Category: government corruption

May 7, 2022. The U.S. government wants $33 billion more for the War in Ukraine and is telling its people that Russia is a threat not only to Ukraine, but to Americans. The enormous aid package is twice the size of a provision approved by Congress last month. It would eclipse all the spending by the United States so far…

May 7, 2022. A new leak of Dubai property data has exposed just how many foreigners have poured their money into apartments and villas there. The data, which dates from 2020, was obtained by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that researches international crime and conflict. It was then shared with Norwegian…

Bill Hwang secured billions in dollars in financing from leading Wall Street banks with lies that ranged from assurances he could quickly exit his positions to claims he had large holdings of easily traded stocks like Apple and Google, according to US authorities. The banks apparently took Hwang’s words at face value as they entered into leveraged derivatives trades with…

The premier of the British Virgin Islands was arrested by US agents on drug trafficking and money laundering charges at an airport in Miami on Thursday, sending shockwaves across the UK-administered Caribbean tax haven. The islands’ governor, John Rankin, confirmed in a statement that Drug Enforcement Administration agents had arrested Andrew Fahie, the elected premier of the BVI, and called…

Germany’s federal police office, criminal prosecutors and the country’s financial watchdog BaFin raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt on Friday, prosecutors said in a statement. The prosecutors said that a search warrant was issued by Frankfurt’s district court, based on the suspicion that unnamed Deutsche Bank employees may have violated anti-money laundering laws. They declined to give further details. Deutsche…

Two Russian oligarchs were found dead last week, within 48 hours of each other. They were found alongside their families in what investigators are labelling murder-suicides. Since the start of 2022, four other Russia-connected oligarchs have mysteriously died by suicide. Here is a list of the Russian oligarchs who have met a mysterious end in 2022 — so far, as…

Vladimir Putin announced last month that if “unfriendly countries” wanted to continue buying Russian natural gas, they would have to pay in rubles starting April 1. It seems not everyone believed he was serious. Would Russia really turn away profit by refusing payment in other currencies? Apparently so. Many media outlets are calling the move a ‘weaponization’ of the gas…

From Amy Goodman, Democracy Now – 12 Apr 2022 In Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick, ProPublica investigative reporter J. David McSwane tracks pandemic federal relief funds and finds many contracts to acquire critical supplies were wrapped up in unprecedented fraud schemes that left the U.S. government with subpar and unusable equipment. He…

Deutsche Bank AG fired a number of top bankers in New York after a tab run up at a strip club was expensed as legitimate business spending, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Ben Darsney, former Americas head of equity capital markets, Ravi Raghunathan, Brandon Sun and Daniel Gaona were fired after seeking reimbursement for a restaurant visit,…

On 10 June 2021, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee of the People’s Republic of China passed the Law of the PRC on Countering Foreign Sanctions (the “Anti-Sanctions Law”). The Anti-Sanctions Law establishes a legal regime for the protection of Chinese individuals and entities from what are deemed to be discriminatory foreign sanctions and for implementing countermeasures against such sanctions. Although…

The ACLU published thousands of pages of previously unreleased records showing that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are sidestepping the constitutional right against unreasonable government search and seizure.  DHS has been buying access to and using large volumes of cell phone location information that has been “quietly extracted from smartphone apps” of U.S. citizens and others — using their…

Ukrainians’ distrust of the courts is higher than of any other government body. The Kyiv District Administrative Court has become the epitome of injustice and corruption in Ukraine.

Today, the Department of Justice announced a global resolution of its criminal and civil investigations into the opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP (Purdue), and a civil resolution of its civil investigation into individual shareholders from the Sackler family.  The resolutions with Purdue are subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court. “The abuse and diversion of prescription opioids has contributed…