On whistleblowing and integrity

Recently, Barclays was on the business papers’ headlines on account of its CEO Jes Staley, being investigated for trying to identify a whistle-blower. The regulators (Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority) are reported to be investigating the bank official based on Barclays’s notification that Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters received by the board and a senior executive in June of last year.

According to the Independent (electronic news, April 10, 2017), “…the letters, considered to be whistle-blowing, raised concerns about a senior employee who had been recruited by Barclays earlier that year (2016).  Barclays said on Monday Staley had taken measures to identify the author of the letters because he considered them to be “an unfair personal attack on the senior employee”. The bank said Staley was subsequently informed that it was not appropriate to take steps to identify the author.” read more »

State appeals court rules Exxon must give records to NY prosecutor

A New York state appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Exxon Mobil Corp should be compelled to turn over records in an investigation into how much the company knew about global warming as it continued to publicly downplay the effects it was expected to have on the fossil fuel industry.

Exxon has been battling subpoenas from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is probing the company for fraud in its public statements about climate change. read more »                                    

New ISO Anti-Bribery Standard Gaining Traction

"ISO 37001" may sound like a long-lost sequel to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," but in truth it's a new antibribery standard that could significantly help businesses thrive in a challenging global environment. It won't open any pod bay doors, but it brings to organizations a much-needed level of antibribery guidance, combined with meaningful incentives for standard adoption. And it's applicable to all institutions, regardless of size, structure, geography, or jurisdiction.

Bribery and other forms of corruption continue to plague business and society. According to the World Bank, some $1.5 trillion is paid globally in bribes each year, a figure that dwarfs the value of economic assistance. The result? An unlevel playing field and such adverse consequences as lack of competition, kleptocracies, delivery of sub-standard goods and services, price distortions, and wasted foreign aid contributions. read more »

That whole Panama Papers scandal? The U.S. also needs to take a look at itself

The West tends to think highly of itself when it comes to dealing with corruption, but it's an image that's been showing cracks, according to the book "Unmasked: Corruption in the West."

Illicit activities related to finance and politics are receiving an increasing amount of attention in the European, American and Canadian press. "Unmasked" suggests that while these countries have a tendency to point fingers elsewhere when talking about corruption — maybe by making references to corrupt dictators in Latin America or sub-Saharan Africa — they need to look closer to home.

Co-author Laurence Cockcroft argues that money in our own political system is spread unfairly, while our international dealings are also subject to corruption.

Though the U.S. has passed measures like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 — which aims to prevent the bribery of foreign officials — they are currently under threat, he told Marketplace in an interview. read more »

Why Bernie Madoff Still Matters

Almost ten years after Bernie Madoff pled guilty to the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, we are still talking about the nefarious financier. The reason? Experts say the same thing could easily happen again.

“Ponzi schemes have been around for 150 years and crop up every year,” says Diana Henriques, a former New York Times reporter and author of Wizard of Lies, which chronicles the Madoff scandal. “I think the relevance [of Madoff’s story] is how easily ordinary people can get trapped in a web of deceit like this. It is happening right now in a city near you — it is the simplest fraud known to man, robbing Peter to pay Paul.” read more »

Five Accused of Trading Illegally on Health Policy Leaks

Federal authorities charged five people, including three who worked for a New York hedge fund, with insider trading in shares of several health care stocks using confidential information passed on by a health care consulting firm.

Three current and former partners at Deerfield Management, a health care hedge fund firm, paid an employee of the Washington health care consulting firm to provide inside information about policy decisions at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or C.M.S., a move that led to millions of dollars in illegal profits, according to federal prosecutors in New York and securities regulators. read more »

BNP Paribas to pay $350 million to settle New York currency-rigging probe

French bank BNP Paribas on Wednesday agreed to pay $350 million to New York’s banking watchdog to resolve a probe of misconduct in its foreign exchange business, which the regulator said enhanced the bank's profits at customers' expense.

More than a dozen traders and salespeople in New York and other trading hubs manipulated foreign exchange rates and engaged in other illegal activity while the bank failed to properly supervise the business, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) said in a statement

The bank's traders colluded with rivals in online chat rooms, executed fake trades and improperly shared confidential customer information with traders at other banks, DFS said. read more »

Houston-Area Psychiatrist Convicted of Health Care Fraud for Role in $158 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

A federal jury convicted a Houston-area psychiatrist today for his role in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme.　

The evidence presented at trial showed that Mazcuri participated in a scheme by which Riverside paid bribes and kickbacks to group home owners and nursing home employees in exchange for sending Medicare patients to Riverside’s PHPs.

Mazcuri indiscriminately admitted and readmitted these patients into these intensive psychiatric programs – often for years on end – many of whom suffered from severe Alzheimer’s or dementia and were unable to participate in the treatment purportedly provided at the PHPs, and who therefore did not qualify for the services, the evidence showed. read more »