Deadly Meningitis Trial: Ex-pharmacy head convicted of fraud, not guilty of murder

A once-prominent drug executive was convicted today of racketeering and fraud but acquitted of murder for his role running the company that allegedly produced contaminated medicine that caused a deadly outbreak of infections including meningitis in 2012.

The jury today returned a mixed verdict in the trial of 50-year-old Barry Cadden, the former president and co-founder of the Boston-based New England Compounding Center, finding him guilty of racketeering and mail fraud but acquitting him on all 25 counts of second-degree murder.

Cadden was accused by the government of creating a public health crisis as head of the NECC, where prosecutors said shoddy practices and unsanitary conditions doomed hundreds of people for whom the company produced drugs. read more »

America’s Farmers Say There’s a Conspiracy to Steal Their Milk Money

Cooperatives created to sell dairy products are accused of pocketing millions of dollars in an elaborate accounting scheme.

As far as staples go, dairy is pretty central to the American diet. After all, knowing the cost of a gallon of milk remains a campaign-trail test for whether a politician is out of touch. Dairy farmers, though, have fallen on hard times, as milk sales continue to decline.

But now, industry insiders in a long-running class action claim those farmers haven’t been getting their fair share in this multi-billion dollar industry. The litigation, filed by dairy farmers in 2009, names DairyAmerica and its affiliate California Dairies as defendants. The plaintiffs allege that DairyAmerica and its members, cooperatives like California Dairies which acquire dairy products from farmers and sell them in bulk, have been actively misleading U.S. regulators about the price they charge for nonfat dry milk, which goes into everything from infant formula to candy bars. In doing so, the farmers claim, the cooperatives sought to boost profits at their expense—by millions of dollars. read more »

Banks Trimming Compliance Staff as $321 Billion in Fines Abate

Lenders cutting compliance jobs for first time since crisis

RBS is preparing to cut as many as 2,000 compliance employees

Global banks are paring back staff tasked with detecting wrongdoing for the first time since the financial crisis, ending a hiring boom that accompanied $321 billion in fines, as technology replaces employees and penalties wane. read more »

A promised 15% return? That’s a red flag

My mother, who lives out of town, told me that an advisor is promising her a 15 percent return on her money, and he won’t stop calling her. How can we check him out?

Answer: Fifteen percent?  Logically, think about this.  Generally, banks are paying far less than one percent APY (average percentage yield) with savings accounts.  On March 15, the Federal Reserve Bank, our nation’s central bank, raised its federal funds rate by a quarter of a percent, now in a range of 0.75 percent to one percent.  And yet there’s someone promising your mother a 15 percent return on her money?

Every investor should know the story of the notorious Charles Ponzi.  In the 1920s, he ran what today is referred to as a “Ponzi scheme.”  Basically, the promoter of a scheme promises above average returns on investments, targeting vulnerable people who have a lack of investment knowledge or experience.  Their marks are often members of an ethnic group or a community, like a church.  The scheme promoter will use avarice (another word for greed), the deadliest of the so-called seven sins, to lure in his victims.  To work, a Ponzi scheme needs a continuous stream of new investors.  High yields are promised to attract them.  Money from the newest investors is used to pay the earlier participants.  Eventually, though, new investors run out, the Ponzi scheme collapses, and the hard-earned savings of its victims vanish.  The most famous of recent schemes was the one run by Bernie Madoff – arrested in 2008, he pleaded guilty to his crimes in 2009, and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. read more »

Finland Has High Bribery Acquittal Rate, OECD Says

Finland has been active in enforcing its foreign-bribery laws but it has trouble securing convictions, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said. Out of nine allegations of foreign bribery reported since the country’s foreign-bribery law was enacted in 1999, Finland opened seven investigations and brought five to prosecution, the report said. read more »

US may accuse N. Korea in Bangladesh cyber heist

U.S. prosecutors are building potential cases that would accuse North Korea of directing the theft of $81 million from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last year, and that would charge alleged Chinese middlemen, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that North Korea is responsible for the heist, an official briefed on the probe told Reuters. Richard Ledgett, deputy director of the U.S. National Security Agency, publicly suggested on Tuesday that North Korea may be linked to the incident, while private firms have long pointed the finger at the reclusive state.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that prosecutors believe Chinese middlemen helped North Korea orchestrate the theft from Bangladesh's central bank, which was among the biggest bank robberies in modern times. read more »

1MDB-hit Swiss bank Falcon posts $130 mln loss for 2016

Falcon Private Bank, one of the Swiss banks ensnared in the Malaysian corruption scandal surrounding the troubled 1MDB fund, lost 128 million Swiss francs ($130 million) last year, it said on Thursday.

The steep loss came on the back of efforts to cut risk and costs from the closure of its Singapore branch ordered in October by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) due to anti-money laundering failings in connection with 1MDB.

Malaysia's 1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States. read more »

Chicago Chiropractor Indicted for Allegedly Billing $10 Million to Medicare and Private Insurers for Nonexistent Treatment

A Chicago chiropractor with a clinic in the West Lawn neighborhood has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly submitting at least $10 million in bogus claims to Medicare and private insurers. read more »

Feds move to seize $2 million from Alabama doctors accused of fraud, excessive prescribing

Federal prosecutors have filed a civil action to seize more than $2 million in cash, investments and assets from two Birmingham doctors accused of running a pill mill, committing insurance fraud and laundering money.

The married doctors, Dr. Patrick Ifediba and Dr. Uchenna Ifediba, own and operate Care Complete Medical Center on Bessemer Road in Birmingham. In October 2016, agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency raided the clinic, according to court documents. No criminal charges have been filed against either doctor, said Peggy Sanford, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Alabama. read more »

Chinese police boss jailed for buying Australian property with graft money

A Chinese court has sentenced a senior police officer to 17 years in prison for his part in a bribes-for-projects scandal, proceeds from which were used to buy two homes in Australia, according to court documents.

The corruption case comes amid an Australian government crackdown on foreign investors who have skirted overseas investment rules.

The 59-year-old police boss of Guta district of Jinzhou City in the northe astern Chinese province of Liaoning accepted a total of 6.8 million yuan ($985,510) in bribes for contracts, according to the court documents published in early March.  read more »