Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the bank of overstating how much progress it had made in fixing the unlawful practices that regulators said had hurt millions of customers. The agreement, detailed in court filings on Monday, is the latest in a succession of settlements and penalties…
Category: corporate crime
What Does the EU’s $414 Million Fine Mean for Meta and Social Media?
Matt Steib reports in New York Magazine: 2022 was a rough year for Meta with shares of Mark Zuckerberg’s company dropping 64 percent by the end of December. And so far 2023 isn’t going much better. On Wednesday, European Union regulators determined that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — all owned by Meta, which is based in Ireland for tax…
Agenda – ‘Egregious and Brazen’ – Former CEO Arrested
Former FTE Networks CEO Michael Palleschi was arrested in New York for what authorities claim was a “years-long scheme to inflate FTE’s revenue, to conceal liabilities and expenses, and to embezzle company funds.” The company’s former chief financial officer, David Lethem, was arrested in Florida on the same charges. The pair of former executives was…
FirstEnergy Board Must Face Investor Suit Over Bribery Scheme
FirstEnergy Corp.’s directors and officers must face a shareholder derivative suit stemming from their alleged involvement in a bribery, racketeering, and pay-to-play scheme with Ohio politicians, after a federal court in that state found enough support Tuesday for allegations of false or misleading statements or omissions. The allegations that the leadership misrepresented or failed to…
How to Actually Prosecute the Worst Financial Crimes – The Atlantic
We agree with the diagnosis but would recommend a stronger proposal for change than “get smart people and try harder.” Too often, as in the financial meltdown, wealthy people are able to shape the law to make it impossible to prosecute them. I spent 27 years fighting white-collar crime and corruption at the Department of…
Public Citizen Report Finds That Corporate Prosecutions Plunged to a 25-Year Low Final Year of Trump Administration – Public Citizen
Corporate impunity increased to record levels during President Trump’s last year in office, when federal prosecutions of corporate criminals fell to just 94 – the lowest on record since the government started tracking corporate prosecution statistics in 1996 – while corporate leniency agreements increased to 45, the highest in Trump’s four years, a new Public…
Carlos Ghosn feared dismissal if Renault discovered scale of Nissan salary, court told | Financial Times
Carlos Ghosn feared Renault would sack him if the true scale of his Nissan salary were disclosed, according to court testimony by the whistleblower who triggered the downfall of the former automotive supremo. Hari Nada, the former head of legal affairs, appeared in public on Thursday for the first time since Mr Ghosn’s arrest in…
McKinsey Proposed Paying Pharmacy Companies Rebates for OxyContin Overdoses – The New York Times
Similar to the revelations about FTI Consulting acting on behalf of fossil fuel companies, the disclosures of McKinsey’s role in promoting opiate use for the now criminally convicted Perdue show a shocking disregard for the well-being of the consumers of their client’s products. The fact that they urged Perdue to destroy documents makes it clear…
Bausch Health Agrees to Pay $45 Million to Settle SEC Dispute – WSJ
Bausch Health Cos BHC -3.08% . agreed Friday to pay $45 million to resolve regulatory claims that it improperly booked some revenue and misled investors about the impact of a significant price increase on a single drug. The Securities and Exchange Commission said three former executives also agreed to pay penalties to settle the agency’s…
Two senators demand answers from Wells Fargo following NBC News reports
Citing a recent investigation by NBC News, two U.S. senators have asked the chief executive of Wells Fargo to answer extensive questions about the bank’s practice of pausing mortgage payments for borrowers without their consent under a federal program designed to help homeowners financially hurt by COVID-19. The senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Brian…
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