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| LIBERIA: Hunting for Liberias Missing Millions
by Doreen Carvjal, New York Times
May 30th, 2010
How much money did Charles G. Taylor, the deposed president of Liberia, siphon out of his war-shattered country, and where is it? Investigators are developing a new strategy involving filing civil damage claims against companies, governments and international banks that they contend aided Mr. Taylor in illegal transactions. |
| AFRICA: E Guinea ejected from industry clean-up body
by Tom Burgis, Financial Times
April 16th, 2010
A pioneering initiative aimed at cleaning up the oil and mining industries has ejected Equatorial Guinea from its ranks. The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a voluntary coalition of companies, governments, donors and civil society groups, had been under pressure from activists on granting extensions to 17 states that had missed a deadline to have audits of their industries independently verified. |
| US: Deaths at West Virginia Mine Raise Issues About Safety
by Ian Urbina and Michael Cooper, New York Times
April 6th, 2010
Rescue workers began the precarious task Tuesday of removing explosive methane gas from the coal mine where at least 25 miners died the day before. The mine owners -- Massey Energy Company -- dismal safety record, along with several recent evacuations of the mine, left federal officials and miners suggesting that Mondays explosion might have been preventable. |
| US/KUWAIT: Settlement possible in military contractor fraud case
by Bill Rankin, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 29th, 2010
Kuwaiti firm Agility (formerly Public Warehousing) indicted here for overcharging the Army on an $8.5 billion contract is negotiating a possible settlement with the Justice Department. On Nov. 9, a federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted the firm on charges it gouged the U.S. government by overcharging on its contract to supply food to American troops in Iraq. |
| UK: U.K. to Crack Down on Tax Evasion in Developing Countries
by Laurence Norman, Wall Street Journal
January 26th, 2010
The U.K. government will on Wednesday set out proposals to broaden the crackdown on tax evasion to benefit developing countries, setting a year-end deadline for a U.K.-led multilateral tax-information-sharing accord with emerging nations. That could eventually open the way for multination tax-information accords, which would include former tax havens, developed and developing nations. |
| US: F.B.I. Charges Arms Sellers With Foreign Bribes
by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times
January 20th, 2010
On Tuesday, 22 top-level arms industry executives, including a senior sales executive at Smith & Wesson, were arrested in what Justice Department officials called the first undercover sting ever aimed at violations of the federal ban on corporate bribes paid to get foreign business. The individuals are being prosecuted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. |
| GHANA: Corruption probe into sale of Ghana oil block
by William Wallis, Martin Arnold and Brooke Masters, Financial Times
January 7th, 2010
US and Ghanaian authorities are investigating corruption allegations involving a Texas oil company and the local partner that helped it secure control of the Ghanaian oil block that yielded one of Africas biggest recent discoveries. The case risks complicating efforts by Texas company Kosmos to sell its stake in the Jubilee oil field to ExxonMobil in a deal valued at $4bn. |
| US: DynCorp Fires Executive Counsel
by August Cole, Wall Street Journal
November 28th, 2009
DynCorp International Inc. said it has terminated one of its top lawyers, a move that comes on the heels of the government contractor's disclosure that some of its subcontractors may have broken U.S. law in trying to speed up getting licenses and visas overseas. |
| KAZAKHSTAN: Kazakh Bank Lost Billions in Western Investments
by Landon Thomas Jr., New York Times
November 27th, 2009
In the last few years, big banks have found many surprising ways to lose billions of dollars by making loans that turned sour. But few can match the odd tale involving Kazakhstan and a little-known bank. From 2003 to 2008, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland, ING and others funneled more than $10 billion in loans into Bank Turalem, during the Central Asian country's boom spurred by its rich deposits of oil and natural gas. Many of these loans are now bust. |
| US: Ex-UBS Banker Seeks Billions for Blowing Whistle
by Lynnley Browning, New York Times
November 26th, 2009
Bradley C. Birkenfeld was sentenced to 40 months in prison for helping rich Americans dodge their taxes, his sentence reduced in turn for informing on Swiss banking giant UBS. Now, with the help of the National Whistleblower Center, he and his lawyers hope to use a new federal whistle-blower law to claim a multibillion-dollar reward from the American government. |
| US/ECUADOR: New nonprofit uses Web to pressure Chevron
by David A. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
November 16th, 2009
Retired retail executive Richard Goldman was astonished when he heard about the $27 billion pollution lawsuit against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador. SO he has created a nonprofit group, Ethos Alliance, that will use social-networking tools to spread word of the case and put pressure on Chevron. |
| US: E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection
by Michael Moss, New York Times
October 3rd, 2009
Tracing the chain of production of an E. Coli-contaminated hamburger made by Cargill, through interviews and government and corporate records obtained by The New York Times, shows why eating ground beef is still a gamble. Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe. |
| ANGOLA: The dark side of doing business
by Rob Rose, Times South Africa
September 17th, 2009
As Angolan leader Jose Eduardo Dos Santos wooed President Jacob Zuma this week, some South African companies are furious at having been fleeced out of cash by doing business with the oil-rich country |
| SOUTH AMERICA: Plundering the Amazon
by Michael Smith and Adriana Brasileiro, Bloomberg.com
August 16th, 2009
Alcoa and Cargill have bypassed laws designed to prevent destruction of the worlds largest rain forest, Brazilian prosecutors say. The damage wrought by scores of companies is robbing the earth of its best shield against global warming. |
| US: DynCorp Billed U.S. $50 Million Beyond Costs in Defense Contract
by V. Dion Haynes, Washington Post
August 12th, 2009
A Defense Department auditor, appearing before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, testified Tuesday that DynCorp International billed the government $50 million more than the amount specified in a contract to provide dining facilities and living quarters for military personnel in Kuwait. |
| FRANCE: In French Inquiry, a Glimpse at Corporate Spying
by DAVID JOLLY, New York Times
August 1st, 2009
A corporate espionage case unfolding in France involves some of the biggest French companies, including lectricit de France, the worlds largest operator of nuclear power plants, and Vivendi, the media and telecommunications conglomerate. The story has the elements of a corporate thriller: a cast of characters that includes former French spies and military men, an American cycling champion, Greenpeace activists and a dogged judge. |
| US: Cuomo Says Schwab Faces Fraud Suit
by Liz Rappaport, Wall Street Journal
July 20th, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has warned Charles Schwab & Co. that his office plans to sue the firm for civil fraud over its marketing and sales of auction-rate securities to clients. Emails and testimony cited in the letter show Schwab's brokers had little idea of what they were selling and later failed to tell clients that the market was collapsing. |
| US: Madoff Is Sentenced to 150 Years for Ponzi Scheme
by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times
June 29th, 2009
A criminal saga that began in December with a string of superlatives the largest, longest and most widespread Ponzi scheme in history ended the same way on Monday as Bernard L. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum for his crimes. |
| AFRICA: Blood diamond scheme 'is failing'
BBC News
June 24th, 2009
Officials are meeting to review the Kimberley Process, amid criticism that the scheme, set up to certify the origin of diamonds to assure consumers that by purchasing diamonds they are not financing war and human rights abuses, is failing. The Kimberley Process emerged from global outrage over conflicts in countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone, largely funded by the plundering of diamond resources. |
| US: Madoff Suits Add Details About Fraud
by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times
June 22nd, 2009
Three lawsuits filed on Monday provided new details about what regulators say went on inside Bernard L. Madoffs long-running Ponzi scheme, including information about who might have helped perpetuate the fraud for so long. |
| AFRICA: Battle to Halt Graft Scourge in Africa Ebbs
by Celia W. Dugger, New York Times
June 9th, 2009
The fight against corruption in Africa is faltering as public agencies investigating wrongdoing by powerful politicians have been undermined and officials leading the charge have been dismissed, subjected to death threats and driven into exile. The search is on for more effective ways to tackle corruption, including intensified legal efforts to prosecute multinational corporations that pay the bribes and reclaim loot that African political elites have stashed abroad. |
| US: U.S. Cracks Down on Corporate Bribes
by DIONNE SEARCEY, Wall Street Journal
May 26th, 2009
The Justice Department is increasing its prosecutions of alleged acts of foreign bribery by U.S. corporations, forcing them to take costly steps to defend against scrutiny. The crackdown under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA -- a post-Watergate law largely dormant for decades -- now extends across five continents and penetrates entire industries. |
| WORLD: When Chevron Hires Ex-Reporter to Investigate Pollution, Chevron Looks Good
by Brian Stelter, New York Times
May 10th, 2009
When Chevron learned that 60 Minutes was preparing a potentially damaging report about oil company contamination of the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador, it hired a former journalist to produce a mirror image of the report, from the corporations point of view. An Ecuadorean judge is expected to rule soon on whether Chevron owes up to $27 billion in damages. |
| US: Trustee Sues Madoff Hedge Fund Investor
by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times
May 7th, 2009
The trustee gathering assets for the victims of Bernard L. Madoffs fraud has sued a prominent New York City hedge fund investor, J. Ezra Merkin, to recover almost $500 million withdrawn from Madoff accounts in the last six years. |
| NIGERIA: A Writers Violent End, and His Activist Legacy
by Patricia Cohen, New York Times
May 4th, 2009
A new novel, "Eclipse," by Richard North Patterson, is based on the case of the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed in November 1995 by the government of General Sani Abacha. The circumstances, along with related incidents of brutal attacks, are getting another hearing. This month the Wiwa familys lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell over its role in those events goes to trial in federal court in Manhattan. |
| INDIA: Pricewaterhouse Revamps Indian Unit
by Heather Timmons, New York Times
March 5th, 2009
The auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers is overhauling its operations in India two months after starting an investigation into fraud at Satyam Computer Services, a software and outsourcing firm whose chairman said in January that he had falsely claimed assets of $1 billion in cash and overstated operating margins. |
| US: Ex-Leaders at Countrywide Start Firm to Buy Bad Loans
by Eric Lipton, New York Times
March 3rd, 2009
Countrywide Financial made risky loans to tens of thousands of Americans, helping set off a chain of events that has the economy staggering. So it may come as a surprise that a dozen former top Countrywide executives now stand to make millions from the home mortgage mess, buying up delinquent home mortgages that the government took over, sometimes for pennies on the dollar, at newly-formed PennyMac.
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| CHINA: Morgan Stanleys Chinese Land Scandal
by David Barboza , New York Times
March 1st, 2009
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Morgan Stanley said it had fired an executive in its China real estate division after uncovering evidence that he might have violated the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars American business people from bribing foreign officials. |
| SWITZERLAND: UBS Names Grbel as New CEO
by Carrick Mollenkamp, Wall Street Journal
February 26th, 2009
UBS AG, the Swiss bank battered by massive write-downs and its role in a U.S. tax-evasion scheme, announced the surprise departure of chief executive Marcel Rohner. Mr. Rohner's sudden departure comes after UBS agreed earlier this month to a $780 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department of a criminal inquiry into the bank's role in the tax evasion. |
| MEXICO: U.S. Is Arms Bazaar for Mexican Cartels
by James C. McKinley, Jr., New York Times
February 25th, 2009
Phoenix-based gun dealer George Iknadosian of X-Calibur Guns will go on trial on charges he sold hundreds of weapons, mostly AK-47 rifles, to smugglers, knowing they would go to a drug cartel in the western state of Sinaloa. The guns helped fuel the gang warfare in which more than 6,000 Mexicans died last year. |
| INDIA: Bail Opposed for Raju
by Eric Bellman and Jackie Range, Wall Street Journal
January 28th, 2009
Prosecutors pursuing the fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd. said Tuesday the Indian technology outsourcer's founder, B. Ramalinga Raju, should be denied bail because he could slow the investigation if released. |
| US: Bank of America Board Under Gun From Critics
by Louise Story and Julie Creswell, New York Times
January 27th, 2009
As Bank of America's board meets next week, shareholders have turned up the pressure on CEO Kenneth D. Lewis. Their scrutiny has also turned an unusual spotlight on the oversight role played by the bank's board members. |
| US: Troubled Times Bring Mini-Madoffs to Light
by Leslie Wayne, New York Times
January 27th, 2009
In the wake of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal, the SEC has brought cases involving losses of over $200 million since the beginning of October last year, including one against the disgraced Democratic donor Norman Hsu and North Carolina-based Biltmore Financial. |
| INDIA: Indian Outsourcing Giant Admits Fraud
by Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post
January 7th, 2009
The leader of one of India's largest technology outsourcing companies, Satyam Computer Services, on Wednesday admitted cooking its books and committing other grave financial wrongdoing to inflate profits over several years. The revelation shook India's stock market and sent shockwaves across the country's booming software industry. |
| US: Madoff Case Faces Crucial Disclosure Deadline
by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times
December 30th, 2008
Judge Louis L. Stanton of United States District Court has established Wednesday as the deadline for Bernard L. Madoff, who is accused of operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, to provide federal securities regulators with a full accounting of his and his New York firms assets from real estate to art works to bank accounts. |
| US: Federal Oil Officials Accused
In Sex and Drugs Scandal
by STEPHEN POWER, Wall Street Journal
September 11th, 2008
Employees of the federal agency that last year collected more than $11 billion in royalties from oil and gas companies broke government rules and created a "culture of ethical failure" by allegedly accepting gifts from and having sex with industry representatives, the Interior Department's top watchdog said Wednesday. |
| US: Files Show Governor Intervened With Court
by Ian Urbina, New York Times
August 13th, 2008
West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III filed a friend-of-the-court brief in June, arguing the State Supreme Court should review a $382 million judgment against DuPont. The case involves thousands of residents in the area of a DuPont-operated zinc-smelting plant, and the largest civil penalty ever levied against the company, for the dumping of toxic arsenic, cadmium and lead at the plant. |
| UK-Zimbabwe: BAE linked to Zimbabwean arms dealer
by Christopher Thompson and Michael Peel , Financial Times/UK
July 31st, 2008
According to documents seen by the Financial Times, BAE Systems has been linked to Zimbabwean arms trader John Bredenkamp. BAE reportedly paid at least 20m to Bredenkamp via offshore entities in the British Virgin Islands between 2003 and 2005. The payments raise fresh questions about bribery in BAE's dealings. |
| INDIA: Decades Later, Toxic Sludge Torments Bhopal
by Somini Sengupta, New York Times
July 7th, 2008
Residents of Bhopal, India continue to suffer from Union Carbide's toxic legacy, this time in the form of toxic waste that still languishes inside a shoddy warehouse on the old factory grounds. Ailments such as cleft palates and mental retardation are appearing in numbers of Bhopali children, raising questions about contaminated soil and groundwater, clean-up, and liability. |
| Iraq: U.S. Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deals
by Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times
June 30th, 2008
The Bush administration has disclosed that U.S. advisors in Iraq played a key role in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies. The no-bid contracts are expected to be awarded Monday to Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron, as well as to several smaller oil companies. |
| SWITZERLAND: Tax scandal leaves Swiss giant reeling
by Nick Mathiason, The Guardian (UK)
June 29th, 2008
Sending shockwaves through the Swiss financial industry, banking giant UBS is facing accusations from a former senior banker in US courts of massive fraud and corruption. UBS is alleged to have engaged in routine activities aimed at helping its high net worth clients evade hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, among other matters. |
| US: Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist
by Ed Pilkington, Guardian (UK)
June 23rd, 2008
On June 23, James Hansen, a leading world climate scientist, called for the executives of major fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy, to be put on trial for crimes against humanity and nature through actions like funding climate skeptics to undermine global consensus around combating climate change. |
| US: Prosecutors Build Bear Stearns Case on E-Mails
by LANDON THOMAS Jr., The New York Times
June 20th, 2008
The two men, who were forced out of their jobs last year, are the first senior executives from Wall Street investment banks to face criminal charges stemming from the credit mess, and the investigation by federal prosecutors based in Brooklyn is likely to become a test case of the governments ability to make successful prosecutions of arcane financial transactions. |
| KATRINA: Audit Faults KBR's Repairs of Hurricane Damage
by Derek Kravitz, The Washington Post
June 18th, 2008
Efforts by defense contractor KBR to repair hurricane-damaged Navy facilities were deemed shoddy and substandard, and one technical adviser alleged that the federal government "certainly paid twice" for many KBR projects because of "design and workmanship deficiencies," the Pentagon's inspector general reported in an audit released yesterday. |
| US: Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir
by James Risen, New York Times
June 17th, 2008
Charles M. Smith, the senior civilian overseeing the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war, says he was ousted for refusing to approve payment for more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR. The Pentagon has recently awarded KBR part of a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq. |
| US: Big Penalty Set for Law Firm, but Not a Trial
by Jonathan D. Glater, New York Times
June 17th, 2008
The law firm formerly known as Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach agreed on Monday to pay $75 million to dodge a criminal trial. Misconduct at the firm has severely tarnished the reputation of lawyers representing shareholder claims against corporate corruption. |
| US: From a Whistle-Blower to a Target
by TIM ARANGO, The New York Times
June 9th, 2008
Mr. Ripp's journey from whistle-blower to defendant is another example of the long shadow cast by the AOL-Time Warner merger, now widely regarded as one of the most disastrous corporate marriages in history. It is also a cautionary tale for corporate executives who may illuminate fraudulent conduct to one government agency but then find themselves a target of another. |
| US: Researchers Fail to Reveal Full Drug Pay
by GARDINER HARRIS and BENEDICT CAREY, The New York Times
June 8th, 2008
A world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist whose work has helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in children earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials, according to information given Congressional investigators. |
| US: Concrete contractor cuts deal with prosecutors
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
June 1st, 2008
Substandard concrete from Ramirez's now-defunct company was poured into a half-mile stretch of the Bay Bridge's rebuilt western approach. Inferior, less-durable material also was used on a retrofit project at the Golden Gate Bridge, a wastewater treatment plant in Burlingame, the new parking garage in Golden Gate Park, the Municipal Railway's Third Street light-rail line and other projects. |
| FRANCE: Ex-EADS chief charged in French probe
by INGRID ROUSSEAU, Associated Press
May 30th, 2008
A former co-CEO of Airbus parent company EADS, Noel Forgeard, was hit with preliminary insider trading charges Friday in an extensive probe into stock sales by more than a dozen former and current executives at the European planemaker. |
| GERMANY: Ex-Manager Tells of Bribery at Siemens
by CARTER DOUGHERTY, The New York Times
May 27th, 2008
A former manager of Siemens, the European engineering company, testified Monday about an intricate system of slush funds and bribery at the company as the first trial on allegations of corporate corruption in Germany began. |
| GERMANY: Phone Giant in Germany Stirs a Furor
by MARK LANDLER, The New York Times
May 27th, 2008
Germany was engulfed in a national furor over threats to privacy on Monday, after an admission by Deutsche Telekom that it had surreptitiously tracked thousands of phone calls to identify the source of leaks to the news media about its internal affairs. |
| US: Eight ex-AOL executives charged with fraud
by Joanna Chung in New York and Richard Waters in San Francisco, The Financial Times
May 20th, 2008
US regulators on Monday announced fraud charges stemming indirectly from the merger of Time Warner and AOL, the largest union in US corporate history and a symbol of the dotcom boom and bust of the early part of this decade. |
| US: BAE chief detained as US turns up heat in bribes case
by Nick Clark and Stephen Foley, The Independent (U.K.)
May 19th, 2008
BAE Systems admitted yesterday that American authorities investigating corruption claims over an arms deal with Saudi Arabia had issued a series of subpoenas to senior executives, as the investigation continues to gather pace. Two bosses of the defence giant were also detained after they landed at a Houston airport last week |
| RUSSIA: As Gazprom Goes, So Goes Russia
by Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times
May 11th, 2008
Gazprom and the Russian government have long had a close relationship, but the revolving door between them is spinning especially fast this year. But Gazprom also epitomizes the risks of state capitalism: waste and inefficiency. |
| NIGERIA: Ex-Halliburton unit in bribery probe
by Michael Peel in London and Matthew Green in Lagos, The Financial Times
May 9th, 2008
US anti-bribery investigators are targeting a former Halliburton subsidiary over its work on a key Royal Dutch Shell project in Nigeria, widening a corruption probe into the countrys troubled oil industry. |
| MEXICO: Pemex Oozes Corruption
by Diego Cevallos , IPS
May 7th, 2008
Funds belonging to the Mexican state oil monopoly, Pemex, have paid in recent years for liposuction treatment for the wife of the company's chief executive, a presidential candidate's campaign, contracts with firms facing legal action, and the whims of trade union leaders who are not required to account for their expenses. |
| UK: Retailers in tobacco price probe
BBC NEWS
April 25th, 2008
n the case of Gallaher, Imperial Tobacco, Asda, Sainsbury, Shell, Somerfield and Tesco, there was an indirect exchange of proposed future retail prices between competitors, it adds, allegedly between 2001 and 2003. |
| US: Report Finds Air Force Officers Steered Contract
by Josh White, Washington Post
April 18th, 2008
It was during that meeting in November 2005, according to the 251-page report, obtained by The Washington Post, that a controversial $50 million contract was awarded to a company that barely existed in an effort to reward a recently retired four-star general and a millionaire civilian pilot who had grown close to senior Air Force officials and the Thunderbirds. |
| EUROPE: In Europe, widening probe targets tax haven
by Mark Rice Oxley and Jeffrey White, Christian Science Monitor
March 25th, 2008
Nearly two decades after taking the helm of Deutsche Post, Klaus Zumwinkel surrendered to police amid suspicion that he evaded 1 million in taxes. The next day, he resigned, becoming the first to fall in a massive probe that has broadened to nine other countries. |
| US: Fidelity Settles After Employees Accepted Gifts
by Carrie Johnson, The Washington Post
March 6th, 2008
Mutual fund manager Fidelity Investments yesterday settled allegations that more than a dozen of its current and former employees, including star executive Peter Lynch, accepted such perks as sports tickets, tropical vacations and a $160,000 bachelor party from brokers seeking to win business. |
| US: Inside the world of war profiteers
by David Jackson and Jason Grotto|Tribune reporters, Chicago Tribune
February 21st, 2008
Hundreds of pages of recently unsealed court records detail how kickbacks shaped the war's largest troop support contract months before the first wave of U.S. soldiers plunged their boots into Iraqi sand. |
| US: 12 Years for Contractor in Bribery Case
by ELLIOT SPAGAT, AP
February 20th, 2008
A defense contractor was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison Tuesday for bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with cash, trips, the services of prostitutes and other gifts in exchange for nearly $90 million in Pentagon work. |
| UK: BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince
by David Leigh and Rob Evans, The Guardian (UK)
February 15th, 2008
Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than 1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE. |
| US: Hewlett-Packard Settles Spying Case
by MATT RICHTEL, The New York Times
February 14th, 2008
Hewlett-Packard has agreed to a financial settlement with The New York Times and three BusinessWeek magazine journalists in connection with the companys spying scandal that stemmed from surreptitiously obtaining private phone records. |
| US: Bush Presses House to Approve Bill on Surveillance
by ERIC LICHTBLAU, The New York Times
February 13th, 2008
The presidents remarks came the morning after the Senate handed the White House a major victory by voting to broaden the governments spy powers and to give legal protection to phone companies that cooperated in President Bushs program of eavesdropping without warrants. |
| US: Committee Investigates Ad Tactics for Lipitor
by Stephanie Saul, New York Times
February 8th, 2008
A Congressional investigation revealed that Pfizer agreed to pay Dr. Jarvik $1,350,000 as a celebrity pitchman for the heart drug Lipitor, and wants to know how much stunt doubles in the ads may have also been paid. |
| US: An Ex-President, a Mining Deal and a Big Donor
by JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr., The New York Times
January 31st, 2008
Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton. |
| CHINA: Tainted Drugs Tied to Maker of Abortion Pill
by JAKE HOOKER and WALT BOGDANICH, The New York Times
January 31st, 2008
A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs. |
| US: Contractor Abuses Rarely Punished, Groups Say
by Ali Gharib, IPS
January 21st, 2008
Out of the dozens upon dozens of reports of abuses by private contractors as part of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only one prosecution of a contractor has taken place. |
| US: Corporate Fraud Lawsuits Restricted
by Robert Barnes and Carrie Johnson, Washington Post
January 16th, 2008
The Supreme Court yesterday strictly limited the ability of investors who lost money through corporate fraud to sue other businesses that may have helped facilitate the crime, a decision that could doom stockholder efforts to recover billions of dollars lost in Enron and other high-profile cases. |
| US: Life Was Lost in Maelstrom of Suspicion
by Ginger Thompson and Eric Schmitt, New York Times
December 4th, 2007
The suicide of a top Air Force procurement officer casts a cloud of suspicion, threatening to plunge a service still struggling to emerge from one of its worst scandals into another quagmire. |
| IVORY COAST: The Bitter Taste of Cocoa in Cte d'Ivoire
by Michael Deibert, IPS News
December 3rd, 2007
In addition to funding conflict, cocoa revenues are believed to have been defrauded for enrichment of persons in both the government and rebel camps. Article also mentions the following corporations: Lev-Ci and Cargill. |
| US: Law firm seeks nearly $700 mil for Enron pacts
by Martha Graybow, Reuters
November 21st, 2007
The law firm that helped win $7.2 billion in settlements for Enron investors is seeking nearly $700 million in legal fees for itself and other attorneys who handled the case, according to court documents.
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| DRC: Six arrested in Congo radioactive dumping scandal
by Joe Bavier, Reuters
November 10th, 2007
Congolese authorities arrested six people in connection with the dumping of tonnes of highly radioactive minerals into a river near the southeastern town of Likasi. A report said some 17 tons of the minerals confiscated were destined for Chinese firm Magma. |
| UK: From $1 firm, Lord Ashcroft nets 132m
by Simon Bowers, Guardian (UK)
October 9th, 2007
The UK's Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative party deputy chairman and major donor, has agreed to sell his loss-making US janitorial business in a deal that will bring him a 132m windfall. |
| GERMANY:Siemens Settlement Sets Off Criticism of German Inquiries
by David Crawford and Mike Esterl, Wall Street Journal
October 8th, 2007
In the wake of a settlement between Siemens AG and German authorities over one aspect of a bribes-for-business scandal, critics are saying the sanction is light given the scale of the alleged crime and reflects how difficult it is for local law enforcement to pursue corporate corruption. |
| BURMA: Criticism of Total Operations Grows
by Michael Diebert, IPS
October 4th, 2007
The Yadana natural gas pipeline runs through the heart of the debate on corporate responsibility as to how foreign businesses should operate in a country ruled by a military dictatorship accused of widespread human rights abuses and violent suppression of dissent within its borders. |
| CONGO: World Bank accused of razing Congo forests
by John Vidal, The Guardian (UK)
October 4th, 2007
The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. |
| US: Billions over Baghdad; The Spoils of War
by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Vanity Fair
October 1st, 2007
Between April 2003 and June 2004, $12 billion in U.S. currency--much of it belonging to the Iraqi people--was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed. |
| FRANCE: Total: No Capital Expenditures in Myanmar
Associated Press
September 27th, 2007
Total SA, reacting Thursday to comments by French President Sarkozy urging the oil and gas giant to refrain from new investment in Myanmar, said it had not made any capital expenditure there since 1998. The military junta that rules Myanmar this week escalated its efforts to repress pro-democracy demonstrations led by thousands of Buddhist monks. |
| US: Software maker admits to taking bribes
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Financial Times
September 25th, 2007
An oil and gas services company owned by a US buy-out firm on Monday admitted it sought to bribe officials connected to several nationally owned oil companies to improve sales of its software, including Kazakhstans KazMunaiGas and subsidiaries of Chinas CNOOC. |
| US: '60s Figure Says He Financed Donor Hsu
by Ianthe Jeanne Dugan and Brody Mullins, Wall Street Journal
September 12th, 2007
A company controlled by Democratic Party donor Norman Hsu recently received $40 million from a Madison Avenue investment fund run by Joel Rosenman, who was one of the creators of the Woodstock rock festival in 1969. That money, Mr. Rosenman told investors this week, is missing. |
| US: Whistle-blowers remain in the line of fire
by Jeremy Grant, Financial Times
September 12th, 2007
When the Securities and Exchange Commission came under congressional fire this year for its handling of an insider trading probe into hedge fund Pequot Capital, Senator Charles Grassley said the episode showed that whistle-blowers were "as welcome as a skunk at a picnic". |
| US: Army to examine Iraq contracts
by Richard Lardner, Associated Press
August 29th, 2007
The Army will examine as many as 18,000 contracts awarded over the past four years to support U.S. forces in Iraq to determine how many are tainted by waste, fraud and abuse. |
| COLOMBIA: Suing Multinationals Over Murder
by Ken Stier, TIME Magazine
August 1st, 2007
Organized labor often complains of its treatment at the hands of corporate America, but its accusations pale in comparison to those made recently by the widows of Colombian mine workers in an Alabama courtroom. During a two-week trial, a Birmingham jury weighed charges that the local Drummond Coal Company bore responsibility for the murders of three union leaders who represented workers at its Colombian mine - the world's largest open pit mine. |
| US: Blackwater-U. of I. tie
by E.A. Torriero and Jodi S. Cohen, The Chicago Tribune
July 31st, 2007
The University of Illinois is investigating potential conflicts of interest involving the director of the school's prestigious police-training institute and Blackwater U.S.A., the military contractor. |
| ITALY: Devil's Advocate
by Daniel Fisher, Forbes
July 24th, 2007
Italian oil giant Eni has a long history of cutting deals with anyone, and of accusations of corruption and bribery. Now that its future hangs on Russia and its notorious reputation in the energy market, has Eni finally met its match? |
| US: Conrad Black Found Guilty in Fraud Trial
by Richard Silkos, The New York Times
July 13th, 2007
Conrad M. Black, the gregarious press tycoon also known as Lord Black of Crossharbour, was found guilty today by a Chicago jury of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. He could face up to 35 years in prison. |
| CHINA: Lead Toxins Take a Global Round Trip
by Gordon Fairclough, The Wall Street Journal
July 12th, 2007
High levels of toxic lead turning up in cheap jewelry from China are prompting recalls in the U.S. But some of the lead used by these Chinese manufacturers comes from an unconventional source: computers and other electronic goods discarded in Western countries and dumped in China. |
| CHINA: The Growing Dangers of China Trade
by Jyoti Thottam, TIME Magazine
June 28th, 2007
Growing concerns over the safety of everyday goods manufactured in China and imported to the US have thrown into relief the problematic (and dangerous) differences in safety and regulatory standards between the two countries. |
| IVORY COAST: Cocoa exports fund Ivory Coast conflict
by William Wallis and Dino Mahtani, Financial Times
June 7th, 2007
After diamonds and timber, Global Witness, the London-based pressure group, has turned its sights on chocolate in a report that claims cocoa exports from Ivory Coast, the worlds largest producer, have contributed to funding and prolonging the conflict there. |
| US: Bristol-Myers to Pay Fine
Agence France Presse
May 31st, 2007
Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $1 million criminal fine for lying to the government about a patent deal on its blood-thinning drug Plavix, officials said Wednesday.
The Justice Department said in a statement that the companys actions had threatened to reduce competition for the drug, one of the best-selling prescription medications worldwide. |
| JAPAN: NEC workers fake orders worth Y2.2bn
by Mariko Sanchanta , Financial Times
May 29th, 2007
NEC, the Japanese electronics company, Tuesday said that 10 rogue employees placed fake orders worth Y2.2bn ($200m) and accepted kickbacks worth Y500m, which they spent on personal wining and dining.
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| CHINA: BNP executive bribed official
by Richard McGregor in Beijing and Sundeep Tucker in Hong Kong, Financial Times
May 29th, 2007
An executive in the Shanghai office of BNP Paribas bribed a senior government official in the capital in order to win business underwriting Chinese sovereign bonds, according to the Beijing city prosecutors office. |
| INDONESIA: Blood boils as mud volcano swallows homes
Sydney Morning Herald
May 26th, 2007
One year ago this Tuesday, a gas-exploration well part-owned by the Australian mining giant Santos blew, sending a geyser of mud and toxic gas into the air. Nearby villages and factories were flooded, then a big highway and railway were covered, and later East Java's main gas pipeline ruptured. |
| AUSTRALIA: Miner's poll cash for MPs
by Amanda O'Brien, The Australian
May 19th, 2007
MINING company Precious Metals Australia donated thousands of dollars to the election campaigns of two West Australian politicians who helped write a doctored report that commercially benefited the company.
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| IRAQ: 'Pentagon Moved to Fix Iraqi Media Before Invasion'
by Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service
May 9th, 2007
In the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon planned to create a 'Rapid Reaction Media Team' (RRMT) designed to ensure control over major Iraqi media while providing an Iraqi 'face' for its efforts, according to a White Paper' obtained by the independent National Security Archive (NSA) which released it Tuesday. |
| CONGO: New row over delay of Congo funds report
by Dino Mahtani, Financial Times
May 8th, 2007
The World Bank has withheld the findings of an inquiry into alleged
mismanagement of bank funds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising fresh questions about the anti-corruption strategy of Paul Wolfowitz, the bank's president |
| CONGO: New row over delay of Congo funds report
by Dino Mahtani, Financial Times
May 8th, 2007
The World Bank has withheld the findings of an inquiry into alleged
mismanagement of bank funds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising fresh questions about the anti-corruption strategy of Paul Wolfowitz, the bank's president. |
| US: Chevron Seen Settling Case on Iraq Oil
by Claudio Gatti and Jad Mouwad, New York Times
May 8th, 2007
Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, is preparing to acknowledge that it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein on oil it bought from Iraq as part of a defunct United Nations program, according to investigators. |
| US: Firms Protest Exclusion From Iraq Security Bid
by Alec Klein and Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
May 5th, 2007
Two private security contractors have lodged formal protests against the Army, claiming they have been unfairly excluded from competing for one of the largest security jobs in Iraq, according to government documents and sources familiar with the matter. |
| US: Gag order for former Wal-Mart employee
CNN Money
April 9th, 2007
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) won a gag order to stop a fired security operative from talking to reporters and a judge ordered him to provide Wal-Mart attorneys with 'the names of all persons to whom he has transmitted, since January 15, 2007, any Wal-Mart information.'? |
| FRANCE: Total CEO summoned by SEC on Iran deal
Reuters
April 3rd, 2007
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice have summoned the chief executive of French energy giant Total SA to explain the group's activities in Iran, a French newspaper said on Tuesday. |
| BURMA: Shackles, torture, executions: inside Burma's jungle gulags
by Dan McDougall, The Observer
March 25th, 2007
There is no real dissent here in Rangoon. People are too scared to be members of any democratic movement. We are all just victims, people like me who are trying to get their lives back.' Ko Min, 47, his wife and two sons were swept up with hundreds of others in a military raid on their village close to the city of Bagan in 2005. The family were put to work, clearing jungle, digging latrines and an irrigation system for a military camp outside Mandalay. (mentions Zarubezhneft oil company) |
| FRANCE: France Begins Formal Inquiry on Oil Executive
by James Kanter, New York Times
March 23rd, 2007
Problems increased for the French oil company Total on Thursday when Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive, was put under formal investigation by French authorities, who are looking into allegations that the company paid kickbacks to win a gas contract in Iran during the late 1990s. |
| US: In Transcripts, Bromwell Boasts of Comcast Ties
by Eric Rich, Washington Post
March 22nd, 2007
Thomas L. Bromwell claimed to be driven by principle when, as a Maryland state senator in 2000, he led a legislative effort that allowed Comcast and other companies to charge customers late fees at rates that courts had deemed excessive. |
| US: Broadcasters Agree to Fine Over Payoffs
by Jeff Leeds, The New York Times
March 6th, 2007
Radio broadcasters have long been accused of corrupting the public airwaves by accepting bribes from corporate music giants.
But in a pair of agreements disclosed yesterday, the broadcasters moved to resolve accusations that they had auctioned off the airwaves by agreeing to pay a landmark penalty and pledging to play more music from independent recording artists. |
| IRAQ: New Oil Law Seen as Cover for Privatisation
by Emad Mekay, Inter Press News Service (IPS)
February 27th, 2007
The U.S.-backed Iraqi cabinet approved a new oil law Monday that is set to give foreign companies the long-term contracts and safe legal framework they have been waiting for, but which has rattled labour unions and international campaigners who say oil production should remain in the hands of Iraqis. |
| US: Corporate Profits Take an Offshore Vacation
by Lucy Komisar, Inter Press Service
February 23rd, 2007
Last week, Merck, the pharmaceutical multinational, announced that it will pay 2.3 billion dollars in back taxes, interest and penalties in one of the largest settlements for tax evasion the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ever imposed. |
| US: Ex-Refco owner charged in fraud
Associated Press
January 16th, 2007
A former owner of Refco Inc. was charged Tuesday in a fraud that cost investors more than $1 billion in losses, prosecutors said as they also added charges against the former chief executive and chief financial officers of the commodities brokerage giant. |
| US: Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
by Richard Cummings, Playboy.com
January 16th, 2007
If you think the Iraq war hasn't worked out very well for anyone, think again. Defense contractors such as Lockheed are thriving. And no wonder: Here's the story how Lockheed's interests- as opposed to those of the American citizenry- set the course of U.S. policy after 9/11. |
| US: US charges oil-for-food chief
by Brooke Masters and Mark Turner, Financial Times
January 16th, 2007
Benon Sevan, the administrator who was in charge of overseeing the United Nation's oil-for-food programme for Iraq, was indicted on Tuesday on federal charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as part of a growing attempt by prosecutors to hold UN employees accountable to US laws. |
| US: Gates Foundation faces multibillion-dollar dilemma
by Kristi Heim, Seattle Times
January 14th, 2007
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation owns shares of BP — a company accused of fouling the air with its oil refinery and paper mill in South Africa. Since the foundation spends billions of dollars to improve the health of Africans, that investment strategy would seem to conflict with its mission. |
| US: Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation
by Charles Piller, Edmund Sanders and Robyn Dixon, L A Times
January 7th, 2007
An ink spot certified that he had been immunized against polio and measles, thanks to a vaccination drive supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
But polio is not the only threat Justice faces. Almost since birth, he has had respiratory trouble. His neighbors call it "the cough." People blame fumes and soot spewing from flames that tower 300 feet into the air over a nearby oil plant. It is owned by the Italian petroleum giant Eni, whose investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. |
| AFGHANISTAN: The Reach of War; U.S. Report Finds Dismal Training of Afghan Police
by James Glantz and David Rohde; Carlotta Gall, The New York Times
December 4th, 2006
Five years after the fall of the Taliban, a joint report by the Pentagon and the State Department has found that the American-trained police force in Afghanistan is largely incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work, and that managers of the $1.1 billion training program cannot say how many officers are actually on duty or where thousands of trucks and other equipment issued to police units have gone. |
| CUBA: Cuba's Military Puts Business On Front Lines
by JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA, Wall Street Journal
November 15th, 2006
At the height of the Cold War, Cuba's soldiers became a legend on the island when they punched through enemy lines, defeating South Africa's army in Angola. Today Cuban generals are applying capitalist tactics to try to improve bottom lines in businesses that range from growing beans to running hotels and airlines. |
| WORLD: Controlling the Corporate Mercenaries
by Nick Dearden, War on Want, Zmag
November 7th, 2006
While Iraq represents bloodshed and death on a massive scale to most people, to Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) it has brought a boom time, boosting the revenues of British-based PMSCs alone from £320 million in 2003 to more than £1.8 billion in 2004. In the same year income for the industry worldwide reached $100 billion. |
| KAZAKHSTAN: Oil, Cash and Corruption
by Ron Stodghill, The New York Times
November 5th, 2006
In February, the United States attorneys office in Manhattan is scheduled to go to trial in the largest foreign bribery case brought against an American citizen. It involves a labyrinthine trail of international financial transfers, suspected money laundering and a dizzying array of domestic and overseas shell corporations. The criminal case names Mr. Nazarbayev as an unindicted co-conspirator. |
| US: Ponzi Scheme or Variety Show? Scams Use Leased Radio Time To Target Immigrant Listeners
by Jennifer Levitz, Wall Street Journal
October 31st, 2006
Rick Santos, manager of WLQY-AM in Miami, says he thought the popular Creole program that aired six days a week on his radio station was a "musical variety show."
It was actually part of a fraud, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Scam artists used the radio for two years to promote an investment scheme that ensnared 631 Haitian immigrants and cost them nearly $6 million, a federal court ruled after an SEC complaint. |
| US: Ads Test Payola Case Settlement
by Jeff Leeds, The New York Times
October 25th, 2006
Hardly more than a year has passed since the nations biggest record labels started agreeing to a series of measures that were intended to end the industrys long history of employing bribes and other shady practices to influence which songs are heard on the radio. |
| IRAQ: Pentagon Audit Clears Propaganda Effort
by Mark Mazzetti, New York Times
October 20th, 2006
An American military propaganda campaign that planted favorable news articles in the Iraqi news media did not violate laws or Pentagon regulations, but it was not properly supervised by military officials in Baghdad, an audit by the Pentagon Inspector General has concluded. |
| IRAQ: Firm That Paid Iraq Papers Gets New Deal
by Rebecca Santana, Associated Press
September 27th, 2006
A public relations company that participated in a controversial U.S. military program that paid Iraqi newspapers for stories favorable to coalition forces has been awarded another multimillion-dollar media contract with American forces in Iraq. |
| US: Rep. Ney Admits Selling Influence
by James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt, Washington Post
September 16th, 2006
Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) agreed yesterday to plead guilty to corruption charges after admitting to performing a variety of official acts for lobbyists in exchange for campaign contributions, expensive meals, luxury travel, sports tickets and thousands of dollars in gambling chips. He is the first elected official to face prison time in the ongoing influence-peddling investigation of former GOP lobbying powerhouse Jack Abramoff. |
| US: Regulator Says Civil Suit Likely For Raines
by Terence O'Hara, Washingtom Post
September 14th, 2006
Fannie Mae's top regulator yesterday said it is "more than likely" the federal government will sue former chief executive Franklin D. Raines and other former company officers, seeking to recover bonuses and salary and perhaps impose fines for the mortgage finance company's accounting debacle. |
| US: 10 Miami Journalists Take U.S. Pay
by Oscar Corral, Miami Herald
September 8th, 2006
At least 10 South Florida journalists, including three from El Nuevo Herald, received regular payments from the U.S. government for programs on Radio Martí and TV Martí, two broadcasters aimed at undermining the communist government of Fidel Castro. The payments totaled thousands of dollars over several years. |
| US: Prudential to Pay Fine in Trading
by Landon Thomas Jr., The New York Times
August 29th, 2006
Prudential Financial, the life insurance company, agreed yesterday to pay $600 million to settle charges with federal and state regulators that one of its units engaged in inappropriate mutual fund trading. |
| CHAD: Chad Orders 2 Oil Companies to Leave
by Madjiasra Nako , The Associated Press
August 27th, 2006
Chad's president on Saturday ordered oil companies Chevron Corp. and Petronas to leave the country, saying neither has paid taxes and his country will take responsibility for the oil fields they have overseen. |
| KAZAKSTAN: Environmental Charges Unlikely to Derail Kazakstan's Chevron Contract
Environment News Service
August 23rd, 2006
Kazakstans largest oil concessionaire, Tengiz Chevroil, has been threatened with having its license withdrawn because of accusations it breached environmental legislation. Analysts say that in reality, the Kazak government will never take such a step, since this would provoke a major crisis in relations with the United States. The largest shareholder in Tengiz Chevroil is American oil giant Chevron. |
| PERU: Beggar on a Throne of Gold
by Milagros Salazar, Inter Press Service (IPS)
August 23rd, 2006
Mining companies operating in Peru are seeing increasing millions in profits as a result of the surge in international prices for metals, but few are contributing what is needed to alleviate the poverty of the people living in mining areas. |
| US: S.E.C. Asks Morgan Stanley Chief to Testify
Reuters
July 21st, 2006
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked Morgan Stanley (MS.N) Chief Executive John Mack to testify regarding what role he may have played in an insider trading case involving hedge fund Pequot Capital, Morgan Stanley said on Friday. |
| US: Ex-Brocade CEO, VP Charged With Fraud
The Asssociated Press
The charges against two former executives of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. for alleged fraud are the strongest sign yet that a stock options probe involving at least 80 companies will probably widen in coming months, legal and accounting experts said. |
| US: At Ground Zero, Builder Is Barred but Not His Kin
by Chalres V. Bagli, The New York Times
July 21st, 2006
The pieces of Dino Tomassetti Sr.s construction empire are all over ground zero. But Mr. Tomassetti, the 79-year-old patriarch of this empire, is barred from setting foot on the 16-acre site. Federal prosecutors and testimony have linked him to organized crime figures. The central contract for excavation and foundation work, which is worth tens of millions of dollars, was awarded to his youngest son, Dino Tomassetti Jr., 27, who until recently chauffeured his father from job site to job site in a black Lincoln Navigator. |
| US: Medtronic Will Settle Accusations on Kickbacks
by Reed Abelson, The New York Times
July 19th, 2006
Medtronic, one of the nations largest medical device manufacturers, said yesterday that it had agreed to pay the federal government $40 million to settle accusations that its spinal-implant division had paid kickbacks to doctors as a way of inducing them to use its products. |
| UK: SFO to investigate Southern Water
by Hans Kundnani, The Guardian
July 19th, 2006
The Serious Fraud Office today announced an investigation into whether Southern Water deliberately misled the water regulator, Ofwat, about its failure to meet customer service standards. |
| LIBERIA: Illicit Mining Persists in Gbarpolu County
by Mensiegar Karnga, Jr., The Analyst (Monrovia)
July 13th, 2006
The senior Senator of Gbarpolu County, Rev. Samuel Tormetie has disclosed that massive illicit mining activities are on the increase in the county, and has called on the national government to immediately stop the illegal mining so as to save the county from been depleted. |
| US: Lawmaker Criticized for PAC Fees Paid to Wife
by Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, The Washington Post
July 11th, 2006
In the past two years, campaign and political action committees controlled by Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) paid ever-larger commissions to his wife's one-person company and spent tens of thousands of dollars on gifts at stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Tiffany & Co. and a Ritz-Carlton day spa.
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| US: Lobbying Firm Underreported Income
by R. Jeffrey Smith, The Washington Post
July 6th, 2006
A Washington lobbying firm at the center of a federal corruption probe failed to disclose at least $755,000 in income from 17 nonprofit organizations and governmental entities, and $635,000 from 18 other clients between 1998 and 2005, according to the firm's recently amended filings with the clerk of the House. |
| US: Lay's Death Complicates Efforts to Seize Assets
by Simon Romero, The New York Times
July 6th, 2006
In yet another bizarre twist to the Enron saga, the sudden death of Kenneth L. Lay on Wednesday may have spared his survivors financial ruin. Mr. Lay's death effectively voids the guilty verdict against him, temporarily thwarting the federal government's efforts to seize his remaining real estate and financial assets, legal experts say.
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| SOUTH KOREA: U.S. Firm Has Korea Up in Arms
by Martin Fackler, The New York Times
July 5th, 2006
South Korean authorities are continuing a high-profile investigation into Lone Star, the Dallas-based private-equity fund, fueling a public backlash against excessive profits made by foreign investment funds. |
| US: Jury Convicts HealthSouth Founder in Bribery Trial
by Carrie Johnson, The Washington Post
June 30th, 2006
An Alabama jury yesterday convicted HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard M. Scrushy -- acquitted last year of federal accounting-fraud charges -- of paying half a million dollars in bribes to former governor Don Siegelman in exchange for a seat on a state health-care board. |
| US: SEC Lawyer Dismissed for a Donor?
by Ari Berman, The Nation
June 28th, 2006
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began investigating one of the nation's largest hedge funds, Pequot Capitol Management, for possible insider trading. Up until last summer, the inquiry was headed by SEC lawyer Gary Aguirre. His investigation proceeded smoothly, Aguirre claims, until he asked for testimony from former Pequot chairman and Morgan Stanley CEO, John Mack, a top Bush donor. |
| US: FCC Head 'in Bed' With Business in Magazine Spread
by Arshad Mohammed, The Washington Post
June 26th, 2006
When you run an independent federal agency, you generally want to avoid the appearance of being in bed with lobbyists or big business. So why is Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin standing on an unmade bed in a hotel room in a glossy magazine photograph that also features an influential lobbyist and a communications executive? |
| US: WesternGeco Agrees to $19.6 Million Fraud Fine
by Lynn J. Cook, The Houston Chronicle
June 16th, 2006
A Houston-based subsidiary of Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield services company, has agreed to pay $19.6 million in penalties for "knowingly submitting fraudulent visa applications" for foreign workers assigned to vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a statement from the U.S. Dept. of Justice. |
| US: Judge Grants Tyco Investors Class-Action Status
by Katharine Webster, Associated Press
June 14th, 2006
Former shareholders of Tyco International Ltd., whose former chief executive and chief financial officer were convicted of fraud, have been certified as a class to sue the company and its accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. |
| US: Options Scandal Growing
by Marcy Gordon, Associated Press
June 14th, 2006
Like betting on a horse race after its finish, some executives were guaranteed to be "in the money." That is how investor advocates and irate shareholders describe it as signs emerge daily about possible manipulation of the timing of stock-option grants to enrich top company executives. |
| UZBEKISTAN: Coca-Cola accused over Uzbek venture
by Edward Alden in Washington and Andrew Ward in Atlanta, Financial Times
June 13th, 2006
Coca-Cola has been hit with an arbitration claim seeking more than $100m in damages, alleging that the the world's largest soft drinks maker conspired with the government of Uzbekistan against a joint venture partner who fell out of favour with the country's authoritarian ruler, Islam Karimov. |
| US: N.H. Files Charge Against ING Groep Units
by Norma Love, Associated Press
June 9th, 2006
State securities officials have charged units of Dutch financial services giant ING Groep NV with taking undisclosed payments for promoting poor investments to state employees in their individual retirement plans. |
| US: In Las Vegas, They're Playing With a Stacked Judicial Deck
by Michael J. Goodman and William C. Rempel, The Los Angeles Times
June 8th, 2006
When Judge Gene T. Porter last ran for reelection, a group of Las Vegas lawyers sponsored a fundraiser for him at Big Bear in California. Even by Las Vegas standards, it was brazen. Some of the sponsors had cases before him. One case was set for a crucial hearing in four days. |
| US: Three Restaurant Executives Will Admit Fraud Charges
by Floyd Norris, The New York Times
June 8th, 2006
Three former top officers of Buca Inc., an operator of Italian restaurants, have agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges in connection with a scheme to create false profits for Buca and allow executives to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for a wide range of expenses including the use of an Italian villa and visits to strip clubs. |
| US: Zomax ex-CEO convicted
by Thomas Lee, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
June 7th, 2006
Jim Anderson, who was chairman and CEO of Zomax when it was one of Minnesota's technology high-fliers in the late 1990s, was convicted of six counts of insider trading and five counts of engaging in illegal monetary transactions. |
| US: For Law Firm, Serial Plaintiff Had Golden Touch
by Julie Creswell and Jonathan D. Glater, The New York Times
June 5th, 2006
Mr. Vogel now says, according to a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, that he and members of his family were actually linchpins in a long-running arrangement that helped Milberg Weiss snare the lucrative lead counsel position in the Oxford Health and many other securities lawsuits, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees. |
| ITALY: Parmalat Fraud Hearing Opens
Associated Press
June 5th, 2006
Two and a half years after the $18-billion (U.S.) collapse of the Parmalat dairy company, a closed-door preliminary hearing opened Monday in Italy's main criminal proceedings to arise from Europe's largest corporate failure. |
| US: Indictment for Big Law Firm in Class Actions
by Julie Creswell, The New York Times
May 19th, 2006
The indictment is the first instance of a law firm with national reach facing criminal charges, and it could prove to be a fatal blow for the firm. The lawsuits cited in the indictment spanned two decades, occurring as recently as 2005, and generated some $216 million in legal fees for the firm.
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| US: Congressman's Condo Deal Is Examined
by JODI RUDOREN and ARON PILHOFER, The New York Times
May 17th, 2006
At the center of a federal inquiry into Representative Alan B. Mollohan, Democrat of West Virginia, is his real estate investment with a bankrupt distant cousin who touted his connections to one of Mr. Mollohan's nonprofit organizations to win work, including a federal contract in his district.
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| KATRINA: Trailer deals go to Fluor ally
by James Varney, Times-Picayune
May 9th, 2006
Through a partnership with a smaller, minority-owned company, a sprawling multinational firm whose federal contract for travel trailers was up for rebidding has landed four new deals that could be worth $400 million, federal records show. |
| KATRINA: Complaints put FEMA trailer contracts on hold
by James Varney, New Orleans Times-Picayune
May 5th, 2006
A batch of lucrative federal travel trailer contracts along the Gulf Coast has been put on hold, and other contracts could be in jeopardy, after three companies that lost a rebidding process lodged formal protests with the Government Accountability Office, according to federal attorneys handling the complaints. |
| KATRINA: Complaints put FEMA trailer contracts on hold
Times-Picayune
May 5th, 2006
A batch of lucrative federal travel trailer contracts along the Gulf Coast has been put on hold, and other contracts could be in jeopardy, after three companies that lost a rebidding process lodged formal protests with the Government Accountability Office, according to federal attorneys handling the complaints. |
| US: Katherine Harris in Hot Water Over Defense Contractor
Associated Press
May 4th, 2006
A political strategist who left U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record)'s Senate campaign last month said Harris ignored her staff's recommendation to reject a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request, now being challenged by a congressional watchdog group. |
| US: Red Lights on Capitol Hill
by Ken Sliverstein, Harpers
May 3rd, 2006
I reported last Thursday that Shirlington Limousine and Transportation, Inc., a firm allegedly used by defense contractor Brent Wilkes to provide prostitutes to ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham, is headed by a man who has a long criminal rap sheet and is also a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It was Mitchell Wade, another defense contractor who has acknowledged bribing Cunningham, and who is cooperating with investigators, who reportedly told prosecutors about Shirlington's relationship with Wilkes and the latter's alleged pimping scheme. (Wilkes's attorney denies the charge.) |
| NETHERLANDS: The Dutch Try One of Their Own Over Links to Liberia
by Marlise Simons, The New York Times
May 3rd, 2006
Mr. van Kouwenhoven, 63, is also charged with war crimes. He is accused of supplying Mr. Taylor with militia fighters from his lumber companies. He is further charged with violating a United Nations embargo by smuggling weapons into Liberia. His trial, held under a new mix of national and international law, is drawing attention because it is the second time a Dutch court is prosecuting a Dutch businessman for being involved with human rights abuses on another continent.
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| IRAQ: Huge fraud exposed in Iraq contracts
by Ewen Macaskill, The Age
May 2nd, 2006
The report says: "Corruption is another form of insurgency in Iraq. This second insurgency can be defeated only through the development of democratic values and systems, especially the evolution of effective anti-corruption institutions in Iraq." |
| US: Enron Prosecutor Questions Skilling's Story
by Vikas Bajaj and Alexei Barrionuevo, The New York Times
April 17th, 2006
A prosecutor tried to poke holes in the testimony of Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former Enron chief executive, today by boring in on stock sales he made in the months after he left the company and before the energy company declared bankruptcy. |
| US: The Enron Standard
by Lee Drutman, tompaine.com
April 13th, 2006
In a Houston courtroom this week, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling took the witness stand to plead his innocence, telling jurors that “My life is on the line.” |
| US: America's Fake News Pandemic
by Timothy Karr, Media Citizen
April 7th, 2006
A report released yesterday by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Free Press exposes corporate propagandas infiltration of local television news across the country. |
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