"Scum of the Earth." Crypto Crime. Pharma Bro denied
Big Business Blotter's Mid-March News Roundup
Big Business Blotter News Roundup:
Flickr photo of pond scum via Brad Smith
TOP NEWS
Charges Filed in Connection with Texas Oilfield Deaths - DOJ
According to court documents, Aghorn Operating Inc. owns and operates oil wells and leases in Texas. Aghorn and Trent Day, Vice President of Aghorn, were indicted for violating the Clean Air Act relating to releases of hydrogen sulfide from an Aghorn facility, as well as obstructing an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation. Aghorn was also charged with three worker safety OSHA crimes for causing the death of an Aghorn employee. In addition, Aghorn and Day, along with another corporation, Kodiak Roustabout Inc., were charged with violating the Safe Drinking Water Act and making false statements regarding the mechanical integrity of Aghorn injection wells in forms and pressure charts filed with the State of Texas Railroad Commission. The charges are the result of an investigation of the Oct. 26, 2019, death of Aghorn employee, Jacob Dean and his wife, Natalee Dean. Both were overcome by hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas, at an Aghorn facility in Odessa.
Federal subpoena follows inspections after warning and recall at ‘dollar stores’ - Food Safety News
In response to the recent inspections, the Eastern District of Arkansas has reportedly issued a federal grand jury subpoena for more information from Dollar. The grand jury is seeking information on the pest and sanitation issues that led to last month’s recall of drugs, cosmetics, human food and animal foods from 404 stores in six U.S. states.
EXECUTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY
‘Scum of the earth’: Drug victims face Purdue Pharma owners - AP
Thursday was Richard Sackler’s 77th birthday, according to public records. Later this month, Nelson said, she and her husband will visit the cemetery on what would have been Bryan’s 34th birthday. “I understand today’s your birthday, Richard, how will you be celebrating?” she said. “I guarantee it won’t be in the cemetery. ... You have truly benefitted from the death of children. You are scum of the earth.” Her words echoed a 2001 email from Richard Sackler, made public during lawsuits over OxyContin, in which he referred to people with addiction as “scum of the earth.”
Nissan Ex-Executive Gets Suspended Sentence in Carlos Ghosn Case - NYT
A little more than two years after the former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn fled Japan to escape criminal charges, a Japanese court on Thursday convicted his American former deputy of helping him conceal part of his compensation from regulators.
AMAZON
Amazon Flagged to Justice Department for Possible Criminal Obstruction of Congress - WSJ
A U.S. congressional committee is asking the Justice Department to investigate Amazon.com Inc. and some of its executives for what lawmakers say is potentially criminal obstruction of Congress, according to people familiar with the matter and a letter containing the request.
California Court Rules Amazon Must Protect Consumers - As You Sow
“Amazon, one of the world’s largest companies, argued that it was not ‘acting in the course of doing business’ and should not be held responsible for the sale of these extremely toxic skin lightening creams on its website marketplace. California’s Toxic Enforcement Act requires anyone acting in the course of doing business to warn Californians before they are exposed to carcinogens and reproductive toxins. Our position has always been that there is no exception for Amazon. The California Court of Appeals soundly confirmed our position on Friday.”
MORE TECH
Activision Blizzard, the embattled gaming giant that Microsoft recently agreed to buy for nearly $69 billion, is being sued by the family of an employee who died by suicide, with the family blaming the woman’s death on sexual harassment and claiming that a supervisor then lied to detectives about his relationship with her, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post.
The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced today that the government entered into an agreement with Kurbo Inc. and its parent company, WW International Inc. (formerly Weight Watchers International Inc.) (collectively, “Defendants”) and will collect $1.5 million in civil penalties from defendants as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that they violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) in connection with their weight management service for children, Kurbo by WW.
The Federal Trade Commission today issued an administrative complaint against Denver-based HomeAdvisor, Inc. – a company affiliated with Angi – alleging it used a wide range of deceptive and misleading tactics in selling home improvement project leads to service providers, including small businesspeople operating in the “gig” economy.
ANTITRUST
Chicken Companies Were Asked About Sharing of Employment Practices - WSJ
The Justice Department is investigating whether poultry companies have engaged in anticompetitive sharing about employment practices that held down plant workers’ wages, according to people familiar with the matter. The civil probe by the Justice Department is examining actions at several poultry companies, the people said, and adds to the scrutiny that U.S. meat processors are facing from the government and their workers. The department has put at least some companies on legal notice that they must preserve documents, several of these people said.
Powers began his remarks by noting that the Division’s Criminal Section currently had 18 indicted cases against 10 companies and 42 individuals, including 8 CEOs or Presidents. DAAG Powers also noted that the Section had 146 open grand jury investigations – more than at any time in the last thirty years and “expect[ed] to stay busy this year and beyond.”
BANKS
Credit Suisse and the Oligarchs - Dirt Diggers Digest
Russian banks are among the targets of Western sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine, but a financial institution in the middle of Europe is also part of the problem. According to recent press reports, Switzerland’s Credit Suisse is calling for the destruction of certain documents that could involve Russian oligarchs—a move that could impede efforts to locate and perhaps seize their assets.
CRYPTO CRIME
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Ricky Patel, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), announced today that JOHN ALBERT LOAR BARKSDALE was arrested abroad on conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud charges. The charges arise from a scheme perpetrated by BARKSDALE to sell a cryptocurrency token called Ormeus Coin (asset symbol “ORME”) through false representations regarding the size, value, and purported profitability of Ormeus Coin’s cryptocurrency mining assets. In particular, through a series of marketing materials designed to sell Ormeus Coin, BARKSDALE and others falsely represented, among other things, that Ormeus Coin was secured by a $250 million cryptocurrency mining operation, which would have been one of the largest such operations in the world, and that its mining revenues exceeded $5 million on a monthly basis.
Third Founder Of Cryptocurrency Exchange Pleads Guilty To Bank Secrecy Act Violations - SDNY
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SAMUEL REED, one of three co-founders and a high-ranking executive of purportedly “off-shore” cryptocurrency derivatives exchange the Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange or “BitMEX,” pled guilty today to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”) by willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering (“AML”) program at BitMEX. Under the terms of his plea agreement, REED agreed to separately pay a $10 million criminal fine representing pecuniary gain derived from the offense. REED pled guilty today before Chief U.S. District Judge Laura T. Swain, and will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl. The other two founders of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo, previously pled guilty to the same offense in February 2022.
The operators of RagingBull.com, an online stock trading site that used bogus earnings claims to trick consumers into signing up for services and then trapped them into hard-to-cancel subscription plans with costly charges, will be required to pay $2.425 million, end the earnings deception, get affirmative approval from consumers for subscription sign ups, and provide them with a simple method to cancel recurring charges. “Raging Bull’s baseless earnings claims and hard-to-cancel subscriptions cost consumers millions,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Today’s proposed order continues the FTC’s crackdown on false earnings claims, returning millions to consumers and requiring click-to-cancel online subscriptions.”
POLLUTERS
"We want to stress that the settlement will promote environmental justice. The communities near Chevron Phillips’ Cedar Bayou and Port Arthur facilities are disproportionately exposed to harmful pollutants and are at higher risk for cancer. This settlement permanently reduces the level of pollutants from the covered plants to which these communities will be exposed."
PHARMA
The investigation by the DEA Memphis Field Division identified more than 700 separate alleged recordkeeping violations and alleged overages, or excess quantities of drugs on hand, for eight controlled substances. The investigation also identified alleged discrepancies between McKesson RxPak’s records compared with reports it made to the DEA of its sales of Schedule II controlled substances.
Pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt ARD LLC (formerly known as Mallinckrodt ARD Inc. and previously Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Questcor)) (collectively Mallinckrodt), has agreed to pay $260 million to resolve allegations that Mallinckrodt violated the False Claims Act by knowingly: 1. underpaying Medicaid rebates due for its drug H.P. Acthar Gel (Acthar); and 2. using a foundation as a conduit to pay illegal co-pay subsidies in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute for Acthar. In 2019 and 2020, respectively, the government filed separate complaints detailing these allegations. The settlement, which is based on Mallinckrodt’s financial condition, required final approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which approved the settlement on March 2.