Tag: Region US

US judge rejects Boeing plea deal in fatal crashes

A U.S. federal judge on Thursday rejected Boeing’s agreement to plead guilty to fraud in the wake of two fatal 737 MAX crashes, court documents showed. Boeing and the Justice Department now have 30 days to update the court on how they plan to proceed in the case, Judge Reed C. O’Connor of the Northern District Court of Texas ordered….

McKinsey & Company Africa to Pay Over $122M in Connection with Bribery of South African Government Officials

McKinsey and Company Africa (Pty) Ltd (McKinsey Africa), which operates in South Africa as a wholly owned and controlled subsidiary of international consulting firm McKinsey & Company Inc. (McKinsey), will pay over $122 million to resolve an investigation by the Justice Department into a scheme to pay bribes to government officials in South Africa between 2012 and 2016. The guilty…

Maryland officials failed to properly oversee prisoner health care contracts

Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has failed to properly manage and oversee contracts with private companies that provide medical and mental health care to prisoners in state-run detention facilities, according to a newly released audit. The failures resulted in hundreds of missed evaluations for suicide risk and a shortage of mental health exams, among other problems. The…

Jackson, Mississippi, Officials Aren’t the First to Stay in Office Amid Corruption Charges

Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens II walked briskly toward a crowd of TV cameras and reporters on the steps of the federal courthouse in Jackson last week to denounce what he called a “horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation” and an “assassination attempt on my character.” Owens, the top elected law enforcement official for Mississippi’s largest county…

California voters reject measure that would have banned forced prison labor

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters have rejected a measure on the November ballot that would have amended the state constitution to ban forced prison labor. The constitution already prohibits so-called involuntary servitude, but an exception allows it to be used as a punishment for crime. That exemption became a target of criminal justice advocates concerned that prisoners are often…

China’s Huawei Technologies seeks dismissal of US criminal charges

NEW YORK – Huawei Technologies asked a US judge to dismiss much of a federal indictment accusing the Chinese telecommunications company of trying to steal technology secrets from US rivals and misleading banks about its business in Iran. In a Friday night filing in federal court in Brooklyn, Huawei said there was no proof of a conspiracy, calling the charge…

Six Charged in Scheme to Defraud the Federal Government

Six defendants have been charged for their roles in schemes to rig bids, defraud the government and pay bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sale of IT products and services to federal government purchasers, which resulted in overcharges of millions of dollars to the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense (DoD). On Oct. 9 and Oct. 16, a…

U.S. Navy Reserve Officer Jeromy Pittmann Sentenced for Bribery Involving Department of State, Special Immigrant Visas

A U.S. Navy Reserve Commander from Florida was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for his role in a years-long bribery scheme involving Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghan nationals. According to court documents and evidence submitted at trial, Jeromy Pittmann, 53, of Pensacola, accepted bribe payments from Afghan nationals in exchange for drafting, submitting, and verifying fraudulent letters…

US approves $2 billion in arms sales to Taiwan including advanced missile defense system

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The United States has approved $2 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, including the first-time delivery to the self-ruled island of an advanced surface-to-air missile defense system, in a move sure to anger China. Taiwan’s presidential office on Saturday thanked Washington for greenlighting the potential arms sales. Under the island’s new president, Lai Ching-te, Taiwan has…

Global financiers head to Saudi Arabia investment bash in shadow of war

Global financiers are poised to flock to Saudi Arabia’s annual flagship investment conference next week as a tightening of the kingdom’s purse strings and a deepening of regional conflict cloud the outlook. Among those expected to descend on the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh are top CEOs, including Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser and…

Deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders sickens 49 people in 10 states

E. coli food poisoning linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states, including one person who died and 10 who were hospitalized, federal health officials said Tuesday. The death was reported in an older person in Colorado, and one child has been hospitalized with severe kidney complications, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control…

Raytheon Company to Pay Over $950M in Connection with Defective Pricing, Foreign Bribery, and Export Control Schemes

Raytheon Company (Raytheon) — a subsidiary of Arlington, Virginia-based defense contractor RTX (formerly known as Raytheon Technologies Corporation) — will pay over $950 million to resolve the Justice Department’s investigations into: (i) a major government fraud scheme involving defective pricing on certain government contracts and (ii) violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its…

Ainet CEO Indicted for Major Fraud and Making False Statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment yesterday charging a Maryland man with major fraud against the United States and making false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his alleged participation in a scheme to deceive the SEC into thinking his company’s data center was certified at the highest rating level…

TD Bank Fined for Crypto Ties with UK and Colombia

According to a report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Oct. 10th, TD Bank’s U.S. wing agreed to pay over $3 billion in penalties. The fine was for failing to properly monitor money laundering activities. The bank has also accepted limits on its future growth in the U.S. FinCEN found that TD Bank facilitated over $1 billion in…

Massive U.S. fine against TD Bank highlights relatively modest penalties in Canada

TORONTO — The more than US$3-billion settlement TD Bank Group has reached with U.S. regulators for its failures to oversee money laundering risks has underlined what some say are relatively weak enforcement options in Canada. Denis Meunier, president of DMeunier Consulting Inc. and a former deputy director of Fintrac, said fines in Canada have to increase significantly to provide adequate…

TD Bank hit with US$3bn fine, pleads guilty to criminal charges

Canada-based financial institution TD Bank has announced its agreement to pay over USD 3 billion, pleading guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering in the US. As detailed by regulators, the fine follows TD Bank’s failure to appropriately monitor money laundering by drug cartels and other criminals, allowing them to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful funds….