FBI arrests NCAA basketball coaches and Adidas rep in bribery probe involving recruitment

The FBI arrests 10 people, including four NCAA basketball coaches and an Adidas manager, in a bribery investigation involving recruitment efforts.

The four assistant or associate coaches are from Oklahoma State, Auburn, Arizona and the University of Southern California. read more »

Equifax CEO steps down after data breach; he'll still get $18-million pension

Equifax announced Tuesday that its chief executive would step down effective immediately, weeks after the credit-reporting company disclosed a massive data breach.

Richard Smith, who also served as chairman of the Equifax board, is the latest casualty at the company as a result of the breach, which exposed the Social Security numbers and birthdates of as many as 143 million people.

Smith still will receive his full pension, which was valued at $18.4 million as of the end of last year, but he will not get a 2017 bonus or severance payment, Equifax spokeswoman Ines Gutzmer said. read more »

Equifax and Wells Fargo reveal what's offensively wrong with forced arbitration

As most everyone has belatedly learned, Equifax, one of the "Big Three" credit reporting agencies, experienced a massive hack in July. The result: exposure of Social Security numbers, credit card accounts, birth dates and other personal information of 143 million Americans. In response to this egregious failure to safeguard the data in its possession, Equifax offered one year of "free" credit monitoring to consumers — but only if they waived their right to sue Equifax in class-action suits, and agreed to arbitration instead, for claims involving the credit monitoring service. How's that for atonement?

Not sufficient. After heavy criticism, the company backtracked, but its change of heart does nothing to address the underlying problem with forced arbitration clauses like the one Equifax tried to foist onto the real victims of the hack.

These clauses are now ubiquitous, appearing in agreements for bank accounts, credit cards, pay-day loans and credit report monitoring, among other places. After years of congressionally mandated study and careful review of thousands of comments, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, in July issued a regulation preventing banks and other companies from requiring mandatory arbitration and class-action waivers in their agreements with consumers. read more »

Justice Department Announces Department-Wide Response to Disaster Fraud

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced today that the Justice Department has issued a memorandum to all 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices (USAO) and heads of the department’s law enforcement agencies providing, for the first time, department-wide guidance relating to the coordination, investigation, and prosecution of disaster fraud allegations.

“The Justice Department is committed to pursuing any fraudsters seeking to capitalize on the tragedy and will devote the necessary resources to do so,” said Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.  “It is imperative that the department is able to properly track and manage its response to claims of disaster fraud and that agencies receive timely and relevant investigative leads and other relevant information. By working together, we can ensure that federal emergency relief funds are properly distributed to those who need them most and that taxpayers are not victimized by fraudsters or other criminals. read more »