What Is Dodd-Frank and Why Does Trump Want to Repeal It?

Trump campaigned on deregulating Wall Street, saying that regulations are “killing our country and our jobs.” He wants to repeal Dodd-Frank, the 2010 law that tried to reign in the banks after the financial crisis. What exactly does Dodd-Frank do? And is the president right that it threatens the American economy? read more »

Shkreli Trial Veers From Securities Fraud Evidence to Soap Opera

Defense playing up ‘no harm, no foul’ argument to federal jury

Ex-hedge fund manager faces up to 20 years if convicted

A parade of investors has taken the witness stand in a Brooklyn court over the past three weeks to testify against Martin Shkreli in his criminal fraud trial, some claiming he lied to them, others complaining about sexual comments he made.

But no one said they lost money investing with the former pharmaceutical executive. 

Shkreli’s lawyers urged jurors right from the start to keep an open mind because their client is “weird” and since then focused on a “no harm, no foul defense.” Prosecutors have been painting a portrait of a deceitful young man who would go to any lengths to persuade investors to trust him with their money, including lying about how much money he managed and making suggestive comments in an effort to endear himself. read more »

Feds don't want Lance Armstrong to say 'everybody was doing it'

The United States government is putting Lance Armstrong on trial in November for civil fraud but doesn’t want the dirty history of cycling to be put on trial at the same time.

Attorneys for the U.S. Justice Department filed documents Friday that urge a federal judge to prevent Armstrong from using an “everybody was doing it” defense at trial when discussing his doping in cycling. If he loses the case, Armstrong, 45, could be on the hook for nearly $100 million in damages stemming from his time as a rider for the U.S. Postal Service cycling team.

The government is suing Armstrong on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service after the Postal Service paid $32.3 million to sponsor Armstrong’s cycling team from 2000 to 2004. The government says the cycling team violated its sponsorship contract with the Postal Service by using banned drugs and blood transfusions to cheat in races. It also alleges Armstrong concealed those violations by lying about them, effectively causing false claims to be submitted to the Postal Service to continue payment. read more »

Civil War-era law used to punish scientific fraudsters

Duke University is at the heart of a potentially blockbuster lawsuit involving three of its scientists. The suit is the latest attempt to use a 19th-century law for relatively new purposes: putting universities on the hook for grant money that went to researchers found guilty of fraud, write Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky for Stat News.

The case, which is being brought under the False Claims Act, centres on allegations that researchers at Duke used faked data to win tens of millions of dollars in federal funding. Although the principal in the fraud, Erin Potts-Kant, has had 16 papers retracted and has admitted faking her data, and Duke has acknowledged that it knew Potts-Kant was cooking the books, what remains unclear is how much the university knew and when it knew it. read more »

SAP rips and replaces South African bosses amid corruption probe

Investigation launched into allegations of kickbacks-for-contracts

SAP has installed an acting managing director and acting chief financial officer at its scandal-hit South Africa subsidiary.

This comes after the German software giant suspended four senior managers at the SA operation, and launched a probe into claims bribes were used to secure a top government contract. read more »

264 Months for Roles in $25 Million Medicare fraud

Two owners of psychological services companies, one of whom was a clinical psychologist, were sentenced yesterday for their involvement in a $25.2 million Medicare fraud scheme carried out through eight companies at nursing homes in four states in the Southeastern U.S.

According to evidence presented at trial, Hesson and Parker’s companies, Nursing Home Psychological Services (NHPS) and Psychological Care Services (PCS), respectively, contracted with nursing homes in Alabama, Florida, Lousiana and Mississippi to allow NHPS and PCS clinical psychologists to provide psychological services to nursing home residents. Hesson and Parker caused these companies to bill Medicare for psychological testing services that these nursing home residents did not need or in some instances did not receive, the trial evidence showed. During trial, evidence was entered showing that between 2009 and 2015, NHPS and PCS submitted over $25.2 million in claims to Medicare, the vast majority of which were fraudulent, while Medicare paid more than $13.5 million on the fraudulent claims. The jury verdict included a money judgment of $8,956,278, as well as forfeiture of Hesson’s home and at least $525,629 in seized currency. read more »