Bharara.

A former marketing executive at AT&T pled guilty to insider trading charges after providing sales data for the Apple iPhone and RIM's Blackberry to a so-called expert network, said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement.

Alnoor Ebrahim, 57, of Alpharetta, Georgia, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. According to a press release, Mr. Ebrahim was paid more than $180,000 between 2008 and 2010 for providing nonpublic information on handset sales to investors. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years.

The guilty plea comes after Mr. Bharara's office obtained a guilty verdict in the insider trading trial of Rajat Gupta, the former McKinsey & Co. chief executive charged with passing corporate secrets to now-imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam.

Mr. Ebrahim's guilty plea marks the government's 63rd insider trading conviction since October 2009.

Updated to correct the number of insider trading convictions obtained by the government in recent years.

While Condé Nast’s million-square-foot lease at 1 World Trade Center last year has become a dominant emblem of downtown’s resurgence as a popular destination for office tenants, the C&W group’s lease-up of 77 Water Street has also etched its way into recent lore in the neighborhood.

77 Water Street.

Mr. D’Avanzo and colleagues Robert Constable and Joseph Fabrizi, who are also top executives at C&W, have filled close to 600,000 square feet at the property in recent years, almost the entirety of the building, at times braving the recession’s darkest depths to do it. The string of deals has been so impressive that even brokers at rival firms have pointed to the activity as an early sign of momentum in an area that just a few years ago seemed haunted by the possibility of high vacancy.

A recent deal to fill the building’s 16,400-square-foot mezzanine level has shown that the team, despite all its success, hasn’t turned away from the property, a postmodern skyscraper built in the late 1960s by the family-owned Kaufman Organization.

“I’ve been telling my team, let’s wrap this up,” Mr. D’Avanzo said. “If you don’t follow through to the bitter end, all your client remembers is the bitter end.”

The C&W team inked the mezzanine-level deal with the Lactalis Group, a large French cheese making and dairy company that owns the popular cheese brands Sorrento and Président.

Mr. D’Avanzo said that several tenants had been interested in the space. The floor sits between the building’s ground level entrance and the second floor and is called the mezzanine due to its configuration; its perimeter, which encompasses 16,400 square feet, steps back from the 25,000-square-foot footprint of the floors higher above in the 26-story tower. Though smaller and close to the street, the space was attractive because of its above-average 14-foot ceiling heights. The floor, in fact, had sat vacant for as long as it did so that the team could have the option of offering it to larger tenants who wanted to add to existing space or use it as an entrance.

“There were options to potentially run an escalator up to the mezzanine level so we didn’t want to lease it until we were done with the rest of the building,” Mr. D’Avanzo said.

Goldman Sachs initially leased 77 Water Street in the early 2000s, but the banking institution later reconsidered the lease soon after and never moved in. Mr. D’Avanzo said he couldn’t discuss Goldman because the firm remains one of his clients, but brokers familiar with the building told The Commercial Observer that the space had been toggling on and off the market for years.

It wasn’t until Goldman hired the C&W team in 2009 that deals at the property got going. Despite the fact that the economy was in a serious downturn and leasing in the city ground to a near standstill that year, the C&W team began signing tenants. By the end of that year, the group had finished deals amounting to hundreds of thousands of square feet with big-name tenants including AT&T, the engineering company Arup, the law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith and the insurer OneBeacon Insurance Group.

“Our strategy has always been to be aggressive in pursuing deals,” Mr. D’Avanzo said.

Mr. D’Avanzo wouldn’t discuss rents or concession packages at the property, but several sources said that Goldman officials demonstrated uncommon savvy in judging the market conditions at the time and cooked up economics that would spur transactions at the property despite the daunting headwinds. The company gave the C&W group leeway to offer rents in the $30s per square foot, a competitive rate, and generous incentive packages such as work allowances that would allow tenants to build out their offices. Goldman also invested more than $20 million in the property, money that was used in part to correct what was widely regarded as its principal weakness: a diminutive lobby.

“We have a beautiful lobby in the property now,” Mr. D’Avanzo said.

Mr. D’Avanzo’s team did its part, recruiting brand name space takers with sterling credit.

It is the practice of some leasing teams to be especially choosy with what deals they do for the final slivers of a large space that has mostly been leased. After filling much of the downtown office building 7 World Trade Center, for instance, developer Larry Silverstein waited years before signing deals for the building’s uppermost floors to hold out for very high rents.

Mr. D’Avanzo and his team knew they didn’t have that luxury at 77 Water Street. Because the space is being offered as a sublease, rather than directly from Kaufman, the landlord—which, depending on the floor, expires in either 2018 or 2021—the pressure was on from the start. Because large tenants typically sign leases for long periods of time, a big block of space with a dwindling term would become only less valuable and harder to fill as time went by.

For that very reason, the building’s roster of brand-name tenants shows a clear preference for creditworthiness, officials explained.

“We had to be very careful with who we selected,” Mr. D’Avanzo said. “If you have a seven-year lease term left on the sublease and your subtenant gives up the space after five years, the space you get back with a two-year term is just about worthless.”

Mr. D’Avanzo took the same approach with the mezzanine floor.

Numerous tenants had been circling the mezzanine space and making offers for the floor but when he and his team connected with Lactalis, they quickly zeroed in. The company, which will relocate from 950 Third Avenue in Midtown, is one of the world’s largest producers of dairy products and has solid financials.

“We looked at everything, even office condos that we could buy,” said Lactalis’s broker in the deal, Michael Burlant, a leasing executive who also works for C&W. “In the end 77 Water had the right combination of criteria. It was a very cool building, the mezzanine level has great ceiling heights, and the rents are competitive. When Lactalis saw this space, there wasn’t any hesitation; they were sold.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr. D’Avanzo, a boyish-looking broker who has worked at C&W for most of his career, appeared preoccupied with the second floor rather than celebratory. In his determination to fill the building’s remaining vacancy, he showed the same ethos that bred success throughout the leasing campaign.

“We want to lease that space,” Mr. D’Avanzo said.

Sure enough, Mr. D’Avanzo is close to a deal for about half of the floor, he claimed. Nonetheless, even with only about 12,000 square feet of space left to lease, the agent hardly seemed satisfied.

“I told my guys, bring me a list of every tenant in the market who could be a taker for that remaining piece,” he added. “Let’s make sure we’re reaching out to them.”

dgeiger@observer.com

Now life is perfect!

First the iPhone was only available to AT&T customers, forcing Verizon users to wait four whole years until they could play Angry Birds like the rest of the tech elite. But with the release of the Android and various other Smartphones using a variety of carriers, it no longer seemed necessary to pay the $200 cancellation fee to switch cell phone providers. Until now.

As we reported last week, yesterday saw the first phase of the MTA's subway cell plan put into action. In various underground Chelsea locations it is now possible for AT&T and T-Mobile customers to receive service, leaving Verizon customers once again in the dust, staring glumly at our unsent texts while the person next to us gabs away happily.

This was an actual phone conversation that took place at the A/C/E platform in 14th Street/8th Avenue station today at approximately 11:15 a.m.:

*Cell phone rings to the tune of Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" very loudly. A lady pulls out her phone.*

AT&T customer: Hey girl! How are you calling me?

*Pause*

AT&T: Because I'm on the subway! I'm waiting for the train!

*Pause*

AT&T: (laughs) This is so weird. I can hear you really well. I wonder why I'm getting reception. Do you think this will work on the train?

*We consider whether or not to interrupt her conversation and explain that her phone isn't magic and to stop rubbing it in everyone's faces, but decide against it.*

AT&T: Wait, what? After the bar, I went home...no, I wasn't there. Who said I was there?

*pause*

AT&T: They are fucking lying.

*pause*

AT&T: There can't be photos on Facebook because I wasn't there. I swear to God, why would I lie...

*C Uptown arrives, and we all board. Train pulls out of the station.*

AT&T: Hello? Hello? *Stares at phone* Are you kidding me??

We spent the next fifteen minutes watching this lady desperately try to call her friend and then, when that didn't work, log on to Facebook. And we took a small bit of pleasure in it, not going to lie. It's like the Louis C.K. bit about sitting next to a guy on a plane with WiFi.

MTA tried to make life a little more amazing for a group of select cell phone users, and nobody is happy. (Especially not us, since we'll never know how that lady will deal with clearing her name with an evil after-party doppelganger running about.)

On the plus side, that one dropped call represents another step toward the technological singularity. Fingers crossed!

Verizon even set aside a limited quantity of iPhones for existing customers, and orders will be shipped to arrive on or before Feb. 10, an interesting PR move since bringing the iPhone to the carrier is expected to attract customers sick of AT&T dropping their calls. Classy, Verizon.

The iPhone 4 will be available for non-Verizon customers on Feb. 10, priced at $199.99 for the 16 GB iPhone 4 or $299.99 for the 32 GB iPhone 4 with a new two-year customer agreement. A data plan is $29.99 a month.

Early reviews of the Verizon iPhone say the call quality is crisp, but the data conntection is much slower and the phone can't handle as much data and voice action at the same time as its AT&T counterpart.

"While it isn't all rainbows and flowers (the data speed issues or the voice / data considerations could be a dealbreaker for some), it does kind of feel like Apple and Verizon did the impossible: they made the best smartphone in America just a little bit better," Engadget's Joshua Topolsky, who lives in Brooklyn, wrote after testing the device. David Pogue at The New York Times ran around New York and other cities with the Verizon and AT&T iPhones and was impressed.

There is still fear that the AT&T diaspora could affect call quality for current Verizon customers. We won't know if that's true for another two weeks.

ajeffries [at] observer.com | @adrjeffries

But few expected the announcement that the Verizon iPhone would support tethering, acting as a mobile hotspot for up to five other devices. 

For AT&T users, who have trouble getting a reliable phone signal for just that one device, this has got to sting. 

Twitter is ablaze with speculation over how AT&T will respond, but the real speculation is now focused on the data/pricing plans Verizon will offer. 

Word of unlimited data has been swirling for days, but nothing official was announced at the presser. 

It will all be sorted out before Feb. 3, when the iPhone 4 goes on sale for Verizon. 

Apple fanboy and iPhone lover MG Siegler was in town for the launch and tested the two networks side by side - results of his preliminary test via Twitter -

• The Verizon 3G speeds versus the AT&T 3G speeds in this room are quite humorous. 
• As in, one is very fast. The other switches between dog slow and not working. I'll let you fill in which is which. 
• Okay, a hint. #attsucks. 

bpopper at observer dot com - @benpopper

These two telco giants share the same mother, Ma Bell that is, but apparently broadband runs thicker than blood. Jenna Wortham breaks it down for The New York Times:

“I’m not sure iPhone users are ready for life in the slow lane,” Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, said in a company statement.

Say what!

“AT&T is known for a lot of things, but network quality is not one of them,” said Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless. “Typically companies try to call attention to their strongest suit. It must be backwards day at AT&T.”

Oh snap, backwards day. 

AT&T may be treading in dangerous territory. For the last several years, Verizon has ranked in the top tier of customer satisfaction, while AT&T has sunk to the bottom, according to Consumer Reports. In a head-to-head insult war, Verizon is going to have way more firepower. 

Luckily for AT&T, most of their customers aren't going anywhere. Eighty percent of iPhone users are on a family plan, and 75 percent still have one year left on their contracts. 

bpopper at observer dot com - @benpopper

The Verizon iPhone that people have speculated about since September 2008 is really coming true.

Really! This time there is really, definitely going to be a Verizon iPhone, like, for sure!

Verizon has a press event tomorrow at Lincoln Center. "Join us as we share the latest news," said the Verizon press release about tomorrow's event.

All Things D is reporting that Steve Jobs will be there to unveil the mythical device.

The iPhone will be sold in Verizon Wireless stores at the end of January, The Wall Street Journal reported. It will be similar to AT&T's iPhone 4. We'll believe it when we see it.

ajeffries [at] observer.com | @adrjeffries

Tech bloggers and mainstream media outlets have been obsessing over Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T, whose service is notoriously slow and frustrating in New York and San Francisco.

Instead, Seidenberg waxed philosophical about how folks demand an increasingly connected world--Yay! Droid does!--and then COO Lowell McAdam plugged Verizon's new 4G service, which almost no phones support and will almost certainly be very expensive.

Verizon is still supposed to be getting the iPhone in the first quarter of this year, but it's been almost a year since rumors started seriously circulating. Verizon customers have been waiting for the iPhone even longer than Apple fans have been waiting for the white iPhone 4.

ajeffries [at] observer.com | @adrjeffries

The pilot was apparently successful, because AT&T has expanded the area of Wi-Fi coverage in Times Square and is adding more by Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Those hot spots for AT&T customers will be coming in the next few days, according to a press release posted by Engadget, in time for New Year's Eve.

The expanded hot spots will add data network capacity in high traffic areas. AT&T customers with qualifying data plans get unlimited access to AT&T hot spots at no additional cost.

The quality of voice calls and coverage on AT&T has vastly improved over the last year in Manhattan, as have 3G download speeds.

In January, AT&T acknowledged its Manhattan network was subpar. But now, with the help of Luke Wilson, it's back to bravado.

"AT&T today delivers the nation's fastest mobile broadband experience nationwide as well as the nation's largest Wi-Fi network, giving customers the best combination of speed and coverage," the press release says. We'll know when eight million people try to tweet on New Year's, won't we?

ajeffries [at] observer.com | @adrjeffries

But the ambiguous language of the new rules and the different frameworks applied to landlines and mobile internet mean that corporations like Comcast will likely continue to treat data from certain companies differently and discriminate against sites and services that don't fit into their bottom line. 

"As we stand here now, the freedom and openness of the Internet are unprotected," Genachowski said. "No rules on the books to protect basic Internet values. No process for monitoring Internet openness as technology and business models evolve. No recourse for innovators, consumers, or speakers harmed by improper practices. And no predictability for Internet service providers, so that they can effectively manage and invest in broadband networks. That will change once we vote to approve this strong and balanced order."

It's true that the FCC's needed to define itself and its position, to throw down a gauntlet for the numerous court battles sure to come. But the language of today's ruling gives companies like Comcast the right to engage in "reasonable network management," while it also bans "unreasonable discrimination." In the rapidly expanding field of wireless internet, then, the FCC has given companies like Verizon and AT&T even more latitude to decide what is reasonable or not. 

As we have already seen in the dispute between Comcast and Level 3 over the enormous amount of traffic being sent by Netflix, the big internet providers aren't afraid to play hardball, clamp down on certain kinds of data and fight it out in court. 

The FCC should have set in stone the following simple rule: ISPs can charge whatever they want for data that travels over their networks, but cannot discriminate based on content, source or destination.

By giving corporations the right to "manage their networks," the FCC failed to accomplish both of its major goals. The more these big ISPs control which data flows across their networks and at what speeds, the less true competition will emerge between them. Removing real neutrality from these networks will thus discourage investment in new broadband infrastructure, while undercutting the egalitarian nature of the web which has driven so much innovation and enterprise in America.