Ukraine crisis: Why it matters to the world economy

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The political turmoil is rooted in the country's strategic economic position. It is an important conduit between Russia and major European markets, as well as a significant exporter of grain.

But in the post-Soviet era, it's a weakened economy. Now, the government is in need of an economic rescue -- and torn between whether Russia or the Western economies (including the European Union) is the savior it needs.

Here are five reasons the world's largest economies are watching what happens in Ukraine.

1. Ukraine is an important tie between Russia and the rest of Europe: Ukraine doesn't hold the economic power it once did, but it does retain its geography. Russia supplies about 25% of Europe's gas needs, and half of that is pumped via pipelines running through Ukraine. Moscow has cut off that flow in past disputes with Kiev and a disruption could push up energy prices for businesses and households.

The critical Crimean peninsula juts into the Black Sea, and the Russians base their Black Sea navy there.

Related: G20 pledges to add $2 trillion to economy

2. Sanctions on Russia: One prospect on the table would be the unusual circumstance of a top-10 global economy placing sanctions on another. But Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday the U.S. is "absolutely" willing to consider sanctions against Russia. President Obama, he added, "is currently considering all options."

That possibility must be on the mind of Russia's government, which is certainly "looking very seriously at the economic component of" its military and diplomatic moves, said John Beyrle, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia.

"The reality is that Russia is dependent on the international economy in a way that wasn't true 10 years ago," Beyrle said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "Fully one -half of Russia's foreign trade now ... is with European Union countries. Russia depends on European imports to keep its stores filled, to keep the standard of living that Russians have gotten accustomed to."

Even if sanctions aren't leveled, the political relationship between Russia and the West will likely chill. Although President Obama spent an hour and a half on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, the U.S. is expected to skip an upcoming G8 preparatory meeting in Sochi, Russia. On Sunday, U.S. officials also canceled upcoming energy and trade talks with their Russian counterparts.

3. European and world trade could be impacted: The impact could be felt beyond Europe if the world's supply of grain is impacted. Ukraine is one of the world's top exporters of corn and wheat, and prices could rise even on concern those exports could halt.

And the current political uprising was fueled by the government's handling of a trade agreement that would have brought Ukraine closer to the European Union. The government cut off negotiations in November amid pressure from Russia, which offered discounts on natural gas if Ukraine signed a pact with Moscow's Customs Union.

4. Ukraine's government is in debt and needs assistance: The situation arguably would not be so volatile if Ukranian government coffers were more stable or the economy stronger. The country owes $13 billion in debt this year and $16 billion comes due before the end of 2015. Without help, the country appears to be headed for default.

"In order to avoid a complete collapse in the coming weeks, Ukraine needs money now," Lubomir Mitov, emerging Europe chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, said. "Ukraine cannot survive without reforms in the next few months."

It's not clear who would supply the needed economic assistance, especially after the ouster of key Russian-aligned officials prompted Moscow to freeze a $15 billion bailout and there is no comparable alternative in sight. The most likely source of support would be the International Monetary Fund. Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the IMF is consulting with other bodies that could help raise the $35 billion Ukraine says it needs. But for negotiations to move forward, a stable Ukranian government would need to be in place.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Sunday the U.S. is "prepared to work (with) partners to provide as much support as Ukraine needs" for economic growth and stability.

5. Ukraine isn't the only fragile emerging market: Ukraine's instability comes at a difficult time for emerging markets worldwide, which are seeing growth slow as the Federal Reserve eases its economic stimulus. The situation in Ukraine could lead investors to reassess the risks of other emerging markets slowing economic growth. Troubles in Ukraine will also hurt Russian banks, which have leant heavily to Ukraine. The Russian ruble is down about 10% since the start of 2014.

--CNNMoney's Alanna Petroff contributed to this report

First Published: March 2, 2014: 4:57 PM ET

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Investors pin hopes on strong jobs report

After sliding in January, stocks roared back in February. Click the chart for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But whether the record streak continues in March will largely depend on the economic data on tap this week.

Recent reports about the job and housing markets, the retail sector and manufacturing have pointed to weakness this winter. Although some of the softness is probably the fault of bad weather, it's unclear how much is really due to snow and ice. So there are concerns that the economy may indeed be weakening.

This week's data dump includes reports on personal income and spending, manufacturing activity and construction. But the highlight of the week comes on Friday: the February jobs report.

The past two jobs reports have been disappointing, showing signs of a slowdown in hiring. And February may not be much better.

Related: Time to hit reset button on stocks

Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics, thinks the economy added 125,000 jobs last month. That's a small improvement from December and January. But it's still lackluster.

If hiring remains sluggish for reasons beyond the cold weather, it could impact the Federal Reserve's plans. The central bank is currently in the process of winding down, or tapering, its bond-buying program. Fed officials have said they expect to continue scaling back purchases by about $10 billion a month at each meeting.

While Fed chair Janet Yellen doesn't seem to think any changes are warranted yet, she has also said the Fed would be open to reconsidering its course of action if there is a significant change in the economic outlook.

As much as investors have embraced the Fed's stimulus during the past five years, more quantitative easing due to a slowing economy would not be good news.

In other economics news, the Fed will release its closely-watched Beige Book report, a compilation of data on regional economies.

The situation in Ukraine, which grew more tense over the weekend, will be eyed warily by traders around the world this week, too.

Europe's central bank will also be in the spotlight. Last month, the European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold.

But pressure has been building for the bank to take action to stimulate economic activity amid signs that inflation is slowing in the eurozone, raising the threat of deflation.

During its meeting, the ECB will be updating its economic growth forecasts through 2016. If the ECB believes that inflation will remain weak into 2016, the new projections could be the trigger for a change in policy, said Ken Wattret, chief euro-area economist at BNP Paribas.

While the economy and stock market could show some volatility in the near-term, experts still remain fairly optimistic about 2014 as a whole.

Few are expecting a repeat of 2013, when the S&P 500 surged 30%. But most are forecasting modest gains as the economy continues to recover and earnings growth remains solid.

To that end, companies in the S&P 500 have reported profit growth of 8.5% for the fourth quarter, according to FactSet Research. For 2014, analysts are predicting earnings growth of 9%.

Most companies have already reported their latest earnings but three well-known retailers are due to release their results on Thursday: Costco (COST, Fortune 500), Kroger (KR, Fortune 500) and Staples (SPLS, Fortune 500).

First Published: March 2, 2014: 9:23 AM ET

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New mutual funds better than older ones?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A study released last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that younger mutual funds consistently outperformed their more seasoned counterparts.

Using data from Morningstar and the Center for Research in Security Prices, the authors looked at over 3,000 mutual funds from 1979 to 2011. They realized that funds with an age of three years or less beat out those that have been around for more than ten years by almost 1% per year.

The reason: the mutual fund industry keeps getting more competitive. New entrants have a lot to prove -- and that gives them a big incentive to put up strong returns.

Related: Plan for the critical first decade of retirement

Dr. Lubos Pastor, a business professor at the University of Chicago and one of the study's authors, said that newer mutual funds are often run by recent MBA grads equipped with fresh financial knowledge and a strong grasp of the latest investing technology. But it's a vicious cycle. As the fund gets older, it has to face new competition.

"You just graduated, and you've absorbed the latest academic research to beat the markets," Pastor said. "For a few years, you're riding this wave. But as you keep running your fund, more and more funds keep popping up."

While the study did find that mutual fund managers gain more skills the longer they are on the job, it wasn't enough to stay ahead of the newbies.

The researchers didn't look at the actual ages of mutual fund portfolio managers though. But a 1996 study from the NBER did.

Its results were similar, but for different reasons. The 1996 study found that younger mutual fund managers outperformed their older peers because they embraced a survival-mode mentality.

"If you're young and you didn't cut it, you lost your job," said Dr. Glenn Ellison, an economics professor at MIT and an author of the earlier research. "If you're experienced, the market seems more forgiving."

Related: Good news and bad news about corporate sales

But in a counterintuitive twist, younger managers seemed to invest in less risky stocks than their older peers, Ellison said.

Of course, there are plenty of other things to consider when picking mutual funds, such as strategy, past performance, and fees. But age is hard to ignore.

If the mutual fund industry stopped hiring today, experience would actually be a virtue and lead to better returns, Pastor said.

The study comes at an interesting time for the mutual fund industry. There is an intense debate about the value of actively managed mutual funds versus exchange traded funds -- low-cost bundles of stocks and other assets that often mirror an index.

ETFs have become increasingly popular in the past few years. There have been plenty of stories and headlines about how ETFs are killing the traditional mutual fund. And it makes sense. Why pay a mutual fund manager a big fee to select when you can just buy the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) -- which was up 30% in 2013 and has gained nearly 170% in the past five years.

Still, some experts say mutual funds aren't dead. Investors just have to choose the right ones.

"The fact that the index beat the average actively managed funds doesn't mean that it beat the good actively managed funds," said Ellison.

First Published: March 2, 2014: 12:38 PM ET

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Ex-employee says Madoff "told me what to do"

Accused fraudster Annette Bongiorno said in federal court that she was merely a well-paid typist for Bernard Madoff, and that she didn't know he was running a Ponzi scheme.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

She also testified that she would go back and alter trading records at Madoff's request when market conditions changed.

Bongiorno and four other ex-employees of Madoff's firm are currently on trial for fraud in federal court in Manhattan.

Under cross examination on Thursday, Bongiorno insisted that she didn't know that she was doing anything wrong.

"We did it all the time, these changes," she said. "I didn't think of it."

Bongiorno also claimed that she didn't know what the S&P 500 Index was, even though she admittedly spent years staring at a Bloomberg terminal as she backdated months or years worth of fictional trades.

She testified that after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September of 2008, she rewrote Madoff's records to make it look like he shrewdly sold 5,600 shares of the firm two months before its collapse. But she insisted that she didn't understand the significance of what she was doing, because she didn't read The Wall Street Journal.

"Everything was backdated," said Bongiorno. "It didn't raise a red flag."

Related: Five things you didn't know about Madoff's scam

She said that she spent so much of her career backdating trades that she did it without thinking, like "brushing my teeth," she told the court.

Bongiorno insisted that she was only entering data on orders from Madoff, whom she said was like a big brother to her.

"He told me what to do," she said. "I typed."

She said that she was paid a "good salary" for her typing. She also acknowledged that she owned a Bentley and two Mercedes, along with a house on Long Island, NY, and another home in Florida. She said that she had been looking forward to retirement and planned to sell her two homes and buy a $6.5 million condominium in Boca Raton.

But then in 2008 Madoff's scheme fell apart and the feds "seized everything," she said.

Bongiorno is on trial along with colleagues Dan Bonventre, Joann Crupi, Jerome O'Hara and George Perez. All are accused of helping Madoff orchestrate his $20 billion pyramid-style scam, and all have pleaded not guilty.

Related: JPMorgan's $2.6 billion Madoff reckoning

Madoff, who pleaded guilty in 2009 and is serving a 150-year sentence in a federal prison in North Carolina, hired underlings with limited experience and education. Bongiorno started working at the firm when she was 19 and fresh out of high school. She introduced Madoff to Frank DiPascali, Jr., who was driving a delivery truck for a dry cleaning service when Madoff hired him 1975. He eventually became a portfolio manager and is now acting as a witness for the government.

DiPascali admitted to cooking the books for his former boss by recording fake trades that actually didn't exist in testimony earlier this year. "We were lying," he said at the time.

Bonventre was an accountant when he went to work for Madoff, and was therefore one of the most experienced new hires on Madoff's staff. He also got an Associate's degree over the course of six years while working at the firm.

Related: SAC Capital's Martoma found guilty

Despite his college education and accounting experience, Bonventre said that the bulk of his Wall Street knowledge came from his former boss.

"[Madoff] often boasted that he wrote the rules," Bonventre said in testimony earlier this month. "He always told me 'this is how things work' and 'this is how we do it,' and I always believed him."

The trial, which has dragged on for five months, could go to the jury next week.

First Published: February 28, 2014: 1:01 PM ET

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The dysfunctional debate on debt

When it comes to long-term U.S. debt, Washington lawmakers and the White House aren't debating how to handle it, but rather who is ignoring the issue more.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

And both are projected to resume a northward trek in a few years.

But lawmakers are not talking seriously about how to put the federal budget on sounder footing for the long run.

In some ways, that's not surprising. Lawmakers and President Obama have been at war over the budget and debt ceiling since the 2008 financial crisis.

Those fights yielded the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the fiscal cliff deal of 2013, among other measures, which together have reduced projected deficits by a few trillion bucks over the next decade.

That's not nothing. But those measures don't do much to address the long-term debt problem that will come as the bulk of Baby Boomers retire, health care costs per person rise and interest on the growing debt builds.

What lawmakers have done is buy themselves a little time to plan for that future budget crunch.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that federal spending in coming decades will continually outpace revenue, and that the country's accumulated debt will keep growing faster than the economy.

End result: The vast majority of federal dollars will go to paying entitlement benefits and interest on the debt, leaving less money to pay for everything else Americans expect their government to do.

Related: Deficits continue to drop sharply - CBO

What lawmakers have now is a "quiet" period -- an improved economy and stabilized deficits. If they don't take advantage of it to start talking about these issues in earnest, it will be harder in the future to align spending pressures with incoming revenue. The longer lawmakers wait, the more abrupt the changes they may need to make.

"This is the time," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former CBO director and now president of the American Action Forum, a center-right think tank. "Fixing it in the middle of [the crunch] is not the time."

So what is Washington doing? Pointing fingers at who is ignoring the issue more and worrying about the next election.

Take the recent news that President Obama won't include a controversial Social Security proposal in his 2015 budget proposal due out on Tuesday.

The proposal, known as chained CPI, was included in his budget last year and would help reduce deficits by changing how federal benefits are adjusted for cost of living.

Those annual COLA increases, including growth in Social Security benefits, would be smaller under chained CPI than they are under more widely used inflation measures. Hence, why it's so controversial.

Related: 2013 deficit drops to $680 billion

The White House said the proposal is still good if Republicans are willing to close some tax loopholes to raise revenue for deficit reduction.

"That offer has been on the table for more than a year, and we've not seen any constructive engagement from the other side," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

Republicans characterized the White House decision to drop the proposal from the budget as a clear sign Obama is done dealing with debt reduction.

"With three years left in office, it seems the president is already throwing in the towel," said Brendan Buck, the spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

So there we are. "You won't deal," Democrats say. "No, you won't deal," Republicans say.

Regardless of who you think is right, the fact remains no one's dealing.

First Published: February 28, 2014: 3:45 PM ET

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Online poker players get $76 million back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A court-appointed administrator announced the distribution Friday of $76 million to roughly 27,500 U.S. customers of the defunct poker site. Their accounts have been frozen since 2011 due to a criminal case.

The Poker Players Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group, applauded the action, but said there are still "several thousand" ex-Full Tilt players in the U.S. who have yet to receive their money. John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, estimated that there are between $50 million and $60 million in unclaimed or disputed funds that have yet to be distributed.

Prosecutors accused Full Tilt and two other sites -- PokerStars and Absolute Poker -- of circumventing federal laws against Internet gambling by deceiving banks and credit card issuers into processing payments for U.S. players.

In July 2012, the Justice Department announced a $731 million settlement with PokerStars and Full Tilt to resolve the allegations. Full Tilt also settled allegations that it had operated a Ponzi scheme, failing to maintain sufficient funds on deposit for players to withdraw.

Under the settlement, Full Tilt agreed to forfeit virtually of all its assets to the government, with PokerStars acquiring them.

Former Full Tilt CEO Raymond Bitar pleaded guilty last year to multiple gambling and fraud charges. He faced a substantial prison sentence but was released because of health problems.

First Published: February 28, 2014: 5:57 PM ET

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Ex-employee says Madoff "told me what to do"

Accused fraudster Annette Bongiorno said in federal court that she was merely a well-paid typist for Bernard Madoff, and that she didn't know he was running a Ponzi scheme.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

She also testified that she would go back and alter trading records at Madoff's request when market conditions changed.

Bongiorno and four other ex-employees of Madoff's firm are currently on trial for fraud in federal court in Manhattan.

Under cross examination on Thursday, Bongiorno insisted that she didn't know that she was doing anything wrong.

"We did it all the time, these changes," she said. "I didn't think of it."

Bongiorno also claimed that she didn't know what the S&P 500 Index was, even though she admittedly spent years staring at a Bloomberg terminal as she backdated months or years worth of fictional trades.

She testified that after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September of 2008, she rewrote Madoff's records to make it look like he shrewdly sold 5,600 shares of the firm two months before its collapse. But she insisted that she didn't understand the significance of what she was doing, because she didn't read The Wall Street Journal.

"Everything was backdated," said Bongiorno. "It didn't raise a red flag."

Related: Five things you didn't know about Madoff's scam

She said that she spent so much of her career backdating trades that she did it without thinking, like "brushing my teeth," she told the court.

Bongiorno insisted that she was only entering data on orders from Madoff, whom she said was like a big brother to her.

"He told me what to do," she said. "I typed."

She said that she was paid a "good salary" for her typing. She also acknowledged that she owned a Bentley and two Mercedes, along with a house on Long Island, NY, and another home in Florida. She said that she had been looking forward to retirement and planned to sell her two homes and buy a $6.5 million condominium in Boca Raton.

But then in 2008 Madoff's scheme fell apart and the feds "seized everything," she said.

Bongiorno is on trial along with colleagues Dan Bonventre, Joann Crupi, Jerome O'Hara and George Perez. All are accused of helping Madoff orchestrate his $20 billion pyramid-style scam, and all have pleaded not guilty.

Related: JPMorgan's $2.6 billion Madoff reckoning

Madoff, who pleaded guilty in 2009 and is serving a 150-year sentence in a federal prison in North Carolina, hired underlings with limited experience and education. Bongiorno started working at the firm when she was 19 and fresh out of high school. She introduced Madoff to Frank DiPascali, Jr., who was driving a delivery truck for a dry cleaning service when Madoff hired him 1975. He eventually became a portfolio manager and is now acting as a witness for the government.

DiPascali admitted to cooking the books for his former boss by recording fake trades that actually didn't exist in testimony earlier this year. "We were lying," he said at the time.

Bonventre was an accountant when he went to work for Madoff, and was therefore one of the most experienced new hires on Madoff's staff. He also got an Associate's degree over the course of six years while working at the firm.

Related: SAC Capital's Martoma found guilty

Despite his college education and accounting experience, Bonventre said that the bulk of his Wall Street knowledge came from his former boss.

"[Madoff] often boasted that he wrote the rules," Bonventre said in testimony earlier this month. "He always told me 'this is how things work' and 'this is how we do it,' and I always believed him."

The trial, which has dragged on for five months, could go to the jury next week.

First Published: February 28, 2014: 1:01 PM ET

10.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

The dysfunctional debate on debt

When it comes to long-term U.S. debt, Washington lawmakers and the White House aren't debating how to handle it, but rather who is ignoring the issue more.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

And both are projected to resume a northward trek in a few years.

But lawmakers are not talking seriously about how to put the federal budget on sounder footing for the long run.

In some ways, that's not surprising. Lawmakers and President Obama have been at war over the budget and debt ceiling since the 2008 financial crisis.

Those fights yielded the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the fiscal cliff deal of 2013, among other measures, which together have reduced projected deficits by a few trillion bucks over the next decade.

That's not nothing. But those measures don't do much to address the long-term debt problem that will come as the bulk of Baby Boomers retire, health care costs per person rise and interest on the growing debt builds.

What lawmakers have done is buy themselves a little time to plan for that future budget crunch.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that federal spending in coming decades will continually outpace revenue, and that the country's accumulated debt will keep growing faster than the economy.

End result: The vast majority of federal dollars will go to paying entitlement benefits and interest on the debt, leaving less money to pay for everything else Americans expect their government to do.

Related: Deficits continue to drop sharply - CBO

What lawmakers have now is a "quiet" period -- an improved economy and stabilized deficits. If they don't take advantage of it to start talking about these issues in earnest, it will be harder in the future to align spending pressures with incoming revenue. The longer lawmakers wait, the more abrupt the changes they may need to make.

"This is the time," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former CBO director and now president of the American Action Forum, a center-right think tank. "Fixing it in the middle of [the crunch] is not the time."

So what is Washington doing? Pointing fingers at who is ignoring the issue more and worrying about the next election.

Take the recent news that President Obama won't include a controversial Social Security proposal in his 2015 budget proposal due out on Tuesday.

The proposal, known as chained CPI, was included in his budget last year and would help reduce deficits by changing how federal benefits are adjusted for cost of living.

Those annual COLA increases, including growth in Social Security benefits, would be smaller under chained CPI than they are under more widely used inflation measures. Hence, why it's so controversial.

Related: 2013 deficit drops to $680 billion

The White House said the proposal is still good if Republicans are willing to close some tax loopholes to raise revenue for deficit reduction.

"That offer has been on the table for more than a year, and we've not seen any constructive engagement from the other side," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

Republicans characterized the White House decision to drop the proposal from the budget as a clear sign Obama is done dealing with debt reduction.

"With three years left in office, it seems the president is already throwing in the towel," said Brendan Buck, the spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

So there we are. "You won't deal," Democrats say. "No, you won't deal," Republicans say.

Regardless of who you think is right, the fact remains no one's dealing.

First Published: February 28, 2014: 3:45 PM ET

10.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Online poker players get $76 million back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A court-appointed administrator announced the distribution Friday of $76 million to roughly 27,500 U.S. customers of the defunct poker site. Their accounts have been frozen since 2011 due to a criminal case.

The Poker Players Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group, applauded the action, but said there are still "several thousand" ex-Full Tilt players in the U.S. who have yet to receive their money. John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, estimated that there are between $50 million and $60 million in unclaimed or disputed funds that have yet to be distributed.

Prosecutors accused Full Tilt and two other sites -- PokerStars and Absolute Poker -- of circumventing federal laws against Internet gambling by deceiving banks and credit card issuers into processing payments for U.S. players.

In July 2012, the Justice Department announced a $731 million settlement with PokerStars and Full Tilt to resolve the allegations. Full Tilt also settled allegations that it had operated a Ponzi scheme, failing to maintain sufficient funds on deposit for players to withdraw.

Under the settlement, Full Tilt agreed to forfeit virtually of all its assets to the government, with PokerStars acquiring them.

Former Full Tilt CEO Raymond Bitar pleaded guilty last year to multiple gambling and fraud charges. He faced a substantial prison sentence but was released because of health problems.

First Published: February 28, 2014: 5:57 PM ET

10.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ben Bernanke grilled on AIG bailout

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Bernanke gave a deposition in a case brought by Starr International, the firm controlled by former AIG chairman Hank Greenberg that's now represented by attorney David Boies. Starr and the ex-chairman are challenging the 2008 bailout of AIG by the Federal Reserve, arguing that the terms of the bailout were unfair to existing shareholders

The bailout saved AIG from filing for bankruptcy. The federal government took 92% of AIG's shares in return for $152 billion that the Fed and Treasury eventually pumped into the insurer. But when the government took that stake, it greatly diminished the AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) stake held by Starr, Greenberg and other shareholders. Starr and Greenberg sued the government in late 2011.

Taxpayers eventually made a profit of $22.7 billion on the AIG bailout.

Related: Transcripts show Fed underestimated the crisis

Greenberg sought to get AIG to join the lawsuit early last year. But after hearing a presentation from Boies the AIG board declined to participate.

Greenberg has been fighting to force Bernanke to testify about AIG's bailout and the terms of the federal rescue. But the federal court of appeals ruled he would not have to testify while he was serving as chairman of the central bank late last year. His term ended at the end of last month.

Related: Mortgage bailout now profitable for taxpayers

Bernanke is now serving as a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

A spokeswoman for Boies' office said she did not believe Greenberg was present at Bernanke's deposition.

First Published: February 27, 2014: 3:54 PM ET

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