Former Danske Estonia boss found dead amid money laundering inquiry

A former head of Danske Bank’s Estonian branch, which is at the centre of inquiries into the world’s largest money laundering scandal, was found dead on Wednesday.

Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest lender, is under investigation in several countries, including the United States, Denmark, Britain and Estonia, over suspicious payments totalling 200 billion euros (160.9 billion pounds) which were moved through its tiny Estonian branch during the period Rehe was in charge.

Rehe’s death is likely to complicate investigations into Danske Bank’s Estonian operation, including by U.S. authorities.

The former banker’s importance in investigating the case was highlighted by the fact that he had been quizzed, as a witness, by Estonian prosecutors. read more »

Juul CEO resigns, vaping company suspends advertising as crisis continues

The CEO of Juul Labs has been ousted, and the e-cigarette company has suspended advertising as it remains embroiled in a crisis over its vaping products.

Kevin Burns, who had apologized for the nation's teen vaping epidemic, resigned effective immediately, Juul announced Wednesday.

What's more, Juul announced it would suspend all of its broadcast, print and digital ads in the U.S. And Juul committed to refrain from lobbying the Trump administration on new vaping laws under consideration, saying it will "fully support and comply with the final policy when effective." read more »

Data Analytics Giant Comscore, Former CEO Settle With SEC for Cooking the Books

Data analytics firm Comscore and its former CEO, Serge Matta, was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of widespread fraud at the company and have settled for over $5 million, the agency announced on Tuesday.

According to the SEC, Comscore and Matta stuffed its public revenue filings to overstate revenue by $50 million from 2014-2016. As the Los Angeles Times noted, that $50 million in revenue never existed but helped the company “beat Wall Street analysts’ sales estimates for seven quarters,” artificially inflating Comscore’s value. The SEC also found that “Comscore and Matta made false and misleading public disclosures regarding the company’s customer base and flagship product,” namely by misrepresenting its number of customers as increasing rather than decreasing, “and that Matta lied to Comscore’s internal accountants and external audit firm” as part of an effort to cover it up. read more »

Credit Suisse Spy Drama Signals a Deeper Malaise

Attracting and retaining money from the rich has become a much harder business for Switzerland's banks.

Private bankers have been gripped by their very own thriller this week, complete with Credit Suisse Group AG spying on a departing executive, an alleged car chase and a bust-up. Managing money for the rich isn’t what it used to be.

Prosecutors are probing the incident and Switzerland’s second-largest bank is conducting its own inquiry to determine who among the firm’s top executives was involved in ordering Iqbal Khan to be followed. It has the potential to cost Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam or other senior executives their jobs, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. read more »