Category: corporate corruption
Exclu Communication Service: 48 arrested in Europe over encrypted app used in drug trade
European investigators have shut down an encrypted communication service that was used as a secure channel for organized crime, particularly in the drug trade, and arrested 48 people, German authorities said Monday. More than 70 properties were searched in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland on Friday, when the arrests were made, the criminal police office in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate said in a statement. It said that those arrested were users, operators and administrators of the communication…
Probe into U.S. Olympic failings stunted by red tape in DC
More than 27 months since it was greenlighted by Congress, the panel established to investigate the inner workings of the U.S. Olympic structure has yet to conduct a formal interview because of bureaucratic red tape and slow action from the same lawmakers who had expressed a pressing need for better oversight. Two Olympics — the Summer Games in Tokyo and Winter Games in Beijing — have come and gone since the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics…
Niccolo Figa-Talamanca: Suspect in EU Parliament corruption probe released
An NGO boss who was among four suspects held in pre-trial detention as part of a Belgian probe into alleged bribery in the European Parliament linked to Morocco and Qatar has been released. Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, an Italian who led the “No Peace Without Justice” NGO before being stripped of his position after his arrest in December, was ordered freed on Friday, prosecutors said. The newspaper L’Echo reported that Mr Figa-Talamanca’s release was granted after police questioned another NGO chief, former…
Kerry Inc. Pleads Guilty and Agrees to Pay $19.228 Million in Connection with Insanitary Plant Conditions Linked to 2018 Salmonella Poisoning Outbreak
U.S. Department of Justice FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, February 3, 2023 Food and ingredient manufacturing company Kerry Inc. pleaded guilty today to a charge that it manufactured breakfast cereal under insanitary conditions at a facility in Gridley, Illinois, that was linked to a 2018 salmonellosis outbreak. Pursuant to a plea agreement filed with a criminal information in federal court in Peoria, Illinois, Kerry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of distributing adulterated cereal marketed as Kellogg’s Honey Smacks. The…
Olympic snowboarders sue coach, USOPC and ski federation over alleged abuse
Olympic bronze medalist Rosey Fletcher is among three former U.S. snowboarders suing their ex-coach, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard federation, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee alleging sexual abuse that they say the organizations covered up, court documents showed. Fletcher, a 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, Erin O’Malley and Callan Chythlook-Sifsof sued former coach Peter Foley and the sports bodies in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday. They allege Foley committed sexual assault and battery against them and…
GoodRx to Pay $1.5 Million in First Ever FTC Health Breach Notification Rule Enforcement Action
On February 1, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it entered into a proposed order with GoodRx, a telehealth and prescription drug discount provider, for violations of the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule stemming from GoodRx’s unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ personal health information to third party advertisers and other companies. This is the first enforcement action taken under the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule, which was issued in 2009. The FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule defines a “breach of…
Former Arkansas State Senator Sentenced for Bribery and Tax Fraud
A former Arkansas State Senator was sentenced today to 46 months in prison in the Eastern District of Arkansas for accepting multiple bribes and tax fraud in connection with a multi-district investigation spanning the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas and the Western District of Missouri. According to court documents, from 2010 through 2017, Hutchinson stole and misappropriated thousands of dollars in state campaign contributions for his own personal use and then filed false federal income tax returns from 2011 to 2014 to conceal his conduct. In addition, Hutchinson was hired as outside counsel by Dr. Benjamin Burris, an orthodontist who owned and operated orthodontic clinics throughout the state of Arkansas. In exchange for payments and legal work, Hutchinson pushed legislation beneficial to Burris. Hutchinson was provided legal work to conceal the corrupt nature of his arrangement. Hutchinson stole over $10,000 in state campaign funds for his own personal use and also falsified his 2011 tax returns, including failing to report $20,000-per-month-payments he received from one law firm and other sources of income he knowingly and intentionally concealed from his taxes.
Kadokawa Group: Tokyo Olympic bribery scandal
A Japanese company embroiled in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic corruption scandal said Thursday it would strengthen oversight to prevent further wrongdoing. Kadokawa “seriously betrayed public trust,” company president Takeshi Natsuno said. He bowed deeply with two other executives to show remorse in a news conference. Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, the son of the founder, was arrested in September on suspicion of bribing Haruyuki Takahashi, a member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, with 69 million yen. Kadokawa Group was chosen as an…
Spain: Rights experts call for probe into claim Catalan leaders were spied on
“Spanish authorities must conduct a full, fair, and effective investigation into these allegations, publish the findings and stop any unlawful interference into the fundamental rights of the Catalan minority activists in Spain,” they said in a statement. Top leaders arrested Following the October 2017 independence referendum, Spain arrested leaders of the Catalonian independence movement on charges of sedition. The alleged spying occurred between that year and 2020, with most incidents taking place soon after the vote. Mobile phones of at least…
NZ, Australia want ‘urgent’ answers over Saudi sponsorship of Women’s World Cup
Co-hosts New Zealand and Australia said Thursday they “urgently” want answers from FIFA over reports Saudi Arabia’s tourist board will sponsor the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Visit Saudi is reportedly poised to be named among the sponsors of the 32-team soccer tournament to be held in New Zealand and Australia from July 20. The sponsorship deal looks set to go ahead despite the Gulf kingdom’s poor record on women’s rights. Officials from Football Australia and New Zealand Football said they…
FTC Enforcement Action to Bar GoodRx from Sharing Consumers’ Sensitive Health Info for Advertising
The Federal Trade Commission has taken enforcement action for the first time under its Health Breach Notification Rule against the telehealth and prescription drug discount provider GoodRx Holdings Inc., for failing to notify consumers and others of its unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ personal health information to Facebook, Google, and other companies. In a first-of-its-kind proposed order, filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC, GoodRx will be prohibited from sharing user health data with applicable third…
La Baguette LLC, Dynamic Integrated Solutions Inc, Priority Acquisitions Inc: False Claims Act – Improper Paycheck Protection Program Loans
Three California companies have agreed to pay a total of $530,000 to settle allegations that they knowingly violated the False Claims Act when they received and retained more than one Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan prior to Dec. 31, 2020, in violation of PPP rules.
Gambit Matrix LLC: Former Florida CEO Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion (Jason Cory)
A former Jacksonville company CEO was sentenced yesterday to 32 months in prison for willfully attempting to evade the assessment of his federal income taxes. According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2015 and 2016, Jason Cory, 49, of Jacksonville, was a manager at a New York-based IT services company and from 2017 through 2019, he was the CEO of a different IT services company based in Jacksonville. From 2015 through 2018, Cory used his positions to cause more than $1.5 million to be deposited into the bank accounts of Gambit Matrix LLC, a shell company he controlled. As CEO, Cory caused transfers to Gambit Matrix under the false pretense that they were payments for consulting services that had never been provided.
Logan Square Aluminum Supply: Lead Violations
Today, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with Logan Square Aluminum Supply Inc., resolving alleged violations of the federal Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting regulations, known as the RRP rule, at renovation projects Logan Square and its contractors performed in Chicago and Chicago suburbs.
AP: Ukraine Corruption Scandal; U.S. likely to OK sending Abrams tanks
Several senior Ukrainian officials, including front-line governors, lost their jobs Tuesday in a corruption scandal plaguing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government as it grapples with the nearly 11-month-old Russian invasion. Ukraine’s biggest government shake-up since the war began came as U.S. officials said Washington was poised to approve supplying Kyiv with M1 Abrams tanks, with international reluctance eroding toward sending tanks to the battlefront against the Russians. Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 on an anti-establishment and anti-corruption platform in a country…