Category: enforcement archive

PARIS: France has issued an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused of complicity in crimes against humanity over chemical attacks in 2013, a judicial source and plaintiffs in the case said Wednesday. The judicial source told AFP Assad was also suspected of complicity in war crimes for the attacks, blamed by the opposition on the regime, that killed more than 1,400 people near Damascus in August 2013. International warrants were also issued for the arrests of Assad’s…

Boeing, a prominent aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, found itself targeted by the Lockbit ransomware group at the end of October. This cybercriminal organization claimed responsibility for infiltrating Boeing’s systems and asserted that it had obtained a substantial amount of sensitive data. The group threatened to disclose this information unless Boeing engaged with them before the initial deadline, initially set for November 2, 2023, at 13:25:39 UTC but later extended to November 10, 2023. In early November 2023, Boeing officially…

Portugal’s central bank governor Mário Centeno is facing an ethics review by an independent watchdog after he was proposed as the next prime minister by Socialist premier António Costa, who quit last week over a corruption scandal. Costa’s proposal has triggered a public spat between Centeno and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the president who has the power to appoint prime ministers. Costa, who resigned over allegations of corruption among public officials, had urged Rebelo de Sousa to appoint Centeno as…

Backgrounder. Imran Khan is a former Pakistani cricket player, politician, philanthropist, and prime minister of Pakistan (2018–22). He became a national hero by leading Pakistan’s national team to a Cricket World Cup victory in 1992 and later entered politics as a critic of government corruption in Pakistan. Khan’s calls for investigations into government corruption, along with supporting evidence released in the Panama Papers, led to the resignation of Nawaz Sharif, Pakistani businessman and politician who served as prime minister in…

In September, a class action lawsuit (Mannacio v. Discover Financial Services, et al., No. 23-cv-06788 (N.D. Ill.)) was filed against Discover Financial Services (“Discover”) alleging Discover and certain current and/or former executives violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Specifically, the class action complaint alleged that the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Discover maintained deficient risk management and compliance procedures; (ii) as a result, Discover, among other things, failed to comply with applicable…

Thomas Flohr, owner of luxury airline VistaJet, must fight a claim that he defrauded a Guernsey investment partnership two decades ago after London’s High Court refused to dismiss the case.  Flohr, who denies the allegations, had tried to have the case thrown out on technical grounds related to the circumstances of the case, in which a previously dissolved partnership was resurrected in 2021 in order to file the suit.  Frontiers Capital initially sued for breach of contract in 2021 but…

Airbnb is facing the prospect of a tax bill worth hundreds of millions of euros following an Italian court ruling in an evasion case. Prosecutors in Milan say a judge authorised the seizure of €779.5m (£677m) from the short-term property rental platform. They said it related to an alleged failure by the company to comply with laws that require Airbnb to pay Italian tax authorities 21% of landlords’ rental income in the country. The requirement dates back to an EU…

Washington D.C., Nov. 2, 2023 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged John Hughes, president and chief compliance officer of registered investment adviser Prophecy Asset Management LP, for his involvement in a multi-year fraud that concealed losses of hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. Prophecy Asset Management advised multiple hedge funds and reported more than $500 million in assets under management. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Hughes and his associates at Prophecy Asset Management misled the funds’ investors,…

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated as additional information becomes available. Law enforcement officials have issued an arrest warrant for a 40-year-old Bowdoin, Maine man who is also a currently serving Army reservist, charged in the multi-location mass shooting Wednesday in Lewiston, Maine that left 18 people dead. Sgt. 1st Class Robert R. Card II is a petroleum supply specialist in the Army Reserve who enlisted in December 2002, according to Army spokesman Bryce Dubee,…

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried plans to testify at his fraud trial, his lawyer told a federal judge Wednesday, ending speculation over whether a man who embraced the spotlight during his years atop the cryptocurrency world could remain silent after prosecutors portrayed him as a greedy entrepreneur who stole billions of dollars from customers. Attorney Mark Cohen told Judge Lewis A. Kaplan that he planned to call three witnesses “and then our client is also going to be testifying” after prosecutors…

Palestinian resistance groups expect Israel to flood Hamas tunnels with nerve gas and chemical weapons under the surveillance of US Delta Force commandos as part of a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, a senior Arab source familiar with the groups told Middle East Eye.Israel and the US hope to achieve the element of surprise in order to penetrate Hamas tunnels, rescue an estimated 220 hostages, and kill thousands of soldiers belonging to Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, the source said in…

A murder warrant has been issued for an “armed and dangerous” military veteran who’s accused of fatally shooting his wife in their family home this week. Aaron Pennington was charged with murder in Gardner District Court in Massachusetts, according to the Associated Press, as the homicide investigation and search for him continues.  A manhunt has been underway for Pennington, 33, since his wife was found shot to death at the couple’s house in Gardner, about 67 miles northeast of Boston, on Sunday. …

More than 300 people were arrested for illegally demonstrating and three people were charged with assaulting police after protesters descended on Capitol Hill to call for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Hundreds of demonstrators from Jewish advocacy groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now, poured into a congressional office building on Wednesday. They wore shirts that read “Jews say cease fire now” and they chanted “let Gaza live” and “not in my name” before they were…

U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Florida FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, October 12, 2023  BEAUMONT, Texas – A Houston man who served as a production manager in a counterfeit drug trafficking scheme has been sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking and money laundering violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs today. Willis Reed, 61, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Marcia…

Last Thursday, a Danish court sentenced a 24-year old programmer from Silkeborg to 60 days probation for his role in operating the torrent tracker ShareUniversity. The sentencing is the latest in Denmark following an unprecedented crackdown on local torrent trackers that has already resulted in more than a dozen prosecutions, with more yet to come. The National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) reports that it’s happy with the conviction. In addition to serving the suspended prison sentence, the man must…