Dozens of highly paid international lawyers are pocketing millions of dollars in fees from multinational corporations to sue governments in secretive arbitration tribunals for profits they claim to be owed under international investment treaties, according to a new report from Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute. Read More
Big corporations bankrolled candidates for the 2012 elections in both the Democratic and Republican parties and bought their votes lock, stock and barrel, contributing over $2 billion out of the $6 billion spent this year. The biggest impact was on a California battle to require labeling of genetically altered products. Read More
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. Read More
Starbucks, the Seattle-based international coffee chain, has been accused of tax avoidance in the UK. Between 1998 and 2011 the company has made £3 billion in sales but paid out just £8.6 million in taxes on sales from its 735 stores in the country. Read More
Taiwanese company AU Optronics and its U.S. subsidiary were fined $500 million by a U.S. judge for conspiring to artificially inflate the prices of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens in a verdict handed down last month. Two former AU Optronics executives were also given three-year prison sentences. Read More
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 â¬3,000 ($3,900) each in refunds. Read More
A new study, issued by scientists at the Freeman Spogli institute at Stanford university in California, that suggests that organic food has no medical or health values is deeply flawed, say outraged activists. Read More
Spain will inject emergency capital into the country's biggest ailing bank, Bankia, as it puts into place reforms to allow loss-making banks to receive eurozone bailout money. Read More
A contract between a British subsidiary of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and Sangcom, the communications arm of the Saudi National Guard, is being investigated after Ian Foxley, a former project manager, blew the whistle. Read More
Kim Seung-youn, the CEO of the Hanwha group in South Korea, has been sentenced to four years in prison and fined $4.5 million. The jail time marks an unusual departure for the Korean judiciary who typically issue suspended sentences when prominent business bosses are found guilty. Read More
