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. |
 | “Fat Cat” Laws Approved In Europe To Curb Excessive Corporate Pay by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog March 8th, 2013 Nearly 70 percent of Swiss voters approved a “fat cat” referendum that would prohibit “golden handshake” bonuses to departing corporate bosses while the European Union approved legislation limiting bankers executive bonuses to a maximum of one year’s salary, or twice that amount if a majority of shareholders approve. |
 | 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. |
 | 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 Irish Banks Investigated for Insurance Scam by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog October 8th, 2012 Seven Irish banks are being investigated by the Central Bank of Ireland for selling consumers insurance policies that they did not need. Tens of thousands of Irish consumers could get as much as €3,000 ($3,900) each in refunds. |
 | 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. |
 | Obama's Tax Haven Reform: Chump Change by Charlie Cray, Special to CorpWatch June 15th, 2009 In early May, the Obama administration announced plans to eliminate the advantages that multinationals have over domestic corporations as to the tax treatment of reinvested profits. K Street corporate lobbyists haven’t squealed so loudly since they lost their three martini lunches. The uproar draws attention away from the fact that U.S. multinationals enjoy an effective tax rate of just 2.4 percent on billions of dollars in foreign active earnings. |
 | Mexico’s Other Crisis: Foreign Banks by Kent Paterson, Special to CorpWatch May 15th, 2009 The worldwide financial crisis is hitting people in the Global South with particular venom, and disaster profiteering is alive and well. Take Mexico. While entities like Citigroup-owned Banamex get away with charging Mexican credit account-holders usurious interest rates of up to 100 percent, Banamex itself turned nearly $1 billion in profits in 2008. |
 | An Uncomfortable Spotlight in Davos by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch January 31st, 2008 The CEOs of three-quarters of the world's 100 largest companies have just completed an uncomfortable weekend at the tiny Swiss ski resort of Davos, while their companies' share prices nosedived on global stock markets, amid concern that the U.S. economy is staggering towards recession. |
 | Soaring Executive Pay Attacked by Shareholder Activists by Sam Pizzigati, Special to CorpWatch June 26th, 2007 Last year, the CEOs of the 500 biggest U.S. companies averaged $15.2 million in total annual compensation, according to Forbes business magazine’s annual executive pay survey. The top eight CEOs on the Forbes list each pocketed over $100 million. Stunning numbers like these have moved executive pay onto America’s political radar screen. |
 | 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. |
 | Adding Insult to Injury by David Phinney, Special to CorpWatch May 24th, 2005 Many Halliburton contractors leave Iraq with debilitating injuries and deep psychological scars. Then they return home only to find that the insurance they need to rebuild their lives is out of reach. |
 | 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. |
 | 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. |
 | Cooking the Insurance Books by Lucy Komisar, Special to CorpWatch November 17th, 2004 As New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer charges American International Group (AIG) executives with collusion in an insurance brokerage kickback scandal, a paper trail stretching back a decade reveals that AIG used offshore shell companies to skirt the law. |
 | From Business Executive to Peace Activist by Julie Light, CorpWatch April 17th, 2003 Warren Langley, former President of the Pacific Stock Exchange, talks with CorpWatch about his sojourn from the executive suites to activism in the streets. |