Prime Time Crime |
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Corporate Scandals
page 1 |
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Greed and Corruption
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Regulators |
Global Meltdown |
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US corporate taxes
NEW YORK - The corporate tax rate
is 35%. But an examination of 280 of the nation's largest corporations
suggests that many aren't paying anything close to that. (CNN)
REPORT:
Corporate US tax dodgers 2008-2010
.pdf MORE:
Big US firms avoid taxes
1 in 15 now rank as poorest poor
Why prosecutors don't go after Wall Street
US debt clock
FBI raids
SAN
FRANCISCO - The FBI has confirmed that federal agents are conducting a
search this morning at the offices of
Solyndra, the now-bankrupt California solar power company that
received $535M in federal loans under a green energy program touted by
President Obama. (ABC) MORE:
Politically connected solar company
FBI searches offices |
Tax breaks don't work
Ottawa should dramatically cut its
generous research and development tax breaks and plow the cash back into
targeted grants for businesses, according to a new study by the
University of Toronto’s
Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation.
(Globe & Mail)
Innovation underperformance
Corruption charges
LONDON - A Canadian billionaire with ties to
powerful business and world leaders, including Bill Clinton and Tony
Blair, has been arrested in Britain and is facing corruption charges.
Police allege that the payments were in connection with contracts with
US aluminum maker
Alcoa Inc., for supplies of alumina
shipped to
Aluminum Bahrain, a smelting company
with a majority state ownership. (CP) MORE:
Bahrain chases losses
Victor Dahdaleh |

PENDRAGON
Consulting Services
Specialists in
Anti-Money
Laundering &
Counter Terrorist
Financing Guidance |
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Fines in bribery case
NEW YORK - The US hit
Deutsche Telekom and a Hungarian
subsidiary with $95M in fines to settle charges they bribed officials in
Macedonia to gain a business
advantage. (AFP) MORE:
Deutsche Telekom settles
Addicted to welfare
TORONTO - The
Fraser Institute says Ontario
governments of all political stripes spent more than $27.7B on direct
subsidies to corporations between 1991 and 2009. (CP) REPORT:
Ontario's Corporate Welfare Bill
Diamond 'cartel'
VANCOUVER - A BC court will hear a
lawsuit accusing international diamond behemoth
De Beers and other diamond
producers of a conspiracy to fix prices for the precious jewels. (CTV)
Contractors
owed millions
CHARLOTTETOWN - A
group of PEI companies who built the new Holman Grand Hotel have filed
liens against the building, with the company that built it having filed
for creditor protection. (CBC) PREVIOUS:
Government loans $30M to Homburg companies
Holman Grand Hotel
Massive abuse of process
VANCOUVER - The giant computer
company
Cisco Systems
and US prosecutors deceived Canadian authorities and courts in a massive
abuse of process to have a former executive thrown in jail, says a BC
Supreme Court judge. (Vancouver Sun) PREVIOUS: US
prosecutors duped BC court
Engineer who sued Cisco
faces charges
Gold-refining tax scam
MONTREAL - The alleged network is accused of evading more than $150M dollars in
provincial tax on $1.8B in sales revenue - and also cheating Ottawa out
of its GST take. (CTV) MORE:
High profile gold trader probed
Gold trader denies fraud
KITCO
$1M+ fine
TORONTO - Helen and Paul Kuszper of Mississauga, ON,
admitted to insider trading and making false statements to the OSC.
(CP) RELATED:
Former MP settles with OSC
Alleged Ponzi scheme
HALIFAX - Quintin Earl Sponagle, former
head of Jabez Financial Services, is facing three counts of fraud over
$5,000 and one count of theft over $5,000. (CBC)
Debt resettlement warning
Canadian consumer groups are
warning about
Vortex Debt Group,
a US based debt resettlement company that is now operating in Canada,
following numerous complaints from consumers who allege they were left
with less money and more debt. (CBC)
FTC lawsuit
SEATTLE - In a
complaint (.pdf) filed with the US District
Court in Seattle this week, the FTC alleges Alberta-born Jesse Willms,
several business partners, and 10 companies controlled by Willms, lured
consumers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand into
bogus “free” or “risk-free” online trial offers for products. (Toronto Star) MORE:
Jesse Willms
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Losses for decades
TOKYO - Japan’s
Olympus admitted it hid losses on
securities investments dating back to the 1980s, bowing to weeks of
pressure to explain a series of baffling transactions that have put the
future of the firm in doubt. (Reuters) PREVIOUS:
Huge fees
Drama with plenty of twists
Breach of trust
Zooming in on the scandal
Michael Woodford
Development scandal
LONDON - The
City of London Corporation has invested
at least £100M ($160M) of public money in land purchases that opponents
claim will enhance the value of neighbouring developments by the
property company that employs the lord mayor. (Guardian UK)
Michael Bear
Hammerson
Alleged fraud
MONTREAL - Provincial police
have arrested and charged an unlicensed financier south of Quebec City
in an alleged fraud that bilked about 50 investors of $12.5M. (QMI)
Fraud allegations
VANCOUVER - The
analysis, published on the blogsite, Alfred Little, accuses
Silvercorp Metals Inc, a Vancouver-based company that operates two
silver, lead, and zinc mines in China, of grossly inflating the value of
its mining output in its reports to Canadian and US regulators. (Tyee)
MORE:
Silvercorp stung by report
BC securities commission probe
Trading halted
TORONTO
- The OSC has ordered that shares in troubled timber company
Sino-Forest be halted until January. (Toronto Star)
REPORT:
Muddy Waters Research: Sino-Forest
.pdf
Execs ordered to resign
Hair-restoration scam
VANCOUVER - Ronald James Conn and his wife Sze Man "Ella"
Conn were arrested after a lengthy investigation by the BC Security
Commission's Criminal Investigations Team and the VPD. (CTV)
MORE:
Couple charged
Gang rape allegations
Toronto-based
HudBay Minerals
said Tuesday that it will investigate allegations that security
personnel, along with members of the police and military, attacked and
gang-raped several women in 2007 during efforts to clear people from
lands near a mining project in Guatemala. (CP)
Don't drink and buy
LONDON -
PVM Oil
Futures trader Steve Perkins bought 7M barrels of crude in
late-night trading binge on his laptop, driving the oil price to an
eight-month high. (Telegraph UK)
Price fixing lawsuit
VANCOUVER - Two law firms say they have filed a class
action lawsuit against Visa, MasterCard, and some of the country's
biggest banks, alleging they worked together to fix prices charged to
merchants. (CP)
Germany fines food companies
BERLIN - Three food companies,
Dr Oetker,
units of
Kraft Foods
and
Unilever,
have been fined 38M euros ($53.2M) for sharing sensitive competitive
information, a German watchdog said. (AFP)
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Another Ponzi
guilty plea
MIAMI - Juan Carlos
Horna Napolitano, 40, a Venezuelan citizen residing in Florida, pleaded
guilty to one
count of conspiracy to obstruct official proceeding of the US SEC, in relation to the ongoing SEC investigation of
a $500M Ponzi scheme relating to Venezuela's PDVSA Worker Retirement
Funds. (EFE) PREVIOUS:
Accountant pleads guilty
Latest scandal
Hedge fund exec admits guilt
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Destructuring
It’s
been seven years since Conrad Black and a small group of his former
business associates were ousted from
Hollinger Inc.
Meanwhile, the company has paid an estimated $145M for
inspection-related costs, restructuring and professional fees since
2004. Despite the running tab, Hollinger still hasn’t recovered much.
In fact, it has spent more money on professional advisors to clean house
than it has recovered for stakeholders. (Financial Post) |
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Mining
oversight office
OTTAWA - In October
2009, the federal government appointed
Marketa Evans as the country's first
"counsellor" (CSR)
on the subject of corporate social responsibility in the mining sector.
After two years, her taxpayer-funded office has accepted only two cases
for review. (PostMedia)
Bribe allegation
Blackfire Exploration
Bribery probe
Mounties probe mining firm
Raid on Blackfire Exploration
Mining and human rights in Chiapas
Demand to end mining contracts
First Majestic Silver
Opposition to mining
Protesters killed
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Intense lobbying
Leaked report confirms violations
Companies need tougher rules
PDAC responds
PDAC
Bodies stolen and dumped
Memorial banned
Barrick Gold attacked
Barrick Gold
Mine would be harmful
Taseko Mines
Mining firm shafted
Mining project could affect
millions
Goldcorp
Canada's top 100 employers
Mexico shuts down mine
Protest death toll 5
Peru revokes mining licence
Mining conflict
San Jose del Progreso
Creek Mining Corporation
Peru cancels mine
operation
Protest turns deadly
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Minera Cuzcatlan
Gold mine shut down
Gammon Gold
El Cubo mine
Union blames firm for conflict
Striking miners led from BC
OAS orders gold mine shut down
IACHR
Goldcorp
Mining project halted
Yamana Gold
Court halts open-pit mining
Mining lobby at work
History of resistance to mining
Canadian mining operations
Mining lobby pushes back
Movements Canadian mining .pdf |
Mayor blackmailed us
Arrests made
Mining firm at centre of murder probe
Demonstration at Canadian embassy
Chiapas organizer murdered
Bill C-300
Fight over mining bill
Canadian mining firms face abuse
Copper mesa sued
New Gold forced to suspend mine
Mining permit invalid
Lawsuit
Copper Mesa Mining Corporation
Don't mention Avatar
Mining Watch Canada |
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Feds on
the hook
OTTAWA - The
Conservative government will spend at least $285M this fiscal year
on the
Atomic Energy of Canada nuclear reactor
division it sold last month for just $15M plus royalties to
SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based
engineering and construction giant. (PostMedia)
SNC-Lavalin defends building
prison |
Padma Bridge
'Tackle WB graft charges in 2 ways’
WB takes line on graft allegations
SNC-Lavalin lands contract
SNC got a deal
No Candu for federal government
AECL sold for $15M
Feds spend $6B to maintain buildings
SNC-Lavalin
Review of contract ordered
AECL |
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Real estate industry
TORONTO -
What began as a spat between a discount broker and Toronto's real
estate establishment has burgeoned into a national issue that could
sharply lower the cost of home-buying in BC and across the country.
Break the CREA cartel
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Real estate fee victory
Competition Bureau
What's at stake
Watchdog targets MLS changes
Real estate professionals approve MLS changes
Competition Bureau challenge
Canadian Real Estate Association
Protect yourself from real estate fraud |
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Secret world
Ten of the world’s most powerful oil, gas and mining
companies own a staggering 6,038 subsidiaries with over a third
located in ‘secrecy
jurisdictions'.
(BIJ) |
Pin-stripe Mafia
Britain lost billions in taxes
Rip-off
energy firms
Energy firms dispute figures
Entertaining distraction
Prices will continue to rise
Radical reform
.pdf |
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Oil sands lack monitoring system
OTTAWA - Canada lacks a world-class environmental monitoring system
for the oil sands and one should be established under Ottawa’s watch
with funding from energy companies, an advisory panel of scientists
commissioned by the federal government said.
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Building an monitoring system
Oilpatch subsidies
Fossil fuels - at what cost?
Syncrude guilty
Syncrude
Guilty verdict
Syncrude found guilty
'Fundraising
agendas'
Institute for Sustainable Development
Economic and fiscal assessment 2010
.pdf |
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'Sorry'
NEW YORK - The
head of bankrupt US brokerage firm
MF Global, Jon Corzine, will tell a
congressional committee that he has no idea where its clients' money
has gone. |
MF
Global bankruptcy
Jon Corzine
Goldman Sachs
Corzine 'doesn't know'
Collapse reverberates |
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Quebec wants
money
MONTREAL - Quebec's investment arm wants its money
back from a US company that abruptly closed three Canadian call
centres laying off more than 1200 workers. (CBC) |
Nashville pulls deal
Labour ministry investigating
Surprise
Investigating funding agreement |
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Fraud charges
RCMP have charged three men following a lengthy
investigation into Knowledge House, an educational software developer
that collapsed. Daniel Frederick Potter, Robert Blois Colpitts and
Bruce Elliott Clarke face fraud-related charges. They are accused of
manipulating stock prices. (CBC) PREVIOUS:
House of cards |
Bronfman Jr convicted
PARIS - A
French court has fined Warner Music Group
CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. €5M ($6.7M) for misleading investors about the
Vivendi media
conglomerate when he was a top executive there. (AP) MORE:
Misleading investors
French court convicts Bronfman Jr
Edgar Bronfman Jr
Jean-Marie Messier |
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Guilty of insider
trading
NEW YORK - Galleon
Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam was found guilty on all 14
conspiracy and securities fraud charges of insider trading, a verdict
that could galvanize the government’s aggressive tactics in future
prosecutions of Wall St. figures. (Reuters) MORE:
Convicted on all counts in insider-trading trial
Raj Rajaratnam |
UK halts chopper bids
LONDON
- The British government has halted bidding for a $9.7B defence contract
after a BC company was found to have sensitive information. Britain's
Department for Transport says police are investigating how the
information found its way to CHC Helicopter of Vancouver. (CP) MORE:
Police probe irregularities |
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'Monopolistic practice' fine
MEXICO CITY - Mexican antitrust officials confirmed the
fine of 11.98B pesos ($1.01B) imposed on
America Movil,
billionaire Carlos Slim’s regional wireless provider, for engaging in a
“monopolistic practice.” (LAHT) MORE:
Commission explains fine
Agency confirms fine
Carlos Slim
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J&J pay $70M to settle
WASHINGTON -
Johnson & Johnson
paid $70M to settle federal civil and criminal charges it carried out a
widespread bribery scheme involving payments to doctors in several
European countries as well as claims it paid illegal kickbacks to Iraq
under the United Nations Oil for Food Program. (Dow Jones)
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Pricing fixing cartel
BRUSSELS - The consumer products giants
Unilever
and
Procter & Gamble
have been fined 315m euros ($456M) for fixing washing powder prices in
eight European countries. It follows a three-year investigation by the
European Commission following a tip-off by the German company,
Henkel.
(BBC) MORE:
EU
fines washing powder cartel
Producers of washing powder in cartel settlement case |
'Significant concerns'
PARIS - There are "significant concerns" that Canada,
despite years of effort and outside pressure, lacks the ability to fully
enforce a prohibition against Canadian companies bribing foreign
government officials, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
said . (PostMedia) REPORT:
Canada: Phase 3
.pdf
New tax havens
Bribery allegations |
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Former CEO charged
VANCOUVER -
RCMP officers arrested John Paterson, former chief
executive officer of
Southwestern Resources Corp
and charged him with nine counts of fraud in connection with a massive
assay-altering scandal. (Vancouver Sun) |
Whistle-blower payout
WASHINGTON - The new financial reform
law has what some lawyers call a secret weapon against fraud on Wall
Street and in corporate America: the promise of a million-dollar
jackpot to insiders who reveal an illegal scheme to the government.
(LA Times) |
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Fines 'woefully inadequate'
CALGARY - Mariana Krsek said the $15,000 fines each company must pay is
a drop in the bucket.
"What do you think? That's enough to pay for a $2-billion company,"
Krsek said after Flynn Canada Ltd. and Germain Residences Ltd. were each
handed the maximum levies under Alberta's Safety Codes Act. (QMI)
MORE:
Guilty pleas in construction death of child |
Bell fined
OTTAWA - Bell Canada paid a record-high $1.3M penalty for "unauthorized
telemarking practices," including the peddling of its own services to
people on the national do-not-call list, the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission announced Monday. (PostMedia)
PREVIOUS:
$500,000 fine
Xentel DM
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Shareholders pursue another claim
WINNIPEG -
Crocus shareholder Bernie Bellan convinced some lawyers
to file a class-action suit against
Crocus Investment Fund
officers and directors and some of its professional service providers
several years ago. (Winnipeg Free Press) PREVIOUS:
Crocus investment fund receiver
Commercial crime a Canadian growth industry |
Regulated 'competition' has been good for us
LONDON -
Britain’s biggest energy companies earned an average 40%
more in profits per household over winter following a collapse in the
wholesale prices they paid for gas and electricity,
Ofgem,
the energy regulator, said. (Times online)
RELATED:
An energy breakthrough?
Cynical price manipulation |
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AIG fraud payout
The
US insurance giant
AIG
has agreed to pay $725M to settle a long-running fraud case against
it. The settlement is likely to be one of the biggest in US
history, following a class action lawsuit led by three Ohio pension
funds. (BBC) MORE:
AIG sets settlement |
Clueless
WASHINGTON - 76% of investors said financial
advisers, a term used by major brokerage firms such as Bank of America
Corp.’s Merrill Lynch to describe their salespeople, must uphold a
fiduciary duty to their customers,
according to the survey. (Bloomberg)
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$513K for $5M-6M
CALGARY - The head of a real estate investment club
that the Alberta Securities Commission found to be a Ponzi scheme
has been fined $513,000. Robert John Harris, operating as Harris
Agencies, raised at least $5M to $6M from about 200 investors
between 2000 and 2010, the ASC said. (Calgary Herald) JUDGMENT:
2011 ABASC 138
.pdf |
Fraud charges
EDMONTON -
Following a two-year police investigation, a 36-year-old Edmonton
businessman is facing 74 fraud and theft-related charges. Vimal
Iyer, who is the CEO of Trident Properties, is alleged to have
promoted and sold undivided interests to 120 investors in three
different land developments NE of Edmonton. (CTV) MORE:
Multimillion dollar fraud |
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Conspiracy settlement
VANCOUVER - The BC
Supreme Court has issued a ruling that could bring Canadian
chocolate lovers a step closer to compensation from the country's
major candy manufacturers. (CBC) |
$6M fine
VANCOUVER -
The BC Securities Commission has ruled that Luc
Castiglioni, director of CPLC Management Group and CPLC Limited
Partnership, fraudulently diverted the funds from six investors.
(CTV) MORE:
Fined for fraud |
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Bank accused of money laundering
WASHINGTON - The US Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Treasury
alleged that the
Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL, with 35 branches in Lebanon and
an office in Montreal, has been "facilitating the money-laundering
activities of an international narcotics trafficking and
money-laundering network." (CP)
REPORT:
Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL
.pdf |
The article Cash4Gold doesn't want you to read
You've probably
taken notice of a company called
Cash4Gold that promised to pay "top
dollar" for your not-so-precious precious metals. If you're like us, you
might have even seen a post on ComplaintsBoard.com by a former employee
exposing Cash4Gold. (Consumerist) PREVIOUS:
Search to find the perfect
Canadian |
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Civil suit
WASHINGTON - Bank of America
Corp’s Countrywide Financial unit agreed to pay a record $335M to settle
civil charges that it discriminated against minority homebuyers.
(Reuters) |
Bank of
America’s latest bailout
Settlement
Bank of America
Settlement faces fight
Ruling questions settlements
SEC defends settlement
Settlement is barely a wrist slap |
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Ottawa to flex its muscles
OTTAWA - Industry Minister
Tony Clement says he's taking
US Steel to court over its acquisition of
Stelco Inc. in order to show foreign
takeover bidders that Ottawa is serious about protecting Canadian
interests. It is the first time the federal government has
taken legal action to force a company to meet its promises under the
1985 Investment Canada Act. (Toronto
Star) |
Competition ask to investigate
OTTAWA - The
Canadian government has asked the Competition Bureau to investigate
complaints that
Ticketmaster
diverts tickets to its reselling subsidiary
Ticketsnow,
which then sells them for far higher prices. (Reuters)
PREVIOUS:
Class action lawsuit
Scalping suit filed
Lawsuit off limits to BC residents
Consumer will pay
Live Nation |
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Plan to get $1B back
TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty says he’s “all
ears” to a proposal that could return $1B to Ontarians from the
owners of
Hwy 407.
(Star)
Insider says $1B can be recovered
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Province 'powerless'
407 express toll road
Costly traffic jams
OECD OECD
review: Toronto, Canada
Report suggests road tolls, taxes for GTA
Road tolls touted as cure |
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Court rules against Chevron
NEW YORK - A US court has overturned a block on
Ecuadoreans collecting damages totalling $18.2B from Chevron over
Amazon oil pollution. (BBC)
Setback for Chevron
Fine imposed
Chevron fined $8B by Ecuador
Chevron files RICO case
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Injunction overturned
Lago Agrio oil field
Amazonians sue Chevron
Chevron's man in Ecuador
Amazon Crude
ChevronToxico
Total, Chevron accused
Total
Chevron
Myanmar's junta
Linked to corruption
Junta siphons gas revenue offshore
Generals pocket $5B |
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Northrop loses bid
OTTAWA -
Northrop Grumman Corp. can’t
challenge Canada’s award of a $140M contract for weapon- targeting
equipment to
Lockheed Martin
Corp. because it isn’t a Canadian
company, the nation’s highest appeals court ruled. (Bloomberg)
JUDGMENT:
2009 SCC 50 |
Executives to stand trial
PARIS -
Former
Vivendi executives
Jean-Marie Messier and
Edgar Bronfman Jr are among seven
people who must stand trial in Paris on charges involving share
manipulation at the media company. (Bloomberg) MORE:
Bronfman Jr faces trial |
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Probe of restaurant industry
OTTAWA - A two-year
probe of the restaurant industry in Canada has uncovered at least $40M
in "phantom" cash sales so far, says the Canada Revenue Agency.
(CP) PREVIOUS:
Automated sales suppression device |
Cover-up
LONDON -
A
damning
850-page report (.pdf) into the
collapse of
MG Rover was begun 4 years ago at a
cost of £16M to the taxpayer. (Times online) MORE:
Phoenix windfall Not
the fault of government
The scandal is the public inquiry |
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Hezbollah denies links
BEIRUT - It's
turning into the biggest financial scandal to hit
Lebanon in years, perpetrated by a
businessman being dubbed
the nation's Bernie Madoff.
Now,
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is
weighing in on the topic
amid allegations
that Salah Ezzedine was a financier of the Shiite militant group and
political organization. (LA Times) |
Faking bank records
TORONTO - Cullen
Johnson was a top Toronto cop. Elaine White was a dogged investigator at
a downtown accounting firm. Now the husband and wife team of private
detectives are accused of forging and selling bank records that make
clients believe an ex-spouse, friend or employee has millions of dollars
stashed offshore. (Toronto Star) |
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EU targets Google
BRUSSELS - The European Commission has launched a
preliminary inquiry into anti-trust allegations against Google
brought by three online companies over how the Internet giant’s
search engine operates and the way it sells its digital
advertising. (AFP) |
Court convicts Google trio of violating privacy
Tax laws have been good for us
Google faces landmark lawsuit
Australian Competition
& Consumer Commission |
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Prime
Time Crime |
Corporate Scandals
page 2 |
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