Tag: Region US
Judge Bans Starbucks From Firing Union Supporters
A nationwide injunction restrains the company from dismissing labor organizers and could help reinstate ousted workers more quickly. A federal judge in Michigan issued an injunction on Friday banning Starbucks from firing U.S. workers because they seek to form a union or engage in other collective activities. The move is the first nationwide judicial mandate related to the labor campaign that has led to the unionization of more than 275 company-owned Starbucks stores in little more than a year. Starbucks…
Bayer: Supreme Court rules Bayer must return $252 mln in Roundup royalties
SAO PAULO, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Germany’s Bayer has been ordered by Brazil’s Supreme Court to return to Brazilian soybean farmers the royalties they were charged for a GMO soybean seed, the Mato Grosso farmer lobby Aprosoja-MT said in a statement on Friday. The Feb. 13 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Nunes Marques relates to a GMO technology commercially known as Intacta RR2 Pro, created by Monsanto, which was later acquired by Germany’s Bayer. Bayer said in a statement it…
Vivint Smart Home Inc: $189.7 million verdict for multiple illegal acts, misconduct
Home security provider Vivint Smart Home Inc owes rival CPI Security Systems Inc $189.7 million for tricking its customers into moving to Vivint’s service, a North Carolina jury decided Friday. The federal jury in Charlotte found Vivint sales representatives unlawfully deceived CPI customers into signing contracts with Vivint by falsely claiming that Vivint had bought the company. The jury said Provo, Utah-based Vivint violated federal trademark law, competed unfairly with CPI, interfered with CPI contracts and committed other misconduct. A…
Crypto exchange Binance pulls back on some US investments
Binance is considering ending business relationships with banks and services firms amid heightened scrutiny.
Wave of raids, arrests target government critics in Tunisia
The crackdown on opponents of President Saied has sparked international criticism and fears of a return to autocracy.
Political Consultant Jessie R. Benton (Texas) Sentenced for Scheme: Illegal Foreign Campaign Contribution
According to court documents, Jessie R. Benton, 45, of The Woodlands, schemed with another political advisor to funnel political contributions to a 2016 presidential campaign from a Russian national seeking to meet and take a picture with the presidential candidate. Benton arranged for the Russian national – whose nationality Benton concealed from the campaign and the candidate – to attend a campaign fundraising event and to take a picture with the candidate.
As such attendance and engagement required a contribution, Benton caused the Russian national to wire $100,000 to Benton’s political consulting firm to make an illegal foreign contribution to the campaign. To disguise the scheme, Benton created a fake invoice, which falsely identified the funds as payment for consulting services. Benton acted as a straw donor and contributed $25,000 of the Russian national’s money to the campaign, falsely identified himself as the contributor, and pocketed the remaining $75,000. Because Benton falsely claimed to have given the contribution himself, the relevant campaign entities unwittingly filed reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that inaccurately reported Benton – instead of the Russian national – as the source of the funds.
In November 2022, Benton was convicted at trial of conspiring to solicit and cause an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign national, effecting a conduit contribution, and causing false records to be filed with the FEC.
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.: Senior Oil and Gas Trader and Brazil-Based Intermediary Charged in Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme
An indictment was unsealed today in the District of Connecticut charging a Connecticut man and a foreign national with conspiracy, multiple counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and money laundering in connection with an alleged scheme to pay bribes to Brazilian officials to win contracts with Brazil’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (Petrobras).
Former JTF2 sniper Dallas Alexander: Canadian military investigates “unauthorized release of JTF2 sniper video” aired by podcaster Shawn Ryan
For journalistic integrity, we note that podcaster Shawn Ryan has commented on this article: This is typical media today. How can people not see how biased this article is? The Canadian SOF unit was the only one offered a statement, neither Dallas nor myself was contacted in any way, shape or form. @ShawnRyanShow https://t.co/L1mfeppZ8y — Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyan762) February 16, 2023 The Canadian military has demanded a U.S. podcaster remove parts of an interview with a former JTF2 commando as well as classified…
The Federal Reserve Acts on BSA Failures Related to PPP Loan Fraud
On January 24, 2023, the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) assessed a second-tier[1] civil penalty of $2.3 million against New York-based Popular Bank (or the “Bank”) for unsafe and unsound practices related to six Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans. According to the FRB, the Bank processed and funded these loans despite detecting significant indicia of fraud……
Russia surrounds Bakhmut as Ukraine sends in troops
Ukraine faced its toughest week so far this year on the eastern front, where its defenders lost more ground to Russian forces but committed enormous resources to holding Bakhmut, a coal-mining town that has acquired emblematic importance to both sides. Russian troops have been launching probing attacks on a wide front in Donetsk, half of which they now occupy. But their main effort has been to take Bakhmut, whose eastern outskirts they hold. “[We are] storming house by house, square metre by square metre. Hard…
Norwegian Intelligence Service: Russia deploys ships carrying tactical nuclear weaponry in the Baltic
Russia began deploying ships with tactical nuclear weaponry in the Baltic Sea for the first time in the past 30 years, the Norwegian Intelligence Service reported Tuesday in its annual report. The document was published on the same day Moscow denied an alleged plan to destabilize neighboring Moldova, which closed its airspace in response, at a time when experts, including the report’s authors, fear a possible escalation of the war in Ukraine. In the 72-page document, the Norwegian Intelligence Service…
Michael S. Flynn Sentenced to Fifteen Months in Prison and Ordered to Pay more than $1 Million to Victims of Bid Rigging and Fraud
Michael S. Flynn was sentenced on Feb. 10 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to fifteen months’ imprisonment and restitution of $1,062,155 for his participation in bid-rigging and fraud schemes targeting public and private entities in Connecticut. This is the seventh sentencing arising out of the investigation into the insulation contracting industry.
Two Amazon Marketplace Sellers and Four Companies Plead Guilty to Price Fixing DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs
Two Amazon marketplace sellers and four of their companies have pleaded guilty to price fixing DVDs and Blu Ray Discs. On Feb. 10 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Bruce Fish of Hayfield, Minnesota, along with BDF Enterprises, Inc., a corporate entity owned by Fish, admitted to participating in a conspiracy to fix the prices of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs sold on the Amazon marketplace. Victor Btesh of Brooklyn, New York, and three New York corporate…
Congressional Scrutiny of ‘Big Tech’ Builds on Bipartisan China Focus
About this time last year, we offered some insight on Economic Espionage and Theft of Trade Secrets, which included a primer on economic espionage, case examples, and avoidance strategies. We observed that “[w]hile the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has identified China, Russia, and Iran as the three states most capable of committing.
