Corruption Ledger

The US Navy’s air command post, the E-6B Mercury “doomsday plane,” has landed in Iceland during operations in the US European Command area.

The Justice Department announced today that it filed statements of interest in Espin et al. v. Citibank, N.A. and Padao v. American Express National Bank, two lawsuits currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, to address the right of the nation’s servicemembers to bring and participate in class action litigation under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) instead of being forced into privatized arbitration proceedings on their own.

Two Kansas men were arrested today on charges related to a years-long scheme to circumvent U.S. export laws that included the illegal export of aviation-related technology to Russia after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and the imposition of stricter restrictions on exports to Russia.

An indictment was unsealed today charging Terren S. Peizer, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ontrak Inc., a publicly traded health care company, for allegedly engaging in an insider trading scheme in which he fraudulently used Rule 10b5-1 trading plans to trade Ontrak stock. “Mr. Peizer is accused of using his insider knowledge as CEO of a publicly traded company to line his own pockets in violation of his duty to his company and its shareholders,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. “Mr. Peizer allegedly exploited material nonpublic information and tried to shield himself with a rule designed to ensure a fair and level playing field for all investors. With this indictment, we again affirm that the law applies equally to all and that corporate executives who unlawfully denigrate the integrity of our financial markets will be held accountable.”

NATO membership for Finland and Sweden is “a top priority,” alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, urging members Turkey and Hungary to urgently ratify the Nordic countries’ accession.   Stoltenberg told a news conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Helsinki that progress is being made on securing membership for the two countries, but didn’t disclose details. “I am absolutely confident that both Finland and Sweden will become members of NATO,” he added.   “My message has been for…

China has ordered closer adherence to the dictates of the ruling Communist Party and leader Xi Jinping in legal education, demanding that schools “oppose and resist Western erroneous views” such as constitutional government, separation of powers, and judicial independence. The order was dated Sunday, a week before China’s ceremonial parliament begins its annual session and reinforces the leading role on ideology assumed by Xi, who is named no less than 25 times in the document. Already China’s most powerful leader…

A 31-year-old Toronto man is facing 96 charges related to sexual assault of children in person as well as on social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, police in Canada said on Wednesday. The charges against Daniel Langdon include 39 counts of sexual assault, 39 counts of sexual interference, as well as allegations of making and possessing child pornography, Toronto Police said in a statement. Victims were aged between seven and 17. Police have declined to say how many…

One drone crashed 100 km from Moscow on Tuesday, according to the regional governor.

Interest payments for German government debt have jumped tenfold since 2021, says Finance Minister Christian Lindner

The NATO bloc is effectively at war with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, citing nonstop Western arms and intelligence support.

Today, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint under Section 303 of the Clean Air Act against Denka Performance Elastomer LLC (Denka) to compel Denka to significantly reduce hazardous chloroprene emissions from its neoprene manufacturing facility in LaPlace, Louisiana.

Researchers say the pipeline explosions stirred up chemical waste and threaten cod and porpoise populations. The destruction of Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines did not just cut off the flow of Russian natural gas to western Europe, it killed and poisoned the already endangered fish and marine mammal species in the Baltic Sea, says a new report by Danish, Polish and German scientists.

Last week, Canada’s federal privacy watchdog and its provincial counterparts in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec announced an investigation to delve into whether the app complies with Canadian privacy legislation. Canadian Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said the federal government will also block the app from being downloaded on official devices in the future.

Oil supplies to Poland were halted due to the failure to pay for transit, Russian oil transport company Transneft has announced

Crypto exchanges Huobi and KuCoin, both based in Seychelles, failed to take steps to prevent sanctioned Russian banks from using their platforms, according to a report from the blockchain analytics firm Inca Digital provided to POLITICO. Both exchanges still allow traders to transact with debit cards issued by sanctioned Russian banks, including Sberbank, on their peer-to-peer platforms, according to the report, which will be published later today.

While neither exchange actually accepts funds from blacklisted banks, letting crypto buyers trade with each other using accounts with sanctioned institutions represents a “direct violation of U.S. and European sanctions with a little bit of a loophole,” Inca CEO Adam Zarazinski said in an interview.

Support for Kyiv serves the US’s ‘strategic interests’ against security threats posed by Putin’s Russia, analysts say.