News Blog: Microsoft Phone Scam to Blame for 70% of Reports

http://fishercapitalmanagementnews.com/ 

Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reports a scam where callers pretend to be Microsoft employees offering a solution for their computer problems now accounts for 70 per cent of all fraud complaints in Canada.

There are fraud artists claiming that they are with Microsoft and lending a hand to people to rid the malwares on their computers. In the process, they charge as much as $400, collect credit card information and gain access to all of the Fisher Capital Management personal data and contents on their victim’s hard drive. Typically, the caller then asks the victim to download a small piece of software. Then, the software allows the caller to fix the system errors remotely by giving the caller access to the victim’s home computer. Most often, the intended victim is asked to pull up a program called Fisher Capital Management Windows Event Viewer, a program not intended for average computer users. Event Viewer helps computer technicians by logging a number of advanced routines performed by the Windows Operating System. The viewer will show a number of system errors and other issues, even the computer is properly working. The fraudster uses the errors contained in that file to help substantiate his claims and then offers to help the victim to “fix” it.

According to the RCMP, the scam has been in commission since February 2011. “It’s a big one. It hasn’t gone away,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Proulx, manager of the Anti-Fraud Centre (formerly Phone Busters).”It was in (Britain) before it came to Canada,” he added. “There are all kinds of different people out there. Some people go all for it, others don’t.”According to him, stopping the scam, which is believed to originate in India, has become a top priority for anti-fraud teams around the world. He said that the scam is difficult to Fisher Capital Management to shut down because it is being perpetrated from an international location, away from Canadian laws and Canadian law enforcement.

Ottawa resident Connie Balderson said a caller phoned her home one afternoon last week. The caller sounded professional, pointing out errors on her computer and claiming they were from a virus. When she asked how they knew about the virus, the caller stated that Windows automatically reports errors to Microsoft and they were simply following up on those automated reports.”It sounded really authentic,” she said. “I questioned them a lot. I am not usually taken in by this kind of stuff. I almost got hooked. It was pretty close”, she claimed. Suddenly, the caller requested her to pay $400 as a payment for their services that she hung up and disconnected her computer from the Internet as she really feel bad. So, as soon they talked about money she immediately cancelled the connection. Then a number of similar situation happened again and again in the area.

Microsoft has come out swinging against the Fisher Capital Management fraud, setting up a website dedicated to the scam.

“We do not send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information or fix your computer,” said the company’s statement on its website. “If you receive an unsolicited email message or phone call that purports to be from Microsoft and requests that you send personal information or click links, delete the message or hang up the phone.”

In an emailed statement, John Weigelt, national technology officer for Microsoft Canada, said the phone scam is growing fast.”Microsoft and the rest of the Fisher Capital Management software industry are making more secure software. As software becomes more secure cybercriminals are increasingly using deception and confidence tricks. One of the fastest growing threats is phone scams,” said Weigelt. “Microsoft will never call you in this way and ask for money related to fixing a computer problem.”

The RCMP said fraud has been elevated to new levels thanks to the Fisher Capital Management in the materialization of the digital era. It is believed that Canadians are defrauded of between $10 billion and $30 billion annually. The amount earned by scam artists is now equal to the money made by drug dealers. With slighter penalties coupled with fraud, as well as the ease of setting up operations in foreign countries where these scams are hard to impede, large criminal organizations are increasingly turning toward fraud to fund their operations.

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FrontFour's David Lorber Exiting Fisher Communications Board

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/103840/frontfour-s-david-lorber-exiting-fisher-communicat 

FISHER COMMUNICATIONS, INC. has announced the resignation of FRONTFOUR CAPITAL GROUP's DAVID A. LORBER from its board and the nomination of PAUL A. BIBLE, MATTHEW GOLDFARB, and PETER E. MURPHY for new terms on the board, with FRANK P. WILLEY nominated as a new member. 

FRONTFOUR gained seats on the board after the dissident investment group fought the company in 2011; GOLDFARB was one of the two FRONTFOUR candidates elected at that time, and WILLEY is being recommended by FRONTFOUR as well.  BIBLE has served since 2009 and became non-Chairman in 2011, while MURPHY was added to the board in JANUARY of this year.

BIBLE said, "During DAVID's tenure on the Board, FISHER's management and Board strengthened the Company by repaying its $150 million of outstanding long-term debt and selling its non-core asset, FISHER PLAZA, for $160 million. We share DAVID's commitment to create lasting value for our shareholders and appreciate FRONTFOUR's recommendation of FRANK WILLEY to serve on our Board. We remain focused on executing our strategic plan for the benefit of all of our stakeholders."

LORBER said, "During my term, FISHER's Board has taken decisive actions to improve the Company's balance sheet and position the Company for ongoing success and shareholder value creation. As I leave the Board to focus on other companies within the FRONTFOUR portfolio, I have confidence in the current composition of FISHER's Board and believe that FRANK WILLEY would be a strong contributor to the Company's continued success."