Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Ng pleads not guilty to 1MDB charges

Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng pleaded not guilty to criminal charges linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB in an appearance at federal court in New York on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Justice accused 46-year-old Ng last year of conspiring to launder money and bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi through bond offerings that Goldman Sachs handled. He was extradited on May 3 to New York from Kuala Lumpur, where he had been jailed since November. read more »

CFTC Announces Approximately $1.5 Million Whistleblower Award

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced a whistleblower award of approximately $1.5 million to be paid to an individual whistleblower.  The CFTC granted the whistleblower’s award application for both a CFTC action and a related action brought by another federal regulator.  

James McDonald, CFTC’s Enforcement Director, said, “Today’s award stands as one in a growing line of whistleblower awards that show the Commission’s continued commitment to the program.  Whistleblowers have become an integral part of our enforcement efforts, and I expect that trend to continue going forward.” read more »

The price of plenty: how beef changed America

Exploitation and predatory pricing drove the transformation of the US beef industry – and created the model for modern agribusiness.

Beef was a paradigmatic industry for the rise of modern industrial agriculture, or agribusiness. As much as a story of science or technology, modern agriculture is a compromise between the unpredictability of nature and the rationality of capital. This was a lurching, violent process that saw meatpackers displace the risks of blizzards, drought, disease and overproduction on to cattle ranchers. Today’s agricultural system works similarly. In poultry, processors like Perdue and Tyson use an elaborate system of contracts and required equipment and feed purchases to maximise their own profits while displacing risk on to contract farmers. This is true with crop production as well. As with 19th-century meatpacking, relatively small actors conduct the actual growing and production, while companies like Monsanto and Cargill control agricultural inputs and market access. read more »

'They treat us like crap': Uber drivers feel poor and powerless on eve of IPO

Wage cuts and inadequate bonuses mean drivers are left behind as ride-hailing firm prepares for stock market debut

A lot of very rich people will get even richer when Uber goes public on 9 May in one of the most anticipated initial public offerings (IPO) to hit the stock market in 2019.

Travis Kalanick, Uber’s founder, could see his 8.6% stake in the company valued at close to $8bn if the company is valued at $90bn plus. One early investor, the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, has a $3m stake in the company estimated to now be worth $400m. Uber’s current CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, could make at least $100m from stock options on top of his salary of $45m in 2018.

Drivers, in the meantime, are feeling increasingly poor, angry and powerless. They charge wages have been cut ahead of the IPO and that the bonuses offered to long-term drivers by Uber and Lyft, its main rival, are inadequate. read more »