U.S. Asks Wal-Mart to Pay $300 Million to Settle Bribery Probe

U.S. authorities have asked Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to pay $300 million to settle a five-year investigation into foreign bribery, according to a person familiar with the talks, a penalty far less than what the Obama administration had sought.

The settlement offer comes after Wal-Mart spent nearly $840 million on its internal investigation of the bribery allegations and upgraded compliance operations, according to financial filings.

Wal-Mart hasn't yet agreed to the offer, this person said, but negotiations are in the final stages. Spokesmen for Wal-Mart and the Justice Department declined to comment. read more »

Brazil's ex-President Lula in court over corruption

Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has arrived at a court in the city of Curitiba to testify before Brazil's top anti-corruption judge.

Lula faces the first of five charges against him related to a corruption scandal in the state oil company which has embroiled more than 100 politicians.

The former president is accused of taking bribes from a construction firm in the form of a beachfront apartment. read more »

2 ex-executives plead guilty in massive Navy bribery scandal

Two former executives of foreign defense contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia pleaded guilty today to fraud charges for conspiring to submit bogus bids, claims and invoices to the U.S. Navy in an effort to win contracts and overcharge the Navy by tens of millions of dollars in a years- long corruption scheme.

Neil Peterson, 39, and Linda Raja, 44, both of Singapore, worked as chief deputies for defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis to fill the coffers of their company at the expense of the U.S. Navy, prosecutors said.

Peterson was vice president of Global Operations for GDMA and Raja served as GDMA's general manager for Singapore, Australia and the Pacific Isles.

Both defendants were arrested by authorities in Singapore at the request of the U.S. government and were extradited to San Diego last October. They are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 11.

According to their plea agreements, Peterson, Raja and other members of GDMA's management team created and submitted fraudulent bids that were either entirely fictitious, contained falsified prices supposedly from actual businesses, or fraudulently stated that the business shown on the letterhead could not provide the items or services requested. read more »

Barclays to Pay $97 Million for Overcharging Clients

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an enforcement action requiring Barclays Capital to refund advisory fees or mutual fund sales charges to clients who were overcharged.

In a settlement of more than $97 million, Barclays agreed to settle three sets of violations that resulted in clients being overbilled by nearly $50 million.  The SEC’s order finds that two Barclays advisory programs charged fees to more than 2,000 clients for due diligence and monitoring of certain third-party investment managers and investment strategies when in fact these services weren’t being performed as represented.  Barclays also collected excess mutual fund sales charges or fees from 63 brokerage clients by recommending more expensive share classes when less expensive share classes were available.  Another 22,138 accounts paid excess fees to Barclays due to miscalculations and billing errors by the firm.

"Barclays failed to ensure that clients were receiving the services they were paying for,” said C. Dabney O’Riordan, Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit.  “Each set of clients who were harmed are being refunded through the settlement.” read more »

4 years in prison for stealing $21 million from 90 people in Ponzi scheme

A Milton man who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $21 million from 90 victims in what officials called an "elaborate Ponzi scheme" was sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years of supervised release Tuesday.

Daniel J. Flynn III, 54, was sentenced in U.S. District Court Tuesday. He was also ordered to pay restitution to his victims, some of who are family and friends, Acting U.S. Attorney Weinreb announced.

Flynn, an auctioneer, pleaded guilty in February to nine counts of wire fraud, he said.

"Mr. Flynn preyed upon friends and family, taking their hard-earned money with promises of high returns. Instead, he violated their trust, and used their investments to perpetuate an elaborate Ponzi scheme, using the money for his own personal expenses”. read more »