‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Jordan Belfort Isn't Paying His Debts, U.S. Says

Jordan Belfort, the "Wolf of Wall Street," isn’t just a con, but also a deadbeat, prosecutors say, and they want him to pay up.

For those who’ve forgotten, Belfort operated a penny-stock boiler room on New York’s Long Island called Stratton Oakmont Inc. His brash behavior was glorified on screen by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie based on Belfort’s memoir. The 2013 film made about $100 million in the U.S. alone and helped start Belfort’s second career as a motivational speaker.

At his sentencing in 2003, Belfort was ordered to pay $110.4 million in restitution and other penalties, but the government says he still owes about $97 million. At a hearing on Wednesday after prosecutors complained, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn, New York, said Belfort must meet his obligations. read more »

McKinsey manages to get itself sued for racketeering

A rival has accused its bankruptcy practice of misleading courts to win clients

Mobsters, gangsters and bent cops have all been tried under America’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act. Might consultants be next? McKinsey, a management consultancy, is being sued under the law by Jay Alix, the founder of AlixPartners, a competitor in the field of bankruptcy advice. Mr Alix alleges that McKinsey knowingly misled courts in order to land clients. The firm denies any wrongdoing.

Bankruptcy is lucrative, for those doling out the advice. According to Debtwire, a data provider, corporate bankruptcies generated $1.3bn in fees in 2016, with lawyers taking home over half, and the rest going to consultants, accountants and financiers. McKinsey is a relative newcomer: it set up its restructuring arm, which turns around companies in financial distress, in 2010. Though its share of the market is smaller than those of the top players, AlixPartners and Alvarez & Marsal, its entry has stiffened competition. Its clients have included American Airlines, Puerto Rico and a number of energy companies. read more »

Wells Fargo's Latest Misconduct Involves Its Corporate Customers

A Wells Fargo unit that handles business banking improperly altered information on documents related to corporate customers. The altered information included social security numbers, addresses, and dates of birth.

Ironically enough, the incident occurred at the end of 2017 and into early 2018 as Wells Fargo was trying to meet a deadline to comply with a regulatory consent order related to the bank’s anti-money-laundering controls. The bank has reported the problem to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the behavior is currently under investigation.

This is the latest scandal in a string of misconduct at the bank. In April, Wells Fargo settled with U.S. regulators, agreeing to pay a $1 billion fine for harming customers by creating fake accounts, selling unlawful insurance products, and charging unnecessary fees. read more »

Feds join whistleblower lawsuit over bad concrete

The Justice Department and the Virginia attorney general's office are jumping in to a whistleblower's lawsuit alleging a subcontractor deliberately used bad concrete on a $2.6 billion project to extend the D.C. region's Metrorail system to Dulles International Airport.

The whistleblower, Nathan Davidheiser, is a former lab technician at Universal Concrete Products Corp. in Stowe, Pennsylvania. He filed his lawsuit in 2016 and says the company had him falsify records when testing showed the concrete failed quality tests.

The lawsuit includes copies of text messages ordering him to falsify test data on the concrete's air content.

On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced it was joining the lawsuit, along with Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. The decision to join the lawsuit indicates authorities believe the whistleblower's allegations are credible. read more »

A Stunning, Sudden Fall for Najib Razak, Malaysia’s ‘Man of Steal’

Just a few months ago, the political machine led by Najib Razak, the gilded prime minister of Malaysia, appeared so indestructible that a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal seemed unlikely to derail it. The end came so quickly, so completely, that even his opponents were shocked.

For nearly a decade, Mr. Najib, 64, had unfettered control of his nation’s courts and coffers. His party had thrived by unfailingly delivering huge cash handouts at election time. The media was at his disposal; journalists he didn’t like, he shut down. Political foes were shoved into prison.

The pampered son of a prime minister and nephew of another, Mr. Najib enjoyed the friendship of President Trump, who after playing golf with him in 2014 gave him a photo inscribed, “To my favorite prime minister.” Last year, Mr. Trump hosted Mr. Najib at the White House, even as the United States Justice Department accused him of taking Malaysian state money.

But his authority suddenly evaporated in the early hours on May 9, after Malaysia’s national elections delivered a commanding majority to the opposition, now led by the political titan who had once lifted Mr. Najib to power: the 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad. read more »