Author: CorruptionLedger

FRANFORT, Ky. — A Florida company, Modern Therapy, LLC, was sentenced on Friday to pay a $2.5 million fine by U.S. District Judge Gregory VanTatenhove for the unlawful distribution of anabolic steroids. Modern Therapy operated out of Hallandale Beach, Florida.  According to its plea agreement, it marketed anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and related products to customers over the Internet….

On November 28, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced a settlement agreement with Payward, Inc., known as Kraken (“Kraken”), a United States-based virtual currency exchange. Kraken agreed to pay $362,158.70 to resolve its potential civil liability for 826 apparent violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (“Apparent Violations”). The settlement amount is significantly less than the…

A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Andrii Derkach, 55, of Ukraine, with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Acts (IEEPA), bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and four counts of money laundering in connection with the purchase and maintenance of two condominiums in Beverly Hills, California. Derkach allegedly concealed his interest in…

BOSTON – A former co-owner of the now-defunct New England Compounding Center (NECC) was sentenced today in federal court in Boston in connection with conspiring to defraud the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Gregory Conigliaro, 57, of Southborough, Mass. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to one year in prison and one year of supervised release….

“The military continues to hold proceedings in secretive courts in violation of basic principles of fair trial and contrary to core judicial guarantees of independence and impartiality”, Volker Türk added, calling for the suspension of all executions and a return to a moratorium on death penalty. Dealing out death  On Wednesday, a military court sentenced at least seven university students…

ABB Ltd. (ABB), a Swiss-based global technology company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with core businesses focused on electrification, automation, motion, and robotics has agreed to pay more than $315 million to resolve an investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) stemming from the bribery of a high-ranking official at South Africa’s state-owned energy company….

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday aided 14 locations in Jammu and Kashmir in connection with the alleged manipulation of the Accounts Assistant recruitment examination conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB). The agency booked 20 people, including members of the JKSSB. Those accused in the case are Dr Karnail Singh, , former BSF Paloura…

On November 15, 2022, the Italian Supreme Court held that an Italian court or competent data protection authority has jurisdiction to issue a global delisting order. A delisting order requires a search engine to remove certain search results about individuals if the data subject’s privacy interests prevail over the general right to expression and information, and the economic interest of…

French financial prosecutors say a Paris court has approved an agreement with Airbus that will see the plane maker pay a 15.8-million-euro ($16.3 million) fine A Paris court on Wednesday approved an agreement under which Airbus will pay a 15.8-million-euro ($16.3 million) fine to end a corruption probe focusing on sales to Libya and Kazakhstan over a decade ago, French…

The FTC has temporarily shut down a credit card debt relief scheme operated by Sean Austin, John Steven Huffman, and John Preston Thompson and their affiliated companies that allegedly took millions from people by falsely promising to eliminate or substantially reduce their credit card debt: ACRO SERVICES LLC, a limited liability company, also d/b/a Capital Compliance Solutions, AMERICAN CONSUMER RIGHTS…

Charges were unsealed today against eight individuals for conspiring to defraud the Georgia Department of Labor of tens of millions of dollars in federal funds intended for unemployment benefits. Seven defendants have been indicted and one defendant has already pleaded guilty for her role in the scheme. According to court documents, Tyshion Nautese Hicks, 30, of Vienna, Georgia; Shatara Hubbard,…

A former agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was charged in a superseding indictment, unsealed today, in the District of Arizona with three counts: a civil rights violation for sexually assaulting and kidnapping a minor victim, kidnapping a minor victim, and misleading state investigators. According to the superseding indictment, on April 25, 2022, Aaron Mitchell, 27, was employed…

An indictment was unsealed today charging Ray Hunt, 69, of Madison County, Alabama, with federal offenses related to an illegal scheme to export U.S.-origin goods to Iran. The 15-count indictment charges the defendant with conspiracy to defraud the United States, sanctions violations, smuggling goods from the United States and submitting false or misleading export information. According to the indictment, since…

The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general announced lawsuits against Google LLC and iHeartMedia, Inc. for airing nearly 29,000 deceptive endorsements by radio personalities promoting their use of and experience with Google’s Pixel 4 phone in 2019 and 2020. The proposed FTC orders and the state judgments settling the allegations bar Google and iHeartMedia from similar misrepresentations, and the state…

Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey pleaded guilty today to violating campaign finance laws and conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as part of a scheme to benefit his 2016 campaign for U.S. Congress. According to court documents, Kelsey, 44, of Germantown, admitted that he conspired to, and did, secretly and unlawfully funnel money from multiple sources, including his…

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As reported in the the Retail Industry Law Resource blog:
Plaintiff’s firms continue to file variations of state law wiretapping lawsuits over “session replay” software and “live chat” or “chatbot” applications in various jurisdictions. These filings typically allege that companies use such software tools to record users’ interactions with a website without first obtaining users’ consent, thereby violating the wiretapping, eavesdropping, or interception provisions of various state laws. Session replay software allows companies to record and play back user’s interactions on its websites. The “live chat” or “chatbot” feature allows a website user to engage in text conversations with an assistant, to which chat the company has access. These wiretapping claims threaten substantial penalties. Companies that use these web-tracking tools, however, can take steps to protect themselves from these lawsuits by a careful examination of the software being used and by evaluating what disclosures or consent may be warranted.

Plaintiffs’ claims arise from the wiretapping or interception provisions of various state laws that prohibit the recording of confidential communications without the consent of all parties to the communication. California courts, for example, have experienced a surge of class action filings pursuant to the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). Specifically, section 631 of CIPA prohibits (1) intentional wiretapping of any telegraph or telephone wire, line, or cable; (2) willfully and without the consent of all parties attempting to learn the contents of a communication in transit; and (3) attempting to use or communicate information obtained as a result of engaging in either activity. CIPA entitles plaintiffs to $5,000 per violation. A violation arguably occurs each time a user visits a website. Thus, these penalties can grow quickly.
Further, recent case law has encouraged the Plaintiffs’ bar with favorable interpretations of these state statutes. For example, the Third Circuit recently took a narrow view of the direct-party exception defense under Pennsylvania’s Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act, resulting in the initiation of several class actions. The direct-party exception works to exempt a party from liability pertaining to communications directly with another party. In Popa v. Harriet Carter Gifts, Inc., however, the Third Circuit held that the legislature “codified only a law-enforcement exception, thus limiting any direct-party exception to that context” and remanded the case for further consideration by the District Court, which had not reached the issue of consent. Thus, companies facing claims under the Pennsylvania statute cannot avoid liability merely by showing that plaintiff and the company were the direct parties to the communication. If successful, the Pennsylvania statute entitles plaintiffs to $100 a day for each day of violation, or $1,000, whichever is higher.
Accordingly, it is important for companies to be aware of how their website software is being utilized, what information they and their vendors are collecting from website users, and what disclosures or consents may be warranted in light of the above. User consent is consistently a defense under state wiretapping statutes. Therefore, companies should evaluate their website terms of service and privacy policies to confirm that they include sufficient and clear disclosures and/or obtain user consent depending on the type of activity taking place on company websites by the company and its service providers.