Complaints about fraud in Thursday’s presidential and provincial council elections in Afghanistan may further delay the announcement of official results. Officials continue to issue statments saying claims that anyone is leading the presidential contest are premature, inaccurate and unauthorized.
Posts Tagged ‘fraud’
Madoff finance boss pleads guilty
August 11th, 2009 |
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Frank DiPascali, the former chief financial officer of Bernard Madoff, is expected to plead guilty shortly for his role in the $65bn (£40bn) fraud.
Mr DiPascali is due before a court in Manhattan to face 10 charges including conspiracy and securities fraud.
The 52-year-old, who worked for Madoff for 33 years, faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years.
Madoff, 71, was jailed for 150 years at the end of June. Last month he decided not to appeal again his sentence.
Ponzi scheme
Mr DiPascali is the third person to be charged in connection with the fraud at Madoff’s investment business, following Madoff himself and the company’s external accountant, David Friehling.
Mr Friehling is currently free on bail after being charged in March with aiding and abetting fraud, and four counts of filing false audit reports. He has pleaded not guilty.
Madoff admitted defrauding thousands of investors through a Ponzi scheme which he said had been running since the early 1990s.
A Ponzi fraud works by paying investors from money paid in by other investors rather than real profits.
It differs from pyramid selling in that individuals all tend to invest with the same person.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Senate Probes Goldman, Deutsche Bank For Mortgage Meltdown Fraud
July 30th, 2009 |
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WASHINGTON — A Senate panel has subpoenaed financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG, seeking evidence of fraud in last year’s mortgage-market meltdown, according to people familiar with the situation.
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Poll: Do You Think the Government Will Crack Down on Fraud and Manipulation By Financial Giants?
July 29th, 2009 |
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I’ve posted a new poll (on the right under “Followers”).The poll asksDo You Think the Government Will Crack Down on Fraud and Manipulation By Financial Giants?There are 4 possible answers:Yes, but not until the economy recoversYes, but only if Obama l…
Consumer watchdog victim of ‘fraud’
July 27th, 2009 |
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Embarrassment for OFT after its annual report reveals alleged fraud and compensation payment to staff member
It spends a lot of time warning the public about the dangers of scams, but Britain’s main consumer watchdog today revealed that it believes it has lost £250,000 after falling victim to an alleged fraud.
The admission was tucked away at the back of the Office of Fair Trading’s annual report for the last financial year, which sets out its achievements and the value for money it is delivering for British consumers.
The OFT said it had suffered “a cash loss of £250,000, of which £97,000 occurred in 2008-09, and £153,000 occurred in 2007-08″. “This was due to an alleged fraud made possible by a control weakness in the Accounts Payable process,” it said.
The watchdog was unable to say much more as the matter was the subject of legal proceedings, it added. It is understood that a former member of staff has been charged with an offence.
The report also revealed that, in a separate matter, the OFT handed over more than £250,000 in the form of a “special payment for compensation” to a member of its staff. “We don’t divulge that kind of thing,” a spokesman said when asked about the nature of the compensation payout.
The watchdog said the work it had been doing on consumer protection, competition enforcement, merger control and investigating markets had saved the British public around £409m a year between 2006 and 2009.
“This means it delivered financial benefits to consumers of around eight times its average annual costs of £53m, and exceeded the five-times cost target set by HM Treasury,” the spokesman said.
Its achievements during the year included:
• Launching its first criminal investigation under the consumer protection regulations – into an alleged unlawful pyramid scheme
• Securing the first UK criminal convictions for cartel participants in a case involving marine hoses, which are used to transfer oil from tankers to storage facilities
• Investigating alleged unlawful pricing practices in dairy and tobacco products, and alleged bid-rigging in the construction industry
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Phil Trounstine: Why Schwarzenegger’s “Legacy” Claim is a Fraud
July 27th, 2009 |
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By Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine Calbuzz The day before the California Legislature passed the third patchwork version of California’s budget in 10 months, Gov….
Hazem al-Braikan, Kuwaiti Charged With Fraud In The US, Kills Himself
July 26th, 2009 |
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KUWAIT CITY — A Kuwaiti businessman linked to Citigroup and charged in the United States with fraud committed suicide Sunday, a security official said.
Hazem al-Braikan was found dead in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head and a ha…
Ramalinga Raju’’s judicial custody ends today
July 22nd, 2009 |
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The judicial custody of former Satyam Computers chairman B Ramalinga Raju and other accused in connection with the 7,800 crore fraud at the IT major ends today.
On July 8, a local court had extended their judicial custody till today.
The accused are Ramalinga Raju, his brother and Satyam’’s former managing director Rama Raju, [...]
Fraud reporting
July 21st, 2009 |
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The rise in financial crime in America
OVER 730,000 counts of suspected financial wrongoing were recorded in America last year, according to recent data from the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Institutions such as banks, insurers and casinos are required by law to report suspicious activities to federal authorities under 20 categories. Financial institutions filed nearly 13% more reports of fraud compared with 2007, accounting for almost half of the increase in total filings. The number of mortgage frauds alone rose by 23% to almost 65,000. But not all categories saw an increase: incidents suspected terrorist financing fell. Just under half of all filings are related to money laundering, a proportion that is little changed in over a decade.
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Judge Rules CIA Committed Fraud In Court
July 20th, 2009 |
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WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ruled that CIA officials committed fraud to protect a former covert agent against a lawsuit.
According to court documents unsealed Monday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth referred one CIA attorney for…
A $10 billion Saudi fraud claim
July 17th, 2009 |
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A respected business family claims it has fallen victim to a spectacular swindle
OF THE merchant families that dominate Saudi capitalism, few are as respected as the Gosaibis, a “blue-chip” clan which could borrow on the strength of its name alone. It was, therefore, a shock when in May parts of the family conglomerate, Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers Company (AHAB), defaulted, prompting lawsuits in various countries. But on July 15th the shock turned to astonishment. In documents filed in New York’s state Supreme Court and seen by The Economist, AHAB claims that it has been the victim of a “massive fraud” orchestrated for years by Maan al-Sanea, a Saudi billionaire who is married to a daughter of one of AHAB’s founders. The company says Mr Sanea “misappropriated” around $10 billion in the alleged swindle.
Mr Sanea has his own business, the Saad Group, a vast investment company once reckoned to hold over $30 billion of assets worldwide, including the second biggest stake in HSBC. He also used to work for the Gosaibis and, besides having married into their family, he freely admits he has “long had personal relations with the partners of AHAB”. But he insists that the business ties between his Saad group and AHAB are now on an “arm’s length commercial basis.” …
Amitai Etzioni: First Cut the Abusers, the Bureaucrats, and Useless Interventions!
July 13th, 2009 |
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Throughout the health sector, more than $100 billion are lost each year to fraud, abuse and waste in the health care system.
Stanford chief ‘to plead guilty’
July 13th, 2009 |
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The former financial officer for Texan billionaire Allen Stanford’s empire is to plead guilty over an alleged $7bn (£4.3bn) fraud, his lawyer says.
James Davis formally pleaded not guilty at a court appearance in Houston.
But his lawyer, David Finn, told the court his client would change his plea to guilty within two weeks as part of an agreement reached with prosecutors.
Allen Stanford last month pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces. He is currently in detention awaiting trial.
They have been accused of involvement in a scheme which persuaded investors to buy $7bn worth of certificates of deposit from Stanford International Bank, located in Antigua.
Prosecutors say they "promised returns that were too good to be true".
Mr Davis, 60, has been charged with conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud, and conspiracy to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
He pleaded not guilty to the three charges when he appeared at the court in Houston.
But, his lawyer David Finn, said Mr Davis would return to court to plead guilty to all charges.
He said the temporary not-guilty plea, given in court on Monday, gives officials time to fulfil a 2004 law requiring potential crime victims to be informed of a plea deal, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Once this is done, Stanford Financial Group’s former chief financial officer can change his plea. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
30,000 involved in organised crime
July 13th, 2009 |
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Government backs fresh drive to tackle drugs, immigration and fraud gangs after data shows surge in organised illegal activity
Between 25,000 to 30,000 criminals are involved in the “long tail” of a serious organised crime business in Britain that is worth more than £30bn a year, according to a study published today.
The home secretary, Alan Johnson, has endorsed a renewed drive to use tax powers to target organised criminals, taking even stronger powers to seize their assets, and shut down front organisations such as saunas and massage parlours.
The joint report, by the Cabinet Office’s strategy unit and the Home Office, warns of an explosion in new types of crime as a result of the recession, with sharp increases recorded this year in the counterfeit goods trade, “phishing” – taking over other people’s bank accounts – and other types of financial fraud.
The study does not directly criticise the performance of the beleaguered serious organised crime agency, but it does say much tighter oversight is needed by ministers to keep a grip on the problem.
The Home Office plans create a new strategic centre for organised crime to ensure that clear roles are laid down for tackling drug trafficking, organised immigration crime, and organised fraud. Further action will be taken next summer if a more aggressive approach is not achieved.
At the same time the capacity of the police is to be boosted by a further four regional asset-recovery teams to complete the network across England and Wales. Each will have its own tax inspector, and the Home Office is to extend the teams’ legal powers to “reverse the burden of proof” in civil recovery cases, to make it easier to seize the assets of those involved in organised crime.
The data was published as another Home Office study called into question the credibility of Britain’s controls to curb people-trafficking. The research, based on interviews with 45 convicted people-smugglers, showed that most thought Britain was a soft touch, with a low risk of detection and a market that conferred healthy profits. Many of those surveyed did, however, express surprise at the severity of the sentences they had received.
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