Corruption Ledger

Panamanian authorities deported a group of migrants to Ecuador on a second flight financed by the United States, as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Panama to discourage irregular crossings and reduce the flow of mostly U.S.-bound migration.The flight carrying 30 Ecuadoreans departed on Thursday evening en route to the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador, Panama’s migration service said, adding the migrants were deported for evading a migration checkpoint on the popular Darien Gap route. Thousands of people…

The founder and chief executive officer of the messaging service Telegram was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other offences, French media reported Sunday. Pavel Durov, a dual citizen of France and Russia, was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday evening after landing in France from Azerbaijan, according to broadcasters LCI and TF1. Investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, attached to the French customs…

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos is due in court Monday afternoon, where a person familiar with the matter has said the New York Republican is expected to plead guilty to multiple counts in his federal fraud case. The person could not publicly discuss details of the plea and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Santos and his attorneys did not return requests for comment. The case has been set to go to trial early next month. The…

A prominent propaganda outlet in the Balkans, which is directly overseen by a British government agency that Reuters once labeled “an influential soft-power extension of UK foreign policy,” appears to be on the brink of collapse after a major schism between staff members and leadership. Leaked emails reviewed by The Grayzone reveal a “deep crisis” has engulfed the Western-created and funded Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), which threatens to tear the organization apart. A flagship propaganda platform in the arsenal…

Amazon is responsible under federal safety law for hazardous products sold on its platform by third-party sellers and shipped by the company, a U.S. government agency ordered Tuesday. In a unanimous vote, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said it determined that the e-commerce company was a “distributor” of faulty items sold on its site and packed and shipped through its fulfillment service. That means the company is on the hook, legally, for the recalls of more than 400,000 products, including…

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Tuesday it’s looking into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, adding fresh regulatory scrutiny to investment money flooding into the AI industry. The Competition and Markets Authority said it’s seeking comments as it considers whether the deal between the two companies has resulted in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the United Kingdom for AI services. The watchdog said it will accept feedback from “any interested party” until Aug. 13 before deciding…

Spanish authorities have granted an emergency request for the replica of an 18th-century Russian frigate to make a port call so that it can replenish provisions and replace broken parts, media reported Tuesday. The EU implemented a ban on Russian vessels docking at its ports as part of a broader sanctions package in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Russian frigate, called Shtandart, is captained by its builder Vladimir Martus, who last week accused French and Spanish authorities of blocking…

A dual citizen of the United States and Ghana will make his initial appearance today in the Eastern District of New York to face charges related to his participation in a scheme to bribe Ghanaian officials to obtain and retain business from the Republic of Ghana. Asante Kwaku Berko, 50, was extradited yesterday from the United Kingdom to the United States. According to court documents, between December 2014 and March 2017, Berko, an executive director in the Investment Banking Division…

PARIS (Reuters) -The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday it had launched a preliminary probe into allegations of illegal financing of far right National Rally (RN) leader Marine Le Pen’s campaign for the 2022 presidential race, which she lost to Emmanuel Macron. The investigation, which was opened on July 2, follows a 2023 report by the National Commission on Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP), which scrutinizes candidates’ election expenses and funding, the prosecutor’s office said. It will look into…

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland has expanded its sanctions against Russia to include additional measures recently taken up by the European Union against Moscow over its ongoing aggression against Ukraine, the Swiss government said on Tuesday. Pointing to a package of measures adopted by the EU against Russia on June 24, the Swiss economy ministry said in a statement that it would impose sanctions within its jurisdiction on a further 69 individuals and 86 entities. These sanctions mainly target “businesspersons, propagandists,…

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has announced he will resign after a broad left-leaning coalition took the most seats in Sunday’s runoff parliamentary election. The New Popular Front fell short of a majority but surged ahead of the far-right National Rally, which placed third behind the centrist party of President Emmanuel Macron. Voter turnout was high. The outcome leaves France facing the stunning prospect of a hung parliament and threatens political paralysis in a pillar of the European Union and…

(Reuters) – Similac baby formula maker Abbott is expected to face a trial on Monday over claims that its formula for preterm infants used in neonatal intensive care units causes a potentially deadly bowel disease, the second trial out of hundreds of similar lawsuits in the United States. Lawyers for the company and for Illinois resident Margo Gill will make their opening statements to jurors in St. Louis, Missouri, and the trial is expected to last most of the rest…

A judge declared a mistrial in the murder trial of Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused of drunkenly driving into her police officer boyfriend and leaving him to die in January 2022, in a case featuring accusations of a vast police cover-up and investigative misconduct. And the state trooper who helped lead the investigation – a man who admitted on the stand that he’d sent sexist and offensive text messages about the defendant to friends – was relieved of duty…

Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring has added journalist Artyom Kriger to its list of “terrorists and extremists,” his employer SOTAvision reported on Thursday. Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring has added journalist Artyom Kriger to its list of “terrorists and extremists,” his employer SOTAvisionreported on Thursday. Kriger, 23, was arrested last week on charges related to the “extremism” case against late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to SOTAvision, an independent news outlet. The journalist was accused of “participation in an extremist…

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s Justice Department announced Tuesday that it is suing at least 30 ex-government officials accused of corruption to recover more than $30 million in public funds. Among those sued are three former legislators, including María Milagros Charbonier, who was sentenced in May to eight years in federal prison after being found guilty of theft, bribery and a kickback scheme. “We are going to recover the Puerto Rican people’s money and claim an amount…

Wikileaks founder, publisher, journalist and DiEM25 founding member, Julian Assange, will reportedly enter into a plea deal with the United States prosecutors and be sentenced with time served.