CorpWatch Exclusives
 | Wall Street Giants – JP Morgan and SAC – Hauled Up On Fraud Allegations by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog March 15th, 2013 JP Morgan - the Wall Street investment bank - and SAC - a major hedge fund - were hauled up Friday for alleged fraud. JP Morgan was questioned at a U.S. Senate hearing about hiding trading losses while SAC agreed to pay $614 million to settle insider trading charges. |
 | U.S. Prosecutors Build Case Against Steve Cohen, Hedge Fund Billionaire by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog February 24th, 2013 SAC Capital is one of the most profitable hedge funds in history with $15 billion in assets averaging 30 percent in annual profits for 20 years running. Today Wall Street is watching nervously as U.S. government lawyers work on a case against billionaire founder Steven Cohen for insider trading. |
 | Sweet Nothing: UK Food Giant Avoids Taxes on Zambia Sugar by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog February 15th, 2013 Associated British Foods (ABF), a UK company that makes Silver Spoon sugar, pays almost no taxes on its profitable Zambian sugar subsidiary, according to a new ActionAid report. The authors allege ABF has avoided estimated taxes of $27 million since 2007, enough to put 48,000 Zambian children in school. |
 | Medical Trial Data Activists Score Win Over Glaxo by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog February 7th, 2013 All data on completed medical experiments are to be made available to the general public by GlaxoSmithKline, the biggest UK pharmaceutical company. The announcement is a major win for the AllTrials campaign mounted by healthcare activists as well as researchers that has gathered widespread support. |
 | Smokeless Tobacco Lobbyists Set Off European Alarms by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog November 23rd, 2012 A clandestine lobbying effort at the European Union (EU) by Swedish Match company to get legislators to lift a ban on a special kind of smokeless tobacco has forced the resignation of a top European bureaucrat and prompted renewed calls to strengthen rules on undue business influence in Brussels. |
 | U.S. Sues Bank of America for $1 Billion in Bad Mortgages
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog October 29th, 2012 Federal prosecutors are suing Bank of America for selling fraudulent loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored mortgage finance companies. The government alleged that the multinational sold over $1 billion in bad mortgages that led to numerous foreclosures. |
 | Seven Banks Under Investigation for Global Interest Rate Scandal by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog August 16th, 2012 Seven international banks have been served with subpoenas over the global interest setting scandal. Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS – have been asked to provide relevant “documents and communications” to the New York attorney-general. |
 | Private Hedge Fund "Alpha" Surveys Allow Wealthy Clients to Profit From "Insider" Views by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog July 17th, 2012 BlackRock and Two Sigma Investments – both major hedge funds - have been conducting regular private surveys of brokers for wealthy clients. The practice has raised red flags because of Morgan Stanley's role in the Facebook stock market flotation, as well as insider trading scandals at Goldman Sachs. |
 | Forgiving Siemens: Unraveling a Tangled Tale of German Corruption in Greece by Lena Mavraka and Vasilis Papatheodorou, Special to CorpWatch June 11th, 2012 To understand the pervasive corruption in Greek politics, it is necessary to examine the company that has probably paid the biggest bribes to both major parties: Siemens from Munich, Germany, a company with contracts in practically every ministry from culture to telecommunications. |
 | U.S. Congressional Wartime Commission Targets Armed Contractors by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch June 23rd, 2010 This week, almost a decade after the U.S. "War on Terror" began, the Commission on Wartime Contracting held two days of hearings into the role of private contractors in conducting and supporting war. The Congressional witness table included Aegis, DynCorp and Triple Canopy. Curiously, Blackwater was not called; and the CEO of Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions failed to appear. |
 | Afghanistan, Inc.: A CorpWatch Investigative Report (2006) by Fariba Nawa, Special to CorpWatch April 30th, 2010 The recent boom in humanitarian aid has an underbelly largely invisible to charity sector outsiders. “Easy money: the great aid scam," packs a biting critique (Linda Polman, The Sunday Times Online, April 25). In 2006, CorpWatch’s "Afghanistan, Inc.", cited by Polman, drilled down on reconstruction dollars, in what’s become known as “Afghaniscam.” We bring our report to you again. |
 | Afghanistan Spy Contract Goes Sour for Pentagon by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch March 16th, 2010 Mike Furlong, a top Pentagon official, is alleged to have hired a company called International Media Ventures to supply information for drone strikes and assassinations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a complaint filed by the CIA and revealed by the New York Times on March 15. |
 | Agility Attempts to Vault Fraud Charges by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch February 1st, 2010 Agility, a Kuwait-based multi-billion dollar logistics company spawned by the U.S. invasion of Iraq, is facing criminal charges for over-billing the U.S. taxpayer on more than $8.5 billion worth of food supply contracts in the Iraq war zone. If the lawsuit is successful, the company could owe the U.S. government as much as $1 billion. |
 | Is Halliburton Forgiven and Forgotten? Or How to Stay Out of Sight While Profiting From the War in Iraq by Pratap Chatterjee, TomDispatch.com June 3rd, 2009 At Halliburton's recent annual shareholders meeting in Houston, all was remarkably staid as the company celebrated its $4 billion in 2008 operating profits, a striking 22% return at a time when many companies are announcing record losses. Just three months ago, however, Halliburton didn't hesitate to pay $382 million in fines to the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the settlement of a controversial KBR gas project in Nigeria in which the company admitted to paying a $180 million bribe to government officials. |
 | GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009 While the nation’s economy flounders, business is booming for The GEO Group Inc., a private prison firm paid millions by the U.S. government. Behind the financial success and expansion of the for-profit security company, there are increasing charges of negligence, civil rights violations, abuse and even death. |
 | A Glittering Demon: Mining, Poverty and Politics in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Michael Deibert, Special to CorpWatch June 26th, 2008 In the DRC, a nation rich in natural resources yet confounded by civil war and endemic poverty, artisanal mining communities are struggling for their livelihoods as foreign multinationals like AngloGold Ashanti rush to cash in. |
 | Ecuador's Yasuni Park: Oil Exploration or Nature Protection? by Agneta Enström, Special to CorpWatch March 20th, 2008 Permission for Petrobras of Brazil to drill for oil in Yasuni National Park, one of the most biologically diverse places in the world, has been suspended, but some damage has already been done by Swedish construction giant Skanska. Unless new money is found to protect the forest, exploration may resume. |
 | Burying Indonesia’s Millions: The Legacy of Suharto
by Andreas Harsono, Special to CorpWatch February 15th, 2008 Over the last 50 years, a network of cronies helped former Indonesian president Suharto build a business empire and amass a multi-billion dollar fortune. Today his successors face an uphill battle to recover the money even after his death. |
 | QinetiQ Goes Kinetic: Top Rumsfeld Aide Wins Contracts From Spy Office He Set Up by Tim Shorrock , Special to CorpWatch January 15th, 2008 A Pentagon office that was reprimanded by the U.S. Congress for spying on antiwar activists, has just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to QinetiQ, a British company that employs Stephen Cambone. Cambone, a former aide to Donald Rumsfeld, helped create the very office that issued the contract. |
 | Sunshine Laws to Track European Lobbyists by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch October 11th, 2007 Some 15,000 lobbyists work in Brussels where they meet secretly with European Union officials to try and influence the rules that govern the 27 countries that together form the world’s most powerful economic bloc. New guidelines will attempt to make this lobbying more public and reveal conflicts of interest. |
 | Lessons of Empire: India, 60 Years After Independence by Nick Robins and Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch August 14th, 2007 60 years after India gained independence, British capital is still exploiting poor communities in its former colony. Centuries after Britain's East India Company -- the world's first multinational -- faced protests in London, a group of villagers continue the tradition of resistance. |
 | Mud and the Minister: A Tale of Woe in Java by Anton Foek, Special to CorpWatch July 20th, 2007 Over a year after a torrent of liquid mud at an Indonesian oil exploration site inundated four villages, killing almost 100 people, the local community is still awaiting clean-up and proper compensation. This is despite the fact that the drilling company is owned by the family of a senior Indonesian minister. |
 | Barrick's Dirty Secrets: Communities Respond to Gold Mining's Impacts Worldwide May 1st, 2007 A new CorpWatch report details the operations of Barrick Gold in nine different countries, focusing on the efforts on the part of the communities to seek justice from this powerful multinational. Download Spanish version of report |
 | Mystery of the Missing Meters:
Accounting for Iraq's Oil Revenue by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch March 22nd, 2007 How much crude oil is Iraq actually exporting? Nobody really knows how much is potentially being stolen by corrupt officials because the contractors in charge of fixing the meters have yet to calibrate them, four years after the invasion. |
 | Merck's Murky Dealings: HPV Vaccine Lobby Backfires by Terry J. Allen, Special to CorpWatch March 7th, 2007 Merck's lobbying campaign for mandatory vaccination of school girls provided funding for a prominent women's non-profit. The ensuing uproar has created a backlash against the pharmaceutical giant. |
 | High-Tech Healthcare in Iraq, Minus the Healthcare by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch January 8th, 2007 Almost four years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s healthcare system is still a shambles. While most hospitals lack basic supplies, dozens of incomplete clinics and warehoused high-technology equipment remain as a testament to the failed U.S. experiment to reconstruct of Iraq. First in a series of CorpWatch articles. |
 | Iraq After Halliburton by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch July 12th, 2006 The controversial multibillion-dollar deal with oil services giant Halliburton to provide logistical support to U.S. troops in Iraq has been canceled. What should happen next? Read our three alternative annual reports on Halliburton, to learn the real legacy of the company's incompetence and corruption. Listen to an interview with CorpWatch's director, Pratap Chatterjee. |
 | Australia Reaps Iraqi Harvest by Marc Moncrief, Special to CorpWatch April 4th, 2006 United Nations sanctions against Saddam Hussein may have failed to end his regime but they succeeded in enriching both the Iraqi dictator and corporations able to manipulate the scandal-ridden world body's Oil-for-Food program. Among the profiteers was the Australian Wheat Board, a former state-owned monopoly, which funneled over $200 million into Saddam's coffers even as the “Coalition of the Willing” was preparing for invasion. |
 | HAITI: Haiti Telecom Kickbacks Tarnish Aristide by Lucy Komisar, Special to CorpWatch December 29th, 2005 In two lawsuits, politically connected U.S. telecom companies have been accused of kickbacks to Former President Aristide and his associates. |
 | Coca Farmer Wins Bolivian Election: New President to Challenge Multinationals by Anton Foek, Special to CorpWatch December 28th, 2005 Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian who grew up in childhood poverty, has won the Bolivian presidential elections. He is part of a wave of leftists taking power in Latin America and challenging multinational corporations. |
 | Vedanta Undermines Indian Communities by Nityanand Jayaraman, Special to Corpwatch November 15th, 2005 Vedanta, a fast growing British mining and aluminium production company founded by a billionaire expatriate Bombay businessman, threatens communities in India with environmental degradation and widespread pollution. |
 | Shot Down: Lobby Kills Brazil Gun Ban by Anton Foek, Special to CorpWatch October 25th, 2005 The world’s first ever referendum on banning civilian guns in Brazil failed to pass this past Sunday. Among those profiting are Taurus, the largest small arms producer and manufacturer in Latin America. |
 | Bad Faith: Fraud in the Insurance Industry by Ray Bourhis, Special to CorpWatch August 24th, 2005 When individuals sue major corporations, the odds are stacked against them. One woman's fight against an insurance giant details those odds and what it takes to beat them. |
 | The Great American Jobs Scam by Greg LeRoy, Special to CorpWatch August 10th, 2005 Lurking within the records of most cities and states in America there lies a scandal. A tax scandal. A jobs scandal. A corporate and political scandal. |
 | Yukos Kingpin on Trial by Lucy Komisar, Special to CorpWatch May 10th, 2005 This week, a Moscow court will issue a verdict in the tax fraud trial of billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky. While some critics argue that the charges are politically motivated, others question his innocence in the eyes of the West. |
 | 'Tis the Season for Shareholder Activism by Jan Frel, Special to CorpWatch May 4th, 2005 Every spring, activists and investors attend annual general meetings to protest and meet face-to-face with CEOs and corporate boards. The goal is to place their agendas -- on everything from the environment to labor practices -- front and center. |
 | Bringing Business Back Ashore by Lucy Komisar, Special to CorpWatch April 4th, 2005 A new breed of leadership is working to make Buenos Aires, Argentina, a local, transparent economy and a model for the rest of the world. |
 | Media Money by Sakura Saunders and Ben Clarke, Special to CorpWatch August 25th, 2004 Media corporations give millions, receive billions. The cost for two weeks of ad-driven debate on Kerry's military record cost almost $1 million. Political advertising will bring over $1.5 billion to media corporations this election season. In turn they will invest millions in campaign contributions and lobbying. Meanwhile, substantive political coverage continues to decline. |
 | Corporations Fight to Avoid Accountability by Stephen R. Miller , Special to CorpWatch July 7th, 2004 Two years after Congress enacted the sweeping corporate-accountability act known as "SOX," corporate officials are hoping their complaints will take the teeth out of the legislation's power to regulate. |
| From Embassy Hero to Racing Disgrace by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch June 9th, 2004 In order to restore the reputation of the venerable British institution, in March 2002, Phipps launched dawn raids on five National Hunt trainers--including nine-time champion Martin Pipe--to investigate whether the trainers were illegally plying the horses with the blood-boosting drug erythropoieitin. |
 | Controversial Commando Wins Iraq Contract by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch June 9th, 2004 A new Iraq contract to create the world's largest private army goes to a company run by Tim Spicer, a former officer with an elite regiment of British commandos who has a questionable track record. |
| Titan's Translators in Trouble by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch May 7th, 2004 Titan corporation of San Diego, California, one of the two companies accused of complicity in the prison abuse scandal in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, is currently facing numerous federal investigations for work done in Iraq and around the world. |
 | World Bank Knew About Enron's Payoffs in Guatemala by Jim Vallette, Special to CorpWatch August 1st, 2003 A U.S. Senate Committee report found that the World Bank and U.S. taxpayer-backed institutions financed "questionable payments" by Enron for a Guatemalan power project. |
 | Unity Platform on Corporate Accountability US Based Global Justice Groups October 29th, 2002 Some 200 US-Based social and environmental justice groups call for corporate accountability. Among their ten point demands: campaign finance reform and an end to corporate welfare. |
 | Iraq and the Axis of Oil by Maria Elena Martinez and Joshua Karliner, CorpWatch October 23rd, 2002 In this CorpWatch Opinion, we look at the connection between the looming war in Iraq, corporate crime in America and control of the world's oil supply. |
 | Will Congress Investigate US Agencies' Enron Ties? by Jim Vallette, Special to CorpWatch August 1st, 2002 The Senate is investigating the role of private investment banks in the Enron scandal. Could public institutions, like the World Bank and the Export-Import Bank be next? |
 | Bush: Corporate Confidence Man by Charlie Cray and Lee Drutman, Special to CorpWatch July 10th, 2002 Bush's Corporate Responsibility plan is pretty anemic -- not what you'd expect from a president desperate to keep the current crisis from becoming a major political liability. |
 | George and Dick's Amazing Corporate Misadventures by Stephen Pizzo, Special to CorpWatch July 10th, 2002 Has the avalanche of corporate revelations left your head spinning? Investigative journalist Stephen Pizzo offers a cheat sheet to scandals plaguing the White House. |
 | Enron's Pipe Scheme by Jimmy Langman, Special to CorpWatch May 9th, 2002 Enron's Cuiaba gas pipeline project, built with US government support, is an ecological and social disaster. Jimmy Langman reports from Bolivia. |
 | Enron's Empire by Daphne Wysham and Jim Vallette, Special to CorpWatch April 11th, 2002 U.S. taxpayers' money, $7 billion worth, laid the foundation for Enron's global operations. Wysham and Vallette expose the company's dirty deals that brought turmoil to communities the world over. |
 | Williams Companies: Enron II by Wayne Madsen, Special to CorpWatch February 14th, 2002 Top executives say Williams Companies faces huge losses due to deals with Enron. But a lawsuit says they were covering up the company's own Enron-like activities. |
 | Enron: Pulling the Plug on the Global Power Broker by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch December 13th, 2001 How could one of the most wealthy and powerful corporations in the world go bust overnight? It turns out that the 7th largest US business was mostly smoke and mirrors. |
 | ENRON: Washington's Number One Behind-the-Scenes GATS Negotiator by Tony Clarke, Special to CorpWatch October 25th, 2001 Tony Clarke, looks at how Enron, the largest service provider in the world, uses its clout to shape WTO talks on cross-border trade in services. |
| Enron in India: The Dabhol Disaster by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch July 20th, 2000 Just before dawn on June 3, 1997, police officers forcibly entered the homes of several women in Veldur, a fishing village in western India, dragging them into waiting police vans and beating them with sticks. |
| George W. Bush Gets Layed by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch July 20th, 2000 This investigative report the uncovers close ties between the GOP candidate and Enron Corportations CEO. |
| AUSTRALIA: Billionaire Pratt Faces Price-Fixing Charge
by Chris Noon, Forbes |