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News Corp. employees in Britain could be charged in U.S. with bribery if they recorded payments accurately in the company's books and inaccurate accounting if they didn't. |
Imagine you're a Fleet Street reporter at a British tabloid with a pocketful of cash. You meet a trusted source at a pub, a police officer who tells you about the royal family's confidential schedule in exchange for a small gratuity. You hand over a few quid and rush off with a photographer to stake out a health club where Camilla Parker-Bowles is toning her abs. |
Guess what: If you work for Rupert Murdoch, you may have violated U.S. law. What the government nails you for could depend on how you and your bosses account for the sketchy deal with the cop. |
If you're entirely honest in the company's internal books and enter the payment as a "bribe," you've just created an irrefutable piece of evidence that can be used against you and your company in a prosecution by the Justice Department for violating U.S. statutes against overseas bribery. If, as is more likely, you file an expense account which refers to the cash payment as "taxis” or "office supplies," you stand a chance of being pursued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for keeping fake records. |
News International Limited, the British arm of the Murdoch empire, is a subsidiary of News Corp., a publicly traded American company which also owns the Wall Street Journal and Fox News (not to mention the Sunday Times of London, the Times of London, and the British tabloid the Sun). Because of this, experts say, News Corp. and all of its subsidiaries come under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a Watergate-era law which makes it a crime for U.S. companies to participate in bribery abroad. |
The scope and number of payments remains unclear. British press reports say more than $160,000 was paid by News of the World reporters to police officers. The issue came to light last week after News International turned over a trove of internal emails to authorities. |
"A small number of officers may have taken illegal payments. That is fundamentally corrupt," Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson told the BBC. "If true, I will be determined to root them out, find them and put them in front of the criminal court." |
After years of relative quiet, the United States has substantially stepped up the resources to prosecute companies for violating the bribery law. There are 150 open investigations of American companies, according to the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. In 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice combined for a total of just 12 FCPA enforcement actions. By 2010 that number had jumped to 54, the law firm reports. We've written previously on this subject when it involved payments by Albert Jack Stanley, a former executive at KBR. |
Unless information emerges that News Corp. executives in the United States were aware of and condoned illegal behavior, it is doubtful whether the company or individual executives would face criminal prosecution in the United States, several defense lawyers said. |
A prominent academic, Michael Koehler, who tracks prosecutions on his blog the FCPA Professor, is not as sure the global news giant will escape criminal prosecution. |
"Look at the 2011 enforcement actions on my blog," he says. "None of these involved high level officers or board members." |
But lack of evidence of executive complicity in bribery doesn't protect the parent company from civil actions. Where News Corp. may be most vulnerable is under the "Books and Records" and "Internal Controls" provisions of the FCPA, according to lawyers who practice in this field. |
Even if News Corp. subsidiaries recorded the bribes accurately in their books, it could land the company in difficulty with the SEC. Since the bribery was permitted in the first place, the charges would also open up the company to questions about its internal controls. |
Fines for these violations can be steep. In 2009 and 2010 combined the Justice Department charged over 50 individuals and collected nearly $2 billion in criminal fines, said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in a recent speech. In 2010, the SEC brought in almost $530 million in corporate FCPA settlements, according to Koehler's blog. Part of what makes it so lucrative for the government is that the SEC often requires the companies "disgorge" the gains they made from illicit activities and pay interest on them. |
How the SEC would calculate the value of a scoop or a racy headline that resulted from a police bribe is an open question. Does one include a bump in weekly circulation? The long-time loyalty of readers? Until it was abruptly closed last week, the News of the World, the Sunday paper most closely linked to phone hacking, had Britain's largest daily circulation, with 2.7 million readers. |
Another cost to News Corp. would be the company-wide review the SEC or DOJ would likely demand. The company would have to satisfy the Feds that similar payments weren't made to government officials in other countries. These company reviews are part of the reason why FCPA inquiries can last for years, according to Koehler. |
The statute of limitations on civil FCPA charges is five years. Reports about the illegal bribes seem to date back to 2006 so regulators would likely be mindful of the calendar. Companies are often rewarded for cooperating with the inquiries. "Raising a statute of limitations defense is not exactly cooperation mode,” says Koehler. |
News Corp also depends on the government for its broadcast licenses. Fox Television Stations Inc. has 269 active licenses with the Federal Communications Commission, according to the agency's website. An agency spokesman would not comment on whether FCPA violations might put those licenses in jeopardy as well. |
As a jury in Arlington, Virginia, entered the second day of deliberations in the tax- and bank-fraud case against Paul Manafort, President Trump offered some warm words for his former campaign chairman. |
NEW: "I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad," Pres. Trump says. "I think it's a very sad day for our country." |
It’s worth noting that the “they” Trump references here is his own Justice Department and “what they’ve done” is charge him with crimes for which he seems pretty guilty. It’s hardly a miscarriage of justice. |
Trump’s comments came as a 12-person jury continues to work toward a verdict on the 18 charges brought against Manafort by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. After deliberating all day Thursday, the jury sent a list of questions to Judge T.S. Ellis, including one asking for clarification on the definition of “reasonable doubt.” Some expert observers have noted that this is not good for the prosecution. |
If Manafort is convicted though, he may get a lifeline from Trump, who could pardon him. Asked about the possibility of doing just that Friday, the president dodged: “I don’t talk about that,” he said. |
Kareena Kapoor ensures that she spends ample time with her family and friends. She makes it a point to go on vacations with husband Saif Ali Khan and son Taimur Ali Khan, and is also often spotted partying with her girl gang. Still she says she is often plagued by the guilt that almost every working mother feels. The actress said that the most important thing for a working mother is to believe in herself. |
She added that whenever she leaves home for work, leaving her toddler son behind, she is constantly worried about what Taimur would be doing. However, she also noted that a child will grow up “realizing, respecting and understanding” a woman who goes out to work and comes home, happy. She might be tired, but she will still be happy, as she is doing what she loves to do. |
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – A military jury acquitted a Marine major of assault and battery Wednesday in connection with the death of an Iraqi prisoner, but found him guilty of two lesser counts. |
Maj. Clarke Paulus (search) faces dismissal from the Marines and up to a year in military prison instead of the 11/2 years he could have received if convicted on all charges. He was found guilty of maltreatment and dereliction of duty. |
The verdict followed about six hours of deliberations by the jury of Marine Corps (search) officers at the base north of San Diego. After the verdict was read, Paulus turned and touched the hand of his mother, who stood behind him along with his wife. His wife left the courtroom in tears. |
The jury quickly began deliberating Paulus' sentence. |
Holding back tears, Paulus stood before the eight-officer panel and apologized to the Marine Corps and his family. |
"I hope the press would have these charges reflect on me personally and not the Marine Corps," Paulus said, turning to members of the media in the courtroom. |
He asked the jury to allow him to remain in the Marine Corps, saying he had served honorably and credibly for more than a decade. |
Paulus, 36, of the Philadelphia suburb of Buckingham, Pa., commanded the Marine detention facility at Camp Whitehorse (search) in Iraq. He was accused of ordering a subordinate to drag Nagem Sadoon Hatab by the neck out of a holding cell in June 2003 after the man suffered a bout of diarrhea. |
Hatab was stripped naked and left outside for seven hours before he was found dead. |
Prosecutors contended Paulus failed to properly safeguard Hatab's health and welfare and failed to provide him with proper medical care. |
On Tuesday, a military prosecutor said Paulus set the wrong example for his troops and the result was the death of a prisoner. |
"Maj. Paulus set the example that it was OK to be cruel and inhumane to an old man who was sick, and that's exactly how he was treated: cruelly and inhumanely," prosecutor Maj. Leon Francis said in closing arguments. |
The defense countered that Paulus acted properly under the circumstances. The major believed Hatab was an uncooperative prisoner who was faking illness and deliberately had soiled himself, civilian defense attorney Keith Higgins argued. |
Hatab, a 52-year-old member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party (search), was arrested by Marines who suspected him of a role in the ambush of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, which resulted in the deaths of 11 soldiers and led to the capture of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, among others. |
PARIS (Reuters) - The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Syria said on Tuesday it was ready to provide support to a Franco-Russian initiative to deliver medical aid to government-controlled eastern Ghouta after earlier saying it would not. |
France had said the cargo would be distributed under the independent supervision of a U.N. team so it could guarantee where and when it would go. A French diplomatic source said on Friday it was "not entrusting the aid with the Red Crescent". |
The 50 tonnes of aid, including blankets, clothes and tents, arrived on a Russian plane to Russia's Hmeimim military base in northwestern Syria from France on Saturday and came after an agreement reached between President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow following talks since May. |
"The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) will be distributing the aid and there is no U.N. supervision of the operation, contrary to previous reports," a U.N. spokeswoman in Damascus said on Tuesday. |
However, OCHA's Syria office later contradicted those remarks on its Twitter feed. |
"OCHA Syria welcomes the recent French-Russian initiative to deliver humanitarian aid to Eastern Ghouta. OCHA stands ready to provide whatever support is needed to ensure this important humanitarian operation is a success," it said. |
France's Foreign Ministry said on Monday the aid had been "turned over to the U.N., which will supervise its distribution". |
"The remarks reported by OCHA (U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in Damascus are not in line with the agreement reached with the Russians and the United Nations," a ministry source told Reuters on Tuesday. |
"We are currently making the necessary clarifications and are confident that this humanitarian operation will be completed." |
SARC, made up of volunteer aid workers, says it is a neutral humanitarian organisation but several aid sources suspect it comes under heavy pressure from Damascus. Dozens of volunteers have been killed in bombings and shelling during the fighting. |
In the 82nd's storied history, the liberation of the Nazi work camp is often overlooked. There is no mention of it in the division museum except a plaque given in thanks by one of the men rescued that day, May 2, 1945. |
That's about to change in a new exhibit focusing on World War II, W�bbelin - and what happened afterward. For the next two months, Fayetteville museums, universities and the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County will host exhibits on the themes of tolerance and diversity. |
At the 82nd Airborne Division Museum, visitors will have an opportunity to see photos normally stored in the archives. They're of W�bbelin, a Nazi sub-camp used as a dumping ground for Russian prisoners of war and Jews who had survived other concentration camps. It did not have gas chambers or crematoria - German soldiers planned to shoot the surviving inmates who did not succumb to starvation or cold. But before they had the chance, the German 21st Army surrendered, and an 82nd lieutenant stumbled upon W�bbelin by accident. The Americans thought they had seen the worst of war, but what they found at W�bbelin appalled them. They found bodies "stacked liked cordwood," one soldier said later. Hundreds more were discovered in mass graves in the woods outside the camp. It is estimated that 4,000 people were held prisoner at W�bbelin just prior to its liberation. |
The closest town was about four miles away, but the residents of Ludwigslust denied any knowledge of the work camp. The 82nd ordered residents to dig 200 graves in front of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Castle and mark each one with a cross. Every fourth cross bore the star of David. |
The bodies lay in view as every town resident and the command staff of the 21st German Army filed by. Chaplains George B. "Chappie" Wood, Philip Hannan and Henry Wall led a funeral for the victims. Wood would later be recognized as the only World War II chaplain to parachute into combat four times. Hannan would go on to become the leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, famous for delivering the eulogy at President John F. Kennedy's funeral. |
In Ludwigslust, Wood spoke directly to the people of the town. "Within four miles of your comfortable homes, 4,000 men were forced to live like animals, deprived even of the food you would give to your dogs. These 200 who lie before us in these graves were found piled four and five feet high in one building and lying with the sick and dying in other buildings. |
"Protestant, Catholic and Jewish prayers will be said ... for these victims as we lay them to rest and commit them into the hands of our heavenly father in the hope that the world will not again be faced with such barbarity." |
The 82nd moved on just a few days after the funeral in Ludwigslust. But neither the soldiers nor the survivors ever forgot. |
James Megellas wrote a book about his experiences at W�bbelin. "I was not prepared mentally to deal with the horror of the camp," he said in "All the Way to Berlin: A Paratrooper at War in Europe." |
Fifty years after his release, Rabbi Laszlo Berkowitz presented a plaque to the division. |
"God sent us angels from the sky," Berkowitz said at a ceremony at the division chapel. |
New Mexico State University has announced Homecoming 2018 celebrations Oct. 4-6, 2018, in Las Cruces. |
Starting early that week, the NMSU alumni association will host various events and gatherings, ending with the Homecoming football game Saturday, Oct. 6, against the Liberty University Flames. |
Homecoming activities will include reunions for the classes of 1958 and 1968, along with the Homecoming game day parade, the Celebration of Traditions Memorial Ceremony event honoring fallen Aggie military veterans, the Golden A’s luncheon and the Alumni Association Homecoming Tailgate among other college events. |
The alumni association’s annual dinner will be Friday, Oct. 5. The dinner will honor its 2018 recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award and James F. Cole Memorial Award for Service. |
More information about homecoming will be listed as it becomes available at http://advancing.nmsu.edu/homecoming. |
"I took it home and I scared my kids with it". |
Dave Grohl appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week, and used the occasion to bestow the most unusual of gifts upon the talk show host. |
As he discussed all things Foo Fighters, Kimmel recalled how Grohl had acted as his stand-in replacement during a Halloween instalment of the show last year. |
“I had a blast”, Grohl said of the experience. |
But it was then time for Kimmel to receive the most unlikely of gifts – a mock-up of Grohl’s head which had been ‘severed’ by Cooper’s guillotine. |
“It’s your head! He chopped it off in the guillotine on the show”, Kimmel remarked. |
After initially taking the prop home, Grohl decided it should belong with Kimmel. |
“I took it home and I scared my kids with it, I scared the housekeeper with it and it got to the point where I was like I gotta get this thing outta my house”, Grohl joked. |
Elsewhere on the show, Grohl discussed his love of Abba – after wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo of the iconic pop group. |
“Man, I heard there’s an ABBA comeback and I flipped out!”, he said. |
It probably goes without saying that coming off a season in which they finished 13th in the Western Conference and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs by 15 points, there are no shortage of questions facing the Anaheim Ducks. |
Since claiming the franchise's first championship in 2007, the Ducks have won a single playoff round. They've made the postseason three times and failed to get there twice, but their overall performance last season was particularly vexing. |
Anaheim endured a hideous first half, getting veteran coach Randy Carlyle fired along the way. On Jan. 6, the Ducks sat 14th in the West with a 10-22-6 record, a full 20 points out of eighth place. Then, suddenly, the teachings of new bench boss Bruce Boudreau seemed to click, and the team went on a second-half surge. On the strength of a 17-3-4 run fueled largely by the goaltending of Jonas Hiller, the Ducks got as close as within four points of a playoff berth in late February, but could never narrow it further. |
1. What will Bruce Boudreau be able to achieve in his first full season in Anaheim? |
When he was hired Dec. 1, the Ducks found themselves in a sorry state of affairs with a 7-13-4 record. It would get worse before it got better, as they won just three of their first 14 games under Boudreau before going 24-14-6 the rest of the way. |
Although he couldn't pull off the miracle comeback he did when he first became an NHL coach in Washington, leading the Capitals back from last place in the Eastern Conference to the first of four consecutive Southeast Division titles in 2007-08, Boudreau re-energized the Ducks -- most notably Hiller and the team's defensive efforts in front of him -- and created expectations of better things to come. |
In the three full seasons Boudreau coached the Capitals, they finished first in the division each time. The Pacific boasts the defending Stanley Cup champs (Los Angeles Kings), the other West finalist (Phoenix Coyotes) and two other very solid teams (San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars), so a top-three seed is a lofty goal, but it isn't unreasonable to expect Boudreau can lead the Ducks back into the playoffs. |
"This team, we've just started going where we want to go," Boudreau said in May, when he signed a two-year contract extension. "If we had started a little bit earlier, anything could have happened. These playoff teams, we competed with all these teams, going tooth and nail." |
2. What kind of production will the Ducks get from their vaunted top line? |
The trio of Ryan Getzlaf centering Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan had its occasional flashes of brilliance, but overall suffered a significant drop in production from the previous season. |
Perry, who went on a goal-scoring binge near the end of the 2010-11 campaign in winning the Hart Trophy, slipped from 50 goals and 98 points to 37 and 60, respectively. Ryan's scoring line dipped from 34-37-71 to 31-26-57. And Getzlaf managed just 11 goals (down eight) and 57 points (down 19), his worst production since his rookie season. |
In order for the Ducks to finish above the line that divides the West's top eight from its bottom seven, they'll probably need the No. 1 unit to at least produce at a rate that falls between its sizzling 2010-11 output and its underwhelming follow-up performance. |
Of course, that's assuming the top line remains intact, which leads into our next question. |
3. Will Bobby Ryan remain a Duck, and if so, will he be happy about that fact? |
The 25-year-old right wing, who has scored 30-plus goals in each of his four full NHL seasons, made comments after the season ended that suggested he wouldn't mind continuing his career somewhere other than Southern California. |
With the Columbus Blue Jackets having traded Rick Nash to the New York Rangers last month and the high-profile free agents all signed with the exception of Shane Doan, any team looking to add an impact player on offense would figure to have Ryan in its sights. The Philadelphia Flyers, in particular, have been rumored to have interest in the native of nearby Cherry Hill, N.J., but it's unclear what the Ducks might want for him -- or if they're even inclined to deal him in the first place. |
Like it or not, Ryan may very well find himself playing in familiar surroundings. While he expressed displeasure over feeling like he shouldered too much blame for his lack of output during the team's struggles early last season, any gripes he has with management apparently don't carry over to Boudreau and the coaching staff. |
"Bruce essentially changed my whole season around in Anaheim," Ryan told the Camden Courier-Post over the summer. "It was going downhill very fast. He came in and changed things around and really spoke to me on a level that I could understand. I loved playing for him." |
4. Can Teemu Selanne continue to produce at an elite level at 42 years old? |
The Finnish Flash defied Father Time again last season by leading the Ducks in scoring, registering 26 goals and 66 points. Perhaps even more remarkably, he played in all 82 games for the first time in five years. |
With 663 career goals, Selanne is on the verge of cracking the top 10, and his 1,406 points rank 19th on the all-time list. Since the time he first contemplated retirement following Anaheim's Cup triumph, he's compiled more than 100 goals and 270 points. He also remains deadly on the power play, where his 12 goals last season give him 248 over his 19 seasons in the League. |
Selanne is coming back for another season because he still feels he can contribute at a level up to his lofty standards, and it's hard for anyone else to doubt him. |
"Age is a funny thing," Selanne told the Ducks' official website. "A lot of times, I don't really feel 42 right now. It all depends how good you feel, how healthy you are and how much passion you have for the game. That is why I still enjoy the game. It's fun to go to the rink every morning. It sounds pretty old when you say 42 as a hockey player. Mentally, I am still the same level as Getzlaf and those other guys. That is most important and that is why I am still in the game." |
5. How much of a break will Jonas Hiller get with the signing of Viktor Fasth in goal? |
Considering Hiller missed almost the entire final two months of the 2010-11 season plus the Ducks' first-round playoff defeat to the Nashville Predators because of vertigo, that he was able to come back last season and lead the League with 73 appearances was a remarkable feat. |
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