Category: Corruption

Trump Organization fined $1.6 mil for tax fraud

A New York judge on Friday fined Donald Trump’s family business the maximum penalty possible of $1.6 million for committing tax fraud. The sum, paltry to the billionaire real estate developer’s amassed fortune, is nevertheless symbolically significant as the ex-president eyes the White House again amid a host of legal woes. The Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp., entities of the Trump Organization, were found guilty last month of running a years-long scheme to defraud and evade taxes through falsifying…

Over 70,000 university staff in Britain to strike for 18 days over pay

More than 70,000 staff at 150 universities across the UK will strike for 18 days between February and March in disputes over pay, working conditions and pensions, the University and College Union (UCU) said on Thursday. “The clock is now ticking for the sector to produce a deal or be hit with widespread disruption throughout spring,” UCU general secretary Jo Grady said. The union, which represents academics, trainers, librarians and professional staff in colleges and universities, said it was demanding…

Kambiz Youabian Pleads Guilty to Selling Used and Counterfeit Medical Devices for Skin Tightening & Fat Burning

LOS ANGELES – A Tarzana man pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for running a nearly $6 million scheme in which he knowingly sold used skin-tightening medical devices that were deliberately misbranded as new, as well as counterfeit devices that he claimed were to be used with fat-reducing laser machines. Kambiz Youabian, 49, pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with mail fraud and introducing a misbranded medical device into interstate commerce. According to his plea agreement, Youabian…

Crypto Fraud Victims Receive Over $17 Million in Restitution from BitConnect Scheme

A federal district court in San Diego ordered today that over $17 million in restitution be distributed to approximately 800 victims from over 40 different countries due to their investment losses in BitConnect, a massive cryptocurrency investment scheme, which defrauded thousands of investors worldwide. On Sept. 16, 2021, Glenn Arcaro, 44, the top U.S.-based promoter for BitConnect, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Separately, on Feb. 25, 2022, the founder of BitConnect, Satish Kumbhani, was indicted for his…

United States Complaint Against Bob Dean Jr. and Affiliated Corporate Entities for Financial Misconduct Stemming from Evacuation of Nursing Homes During Hurricane Ida

The United States has filed a complaint under the National Housing Act of 1934 (NHA) against Bob Dean Jr. and several affiliated corporate entities for misappropriating and misusing the assets and income of four nursing homes in Louisiana before and after Hurricane Ida’s landfall in August 2021. The four nursing homes, all of which were owned and operated by Dean and his companies, and had loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), are Maison De’Ville Nursing Home – Houma,…

UK gov’t accused of wanting strikes to ‘sabotage’ workers’ rights

Britain’s government stood accused Wednesday of actively undermining talks with union leaders in a bid to encourage strike action and depress workers’ wages across the economy. The government was hoping for a public backlash, to justify newly introduced legislation that would force unions to provide a “minimum service” in public sectors, railway union leaders said. The allegation came as ambulance drivers and paramedics staged another walkout, prompting warnings of serious risk to the public — part of a wave of…

ABC Polymer Industries Pleads Guilty in Worker Death Case

ABC Polymer Industries LLC pleaded guilty yesterday to a willful violation of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard that caused a worker’s death. The charge involves an Aug. 16, 2017, incident at the Helena, Alabama, plant owned by ABC Polymer Industries LLC, in which a worker was pulled into a cluster of unguarded moving rollers and killed. U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon for the Northern District of Alabama accepted the plea. According to court documents, ABC Polymer…

Romanian court upholds arrest of influencer Andrew Tate

A court in Romania’s capital Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said late Tuesday. Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT, said the court rejected an appeal by Tate against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest from 24 hours to 30 days. Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter,…

Longtime Trump CFO Weisselberg gets 5 months in jail in tax fraud case

Allen Weisselberg, a longtime executive for Donald Trump and the star prosecution witness in the criminal trial of the former president’s real estate company, was sentenced on Tuesday to five months behind bars for helping engineer a wide-ranging tax fraud at the Trump Organization. Weisselberg, 75, was expected to be sent to New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail after pleading guilty last August to all 15 counts he faced in an agreement with prosecutors. The Trump Organization’s former chief financial…

U.S. Supreme Court considers narrowing federal protections for unions

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday wrestled with a labor dispute that could narrow federal protections for unions by making it easier for employers to sue over strikes that result in damage to company property. The justices heard oral arguments in an appeal by a concrete business in Washington state called Glacier Northwest Inc of a lower court’s ruling in favor of a local affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the company’s lawsuit against the union arising from…

China halts short-term visas in South Korea in first response to COVID curbs

The Chinese embassy in South Korea has suspended issuing short-term visas for South Korean visitors, it said on Tuesday, the first retaliatory move against nations imposing COVID-19 curbs on travellers from China. The embassy will adjust the policy subject to the lifting of South Korea’s “discriminatory entry restrictions” against China, it said on its official WeChat account. A Chinese embassy official confirmed the new measures. The announcement comes a day after Foreign Minister Qin Gang expressed concern about the restrictions…

Jet Medical and Related Companies Agree to Pay More Than $700,000 to Resolve Medical Device Allegations

  U.S. Department of Justice FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, January 4, 2022 Pennsylvania-based medical device distributor Jet Medical Inc. (Jet) agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve criminal allegations relating to a migraine headache treatment, and Jet and two related companies agreed to pay another $545,000 in a civil settlement involving the same device. In a criminal information filed today in the Southern District of Illinois, the government alleged that between April 2014 and April 2019, Jet introduced into interstate commerce devices…

Monsanto must pay $857 million over PCB exposure at a Washington school

A US jury has ordered Bayer subsidiary Monsanto to pay $857 million (£676 million) to seven people – including former students and parent volunteers at a school in Washington state – who said they were sickened by exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that the company sold. The PBCs were apparently used in fire safety fluid in the school that leaked from its light fixtures, and the plaintiffs reported neurological, endocrine and other health problems. Monsanto explains that the claims in…

California Agricultural Companies and Their Owner Agree to Pay $600,000 to Settle False Claims Act Allegations Relating to Improperly Inflated Paycheck Protection Program Loans

Four California agricultural companies and their owner have agreed to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act (FCA) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) by knowingly submitting false information in support of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications. Mendota Land Co., Sweetwood Farm Co. LLC, Sweetwood Farm Inc., Seasholtz Co. LLC, and their owner John Seasholtz (collectively, “Seasholtz”) are alleged to have improperly inflated the employee headcount on the companies’ PPP loan applications by…

Ionut-Razvan Sandu Sentenced for Role in International Fraud Scheme

A Romanian national was sentenced today to 89 months in prison for his role in a transnational, multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud American victims. He is the 24th member of the organized criminal group to be sentenced, of the 28 who were charged. Ionut-Razvan Sandu, 35, of Romania, pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiracy to commit a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) offense. Four other defendants pleaded guilty to this offense and were sentenced for their roles in…

Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in Fair Housing Act Case Alleging Unlawful Algorithm-Based Tenant Screening Practices

The Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that they filed a Statement of Interest to explain the Fair Housing Act’s (FHA) application to algorithm-based tenant screening systems. The Statement of Interest was filed in Louis et al. v. SafeRent et al., a lawsuit currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts alleging that defendants’ use of an algorithm-based scoring system to screen tenants discriminates against Black and Hispanic…