Ericsson risked workers lives by Islamic State
/0 Comments/in Ericsson /by ceadminThe telecoms company Ericsson put contractors’ lives at risk by insisting they continued working in territory controlled by the Islamic State [IS] group in Iraq. This resulted in them being kidnapped by IS militants.
Post Office scandal: Public inquiry to examine wrongful convictions
/0 Comments/in Post Office /by ceadminBetween 2000 and 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a flaw in a computer system Horizon.
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Worldcom’s ex-boss gets 25 years
/0 Comments/in WorldCom /by ceadminFormer Worldcom boss Bernard Ebbers has been sentenced to 25 years in jail for his part in the scandal which brought down the firm.
Mr Ebbers was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy in March, following revelations of an $11bn (£6.2bn) accounting fraud at Worldcom in 2002
Intel in Europe anti-trust raids
/0 Comments/in Intel /by ceadminThe European Commission has raided the offices of Intel and other computer makers across Europe as part of a probe into possible anti-trust violations.
Intel has been involved in a lengthy investigation by Brussels over alleged unfair trade practices.
“The investigations are being carried out within the framework of an ongoing competition case,” said European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd
Scandal-hit VW ‘halts India plan’
/0 Comments/in Volkswagen /by ceadminVolkswagen has postponed making a decision on plans to build a new factory in India in the wake of a bribery scandal at the German carmaker.
Business daily Handelsblatt said VW boss Bernd Pischetsrieder had put the plans on hold amid allegations of bribes relating to the project.
Last week VW called in auditors KPMG to review bribery allegations at the firm
Fraud charges for Daewoo founder
/0 Comments/in Daewoo /by ceadminSouth Korean prosecutors have charged the founder of one of the country’s biggest industrial groups with fraud.
Kim Woo-Choong is accused of falsifying the books at the Daewoo Group and procuring loans under false pretences.
The group collapsed in 1999 under debts totalling more than $80bn (£45bn) and Mr Kim fled the country, only returning last month
Microsoft pays out $775m to IBM
/0 Comments/in Microsoft Corporation /by ceadminMicrosoft is to pay $775m (£438.4m) to computer giant IBM to settle an anti-trust claim.
Under the settlement, the software maker will also give IBM a $75m credit for its computer programmes
Citigroup fined £14m by UK watchdog
/0 Comments/in CitiGroup /by ceadminCitigroup, the US owner of Citibank, is to be fined £13.9m ($25.31m) by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) after a controversial bond trade
Regulator probes IBM stock issue
/0 Comments/in IBM /by ceadminFinancial regulators are investigating how computer giant IBM awarded share options to its staff earlier this year.
IBM revealed on Monday that it was the subject of an informal probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and was co-operating fully.
The inquiry is thought to be linked to IBM’s announcement of disappointing quarterly trading results in April
KPMG admits to past tax misdeeds
/0 Comments/in KPMG /by ceadminUS federal prosecutors have built a criminal case against KPMG and are debating whether to file charges, the Wall Street Journal reported.
KPMG, one of the “big four” global accounting firms, said on Thursday it was in talks with the US Justice Department and co-operating fully.
It said it took “full responsibility for the unlawful conduct by former KPMG partners” and deeply regretted it
Bristol-Myers in $300m settlement
/0 Comments/in Bristol-Myers Squibb /by ceadminUS drugs company Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to pay $300m (£165m) into a shareholders’ fund, as prosecutors charged two former executives.
The firm and executives were accused of a practice called “channel stuffing” – offering incentives to get wholesalers to buy more of the company’s products.
The scheme boosted earnings at the firm, which has now agreed a “deferred prosecution” with Newark lawmakers
Microsoft helps China to censor bloggers
/0 Comments/in Microsoft Corporation /by ceadminCivil liberties groups have condemned an arrangement between Microsoft and Chinese authorities to censor the internet.
The American company is helping censors remove “freedom” and “democracy” from the net in China with a software package that prevents bloggers from using these and other politically sensitive words on their websites.
The restrictions, which also include an automated denial of “human rights”, are built into MSN Spaces, a blog service launched in China last month by Shanghai MSN Network Communications Technology, a venture in which Microsoft holds a 50% stake
J.P. Morgan Chase to Pay Enron Investors $2.2 Billion
/0 Comments/in JP Morgan Chase /by ceadminJ. P. Morgan Chase announced last night that it had agreed to pay $2
Citigroup pays $2bn in Enron case
/0 Comments/in CitiGroup /by ceadminUS banking giant Citigroup has agreed to pay $2bn (£1.1bn) to settle a lawsuit brought by shareholders of collapsed energy trading firm Enron.
The class-action suit accused Citigroup of assisting Enron to carry out the huge accounting fraud which bankrupted it in 2001
Forgery charge for jet fuel boss
/0 Comments/in China Aviation Oil /by ceadminChen Jiulin, the suspended boss of crisis-hit jet fuel supplier China Aviation Oil (CAO), has been charged with insider trading.
The charges, which include making false statements, failing to disclose losses and forgery, come a day after Mr Chen and other executives were arrested.
CAO collapsed in December after running up losses of $550m (£248m) betting on the future price of oil
Abbey landed with $1.4 m fine
/0 Comments/in Abbey /by ceadminMortgage lender Abbey has been fined £800,000 ($1.47m) by the City watchdog for mishandling complaints from its customers over endowment policies.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) also said Abbey gave the regulator inaccurate information while failing to treat its customers fairly
Exxon facing overcharge payouts
/0 Comments/in Exxon Mobil /by ceadminOil giant Exxon Mobil has been ordered to pay damages to more than 10,000 petrol station owners for overcharging on the cost of its fuel.
The ruling by a federal court judge in Miami could set the US company back more than $1.3bn
Morgan Stanley faces $850m payout
/0 Comments/in Morgan Stanley /by ceadminMorgan Stanley will have to pay $850m (£462m) in damages to Revlon boss Ron Perelman after being found guilty of conspiring to defraud the financier.
A Florida court concluded that the US investment bank had acted improperly in relation to a 1998 deal in which Mr Perelman sold Coleman Inc. for $1
Former Enron executive sentenced
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminA former Enron finance executive has been sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison for his role in a bogus deal to boost earnings.
Dan Boyle was sentenced alongside former Merrill Lynch bankers Robert Furst and William Fuhs, who will both serve three years and one month.
Enron fraudulently recorded the 1999 contract as a $12m (£6m) profit
Former Disney directors sue firm
/0 Comments/in Walt Disney /by ceadminTwo ex-Walt Disney directors are suing the firm claiming investors were misled over the selection of a new chief executive to succeed Michael Eisner.
Roy Disney, nephew of founder Walt Disney, and Stanley Gold allege that Disney’s board made false statements in relation to Bob Iger’s appointment.
Mr Iger, currently Disney’s president and chief operating officer, is to succeed Mr Eisner in September
Bank ‘offered unaffordable loans’
/0 Comments/in Lloyds TSB /by ceadminLloyds TSB has been accused of breaking the banking code of practice by giving loans to people who cannot afford them.
The BBC programme Real Story has found that one south Wales couple on a low income was lent £100,000 by the bank.
The Banking Code Standards Board has said it is investigating the actions of the bank
Hynix fined over US price fixing
/0 Comments/in Hynix Semiconductor Inc /by ceadminSouth Korean chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to price fixing and is facing a $185m (£142m) fine in the US.
In a plea filed in San Francisco, Hynix admitted conspiring with other companies to fix prices of popular computer memory products
Cosmetic firm in accounts scandal
/0 Comments/in Kanebo /by ceadminCosmetics giant Kanebo has admitted overstating profits in what could turn out to be Japan’s largest accounting fraud involving a non-financial firm.
The company said its net profits for the four years to March 2003 had been inflated by $1.37bn (£723m) and it had recorded a loss over the period
AIG boss gave wife $2bn in shares
/0 Comments/in American International /by ceadminThe ex-boss of US insurance giant AIG, Maurice Greenberg, gave his wife more than $2bn (£1.2bn) of his shares in the company days before stepping down.
The stock transfer was recorded in a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
EU warns on Microsoft behaviour
/0 Comments/in Microsoft Corporation /by ceadminMicrosoft has not done enough to comply with sanctions imposed for breaking European anti-trust rules, the European Commission (EC) has said.
The software giant was censured in 2004 for misusing its monopoly position in desktop PCs to extend its reach into other areas.
The firm agreed to a 497m euro ($660m, £345m) fine and to make its software work better with competitors’ products
Wal-Mart to pay immigrants fine
/0 Comments/in Wal-Mart /by ceadminWal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is to pay $11m (£5.73m) to the US government after an investigation into the use of illegal immigrants.
The workers were employed as janitors and cleaners by subcontractors to work in Wal-Mart stores
Glaxo shares dip on factory probe
/0 Comments/in GlaxoSmithKline /by ceadminGlaxoSmithKline shares have fallen almost 2% amid fears a US inquiry into manufacturing quality could be widened and may possibly lead to a big fine.
On 4 March the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized batches of two drugs from the Puerto Rico plant.
Regulators said its diabetes treatment Avandamet and anti-depressant Paxil CR tablets failed to meet safety standards – but did not pose a health risk
The whistleblowing bankers who were sent to jail
/0 Comments/in Barclaycard, United Kingdom, United States /by ceadminTwo traders jailed for rigging interest rates were the original whistleblowers of the scandal, and not the bosses that directed them to carry out the illegal actions. Leaked audio recordings reveal Peter Johnson and Colin Bermingham alerted the US central bank to a fraud that the tapes suggest was directed from the top of the financial system.