LONDON — Rolls-Royce, one of the world’s largest makers of engines for commercial airplanes, said Thursday it was cooperating with the Serious Fraud Office on an investigation into alleged corruption at some overseas business operations. Rolls-Royce passed findings of an internal investigation to the S.F.O. relating to concerns about bribery and corruption at intermediaries in Indonesia and China. The findings are a matter of concern, the London-based company said. The company said it was too early to speculate on the outcome of the investigation but it could include the prosecution of individuals and the company. “I want to make it  [ Read More ]

Hackers fight hackers to maintain online security Written by VICTORIA TRANG Aggie Science Writer Published on November 21, 2012 Filed under Science & Technology Many people rely heavily on the internet for running their daily lives. And every day, the number of internet-dependent people increases. From studying, socializing or shopping, many technologically savvy individuals use their computers or mobile devices to run errands and to entertain themselves. While technology has vastly improved our lives, countless dangers lurk on the internet. Cybercrime is on the rise and has already affected many individuals and companies. Stu Sjouwerman, founder of KnowBe4, a site  [ Read More ]

By Fahmida Y. Rashid, TechNewsDaily Contributor | LiveScience.com – Mon, Nov 19, 2012 Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the start of the American holiday shopping season. Brick-and-mortar retailers gear up for it by offering gargantuan sales to get shoppers in the doors. But they’re not they only ones getting ready. Cybercriminals are prepping their online wares too. Many of the scams also target Cyber Monday, which falls on the Monday after Thanksgiving. For the past few years, Cyber Monday has been the biggest day for online retailers, who entice customers with special “one day only!” promotions. Search the  [ Read More ]

November 11-17 is International Fraud Awareness Week By Hetherington Group Published: Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012 – 5:43 am WAYNE, N.J., Nov. 7, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ — Organizations around the world — both large corporations as well as small businesses — lose an estimated 5% of annual revenues to fraudulent activities, according to a study conducted by the Association of Certified Examiners (ACFE) with 42% of fraudsters being employees, 38% managers and 18% owner/executives. A great majority of this fraudulent activity occurs within the 23 million small businesses in the United States that account for 54% of all U.S. sales and  [ Read More ]

Sun Sentinel | By Jon Burstein Posted: 11/04/2012 2:49 am EST Updated: 11/04/2012 9:18 am EST He’s a model/actor/world traveler who now finds another title affixed to his name — alleged Ponzi schemer. Beyond his pin-up good looks and dazzlingly white smile, former Florida Atlantic University student Donald R. French Jr. stands out from the never-ending parade of South Floridians accused of running investment frauds. Federal authorities say he was just 21 years old when he launched a $10 million “classic Ponzi scheme” he used to transform himself from a boy from Michigan into an international jet-setter. Local attorneys who  [ Read More ]

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, was sued by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over accusations that a business acquired in its takeover of Bear Stearns Cos. fraudulently marketed and sold mortgage-backed securities. JPMorgan deceived investors about the defective loans backing securities they invested in, leading to “monumental losses,” Schneiderman said in a complaint filed today in New York State Supreme Court. “Defendants systematically failed to fully evaluate the loans, largely ignored the defects that their limited review did uncover, and kept investors in the dark about both the inadequacy of their review procedures and the  [ Read More ]

By David Gialanella | New Jersey Law Journal | August 30, 2012 A Johnson & Johnson unit agreed Thursday to pay $181 million to settle dozens of states’ claims that it engaged in illegal off-label marketing of antipsychotic drugs, with New Jersey to receive $5.3 million. Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Titusville improperly marketed Risperdal, Risperdal Consta, Risperdal M-Tab and Invega, in violation of federal law, according to Chiesa v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, MER-C-75-12. The drugs are primarily used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania, but have off-label uses. While doctors also may prescribe Risperdal to treat Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, depression and  [ Read More ]

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) recently released its Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse – 2012 Global Fraud Study. The ACFE states that the Report is based on data from 94 countries compiled from studies of 1,388 occupational fraud cases that occurred between January 2010 and December 2011, and were investigated by certified fraud examiners. The ACFE conducts global occupational fraud studies every two years. According to the Report, a typical organization loses 5% of its revenues to fraud each year, which translates to more than $3.5 trillion if applied to the estimated 2011 Gross  [ Read More ]

But judge chastises oil giant for concealing profit margins from buyers BP Products North America Inc. emerged victorious but not unscathed in a protracted lawsuit involving two of its Chicago-area franchisees that alleged the oil giant had defrauded them. Cook County Circuit Judge Sanjay Tailor ruled Wednesday that the franchisees, RWJ Management Co. and Joliet Petroleum LLC, failed to prove all of the elements of their fraud claims, which were brought in 2009. Tailor’s decision came after a 24-day trial this year. “We are pleased with the court’s decision, which supports our view that this was nothing more than a  [ Read More ]

By Beth Pinsker Gladstone | Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Capital One Financial settlement with U.S. regulators over deceptive marketing of credit card “add-on products” means a lot to all consumers, not just Capital One customers, according to consumer advocates. This is the first enforcement action by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, which is about to hit its first anniversary. Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of advocacy group U.S. PIRG, says it’s significant to the future of the agency that this first move was against a big company over a pernicious practice. “This is a big event for a  [ Read More ]

July 16 (Bloomberg) — Brian Stoker, ex-director of Citigroup Inc.’s collateralized debt obligation structuring group, misled investors in the deal at the center of the bank’s proposed $285 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency lawyer told jurors.The SEC claims that Stoker negligently violated securities law in putting together the assets underlying a $1 billion collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, called “Class V Funding III.”“Brian Stoker made untrue statements and materially misstatements to investors,” Jeffrey Infelise, an SEC lawyer, told the jury today at the start of Stoker’s civil trial in Manhattan federal court.The SEC claims Citigroup  [ Read More ]

By: Mark Gongloff | Huffington Post The unfolding PFGBest debacle looks like the MF Global debacle in a lot of ways, including missing customer funds held in a JPMorgan Chase account. JPMorgan has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case — and probably won’t be. But this is another problem to add to the biggest U.S. bank’s long and growing list of problems, from its London Whale losses to its involvement in the Libor scandal. PFGBest, a brokerage firm based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Monday froze its client accounts and disclosed that its founder had been hospitalized  [ Read More ]

In high value Personal Injury claims, Defendants solicitors sometimes instruct private investigators to film the Claimant. The potential benefit to the Defendant is that the video evidence may show that the Claimant has been exaggerating or malingering the extent of their injuries, resulting in the Defendant paying out less in compensation. What are the main uses of surveillance evidence? • To attack the Claimants credibility by demonstrating that there level of disability is different from that in their witness statement. • To demonstrate that the Claimant has made a better recovery from their physical injuries and is not as disabled  [ Read More ]

(Source: SEC) – Washington, D.C., March 15, 2012 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two senior executives and their California-based firm with defrauding officers and directors at publicly-traded companies in an elaborate $8 million stock lending scheme. The SEC alleges that Argyll Investments LLC’s purported stock-collateralized loan business is merely a fraud perpetrated by James T. Miceli and Douglas A. McClain, Jr. to acquire publicly traded stock from corporate officers and directors at a discounted price from market value, separately sell the shares for full market value in order to fund the loan, and use the remaining proceeds  [ Read More ]

Pay for chief executives has skyrocketed over the last two decades, and a new study found that the way executives use their wealth has a direct impact on how their companies operate. “Unfrugal” CEOs — those who spend their massive salaries on luxury goods — aren’t more likely to commit fraud in their personal business dealings. Their companies, however, are more likely to commit fraud, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research: However, as predicted, we find that unfrugal CEOs oversee a relatively loose control environment characterized by relatively high probabilities of other insiders perpetrating fraud and unintentional material  [ Read More ]