Vitol, rival oil traders in spotlight of Brazil bribery probe

Brazil’s epic “Car Wash” corruption investigation has taken down presidents and elite businessmen, and led to the largest corporate leniency deal ever signed.

But graft allegations lodged by prosecutors last week against four of the world’s largest oil trading companies - Vitol SA, Trafigura, Glencore PLC and Mercuria Energy Group - have opened an explosive new phase in the long-running probe.

Federal prosecutors allege the European multinationals and some smaller players collectively paid at least $31 million in bribes over a six-year period to employees at Brazil’s state-led oil company Petrobras to sell them oil at sweetheart prices. They said the firms’ top brass had “total and unequivocal” knowledge that they were fleecing Petrobras and that the illicit activity may still be ongoing. read more »

A Chinese Tycoon Sought Power and Influence. Washington Responded.

Ye Jianming courted the Biden family and networked with former United States security officials. Today, his empire is crashing down in court.

He struck billions of dollars’ worth of deals in Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa. He sought business with war-torn places like Chad and with international pariahs like North Korea.

Ye Jianming, a fast-rising Chinese oil tycoon, ventured to places only the most politically connected Chinese companies dared to go. But what he wanted was access to the corridors of power in Washington — and he set out to get it.

That effort has unraveled. Mr. Ye is in Chinese custody and is under investigation for unspecified crimes. The trial and conviction in New York last week of one of his top lieutenants, Patrick Ho, showed that company officials used bribery to win oil and energy contracts in Africa. read more »

Three Developers Settle Charges of Fraudulent EB-5 Offering

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that three Houston-area developers have agreed to settle charges that they misused investor funds raised from 90 Chinese investors under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program on unrelated projects.

According to the SEC’s order, the developers told investors that their funds would be used exclusively for a large mixed-use real estate development EB-5 project.  Instead, the SEC found that the developers improperly transferred $20.5 million of investor funds for various undisclosed and improper purposes, including funding purchases with respect to two unrelated real estate projects. read more »

U.S. Joins False Claims Lawsuit Filed Against Sutter Health

The U.S. Department of Justice announced today it will become a party in a whistleblower lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco against Sacramento-based Sutter Health LLC and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

The lawsuit, originally filed under seal in 2015, alleges that Sutter Health and its Palo Alto affiliate violated the federal False Claims Act by submitting inaccurate health status information on certain patients and thereby generating inflated Medicare payments.

Under the False Claims Act, claims concerning federal agencies are kept under seal until the government conducts an investigation and decides whether to intervene and become a party in the case.

When the government does intervene, it takes the lead role in handling the lawsuit and the original whistleblower is entitled to a share of any financial penalties imposed. read more »

House Report Finds Equifax Picked Business Over Security

A Congressional investigation has concluded that the devastating 2017 breach at Equifax, which affected 148 million people, was “entirely preventable.” The 96-page report is an important case study in how a lot of small decisions can add up over time, with catastrophic results. read more »

Marriott Data Breach Is Traced to Chinese Hackers as U.S. Readies Crackdown on Beijing

The cyberattack on the Marriott hotel chain that collected personal details of roughly 500 million guests was part of a Chinese intelligence-gathering effort that also hacked health insurers and the security clearance files of millions more Americans, according to two people briefed on the investigation.

The hackers, they said, are suspected of working on behalf of the Ministry of State Security, the country’s Communist-controlled civilian spy agency. The discovery comes as the Trump administration is planning actions targeting China’s trade, cyber and economic policies, perhaps within days. read more »

You Should Have the Right to Sue Apple

In Apple v. Pepper, the Supreme Court will decide whether iPhone App Store customers are entitled to make their case against the tech giant.

On Nov. 26, the Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court in the case Apple v. Pepper, that the millions of us who have bought iPhone applications through Apple’s App Store — the only way the company offers to buy an app for the device — are not really Apple’s customers.

Some app buyers allege that the App Store is an illegal monopoly and that Apple forces them to pay higher prices for apps than they would have paid in a competitive market. The question before the Supreme Court is not whether Apple has engaged in anticompetitive conduct in violation of the law. Instead, this case is about whether app buyers are entitled to present the facts of their case to a court — and the decision will have consequences for the ability of all Americans to hold corporations accountable for illegal monopolistic conduct. read more »