Category: enforcement archive
FCA request data from banks on account closures
This follows our announcement of a data exercise to investigate account closures. Firms have until 25 August 2023 to provide information on: the number of customers that have been terminated the number of customers suspended the number of customers denied services the reasons for all of the above the number of complaints banks have received on this issue This will include asking if accounts have been closed because of expressions of political or other opinions. We’re asking about both personal…
Mother of 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot teacher faces US gun charges
VIRGINIA – The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his elementary school teacher was charged on Monday with two US firearms felonies, and her lawyer said she will plead guilty to both offences under a deal with federal prosecutors. Deja Taylor was charged with being a user of illegal drugs in possession of a gun and of making a false statement to buy the weapon, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. She is accused of concealing in a…
The Mississippi police officer who shot an 11-year-old is now suspended without pay
Enlarge this image The Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded the unarmed boy has been suspended without pay during an investigation, a city official said. Here, this December 2022 photo provided by Nakala Murry shows her 11-year-old son Aderrien Murry, who was shot and wounded by an Indianola, Miss., Police Department officer on May 20, 2023, during a domestic disturbance call at the family’s home. AP AP The Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded an 11-year-old boy in…
Interpol takes down 16shop phishing-as-a-service platform
A joint operation between Interpol and cybersecurity firms has led to an arrest and shutdown of the notorious 16shop phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform. Phishing-as-a-service platforms offer cybercriminals a one-stop-shop to conduct phishing attacks. These platforms typically include everything you need, including email distribution, ready-made phishing kits for well-known brands, hosting, data proxying, victim overview dashboards, and other tools that help increase the success of their operations. These platforms are a significant risk as they lower the bar of entry for inexperienced…
ASIC bans Sydney mortgage broker for six years
ASIC has banned a Sydney mortgage and finance broker for six years from engaging in credit activities after allegedly making false disclosures and mishandling home loan applications among other offences. The broker, Qingshan Yu, was also banned from controlling a credit business and performing any function in relation to carrying on a credit business while the regulator cancelled the Australian credit licence of Yu’s company, Actif Pty Ltd (Actif). Actif held a credit licence from November 9, 2010, and provided…
Pakistan’s ex-PM Imran Khan arrested
Following are details of the cases against former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was arrested on Saturday after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts. Khan has denied wrongdoing. An Islamabad court issued the arrest warrant after convicting the cricket star-turned-politician, who remains the leading opposition figure despite his removal. Police moved quickly to take Khan from his home in the eastern city of Lahore to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. It is…
Why was Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan arrested?
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been arrested from his residence in Lahore after he was handed a three-year prison sentence in a corruption case. After convicting Khan, the Islamabad court issued an arrest warrant which says he is to serve his sentence in the Rawalpindi central jail in Pakistan’s Punjab province, with police in Lahore quickly moving to take him from his home. The conviction, which was handed down in absentia, bans Khan from political office for the…
U.S. Blacklists Israeli-owned Cyber Arms Firms: Intellexa and Cytrox
Intellexa (AKA Intellexa Anonymi Etaireia), an alliance of digital intelligence firms in Greece run by an ex-Israeli intel officer, and Cytrox AD (AKA Sytrox), which produces their Predator spyware, added to U.S. ‘entity list’ which already includes Israel’s NSO and Candiru. Late last year, Citizen Lab uncovered the hacking of an Egyptian dissident’s phone. The affected device was host to two forms of malware, one created by NSO Group and the other by Cytrox. According to the Citizen Lab investigation, these infections were…
Judge says she’s not ready to accept Hunter Biden’s plea deal, which tried to get him immunity for multiple crimes
The judge in the Hunter Biden case said Wednesday she is not ready to accept the plea deal struck between the president’s son and the Justice Department, and asked both parties to submit additional briefs and return to the court on a future date. Judge Maryellen Noreika demanded that the lawyers from both sides make clear that the deal does not convey broad immunity offered to Biden from prosecution on his business dealings. As a result, Hunter Biden pleaded not…
SEC now requires companies to disclose cyberattacks in 4 days
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted new rules requiring publicly traded companies to disclose cyberattacks within four business days after determining they’re material incidents. According to the Wall Street watchdog, material incidents are those that a public company’s shareholders would consider important. The SEC also adopted new regulations mandating foreign private issuers to provide equivalent disclosures following cybersecurity breaches. “Whether a company loses a factory in a fire — or millions of files in a cybersecurity incident —…
Trump classified documents trial in Florida to begin in May 2024
Former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges of withholding and concealing classified and top-secret documents will begin in Florida on May 20, 2024. That schedule puts the trial at the tail end of the Republican presidential primary process. Trump is currently the front-runner for the GOP nomination and already may have become the nominee by that time. In an order issued in Ft. Pierce, Fla., U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon says the evidence in the case is “extremely voluminous…
Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations, Ring subsidiary also facing $5 million fine
The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that Amazon has agreed to pay a $25 million fine to settle alleged children’s privacy laws violations related to the company’s Alexa voice assistant service. Amazon has offered Alexa voice-activated products and services targeted at children under 13 years old since May 2018. In May 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against Amazon, accusing the company of violating children’s privacy laws,…
U.S. Virgin Islands Wants JPMorgan Chase to Pay Big Over Epstein
Backstory: Epstein continued socializing with A-listers despite conviction – media, New reports on Jeffrey Epstein demonstrate deep-going corruption of US ruling elite The U.S. Virgin Islands government is seeking at least $190 million in penalties from JPMorgan Chase in connection to its banking relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In a new legal filing on Friday, the USVI’s Attorney General said the territory also wants the financial giant to separately pay damages to victims of Epstein, who killed himself in…
YouTube censors Dr. Jordan Peterson for “hate speech”
Dr. Jordan Peterson, the ex-University of Toronto psychology professor who gained fame for his vigorous defense of free speech, has been subjected to what is perceived as a systemic censorship effort by YouTube. A popular figure in media circles, Peterson’s prolific online presence took a hit when the video-sharing platform decided to censor his account, a move the professor lamented on social media. On Wednesday, the professor shared on Twitter a copy of the email he received from YouTube justifying…
Google Analytics data transfer to U.S. brings $1 million fine to Swedish firms
The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten – IMY) has fined two companies with 12.3 million SEK (€1 million/$1.1 million) for using Google Analytics and warned two others about the same practice. In a decision published yesterday, the agency explains that by using Google Analytics to generate web statistics the firms were breaching European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Specifically, the companies were in violation of the GDPR Article 46(1), which forbids the transfer of personal data to countries or…
French court upholds freezing of assets of Lebanon’s embattled central bank chief
BEIRUT (AP) — A French court Tuesday upheld the freezing of the assets of Lebanon’s embattled central bank governor, rejecting his appeal to have them released, an official close to the investigation said. Several European countries are investigating central bank Gov. Riad Salameh and his associates over myriad alleged financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and laundering of $330 million. A French investigative judge on May 16 issued an international arrest warrant, or Interpol red notice, for the 72-year-old Salameh after…