He Promised to Restore Damaged Hearts. Harvard Says His Lab Fabricated Research.

For Dr. Piero Anversa, the fall from scientific grace has been long, and the landing hard.

Researchers worldwide once hailed his research as revolutionary, promising the seemingly impossible: a way to grow new heart cells to replace those lost in heart attacks and heart failure, leading killers in the United States.

But Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, his former employers, this month accused Dr. Anversa and his laboratory of massive scientific malpractice. More than 30 research studies produced over more than a decade contain falsified or fabricated data, officials concluded, and should be retracted. Last year the hospital paid a $10 million settlement to the federal government after the Department of Justice alleged that Dr. Anversa and two members of his team were responsible for fraudulently obtaining research funding from the National Institutes of Health. read more »

Wells Fargo says auto insurance remediation will not wrap up until 2020

Wells Fargo & Co will not finish paying back the estimated 600,000 customers it wrongly charged for auto insurance until at least 2020, the bank said in a letter to U.S. lawmakers

U.S. regulators slapped Wells Fargo with a $1 billion penalty in April when it admitted to wrongly forcing drivers into auto insurance policies. That agreement envisioned the customer payouts would finish within months. read more »

GE takes $22.8B loss in Q3, reveals DOJ criminal probe

General Electric took a $22.8 billion loss in the third quarter, with the conglomerate disclosing a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over its financial reporting.

The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has an existing probe under way of GE’s financial reporting. read more »

Former Julius Baer Banker Gets 10 Years for Venezuelan Plot

A former Swiss banker was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a plot to launder $1.2 billion stolen from Venezuela’s state-owned oil producer, but the judge said she may reduce his term if prosecutors are satisfied with his cooperation.

The banker, Matthias Krull, 45, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Miami, where he pleaded guilty on Aug. 22. He admitted that he joined a network of money launderers that used real estate and false-investment schemes to hide funds taken from Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., known as PDVSA. read more »