Reverse Spin: No end in sight to Harvey Pitt’s travails

Oh, what a tangled web Harvey Pitt seems to have found himself in.

The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission is under fire for meeting with Eugene O’Kelly, CEO of KPMG LLP, last month.

Mr. O’Kelly said in an e-mail to his staff that the two discussed possible SEC enforcement action against Xerox Corp., a KPMG client.

Mr. Pitt, who counted the New York-based Big Five accounting firm among his clients while in private law practice, says it ain’t so.

The he-said/he-said battle reached a crescendo Friday, when Common Cause, a government watchdog group, asked Mr. Pitt to step down.

While the group’s demand surely will be brushed off, don’t be shocked if its request is not the last.

Just like Court TV

If the glove doesn’t fit …

It’s no O.J. Simpson case, but the Arthur Andersen LLP trial, which started last week, promises some good, old-fashioned courtroom drama.

Andersen’s lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, apparently hopes to convince jurors that destroying documents related to Enron Corp. was no crime.

Mr. Hardin also tried to shift attention away from his client by accusing the Department of Justice of witness tampering. He even called for a federal investigation into the treatment of witnesses.

Many observers say the government has an easy case against Chicago-based Andersen.

Then again, cops found a bloody glove on O.J.’s property.

No wet blanket

The Federal Reserve’s job is to take away the punch bowl just when the party gets going.

But this time, as expected, Fed policymakers left interest rates alone when they met last Tuesday, and many economists say the Fed won’t start reversing last year’s string of 11 rate cuts until at least August. If a rate hike comes too soon, the economy could tumble back into recession – the proverbial “double dip,” according to some.

How sweet it is

Now we know what consumers are turning to in this time of market melancholy: doughnuts.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. said last week that earnings for its fiscal year, which ended in February, had jumped 79% to $26.4 million, or 45 cents a share.

The company, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., also says it plans to open 62 new stores in the next fiscal year. Its earnings growth also could show up around the waistlines of more than just consumers in North America.

The company is exploring taking its treats to Australia, Japan, South Korea, Spain and England.

Going on the road

Coming soon to your local Wal-Mart: roadside assistance.

Huh?

The retailing giant, based in Bentonville, Ark., said last Thursday that people soon will be able to go to its 2,600 stores and buy a year’s worth of 24-hour roadside assistance for $50. Service will include flat-tire changes, battery jump-starts, fuel delivery, towing up to 30 miles, vehicle lockouts and accident scene assistance.

My enemy, my friend

Talk about strange bedfellows!

FOLIOfn Inc. is making mutual funds available through its adviser website. The Vienna, Va., company is offering 15 fixed-income funds from Nuveen Investments in Chicago and John Hancock Financial Services Inc. of Boston.

Foliofn’s portfolios of fractional stock shares have been viewed as a competitor to mutual funds.