Jared Kushner's family's real estate company 'subpoenaed over investment-for-visas programme'

Kushner Companies maintains it 'did nothing improper'

New York federal prosecutors have reportedly subpoenaed Kushner Companies, the New York real estate business owned by the family of Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

The subpoenea concerns the company's use of the controversial EB-5 visa programme to finance its development in New Jersey called One Journal Square.

The EB-5 programme allows wealthy foreign investors to effectively buy US immigration visas for themselves and their families by investing at least $500,000 (£378,000) in US development projects. read more »

Prosecutors spell out their case against L.A. over housing for the disabled

Los Angeles city officials used federal funds to build housing that had sinks, doorways, balconies and other features that could not be used by people in wheelchairs, prosecutors allege in new federal documents.

The complaint, filed Monday by the U.S. attorney’s office, amends a lawsuit lodged by two whistleblowers against the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency six years ago.

Prosecutors contend the city fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in federal grants by falsely certifying that the money was being spent in a way that complied with federal accessibility laws. Those laws require that a percentage of federally funded housing projects serve tenants who use wheelchairs or have other impairments. read more »

Boston hedge fund's manager defrauded investors

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday accused the manager of a Boston-based hedge fund of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars, nearly two months after state regulators charged him with engaging in a Ponzi-like scheme.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Boston federal court, Raymond Montoya, who operated RMA Strategic Opportunity Fund LLC, misused millions of dollars to pay for luxury vehicles and his son's home mortgage and to repay earlier investors. read more »

Odebrecht to exit Angola diamond mine, sources say

Odebrecht SA, the Brazilian conglomerate selling assets in the wake of a corruption scandal, has agreed to sell a 16.4 percent stake in the world's No. 4 diamond mine to a partner, a person with direct knowledge of the transaction said on Tuesday. read more »

Who Snatched My Car? Wells Fargo Did

Wells Fargo is back in the spotlight for another scandal. This time, for signing up 490,000 auto-loan customers for insurance they didn't need.

This comes less than a year after the bank generated a massive public outcry for opening millions of unwanted accounts for customers.

Customers who already had car insurance say they had no idea they were being charged for this insurance from Wells Fargo. And the bank acknowledges that tens of thousands of people wound up in default, which affected people's credit scores, and thousands had their cars repossessed. read more »