Mobile TeleSystems settling bribery-related charges for $100M

The SEC says Russia's Mobile TeleSystems (NYSE:MBT) will pay $100M to settle charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of a long-running bribery issue in Uzbekistan.

The SEC charged the company with bribing an official related to the former Uzbek president and who had influence over the Uzbek telecom regulators. read more »

U.S. Obtains Over $25 Million in Forfeited Funds as Part of a Successful Effort to Root Out Fraud and Corruption in Government Contracting in Afghanistan

The Department of Justice has reached a settlement of its civil forfeiture case against assets owned by Hikmatullah Shadman that he wrongfully acquired as a government contractor in Afghanistan.  Under the terms of the settlement, approximately $25 million will be forfeited to the United States.  The civil settlement is part of a global settlement that involved the resolution of a criminal case and False Claims Act allegations. read more »

Bankrate Inc.’s Successor in Interest Agrees to Pay $28 Million to Resolve Securities and Accounting Fraud Charges

Baton Holdings LLC, as the successor in interest to Bankrate Inc., a financial services and marketing company (Bankrate), has entered into a nonprosecution agreement and agreed to pay $28 million in combined monetary penalties and restitution to resolve the government’s investigation into a complex accounting and securities fraud scheme carried out by former executives of Bankrate.

Bankrate admitted in the resolution documents that former executives engaged in a complex scheme to artificially inflate Bankrate’s earnings through so-called “cookie jar” or “cushion” accounting, whereby millions of dollars in unsupported expense accruals were purposefully left on Bankrate’s books and then selectively reversed in later quarters to boost earnings.  In addition, Bankrate admitted that former executives misrepresented certain company expenses as “deal costs” in order to artificially inflate publicly reported adjusted earnings metrics, and also made materially false statements to Bankrate’s independent auditors to conceal the improper accounting entries.  As a result of the scheme, Bankrate admitted that the fraudulent conduct caused Bankrate’s shareholders to suffer at least $25 million in losses. read more »

How Europe’s Banks Wound Up Laundering Russia’s Money

The chaotic transition to capitalism in Russia and its neighbors triggered a flood of hundreds of billions of dollars out of the former Soviet Union. Torrents of cash were often routed through offshore zones with limited controls, making it difficult to tell the difference between legitimate business and illicit flows from criminal activity. Sometimes the suspect money made its way into prominent international banks. The money-laundering scandals now rocking Europe’s lenders and the whack-a-mole quality of enforcement efforts shine a light on regulators’ struggles to keep up with the volumes of cash. read more »