Tag: Corruption

Litigation Release No. 25369 / April 15, 2022 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Damon Elliott, et al., Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-10860 (District of Massachusetts, Filed May 6, 2020) Final judgments against defendant Damon Elliott, United Kingdom citizen and French resident Civil action charged that Elliott engaged in a Ponzi scheme and misappropriated money from investors, as well as against multiple relief defendants. Among other things, Elliott has been ordered to pay a total of $6,445,837. The court also recently entered judgments…

From Amy Goodman, Democracy Now – 12 Apr 2022 In Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick, ProPublica investigative reporter J. David McSwane tracks pandemic federal relief funds and finds many contracts to acquire critical supplies were wrapped up in unprecedented fraud schemes that left the U.S. government with subpar and unusable equipment. He says an array of contractors were “trying to take advantage of our national emergency,” and calls the book “a blueprint…

Positive content published on the private Monero / XMR cryptocurrency was once hard to come by, what with all the focus on crime and money laundering. It’s worth noting that Monero is a private currency for regular people who value the fundamental right to privacy. We archived some of the positive sources, as such articles tend to disappear shortly after publishing. Even the Wayback Machine failed to archive one of these. XMR Crypto Prices Spike as Monero Bulls Coordinate Mass…

ExxonMobil (XOM.N) has suspended its liquefied natural gas project in Russia’s Far East, Interfax news agency quoted a Russian governor as saying on Monday, after the firm announced plans to quit the country following Western sanctions. ExxonMobil said last month it would exit its Russian oil and gas operations, which it had valued at more than $4 billion, and halt new investment due to sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. read more The decision would see Exxon pull out of managing…

  On April 6, 2022, the US imposed full blocking sanctions on Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank, by designating Sberbank and 42 of its subsidiaries as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs).  According to the US Treasury Department, Sberbank holds approximately one-third of all bank assets in Russia. Also on April 6, 2022, the US imposed full blocking sanctions on Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest private bank.  Alfa -Bank, six of its subsidiaries, and five 5 vessels owned by an Alfa-Bank subsidiary have also…

S&P Global Inc violated Russian sanctions (E.O. 13662) by receiving payment from sanctioned Russian Rosneft. S&P didn’t voluntarily disclose the violation and received $82,500. They settled with OFAC for $78,750. Here’s the press release.

Germany shuts down servers for Russian darknet marketplace Hydra and seizes $25.2 million USD in Bitcoin. (WAPO) The illegal marketplace was a Russian-language Darknet platform that had been accessible via the Tor network since at least 2015. Their focus was on trading in illegal narcotics. In addition, data spied out worldwide, forged documents and digital services were offered profitably via the platform. (theRecord) Hydra also offered stolen databases, forged documents, and hacking for hire services—including murder, apparently. (see for instance…

The Justice Department has filed a complaint against two laboratory CEOs, one hospital CEO and other individuals and entities, alleging False Claims Act violations based on patient referrals in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law, as well as claims otherwise improperly billed to federal healthcare programs for laboratory testing. According to the United States’ complaint, laboratory executives and employees at True Health Diagnostics LLC (THD) and Boston Heart Diagnostics Corporation (BHD) allegedly conspired with small Texas hospitals,…

Key takeaways Russian and Belarusian individuals and entities are subject to extensive asset freezes and travel bans under Australian law. The export of alumina, aluminium ores, and aluminium hydroxide to Russia is banned Australian businesses with ties to Russian energy or telecommunication industries need to assess their exposure to these sectors as specific sectoral sanctions will apply from 28 March 2022. Bans on the import of oil and other energy products from Russia will apply from 25 April 2022 Australian…

The new president of Interpol has been placed under investigation in France over allegations of “torture” and “acts of barbarism”. Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi has been accused by an NGO of mistreating one of the main opponents of the Emirati regime. France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (Pnat) has opened a preliminary investigation, AFP sources reported on Friday. Al-Raisi was only appointed Interpol’s president in November, despite backlash from several human rights groups that he undermined the organisation’s mission. He has also served…

Deutsche Bank AG fired a number of top bankers in New York after a tab run up at a strip club was expensed as legitimate business spending, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Ben Darsney, former Americas head of equity capital markets, Ravi Raghunathan, Brandon Sun and Daniel Gaona were fired after seeking reimbursement for a restaurant visit, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Once the bank discovered the issue, it decided…

As reported by Times of Israel and X, Ukranian President Zelensky said that “Uman was brutally bombed where hundreds of thousands of Jews come every year to pray,” referring to the Hasidic pilgrimage site in central Ukraine. “Then Babyn Yar, where hundreds of thousands of Jews were executed.” And despite reports, the rocket that damaged the Kyiv TV tower did not in fact harm the Babyn Yar memorial, located in an adjacent area, according to a veteran Israeli journalist, Ron Ben…

The UK Government has today (11 March 2022) announced sanctions against 386 members of the Russian parliament who voted to recognise two rebel-held regions in Eastern Ukraine Luhansk and Donetsk, as independent. The announcement means that 400 of the 450 members of Russia’s Duma, are now subject to British sanctions. The sanctions include asset freezes, UK travel bans and a prohibition on conducting business in the UK. UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, explained that the sanctions were intended to target…