Drugmakers Astellas, Amgen to pay $125 million in U.S. charity kickback probe

Two drugmakers will pay nearly $125 million to resolve claims they used charities that help cover Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket drug costs as a way to pay kickbacks aimed at encouraging the use of their high-priced medications, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. read more »

Swedbank admits money laundering flaws, cooperating with U.S. authorities

Sweden’s oldest bank, whose CEO and chairman have both left as money laundering allegations snowballed, is already facing a joint probe by financial watchdogs in Sweden and the Baltics and another by Sweden’s economic crimes body.

Swedbank has found itself caught up in a regional money laundering scandal originating with Danske Bank, which said last year that 200 billion euros ($223 billion) of suspicious funds moved through its Estonia branch between 2007 and 2015. read more »

Two Pharmaceutical Companies Agree to Pay a Total of Nearly $125 Million to Resolve Allegations That They Paid Kickbacks Through Copay Assistance Foundations

The Department of Justice announced today that two more pharmaceutical companies – Astellas Pharma US Inc. (Astellas) and Amgen Inc. (Amgen) – have agreed to pay a total of $124.75 million to resolve allegations that they each violated the False Claims Act by illegally paying the Medicare copays for their own products, through purportedly independent foundations that the companies used as mere conduits. read more »

Celadon ordered to pay $42 million after admitting securities fraud

Indianapolis-based trucking company Celadon Group Inc. has agreed to pay $42.2 million in restitution to settle securities fraud charges announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Under the settlement, the company acknowledged “filing materially false and misleading statements to investors and falsifying books, records and accounts,” federal prosecutors said.

The restitution will go to "shareholder victims," according to the agreement. read more »

Facebook Breached Canadian Privacy Laws, Watchdogs Say

Commissioner blasts ‘unacceptable’ rejection of his findings

Tech giant set aside $3 billion for possible fine in U.S. case

Privacy watchdogs are accusing Facebook Inc. of “serious contraventions” of Canadian law in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

In a joint report released Thursday, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia said the Menlo Park, California-based technology giant didn’t obtain proper consent from users to disclose their personal data, didn’t have adequate safeguards to protect that data and didn’t take proper responsibility for the information under its control. read more »

Morgan Stanley to Pay California $150 Million Over Mortgage Crisis Claims

More than a decade after the mortgage crisis blew a hole in the United States economy, banks and prosecutors are still sorting out the tab for the damage.

The latest reckoning came on Thursday, when Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $150 million to settle claims by the State of California that it misled investors about the risks of mortgage-backed securities sold to two state pension funds for teachers and public employees. read more »