Category: z-Exclude

According to court documents, Jessie R. Benton, 45, of The Woodlands, schemed with another political advisor to funnel political contributions to a 2016 presidential campaign from a Russian national seeking to meet and take a picture with the presidential candidate. Benton arranged for the Russian national – whose nationality Benton concealed from the campaign and the candidate – to attend a campaign fundraising event and to take a picture with the candidate.

As such attendance and engagement required a contribution, Benton caused the Russian national to wire $100,000 to Benton’s political consulting firm to make an illegal foreign contribution to the campaign. To disguise the scheme, Benton created a fake invoice, which falsely identified the funds as payment for consulting services. Benton acted as a straw donor and contributed $25,000 of the Russian national’s money to the campaign, falsely identified himself as the contributor, and pocketed the remaining $75,000. Because Benton falsely claimed to have given the contribution himself, the relevant campaign entities unwittingly filed reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that inaccurately reported Benton – instead of the Russian national – as the source of the funds.

In November 2022, Benton was convicted at trial of conspiring to solicit and cause an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign national, effecting a conduit contribution, and causing false records to be filed with the FEC.

Michael S. Flynn was sentenced on Feb. 10 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to fifteen months’ imprisonment and restitution of $1,062,155 for his participation in bid-rigging and fraud schemes targeting public and private entities in Connecticut. This is the seventh sentencing arising out of the investigation into the insulation contracting industry.

Covered entities under the California Consumer Privacy Act are on the cusp of long-awaited legal certainty regarding updated compliance efforts. The California Privacy Protection Agency Board voted 4-0 at its latest meeting to finalize its first set of proposed California Privacy Rights Act regulations. The final rulemaking package, which consists of the proposed regulations and a draft final statement of reasons from the CPPA, will soon be sent to the California Office of Administrative Law for review and approval. Barring…

  Author: Keri Bennett As of February 1, 2023, two new sections of the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FIPPA”) and associated regulations are in force. All public bodies governed by FIPPA in the province of British Columbia (generally speaking all government ministries and the broader public sector) are now required to report privacy breaches to individuals and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and develop a “privacy management program”. What is a privacy breach? A privacy breach is…

Actor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist have been formally charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set, according to court documents filed by prosecutors Tuesday. Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies filed the charging documents naming Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who supervised weapons on the set of the Western “Rust.” The filing comes nearly two weeks after she first announced that Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed would be prosecuted for what authorities…

The U.S. took a big step in the development of a national artificial intelligence strategy with the release of the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework 1.0, Jan. 26.

Required under the National AI Act of 2020, the framework is the product of 15 months of work by NIST scientists who compiled public comments from more than 240 AI stakeholders through multiple listening sessions and workshops, while producing two previous drafts of the document last year. The framework is voluntary but will help organizations deploying AI systems to enhance their trustworthiness and reduce biases, while protecting individuals™ privacy.

Along with the framework document, the NIST also released the AI RMF Playbook, which is expected to be updated every six months as best practices for navigating the framework develop, according to Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology and NIST Director Laurie Locascio.

The fate of Meta’s data transfers to the U.S. could hinge on an Article 65 dispute resolution mechanism in the EU, after Ireland’s Data Protection Commission was unable to resolve objections from other EU data protection authorities to its draft enforcement decision. Politico reporter Vincent Manancourt originally broke the news, which was then confirmed by the DPC in an email to The Privacy Advisor. “We haven’t been able to resolve the objections raised on our draft decision and have to…

The largest companies across the technology sector have been hit by tens of thousands of layoffs in recent months. Unable to maintain major growth experienced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many such companies look to cut back and privacy professionals have not been immune. Just last week, Google announced it is laying off 12,000 employees and Amazon notified employees of a second round of layoffs as part of a plan to reduce staff by 18,000 people. Earlier this…

With 2022 behind us, what will companies need to address for U.S. privacy laws in the first half of 2023? New regulations. The latest regulation drafts for California and Colorado have a number of requirements that differ from the statutes and may require changes to privacy operations and business practices. Here are nine areas that may require changes: 1. Adjusting individual rights receipt and response processes Both drafts specify how companies must receive individual rights requests, and when multiple methods…

Data anonymization is an important tool for organizations to protect the personal data of individuals, while averting the onerous requirements of the EU and U.K. General Data Protection Regulations. Unfortunately, guidance on this subject is often unclear, with standards for anonymization differing among jurisdictions. This article provides privacy practitioners with a concise guide to understanding these divergent approaches. It further discusses ways in which the European Data Protection Board, due to adopt anonymization guidelines as part of its 2021/2022 work programme,…

  In a civil complaint filed today, the Department of Justice alleges that AmerisourceBergen Corporation and two of its subsidiaries, AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation and Integrated Commercialization Solutions, LLC (together “AmerisourceBergen”), collectively one of the country’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors, violated federal law in connection with the distribution of controlled substances to pharmacies and other customers across the country, contributing to the prescription opioid epidemic. The complaint alleges that this unlawful conduct resulted in at least hundreds of thousands of violations…

  The Federal Trade Commission is ordering an end to illegal business tactics that Mastercard has been using to force merchants to route debit card payments through its payment network, and is requiring Mastercard to stop blocking the use of competing debit payment networks. Under a proposed FTC order, Mastercard will have to start providing competing networks with customer account information they need to process debit payments, reversing a practice the company allegedly had been using to keep them out…

  On 22 June 2022, the UK government introduced additional trade sanctions on Russia. The new measures introduce prohibitions on the export, supply and delivery, making available and transfer (as well as related technical assistance, financial services, funds and brokering services) of: internal repression goods and technology goods and technology relating to chemical and biological weapons maritime goods and technology additional oil refining goods and technology additional critical industry goods and technology Key aspects of the measures include: Jet fuel…

  Following weeks of negotiations, the European Council has agreed on the sixth package of Russia sanctions. Over the course of the European Council’s “special meeting”, held on the 30 and 31 May 2022, EU leaders agreed to ban most Russian oil imports, including crude oil and petroleum products. On the 2 and 3 June 2022, the legal acts were uploaded to the Official journal (see below).  The main elements of the package include: Oil The EU is prohibiting the…

  On 19 May 2022, the UK government announced new Russia sanctions, targeting Russian airlines. The measures are said to prevent Russian airlines from selling their unused landing slots at UK airports, said to be worth an estimated £50 million. The sanctioned airlines are:  •    Aeroflot; •    Ural Airlines; and  •    Rossiya Airlines. The government press release can be found here: UK targets Russian airlines with new sanctions – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) https://www.clydeco.com/en/insights/2022/05/uk-announces-new-russia-sanctions-2

  On 13 May 2022, the UK government announced new Russia sanctions, targeting 12 individuals said to be funding Vladimir Putin’s lifestyle. The measures are said to reflect the difficulties of sanctioning a President whose official assets are comparatively “modest”, including “a small flat in St Petersburg, 2 Soviet-era cars from the 1950s, a trailer, and a small garage”. Those sanctioned include: Alina Kabaeva, a retired Olympic gymnast and Chair of the Board of the National Media Group; Anna Zatseplina,…