Former Insys CEO pleads guilty to opioid kickback scheme

The former chief executive of Insys Therapeutics Inc pleaded guilty on Wednesday to participating in a nationwide scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe an addictive opioid medication and has agreed to become a government witness.

Michael Babich, who resigned as the Arizona-based drugmaker’s CEO in 2015, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to conspiracy and mail fraud charges after entering into a cooperation deal with prosecutors.

His plea comes less than three weeks before five former Insys executives and managers including John Kapoor, its onetime billionaire founder and former chairman, face trial after being charged with participating in the scheme. read more »

AT&T says it’ll stop selling your location data, amid calls for a federal investigation

AT&T said Thursday it will stop selling its customers' location data to third-party service providers after a report this week said the information was winding up in the wrong hands.

The announcement follows sharp demands by federal lawmakers for an investigation into the alleged misuse of data, which came to light when Motherboard revealed a complex chain of unauthorized information-sharing that ended with a bounty hunter successfully tracking down a reporter’s device. read more »

Goldman Sachs could be liable for $5B in Malaysian scandal

Goldman Sachs may be on the hook for as much as $5 billion for its role in a Malaysian bribery scandal — twice previous estimates of a worst-case scenario, according to a report.

The Wall Street behemoth — which helped raise about $6.5 billion for the 1Malaysia Development Berhad, better known as 1MDB — faces increasing heat from regulators, federal prosecutors, and the Asian country over the deal, whose proceeds largely paid for bribes to government officials and the lavish lifestyle of playboy financier Jho Low.

Goldman will likely be forced to forfeit $600 million it made in fees, pay at least $1.2 billion in fines to the SEC, and at least another $2.7 billion in money returned to Malaysia, according to an interview with Peter Henning, a former criminal prosecutor at the Justice Department, which was published in a Thursday research report from Wells Fargo. read more »

Ghosn's Renault lieutenant drew extra salary via holding

Ghosn and Nissan senior director Greg Kelly, who are at the center of a financial misconduct scandal engulfing the carmaking alliance, approved payments totaling 500,000 euros ($572,000) to Renault General Secretary Mouna Sepehri, who is responsible for corporate governance in her role as board secretary. read more »