Corruption Ledger

In a decision issued on December 9, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted the request of the Justice Department to direct John Sweeney and his company, Point Buckler Club LLC, to restore sensitive tidal channels and marsh they unlawfully harmed. The court’s decision follows an earlier order dated Sept. 1, 2020, when the court found defendants committed “very serious” violations of the Clean Water Act associated with the construction of a nearly mile-long levee without…

Publicly filed court documents, including a 16-count indictment unsealed today in Brooklyn, charge five Russian nationals – including a suspected Federal Security Service (FSB) officer – and two U.S. nationals with conspiracy and other charges related to a global procurement and money laundering scheme on behalf of the Russian government in which the defendants allegedly conspired to obtain military-grade and dual-use technologies from U.S. companies for Russia’s defense sector, and to smuggle sniper rifle ammunition, in violation of new U.S….

Danske Bank A/S (Danske Bank), a global financial institution headquartered in Denmark, pleaded guilty today and agreed to forfeit $2 billion to resolve the United States’ investigation into Danske Bank’s fraud on U.S. banks. According to court documents, Danske Bank defrauded U.S. banks regarding Danske Bank Estonia’s customers and anti-money laundering controls to facilitate access to the U.S. financial system for Danske Bank Estonia’s high-risk customers, who resided outside of Estonia – including in Russia. The Justice Department will credit…

The investigation and enforcement of potential sanctions violations by crypto exchanges is an area of focus in the US at present.  The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) recent settlement with Kraken, a global virtual currency exchange, is the most recent OFAC case demonstrating the risks for virtual currency platforms that process transactions without comprehensive sanctions controls.  Kraken agreed to pay USD 362,158.70 to settle its potential civil liability for alleged breaches of the Iranian…

States must apply effective arms-control measures to prevent the diversion of weapons supplied to Ukraine, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as some Council members defended their decision to continue providing military support to Kyiv while others detailed the danger of doing so. Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, said that the transfer of materiel to Ukraine by several States since the Russian Federation’s invasion on 24 February is a matter of public record.  Information from…

A federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois convicted a former trader at JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse today of fraud in connection with a spoofing scheme in the gold and silver futures markets. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Christopher Jordan, 51, of Mountainside, New Jersey, was an executive director and trader on JPMorgan’s precious metals desk in New York from 2006 to 2009, and on Credit Suisse’s precious metals desk in New York in…

On November 25, 2022, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (“DPC”) released a decision fining Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”) €265 million for a 2019 data leak involving the personal information of approximately 533 million Facebook users worldwide. In the decision, the DPC argued that Meta failed to comply with the GDPR’s requirement of providing privacy “by design and default” when it failed to prevent the disclosure of users’ phone numbers, email addresses, full names, dates of birth and other personal information on…

FRANFORT, Ky. — A Florida company, Modern Therapy, LLC, was sentenced on Friday to pay a $2.5 million fine by U.S. District Judge Gregory VanTatenhove for the unlawful distribution of anabolic steroids. Modern Therapy operated out of Hallandale Beach, Florida.  According to its plea agreement, it marketed anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and related products to customers over the Internet.  Anabolic steroids are a Schedule III controlled substance and may only be issued pursuant to a valid prescription for a…

On November 28, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced a settlement agreement with Payward, Inc., known as Kraken (“Kraken”), a United States-based virtual currency exchange. Kraken agreed to pay $362,158.70 to resolve its potential civil liability for 826 apparent violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (“Apparent Violations”). The settlement amount is significantly less than the statutory maximum civil monetary penalty of $272,228,964, reflecting OFAC’s determination that the Apparent Violations were non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed, thereby…

A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Andrii Derkach, 55, of Ukraine, with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Acts (IEEPA), bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and four counts of money laundering in connection with the purchase and maintenance of two condominiums in Beverly Hills, California. Derkach allegedly concealed his interest in the transactions and violated sanctions imposed in 2020. Derkach remains at large. The charges and forfeiture action announced today include…

BOSTON – A former co-owner of the now-defunct New England Compounding Center (NECC) was sentenced today in federal court in Boston in connection with conspiring to defraud the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Gregory Conigliaro, 57, of Southborough, Mass. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to one year in prison and one year of supervised release. In December 2018, Conigliaro was convicted following a 41-day jury trial of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United…

“The military continues to hold proceedings in secretive courts in violation of basic principles of fair trial and contrary to core judicial guarantees of independence and impartiality”, Volker Türk added, calling for the suspension of all executions and a return to a moratorium on death penalty. Dealing out death  On Wednesday, a military court sentenced at least seven university students to death. “Military courts have consistently failed to uphold any degree of transparency contrary to the most basic due process…

ABB Ltd. (ABB), a Swiss-based global technology company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with core businesses focused on electrification, automation, motion, and robotics has agreed to pay more than $315 million to resolve an investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) stemming from the bribery of a high-ranking official at South Africa’s state-owned energy company. The Department of Justice’s resolution is coordinated with prosecutorial authorities in South Africa and Switzerland, as well as the U.S….

Stuart Alderoty, General Counsel for Ripple, stated in a tweet that BlockFi’s problem is another regulation by-enforcement success story of the SEC. The counsel asserted that the $100 million enforcement fine that the SEC charged BlockFi contributed to the firm’s bankruptcy. He also raised questions about the $270 million loan outstanding and some unknown amounts owed to BlockFi by FTX. The lawyer further stated that there is no record of the loan unpaid, including the unknown amounts owed to BlockFi…

Please note that Bittrex is a crypto exchange / trading platform. Crypto exchanges are like merchants that sell and trade cryptocurrencies, while cryptocurrencies (like Monero, Bitcoin, ZCash, etc.) are the ‘products’ sold by the merchants. The failure of a merchant does not entail that there is a failure in the product. Cryptocurrency experts recommend that if you are going to own any cryptocurrency, you should never leave it on an exchange. Keep it on a hard wallet such as Ledger…