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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Ebbers guilty of Worldcom fraud
/0 Comments/in WorldCom /by ceadminFormer Worldcom chief executive Bernie Ebbers has been convicted of conspiracy and fraud in connection with the 2002 collapse of the telecoms giant.
Mr Ebbers, 63, who is to appeal against the verdict, was also found guilty of seven counts of filing false documents.
Shareholders lost about $180bn (£94bn) in Worldcom’s collapse – the largest bankruptcy in US history – and 20,000 workers lost their jobs
Halliburton in $108m Iraq probe
/0 Comments/in Halliburton /by ceadminHalliburton, the energy firm once run by US Vice-President Dick Cheney, is facing fresh questions over its work for the US Defense Department in Iraq.
A Defense Contract Audit Agency report, released late on Monday, criticised Halliburton unit KBR for failing to provide clear records of its costs.
The probe is examining more than $108m (£56m) of a contract extension which was worth $875m
Former Qwest chief accused by SEC
/0 Comments/in Qwest Communications /by ceadminThe former chief executive and six former officials at US telecoms giant Qwest Communications have been accused of deceiving investors.
Former CEO Joseph Nacchio, who denies any wrongdoing, is among those named in the civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It said Qwest inflated its revenue by $3bn (£1
Marsh pays $850m to end charges
/0 Comments/in Marsh & McLennan /by ceadminUS insurance broker Marsh & McLennan is to pay $850m (£451m) to settle charges that it conspired with insurance providers to rig the marketplace.
Under the agreement with New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, Marsh said it “neither admits nor denies the allegations”.
It will pay the money back over four years to affected policyholders
Ebbers pleads Worldcom ignorance
/0 Comments/in WorldCom /by ceadminThe former head of Worldcom has told a court that he knew too little about the phone firm’s accounts to be aware of the fraud that drove it to bankruptcy.
Bernie Ebbers’ lawyers argued that their client was a sharp entrepreneur but no accountant.
For that reason, they said, he was not responsible for the $11bn (£6bn) fraud which led to the firm’s 2002 collapse
Vioxx drug ban hits Merck profits
/0 Comments/in Merck /by ceadminProfits at US pharmaceutical giant Merck fell 21%, after the firm was forced to withdraw its Vioxx painkiller last year.
Sales of the drug were halted amid safety fears on 30 September, causing a dip in fourth-quarter profits to $1.1bn (£0
Trial begins of Spain’s top banker
/0 Comments/in Santander Central Hispano /by ceadminThe trial of Emilio Botin, the chairman of Spain’s most powerful bank, Santander Central Hispano, has started in Madrid.
Mr Botin is accused of misusing the bank’s funds after he approved the payment of 160m euros ($208m; £111m) in bonus and pension payouts to two former executives.
However, the trial was suspended when Mr Botin’s lawyer introduced a new set of documents on the day testimony was set to begin
Tesco ‘spychips’ anger consumers
/0 Comments/in Tesco /by ceadminA US consumer privacy group has called for a global boycott of Tesco stores over the company’s trial of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips.
The technology allows products to be tracked via radio waves.
Privacy groups have labelled them “spy chips” because they fear the tags attached to products, can be used to track the behaviour of customers
Parmalat bank barred from lawsuit
/0 Comments/in Bank of America /by ceadminBank of America has been banned from suing Parmalat, the food group which went bust in 2003 after an accounting scandal.
The bank – along with investors, auditors and the group’s managers – want damages for being victims of fraud at the hands of the Italian firm.
But a judge has barred Bank of America and two auditors from the case
Parmalat auditor barred from lawsuit
/0 Comments/in Deloitte & Touche /by ceadminBank of America has been banned from suing Parmalat, the food group which went bust in 2003 after an accounting scandal.
The bank – along with investors, auditors and the group’s managers – want damages for being victims of fraud at the hands of the Italian firm.
But a judge has barred Bank of America and two auditors from the case
Criminal probe on Citigroup deals
/0 Comments/in CitiGroup /by ceadminTraders at US banking giant Citigroup are facing a criminal investigation in Germany over a controversial bond deal.
The deal saw the sale of 11bn euros ($14.4bn; £7
HSBC quadruple charges for UK businesses
/0 Comments/in HSBC /by ceadminUp to 350,000 HSBC small business customers could face a quadrupling of banking costs following significant charge increases.
Those with a turnover of less than half a million must now pay much more for using the branch to do their banking.
Charges include 27 pence for every cheque paid in, and 50 pence out of every £100 cash deposited at any HSBC bank
Spider-Man creator wins profits
/0 Comments/in Marvel /by ceadminSpider-Man creator Stan Lee is to get a multi-million dollar windfall after winning a court battle with comic book company Marvel.
A judge has upheld Lee’s demand for 10% of Marvel’s profits from the hugely successful Spider-Man films.
Spider-Man and its sequel made $1
Coca Cola: Indians protest against soft drink companies
/0 Comments/in Coca Cola /by ceadminActivists in India have held nationwide protests against multinational soft drink companies Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Reports said thousands of protesters had gathered near manufacturing plants of the two firms and demanded that they stop production.
Activists want the firms to leave India because they say their plants deplete ground water – claims the soft drinks giants both strenuously deny
Pepsi: Indians protest against soft drink companies
/0 Comments/in Pepsi /by ceadminActivists in India have held nationwide protests against multinational soft drink companies Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Reports said thousands of protesters had gathered near manufacturing plants of the two firms and demanded that they stop production.
Activists want the firms to leave India because they say their plants deplete ground water – claims the soft drinks giants both strenuously deny
BT faces state aid investigation
/0 Comments/in British Telecom /by ceadminThe European Commission has started a formal inquiry into claims that BT has received illegal tax breaks in the UK worth billions of pounds.
The investigation, focusing on the way business rates are levied, follows a complaint from a rival telecoms firm.
Vtesse says BT and Hull-based Kingston Communications have had an unfair advantage over other companies in the sector since 2000
Watchdog probes Vivendi bond sale
/0 Comments/in Vivendi /by ceadminFrench stock market regulator AMF has filed complaints against media giant Vivendi Universal, its boss and another top executive.
It believes the prospectus for a bond issue was unclear and that executives may have had privileged information.
AMF has begun proceedings against Vivendi, its chief executive Jean-Rene Fourtou and chief operating officer Jean-Bernard Levy
WorldCom trial starts in New York
/0 Comments/in WorldCom /by ceadminThe trial of Bernie Ebbers, former chief executive of bankrupt US phone company WorldCom, has started in New York with the selection of the jury.
Mr Ebbers, 63, is accused of being the mastermind behind an $11bn (£6bn) accounting fraud that eventually saw the firm collapse in July 2002.
His indictment includes charges of securities fraud, conspiracy and filing false reports with regulators
Legal & General’s $2m endowment fine cut
/0 Comments/in Legal & General /by ceadminA tribunal is to cut Legal & General’s £1.1m ($2m) fine for mis-selling but upheld a Financial Services Authority ruling that the insurer mis-sold endowments.
The Financial Services and Markets Tribunal, which reviewed L&G’s appeal, said L&G was guilty of mis-selling
Morgan Stanley hit by record fine
/0 Comments/in Morgan Stanley /by ceadminThe New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has hit US investment bank Morgan Stanley with a record $19m (£10m) fine.
The penalty, the largest so far imposed by the exchange, was the result of regulatory and supervisory lapses at Morgan Stanley, the NYSE said.
The NYSE said it had discovered “supervisory, operational and technological deficiencies” in some of Morgan Stanley’s operations
Ex-AOL staff face criminal charge
/0 Comments/in AOL TimeWarner /by ceadminTwo former executives at America Online face criminal charges after an FBI investigation into claims of fraudulent transactions with a software supplier.
The duo – Kent Wakeford and John Tuli – have been charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and making false statements.
Prosecutors claim the pair colluded with executives at PurchasePro to inflate revenues at the two firms
Threat of $20m fine for Blackouts
/0 Comments/in National Grid /by ceadminNational Grid, the firm in charge of supplying electricity to England and Wales, could face fines of up to $20m (£12m) a year in the event of major power cuts.
Regulator Ofgem announced the penalties as part of an incentive scheme to improve the firm’s record on blackouts.
The move follows Ofgem’s investigation of two large power cuts in the South East and West Midlands in 2003
Enron bosses agree $168m payout
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminEighteen former Enron directors have agreed a $168m settlement deal in a shareholder lawsuit over the collapse of the energy firm.
Leading plaintiff, the University of California, announced the news, adding that 10 of the former directors will pay $13m from their own pockets.
The settlement will be put to the courts for approval next week
Shell finance supremo wins $1m pay-off
/0 Comments/in Shell /by ceadminJudy Boynton, Shell’s former finance director who was criticised over the oil group’s massive reserves scandal, will receive a $1m (£535,000) cash pay-off, plus shares and pension worth a further $2.4m.
Shell said Ms Boynton, who “stepped aside” from her board-level position in April, would get a $1m severance payment in line with the terms of her contract
Monsanto fined $1.5m for bribery
/0 Comments/in Monsanto /by ceadminThe US agrochemical giant Monsanto has agreed to pay a $1.5m (£799,000) fine for bribing an Indonesian official.
Monsanto admitted one of its employees paid the senior official two years ago in a bid to avoid environmental impact studies being conducted on its cotton
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.