SEC Charges Lumber Liquidators With Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. for making fraudulent misstatements to investors.  The charges stem from Lumber Liquidators’ false public statements in response to media allegations that the company was selling laminate flooring that contained levels of formaldehyde exceeding regulatory standards.  Lumber Liquidators agreed to pay more than $6 million to settle the SEC action. read more »

Washington attorney general sues major opioid suppliers

Washington latest state to file lawsuit against distributors

Washington on Thursday became the latest state to sue major distributors of opioids, saying the companies made billions of dollars while ignoring signs of a growing crisis fueled by addiction to the drugs.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed the lawsuit Tuesday in King County Superior Court in Seattle against San Francisco-based McKesson Corp.; Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health Inc.; and Chesterbrook, Pa.-based AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. The companies shipped huge amounts of oxycodone, fentanyl and other painkillers into Washington and failed to comply with requirements that they identify suspicious orders that could be diverted to the illegal drug market and report them to law enforcement, he said. read more »

Finance Titans Indicted in College Admissions Scandal

A college admissions scandal hits business leaders

Federal prosecutors in Boston charged dozens of wealthy parents yesterday in a scandal focused on the use of fraud and bribery to help children get into elite schools.

Plenty of big financial figures were indicted: They include Bill McGlashan, the managing partner of TPG’s growth-investment arm; Gordon Caplan, the co-chairman of the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher; and Douglas Hodge, a former C.E.O. of the investment firm Pimco. read more »

When Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

It started with a Twitter meltdown and ended with a fake mass shooter. A former security manager says the company also spied and spread misinformation.

By the larger-than-life standards of Elon Musk, the story was far from a blockbuster. On June 4, 2018, Business Insider reported that Tesla Inc. was scrapping or reworking 40 percent of the raw materials at the Gigafactory, its huge battery plant in the Nevada desert. The article cited a source who figured the inefficiency had cost Musk’s electric car company $150 million, describing giant piles of scrap materials in the factory. Tesla denied the report, and a few hours later, the world moved on.

The world, that is, except Elon Musk. Although he wasn’t asked about the Business Insider story the following day at the company’s annual meeting, he stewed for weeks, dispatching a team of investigators to try to figure out who’d shared the information with the press. read more »