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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Key Enron witness ‘lied in court’
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminA key prosecution witness lied about taking part in Enron-related crimes, an assistant of former Enron chiefs Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling has said.
Joannie Williamson told defence lawyers Mark Koenig admitted he had pleaded guilty to crimes he did not commit.
The defence team has repeatedly claimed fear of prosecution had pushed many Enron executives to plead guilty
Dominican Court Delays Bank Fraud Trial
/0 Comments/in Banco Intercontinental /by ceadminA court postponed the trial of executives accused of collapsing the Dominican Republic’s second-largest bank Monday after prosecutors had begun opening statements.
The remainder of the trial is delayed until May 19, said Fidel Pichardo Baba, legal adviser to the Dominican Central Bank. The case is expected to feature hundreds of witnesses, including former President Hipolito Mejia
Ex-Westar CEO Wittig Gets 18-Year Sentence
/0 Comments/in Westar Energy /by ceadminA federal judge on Monday sentenced former Westar Energy Inc. CEO David Wittig to 18 years in prison for looting millions from the Kansas utility.
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Bank of America to sue Parmalat
/0 Comments/in Parmalat /by ceadminA US judge has given Bank of America the go-ahead to pursue a $1bn fraud claim against Italian firm Parmalat.
The bank has accused the firm’s former management of fraud, conspiracy and lying about its finances.
The claim will not affect Paramalat’s own $10bn suit against the bank for its alleged role in the firm’s collapse
Yukos to face fraud allegations
/0 Comments/in Yukos /by ceadminAiling Russian oil company Yukos and its former financial head will have to defend themselves in a fraud lawsuit, a US judge has ruled.
Yukos and its former chief financial officer Bruce Kisamore will be asked to respond to allegations of mis-stating the company’s tax risk to investors.
Yukos and Mr Kisamore have so far made no response to the decision by Judge William Pauley
Recycler fined for abusing market
/0 Comments/in Tomra /by ceadminTomra, a Norwegian supplier of vending machines for bottle recycling, has been fined 24m euro ($28.8m; £16m) for illegally preventing competition.
The European Commission said the fine – equivalent to 7% of the firm’s 2005 turnover – was the largest it had ever issued in terms of share of revenues
Glaxo agrees US Paxil settlement
/0 Comments/in GlaxoSmithKline /by ceadminGlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has agreed to pay $14m (£8m) to settle US claims that it fraudulently tried to delay competitors to anti-depressant drug Paxil.
It agreed the deal with Eliot Spitzer, New York Attorney General, who brought the case on behalf of 49 states.
GSK was accused of using frivolous patent-infringement lawsuits against generic producers of Paxil, keeping the drug’s cost higher than necessary
Zurich settles bid-rigging charge
/0 Comments/in Zurich /by ceadminZurich Financial Services has agreed to pay $153m (£88m) to settle insurance bid-rigging charges by three US states.
The agreements with New York, Illinois and Connecticut bring to about $325m in such settlements it has made in the US.
Zurich was accused of conspiring with other insurers to fix prices for certain policies
Refco boss facing Austrian arrest
/0 Comments/in Refco /by ceadminAuthorities in Austria have issued an arrest warrant for Phillip Bennett, former head of US brokerage Refco.
The move came a day after prosecutors began an inquiry into fraud and related charges surrounding Mr Bennett.
A warrant was also put out for the son of the former head of Bank Fuer Arbeit und Wirtschaft (Bawag), Wolfgang Floettl Jnr
KPMG Partner Pleads Guilty In Tax Shelter Case
/0 Comments/in KPMG /by ceadminA high-ranking partner at accounting giant KPMG pleaded guilty to helping fabricate $11.2 billion in fake tax shelters so America’s wealthiest families could beat income taxes.
The guilty plea yesterday in Manhattan federal court of David Rivkin, 42, could mean a devastating blow to a gang of 16 accounting execs at KPMG charged in the massive tax shelter scam
KPMG to pay undisclosed amount to settle lawsuit
/0 Comments/in KPMG /by ceadminAccounting firm KPMG LLP will pay an undisclosed amount to settle a $50 million malpractice lawsuit brought by former client Targus Group International Inc., according to court officials.
The settlement was reached early on Tuesday after some six months of negotiations between KPMG and privately held Targus, a maker of computer cases based in Orange County, California, said court officials close to the case
Hyundai chief faces fraud probe
/0 Comments/in Hyundai /by ceadminProsecutors have arrested the chief executive of carmaker Hyundai Motor’s logistics subsidiary, Glovis, on corruption charges.
Lee Ju-eun is suspected of embezzling 7bn won ($6.73m; £3
Venezuela hits BP with tax bill
/0 Comments/in BP Amoco /by ceadminVenezuela has hit UK oil giant BP with a $61.4m (£35m) back tax bill.
The country’s tax authority, the Seniat, said the figure arose from the firm’s operations in the country between 2001 and 2004
Brazil quiz at Credit Suisse unit
/0 Comments/in Credit Suisse /by ceadminPolice in Brazil have detained a Credit Suisse director in a federal inquiry as he tried to leave the country.
Six other company executives are under investigation as part of “Operation Switzerland” but Credit Suisse says the unit under scrutiny is a trade office.
It says Credit Suisse Representacoes is part of a Credit Suisse private banking division, but is non-financial itself
Ex-Halliburton staff in Saudi kickback
/0 Comments/in Halliburton /by ceadminA former employee of a Halliburton subsidiary has pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks from a Saudi subcontractor that was awarded a $14.4 million U.S
Capita boss quits over Tony Blair loan
/0 Comments/in Capita /by ceadminThe chairman of outsourcing firm Capita is stepping down over “spurious” claims his £1m loan to Labour resulted in the group getting government contracts.
Rod Aldridge, one of 12 donors who lent the party almost £14m in total before the last election, said he did “not want this misconception to continue”.
Chancellor Gordon Brown said the political funding system had to be reformed to increase “transparency”
Samsung men ‘admit’ price fixing
/0 Comments/in Samsung /by ceadminThree executives at Samsung Electronics have agreed to plead guilty on charges of conspiring to fix the price of computer memory chips.
The three men each agreed to serve terms of between seven and eight months in prison and to each pay a fine of $250,000 (£143,000).
The long-running US government probe has resulted in more than $731m in fines against 12 people and four firms
Enron treasurer tells of ‘lies’
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminFormer Enron executives lied to investors about its financial state because they knew the truth would destroy the company, a court has heard.
Testifying at the trial of Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, former Treasurer Ben Glisan Jr said his bosses were full aware of the firm’s growing debt.
He said Mr Lay asked him about managing the firm’s accounts in 2001 to avoid a cut in Enron’s credit rating
Mills’ fraud cost pension plan $5M
/0 Comments/in Mills Corporation /by ceadminOfficials in the US are suing shopping-mall developer Mills Corp. over alleged accounting fraud that cost the state pension fund more than $5 million in stock-market losses.
“This is becoming an all-too-common story all over the country – hard-working men and women
French MPs vote to open up iTunes
/0 Comments/in Apple Computers /by ceadminThe French parliament has backed plans to give consumers more choice over music downloads from the internet.
MPs backed a draft law to force Apple, Sony and Microsoft to share their proprietary copy-protection systems by 296 to 193 votes.
The aim is to ensure that digital music can be played on any player, regardless of its format or source
Jail term for China Aviation boss
/0 Comments/in China Aviation Oil /by ceadminThe former head of China Aviation Oil (CAO) has been sentenced to four years and three months in jail for his role in the firm’s near-collapse in 2004.
Chen Jiulin, who had earlier pleaded guilty to six charges including insider trading, was also fined 350,000 Singapore dollars ($207,300; £124,000).
Four directors at the company had already been sentenced by a Singapore court for their part in the scandal
Ex-US Justice Dept. fraud chief to probe Refco
/0 Comments/in Refco /by ceadminThe U.S. Department of Justice appointed Joshua Hochberg, the former head of its fraud unit, to investigate claims of fraud and other misconduct that may have led to Refco’s bankruptcy filing
Bank fraud case worse than suspected
/0 Comments/in Ramle Bank /by ceadminFollowing the interrogation of suspects involved in the Ramle Mercantile Discount Bank money-laundering scheme, in which 22 people where arrested some two weeks ago, police estimated on Monday that the affair would go down as perhaps the largest white-collar crime in Israel’s history.
Initial estimates put the amount of laundered money over the years somewhere in the ballpark of NIS 100 million, but those numbers have now ballooned to an estimated NIS 1 billion, according to police investigators.
Six more suspects, who allegedly operated fake accounts at the bank, were also arrested Sunday night
Occidental offers Ecuador $1bn
/0 Comments/in Occidental Petroleum /by ceadminOccidental Petroleum is offering the Ecuador government up to $1bn (£569m) in disputed taxes, investments and extra revenues to end a legal dispute.
The row centres on whether the US firm transferred part of an Ecuadorean field to Canada’s EnCana in 2000 without approval from the Ecuador authorities.
Occidental proposes giving Ecuador at least $600m in extra revenues from the disputed area, but denies wrongdoing
Capita Financial fined for fraud
/0 Comments/in Capita Financial /by ceadminA subsidiary of the giant Capita group has been fined by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) after some of its staff helped to defraud customers.
The frauds took place in 2004 at Capita Financial Administrators (CFA) which administers the customer accounts of unit trust companies.
The police are investigating how up to 26 customers lost £328,000 and attempts were made to steal a further £1
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.