Tax evaders exposed: why the super-rich are even richer than we thought

Analysis of a massive trove of data – much of it leaked from tax havens – suggests that inequality levels across the world should be revised upwards dramatically

At the time of the leak, HSBC Switzerland was a major actor in the offshore wealth management industry. It managed US$118.4bn – about 4% of all the foreign wealth managed by Swiss banks. This is a unique source of information through which to study tax evasion, because the leak can be seen as a random event, and it comes from a large (and, the available evidence suggests, representative) offshore bank. read more »

Why Did China Detain Anbang’s Chairman? He Tested a Lot of Limits.

Ever since Anbang Insurance Group bought the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York nearly three years ago, the politically connected company has tested the mostly unwritten rules of the Chinese business world, ignoring regulators’ hints and wading into international controversies.

Now, with the detention by police of Anbang’s chairman, the biggest question is which potential transgression may have spurred Beijing to crack down. read more »

One Way to Fix Uber: Think Twice Before Using It

You gasp with each new report on Uber’s toxicity. On Tuesday, there was the harassment and discrimination documented in an endless list of internal recommendations by Eric H. Holder Jr., the former attorney general, who was hired to peer into Uber’s ugly depths. Then, while presenting the report to employees, an Uber board member made a sexist remark. (He later resigned.) All of it comes after a parade of escalating scandals that seem more fitting at a company run by Tony Soprano than by nerds in San Francisco. read more »

DynCorp workers accused of bilking State Department out of millions in Iraq

Workers for government contractor DynCorp International conspired to bilk the State Department out of millions of dollars, according to a federal investigation in Virginia.

The criminal charges come as DynCorp faces an unrelated civil suit by the Justice Department in the District of Columbia that contends that the company allowed a subcontractor to charge excessive rates. DynCorp has denied wrongdoing, saying it stopped working with that subcontractor “many years ago.”

Both cases involve the training of civilian police officers in Iraq. A 2010 report from the State Department’s special inspector general for Iraq’s reconstruction found that oversight of Dyncorp’s police training contract was, and for years had been, weak.

One defendant pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, along with two relatives who lied to cover up his crime. Another alleged co-conspirator is headed for trial, and another is being extradited from Europe. read more »

US bank bosses succumb to email hoaxer

The bosses of Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are the latest executives to fall victim to an email prankster who has also managed to connect with the head of Barclays and the governor of the Bank of England.

While neither Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein nor his Citi counterpart Michael Corbat revealed any sensitive information, the exchanges will raise questions about the way banks' computer systems handle emails to addresses outside their companies.

Blankfein was drawn into the simple hoax when he replied to an email purporting to be from his company's president and co-chief operating officer, Harvey Schwartz, congratulating him on a tweet that Blankfein wrote last week on a trip to China about the country's impressive infrastructure. read more »

As America’s Opioid Crisis Spirals, Giant Drug Distributor McKesson Is Feeling the Pain

The company is facing lawsuits from devastated communities in West Virginia.

The numbers are hard to fathom: Between 2007 and 2012, as the nation’s opioid epidemic spiraled out of control, wholesalers collectively shipped 780 million pain pills to West Virginia—or 433 doses for every man, woman, and child there. The big three alone delivered more than half of those, according to the Gazette-Mail’s analysis: some 423 million pills. 

$1.1 Million to Resolve USAID False Claims Act Allegations

Misr Sons Development S.A.E. a construction company with its principal place of business in Cairo, Egypt, has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle allegations that HAS submitted false claims in connection with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracts, the Justice Department announced today. read more »

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Indictment Of Three-Quarter House Director Charged With Defrauding Medicaid

Schneiderman: Medicaid Cannot Serve As A Bank Account For Criminals Who Have No Regard For The Well-Being Of Their Fellow New Yorkers. read more »