FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
November 18, 2013
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. I am really delighted to welcome Foreign Minister Davutoglu back to Washington. He has been such a gracious host for me now on three trips to Turkey, and frankly, it was really high time that I had an opportunity to be able to reciprocate here. We’re delighted that he’s coming here on a beautiful, beautiful fall day with lots of colors out there. We’re trying to see if we can do our best to contest the beauty of the Bosporus and all that you’ve offered me. (Laughter.) But we have spectacular views and we’re happy to have you here.
Ahmet and I have worked very, very closely on a lot of issues, and you all are very familiar with them: the question of Israel and Turkey and a rapprochement, the question of Syria enormously, and other issues on a global basis. So it’s special for me to be able to welcome him here because the U.S.-Turkey relationship is vital on so many different levels. And he and I never seem to have enough time to be able to cover all of the issues. I might say that we’ve really only begun the process today. We’ve had a bilateral meeting. We’ve had a one-on-one meeting, then we’ve had a group meeting bilateral, and now we will go to lunch and continue the conversation on a number of the issues in front of us. But I’m happy that we’ve been able to have a very, very thorough, full discussion, even to date, on almost all the issues of concern, and we’re going to continue.
Whether the challenge is Syria or Iran, Middle East peace process, the future of our NATO alliance, or ensuring our economic prosperity, the U.S. and Turkey share strategic goals. And as the Foreign Minister put it in a recent article that he wrote, the U.S. and Turkey both seek a sustainable, peaceful regional and global order rooted in good governance and democratic accountability. We also appreciate how much hard work we have to do together and with our allies and partners to achieve all of these objectives.
In Syria, our objective together and with our friends and allies is to stop the bloodshed once and for all. And to do that, we agree that we must get the parties to the negotiating table. We are moving closer to that, literally, day by day now, and we commend the opposition’s recent vote to participate in a Geneva II conference, where we hope to forge the political solution to this conflict. I’ve had conversations when I was recently in Geneva with Foreign Minister Lavrov. I’ve had telephone conversations with fellow foreign ministers over the course of the last week, and now a face-to-face meeting with Foreign Minister Davutoglu, and we are all committed to this goal and will remain so.
Today, we also talked about the way that we can tackle together and with other friends the rising extremism of the region, which threatens not only Syria’s future but it threatens its neighbors, and obviously, in this case, Turkey. We discussed the horrific humanitarian situation that exists inside Syria; and by preventing vital aid from reaching those who need it, the Assad regime is now using a policy of starvation as a weapon of war. That is against the laws of war. It is against human conscience. It is unacceptable, and we are going to continue to press in order to deal with it. I talked to Foreign Minister Lavrov over the weekend about this issue, and we are going to continue to find ways, all together, in order to address it.
We commend Turkey’s remarkable generosity in hosting over 600,000 Syrian refugees now, as well as its vaccination program for 1 million children that they just announced today. And the United States is proud to have provided an additional 96 million in assistance to refugees to Turkey. That’s part of our now 1.3 billion that the American people have graciously and generously provided in order to relieve this humanitarian crisis, and America is proudly the number one donor in order to deal with this crisis.
We also discussed Iran and the key role that Turkey has played in helping to enforce the sanctions that have brought Iran to the negotiating table. This was the very purpose of these sanctions, and we are achieving the goal of at least getting to the negotiation. Now we obviously need to achieve something at that table. We need to remain united in our goal of ensuring that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.
Now, I’ve heard a lot of back and forth in the last days and we respect the vigorous debate; we really do. But the bottom line is that we all agree, all of us, that there must be a verifiable, certain, failsafe process by which the guarantee of not getting a nuclear weapon is clear to all. That means our friends in Israel, that means our friends in the region, and that, of course, means all of us here in the United States and the United States Congress.
As we discussed today, the first step that the P5+1 is working on would stop the Iranian program from advancing while you engage in the negotiation to get to that situation where you have a comprehensive agreement and the guarantees that I talked about. We also want to commend Turkey for its recent high-level meetings with Iraq, which are important to every part of what is happening there, particularly in Iraq itself as well as with respect to Syria.
Turkey plays, as I said, a very large role in so many ways. For months now, we have been talking about Cyprus and we have been talking about Nagorno-Karabakh. And quietly, we have been trying to work ways that our ambassadors, who are front and center in this – in these initiatives, are continuing that process. Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot negotiators are making important progress, and we urge all parties to make the most of the current window of opportunity and to restart comprehensive talks.
I talked with both President Aliyev and President Sargsian in the last 48 hours – or I guess the last 72, anyway – and they are meeting shortly. We are urging that process to move forward, and we will continue to be engaged in that.
And of course, the relationship between the United States and Turkey is also defined by our work to promote prosperity for our people, the economic opportunities for all of our peoples, as well as across the world.
In September, we launched a high-level committee headed by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Turkish Minister of the Economy, and they will focus on developments between the U.S., EU, and the TTIP negotiations, as we call them. We will monitor any impacts on Turkey and closely continue to find ways to strengthen our economic ties, which are growing every year, and continue to work with Turkey on this process as we go forward.
The United States is particularly encouraged by the historic Kurdish peace agreement – process, I should say – we hope agreement – the Turkish process and the recent announcement by Turkey of several domestic reforms. Implementing these changes will spur greater openness and greater freedom in Turkish society, which the former – the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister completely embrace, and which we encourage them and commit to working with them in order to try to promote going forward.
The United States firmly believes all of these things that I’ve just mentioned are the fundamentals of our future of prosperity. Strengthening due process and freedoms of the press, expression, and assembly always strengthens the nation as a whole. And as the Minister has said, the U.S.-Turkish partnership is values-based and founded on universal principles of fundamental rights and democratic norms, and we appreciate the way in which Turkey is consistently moving, as we are, to try to improve our approach to each and every one of those challenges.
So as you can see, there is a lot on our plate today. I think there are only a few countries – you can count them on one or two hands – who work on as many issues together as effectively as we are working on them. And we are both stronger when we tackle these challenges and create opportunities together. So Ahmet, thank you for you partnership at this critical moment for both of our countries, and thank you so much for Turkey’s support and partnership with us on so many issues of regional and global concern. We appreciate it.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Thank you. Thank you, John, for this excellent hospitality and excellent weather. I welcomed John to Turkey during spring three times. I always was feeling very guilty not to reciprocate with a visit and after Prime Minister’s visit to Washington in May. It is a great pleasure for me to meet you again and within this excellent atmosphere.
Of course, we met several times on many occasions meanwhile last in New York, and sometimes every week we are having telephone consultations, conversations. This is an excellent opportunity. I always followed your very active dynamic diplomacy, John, from Middle Eastern peace process to engagement with Iran, in all fields. I don’t know how many times you came to our region. This is – you are the most – the fast moving foreign minister or Secretary of State in the history, I am sure.
SECRETARY KERRY: I have to keep ahead of these guys. (Laughter.)
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: And any time, of course, it will be a pleasure to host you again, and we will continue to work together. And always, as Turkey and as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, I myself and our government has been supporting all of your initiatives – diplomatic initiatives, Middle Eastern peace process and many other initiatives you are leading.
First of all, let me express my sympathies for the loss of lives and destruction caused by the tornadoes in and around state of Illinois. And this is our sympathy as Turkish Government, Turkish nation. Whether there is any loss of lives in, whichever reason it happens, Turkey will be always shoulder-to-shoulder with American nation everywhere.
Today, we had again an excellent opportunity to discuss several issues. When I was listening you, John, it was an excellent summary. I thought, what else should I say? And you can imagine how Turkish-American common (inaudible), it’s so widespread from the frozen conflicts like Cyprus and Nagorno-Karabakh, for last 40 years, 30 years conflicts until today the existing conflicts next to us in Syria or in the Middle East, we are always working together. And in this sense, as I wrote in my article – thank you very much for your reference to the article – our partnership is a value-based partnership. And therefore, President Obama used the right terminology. It is a model partnership. Of course, sometimes there will be difference of opinion or other synergy which we need to do more, but this value-based model partnership will continue forever, and will be one of the main asset for international community to resolve any issue.
And it is very structured partnership. We have several mechanisms, and I am also grateful for mentioning this high-level comity on TTIP, which is very important for us because we see Turkish-American relation not only as a security-based strategic cooperation but as a cooperation on democracy, economic prosperity, for our nations and for the global society. In this sense, there are many challenges in front of us, especially regarding the developments in the Middle East and in Syria.
We had an excellent meeting in London. Eleven countries agreed on a framework. And today, we confirmed again that as Turkey and the United States, we will do everything possible to end this bloodshed, to help victims of this crisis in Syria, and to make a diplomacy possible in Geneva II. In London we agreed together as 11 ministers that this new process of Geneva II will not be an open-ended process which will continue months and years, and will be a process leading to a political transition with full executive power by a transitioning governing body. And there also we agreed that we need to work with Syrian National Coalition, especially for them to join this process. And after our joint effort with the United States, our teams worked very efficiently in several meeting thrusts, after several meetings with Syrian National Coalition in Istanbul in other places, now they agreed to come to Geneva II and based on the principles of London meeting. This is success, and this success is joint – is a result of a joint effort of our teams.
And from now on, our objective is to organize this conference as early as possible, because even in one day, one hour a day in this process, cause many loss of – other loss of lives. And as you said, Bashar Assad, who committed many crimes, using chemical weapons, using missiles, attacking cities, urban areas, now he’s implementing a policy of starvation. People in Damascus and in many other parts of Syria are dying because of illness, diseases, and hunger. They cannot find anything to eat and drink. It is a responsibility of international community and responsibility of all of us, to end these crimes against humanity. And as Turkey and the United States, we will continue to work on this. And today it was a very fruitful consultation for the next steps we will be taking together for the success of Geneva conference.
And also it is a great opportunity for us to share our views on Iran, Iranian nuclear program. I am sure you have been following how Turkey worked in the past in order to end this issue, because as Turkey, we don’t want to see any nuclear weapon in the region. We don’t want any state obtaining nuclear weapon. But at the same times – at the same time, we are in favor of peaceful access of nuclear technology. So based on these two principles, we will always support P5+1 Iran negotiations, John. And we appreciate and very strategic approach of President Obama’s engagement policy with Iran and your very efficient diplomacy to make this engagement in a positive way for a resolution of this longstanding issue in the region. If there is a solution in coming weeks, I am sure that will be a big – a great news to ease the tensions in our region, and that will affect all other issues in positive faith. I can assure that as Turkey, we will support this process. We will support your efforts in P5+1 Iran talks. And whatever Turkey is expected to do, Turkey will do everything possible to ease this tension.
On Middle Eastern peace efforts you are leading, John, again, we give full support. We wish success. And whenever you go to the region, we always expect good news from you. And I hope in coming visit, there will be more progress. And whatever is needed to be done again for any peace initiative in the Middle East, Turkey is ready to contribute and to work together.
Your reference to Iraq is very important. Iraq is one of the most important neighbors of Turkey. And my visit to Iraq last week was very successful, not only successful in restoring our relations in positive faith but also successful in the sense of a clear message to the people of Iraq and to the people of the region that Turkey will be doing everything possible to prevent sectarian tension in the region. And the timing of the visit was important. During Muharram, I visited Najaf and Karbala. I didn’t meet only with Prime Minister Maliki, but I also had chance and honor to meet Ayatollah al-Sistani and other Shiite and Sunni religious leaders.
Again, with the United States and with other allies, we need to work together to prevent sectarian and ethnic tensions in the region. Turkey will continue to have excellent relations with all the parties in Iraq. I am sure you followed very closely recent visit of Mr. Barzani to Diyarbakir. This shows that Turkey is – has a strategy of acting and sectarian peace in the region – in Iraq and in the region. And our relation with Iraq will be strengthened. And as the United States and Turkey, we will work together for the stability in Iraq and also for the stability in the region.
Regarding Nagorno-Karabakh and Cyprus, on Nagorno-Karabakh we have been consulting through several mechanisms, co-chairs of Minsk Group and other bilateral consultations. And we hope that this frozen conflict will be ending soon. And that will bring peace to Caucasia; that will bring peace to the region beyond Caucasia. Therefore, today I am happy to see that John and me and Turkey and the United States look to this issue from the same perspective, and we hope that this meeting between President Sargsyan and President Aliyev will be successful.
After a few days, I will be in St. Petersburg with Prime Minister Erdogan. This was a good chance of consultation with John about these coming visits to Russia and Iran. And our relation with Russia will – and peace consultations will be bringing positive contribution in all the regional issues in Caucasia and the Middle East. And Turkey and the United States will continue to work together in all different challenging issues in front of us.
Thank you for your hospitality. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Thanks, Ahmet.
MS. PSAKI: Our first question will be from Margaret Brennan of CBS News.
QUESTION: Thank you, and thank you to both of you.
Mr. Secretary, do you expect negotiators to sign a deal with Iran in Geneva this week? Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be saying he’s going to re-litigate the issue with you. Is that necessary? And on the question of Syria, you negotiated the basis for this OPCW agreement to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons. It appears to be stalled; no countries agreed to take the weapons. Albania rejected the U.S. request to do so. What are you doing to move that along?
And Minister Davutoglu, if you could tell us if you think – on the issue of Syria – if this discussion of chemical weapons is just a distraction from the violence that threatens your borders.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Sorry?
QUESTION: A distraction from the violence that continues to threaten your border in Turkey.
SECRETARY KERRY: Do you want to go ahead? Go have at it.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Please.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I have no specific expectations with respect to the negotiation in Geneva except that we will negotiate in good faith and we will try to get a first-step agreement and hope that Iran will understand the importance of coming there prepared to create a document that can prove to the world that this is a peaceful program. That’s always been our standard. Now, I’m not going to negotiate this in public. We all need to be respectful of each other’s processes here and positions. And so I think it’s best to leave that negotiation to the negotiating table. And it will begin on Wednesday and I will be here. I’m testifying on Thursday before the U.S. Congress on – before the Senate on the Disabilities Treaty, and we’ll see what develops as to whether or not we can get close and get this done.
With respect to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Prime Minister and I – first of all, we are good friends. We’ve known each other for almost, what, 30 years or maybe more. I have great respect for his concerns about his country. The Prime Minister should express his concerns, and he has every right in the world to publicly state his position and defend what he perceives as his interests. We believe deeply in our commitment to Israel – deeply. And I have a long voting record, 100 percent record of support for our friends in Israel. And I can assure those friends and everybody else watching this that nothing that we are doing here, in my judgment, will put Israel at any additional risk. In fact, let me make this clear: We believe it reduces risk. We believe it helps all of us to move closer to this goal of achieving the comprehensive agreement that I talked about earlier.
The Prime Minister and I are talking several times a week. We talked over the weekend. We discussed timing and what may occur. I may not be able to get to – it looks as if I probably will not be able to get there over the course of this weekend, but I am committed to going in order to engage in the ongoing discussions that we are currently engaged in shortly after the Thanksgiving break, as soon as we can work out the timing. And that’s a priority for me and it doesn’t change. We remain deeply committed to this ongoing dialogue, to our friendship, and we intend to consult frequently and deeply about everything that we are engaged in.
With respect the OPCW process being stalled, on the contrary, a remarkable event is unfolding under the eyes of the world. The chemical weapons of one country are being corralled and moved and contained and placed under the supervision of an international organization which is committed to removing those weapons from Syria by the end of the year – by the end of the year. And I believe we are on target currently to achieve that. Now, while one country or another may have examined the question of taking those weapons under their jurisdiction in order to destroy them, we are not without other alternatives. In fact, we are actively pursuing two other alternatives which provide us a complete capacity to do the destruction and to meet the schedule.
So we’re on schedule, and I think it’s a remarkable thing that this cooperation that began in Geneva between Russia and the United States – or began earlier than Geneva; it began with telephone calls and conversations in St. Petersburg – is now actually being affected so effectively with the United Nations engagement with multiple countries aiding and assisting, and is on schedule and getting the job done. This is a great example of why multilateral organization and multilateral energy and commitment is so critical to all of us. I’m not going to crow about it till the job’s done, but we’re on track and we’re proud of the course that we’re on, and we are far from stalled. We are very much in business and we have alternatives as to how this will be destroyed.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Thank you, John. Yes, Turkey is the most affected country because of the crisis in Syria, because we have the longest border: 911 kilometers long. So on this border, of course, it is getting a national security issue for Turkey. Turkey has been affected because of this humanitarian tragedy. As John mentioned now, we have more than 600,000 refugees who came from Syria not for holiday unfortunately, but in order to escape from these air bombardments, missiles, and massacres.
Of course, they are our guests. We will do everything possible. It’s our humanitarian responsibility. We spent $2 billion and Turkish nation opened their hearts, their doors, to these people and embraced them as their brothers and sisters. And we will continue this policy from humanitarian perspective. But at the same time, beyond this humanitarian issue, Turkish border security has been affected negatively because there is not any orderly public authority on the other side of the border. In these type of cases, if two sides of the border are not – do not have equal authority to control, you will have – you will always face problems.
Therefore, in last two and a half years, there’s an increasing threat to Turkish national security. And for us – today, I mentioned to Secretary Hagel as well – of course, Syrian issue is important for us, but our first concern is Turkish national security. And the situation in Syria is threatening Turkish national security. Every day, there are some attempts by Syrian air forces to violate or coming and bombarding close to our border, and we had to take certain measures. And at the same time, every day we are receiving more and more refugees escaping, and this is affecting. On the other side of the border, there is no control and this creates a power vacuum which might be used by extremists groups.
And there are two threats now to Turkish national security: one is Syrian regime itself because of the policies; the second is those extremists groups which are misusing and exploiting this power vacuum for their ill intentions. Therefore, it is important to end this crisis as early as possible. When the crisis prolongs, these type of threats are emerging. And Turkey will be doing everything possible for humanitarian issues and for our national security and border control, but is not only Turkish responsibility. It is responsibility of international community to end this crisis in order to prevent these threats against Turkey and other neighboring countries.
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Please.
QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Foreign Minister, you were in Iraq a couple weeks ago, and you stated that we are opening a new page with Iraq. What does Turkey want to see on this new page? And we know that you are going to Russia and few days later to Iran. What is Turkey hoping will come out this visit?
And Mr. Secretary, can Turkey trust U.S. will fully be on its side when it struggles with the prospect of failed state in Syria, largely due to ineffectiveness of international community so far? What concrete plans does your Administration have to have is huge humanitarian and security burden over Turkey’s shoulders?
And also Mr. Foreign Minister, could you give some comment at this point? Did you feel U.S. Government has sent mixed signals to Ankara or left Turkey abandoned?
And quick question, Mr. Secretary – (laughter) – just Middle East peace for a second.
SECRETARY KERRY: That’s what we call in the law a leading question. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Yeah, just on the Middle East process, Prime Minister Netanyahu said you will be in Israel on Friday. You have said Israeli settlements are illegal, a barrier to peace, and U.S. Government has been saying this for more than 30 years. What is difference now? Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Go ahead. (Laughter.)
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Two ladies asks so many questions, not two questions. The gentleman will ask for gender equality. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: She asked you first, but I’m happy to go first.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Okay, okay, thank you. Thank you very much. About the new page on Iraq, yes, my visit was very successful, but it was a visit after so many other diplomatic meetings. The Speaker of the Parliament Nujaifi came to Turkey. We met with Hoshyar Zebari several times. Hoshyar Zebari visited Turkey. And this – we prepared the ground for my visit.
And three basic messages was there in my visit: First is, Turkey wants to have excellent bilateral relations, cooperation, and economic integration, if possible, with Iraq. That has been our intention when we established High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council mechanism first with Iraq. Now what we are doing, what we have decided with Prime Minister Maliki, is the preparatory meeting of this High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council will be completed soon. And Prime Minister Maliki in his visit – was probably late December, early January – there will be a High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council mechanism where all the important ministers will be accompanying Prime Minister Maliki, and we will have joint cabinet meeting in Turkey.
Second message was that Turkey is supporting ethnic and sectarian peace in Iraq, and Turkey will supporting the electoral process, and Turkey’s happy that a date has been declared for the general elections in Iraq. And Turkey’s at equal distance to all the groups in Iraq, and I am happy that the same messages were shared by United States as well. And we will support this process of election, and we will give the same message to all Iraqi parties. When Massoud Barzani – Mr. Barzani came to Diyarbakir, we also shared these views, and I shared with other Sunni and Shiite leaders when I was in (inaudible). (Inaudible) message, which is really even as important as the others, is a message to the region that we don’t want sectarian tension. With the leaders – Sunni and Shiite leaders – we shared this same concern, and as Turkey and Iraq – once we have good relations and in full solidarity, I am sure that will be the right message to those who want to provocate sectarian tension and war in our region. We will not tolerate, and I am happy to see the same political will on the Iraqi side that they are ready to work with us, that these scenarios of sectarian war in our region will not be successful.
About our visit to Russia and Iran – in fact, this month, we had several visits – but to Russia, we are going for High Level Cooperation Council meeting. Like Iraq, we have this mechanism with Russia, and Prime Minister Erdogan and President Putin will be co-chairing this joint cabinet meeting and Cooperation Council mechanism. There we discuss – we will discuss bilateral issues and new projects of cooperation. But at the same time, of course, as I said before, we will be consulting on Syria, Caucasia, and all other pending issues international, and that will be an excellent opportunity. After my visit to Washington, the same week, I will be visiting Tehran and (inaudible). So with this excellent consultation here, we will have the same opportunity of consultation with Russia and Iran on these difficult files.
In Tehran, again, this will be my first visit after the new government. Although I went for immigration ceremony, this will be bilateral visit. And we are preparing President Rouhani’s visit to Turkey and Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit to Tehran. Of course, we will be sharing not only bilateral issues, but also P5+1, Iran negotiations, as well as all regional issues from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Syria to Lebanon, and other regional issues. And that will be another good opportunity to create a common position in all these difficult files.
Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Every fact in our relationship – every fact in our relationship – speaks to the trust that is built on an ongoing basis between our countries. And the fact is that Turkey is a NATO ally. The United States is supporting Turkey with respect to its border challenges and the unrest in Syria. The United States is working extremely closely on a daily basis with their officials and ours, cooperating completely with respect to Syria. We have consistent sharing of intelligence. We work on strategy. We are both involved on the challenges of the borders with respect to humanitarian assistance.
As you just heard, Turkey has put in 2 billion, and some of that internally in its own country. We’ve delivered over 1.3 billion in aid in order to help. We are collaborating and working closely together with respect to the London 11. We’ve been meeting consistently with respect to this challenge of Syria and the region. Ahmet and I talk some weeks several times, and then certainly once every week or two weeks we’re on the phone together. We have a constant discussion. And I think that if you look at the work we’ve done together with respect to Israel and Turkish relations where we’ve cooperated, the visit of Prime Minister Erdogan to here, to the United States, the President’s statements, this relationship is strong, and nobody should try to get in the way of it and suggest questions about its durability. We are working with Turkey with respect to European membership. We would love to see – we’ve been supportive of that for a long time. We’re encouraging that dialogue to continue.
So there are so many things that we are really engaged in that any neutral observer would have to look at this relationship and say, “Wow, these guys are really working together and they’ve got mutual interests.” And that’s what really brings nations together – when you share values, you share interests. Sometimes we have a disagreement. That’s okay. Friends can have disagreements as long as they respect each other about how they deal with it and how they are proceeding forward. So I’m very confident about this relationship going forward, and as I said to you earlier, we’re grateful for the work Turkey has done with us on so many different issues.
With respect to the Middle East peace process – and one other thing about – you asked about failed states and failing states in the region. Those are our interests too. We are deeply concerned about failed or failing states. And the United States believes in helping to bring about the stability of that region. It is not just of interest to Turkey or to Jordan or to Iraq or Lebanon. It is of great interest to us, and has been for many, many years. And we will not move away from or walk away from or turn away from that interest that is at the forefront of what President Obama talked about at the United Nations and remains a center of his foreign policy.
On the question of the Middle East peace process and the settlements and sort of – “What’s the difference,” is what you asked. Well, the difference is enormous. First of all, we have said that the settlements are illegitimate, and the United States policy has always opposed these settlements. And you saw an effort during the first four years of the Obama Administration to try to achieve a freeze on those settlements. For a temporary period of time, it was achieved. But then other things changed, and so that’s not the current framework within which we find ourselves.
But if you look back in history, few administrations have been able to begin on day one of a second term to focus on the Middle East peace process. Too often it’s been in the final months or in latter months. So we now have three years-plus ahead of us here to continue to work on this. I don’t want it and President Obama doesn’t want it, and I don’t think Prime Minister Netanyahu or Israelis want it to drag on for that long. We believe that there is a difference in the air today in all parties. The Israelis have taken great risks. Even when they made decisions with respect to Gaza or Lebanon and rockets came at them, nevertheless, they are still committed to peace, and the vast majority of the people in Israel are committed to a two-state solution. And Prime Minister Netanyahu, to his credit, has said, “We’re going to negotiate,” and believes it is worth trying to find a way to change the status quo. And he took great risks in the decision he made and the formula he accepted to come back to these talks. The world should credit him and Israel for doing that.
The Palestinians likewise have made a commitment to come to this process. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has given up what is his ability to take issues to the United Nations for a period of time because he’s committed to be part of this process. And he has taken political heat for that, but he believes it’s the right thing to do to be at the negotiating table. The Arab community, through the Arab League, has a committee of foreign ministers who are following these negotiations, who have recommitted to the Saudi King’s creative peace proposal of a number of years ago, which has now been updated and now includes a sort of state-of-the-art 2013 recognition of how one might achieve territorial solution here.
So there’s a lot of energy going into this, a lot of people supporting it outside, in Europe. The Japanese have made a commitment recently, others, to do things. There’s a great deal of support. And I think that makes this different, because people understand that this is a crisis, a conflict that has been locked in a place for too long, and that the benefits of peace for everybody are significant enough to be working for them. So that’s what’s driving this, and our hope is that over the next weeks, months, progress can conceivably be made. But we’re going to try to exhaust every possibility that is available in order to put that to the test, and that’s where we’re heading with this.
And I think that with respect to the visit that – you asked the question – let me reiterate: Originally, we thought that I was going to try to travel this weekend, but because I’m testifying before the Senate on Thursday and the timing gets sort of difficult, it’s going to be very hard to be able to fit that in right before the Thanksgiving holiday. And I pleaded guilty of wanting to be able to spend some time with my family over the course of the Thanksgiving holiday, so we agreed that it would be better to try to do this after that, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. But nobody should interpret anything from that except my schedule and my challenges.
That’s it.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Just – I forget to answer your question about mixed signals.
QUESTION: Exactly.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: I think there is no need of sending any signals, even not-mixed or – mixed or not-mixed. There is – in our relations, we have always had channels of communication, not signals. We don’t need signals. And we still remember how President Obama welcomed our Prime Minister in May in an extraordinary way of hospitality, and both – Prime Minister Erdogan everywhere, he praises President Obama’s leadership, and President Obama always praise our Prime Minister and our President’s contributions to global peace. And between us, we met I don’t know how many times in less than a year, and how many telephone calls? Once I remember there – we spoke three times by phone, and my wife rebelled. She said, “Maybe I should call you as well to consult some family issues by phone. It is easier to reach you by phone other than seeing each other.” (Laughter.)
So we are – so therefore, there is no signal between us. There are – since there is a sincere dialogue, consultation, and not-mixed or not – mixed or not-mixed signals, but there is no signals. Direct, sincere, friendly, if sometimes needed, very frank also consultation between us, because we are working not only for our nations, but for regional and global peace. And that will continue forever between Turkish presidents, leaders, as well as American, Turkish ministers of foreign affairs forever. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
"BRIGADE HELICOPTERS PROVIDE HEAVY LIFT CAPABILITIES OVER EASTERN AFGHANISTAN"
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
A CH-47 Chinook helicopter makes its approach into the forward arming and refueling point to refuel on Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan, Nov. 12, 2013. The aircrew, which is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Phoenix, was conducting a personnel and cargo movement mission over eastern Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Peter Smedberg.
U.S.+Army+photo+by+Capt.+Peter+Smedberg.jpg)
Soldiers hot load a CH-47 Chinook helicopter on Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan, Nov. 12, 2013. The aircrew, which is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Phoenix, was conducting a personnel and cargo movement mission over eastern Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Peter Smedberg.
A CH-47 Chinook helicopter makes its approach into the forward arming and refueling point to refuel on Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan, Nov. 12, 2013. The aircrew, which is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Phoenix, was conducting a personnel and cargo movement mission over eastern Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Peter Smedberg.
U.S.+Army+photo+by+Capt.+Peter+Smedberg.jpg)
Soldiers hot load a CH-47 Chinook helicopter on Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan, Nov. 12, 2013. The aircrew, which is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Phoenix, was conducting a personnel and cargo movement mission over eastern Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Peter Smedberg.
NEW GUIDELINES FOR SMARTER USE OF ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIPTIONS FOR CHILDREN
FROM: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
New guidance limits antibiotics for common infections in children
Get Smart About Antibiotics Week 2013 calls for responsible antibiotic prescribing
Every year as many as 10 million U.S. children risk side effects from antibiotic prescriptions that are unlikely to help their upper respiratory conditions. Many of these infections are caused by viruses, which are not helped by antibiotics.
This overuse of antibiotics, a significant factor fueling antibiotic resistance, is the focus of a new report Principles of Judicious Antibiotic Prescribing for Bacterial Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in PediatricsExternal Web Site Icon by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Released today during Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, the report amplifies recent AAP guidance and promotes responsible antibiotic prescribing for three common upper respiratory tract infections in children: ear infections, sinus infections, and sore throats.
Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria evolve and are able to outsmart antibiotics, making even common infections difficult to treat. According to a landmark CDC report from September 2013, each year more than two million Americans get infections that are resistant to antibiotics and 23,000 die as a result.
“Our medicine cabinet is nearly empty of antibiotics to treat some infections,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “If doctors prescribe antibiotics carefully and patients take them as prescribed we can preserve these lifesaving drugs and avoid entering a post-antibiotic era.”
By providing detailed clinical criteria to help physicians distinguish between viral and bacterial upper respiratory tract infections, the recommendations provide guidance for physicians that will improve care for children. At the same time, it will help limit antibiotic prescriptions, giving bacteria fewer chances to become resistant and lowering children’s risk of side effects.
“Many people have the misconception that since antibiotics are commonly used that they are harmless,” says Dr. Lauri Hicks, a coauthor of the report and medical director of CDC’s Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work program. “Taking antibiotics when you have a virus can do more harm than good.”
These harms can be in the form of antibiotic side effects or promoting the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can then spread through a community.
CDC promotes responsible antibiotic use to consumers and health care providers through the combined efforts of the Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work and Get Smart for Healthcare programs, as well as during Get Smart About Antibiotics Week (Nov. 18–24, 2013) each year. State health departments, non-profit partners, and for-profit partners all contribute to the observance week’s success by spreading the word about when antibiotics work — and when they don’t.
This year’s activities include a Public Health Grand Rounds about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in outpatient and inpatient settings on Tuesday, November 19 at 1 pm (EST). In addition, a Twitter chat on the topic will be held Friday, November 22 at 1 pm (EST). Follow the hashtag #CDCchat on Twitter and join in the conversation to talk with Dr. Frieden, CDC experts and other partners about your experiences with antibiotic resistance.
New guidance limits antibiotics for common infections in children
Get Smart About Antibiotics Week 2013 calls for responsible antibiotic prescribing
Every year as many as 10 million U.S. children risk side effects from antibiotic prescriptions that are unlikely to help their upper respiratory conditions. Many of these infections are caused by viruses, which are not helped by antibiotics.
This overuse of antibiotics, a significant factor fueling antibiotic resistance, is the focus of a new report Principles of Judicious Antibiotic Prescribing for Bacterial Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in PediatricsExternal Web Site Icon by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Released today during Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, the report amplifies recent AAP guidance and promotes responsible antibiotic prescribing for three common upper respiratory tract infections in children: ear infections, sinus infections, and sore throats.
Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria evolve and are able to outsmart antibiotics, making even common infections difficult to treat. According to a landmark CDC report from September 2013, each year more than two million Americans get infections that are resistant to antibiotics and 23,000 die as a result.
“Our medicine cabinet is nearly empty of antibiotics to treat some infections,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “If doctors prescribe antibiotics carefully and patients take them as prescribed we can preserve these lifesaving drugs and avoid entering a post-antibiotic era.”
By providing detailed clinical criteria to help physicians distinguish between viral and bacterial upper respiratory tract infections, the recommendations provide guidance for physicians that will improve care for children. At the same time, it will help limit antibiotic prescriptions, giving bacteria fewer chances to become resistant and lowering children’s risk of side effects.
“Many people have the misconception that since antibiotics are commonly used that they are harmless,” says Dr. Lauri Hicks, a coauthor of the report and medical director of CDC’s Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work program. “Taking antibiotics when you have a virus can do more harm than good.”
These harms can be in the form of antibiotic side effects or promoting the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can then spread through a community.
CDC promotes responsible antibiotic use to consumers and health care providers through the combined efforts of the Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work and Get Smart for Healthcare programs, as well as during Get Smart About Antibiotics Week (Nov. 18–24, 2013) each year. State health departments, non-profit partners, and for-profit partners all contribute to the observance week’s success by spreading the word about when antibiotics work — and when they don’t.
This year’s activities include a Public Health Grand Rounds about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in outpatient and inpatient settings on Tuesday, November 19 at 1 pm (EST). In addition, a Twitter chat on the topic will be held Friday, November 22 at 1 pm (EST). Follow the hashtag #CDCchat on Twitter and join in the conversation to talk with Dr. Frieden, CDC experts and other partners about your experiences with antibiotic resistance.
READOUT: WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL'S CALL WITH PRESIDENT HADI OF YEMEN
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Readout of Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco's Call with President Hadi of Yemen
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco called President Abdo Rabu Mansour Hadi of Yemen today to reaffirm the U.S. government’s strong support for Yemen’s political transition. Ms. Monaco commended the National Dialogue for its efforts to develop a shared vision for a more just and democratic Yemen, and expressed U.S. support for President Hadi’s efforts to bring the National Dialogue to conclusion and move forward with implementation of the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative. She praised the contributions that Yemeni women, youth, and civil society have made to the National Dialogue, and expressed the hope that they will continue their engagement in subsequent stages of the transition. Ms. Monaco also reaffirmed the U.S. government’s commitment to stand with the Yemeni government and people as they implement the National Dialogue’s outcomes, foster economic development, and combat the security threat from al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Readout of Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco's Call with President Hadi of Yemen
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco called President Abdo Rabu Mansour Hadi of Yemen today to reaffirm the U.S. government’s strong support for Yemen’s political transition. Ms. Monaco commended the National Dialogue for its efforts to develop a shared vision for a more just and democratic Yemen, and expressed U.S. support for President Hadi’s efforts to bring the National Dialogue to conclusion and move forward with implementation of the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative. She praised the contributions that Yemeni women, youth, and civil society have made to the National Dialogue, and expressed the hope that they will continue their engagement in subsequent stages of the transition. Ms. Monaco also reaffirmed the U.S. government’s commitment to stand with the Yemeni government and people as they implement the National Dialogue’s outcomes, foster economic development, and combat the security threat from al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula.
FTC CRACKS DOWN ON PAYMENT PROCESSING SCAMMERS CHARGING HIDDEN FEES
FROM: U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC Settlements Crack Down on Payment Processing Operation that Enabled 'Google Money Tree' Scammers to Charge Consumers $15 Million in Hidden Fees
The Federal Trade Commission is continuing its crackdown on payment processing operations that enable scam artists to charge consumer accounts despite signs of ongoing fraud and unauthorized transactions. Today, the Commission announced a proposed settlement resolving allegations that a payment processor, Process America Inc., and its owners, Kim Ricketts, Keith Phillips and Craig Rickard, used unfair tactics to open and maintain scores of merchant accounts for Infusion Media Inc., which perpetrated the “Google Money Tree” work-at-home scheme. Using these merchant accounts, Infusion Media charged more than $15 million in unauthorized charges on consumers’ debit and credit card accounts.
Payment processors and Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) enable merchants to charge consumers’ credit cards for products and services. In exchange, payment processors and ISOs get paid for each payment transaction the merchant processes.
In June 2009, the FTC charged the Infusion Media defendants with falsely claiming that consumers could earn $100,000 in six months, misrepresenting an affiliation with Google, and tricking consumers into signing up for automatic monthly charges that would continue until the consumer took affirmative steps to cancel.
The complaint against Process America alleges that the defendants knew or should have known that they were processing charges that consumers had not authorized. Evidence that consumers were being charged without their permission included plainly deceptive statements on merchant websites, notices that the merchant should be placed in Visa and MasterCard chargeback monitoring programs, and chronically excessive chargeback rates – the percentage of charges that are challenged by consumers and result in the charges being reversed. From 2008 through 2009, the defendants opened and maintained 131 merchant accounts through which the perpetrators processed more than $15 million in unauthorized charges on consumer debit and credit card accounts.
To keep Infusion Media’s merchant accounts open, the defendants allegedly engaged in tactics that were designed to evade fraud monitoring programs implemented by Visa and MasterCard. These tactics included submitting merchant applications containing false information and “load balancing” – distributing transaction volume among numerous merchant accounts. As a result, Infusion Media’s scam operated for nearly a year, and Process America continued to earn fees from its payment processing activity.
To resolve the allegations in the complaint, the individual defendants have agreed to separate permanent injunctions containing prohibitions and restrictions on their future payment processing activities:
Rickard is banned from payment processing and acting as an ISO. He is prohibited from acting as a sales agent for any client engaged in (a) unfair or deceptive business practices; (b) certain categories of high-risk activities, including negative-option marketing (where the seller interprets consumers’ silence or inaction as permission to charge them), money-making opportunities, credit card or identity theft protection, timeshare resale services, buying clubs, medical discount plans; or (c) conduct that has qualified a client for a chargeback monitoring program.
Rickard is also prohibited from acting as a sales agent for any client without first screening them for unfair or deceptive business practices. The order imposes a judgment of more than $184,000 that will be suspended based on his inability to pay. The full judgment will become due immediately if Rickard is found to have misrepresented his financial condition.
Ricketts and Phillips are prohibited from acting as payment processors, ISOs, or sales agents for any client engaged in (a) unfair or deceptive business practices; or (b) certain categories of high-risk activities certain categories of high-risk clients. They also are barred from acting as a sales agent for any client without screening and monitoring them for unfair or deceptive business practices.
In addition, Process America’s Chief Restructuring Officer has agreed to recommend and seek authority from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California to enter into the proposed settlement with the FTC. Under the proposed settlement:
Process America is prohibited from payment processing or acting as an ISO or sales agent for any client engaged in negative-option marketing or unfair or deceptive business practices, and from failing to screen, monitor, and promptly investigate clients for such practices.
The orders prohibit all of the defendants from selling or otherwise benefitting from consumers’ personal information, and failing to properly dispose of customer information.
The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and approving the proposed consent judgment was 4-0. The proposed settlement with Process America is subject to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California’s approval of a Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9019 Motion for Compromise. The proposed consent judgments with Process America and the individual defendants are also subject to court approval.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Consent judgments have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.
FTC Settlements Crack Down on Payment Processing Operation that Enabled 'Google Money Tree' Scammers to Charge Consumers $15 Million in Hidden Fees
The Federal Trade Commission is continuing its crackdown on payment processing operations that enable scam artists to charge consumer accounts despite signs of ongoing fraud and unauthorized transactions. Today, the Commission announced a proposed settlement resolving allegations that a payment processor, Process America Inc., and its owners, Kim Ricketts, Keith Phillips and Craig Rickard, used unfair tactics to open and maintain scores of merchant accounts for Infusion Media Inc., which perpetrated the “Google Money Tree” work-at-home scheme. Using these merchant accounts, Infusion Media charged more than $15 million in unauthorized charges on consumers’ debit and credit card accounts.
Payment processors and Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) enable merchants to charge consumers’ credit cards for products and services. In exchange, payment processors and ISOs get paid for each payment transaction the merchant processes.
In June 2009, the FTC charged the Infusion Media defendants with falsely claiming that consumers could earn $100,000 in six months, misrepresenting an affiliation with Google, and tricking consumers into signing up for automatic monthly charges that would continue until the consumer took affirmative steps to cancel.
The complaint against Process America alleges that the defendants knew or should have known that they were processing charges that consumers had not authorized. Evidence that consumers were being charged without their permission included plainly deceptive statements on merchant websites, notices that the merchant should be placed in Visa and MasterCard chargeback monitoring programs, and chronically excessive chargeback rates – the percentage of charges that are challenged by consumers and result in the charges being reversed. From 2008 through 2009, the defendants opened and maintained 131 merchant accounts through which the perpetrators processed more than $15 million in unauthorized charges on consumer debit and credit card accounts.
To keep Infusion Media’s merchant accounts open, the defendants allegedly engaged in tactics that were designed to evade fraud monitoring programs implemented by Visa and MasterCard. These tactics included submitting merchant applications containing false information and “load balancing” – distributing transaction volume among numerous merchant accounts. As a result, Infusion Media’s scam operated for nearly a year, and Process America continued to earn fees from its payment processing activity.
To resolve the allegations in the complaint, the individual defendants have agreed to separate permanent injunctions containing prohibitions and restrictions on their future payment processing activities:
Rickard is banned from payment processing and acting as an ISO. He is prohibited from acting as a sales agent for any client engaged in (a) unfair or deceptive business practices; (b) certain categories of high-risk activities, including negative-option marketing (where the seller interprets consumers’ silence or inaction as permission to charge them), money-making opportunities, credit card or identity theft protection, timeshare resale services, buying clubs, medical discount plans; or (c) conduct that has qualified a client for a chargeback monitoring program.
Rickard is also prohibited from acting as a sales agent for any client without first screening them for unfair or deceptive business practices. The order imposes a judgment of more than $184,000 that will be suspended based on his inability to pay. The full judgment will become due immediately if Rickard is found to have misrepresented his financial condition.
Ricketts and Phillips are prohibited from acting as payment processors, ISOs, or sales agents for any client engaged in (a) unfair or deceptive business practices; or (b) certain categories of high-risk activities certain categories of high-risk clients. They also are barred from acting as a sales agent for any client without screening and monitoring them for unfair or deceptive business practices.
In addition, Process America’s Chief Restructuring Officer has agreed to recommend and seek authority from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California to enter into the proposed settlement with the FTC. Under the proposed settlement:
Process America is prohibited from payment processing or acting as an ISO or sales agent for any client engaged in negative-option marketing or unfair or deceptive business practices, and from failing to screen, monitor, and promptly investigate clients for such practices.
The orders prohibit all of the defendants from selling or otherwise benefitting from consumers’ personal information, and failing to properly dispose of customer information.
The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and approving the proposed consent judgment was 4-0. The proposed settlement with Process America is subject to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California’s approval of a Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9019 Motion for Compromise. The proposed consent judgments with Process America and the individual defendants are also subject to court approval.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Consent judgments have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.
DEPUTY AG COLE MAKES REMARKS AT MONEY LAUNDERING ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole Delivers Remarks at Money Laundering Enforcement Conference in Washington, D.C.
~ Monday, November 18, 2013
Thank you, Amy, for that kind introduction. I would also like to thank both the American Bar Association and the American Bankers Association for hosting this money laundering enforcement conference and inviting me to speak today. I am honored to be here, especially on the 25th anniversary of this important conference, which provides invaluable Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering training – and underscores the vital importance of the compliance function at financial institutions.
As all of you know, banking and financial services play a vital role in our country. They spawn growth, spread risk, facilitate the creation of jobs, and generally drive our economy. Without it, much of the prosperity that allows for our freedoms and our power in the world would not exist.
But it is also susceptible to abuse. It can be used to launder the illegal proceeds of criminal and terrorist organizations. It can be used to defraud people, particularly when the transactions are complex. And the flow of dollars through our financial system is so large, that even a small fraudulent adjustment of a rate or a fee can result in billions of dollars being illegally diverted. Just as the financial industry has the power to create great good, it has the power to create great harm. The crash in 2008 was a stark reminder of this power to harm.
At the Department of Justice, we know that compliance officers within financial institutions, and the lawyers, bankers, and others who work with them, are the first line of defense against abuse within these institutions. Compliance officers are critical to protecting both a bank’s reputation and its bottom line. They’re essential when it comes to preventing criminal activity – and if that effort is not entirely successful, detecting and reporting such conduct. It is not an exaggeration to say that compliance is fundamental to protecting the security of our financial institutions and is essential to the integrity of our entire financial system.
Despite, and in some ways because of, this crucial role, I know that working in compliance is often difficult. Compliance is seldom thought of as a “money-maker” for any bank, and it may be challenging to get sufficient resources and authority to do the job well. To some, compliance may not seem to fit within the culture of a fast-moving, cutting-edge institution. And at times, certain business units or managers may seem downright hostile toward the compliance function.
We at the Department of Justice understand this reality. And we appreciate that, despite these challenges, you and your colleagues are fully committed to helping protect the integrity of your institutions and our financial system.
I want to assure you today that I am grateful for that, because you are our strongest partners in the fight against money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes. You’re in a unique position to understand that a strong compliance culture is not only good for a bank’s overall standing and reputation in the business community, it is ultimately good for its business.
Right now, compliance within financial institutions is of particular concern to the Department, because we have recently seen cases that involved not only criminal conduct by bank customers, but – more concerning – serious criminal conduct by bank employees, including managerial employees. I’d like to speak with you today about how the Department evaluates financial institutions that violate the law, along with some of the considerations that all bankers should be mindful of as they decide how their institutions should operate.
I want to begin with the fundamental proposition that no individual or business – including a financial institution – is immune from prosecution. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the Justice Department is taking a hard look at financial institutions in all areas – including AML, BSA, IEEPA, securities laws, tax violations, and all other forms of financial fraud. We are committed to holding banks and their employees responsible for their misconduct.
In recent years, we have proven our determination to pursue a range of challenging and complex financial crimes. For example, in one of the more brazen types of misconduct we have encountered in the financial industry, the Department and other law enforcement agencies and regulators around the world are investigating the manipulation of LIBOR and other benchmark interest rates. As you all know, LIBOR serves as the premier benchmark for short-term interest rates around the globe. Hundreds of trillions of dollars in financial derivatives, corporate debt, credit card debt, mortgages, student loans, and other financial instruments worldwide are tied to LIBOR. But LIBOR necessarily depends on the integrity of the rate setting process and the bankers who provide input into that process. The investigation revealed that traders in some banks were manipulating their bank’s LIBOR submissions in the hopes of affecting the final published LIBOR fix – thereby increasing their trading profits. Some even coordinated with traders at other banks and inter-dealer brokers to try to get several banks to submit LIBORs favorable to their trading positions. We’ve also seen that certain banks artificially lowered their LIBORs in order to appear more credit-worthy during the financial crisis.
Unfortunately, these manipulations were not isolated incidents involving a few rogue traders. In some institutions, LIBOR manipulation was pervasive. We found institutions with traders in multiple offices around the world attempting to manipulate LIBOR and other benchmark rates tied to multiple currencies, with the conduct at some banks extending over a period of five or more years. During our investigation, it became apparent that certain institutions condoned a culture of illegal behavior. And it was this culture that led the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute not just the individuals engaged in LIBOR manipulation, but the institutions that condoned it.
As a result of our enforcement actions stemming from this illegal conduct, billions of dollars have been paid in penalties, banks have admitted to serious crimes, and certain employees have been criminally charged. To date, corporate LIBOR resolutions with Rabobank, Barclays, UBS, RBS, and the brokerage firm ICAP have resulted in over $3.7 billion in penalties paid to law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Thus far, the Department has charged five individuals – two former senior traders at UBS, and three former brokers at ICAP – with crimes in connection with the LIBOR investigation. In addition, many in executive management on whose watch these crimes took place have paid a heavy price. Two CEOs have resigned, other senior managers have stepped down; executives have testified before the U.K. Parliament; bonuses have been withheld; and other compensation has been clawed back. And this may be only the beginning – because our investigation of LIBOR is far from over.
As another example, just last month, a jury in the Southern District of New York found Countrywide, Bank of America, and a senior executive liable for making bad loans and removing quality control checks. Countrywide initiated the “hustle” program to move loans quickly through the origination process and eliminate quality control steps that could slow it down. Countrywide, then Bank of America, sold the toxic mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, knowing that they did not meet the representations of quality.
We have also seen IEEPA violations involving the circumvention of sanctions against Cuba and Iran; violations of the Bank Secrecy Act; Residential Mortgage Backed Securities fraud and mortgage origination fraud; anti-trust violations; tax violations involving off-shore accounts; and civil rights violations for discriminatory lending practices.
And in one of the more recent developments, the Department's Criminal and Antitrust Divisions, along with the FBI, regulators and other law enforcement agencies around the world, are aggressively investigating possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates, involving a number of financial institutions, and you will be hearing more about these investigations in the future.
These investigations are just a few examples of how the Justice Department is pursuing corporate financial malfeasance. Financial institutions have agreed to pay about $17 billion in settlements with law enforcement and regulators in the United States this year alone. And that number will increase, as we are more committed than ever to investigating crimes committed by and within financial institutions, and to hold the perpetrators of those crimes accountable.
In every case and circumstance, our decisions about prosecuting corporate crime are guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations, which describes nine factors we consider when determining whether to charge a corporation. Those factors include, among other things: the nature and seriousness of the offense; the pervasiveness of the wrongdoing within the corporation, including the complicity of corporate management; the corporation’s history of similar misconduct, including prior criminal, civil, and regulatory actions against it; and the adequacy of a corporation’s pre-existing compliance program. We have found that these factors are often linked. How widespread the misconduct is, how high in the corporate hierarchy knowledge of it goes, and how effective a corporate compliance program is – are often related to each other, and to a corporation’s criminal history.
The notion that compliance must be firmly embedded in a corporation’s culture has been raised before, including at this conference, by many government officials. You’ve heard a great deal about the importance of “tone at the top.” Indeed, companies regularly argue during negotiations that they have taken various steps to set the right tone at the highest levels of their institutions. But based on what we have seen, we cannot help but feel that the message is not getting through often enough or clearly enough.
Despite years of admonitions by government officials that compliance must be an important part of a corporation’s culture, we continue to see significant violations of law at banks, inadequate compliance programs, and missed opportunities to prevent and detect crimes.
We are concerned that too many bank employees and supervisors value coming as close to the line as possible, or even crossing the line, as being “competitive” or “aggressive.” Too many seem to be willing to take advantage of any edge – including those of dubious legality – to make money. Too many supervisors seem to incentivize excessive risk-taking – knowing that risky products can be unloaded down the road, or anticipating that they will have left for another bank by the time such risks are played out, leaving someone else to deal with the consequences. And we are troubled that many employees believe that their supervisors, including in some cases corporate management, actually want them to behave this way. Even a single employee who thinks this way is one too many. And what we’ve been seeing and making public in a number of our recently-announced resolutions should give everyone pause, and cause all leaders and managers within financial institutions to reflect on how they can do better.
Now we’ve seen numerous news reports of senior bank management condemning the uncovered conduct after an announced resolution – calling the conduct “shameful”[1]; “contrary to our core values”[2]; “reprehensible.”[3] One CEO said that he “strongly condemn[ed]” the behavior at issue;[4] another said that learning about the misconduct made him “physically ill.”[5] While it’s easy for everyone to agree with these after-the-fact condemnations of the discovered misconduct, our collective goal must be to establish cultures within these important institutions that prevent people from engaging in this type of conduct in the first instance. Labeling certain behavior “shameful” after being caught is simply too little, too late.
This is why, when deciding whether to prosecute an institution for the actions of its employees, we look hard at the messages that bank management and supervisors are actually giving to employees in the context of their day-to-day work. We look at chats, emails, and recorded phone calls -- things that are readily available to senior management and compliance professionals. We talk to witnesses in order to determine what kinds of messages about compliance have been conveyed, or, on the flip side of that coin, what encouragement they may have received to exploit any possible edge to make money. We examine the incentives that banks provide their employees to either cross the line, or to exhibit compliant behavior. If a financial institution wants to encourage compliance – if its values are not skewed towards making money at all costs – then that message must be conveyed to employees in a meaningful and effective way if they’d like Department to view it as credible. To have an effective compliance program, we expect banks to put in place procedures to detect problems, and proactively utilize those procedures -- without waiting until the government comes knocking at their door with a subpoena.
When a problem is identified, we expect banks to undertake a thorough search – at every level, across the institution – for misconduct that may have been committed elsewhere, by similarly-situated employees or in similar business units. We expect that banks will not look only at employees in the same positions or in the same offices to determine whether they are violating the law – but that, cognizant of the ways in which violations have occurred, they will also look to other places or other types of employees where similar misconduct could take place. Whenever employees in different units, or in different office locations, or involved in different product lines, are engaging in criminal conduct at the same institution, it is well past time for that institution to think more broadly about problems that may span across the organization as a whole. In fact, we have seen this pattern in a number of financial institutions and what this tells us is that even if a specific conduct didn't directly involve senior management, that repetition speaks volumes about the culture senior management has create in the institution. A culture that breeds violations instead of a culture that encourages compliance.
The benefits of having a strong compliance program can go a long way toward mitigating institutional liability. For instance, last year, we announced the guilty plea of a former managing director of Morgan Stanley to a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The managing director admitted that he had conspired to evade Morgan Stanley’s internal accounting controls in order to transfer a multi-million dollar ownership interest in a Shanghai building to himself and a Chinese public official. The Department announced that it was declining to bring any enforcement action against Morgan Stanley – in large part because the bank had voluntarily disclosed the misconduct, cooperated throughout the investigation, and had constructed and maintained a system of internal controls that provided reasonable assurances that its employees were not bribing government officials. Our decision not to prosecute Morgan Stanley was founded primarily on the strength of its robust and active compliance program.
But where we do not see such exemplary conduct, we must – and we will – use all of the tools available to us to hold banks answerable for their crimes.
When we see criminal violations in multiple business units or locations, we will hold banks accountable. When we see compliance programs that are not comprehensive, or are not funded, or lack sufficient resources to be effective, we cannot give them credit. When we see repeat players – such as banks that have previously entered into non-prosecution agreements or deferred prosecution agreements with the Department, and yet come under scrutiny again for other violations of law – we will have no choice but to consider all of the possible actions at our disposal. And when we see crimes condoned by management, banks, like all corporations, will face significant consequences.
Of course, we are mindful of the consequences of our actions, and we must act responsibly. Collateral consequences, including harm to innocent employees and to the public, is one of the nine factors we carefully consider in determining what action to take. And in this regard, we work closely with our regulatory partners, both here and abroad, to ensure that we understand the specific, likely consequences for a bank when it is accused of criminal conduct or when when it is resolving criminal conduct. And we take steps to minimize those consequences, while holding the individuals and institutions that are responsible to account. But to be clear, the size of a financial institution does not mean that it gets immunity in a criminal case.
The last session in this conference is entitled “What to tell your CEO when you return to the bank: A 30-minute recap of the critical issues from the conference.” With this in mind, here is my message to you: Businesses need to create a culture of compliance. To do this, compliance programs must be real, effective, and proactive. Banks need to think more broadly about problems within their institutions, and redouble their efforts to detect and prevent them. It will never be enough merely to identify and address a particular problem once it surfaces. If we see illegal conduct at a number of the bank's business units, the old saw of "It's an isolated instance of bad actors in a single business unit. The institution as a whole should not be held accountable" won't cut it. Instead, banks must actively seek out whether there could be similar misconduct elsewhere. They must analyze what steps are necessary to reduce the risk of such misconduct occurring. And then they must take those steps. All banks should demonstrate their institutional commitments to ensuring that a clear and powerful message is being sent to their employees: that compliance matters, and if they cross the line, both they and their employer will face serious consequences. I know these can be difficult messages to deliver, but they are important messages to deliver -- messages that in the long run are good for the bank as well as good for society as a whole.
I want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss these issues with you today. I’m grateful for your hard work, your dedication to the goals we share, and your resolve to help strengthen compliance programs and instill cultures of accountability throughout the financial sector. I look forward to continuing this critical dialogue at future forums like this one.
Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole Delivers Remarks at Money Laundering Enforcement Conference in Washington, D.C.
~ Monday, November 18, 2013
Thank you, Amy, for that kind introduction. I would also like to thank both the American Bar Association and the American Bankers Association for hosting this money laundering enforcement conference and inviting me to speak today. I am honored to be here, especially on the 25th anniversary of this important conference, which provides invaluable Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering training – and underscores the vital importance of the compliance function at financial institutions.
As all of you know, banking and financial services play a vital role in our country. They spawn growth, spread risk, facilitate the creation of jobs, and generally drive our economy. Without it, much of the prosperity that allows for our freedoms and our power in the world would not exist.
But it is also susceptible to abuse. It can be used to launder the illegal proceeds of criminal and terrorist organizations. It can be used to defraud people, particularly when the transactions are complex. And the flow of dollars through our financial system is so large, that even a small fraudulent adjustment of a rate or a fee can result in billions of dollars being illegally diverted. Just as the financial industry has the power to create great good, it has the power to create great harm. The crash in 2008 was a stark reminder of this power to harm.
At the Department of Justice, we know that compliance officers within financial institutions, and the lawyers, bankers, and others who work with them, are the first line of defense against abuse within these institutions. Compliance officers are critical to protecting both a bank’s reputation and its bottom line. They’re essential when it comes to preventing criminal activity – and if that effort is not entirely successful, detecting and reporting such conduct. It is not an exaggeration to say that compliance is fundamental to protecting the security of our financial institutions and is essential to the integrity of our entire financial system.
Despite, and in some ways because of, this crucial role, I know that working in compliance is often difficult. Compliance is seldom thought of as a “money-maker” for any bank, and it may be challenging to get sufficient resources and authority to do the job well. To some, compliance may not seem to fit within the culture of a fast-moving, cutting-edge institution. And at times, certain business units or managers may seem downright hostile toward the compliance function.
We at the Department of Justice understand this reality. And we appreciate that, despite these challenges, you and your colleagues are fully committed to helping protect the integrity of your institutions and our financial system.
I want to assure you today that I am grateful for that, because you are our strongest partners in the fight against money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes. You’re in a unique position to understand that a strong compliance culture is not only good for a bank’s overall standing and reputation in the business community, it is ultimately good for its business.
Right now, compliance within financial institutions is of particular concern to the Department, because we have recently seen cases that involved not only criminal conduct by bank customers, but – more concerning – serious criminal conduct by bank employees, including managerial employees. I’d like to speak with you today about how the Department evaluates financial institutions that violate the law, along with some of the considerations that all bankers should be mindful of as they decide how their institutions should operate.
I want to begin with the fundamental proposition that no individual or business – including a financial institution – is immune from prosecution. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the Justice Department is taking a hard look at financial institutions in all areas – including AML, BSA, IEEPA, securities laws, tax violations, and all other forms of financial fraud. We are committed to holding banks and their employees responsible for their misconduct.
In recent years, we have proven our determination to pursue a range of challenging and complex financial crimes. For example, in one of the more brazen types of misconduct we have encountered in the financial industry, the Department and other law enforcement agencies and regulators around the world are investigating the manipulation of LIBOR and other benchmark interest rates. As you all know, LIBOR serves as the premier benchmark for short-term interest rates around the globe. Hundreds of trillions of dollars in financial derivatives, corporate debt, credit card debt, mortgages, student loans, and other financial instruments worldwide are tied to LIBOR. But LIBOR necessarily depends on the integrity of the rate setting process and the bankers who provide input into that process. The investigation revealed that traders in some banks were manipulating their bank’s LIBOR submissions in the hopes of affecting the final published LIBOR fix – thereby increasing their trading profits. Some even coordinated with traders at other banks and inter-dealer brokers to try to get several banks to submit LIBORs favorable to their trading positions. We’ve also seen that certain banks artificially lowered their LIBORs in order to appear more credit-worthy during the financial crisis.
Unfortunately, these manipulations were not isolated incidents involving a few rogue traders. In some institutions, LIBOR manipulation was pervasive. We found institutions with traders in multiple offices around the world attempting to manipulate LIBOR and other benchmark rates tied to multiple currencies, with the conduct at some banks extending over a period of five or more years. During our investigation, it became apparent that certain institutions condoned a culture of illegal behavior. And it was this culture that led the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute not just the individuals engaged in LIBOR manipulation, but the institutions that condoned it.
As a result of our enforcement actions stemming from this illegal conduct, billions of dollars have been paid in penalties, banks have admitted to serious crimes, and certain employees have been criminally charged. To date, corporate LIBOR resolutions with Rabobank, Barclays, UBS, RBS, and the brokerage firm ICAP have resulted in over $3.7 billion in penalties paid to law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Thus far, the Department has charged five individuals – two former senior traders at UBS, and three former brokers at ICAP – with crimes in connection with the LIBOR investigation. In addition, many in executive management on whose watch these crimes took place have paid a heavy price. Two CEOs have resigned, other senior managers have stepped down; executives have testified before the U.K. Parliament; bonuses have been withheld; and other compensation has been clawed back. And this may be only the beginning – because our investigation of LIBOR is far from over.
As another example, just last month, a jury in the Southern District of New York found Countrywide, Bank of America, and a senior executive liable for making bad loans and removing quality control checks. Countrywide initiated the “hustle” program to move loans quickly through the origination process and eliminate quality control steps that could slow it down. Countrywide, then Bank of America, sold the toxic mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, knowing that they did not meet the representations of quality.
We have also seen IEEPA violations involving the circumvention of sanctions against Cuba and Iran; violations of the Bank Secrecy Act; Residential Mortgage Backed Securities fraud and mortgage origination fraud; anti-trust violations; tax violations involving off-shore accounts; and civil rights violations for discriminatory lending practices.
And in one of the more recent developments, the Department's Criminal and Antitrust Divisions, along with the FBI, regulators and other law enforcement agencies around the world, are aggressively investigating possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates, involving a number of financial institutions, and you will be hearing more about these investigations in the future.
These investigations are just a few examples of how the Justice Department is pursuing corporate financial malfeasance. Financial institutions have agreed to pay about $17 billion in settlements with law enforcement and regulators in the United States this year alone. And that number will increase, as we are more committed than ever to investigating crimes committed by and within financial institutions, and to hold the perpetrators of those crimes accountable.
In every case and circumstance, our decisions about prosecuting corporate crime are guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations, which describes nine factors we consider when determining whether to charge a corporation. Those factors include, among other things: the nature and seriousness of the offense; the pervasiveness of the wrongdoing within the corporation, including the complicity of corporate management; the corporation’s history of similar misconduct, including prior criminal, civil, and regulatory actions against it; and the adequacy of a corporation’s pre-existing compliance program. We have found that these factors are often linked. How widespread the misconduct is, how high in the corporate hierarchy knowledge of it goes, and how effective a corporate compliance program is – are often related to each other, and to a corporation’s criminal history.
The notion that compliance must be firmly embedded in a corporation’s culture has been raised before, including at this conference, by many government officials. You’ve heard a great deal about the importance of “tone at the top.” Indeed, companies regularly argue during negotiations that they have taken various steps to set the right tone at the highest levels of their institutions. But based on what we have seen, we cannot help but feel that the message is not getting through often enough or clearly enough.
Despite years of admonitions by government officials that compliance must be an important part of a corporation’s culture, we continue to see significant violations of law at banks, inadequate compliance programs, and missed opportunities to prevent and detect crimes.
We are concerned that too many bank employees and supervisors value coming as close to the line as possible, or even crossing the line, as being “competitive” or “aggressive.” Too many seem to be willing to take advantage of any edge – including those of dubious legality – to make money. Too many supervisors seem to incentivize excessive risk-taking – knowing that risky products can be unloaded down the road, or anticipating that they will have left for another bank by the time such risks are played out, leaving someone else to deal with the consequences. And we are troubled that many employees believe that their supervisors, including in some cases corporate management, actually want them to behave this way. Even a single employee who thinks this way is one too many. And what we’ve been seeing and making public in a number of our recently-announced resolutions should give everyone pause, and cause all leaders and managers within financial institutions to reflect on how they can do better.
Now we’ve seen numerous news reports of senior bank management condemning the uncovered conduct after an announced resolution – calling the conduct “shameful”[1]; “contrary to our core values”[2]; “reprehensible.”[3] One CEO said that he “strongly condemn[ed]” the behavior at issue;[4] another said that learning about the misconduct made him “physically ill.”[5] While it’s easy for everyone to agree with these after-the-fact condemnations of the discovered misconduct, our collective goal must be to establish cultures within these important institutions that prevent people from engaging in this type of conduct in the first instance. Labeling certain behavior “shameful” after being caught is simply too little, too late.
This is why, when deciding whether to prosecute an institution for the actions of its employees, we look hard at the messages that bank management and supervisors are actually giving to employees in the context of their day-to-day work. We look at chats, emails, and recorded phone calls -- things that are readily available to senior management and compliance professionals. We talk to witnesses in order to determine what kinds of messages about compliance have been conveyed, or, on the flip side of that coin, what encouragement they may have received to exploit any possible edge to make money. We examine the incentives that banks provide their employees to either cross the line, or to exhibit compliant behavior. If a financial institution wants to encourage compliance – if its values are not skewed towards making money at all costs – then that message must be conveyed to employees in a meaningful and effective way if they’d like Department to view it as credible. To have an effective compliance program, we expect banks to put in place procedures to detect problems, and proactively utilize those procedures -- without waiting until the government comes knocking at their door with a subpoena.
When a problem is identified, we expect banks to undertake a thorough search – at every level, across the institution – for misconduct that may have been committed elsewhere, by similarly-situated employees or in similar business units. We expect that banks will not look only at employees in the same positions or in the same offices to determine whether they are violating the law – but that, cognizant of the ways in which violations have occurred, they will also look to other places or other types of employees where similar misconduct could take place. Whenever employees in different units, or in different office locations, or involved in different product lines, are engaging in criminal conduct at the same institution, it is well past time for that institution to think more broadly about problems that may span across the organization as a whole. In fact, we have seen this pattern in a number of financial institutions and what this tells us is that even if a specific conduct didn't directly involve senior management, that repetition speaks volumes about the culture senior management has create in the institution. A culture that breeds violations instead of a culture that encourages compliance.
The benefits of having a strong compliance program can go a long way toward mitigating institutional liability. For instance, last year, we announced the guilty plea of a former managing director of Morgan Stanley to a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The managing director admitted that he had conspired to evade Morgan Stanley’s internal accounting controls in order to transfer a multi-million dollar ownership interest in a Shanghai building to himself and a Chinese public official. The Department announced that it was declining to bring any enforcement action against Morgan Stanley – in large part because the bank had voluntarily disclosed the misconduct, cooperated throughout the investigation, and had constructed and maintained a system of internal controls that provided reasonable assurances that its employees were not bribing government officials. Our decision not to prosecute Morgan Stanley was founded primarily on the strength of its robust and active compliance program.
But where we do not see such exemplary conduct, we must – and we will – use all of the tools available to us to hold banks answerable for their crimes.
When we see criminal violations in multiple business units or locations, we will hold banks accountable. When we see compliance programs that are not comprehensive, or are not funded, or lack sufficient resources to be effective, we cannot give them credit. When we see repeat players – such as banks that have previously entered into non-prosecution agreements or deferred prosecution agreements with the Department, and yet come under scrutiny again for other violations of law – we will have no choice but to consider all of the possible actions at our disposal. And when we see crimes condoned by management, banks, like all corporations, will face significant consequences.
Of course, we are mindful of the consequences of our actions, and we must act responsibly. Collateral consequences, including harm to innocent employees and to the public, is one of the nine factors we carefully consider in determining what action to take. And in this regard, we work closely with our regulatory partners, both here and abroad, to ensure that we understand the specific, likely consequences for a bank when it is accused of criminal conduct or when when it is resolving criminal conduct. And we take steps to minimize those consequences, while holding the individuals and institutions that are responsible to account. But to be clear, the size of a financial institution does not mean that it gets immunity in a criminal case.
The last session in this conference is entitled “What to tell your CEO when you return to the bank: A 30-minute recap of the critical issues from the conference.” With this in mind, here is my message to you: Businesses need to create a culture of compliance. To do this, compliance programs must be real, effective, and proactive. Banks need to think more broadly about problems within their institutions, and redouble their efforts to detect and prevent them. It will never be enough merely to identify and address a particular problem once it surfaces. If we see illegal conduct at a number of the bank's business units, the old saw of "It's an isolated instance of bad actors in a single business unit. The institution as a whole should not be held accountable" won't cut it. Instead, banks must actively seek out whether there could be similar misconduct elsewhere. They must analyze what steps are necessary to reduce the risk of such misconduct occurring. And then they must take those steps. All banks should demonstrate their institutional commitments to ensuring that a clear and powerful message is being sent to their employees: that compliance matters, and if they cross the line, both they and their employer will face serious consequences. I know these can be difficult messages to deliver, but they are important messages to deliver -- messages that in the long run are good for the bank as well as good for society as a whole.
I want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss these issues with you today. I’m grateful for your hard work, your dedication to the goals we share, and your resolve to help strengthen compliance programs and instill cultures of accountability throughout the financial sector. I look forward to continuing this critical dialogue at future forums like this one.
MASA EXPLAINS MARS ROVER IMAGE OF WESTERN RIM OF ENDEAVOUR CRATER
This scene shows the "Murray Ridge" portion of the western rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars. The ridge is the NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's work area for the rover's sixth Martian winter. The ridge rises about 130 feet (40 meters) above the surrounding plain, between "Solander Point" at the north end of the ridge and "Cape Tribulation," beyond Murray Ridge to the south. This view does not show the entire ridge. The visible ridge line is about 10 meters (33 feet) above the rover's location when the component images were taken. The scene sweeps from east to south. The planar rocks in the foreground at the base of the hill are part of a layer of rocks laid down around the margins of the crater rim. At this location, Opportunity is sitting at the contact between the Meridiani Planum sandstone plains and the rocks of the Endeavour Crater rim. On the upper left, the view is directed about 22 kilometers (14 miles) across the center of Endeavour crater to the eastern rim. Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 and has been investigating parts of Endeavour's western rim since August 2011. The scene combines several images taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the 3,446th Martian day, or sol, of the mission's work on Mars (Oct. 3, 2013) and the following three sols. On Sol 3451 (Oct. 8, 2013), Opportunity began climbing the ridge. The slope offers outcrops that contain clay minerals detected from orbit and also gives the rover a northward tilt that provides a solar-energy advantage during the Martian southern hemisphere's autumn and winter. The rover team chose to call this feature Murray Ridge in tribute to Bruce Murray (1931-2013), an influential advocate for planetary exploration who was a member of the science teams for NASA's earliest missions to Mars and later served as director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena. This view is presented in approximately true color, merging exposures taken through three of the Pancam's color filters, centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU.
Monday, November 18, 2013
U.S. DOD CONTRACTS FOR NOVEMBER 18, 2013
FROM; U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
CONTRACTS
ARMY
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $77,524,748 modification (P00113) to firm-fixed-price contract W58RGZ-12-C-0008 to exercise an option for the procurement of seven Army UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters in accordance with contract clause H-23, “Option for Increased Quantity of Helicopters.” Estimated completion date is June 30, 2015. Work location is Stratford, Conn. One bid was solicited and one received. Fiscal 2013 other procurement funds in the amount of $77,524,748 are being obligated. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal (Aviation), Ala., is the contracting agency.
McTech Corp.*, Cleveland, Ohio, was awarded a $51,784,000 firm-fixed-price contract with options for the construction of a dormitory and conference center, advanced training center. Base plus all contract option contract line item numbering systems are awarded in this contract. Estimated completion date is May 30, 2016. Work location is Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Thirteen bids were solicited, and thirteen received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $51,784,000 are being obligated at time of award. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Md., is the contracting agency (W912DR-14-C-0004).
Birdon America Inc.*, New Orleans, La., was awarded a $9,397,711 firm-fixed-price contract for hardware, test, logistics demonstration, contractor support and data deliverables for the Bridge Erection Boat. The contract also includes options for additional production units and services. Estimated completion date is Feb. 8, 2015. Work location is New Orleans, La., ($7,518,169) and Clackamas, Ore. ($1,879,542). Fiscal 2012 other procurement funds in the amount of $7,520,577 are being obligated at time of award. Bids were solicited via the Internet, with five received. Army Contracting Command - Tank and Automotive, Warren, Mich., is the contracting agency (W56HZV-14-C-0015).
Alliant Corp.*, Knoxville, Tenn., was awarded a $9,000,000 firm-fixed-price, architect/engineer indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for environmental services for the Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville Mission Boundaries. Estimated completion date is Nov. 17, 2018. Work location and funding will be determined by each order. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Ky., is the contracting agency (W912QR-14-D-0001).
NAVY
TerraGroup Corp., Allentown, Pa., is being awarded a $49,900,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Lightweight Water Purification System (LWPS) in support of the product manager, expeditionary power systems, program manager, combat support systems. The LWPS is a lightweight, modular, highly transportable, self-contained water purification system used to produce potable water from water sources such as rivers, lakes, wells, and oceans for Marines operating in austere environments. The initial delivery order 0001 will procure LWPS and enhanced pump modules. Work will be performed in Allentown, Pa., and is expected to be completed by November 2018. Delivery order 0001 has an expected completion date of January 2015. No funds will be obligated on the base contract. Fiscal 2013 Marine Corps procurement contract funds in the amount of $14,994,714 will be obligated on delivery order 0001, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively awarded via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-14-D-5001).
Delta Resources Inc., Alexandria, Va., (N00189-14-D-Z003), Group W Inc.*, Fairfax, Va., N00189-14-D-Z004), Metron Scientific Solutions Inc., Reston, Va., (N00189-14-D-Z005), Serco Inc. Reston, Va. (N00189-14-D-Z006), and Systems Planning and Analysis Inc. Alexandria, Va., (N00189-14-D-Z007), are each being awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts to provide world class modeling and simulation services in support of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) Assessment Division (N81). The services are for systems engineering, model development and research, model modification and improvements, and model testing, transition, and demonstration support. The models support OPNAV in the areas of warfighting, manpower, and fleet readiness. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and work is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2016. These five contractors shall compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The maximum value of all task orders will be $43,042,246. A minimum guarantee of $30,000 will be provided to each of the five contractors at the time of award. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy funds in the amount of $150,000 will be obligated at the time of award, and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The requirement was competitively procured through full and open competition and solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with five offers received in response to this solicitation. NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.
Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is being awarded a $9,256,869 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-12-C-0091) to exercise an option for the procurement of four Block A to B 50 - 69 series upgrade installs for the V-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Philadelphia, Pa. (60 percent); Havelock, N.C. (20 percent); and Fort Worth, Texas (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $9,256,869 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
DMS Pharmaceutical Group Inc.**, Park Ridge, Ill., has been awarded a maximum $46,647,841 modification (P00094) exercising the second one-year option period on a one-year base contract (SPM2D0-11-D-0005) with five one-year option periods for various pharmaceutical products in support of the vendor managed inventory program which provides access to inventory to ensure material availability of medical and surgical surge, and re-supply and sustainment material. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Illinois with a Nov. 20, 2014 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 warstopper funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.
URS Federal Technical Services Inc., Germantown, Md., has been awarded a maximum $7,976,352 modification (P00056) exercising the fourth one-year option period on a one-year base contract (SP3300-10-C-0006) with four one-year option periods for material distribution services to include receipt, storage, and issuance. This is a fixed-price, incentive-firm-target, award-fee, hybrid contract. Locations of performance are Maryland and Florida with a Dec. 31, 2014 performance completion date. Using service is DLA Distribution, Pennsylvania. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pa.
AIR FORCE
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, McKinney, Texas, has been awarded a $9,084,334 order (0011) under basic ordering agreement (FA8620-11-G-4050) for Multispectral Targeting System (MTS)-B High Definition/Target Location Accuracy (HD/TLA) Production Readiness which entails the delivery of an economical fabrication, assembly, inspection, test, delivery readiness and ability for the contractor to achieve full-rate production readiness for an MTS-B HD/TLA turret unit. Work will be performed at McKinney, Texas and is expected to be complete by Oct. 31, 2014. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2012 procurement funds in the amount of $9,084,334 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/WIIK, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
*Small Business
**Woman Owned Small Business
CONTRACTS
ARMY
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $77,524,748 modification (P00113) to firm-fixed-price contract W58RGZ-12-C-0008 to exercise an option for the procurement of seven Army UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters in accordance with contract clause H-23, “Option for Increased Quantity of Helicopters.” Estimated completion date is June 30, 2015. Work location is Stratford, Conn. One bid was solicited and one received. Fiscal 2013 other procurement funds in the amount of $77,524,748 are being obligated. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal (Aviation), Ala., is the contracting agency.
McTech Corp.*, Cleveland, Ohio, was awarded a $51,784,000 firm-fixed-price contract with options for the construction of a dormitory and conference center, advanced training center. Base plus all contract option contract line item numbering systems are awarded in this contract. Estimated completion date is May 30, 2016. Work location is Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Thirteen bids were solicited, and thirteen received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $51,784,000 are being obligated at time of award. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Md., is the contracting agency (W912DR-14-C-0004).
Birdon America Inc.*, New Orleans, La., was awarded a $9,397,711 firm-fixed-price contract for hardware, test, logistics demonstration, contractor support and data deliverables for the Bridge Erection Boat. The contract also includes options for additional production units and services. Estimated completion date is Feb. 8, 2015. Work location is New Orleans, La., ($7,518,169) and Clackamas, Ore. ($1,879,542). Fiscal 2012 other procurement funds in the amount of $7,520,577 are being obligated at time of award. Bids were solicited via the Internet, with five received. Army Contracting Command - Tank and Automotive, Warren, Mich., is the contracting agency (W56HZV-14-C-0015).
Alliant Corp.*, Knoxville, Tenn., was awarded a $9,000,000 firm-fixed-price, architect/engineer indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for environmental services for the Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville Mission Boundaries. Estimated completion date is Nov. 17, 2018. Work location and funding will be determined by each order. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Ky., is the contracting agency (W912QR-14-D-0001).
NAVY
TerraGroup Corp., Allentown, Pa., is being awarded a $49,900,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Lightweight Water Purification System (LWPS) in support of the product manager, expeditionary power systems, program manager, combat support systems. The LWPS is a lightweight, modular, highly transportable, self-contained water purification system used to produce potable water from water sources such as rivers, lakes, wells, and oceans for Marines operating in austere environments. The initial delivery order 0001 will procure LWPS and enhanced pump modules. Work will be performed in Allentown, Pa., and is expected to be completed by November 2018. Delivery order 0001 has an expected completion date of January 2015. No funds will be obligated on the base contract. Fiscal 2013 Marine Corps procurement contract funds in the amount of $14,994,714 will be obligated on delivery order 0001, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively awarded via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-14-D-5001).
Delta Resources Inc., Alexandria, Va., (N00189-14-D-Z003), Group W Inc.*, Fairfax, Va., N00189-14-D-Z004), Metron Scientific Solutions Inc., Reston, Va., (N00189-14-D-Z005), Serco Inc. Reston, Va. (N00189-14-D-Z006), and Systems Planning and Analysis Inc. Alexandria, Va., (N00189-14-D-Z007), are each being awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts to provide world class modeling and simulation services in support of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) Assessment Division (N81). The services are for systems engineering, model development and research, model modification and improvements, and model testing, transition, and demonstration support. The models support OPNAV in the areas of warfighting, manpower, and fleet readiness. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and work is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2016. These five contractors shall compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The maximum value of all task orders will be $43,042,246. A minimum guarantee of $30,000 will be provided to each of the five contractors at the time of award. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy funds in the amount of $150,000 will be obligated at the time of award, and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The requirement was competitively procured through full and open competition and solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with five offers received in response to this solicitation. NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.
Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is being awarded a $9,256,869 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-12-C-0091) to exercise an option for the procurement of four Block A to B 50 - 69 series upgrade installs for the V-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Philadelphia, Pa. (60 percent); Havelock, N.C. (20 percent); and Fort Worth, Texas (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $9,256,869 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
DMS Pharmaceutical Group Inc.**, Park Ridge, Ill., has been awarded a maximum $46,647,841 modification (P00094) exercising the second one-year option period on a one-year base contract (SPM2D0-11-D-0005) with five one-year option periods for various pharmaceutical products in support of the vendor managed inventory program which provides access to inventory to ensure material availability of medical and surgical surge, and re-supply and sustainment material. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Illinois with a Nov. 20, 2014 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 warstopper funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.
URS Federal Technical Services Inc., Germantown, Md., has been awarded a maximum $7,976,352 modification (P00056) exercising the fourth one-year option period on a one-year base contract (SP3300-10-C-0006) with four one-year option periods for material distribution services to include receipt, storage, and issuance. This is a fixed-price, incentive-firm-target, award-fee, hybrid contract. Locations of performance are Maryland and Florida with a Dec. 31, 2014 performance completion date. Using service is DLA Distribution, Pennsylvania. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pa.
AIR FORCE
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, McKinney, Texas, has been awarded a $9,084,334 order (0011) under basic ordering agreement (FA8620-11-G-4050) for Multispectral Targeting System (MTS)-B High Definition/Target Location Accuracy (HD/TLA) Production Readiness which entails the delivery of an economical fabrication, assembly, inspection, test, delivery readiness and ability for the contractor to achieve full-rate production readiness for an MTS-B HD/TLA turret unit. Work will be performed at McKinney, Texas and is expected to be complete by Oct. 31, 2014. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2012 procurement funds in the amount of $9,084,334 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/WIIK, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
*Small Business
**Woman Owned Small Business
NLRB GENERAL COUNSEL'S OFFICE AUTHORIZES COMPLAINTS AGAINST WALMART, NO MERIT TO OTHER CHARGES
FROM: NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
NLRB Office of the General Counsel Authorizes Complaints against Walmart, Also Finds No Merit to Other Charges
The National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel has investigated charges alleging that Walmart violated the rights of its employees as a result of activities surrounding employee protests. The Office of the General Counsel found merit in some of the charges and no merit in others. The Office of the General Counsel has authorized complaints on alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act. If the parties cannot reach settlements in these cases, complaints will issue.
The Office of the General Counsel found merit to alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act against Walmart, such as the following:
During two national television news broadcasts and in statements to employees at Walmart stores in California and Texas, Walmart unlawfully threatened employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes and protests on November 22, 2012.
Walmart stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington unlawfully threatened, disciplined, and/or terminated employees for having engaged in legally protected strikes and protests.
Walmart stores in California, Florida, Missouri and Texas unlawfully threatened, surveilled, disciplined, and/or terminated employees in anticipation of or in response to employees’ other protected concerted activities.
The Office of the General Counsel found no merit, absent appeal, to alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act against Walmart, such as the following:
Walmart stores in Illinois and Texas did not interfere with their employees’ right to strike by telling large groups of non-employee protestors to move from Walmart’s property to public property, pursuant to a lawful Solicitation and Distribution policy, where the groups contained only a small number of employees who either did not seek to stay on Walmart’s property or were permitted to remain without non-employee protesters.
Walmart stores in California and Washington did not unlawfully change work schedules, disparately apply their policies, or otherwise coerce employees in retaliation for their exercise of statutory rights.
The National Labor Relations Act guarantees the right of private sector employees to act together to try to improve their wages and working conditions with or without a union.
NLRB Office of the General Counsel Authorizes Complaints against Walmart, Also Finds No Merit to Other Charges
The National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel has investigated charges alleging that Walmart violated the rights of its employees as a result of activities surrounding employee protests. The Office of the General Counsel found merit in some of the charges and no merit in others. The Office of the General Counsel has authorized complaints on alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act. If the parties cannot reach settlements in these cases, complaints will issue.
The Office of the General Counsel found merit to alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act against Walmart, such as the following:
During two national television news broadcasts and in statements to employees at Walmart stores in California and Texas, Walmart unlawfully threatened employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes and protests on November 22, 2012.
Walmart stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington unlawfully threatened, disciplined, and/or terminated employees for having engaged in legally protected strikes and protests.
Walmart stores in California, Florida, Missouri and Texas unlawfully threatened, surveilled, disciplined, and/or terminated employees in anticipation of or in response to employees’ other protected concerted activities.
The Office of the General Counsel found no merit, absent appeal, to alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act against Walmart, such as the following:
Walmart stores in Illinois and Texas did not interfere with their employees’ right to strike by telling large groups of non-employee protestors to move from Walmart’s property to public property, pursuant to a lawful Solicitation and Distribution policy, where the groups contained only a small number of employees who either did not seek to stay on Walmart’s property or were permitted to remain without non-employee protesters.
Walmart stores in California and Washington did not unlawfully change work schedules, disparately apply their policies, or otherwise coerce employees in retaliation for their exercise of statutory rights.
The National Labor Relations Act guarantees the right of private sector employees to act together to try to improve their wages and working conditions with or without a union.
COURT ORDERS MF GLOBAL TO PAY OVER $1 BILLION TO CUSTOMERS
FROM: U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Federal Court in New York Orders MF Global Inc. to Pay over $1 Billion in Restitution to Customers of MF Global Inc.
The court’s Order also imposes a $100 million penalty on MF Global
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a federal court consent Order against Defendant MF Global Inc. (MF Global) requiring it to pay $1.212 billion in restitution to customers of MF Global to ensure customers recover their losses sustained when MF Global failed in 2011.
The consent Order, entered on November 8, 2013 by U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, also imposes a $100 million civil monetary penalty on MF Global, to be paid after MF Global has fully paid customers and certain other creditors entitled to priority under bankruptcy law. The Trustee for MF Global obtained permission from the bankruptcy court to pay restitution in full to customers to remedy any shortfall with funds of the MF Global general estate.
The consent Order arises out of the CFTC’s complaint, filed on June 27, 2013, charging MF Global and the other Defendants with unlawful use of customer funds (see CFTC Press Release 6626-13, June 27, 2013). In the consent Order, MF Global admits to the allegations pertaining to its liability based on the acts and omissions of its employees as set forth in the consent Order and the Complaint. The CFTC’s litigation continues against the remaining defendants: MF Global Holdings Ltd., Jon S. Corzine, and Edith O’Brien.
Gretchen Lowe, Acting Director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement, stated, “Division staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that 100 percent restitution be awarded to satisfy customer losses. The CFTC will continue to ensure that those who violate U.S. commodity laws and regulations designed to protect customer funds will be vigorously prosecuted.”
The CFTC’s Complaint charged MF Global, a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), with violating provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations intended to protect FCM customer funds and requiring diligent supervision by registrants. Specifically, the Complaint charged that during the last week of October 2011, MF Global unlawfully used customer segregated funds to support its own proprietary operations and the operations of its affiliates. In addition to the misuse of customer funds, the Complaint alleged that MF Global (i) unlawfully failed to notify the CFTC immediately when it knew or should have known of the deficiencies in its customer accounts, (ii) made false statements in reports it filed with the CFTC that failed to show the deficits in the customer accounts, (iii) used customer funds for impermissible investments in securities that were not considered readily marketable or highly liquid in violation of CFTC regulation, and (iv) failed to diligently supervise the handling of commodity interest accounts carried by MF Global and the activities of its partners, officers, employees, and agents.
The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Illinois, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom.
The consent Order recognizes the cooperation of the Trustee for MF Global and requires the Trustee’s continued cooperation with the CFTC.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Sheila Marhamati, David W. Oakland, Chad Silverman, K. Brent Tomer, Douglas K. Yatter, Steven Ringer, Lenel Hickson, and Manal Sultan. Staff from the CFTC’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight, Division of Clearing and Risk, and Office of Data and Technology also assisted in this matter.
Federal Court in New York Orders MF Global Inc. to Pay over $1 Billion in Restitution to Customers of MF Global Inc.
The court’s Order also imposes a $100 million penalty on MF Global
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a federal court consent Order against Defendant MF Global Inc. (MF Global) requiring it to pay $1.212 billion in restitution to customers of MF Global to ensure customers recover their losses sustained when MF Global failed in 2011.
The consent Order, entered on November 8, 2013 by U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, also imposes a $100 million civil monetary penalty on MF Global, to be paid after MF Global has fully paid customers and certain other creditors entitled to priority under bankruptcy law. The Trustee for MF Global obtained permission from the bankruptcy court to pay restitution in full to customers to remedy any shortfall with funds of the MF Global general estate.
The consent Order arises out of the CFTC’s complaint, filed on June 27, 2013, charging MF Global and the other Defendants with unlawful use of customer funds (see CFTC Press Release 6626-13, June 27, 2013). In the consent Order, MF Global admits to the allegations pertaining to its liability based on the acts and omissions of its employees as set forth in the consent Order and the Complaint. The CFTC’s litigation continues against the remaining defendants: MF Global Holdings Ltd., Jon S. Corzine, and Edith O’Brien.
Gretchen Lowe, Acting Director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement, stated, “Division staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that 100 percent restitution be awarded to satisfy customer losses. The CFTC will continue to ensure that those who violate U.S. commodity laws and regulations designed to protect customer funds will be vigorously prosecuted.”
The CFTC’s Complaint charged MF Global, a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), with violating provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations intended to protect FCM customer funds and requiring diligent supervision by registrants. Specifically, the Complaint charged that during the last week of October 2011, MF Global unlawfully used customer segregated funds to support its own proprietary operations and the operations of its affiliates. In addition to the misuse of customer funds, the Complaint alleged that MF Global (i) unlawfully failed to notify the CFTC immediately when it knew or should have known of the deficiencies in its customer accounts, (ii) made false statements in reports it filed with the CFTC that failed to show the deficits in the customer accounts, (iii) used customer funds for impermissible investments in securities that were not considered readily marketable or highly liquid in violation of CFTC regulation, and (iv) failed to diligently supervise the handling of commodity interest accounts carried by MF Global and the activities of its partners, officers, employees, and agents.
The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Illinois, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom.
The consent Order recognizes the cooperation of the Trustee for MF Global and requires the Trustee’s continued cooperation with the CFTC.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Sheila Marhamati, David W. Oakland, Chad Silverman, K. Brent Tomer, Douglas K. Yatter, Steven Ringer, Lenel Hickson, and Manal Sultan. Staff from the CFTC’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight, Division of Clearing and Risk, and Office of Data and Technology also assisted in this matter.
IS TASMANIAN DEVIL HEADED FOR EXTINCTION?
 |
| Tasmanian Devil. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. |
Tasmanian devils: Will rare infectious cancer lead to their extinction?
Taz, was his name, the Tasmanian devil of Warner Bros. cartoon fame. A scrappy omnivore who ate anything and everything, he spun in a vortex and bit through everything in his path.
The devil was short-lived, however, making television appearances for a few years in the late 1950s and early 1960s before disappearing from view. In 1991, Taz got a reprieve: His own show, "Taz-Mania," which ran for three seasons. Then he was gone for good.
From the screen to the wild
Tasmanian devils in the wild are no less imperiled. Carnivorous marsupials, they're found only on the Australian island of Tasmania. With a stocky build, black fur, keen sense of smell and ferocity when feeding, "real-life" Tasmanian devils and their cartoon namesake have much in common.
The size of small dogs, Tasmanian devils became the largest carnivorous marsupials in the world following the 1936 extinction of thylacines (Thylacinus cynocephalus), known as Tasmanian tigers or Tasmanian wolves. Thylacines lived on continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.
Will the fate of Sarcophilus harrisii, the scientific name for the Tasmanian devil, mimic that of the thylacine?
"If a way isn't found to stop devil facial tumor disease, or DFTD," says disease ecologist Andrew Storfer of Washington State University, "models predict that Tasmanian devils could be extinct in as few as10 years."
And vanishing with them, valuable clues to diseases in other species, including humans.
DFTD is an aggressive, non-viral, transmissible parasitic cancer that is 100 percent lethal, says Storfer. "In short," he says, "it's bad news."
Can we save the Tasmanian devil?
To study DFTD and find ways of understanding its emergence and spread, Storfer has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)- National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Program.
Collaborators include Paul Hohenlohe of the University of Idaho, Hamish McCallum of Griffith University, Menna Jones of the University of Tasmania and Elizabeth Murchison of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
The NSF-NIH EEID Program supports efforts to understand the ecological and biological mechanisms that link environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.
Projects funded through the program allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events--such as habitat destruction, invasions of nonnative species and pollution--alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases.
Storfer's research may lead to new insights about the spread of flu in humans. It also may help scientists understand other infectious diseases in animals such as bats, and how certain cancers progress.
"This study provides an excellent test-bed for understanding the spread of infectious diseases," says Sam Scheiner, EEID program director at NSF. "The results may help us control the spread of seasonal flu in people, West Nile virus in birds and white-nose syndrome in bats, among many other diseases."
Tasmanian devils: extinction on the horizon
The first official case of devil tumor facial disease was reported in 1996. Since then, Tasmania's devil population has declined by 70 percent. Findings reported in 2010 show that 80 percent of the remaining devils are affected.
"Tasmanian devils that live in high-density populations may suffer drastic reductions a few years after emergence of the disease," Storfer says.
DFTD has been slowly moving from east to west across Tasmania for the last 17 years; it's now approaching the west coast. "Soon there may be no known uninfected devils," says Storfer.
The disease is spread when Tasmanian devils bite each other's heads while fighting over food, during territorial interactions and when they spar during mating season.
Devils that contract the disease develop lesions around their mouths that become cancerous tumors. The tumors may spread from their faces to their entire bodies. Devils almost always die within six to nine months.
Devil facial tumor disease likely began in what are called Schwann cells. Schwann cells are found in the peripheral nervous system; they produce myelin and other proteins essential for the functions of nerve cells.
In response to DFTD, Tasmanian devils have changed their reproductive habits. Before the outbreak, females started breeding at two years old. Now they breed by the end of their first year--and often die of DFTD soon afterward.
There's a ray of light, however, in this dark day for devils. Some devils have been found with partial immunity to the disease. Breeding in captivity is underway to try to save the species.
"Emerging infectious diseases like DFTD are one of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century," says Storfer. "Infectious diseases are now the sixth leading cause of species extinctions."
Answers in Tasmanian devils' genomes?
Extensive research by Storfer and others, including thousands of samples taken before and after devil die-offs, has given scientists a rare opportunity to study the genomic interactions of an infectious disease and its host--the devils--across an entire species' range.
"The research will tell us about the genetic basis of Tasmanian devils' susceptibility to the tumors," says Storfer, "providing environmental managers with information about which particular devils would be best suited for captive breeding programs."
Knowledge of the rates and direction of past tumor spread will enable scientists to uncover the likely locations of future infections.
Although only a few infectious cancers have been documented, Storfer says, "this disease shares properties with human cancers.
"Our research, especially genetic studies, may reveal the underlying reasons why DTFD is so prevalent and can hold on for so long in a population, perhaps providing information on cancer recurrence in humans."
To test predictions of the course of the epidemic, he and colleagues plan to meld what they call "devil contact network modeling" with genomic studies of Tasmanian devil populations expected to become infected.
"The answers will help in developing responses to this and other disease outbreaks in Tasmanian devils--and potentially in people," says Storfer.
Taz may be gone, but, says Storfer, "Hopefully it's not too late for the real Tasmanian devil."
-- Cheryl Dybas, NSF
U.S. MILITARY CONTINUES PROVIDING RELIEF TO VICTIMS OF TYPHOON HAIYAN
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2013 – U.S. military assets have as of early today delivered approximately 655,000 pounds of relief supplies provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development since the start of Operation Damayan, the relief effort in support of the government of the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.
The duration and extent of U.S. military support will depend on the request from the government of the Philippines. American forces will be present as long as they are needed, but no longer than required.
In addition to the delivery of relief supplies, U.S. military aircraft have to date logged nearly 650 flight hours, moved nearly 1,200 relief workers into Tacloban and have airlifted nearly 4,900 survivors from typhoon-impacted areas.
Over the last 24 hours, more than 66,000 pounds of food, water and shelter items have been delivered to Tacloban, Borongan and Guiuan -- some of the hardest-hit regions.
At the request of the government of the Philippines, international military forces in the region are also ramping up their support. Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are currently providing aircraft and/or medical personnel to assist in the relief operations. Similar military support from Brunei, Great Britain, New Zealand and Thailand is also expected.
U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific is coordinating efforts by Marine forces in the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility and working with the Philippine government to rapidly deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the areas the Philippine government deems most in need. The U.S.-Philippines visiting forces agreement helped facilitate the speed of this response.
U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific’s ability to coordinate with all available Defense Department resources in Pacom’s area of responsibility to respond rapidly to the Philippine government’s request reaffirms the value of the close cooperation the two nations share.
The people of the Philippines are responding to the typhoon’s impact with characteristic resilience, aided by the effective measures their government took to help prepare them for the storm.
In the immediate aftermath of the typhoon, the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade deployed a humanitarian assistance survey team to conduct assessments of impacted areas.
USDA REMINDS FARMERS OF AFFECTS OF SEQUESTRATION ON FARM PROGRAMS
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
FSA Advises Producers to Anticipate Payment Reductions Due to Mandated Sequester
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2013 ---USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is reminding farmers and ranchers who participate in FSA programs to plan accordingly in FY2014 for automatic spending reductions known as sequestration. The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) mandates that federal agencies implement automatic, annual reductions to discretionary and mandatory spending limits. For mandatory programs, the sequestration rate for FY2014 is 7.2%. Accordingly, FSA is implementing sequestration for the following programs:
Dairy Indemnity Payment Program; Marketing Assistance Loans; Loan Deficiency Payments; Sugar Loans; Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program; Tobacco Transition Payment Program; 2013 Direct and Counter-Cyclical Payments; 2013 Average Crop Revenue Election Program; 2011 and 2012 Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program; Storage, handling; and Economic Adjustment Assistance for Upland Cotton.
Conservation Reserve Program payments are specifically exempt by statute from sequestration, thus these payments will not be reduced.
“These sequester percentages reflect current law estimates; however with the continuing budget uncertainty, Congress still may adjust the exact percentage reduction. Today’s announcement intends to help producers plan for the impact of sequestration cuts in FY2014,” said FSA Administrator Juan M. Garcia. “At this time, FSA is required to implement the sequester reductions. Due to the expiration of the Farm Bill on September 30, FSA does not have the flexibility to cover these payment reductions in the same manner as in FY13. FSA will provide notification as early as practicable on the specific payment reductions. ”
FSA Advises Producers to Anticipate Payment Reductions Due to Mandated Sequester
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS & WGBH BOSTON WILL PRESERVE COLLECTION OF PUBLIC RADIO AND TV CONTENT
FROM: U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Awards Library of Congress and WGBH with Stewardship of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
An unprecedented and historic collection of American public radio and television content - dating back through the 1950s - will be permanently preserved and made available to the public through a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Boston as the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.
In 2007, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) initiated an inventory of public media content from contributing stations, resulting in 2.5 million records representing complete programs, raw footage, unedited interviews, recorded speeches, and live music sessions. Now, 40,000 hours of that content is being digitized and is slated for transfer and long-term preservation through a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH, with funding support from CPB.
"The American Archive of Public Broadcasting is a national asset that will preserve thousands of hours of iconic, at-risk, local, and national content," said Pat Harrison, CPB president and CEO. "I want to congratulate and thank the public media stations, and the local communities they represent, who provided content for the Archive. For the past six years, CPB has created, defined and managed this initiative and we are very pleased to announce that it has finally found a permanent home with the Library of Congress and WGBH."
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting includes local, regional, and national history, news, public affairs, civic affairs, religion, education, environmental issues, music, art, literature, filmmaking, dance, and poetry from the mid-20th century through the first decade of the 21st century.
"The American people have made a huge investment in public radio and television over many decades," said James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress. "This collaboration will ensure that this rich and creative cultural history will be saved and made available to future generations."
"We are very excited and proud to become the home for the American Archive, and to be part of keeping history alive for audiences and for the public," said Jon Abbott, president and CEO of WGBH. "We couldn’t have a better partner than the Library of Congress in making these treasures available, and we’re grateful to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for their leadership and support of this effort."
The collection includes interviews and performances by local and national luminaries from a broad variety of professions and cultural genres. Just a few examples of the items in the collection include: Iowa Public Television’s interview with Olympic runner Jesse Owens, recorded in 1979, the last year of his life; KUSC’s (Los Angeles) broadcast of commentary by George Lucas on the original three Star Wars movies; Twin Cities Public Television’s recording of a 1960 interview with presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey; and WGBH’s 1967 interviews with then-California Governor Ronald Reagan.
Regional coverage and programming abounds, such as an award-winning series of 48 programs on the history of Southwest Florida from WGCU in Fort Myers; WCTE’s (Tennessee) news magazine which highlights the Upper Cumberland, a region that most Americans have never seen; KUED’s (Salt Lake City) films from the 1950s of performances by the famed organist of the Mormon Tabernacle; a 1929 film reel of a hike on Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak, discovered by Maine Public Broadcasting; and WEDU’s (Tampa) collection of several dozen Aeronautics & Space Report programs from NASA.
"This is an important step in CPB’s commitment to preserve and make available to the American public the tremendous amount of high quality programming and content produced by public media television and radio stations over the past several decades and in the future," said Patty Cahill, Chairman of the CPB Board of Directors. "We are pleased that the Library of Congress and WGBH will continue this culturally and historically significant project on behalf of the public media system and the American people."
A national advisory panel, comprised of leaders from public media, the arts, academia, technology, and business recommended to the CPB Board of Directors the collaborative team of the Library of Congress and WGBH to lead this historic project. The panel was instrumental in guiding the selection process, providing questions, observations, and recommendations regarding core elements of the Archive’s future success.
American Archive National Advisory Panel members include: Bruce Ramer, partner at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, a Los Angeles entertainment and media law firm, and member of the CPB board of directors; Henry Becton, vice chair and former president of the board of trustees of the WGBH Educational Foundation; Ken Burns, award winning filmmaker; John W. Carlin, former Governor of Kansas and archivist of the United States, and currently visiting professor, executive-in-residence in the School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University; Dr. Jeffrey Cole, founder and director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism; Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., professor, author, documentary filmmaker and director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research; Deanna Marcum, managing director at Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit research and consulting organization, and former associate librarian of Congress; John Ptak, film producer and former talent agent at CAA, William Morris and ICM, and member of the National Film Preservation Board and the National Film Preservation Foundation; Cokie Roberts, commentator for ABC News and contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition; Dr. Stephen D. Smith, executive director of the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education; Hon. Margaret Spellings, senior advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and former U.S. Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009; Sir Howard Stringer, chairman of the board of directors, Sony Corporation; and Jesús Salvador Treviño, writer, director, and producer.
"The American Archive of Public Broadcasting continues to be a priority for CPB – to preserve decades of high quality local and national public media content," said Bruce Ramer, who, in addition to being a member of the American Archive National Advisory Panel, is also chairman of the USC Institute on Entertainment Law and Business. "I want to thank the panel for their leadership which helped to ensure the preservation and permanent availability of public broadcasting’s rich legacy."
Responsibilities for governance and long-term strategy development will be shared by the Library of Congress and WGBH, including expansion of the digital archive by acquiring additional content, and providing on-site access to the material at both WGBH in Boston and at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. They will work with AudioVisual Preservation Services to develop and manage the website/content management system for the digitization of the 40,000 hours of content, and with Crawford Media Services to do the digitization for the stations.
More information is available at the American Archive blog.
About The Library of Congress
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. The Library holds the largest collection of audio visual recordings in the world and has been collecting and preserving historically, culturally and aesthetically significant recordings in all genres for nearly 120 years. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s website, www.loc.gov.
About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other award-winning prime-time, lifestyle, and children’s series, reaching nearly 75 million people each month. WGBH also is a major supplier of programming for public radio, and oversees Public Radio International (PRI). A leader in educational multimedia for the classroom, WGBH supplies content to PBS LearningMedia. WGBH also is a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to those with hearing or visual impairments. Find more information at www.wgbh.org.
About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services. Visit us at www.cpb.org.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Awards Library of Congress and WGBH with Stewardship of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
An unprecedented and historic collection of American public radio and television content - dating back through the 1950s - will be permanently preserved and made available to the public through a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Boston as the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.
In 2007, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) initiated an inventory of public media content from contributing stations, resulting in 2.5 million records representing complete programs, raw footage, unedited interviews, recorded speeches, and live music sessions. Now, 40,000 hours of that content is being digitized and is slated for transfer and long-term preservation through a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH, with funding support from CPB.
"The American Archive of Public Broadcasting is a national asset that will preserve thousands of hours of iconic, at-risk, local, and national content," said Pat Harrison, CPB president and CEO. "I want to congratulate and thank the public media stations, and the local communities they represent, who provided content for the Archive. For the past six years, CPB has created, defined and managed this initiative and we are very pleased to announce that it has finally found a permanent home with the Library of Congress and WGBH."
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting includes local, regional, and national history, news, public affairs, civic affairs, religion, education, environmental issues, music, art, literature, filmmaking, dance, and poetry from the mid-20th century through the first decade of the 21st century.
"The American people have made a huge investment in public radio and television over many decades," said James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress. "This collaboration will ensure that this rich and creative cultural history will be saved and made available to future generations."
"We are very excited and proud to become the home for the American Archive, and to be part of keeping history alive for audiences and for the public," said Jon Abbott, president and CEO of WGBH. "We couldn’t have a better partner than the Library of Congress in making these treasures available, and we’re grateful to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for their leadership and support of this effort."
The collection includes interviews and performances by local and national luminaries from a broad variety of professions and cultural genres. Just a few examples of the items in the collection include: Iowa Public Television’s interview with Olympic runner Jesse Owens, recorded in 1979, the last year of his life; KUSC’s (Los Angeles) broadcast of commentary by George Lucas on the original three Star Wars movies; Twin Cities Public Television’s recording of a 1960 interview with presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey; and WGBH’s 1967 interviews with then-California Governor Ronald Reagan.
Regional coverage and programming abounds, such as an award-winning series of 48 programs on the history of Southwest Florida from WGCU in Fort Myers; WCTE’s (Tennessee) news magazine which highlights the Upper Cumberland, a region that most Americans have never seen; KUED’s (Salt Lake City) films from the 1950s of performances by the famed organist of the Mormon Tabernacle; a 1929 film reel of a hike on Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak, discovered by Maine Public Broadcasting; and WEDU’s (Tampa) collection of several dozen Aeronautics & Space Report programs from NASA.
"This is an important step in CPB’s commitment to preserve and make available to the American public the tremendous amount of high quality programming and content produced by public media television and radio stations over the past several decades and in the future," said Patty Cahill, Chairman of the CPB Board of Directors. "We are pleased that the Library of Congress and WGBH will continue this culturally and historically significant project on behalf of the public media system and the American people."
A national advisory panel, comprised of leaders from public media, the arts, academia, technology, and business recommended to the CPB Board of Directors the collaborative team of the Library of Congress and WGBH to lead this historic project. The panel was instrumental in guiding the selection process, providing questions, observations, and recommendations regarding core elements of the Archive’s future success.
American Archive National Advisory Panel members include: Bruce Ramer, partner at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, a Los Angeles entertainment and media law firm, and member of the CPB board of directors; Henry Becton, vice chair and former president of the board of trustees of the WGBH Educational Foundation; Ken Burns, award winning filmmaker; John W. Carlin, former Governor of Kansas and archivist of the United States, and currently visiting professor, executive-in-residence in the School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University; Dr. Jeffrey Cole, founder and director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism; Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., professor, author, documentary filmmaker and director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research; Deanna Marcum, managing director at Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit research and consulting organization, and former associate librarian of Congress; John Ptak, film producer and former talent agent at CAA, William Morris and ICM, and member of the National Film Preservation Board and the National Film Preservation Foundation; Cokie Roberts, commentator for ABC News and contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition; Dr. Stephen D. Smith, executive director of the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education; Hon. Margaret Spellings, senior advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and former U.S. Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009; Sir Howard Stringer, chairman of the board of directors, Sony Corporation; and Jesús Salvador Treviño, writer, director, and producer.
"The American Archive of Public Broadcasting continues to be a priority for CPB – to preserve decades of high quality local and national public media content," said Bruce Ramer, who, in addition to being a member of the American Archive National Advisory Panel, is also chairman of the USC Institute on Entertainment Law and Business. "I want to thank the panel for their leadership which helped to ensure the preservation and permanent availability of public broadcasting’s rich legacy."
Responsibilities for governance and long-term strategy development will be shared by the Library of Congress and WGBH, including expansion of the digital archive by acquiring additional content, and providing on-site access to the material at both WGBH in Boston and at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. They will work with AudioVisual Preservation Services to develop and manage the website/content management system for the digitization of the 40,000 hours of content, and with Crawford Media Services to do the digitization for the stations.
More information is available at the American Archive blog.
About The Library of Congress
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. The Library holds the largest collection of audio visual recordings in the world and has been collecting and preserving historically, culturally and aesthetically significant recordings in all genres for nearly 120 years. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s website, www.loc.gov.
About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other award-winning prime-time, lifestyle, and children’s series, reaching nearly 75 million people each month. WGBH also is a major supplier of programming for public radio, and oversees Public Radio International (PRI). A leader in educational multimedia for the classroom, WGBH supplies content to PBS LearningMedia. WGBH also is a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to those with hearing or visual impairments. Find more information at www.wgbh.org.
About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services. Visit us at www.cpb.org.
HUSBAND AND WIFE CONVICTED OF FILING LIENS AGAINST IRS COMMISSIONER AND FILING FALSE TAX REFUND CLAIMS
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, November 15, 2013
Northern California Couple Indicted for Filing False Claims for Refunds and for Filing Liens Against the IRS Commissioner
Robert Eldon Robertson and his wife Esther Lynne Robertson of Manteca, Calif., were indicted on charges of filing two false claims for federal tax refunds, filing liens against the former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner and impeding the administration of federal tax laws, the Justice Department and IRS announced today. The indictment was unsealed yesterday in the Eastern District of California.
According to the indictment, the Robertsons filed two false federal income tax returns claiming large refunds based on fictitious Form 1099-OID withholdings: one for tax year 2005 claiming a $90,538 refund and one for 2007 claiming a $313,248 refund. The indictment also charges each of the Robertsons with filing a false lien against the property of the IRS commissioner for “a sum certain amount determined as triple the stated amount of any purported determination of tax liability.” According to the indictment, the Robertsons also sent a bogus “international promissory note” with a request that the IRS apply the purported $800,000 face value of the note towards their outstanding tax liabilities. The IRS also received a letter containing credit card bills belonging to the Robertsons asking the IRS to pay nearly $20,000 worth of their credit card debt.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If convicted, the Robertsons face a maximum of five years in prison for each false claim count, three years for the obstruction count and 10 years for the count of filing false liens.
The case was investigated by both IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Ignacio Perez de la Cruz of the department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Segal in the Eastern District of California.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Northern California Couple Indicted for Filing False Claims for Refunds and for Filing Liens Against the IRS Commissioner
Robert Eldon Robertson and his wife Esther Lynne Robertson of Manteca, Calif., were indicted on charges of filing two false claims for federal tax refunds, filing liens against the former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner and impeding the administration of federal tax laws, the Justice Department and IRS announced today. The indictment was unsealed yesterday in the Eastern District of California.
According to the indictment, the Robertsons filed two false federal income tax returns claiming large refunds based on fictitious Form 1099-OID withholdings: one for tax year 2005 claiming a $90,538 refund and one for 2007 claiming a $313,248 refund. The indictment also charges each of the Robertsons with filing a false lien against the property of the IRS commissioner for “a sum certain amount determined as triple the stated amount of any purported determination of tax liability.” According to the indictment, the Robertsons also sent a bogus “international promissory note” with a request that the IRS apply the purported $800,000 face value of the note towards their outstanding tax liabilities. The IRS also received a letter containing credit card bills belonging to the Robertsons asking the IRS to pay nearly $20,000 worth of their credit card debt.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If convicted, the Robertsons face a maximum of five years in prison for each false claim count, three years for the obstruction count and 10 years for the count of filing false liens.
The case was investigated by both IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Ignacio Perez de la Cruz of the department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Segal in the Eastern District of California.
RATTLESNAKE TRAFFICKERS CONVICTED FOR VIOLATION OF LACEY ACT
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, November 15, 2013
Two Florida Men Convicted in Philadelphia of Conspiring and Trafficking in Protected Reptiles
A federal jury today found Robroy MacInnes, 54, of Inverness, Fla., and Robert Keszey, 47, of Bushnell, Fla., guilty of conspiracy to traffic in state and federally protected reptiles. MacInnes also was convicted of trafficking in protected timber rattlesnakes in violation of the Lacey Act.
Between 2007 and 2008, the defendants, who own the reptile wholesaler Glades Herp Farm Inc., collected protected snakes from the wild in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, purchased protected eastern timber rattlesnakes that had been illegally collected from the wild in violation of New York law, and transported federally threatened eastern indigo snakes from Florida to Pennsylvania. MacInnes also violated the Lacey Act by purchasing illegal eastern timber rattlesnakes and having the snakes transported from Pennsylvania to Florida. The evidence at trial showed that the protected species were destined for sale at reptile shows in Europe, where a single timber rattlesnake can sell for up to $800. Snakes that were not sold in Europe were sold through the defendants’ business in the United States.
“These defendants broke numerous wildlife laws seeking to profit from an illegal trade in threatened species,” said Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Justice Department is committed to enforcing wildlife laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act that protect our environment and these threatened species from a destructive and dangerous black market trade.”
The eastern timber rattlesnake is a species of venomous pit viper native to the eastern United States, and is listed as threatened in New York. It is also illegal to possess an eastern timber rattlesnake without a permit in Pennsylvania. The eastern indigo snake, the longest native North American snake species, is listed as threatened by both Florida and federal law.
The Lacey Act, one of the oldest statutes in the United States, prohibits interstate trafficking in wildlife known to be illegally obtained. The maximum penalty for conspiring to commit offenses and for violations of the Lacey Act is up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each violation.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Patrick M. Duggan and paralegal Ashleigh Nye of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Kay Costello of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Two Florida Men Convicted in Philadelphia of Conspiring and Trafficking in Protected Reptiles
A federal jury today found Robroy MacInnes, 54, of Inverness, Fla., and Robert Keszey, 47, of Bushnell, Fla., guilty of conspiracy to traffic in state and federally protected reptiles. MacInnes also was convicted of trafficking in protected timber rattlesnakes in violation of the Lacey Act.
Between 2007 and 2008, the defendants, who own the reptile wholesaler Glades Herp Farm Inc., collected protected snakes from the wild in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, purchased protected eastern timber rattlesnakes that had been illegally collected from the wild in violation of New York law, and transported federally threatened eastern indigo snakes from Florida to Pennsylvania. MacInnes also violated the Lacey Act by purchasing illegal eastern timber rattlesnakes and having the snakes transported from Pennsylvania to Florida. The evidence at trial showed that the protected species were destined for sale at reptile shows in Europe, where a single timber rattlesnake can sell for up to $800. Snakes that were not sold in Europe were sold through the defendants’ business in the United States.
“These defendants broke numerous wildlife laws seeking to profit from an illegal trade in threatened species,” said Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Justice Department is committed to enforcing wildlife laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act that protect our environment and these threatened species from a destructive and dangerous black market trade.”
The eastern timber rattlesnake is a species of venomous pit viper native to the eastern United States, and is listed as threatened in New York. It is also illegal to possess an eastern timber rattlesnake without a permit in Pennsylvania. The eastern indigo snake, the longest native North American snake species, is listed as threatened by both Florida and federal law.
The Lacey Act, one of the oldest statutes in the United States, prohibits interstate trafficking in wildlife known to be illegally obtained. The maximum penalty for conspiring to commit offenses and for violations of the Lacey Act is up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each violation.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Patrick M. Duggan and paralegal Ashleigh Nye of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Kay Costello of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
GSA LOOKING FOR SITES FOR NEW FBI HEADQUARTERS
FROM: GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
GSA Seeks Sites for FBI Headquarters
November 15, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it is taking the next step in the process of finding a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. GSA seeks to identify sites that would be acceptable to include in a future competitive procurement that will provide the best deal for taxpayers. GSA has issued an advertisement for Expressions of Interest to landowners requesting that they offer a parcel of land to accommodate the next FBI headquarters in the District of Columbia or the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. GSA will accept site proposals beginning now through December 17, 2013.
Today’s advertisement is the next phase in an overall procurement strategy that is expected to conclude sometime in 2015. GSA will include one or more of the sites in a future procurement that would allow GSA to exchange the existing J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. for a new facility that can accommodate the FBI’s headquarters operations and allow it to consolidate into one location.
The advertisement asks interested parties to provide information on sites that they would donate to the government or sites that they would sell to the government. Additionally, GSA will consider sites currently in the government inventory. After GSA receives responses, it will begin evaluating the submitted sites, along with those in the federal inventory, to identify sites that meet or exceed GSA’s and FBI’s requirements. GSA anticipates that selected sites will be specified in a future request for development proposals for a new FBI Headquarters.
There is significant interest from the private sector and local governments in developing a new FBI headquarters facility in the National Capital Region. Last March, GSA received 38 responses from the development community about exchanging the FBI’s current headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover building, which no longer meets the FBI needs for a new, consolidated headquarters. GSA is using the input it is receiving to outline its future procurement.
GSA Seeks Sites for FBI Headquarters
November 15, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it is taking the next step in the process of finding a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. GSA seeks to identify sites that would be acceptable to include in a future competitive procurement that will provide the best deal for taxpayers. GSA has issued an advertisement for Expressions of Interest to landowners requesting that they offer a parcel of land to accommodate the next FBI headquarters in the District of Columbia or the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. GSA will accept site proposals beginning now through December 17, 2013.
Today’s advertisement is the next phase in an overall procurement strategy that is expected to conclude sometime in 2015. GSA will include one or more of the sites in a future procurement that would allow GSA to exchange the existing J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. for a new facility that can accommodate the FBI’s headquarters operations and allow it to consolidate into one location.
The advertisement asks interested parties to provide information on sites that they would donate to the government or sites that they would sell to the government. Additionally, GSA will consider sites currently in the government inventory. After GSA receives responses, it will begin evaluating the submitted sites, along with those in the federal inventory, to identify sites that meet or exceed GSA’s and FBI’s requirements. GSA anticipates that selected sites will be specified in a future request for development proposals for a new FBI Headquarters.
There is significant interest from the private sector and local governments in developing a new FBI headquarters facility in the National Capital Region. Last March, GSA received 38 responses from the development community about exchanging the FBI’s current headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover building, which no longer meets the FBI needs for a new, consolidated headquarters. GSA is using the input it is receiving to outline its future procurement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)