Business briefs for Nov. 19, 2003

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

Vegas property auctioned

Lake Trop L.L.C., a 118-unit apartment complex at 303 East Harmon Ave., just east of Las Vegas Boulevard, was sold at a bankruptcy auction Monday for $10 million, the court-appointed trustee reported. The sale was part of an involuntary Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy, court records show.

The 8-acre property is zoned H1, meaning a hotel/casino or high-rise timeshare/ condominium could be built on the site.

The buyer was Faramarz Yousefzadet with Sloan Capital, court officials said.

Creditors sue former execs

TROY, Mich. -- A creditors' trust has sued six former Kmart executives, saying they charged the company for nannies, luxury cars and private chauffeurs even as Kmart fought a losing battle against bankruptcy.

The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Kmart Creditor Trust alleges that former chief executive and chairman Chuck Conaway, former president Mark Schwartz and the four others cost Kmart more than $1 billion in personal expenses, the Detroit Free Press reported today.

U.S. limits imports

BEIJING -- China expressed displeasure today at a U.S. government decision to limit Chinese clothing exports to protect American companies, the latest salvo in economic tensions between two nations whose relationship helps define global trade.

U.S. officials announced Tuesday that the Bush administration was granting an industry request to impose quotas on Chinese imports of knit fabric, dressing gowns and robes and bras -- a move that comes in response to a $103 billion U.S. trade deficit with China last year.

Dozens of currency traders arrested

NEW YORK -- Federal law enforcement officers began arresting several dozen Wall Street traders on Tuesday suspected of foreign currency exchange crimes in a crackdown on a largely unregulated financial market, sources said.

Speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, two government sources confirmed that raids were aimed at arresting people named in court papers filed under seal in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

One source said the crimes were committed as investors were cheated by individuals who claimed to be making foreign exchange trades when they were not. The trades were worth millions of dollars, the sources said.

Diversity office established

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's biggest private employer with more than 1.1 million U.S. workers and the world's biggest retailer, is opening a diversity office to help ensure all its workers have an opportunity to advance.