Your complete guide to corruption at the 2018 men’s World Cup in Russia

It turns out FIFA is still bad. Putin, too.

Congratulations, you made it! The 2018 World Cup officially kicks off on Thursday evening in Moscow — Thursday morning for those of us in the United States — with a match between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

If you haven’t been paying attention, here’s a quick debrief: The United States failed to qualify, and has nobody to blame but themselves. Brazil and Germany are the favorites, Spain is a mess, Will Smith sang the official song, and both FIFA and Russia have ensured that the spectacle of world-class soccer comes with a heaping side of corruption and systemic oppression.

As you’ve probably inferred, this preview will focus on the latter.

FIFA awarded Russia the 2018 World Cup back in 2010. Since then, Russia has interfered with foreign elections, propped up a murderous regime in Syria, invaded Ukraine, gotten kicked out of the G8 for invading Ukraine, poisoned its enemies, and been sanctioned for facilitating the one of the biggest state-sponsored doping scandals in the history of sports at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

And yet, here we are. Despite FIFA’s much-touted ethics reforms, and pressure from some within FIFA to hold dishonest officials accountable, it turns out that there is no breaking the bond of FIFA, Russia, and corruption. read more »

Goldman Made Millions in Malaysia. Malaysia Hopes to Claw Some Back.

Goldman Sachs once made a lot of money in Malaysia. Now Malaysia wants some of it back.

The Malaysian government intends to seek restitution from Goldman Sachs, its new finance minister said this week, as it moves to resolve a huge scandal that led to the disappearance of billions of dollars and helped put the country deeply in debt.

That could add significantly to the venerable Wall Street bank’s problems in Malaysia, where it has become ensnared in the scandal. It already faces investigations in the United States and elsewhere related to its activity in the country, where it was once a dominant financial force. read more »

CFTC zeros in on Coinbase, Kraken Bitstamp and ItBit for possible price manipulation

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched an investigation into Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken as well as ItBit exchanges. This investigation could have been the possible cause for Bitcoin price tanking 10% in a day cutting short a rebound that traders were eagerly waiting for.

The cryptocurrency market is still finding a way around regulations. More so, the activities of the market are heavily unregulated. Price fluctuation is high in this space while illegal trading is not a simple matter that can be pushed aside. Activities such as spoofing, dumping, whale influence as well as wash trading are things that traders have to deal with often. CFTC has requested trading data from the exchanges above to scrutinize instances of illegal activity. It should be noted that all these exchanges follow a strict KYC, however, trading could still have some laxities.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin price overreacted to the above investigation tumbling below $7,500, $7,250 and $7,000 support zones. BTC/USD has traded lows of $6,630, marginally above the lows of $6,450 traded in April this year. Bitcoin price is currently exchanging slightly above $6,800 while a bullish momentum is growing to reclaim the losses that happen during the weekend trading sessions.  There is a short-term support at $6,700, but the major support level lies at $6,450.  read more »

Humana, Roche Diagnostics Face $45M Federal Kickback Lawsuit

A federal lawsuit filed in 2014 that alleges Humana and Roche Diagnostics engaged in a $45 million kickback agreement has resurfaced in an Illinois federal court.

A federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois has dismissed two motions to appeal a 2014 whistleblower lawsuit, alleging that Humana was ready to terminate a contract with Roche Diagnostics in 2013 that would have effectively removed Roche's diabetes glucose monitoring products from Humana formularies.

A whistleblower by the name of Crystal Derrick informed federal agencies that Roche Diagnostics overpaid Humana $45 million in drug rebates. Derrick’s testimony also suggested that Roche Diagnostics offered to accept a $27.5 million of the $45 million and would allow Humana to keep the remainder. She believes Roche used the additional payment in order to remain in Humana’s good graces and on the payer’s device formulary. read more »