FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, November 7, 2014
Department of Justice Seeks Recovery of Approximately $100,000 in Bribes Paid to Former Chad Ambassador
The Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint made public late yesterday seeking the forfeiture of $106,488.31 in allegedly laundered funds traceable to a $2 million bribe payment made by a Canadian energy company to Chad’s former Ambassador to the United States and Canada and his wife.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director Joseph S. Campbell of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.
From 2004 to 2012, Mahamoud Adam Bechir, 49, served as Chad’s Ambassador to the United States and Canada. According to the forfeiture complaint, Bechir agreed to use his position to influence the award of oil development rights in Chad in exchange for $2 million and other valuable interests from Griffiths Energy International Inc., a Canadian company. In order to conceal the bribe, Bechir and his wife, Nouracham Niam, 44, allegedly entered into a series of agreements with Griffiths Energy that provided for the payment of a $2 million “consulting fee” if the company secured the oil rights in Chad. After securing these oil rights in February 2011, Griffiths Energy allegedly transferred $2 million to an account located in Washington, D.C. held by a shell company created by Niam. In 2013, Griffiths Energy pleaded guilty in Canadian court to bribing Bechir.
The complaint further alleges that, after commingling the bribe payment with other funds and laundering these funds through U.S. bank accounts and real property, Bechir transferred $1,474,517 of the criminal proceeds traceable to the bribe payment to his account in South Africa, where he is now serving Chad’s Ambassador to South Africa. The current action seeks forfeiture of $106,488.31, which is the current balance of Bechir’s accounts in South Africa. Those funds have been seized pursuant to the complaint unsealed today. The Department of Justice is also seeking additional assets from Bechir and Niam.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The case is being handled by Trial Attorney Nalina Sombuntham of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.
This case was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, working in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, return those proceeds to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
THE SPECIATION OF TREES
FROM: THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Tracing the evolution of forest trees
Evergreen tree in Hawaii offers clues into survival of tropical ecosystems
There are at least 60,000 identified tree species in the world, "but we know next to nothing about how they got here," Elizabeth Stacy says. "Trees form the backbone of our forests, and are ecologically and economically important, yet we don't know much about how speciation happens in trees."
Speciation, the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise, fascinates Stacy, an associate professor of biology at the University of Hawaii Hilo, and forms the core of her research. The National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientist is focusing on the origins of the many forms of Metrosideros, a diverse genus of forest trees, and on one of its species in particular--Hawaii's M. polymorpha--as a model for studying diversification.
The Hawaiian Islands were formed and continue to be formed from volcanic activity, which makes them an ideal place to study speciation. Because the islands are so isolated, their plant and animal species almost certainly colonized for the first time millions of years ago when wind, ocean currents, birds and insects carried early specimens there.
"Hawaii is a fantastic place to study evolution and the origins of species," Stacy says. "It's like its own planet, its own evolutionary experiment."
Metrosideros comprises trees and shrubs found predominantly in the Pacific Rim region. The name means "iron heartwood," and derives from the ancient Greek metra, or "heartwood," and sideron, or "iron." Stacy is trying to discern the relationships among the many forms of this genus in Hawaii and learn how reproductive barriers arise between diverging populations.
"Over time, Metrosideros has diversified into five species," she says. "M. polymorpha is by far the most abundant. It's unusual for its huge ecological breadth. You can find it in almost every habitat in Hawaii. It's everywhere."
Insights into the evolution of such long-lived trees as these could have important implications for future conservation practices in Hawaii, and possibly elsewhere.
"Because it is so abundant and dominant, Metrosideros is a keystone species for many of Hawaii's terrestrial environments," Stacy says. "It is an important resource for native birds and insects. Insights into how the many forms of Metrosideros originated and how different they are from each other today can reveal insights into the same for the many animals that use Metrosideros. Understanding the ecological needs of species is an essential first step in their conservation.
"Conservation biology has gained an appreciation for evolution," she adds. "Over the last decade, people have grown to appreciate that we need to pay attention to the processes that give rise to species. Speciation is literally the origin of the biodiversity that we are concerned about saving. To really think about long-term conservation, we need to be aware of these evolutionary processes."
Stacy is conducting her research under an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which she received in 2010. The award supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization. NSF is funding her work with about $750,000 over five years.
Her project uses molecular genetic methods to "try to unravel the very shrouded evolutionary history of Metrosideros in Hawaii," she says. "We're experimenting with novel molecular markers--previously inaccessible genes and gene regions--to get a clearer picture of how the forms of Metrosideros are related, both within and across islands."
Uncovering the evolutionary relationships among closely related trees is especially difficult because of their tendency to hybridize, and thus share the same genetic material, she adds.
Also, she and her team are conducting experiments in the field and in the greenhouse with seedlings of various forms, exposing them to different stresses to compare their differences.
"These experiments are revealing insights into how long-term exposure of tree populations to Hawaii's famous environmental gradients can lead to diversification, and they reveal which specific environmental factors, for example, water, light and wind are most important for causing the differences among the forms of the tree," she says.
"Lastly, we are looking at their reproductive barriers: can you two make 'babies' with each other, and how fit are your 'babies?"' she adds. "How well do your offspring survive, and reproduce compared to everyone else in your population? We do a lot of hand-crossing, or hand pollination, where you take pollen from one tree and pollinate another."
These crosses allow examination of the both prezygotic (before fertilization) and postzygotic (after fertilization) barriers that accumulate between diverging populations on the way to speciation.
"I posit that adaptation of this widespread tree to Hawaii's highly varied environments has led to the evolution of partial reproductive isolating barriers between forms that are adapted to different habitats," she says.
As part of the grant's educational component, she is encouraging her students to participate in research through field and lab projects. The team also has established Ho'oulu Lehua, a community-based organization that provides hands-on environmental education for youth with projects that address real conservation issues in the native forests of East Hawaii Island.
The goal of Ho'oulu Lehua, under the leadership of CAREER technician Jennifer Johansen, is to strengthen connections between Hawaii's young people and native forests through restoration activities based on scientific understanding and cultural traditions.
"This island has 11 of 13 climate zones," she says. "We have desert, and wet forests and bogs. Because we are in this amazing evolutionary laboratory, I think we excel in engaging our students with authentic research experiences outside. You can't do this stuff in a lab."
-- Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
Investigators
Elizabeth Stacy
Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Tracing the evolution of forest trees
Evergreen tree in Hawaii offers clues into survival of tropical ecosystems
There are at least 60,000 identified tree species in the world, "but we know next to nothing about how they got here," Elizabeth Stacy says. "Trees form the backbone of our forests, and are ecologically and economically important, yet we don't know much about how speciation happens in trees."
Speciation, the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise, fascinates Stacy, an associate professor of biology at the University of Hawaii Hilo, and forms the core of her research. The National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientist is focusing on the origins of the many forms of Metrosideros, a diverse genus of forest trees, and on one of its species in particular--Hawaii's M. polymorpha--as a model for studying diversification.
The Hawaiian Islands were formed and continue to be formed from volcanic activity, which makes them an ideal place to study speciation. Because the islands are so isolated, their plant and animal species almost certainly colonized for the first time millions of years ago when wind, ocean currents, birds and insects carried early specimens there.
"Hawaii is a fantastic place to study evolution and the origins of species," Stacy says. "It's like its own planet, its own evolutionary experiment."
Metrosideros comprises trees and shrubs found predominantly in the Pacific Rim region. The name means "iron heartwood," and derives from the ancient Greek metra, or "heartwood," and sideron, or "iron." Stacy is trying to discern the relationships among the many forms of this genus in Hawaii and learn how reproductive barriers arise between diverging populations.
"Over time, Metrosideros has diversified into five species," she says. "M. polymorpha is by far the most abundant. It's unusual for its huge ecological breadth. You can find it in almost every habitat in Hawaii. It's everywhere."
Insights into the evolution of such long-lived trees as these could have important implications for future conservation practices in Hawaii, and possibly elsewhere.
"Because it is so abundant and dominant, Metrosideros is a keystone species for many of Hawaii's terrestrial environments," Stacy says. "It is an important resource for native birds and insects. Insights into how the many forms of Metrosideros originated and how different they are from each other today can reveal insights into the same for the many animals that use Metrosideros. Understanding the ecological needs of species is an essential first step in their conservation.
"Conservation biology has gained an appreciation for evolution," she adds. "Over the last decade, people have grown to appreciate that we need to pay attention to the processes that give rise to species. Speciation is literally the origin of the biodiversity that we are concerned about saving. To really think about long-term conservation, we need to be aware of these evolutionary processes."
Stacy is conducting her research under an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which she received in 2010. The award supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization. NSF is funding her work with about $750,000 over five years.
Her project uses molecular genetic methods to "try to unravel the very shrouded evolutionary history of Metrosideros in Hawaii," she says. "We're experimenting with novel molecular markers--previously inaccessible genes and gene regions--to get a clearer picture of how the forms of Metrosideros are related, both within and across islands."
Uncovering the evolutionary relationships among closely related trees is especially difficult because of their tendency to hybridize, and thus share the same genetic material, she adds.
Also, she and her team are conducting experiments in the field and in the greenhouse with seedlings of various forms, exposing them to different stresses to compare their differences.
"These experiments are revealing insights into how long-term exposure of tree populations to Hawaii's famous environmental gradients can lead to diversification, and they reveal which specific environmental factors, for example, water, light and wind are most important for causing the differences among the forms of the tree," she says.
"Lastly, we are looking at their reproductive barriers: can you two make 'babies' with each other, and how fit are your 'babies?"' she adds. "How well do your offspring survive, and reproduce compared to everyone else in your population? We do a lot of hand-crossing, or hand pollination, where you take pollen from one tree and pollinate another."
These crosses allow examination of the both prezygotic (before fertilization) and postzygotic (after fertilization) barriers that accumulate between diverging populations on the way to speciation.
"I posit that adaptation of this widespread tree to Hawaii's highly varied environments has led to the evolution of partial reproductive isolating barriers between forms that are adapted to different habitats," she says.
As part of the grant's educational component, she is encouraging her students to participate in research through field and lab projects. The team also has established Ho'oulu Lehua, a community-based organization that provides hands-on environmental education for youth with projects that address real conservation issues in the native forests of East Hawaii Island.
The goal of Ho'oulu Lehua, under the leadership of CAREER technician Jennifer Johansen, is to strengthen connections between Hawaii's young people and native forests through restoration activities based on scientific understanding and cultural traditions.
"This island has 11 of 13 climate zones," she says. "We have desert, and wet forests and bogs. Because we are in this amazing evolutionary laboratory, I think we excel in engaging our students with authentic research experiences outside. You can't do this stuff in a lab."
-- Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
Investigators
Elizabeth Stacy
Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Hawaii at Hilo
ROSE GOTTENMOELLER'S REMARKS: "NUCLEAR POLICY AND NEGOTIATIONS IN 21ST CENTURY"
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Nuclear Policy and Negotiations in the 21st Century
Remarks
Rose Gottemoeller
Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security
The Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Policy, University of New Hampshire School of Law
Concord, New Hampshire
November 6, 2014
Good Afternoon. Thank you, John, for the kind introduction. Thank you very much for inviting me to join you at here at the Rudman Center. I was last here in May of 2013 to talk about export control reform with Senator Jeanne Shaheen. I am glad to be back to talk about arms control and nonproliferation negotiations in the 21st century.
While we are gathered here tonight in Concord, the world is facing serious challenges: the threats to Ukraine’s sovereignty and Russia’s flagrant disregard for international law, the continuing conflicts in the Middle East, a dangerous Ebola outbreak in West Africa that has travelled to our shores. It is not surprising that most people are not focused on nuclear weapons or nuclear deterrence.
When the Cold War ended, the looming threat of nuclear war seemed to drift away for the average American. When was the last time you even heard of someone doing a duck-and-cover drill or building a bomb shelter in their backyard? Unfortunately, there are still thousands and thousands of nuclear weapons in the world. The threat from these weapons is real and I would argue that it has become more serious due to the threat from nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists.
That is why this Administration, like the Administrations before it, is working so hard to reduce the nuclear threat. One of the steps in that process was the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) – a Treaty for which I led the U.S. negotiating team.
In negotiating New START, we knew that it was necessary to replace the expiring START Treaty with a new agreement reflecting progress in arms control and the changes in the world in the 20 years since START came into force.
This was no small task and it took many, many months to complete, but we were successful and in December of 2010, the Senate gave its advice and consent to its ratification. The implementation of this Treaty is now well underway and when it is completed, we will have the lowest levels of deployed strategic nuclear arms since the 1950’s.
As we now look to the future of arms control and nonproliferation agreements and treaties, it is important to recognize that we will need a host of new technical and legal experts to conduct these discussions. It is true that diplomacy is an art, not a science, but there are a number of reliable tools upon which I rely during negotiations.
One: Building Relationships
First, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of building good, professional relationships. With the New START Treaty, the two delegations launched into the negotiations committed to conducting them in an atmosphere of mutual respect with a premium on keeping the tone businesslike and productive, even when we did not agree. My counterpart on the Russian delegation, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, always used to say, “business is business.” And what he meant was that we needed to keep the tone of the discussion businesslike even when we were butting heads – as we frequently did.
We also were very aware of the role of a human gesture. Even things as simple as acknowledging national holidays, cultural and sport events are important. The Vancouver Olympics were going on while were in Geneva for New START, and we cheered on each other’s teams. Well, maybe not each other’s hockey teams.
Also, never underestimate the power of a smile or a joke. You would be very surprised about how much a well-placed joke can help move talks along.
Two: Establishing Trust
Second, building relationships is one thing, but establishing trust is another, and it takes longer. Between negotiating teams, it is pivotal and more difficult than it sounds. In our case, we had over a year to get to know our counterparts. Further, members of both delegations brought valuable experience to the table, having worked as inspectors under START. They had inspected each other’s ICBM bases, SLBM bases, heavy bomber bases, and storage facilities multiple times. They regarded each other as professionals. That helped to establish trust.
One of the most important very important things is that our delegations agreed to disagree in private. That was good considering how easily either delegation could have broadcast negative comments that would have reached Moscow or Washington before we could pick up a phone.
Trying to work out issues and disagreements through the press is – as you can imagine – is not a great model for success.
So make sure the people you are working with know that they can trust you. Trust is the foundation of any good agreement.
Three: Creating Value for Both Sides
Third, and particularly important right now, is the fact that negotiations should not be a zero-sum game. The point is to negotiate for mutual benefit. When we finished negotiating New START, then-President Medvedev referred to it as a “win-win” situation. That should always be our goal.
This is especially important for multilateral discussions, but harder to accomplish. No one will ever get everything they want – the point is to come away with a fair deal all-around. You may not get a “win-win” situation all the time, but you can avoid a situation where parties come away from a negotiation feeling that they have lost.
Four: LISTENING
It may seem simple, but another key to negotiating is listening.
During New START, it really helped that we spoke each other’s languages. I am very proud to say that there were probably as many Russian speakers on the U.S. delegation as there were English speakers on the Russian delegation. For me, hearing things twice helped me to listen to things extra well.
It is also something you probably heard from your mothers, but you also need to make sure you are really listening to people and not just waiting for your turn to talk. You might miss something important!
Five: Negotiating Process AND Substance
In addition to negotiating skills, you also need expertise on the substance. One of the things that made the New START negotiations work smoothly was the fact that we had experienced diplomats and experienced inspectors, as well as weapon systems operators. All of them had to work together.
You can negotiate beautiful language, but if you don’t understand the ins and outs of an inspection on the ground, imprecise language in the treaty can come back to haunt you. But you also need room for flexibility. You may think you understand exactly how to inspect a re-entry vehicle on a missile, but you need to tread lightly when codifying the requirement to conduct such an inspection in a treaty. An inspector also needs room to use his or her judgment.
You always have to think about both the big picture and the little details: it’s a balancing act.
Six: Be Thorough and Be Prepared
Finally, it is important to remember that every negotiation is different. While the START negotiations from over 20 years ago informed our approach, we were in a completely new era with New START. We had to think about what worked and didn’t work for previous treaties, without letting that bind our creativity.
One of the great strengths of the New START Treaty rested on the fact that we took into account the broad perspectives of the State Department, the Department of Defense, the uniformed military, the Department of Energy, and other agencies, from the very beginning and at every step throughout the negotiations. It was a true inter-agency effort from day one until the day it entered into force and that cooperation continues, as we work to implement the Treaty.
Dealing with Difficulties
Even with the tools that I have discussed in hand, there were some days during the New START negotiations that were very rough and very long. Beyond that, I like to joke that I went through two sets of negotiations- one with the Russian Federation and one with the Senate. We had a tough, vigorous debate up on Capitol Hill, but in the process, I think we rekindled some important interest in arms control and nonproliferation issues.
In the end, the hard work paid off. New START is enhancing our national security, as well as strategic stability with Russia. The current tensions with Russia highlight the importance of mutual confidence provided by data exchanges and on-site inspections under the Treaty, and the security and predictability provided by verifiable, mutual limits on strategic weapons.
As we look to the future with respect to future nuclear reduction agreements, the United States will only pursue agreements that are in our national security interest and that of our allies. Historically, the United States and Russia have always been able to continue our work to reduce nuclear threats. That fact should not change.
The United States has made clear that we are prepared to engage Russia on the full range of issues affecting strategic stability and that there are real and meaningful steps we should be taking that can contribute to a more predictable and safer security environment.
In June 2013 in Berlin, President Obama stated U.S. willingness to negotiate a reduction of up to one-third of our deployed strategic warheads from the level established in the New START Treaty.
Progress requires a willing partner and a conducive strategic environment.
As I have said, no one here should doubt that we are in a difficult crisis period with Russia, but we need nuclear cooperation with Russia and others to address global threats – first and foremost the threat of terrorists acquiring a nuclear weapon or nuclear material.
The reason we can and must continue to pursue arms control and nonproliferation tools is that they are the best - and quite frankly - the only path that we can take to effectively prevent a terrorist nuclear threat and reduce nuclear dangers more broadly.
That will take new, and I am sure, difficult negotiations.
Final Thoughts
With that I would like to wrap up and take some questions, but I want to leave you with some final thoughts. With all the challenges in the world, it is sometimes easy to despair, but I assure you that through hard work, humor, patience and persistence, we can meet and solve these challenges.
One of our less-quoted presidents, Calvin Coolidge had a quote about persistence that I often think of:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
That is what I think about when I think about the next set of negotiations in front of me. Whether that involves the next steps in nuclear reductions or banning the production of the fissile material used in nuclear weapons, we will be patient, but we will be persistent. Progress will not only require building on the success of New START, but new and innovative approaches to the challenges we face…and some really good negotiating. Thank you.
Nuclear Policy and Negotiations in the 21st Century
Remarks
Rose Gottemoeller
Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security
The Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Policy, University of New Hampshire School of Law
Concord, New Hampshire
November 6, 2014
Good Afternoon. Thank you, John, for the kind introduction. Thank you very much for inviting me to join you at here at the Rudman Center. I was last here in May of 2013 to talk about export control reform with Senator Jeanne Shaheen. I am glad to be back to talk about arms control and nonproliferation negotiations in the 21st century.
While we are gathered here tonight in Concord, the world is facing serious challenges: the threats to Ukraine’s sovereignty and Russia’s flagrant disregard for international law, the continuing conflicts in the Middle East, a dangerous Ebola outbreak in West Africa that has travelled to our shores. It is not surprising that most people are not focused on nuclear weapons or nuclear deterrence.
When the Cold War ended, the looming threat of nuclear war seemed to drift away for the average American. When was the last time you even heard of someone doing a duck-and-cover drill or building a bomb shelter in their backyard? Unfortunately, there are still thousands and thousands of nuclear weapons in the world. The threat from these weapons is real and I would argue that it has become more serious due to the threat from nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists.
That is why this Administration, like the Administrations before it, is working so hard to reduce the nuclear threat. One of the steps in that process was the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) – a Treaty for which I led the U.S. negotiating team.
In negotiating New START, we knew that it was necessary to replace the expiring START Treaty with a new agreement reflecting progress in arms control and the changes in the world in the 20 years since START came into force.
This was no small task and it took many, many months to complete, but we were successful and in December of 2010, the Senate gave its advice and consent to its ratification. The implementation of this Treaty is now well underway and when it is completed, we will have the lowest levels of deployed strategic nuclear arms since the 1950’s.
As we now look to the future of arms control and nonproliferation agreements and treaties, it is important to recognize that we will need a host of new technical and legal experts to conduct these discussions. It is true that diplomacy is an art, not a science, but there are a number of reliable tools upon which I rely during negotiations.
One: Building Relationships
First, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of building good, professional relationships. With the New START Treaty, the two delegations launched into the negotiations committed to conducting them in an atmosphere of mutual respect with a premium on keeping the tone businesslike and productive, even when we did not agree. My counterpart on the Russian delegation, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, always used to say, “business is business.” And what he meant was that we needed to keep the tone of the discussion businesslike even when we were butting heads – as we frequently did.
We also were very aware of the role of a human gesture. Even things as simple as acknowledging national holidays, cultural and sport events are important. The Vancouver Olympics were going on while were in Geneva for New START, and we cheered on each other’s teams. Well, maybe not each other’s hockey teams.
Also, never underestimate the power of a smile or a joke. You would be very surprised about how much a well-placed joke can help move talks along.
Two: Establishing Trust
Second, building relationships is one thing, but establishing trust is another, and it takes longer. Between negotiating teams, it is pivotal and more difficult than it sounds. In our case, we had over a year to get to know our counterparts. Further, members of both delegations brought valuable experience to the table, having worked as inspectors under START. They had inspected each other’s ICBM bases, SLBM bases, heavy bomber bases, and storage facilities multiple times. They regarded each other as professionals. That helped to establish trust.
One of the most important very important things is that our delegations agreed to disagree in private. That was good considering how easily either delegation could have broadcast negative comments that would have reached Moscow or Washington before we could pick up a phone.
Trying to work out issues and disagreements through the press is – as you can imagine – is not a great model for success.
So make sure the people you are working with know that they can trust you. Trust is the foundation of any good agreement.
Three: Creating Value for Both Sides
Third, and particularly important right now, is the fact that negotiations should not be a zero-sum game. The point is to negotiate for mutual benefit. When we finished negotiating New START, then-President Medvedev referred to it as a “win-win” situation. That should always be our goal.
This is especially important for multilateral discussions, but harder to accomplish. No one will ever get everything they want – the point is to come away with a fair deal all-around. You may not get a “win-win” situation all the time, but you can avoid a situation where parties come away from a negotiation feeling that they have lost.
Four: LISTENING
It may seem simple, but another key to negotiating is listening.
During New START, it really helped that we spoke each other’s languages. I am very proud to say that there were probably as many Russian speakers on the U.S. delegation as there were English speakers on the Russian delegation. For me, hearing things twice helped me to listen to things extra well.
It is also something you probably heard from your mothers, but you also need to make sure you are really listening to people and not just waiting for your turn to talk. You might miss something important!
Five: Negotiating Process AND Substance
In addition to negotiating skills, you also need expertise on the substance. One of the things that made the New START negotiations work smoothly was the fact that we had experienced diplomats and experienced inspectors, as well as weapon systems operators. All of them had to work together.
You can negotiate beautiful language, but if you don’t understand the ins and outs of an inspection on the ground, imprecise language in the treaty can come back to haunt you. But you also need room for flexibility. You may think you understand exactly how to inspect a re-entry vehicle on a missile, but you need to tread lightly when codifying the requirement to conduct such an inspection in a treaty. An inspector also needs room to use his or her judgment.
You always have to think about both the big picture and the little details: it’s a balancing act.
Six: Be Thorough and Be Prepared
Finally, it is important to remember that every negotiation is different. While the START negotiations from over 20 years ago informed our approach, we were in a completely new era with New START. We had to think about what worked and didn’t work for previous treaties, without letting that bind our creativity.
One of the great strengths of the New START Treaty rested on the fact that we took into account the broad perspectives of the State Department, the Department of Defense, the uniformed military, the Department of Energy, and other agencies, from the very beginning and at every step throughout the negotiations. It was a true inter-agency effort from day one until the day it entered into force and that cooperation continues, as we work to implement the Treaty.
Dealing with Difficulties
Even with the tools that I have discussed in hand, there were some days during the New START negotiations that were very rough and very long. Beyond that, I like to joke that I went through two sets of negotiations- one with the Russian Federation and one with the Senate. We had a tough, vigorous debate up on Capitol Hill, but in the process, I think we rekindled some important interest in arms control and nonproliferation issues.
In the end, the hard work paid off. New START is enhancing our national security, as well as strategic stability with Russia. The current tensions with Russia highlight the importance of mutual confidence provided by data exchanges and on-site inspections under the Treaty, and the security and predictability provided by verifiable, mutual limits on strategic weapons.
As we look to the future with respect to future nuclear reduction agreements, the United States will only pursue agreements that are in our national security interest and that of our allies. Historically, the United States and Russia have always been able to continue our work to reduce nuclear threats. That fact should not change.
The United States has made clear that we are prepared to engage Russia on the full range of issues affecting strategic stability and that there are real and meaningful steps we should be taking that can contribute to a more predictable and safer security environment.
In June 2013 in Berlin, President Obama stated U.S. willingness to negotiate a reduction of up to one-third of our deployed strategic warheads from the level established in the New START Treaty.
Progress requires a willing partner and a conducive strategic environment.
As I have said, no one here should doubt that we are in a difficult crisis period with Russia, but we need nuclear cooperation with Russia and others to address global threats – first and foremost the threat of terrorists acquiring a nuclear weapon or nuclear material.
The reason we can and must continue to pursue arms control and nonproliferation tools is that they are the best - and quite frankly - the only path that we can take to effectively prevent a terrorist nuclear threat and reduce nuclear dangers more broadly.
That will take new, and I am sure, difficult negotiations.
Final Thoughts
With that I would like to wrap up and take some questions, but I want to leave you with some final thoughts. With all the challenges in the world, it is sometimes easy to despair, but I assure you that through hard work, humor, patience and persistence, we can meet and solve these challenges.
One of our less-quoted presidents, Calvin Coolidge had a quote about persistence that I often think of:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
That is what I think about when I think about the next set of negotiations in front of me. Whether that involves the next steps in nuclear reductions or banning the production of the fissile material used in nuclear weapons, we will be patient, but we will be persistent. Progress will not only require building on the success of New START, but new and innovative approaches to the challenges we face…and some really good negotiating. Thank you.
Monday, November 10, 2014
U.S. CONGRATULATES PEOPLE OF ANGOLA ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Angola National Day
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
November 10, 2014
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Angola as you celebrate your national independence on November 11.
Last May, I traveled to Luanda to see your country’s progress firsthand. From the plane, I watched tankers at the Port of Luanda carrying the fruits of your economic miracle to the world. I toured a General Electric factory, where I heard how American companies employ and train thousands of Angolans. And I spoke with six remarkable young Angolan leaders who are part of the Young African Leaders Initiative and will carry on the progress your country has made since peace came to Angola.
After meeting with your president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, and Foreign Minister, Rebelo Chikoti, I can say with confidence that Africa is on the move. And Angola is leading the way.
This summer, I was pleased to continue our dialogue by welcoming Vice President Vicente to Washington, D.C. for the African Leaders’ Summit. We discussed critical issues like our shared commitment to regional peace and security and how we will continue to seek new opportunities for growth benefitting all Angolans and Americans.
As you celebrate this special day, the United States stands with you as a partner and friend.
Angola National Day
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
November 10, 2014
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Angola as you celebrate your national independence on November 11.
Last May, I traveled to Luanda to see your country’s progress firsthand. From the plane, I watched tankers at the Port of Luanda carrying the fruits of your economic miracle to the world. I toured a General Electric factory, where I heard how American companies employ and train thousands of Angolans. And I spoke with six remarkable young Angolan leaders who are part of the Young African Leaders Initiative and will carry on the progress your country has made since peace came to Angola.
After meeting with your president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, and Foreign Minister, Rebelo Chikoti, I can say with confidence that Africa is on the move. And Angola is leading the way.
This summer, I was pleased to continue our dialogue by welcoming Vice President Vicente to Washington, D.C. for the African Leaders’ Summit. We discussed critical issues like our shared commitment to regional peace and security and how we will continue to seek new opportunities for growth benefitting all Angolans and Americans.
As you celebrate this special day, the United States stands with you as a partner and friend.
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS ON TPP MEETING
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
November 10, 2014
Remarks by the President Before TPP Meeting
Beijing, China
1:17 P.M. CST
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I want to thank all my fellow peers and the trade ministers for joining us here today. I know we all have very busy schedules, so I’m going to keep my remarks brief.
We’re here today because the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a high priority for our nations and for the region. As President, strengthening American leadership in the Asia Pacific has been one of my top foreign policy priorities. And central to that objective is working with some of our most important trading partners to find ways in which we can facilitate increased growth for all of us, increased investment for all of us, improve jobs prospects for all of us.
And what we are seeing is momentum building around a Trans-Pacific Partnership that can spur greater economic growth, spur greater jobs growth, set high standards for trade and investment throughout the Asia Pacific. And I don’t think I have to explain to the press why this region is so important. This is the fastest-growing, most populous, most dynamic region in the world economically.
During the past few weeks, our teams have made good progress in resolving several outstanding issues regarding a potential agreement. Today is an opportunity at the political level for us to break some remaining logjams. To ensure that TPP is a success, we also have to make sure that all of our people back home understand the benefits for them -- that it means more trade, more good jobs, and higher incomes for people throughout the region, including the United States. And that’s the case that I’ll continue to make to Congress and the American people. And I know that the leaders here are committed to making that case as well.
This has the potential for being a historic achievement. It’s now up to all of us to see if we can finalize a deal that is both ambitious and comprehensive. The stronger the agreement, the greater the benefits to our people.
So to all my fellow leaders, I want to thank you not just for your participation here today but, more importantly, for the mandate that you have given to your negotiating teams to engage in some very serious work that promises to deliver greater prosperity, trade and commerce between our nations in the future.
Thank you very much.
END
1:19 P.M. CST
November 10, 2014
Remarks by the President Before TPP Meeting
Beijing, China
1:17 P.M. CST
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I want to thank all my fellow peers and the trade ministers for joining us here today. I know we all have very busy schedules, so I’m going to keep my remarks brief.
We’re here today because the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a high priority for our nations and for the region. As President, strengthening American leadership in the Asia Pacific has been one of my top foreign policy priorities. And central to that objective is working with some of our most important trading partners to find ways in which we can facilitate increased growth for all of us, increased investment for all of us, improve jobs prospects for all of us.
And what we are seeing is momentum building around a Trans-Pacific Partnership that can spur greater economic growth, spur greater jobs growth, set high standards for trade and investment throughout the Asia Pacific. And I don’t think I have to explain to the press why this region is so important. This is the fastest-growing, most populous, most dynamic region in the world economically.
During the past few weeks, our teams have made good progress in resolving several outstanding issues regarding a potential agreement. Today is an opportunity at the political level for us to break some remaining logjams. To ensure that TPP is a success, we also have to make sure that all of our people back home understand the benefits for them -- that it means more trade, more good jobs, and higher incomes for people throughout the region, including the United States. And that’s the case that I’ll continue to make to Congress and the American people. And I know that the leaders here are committed to making that case as well.
This has the potential for being a historic achievement. It’s now up to all of us to see if we can finalize a deal that is both ambitious and comprehensive. The stronger the agreement, the greater the benefits to our people.
So to all my fellow leaders, I want to thank you not just for your participation here today but, more importantly, for the mandate that you have given to your negotiating teams to engage in some very serious work that promises to deliver greater prosperity, trade and commerce between our nations in the future.
Thank you very much.
END
1:19 P.M. CST
LEADERS MAKE STATEMENT ON TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP)
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
November 10, 2014
Trans-Pacific Partnership Leaders’ Statement
November 10, 2014
We, the Leaders of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam, welcome the significant progress in recent months, as reported to us by our Ministers, that sets the stage to bring these landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to conclusion. We are encouraged that Ministers and negotiators have narrowed the remaining gaps on the legal text of the agreement and that they are intensively engaging to complete ambitious and balanced packages to open our markets to one another, in accordance with the instructions we gave them in Bali a year ago. With the end coming into focus, we have instructed our Ministers and negotiators to make concluding this agreement a top priority so that our businesses, workers, farmers, and consumers can start to reap the real and substantial benefits of the TPP agreement as soon as possible.
As we mobilize our teams to conclude the negotiations, we remain committed to ensuring that the final agreement reflects our common vision of an ambitious, comprehensive, high-standard, and balanced agreement that enhances the competitiveness of our economies, promotes innovation and entrepreneurship, spurs economic growth and prosperity, and supports job creation in our countries. We are dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of the agreement serve to promote development that is sustainable, broad based and inclusive, and that the agreement takes into account the diversity of our levels of development. The gains that TPP will bring to each of our countries can expand even further should the open approach we are developing extend more broadly throughout the region. We remain committed to a TPP structure that can include other regional partners that are prepared to adopt its high standards.
Our fundamental direction to our Ministers throughout this process has been to negotiate an outcome that will generate the greatest possible benefit for each of our countries. In order to achieve that, our governments have worked to reflect the input we each have received from our stakeholders in the negotiation. Continued engagement will be critical as our Ministers work to resolve the remaining issues in the negotiation.
November 10, 2014
Trans-Pacific Partnership Leaders’ Statement
November 10, 2014
We, the Leaders of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam, welcome the significant progress in recent months, as reported to us by our Ministers, that sets the stage to bring these landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to conclusion. We are encouraged that Ministers and negotiators have narrowed the remaining gaps on the legal text of the agreement and that they are intensively engaging to complete ambitious and balanced packages to open our markets to one another, in accordance with the instructions we gave them in Bali a year ago. With the end coming into focus, we have instructed our Ministers and negotiators to make concluding this agreement a top priority so that our businesses, workers, farmers, and consumers can start to reap the real and substantial benefits of the TPP agreement as soon as possible.
As we mobilize our teams to conclude the negotiations, we remain committed to ensuring that the final agreement reflects our common vision of an ambitious, comprehensive, high-standard, and balanced agreement that enhances the competitiveness of our economies, promotes innovation and entrepreneurship, spurs economic growth and prosperity, and supports job creation in our countries. We are dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of the agreement serve to promote development that is sustainable, broad based and inclusive, and that the agreement takes into account the diversity of our levels of development. The gains that TPP will bring to each of our countries can expand even further should the open approach we are developing extend more broadly throughout the region. We remain committed to a TPP structure that can include other regional partners that are prepared to adopt its high standards.
Our fundamental direction to our Ministers throughout this process has been to negotiate an outcome that will generate the greatest possible benefit for each of our countries. In order to achieve that, our governments have worked to reflect the input we each have received from our stakeholders in the negotiation. Continued engagement will be critical as our Ministers work to resolve the remaining issues in the negotiation.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION LUNCHEON
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at the National Center for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Luncheon
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Intercontinental Beijing
Beijing, China
November 8, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Scott, thank you. Thank you very much. I apologize for being a little bit late. And it’s an honor for me to be able to be here. I’m delighted to be here with everybody. I’m particularly happy to be here with my good friend and colleague, the Foreign Minister from the Philippines, Albert Del Rosario. Albert, always good to be with you, and thank you very much. Albert said to me he was deathly afraid he was going to be late and he was glad I was the guy who was. (Laughter.) Modern diplomacy.
Scott, I’m really grateful to you. Monica sort of described it in her introductory comments, but we’re really delighted with what you have done to make NC-APEC what it is at this moment at the 20th anniversary celebration. And I think nobody who knows Scott is going to be surprised by what he has been able to accomplish, congratulate you on your new and large role. But through programs like Direct Farm at Walmart, he’s made it his mission to balance the needs of customers with corporate social responsibility, and I think all of us are very grateful to him for the leadership that he has shown.
I also want to thank Monica. When you think about the progress that we have made in building a public-private partnership here in the Pacific, it’s fair to say that Monica has been there every single step of the way. And I’m delighted that she is able to be here with us this afternoon. I also want to acknowledge a few folks that are in the APEC Business Advisory Council. All of them contribute significantly. I had the pleasure to be starting a conversation last year in Bali. Particularly from an American point of view, I want to single out Bart Peterson of Eli Lily, Peggy Johnson of Microsoft, Ed Rapp of Caterpillar, and we’re delighted for all that they represent in terms of their corporate engagement and the ability of their companies.
When you consider the long list of challenges that we are discussing here at APEC, it’s interesting for me to note how APEC itself has been somewhat transformed not just into an economic forum, but frankly, it has also evolved so much and has become such a competent place of discussion of important issues, and it’s also security (inaudible). And I think it’s fair to say that in today’s world, a world with ISIL and Ebola, Ukraine, Syria, climate change, it’s impossible not to recognize the relatedness of a lot of the choices that we make economically with the choices that are also (inaudible) at the same time integrated into a security matrix.
Nowhere is the unprecedented set of challenges, but also opportunities more clear than here in Asia and throughout the Asia Pacific. And it is important for people to focus on the fact that even as there are the challenges that I listed, we are staring at a world with absolutely unprecedented opportunity. I think that’s part of the attraction in putting so many of the businesses here, not just to APEC, but to the region, and has brought so many more over the last years. We are literally building prosperity and stability in the long term, and that’s why, unabashedly, economic policy is at the center of President Obama’s rebalance to Asia.
This is my fourth trip right here just to Beijing, my multiple trips to the region over the course of the last year and a half that I have been Secretary. And it will be one of many trips of the President when he arrives here on Monday and spends not one day or two days, but I think about eight days going to the ASEAN meeting and to the G20 meeting, ultimately, in Brisbane. There is no doubt that how this region grows and how we engage the 2.7 billion customers who live here is going to shape the future of the global economy, and it will do much to define the 21st century.
The numbers themselves of the last years of development actually define this story. The fact is that more than half the world’s GDP is represented in this region. Fully half of America’s top 10 trading partners are APEC economies. And we send the majority of our exports here to the Asia Pacific. And outside of America over the next five years, this region is expected to grow as much as all other countries combined. Just think about that. So if we put it all together, it’s pretty obvious why we all have a huge stake in the choices that are made here.
But getting these choices right is not automatic. That means to have to develop even closer cooperation between the public and the private sectors. And what you sell, how you invest, how you operate – these are all major parts of the equation. Our ambassadors throughout the region, including our outstanding Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, are completely at the disposal of all businesses. And I have said since day one, when I became Secretary of State, that foreign policy is economic policy, and economic policy is foreign policy. We’re living in that much of a different world in many ways.
And I have directed all of our embassies, under the good stewardship of our Assistant Secretary of State Charlie Rivkin, who’s sitting over here, Assistant Secretary of State for Business Affairs, and our Assistant Secretary of State Danny Russel, who’s over here, for East Asia and Pacific, that I want all embassies and every official within our embassies to be economic officers. That’s how important it is for us today to be able to promote and help to marry businesses with opportunities.
President Obama has set the tone by saying again and again that the way to grow our economies is to grow our exports. And that’s exactly what’s happening. Since the President took office, U.S. exports have increased more than 50 percent, and the two-way trade between the United States and other APEC countries, economies has grown by nearly the same amount during that period of time. That’s five, six years now (inaudible) growth nearly 50 percent. Every single one of you here, almost all of you, have been involved here for decades, frankly. I know this. So you’ve seen with your own eyes how dramatic the transformation is. Many of you are the transformation. You understand it. And it’s been a remarkable transformation in the 25 years since APEC was founded.
Back when it was founded, real GDP was 15 trillion in the region. Now it’s doubled to 30 trillion. Back then, when it was founded, trade was around $3 trillion. Now it’s grown to nearly seven-fold more than 20 trillion and growing. Back then, the average tariffs were 17 percent. Now, they’re under 6 percent. And that is a fundamental of the kind of growth that has taken place. And today, the 1.1 trillion in U.S. foreign direct investment in other APEC economies is a tremendous vote of American confidence in the region. Investment coming the other way – from APEC economies into the United States – now tops some $660 billion and it has created tens of thousands of jobs throughout the region and in the United States. The mutual benefits are absolutely undeniable.
So we have made extraordinary progress. The question now is: What do we do with the next 25 years? How do we guarantee that what we can do together, the steps that we take together, are going to build an even more prosperous future for all of the APEC countries? Well, today, I’d argue that we have to organize ourselves fundamentally around four principles of growth: We need to grow openly and accountably. We need to grow green. We need to grow just. And we need to grow smart. Now let me tell you what I mean about each of those.
First, openly and accountably. As any business leader would agree, freer markets create more opportunity, more competition, more growth, and more innovation. And that means that we need to do everything we can to open up trade and investment in every single corner of the globe, particularly here in the Asia Pacific. And that’s why President Obama and I are laser-focused on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
The TPP represents a state-of-the-art, 21st century trade agreement that will connect more than 40 percent of the global GDP and one-third of global trade. But more than that, it doesn’t just connect it; it raises standards. It creates a race to the top, not a race to the bottom. And any of you who are wondering today about the security challenge of increased level with extremism, just look to those places where it is most taking hold, and you’ll find places that aren’t just racing to the bottom; they’ve been stuck at the bottom. And if you stay stuck at the bottom, your people are going to find something to latch on to that they will organize themselves around.
Governance is a critical component of being able to grow effectively and have this race to the top, where all people do better, and any one of you in business here in this part of the world understands the difference that moving to the top has made to the sense of quality of life and the opportunities that citizens have in the countries that are affected. And that’s true whether we’re talking about agriculture, manufacturing, or intellectual property, or the challenge of ensuring that state-owned enterprises compete fairly with privately owned companies. TPP will build prosperity and ensure prosperity and stability throughout the region, and it will do so based on shared principles and shared values. It is not just a technical trade agreement. It is a strategic opportunity for all of us, and we need to make sure we seize it. That’s why we need every single one of you here to make the case – with all of the leaders and all of the population that you come in contact with, particularly all the opinion leaders – make your case for TPP in every country and in every capital. This is a battle that we need to be prepared to make, and make no mistake, it is a battle that we absolutely must win, because if you don’t, the levels of unfairness and the shut doors will create inequities that will encourage corruption and begin to insidiously invade populations of countries that are affected.
Secondly, we need to grow green. That means stepping up our engagement on clean energy and oceans conservation. Cleaner energy means more sustainable sources of energy. It means reduced air pollution. Reduced air pollution means healthier populations. In America in the summertime, the greatest single cause of young kids being hospitalized is environmentally induced asthma. You want to reduce the cost of hospitalization, the cost of healthcare? Breathe cleaner air. Reduce the level of long-term illness that comes from carcinogens in the air that give people cancer.
There’s a long list of benefits – your healthier populations, your reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The latest UN panel report of just a week or so or two weeks ago is chilling, and I urge everybody here to read it. It’s not a political document. It’s a scientific document. And most of us learned at the elementary stages in school science has value. It’s not everything in life, but facts are facts. The latest report tells us that those who deny climate change are playing with fire. And all of the evidence that has been predicted for the last 20 or 30 years is not just coming back the way it was predicted; it’s coming back faster and it’s coming back with bigger consequences than were predicted.
For anybody in public life, the warning is clear. It means the precautionary principle has to be applied, and you need to take steps to deal with them. Scientists now predict that by the end of the century, the sea could rise by a full meter. Now a meter, 39 inches, may not seem like a lot to everybody here, but I got news for you: It is enough to displace hundreds of millions of people, and it is enough to throw a multi-billion dollar monkey wrench into the global economy.
That’s why we are promoting the use of electric cars throughout the APEC region, and that’s why more countries are reconsidering the wisdom of fossil fuel subsidies. And this week, I am proud to say that we are set – that we set the ambitious goal of doubling the share of renewables in the region’s energy by mid-2030. We’re also strengthening our partnership on oceans. Now oceans are affected by climate change. The amount of acidity in the ocean, which is affected fish populations, food, coral reefs, plankton, comes from greenhouse gases that dump into the ocean. And we are seeing significant increases in various parts of the planet. Scientists have even noticed that in the Antarctic, the ocean has regurgitated carbon mass out that it once upon a time could contain and now isn’t – another warning signal.
This fall, President Obama declared the world’s largest marine sanctuary in the Pacific, and that is critical. APEC Ocean Ministers have pledged to conserve at least 10 percent of coastal and marine areas by the end of this decade, and we’re improving the transparency of the reporting of subsidies that contribute to overfishing. I’ll tell you something: I’ve been chairman of the fisheries subcommittee for years in the United States Senate. I have major fisheries in New England. We no longer have the same cod fishing we used to have. Our fisherman are now in port most of the days of the year because of what’s happened to the stocks. And most of the fisheries of the world are overfished. There’s too much money chasing too few fish, and unless you fish in sustainable ways, unless you engage in sustainable agriculture on land, we are all going to be challenged by this onslaught coming at us.
I’ve got good news for you, though. The solution to climate change is really very simple and it’s staring us in the face, and it’s not something that’s somewhere down the road. It’s here now. The solution is energy policy. Make the right choices in your energy policy; you solve the problem of climate change. And guess what? It happens to be the biggest marketplace the world has ever seen. The market that drove America’s great wealth production of the 1990s – I don't know how many of you know know this – America got richer in the 1990s than we did in the 1920s when we had no income tax. Greater wealth was created in the 1990s for every single income-earner in America, every single quintile of American taxpayer went up in their income when we had a $1 trillion market with 1 billion users. It was the high-tech telecommunications computer revolution. Well, guess what? The energy market is a $6 trillion market with 4-5 billion users, and it’s going to grow to something like 9 billion in the next 30, 40 years. So there’s an enormous opportunity staring us in the face. We need to grab it.
The third thing we need to do is grow just, and that means avoiding bribery and corruption. Obviously, that has a terrible impact on the ability of businesses to do business. We’re all hurt by it, and we can’t level the playing field if there’s corruption. And I know that a number of countries around the world are increasingly focused on trying to eliminate corruption, and we have made that partnership very key in APEC.
And finally, we need to grow smart, and that means empowering women and promoting educational opportunities all across APEC economies. I’m very proud that the United States is contributing to the APEC Scholarships and Internships Initiative. We have commitments from Caterpillar, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, General Electric, EMD Merck Serono, as well as three universities: Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Washington Evans School, and they’re making contributions that can help us bring more students back and forth.
Finally, let me just say that it is clear that APEC really has the ability to define the future here. There’s no business sector over here and government over there; it is really all one and the same now. We’re all connected. And it is absolutely vital that we create greater opportunities for this generation and the next. Twenty-five years of APEC, 20 years of the National Center have done an extraordinary job of really defining the possibilities for the future. That’s what’s happening here. And I’m excited by the notion that we’re going to recommit ourselves to making certain that we live up to our responsibilities but seize the opportunities at the same time, and that’s how APEC is actually going to help define the 21st century.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
Remarks at the National Center for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Luncheon
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Intercontinental Beijing
Beijing, China
November 8, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Scott, thank you. Thank you very much. I apologize for being a little bit late. And it’s an honor for me to be able to be here. I’m delighted to be here with everybody. I’m particularly happy to be here with my good friend and colleague, the Foreign Minister from the Philippines, Albert Del Rosario. Albert, always good to be with you, and thank you very much. Albert said to me he was deathly afraid he was going to be late and he was glad I was the guy who was. (Laughter.) Modern diplomacy.
Scott, I’m really grateful to you. Monica sort of described it in her introductory comments, but we’re really delighted with what you have done to make NC-APEC what it is at this moment at the 20th anniversary celebration. And I think nobody who knows Scott is going to be surprised by what he has been able to accomplish, congratulate you on your new and large role. But through programs like Direct Farm at Walmart, he’s made it his mission to balance the needs of customers with corporate social responsibility, and I think all of us are very grateful to him for the leadership that he has shown.
I also want to thank Monica. When you think about the progress that we have made in building a public-private partnership here in the Pacific, it’s fair to say that Monica has been there every single step of the way. And I’m delighted that she is able to be here with us this afternoon. I also want to acknowledge a few folks that are in the APEC Business Advisory Council. All of them contribute significantly. I had the pleasure to be starting a conversation last year in Bali. Particularly from an American point of view, I want to single out Bart Peterson of Eli Lily, Peggy Johnson of Microsoft, Ed Rapp of Caterpillar, and we’re delighted for all that they represent in terms of their corporate engagement and the ability of their companies.
When you consider the long list of challenges that we are discussing here at APEC, it’s interesting for me to note how APEC itself has been somewhat transformed not just into an economic forum, but frankly, it has also evolved so much and has become such a competent place of discussion of important issues, and it’s also security (inaudible). And I think it’s fair to say that in today’s world, a world with ISIL and Ebola, Ukraine, Syria, climate change, it’s impossible not to recognize the relatedness of a lot of the choices that we make economically with the choices that are also (inaudible) at the same time integrated into a security matrix.
Nowhere is the unprecedented set of challenges, but also opportunities more clear than here in Asia and throughout the Asia Pacific. And it is important for people to focus on the fact that even as there are the challenges that I listed, we are staring at a world with absolutely unprecedented opportunity. I think that’s part of the attraction in putting so many of the businesses here, not just to APEC, but to the region, and has brought so many more over the last years. We are literally building prosperity and stability in the long term, and that’s why, unabashedly, economic policy is at the center of President Obama’s rebalance to Asia.
This is my fourth trip right here just to Beijing, my multiple trips to the region over the course of the last year and a half that I have been Secretary. And it will be one of many trips of the President when he arrives here on Monday and spends not one day or two days, but I think about eight days going to the ASEAN meeting and to the G20 meeting, ultimately, in Brisbane. There is no doubt that how this region grows and how we engage the 2.7 billion customers who live here is going to shape the future of the global economy, and it will do much to define the 21st century.
The numbers themselves of the last years of development actually define this story. The fact is that more than half the world’s GDP is represented in this region. Fully half of America’s top 10 trading partners are APEC economies. And we send the majority of our exports here to the Asia Pacific. And outside of America over the next five years, this region is expected to grow as much as all other countries combined. Just think about that. So if we put it all together, it’s pretty obvious why we all have a huge stake in the choices that are made here.
But getting these choices right is not automatic. That means to have to develop even closer cooperation between the public and the private sectors. And what you sell, how you invest, how you operate – these are all major parts of the equation. Our ambassadors throughout the region, including our outstanding Ambassador to China, Max Baucus, are completely at the disposal of all businesses. And I have said since day one, when I became Secretary of State, that foreign policy is economic policy, and economic policy is foreign policy. We’re living in that much of a different world in many ways.
And I have directed all of our embassies, under the good stewardship of our Assistant Secretary of State Charlie Rivkin, who’s sitting over here, Assistant Secretary of State for Business Affairs, and our Assistant Secretary of State Danny Russel, who’s over here, for East Asia and Pacific, that I want all embassies and every official within our embassies to be economic officers. That’s how important it is for us today to be able to promote and help to marry businesses with opportunities.
President Obama has set the tone by saying again and again that the way to grow our economies is to grow our exports. And that’s exactly what’s happening. Since the President took office, U.S. exports have increased more than 50 percent, and the two-way trade between the United States and other APEC countries, economies has grown by nearly the same amount during that period of time. That’s five, six years now (inaudible) growth nearly 50 percent. Every single one of you here, almost all of you, have been involved here for decades, frankly. I know this. So you’ve seen with your own eyes how dramatic the transformation is. Many of you are the transformation. You understand it. And it’s been a remarkable transformation in the 25 years since APEC was founded.
Back when it was founded, real GDP was 15 trillion in the region. Now it’s doubled to 30 trillion. Back then, when it was founded, trade was around $3 trillion. Now it’s grown to nearly seven-fold more than 20 trillion and growing. Back then, the average tariffs were 17 percent. Now, they’re under 6 percent. And that is a fundamental of the kind of growth that has taken place. And today, the 1.1 trillion in U.S. foreign direct investment in other APEC economies is a tremendous vote of American confidence in the region. Investment coming the other way – from APEC economies into the United States – now tops some $660 billion and it has created tens of thousands of jobs throughout the region and in the United States. The mutual benefits are absolutely undeniable.
So we have made extraordinary progress. The question now is: What do we do with the next 25 years? How do we guarantee that what we can do together, the steps that we take together, are going to build an even more prosperous future for all of the APEC countries? Well, today, I’d argue that we have to organize ourselves fundamentally around four principles of growth: We need to grow openly and accountably. We need to grow green. We need to grow just. And we need to grow smart. Now let me tell you what I mean about each of those.
First, openly and accountably. As any business leader would agree, freer markets create more opportunity, more competition, more growth, and more innovation. And that means that we need to do everything we can to open up trade and investment in every single corner of the globe, particularly here in the Asia Pacific. And that’s why President Obama and I are laser-focused on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
The TPP represents a state-of-the-art, 21st century trade agreement that will connect more than 40 percent of the global GDP and one-third of global trade. But more than that, it doesn’t just connect it; it raises standards. It creates a race to the top, not a race to the bottom. And any of you who are wondering today about the security challenge of increased level with extremism, just look to those places where it is most taking hold, and you’ll find places that aren’t just racing to the bottom; they’ve been stuck at the bottom. And if you stay stuck at the bottom, your people are going to find something to latch on to that they will organize themselves around.
Governance is a critical component of being able to grow effectively and have this race to the top, where all people do better, and any one of you in business here in this part of the world understands the difference that moving to the top has made to the sense of quality of life and the opportunities that citizens have in the countries that are affected. And that’s true whether we’re talking about agriculture, manufacturing, or intellectual property, or the challenge of ensuring that state-owned enterprises compete fairly with privately owned companies. TPP will build prosperity and ensure prosperity and stability throughout the region, and it will do so based on shared principles and shared values. It is not just a technical trade agreement. It is a strategic opportunity for all of us, and we need to make sure we seize it. That’s why we need every single one of you here to make the case – with all of the leaders and all of the population that you come in contact with, particularly all the opinion leaders – make your case for TPP in every country and in every capital. This is a battle that we need to be prepared to make, and make no mistake, it is a battle that we absolutely must win, because if you don’t, the levels of unfairness and the shut doors will create inequities that will encourage corruption and begin to insidiously invade populations of countries that are affected.
Secondly, we need to grow green. That means stepping up our engagement on clean energy and oceans conservation. Cleaner energy means more sustainable sources of energy. It means reduced air pollution. Reduced air pollution means healthier populations. In America in the summertime, the greatest single cause of young kids being hospitalized is environmentally induced asthma. You want to reduce the cost of hospitalization, the cost of healthcare? Breathe cleaner air. Reduce the level of long-term illness that comes from carcinogens in the air that give people cancer.
There’s a long list of benefits – your healthier populations, your reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The latest UN panel report of just a week or so or two weeks ago is chilling, and I urge everybody here to read it. It’s not a political document. It’s a scientific document. And most of us learned at the elementary stages in school science has value. It’s not everything in life, but facts are facts. The latest report tells us that those who deny climate change are playing with fire. And all of the evidence that has been predicted for the last 20 or 30 years is not just coming back the way it was predicted; it’s coming back faster and it’s coming back with bigger consequences than were predicted.
For anybody in public life, the warning is clear. It means the precautionary principle has to be applied, and you need to take steps to deal with them. Scientists now predict that by the end of the century, the sea could rise by a full meter. Now a meter, 39 inches, may not seem like a lot to everybody here, but I got news for you: It is enough to displace hundreds of millions of people, and it is enough to throw a multi-billion dollar monkey wrench into the global economy.
That’s why we are promoting the use of electric cars throughout the APEC region, and that’s why more countries are reconsidering the wisdom of fossil fuel subsidies. And this week, I am proud to say that we are set – that we set the ambitious goal of doubling the share of renewables in the region’s energy by mid-2030. We’re also strengthening our partnership on oceans. Now oceans are affected by climate change. The amount of acidity in the ocean, which is affected fish populations, food, coral reefs, plankton, comes from greenhouse gases that dump into the ocean. And we are seeing significant increases in various parts of the planet. Scientists have even noticed that in the Antarctic, the ocean has regurgitated carbon mass out that it once upon a time could contain and now isn’t – another warning signal.
This fall, President Obama declared the world’s largest marine sanctuary in the Pacific, and that is critical. APEC Ocean Ministers have pledged to conserve at least 10 percent of coastal and marine areas by the end of this decade, and we’re improving the transparency of the reporting of subsidies that contribute to overfishing. I’ll tell you something: I’ve been chairman of the fisheries subcommittee for years in the United States Senate. I have major fisheries in New England. We no longer have the same cod fishing we used to have. Our fisherman are now in port most of the days of the year because of what’s happened to the stocks. And most of the fisheries of the world are overfished. There’s too much money chasing too few fish, and unless you fish in sustainable ways, unless you engage in sustainable agriculture on land, we are all going to be challenged by this onslaught coming at us.
I’ve got good news for you, though. The solution to climate change is really very simple and it’s staring us in the face, and it’s not something that’s somewhere down the road. It’s here now. The solution is energy policy. Make the right choices in your energy policy; you solve the problem of climate change. And guess what? It happens to be the biggest marketplace the world has ever seen. The market that drove America’s great wealth production of the 1990s – I don't know how many of you know know this – America got richer in the 1990s than we did in the 1920s when we had no income tax. Greater wealth was created in the 1990s for every single income-earner in America, every single quintile of American taxpayer went up in their income when we had a $1 trillion market with 1 billion users. It was the high-tech telecommunications computer revolution. Well, guess what? The energy market is a $6 trillion market with 4-5 billion users, and it’s going to grow to something like 9 billion in the next 30, 40 years. So there’s an enormous opportunity staring us in the face. We need to grab it.
The third thing we need to do is grow just, and that means avoiding bribery and corruption. Obviously, that has a terrible impact on the ability of businesses to do business. We’re all hurt by it, and we can’t level the playing field if there’s corruption. And I know that a number of countries around the world are increasingly focused on trying to eliminate corruption, and we have made that partnership very key in APEC.
And finally, we need to grow smart, and that means empowering women and promoting educational opportunities all across APEC economies. I’m very proud that the United States is contributing to the APEC Scholarships and Internships Initiative. We have commitments from Caterpillar, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, General Electric, EMD Merck Serono, as well as three universities: Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Washington Evans School, and they’re making contributions that can help us bring more students back and forth.
Finally, let me just say that it is clear that APEC really has the ability to define the future here. There’s no business sector over here and government over there; it is really all one and the same now. We’re all connected. And it is absolutely vital that we create greater opportunities for this generation and the next. Twenty-five years of APEC, 20 years of the National Center have done an extraordinary job of really defining the possibilities for the future. That’s what’s happening here. And I’m excited by the notion that we’re going to recommit ourselves to making certain that we live up to our responsibilities but seize the opportunities at the same time, and that’s how APEC is actually going to help define the 21st century.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK SUPPORTED OVER $2 BILLION MINORITY, WOMEN OWNED BUSINESS EXPORTS IN FY 2014
FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK,
Ex-Im Bank Financing Supported over $2 Billion in Minority- and Women-Owned Business Exports in Fiscal Year 2014
Financing support helped one company reach $5 million in sales
Washington, D.C. – Today in Los Angeles, Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg announced that Ex-Im Bank supported over $2 billion in minority- and women-owned business exports in fiscal year 2014 by providing financing and insurance totaling approximately $750 million over the same time period.
Since 2009, Ex-Im has authorized more loans to help grow minority- and women-owned businesses than it did over the previous two administrations combined.
“Here at Ex-Im, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made to support businesses in California and across the country, equipping them with the tools they need to succeed on the global stage,” said Hochberg. “Because when we do that, we’re building stronger, more successful communities here at home.”
These numbers reflect Ex-Im Bank’s commitment to minority- and women-owned businesses like Valley of the Sun Cosmetics, a small business based in Gardena, Calif., that has relied upon Export-Import Bank financing to expand its export reach and create jobs.
Before purchasing an Ex-Im Bank export credit insurance policy, Valley of the Sun exported only to a few countries, employed three people, and recorded annual sales of less than $500,000. The company now exports to more than 80 countries worldwide, employs over 30 people, and boasts sales of $5 million, 100 percent of which is export-related.
“The increased sales and remarkable job growth enjoyed by California small businesses like Valley of the Sun reflect Ex-Im Bank’s commitment to boosting exports and supporting jobs,” Hochberg added. “Last year alone, Ex-Im Bank supported $4.9 billion in California small-business exports, which accounts for 26 percent of the state’s total exports.”
“Before using Ex-Im Bank, we never had the money or working capital to grow and develop the company as envisioned,” said Jim Ajmal, owner of Valley of the Sun. “Since working with Ex-Im Bank, we have been able to give customers a line of credit and borrow against pending orders, which has helped us expand over the past few years.”
Ex-Im Bank Financing Supported over $2 Billion in Minority- and Women-Owned Business Exports in Fiscal Year 2014
Financing support helped one company reach $5 million in sales
Washington, D.C. – Today in Los Angeles, Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred P. Hochberg announced that Ex-Im Bank supported over $2 billion in minority- and women-owned business exports in fiscal year 2014 by providing financing and insurance totaling approximately $750 million over the same time period.
Since 2009, Ex-Im has authorized more loans to help grow minority- and women-owned businesses than it did over the previous two administrations combined.
“Here at Ex-Im, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made to support businesses in California and across the country, equipping them with the tools they need to succeed on the global stage,” said Hochberg. “Because when we do that, we’re building stronger, more successful communities here at home.”
These numbers reflect Ex-Im Bank’s commitment to minority- and women-owned businesses like Valley of the Sun Cosmetics, a small business based in Gardena, Calif., that has relied upon Export-Import Bank financing to expand its export reach and create jobs.
Before purchasing an Ex-Im Bank export credit insurance policy, Valley of the Sun exported only to a few countries, employed three people, and recorded annual sales of less than $500,000. The company now exports to more than 80 countries worldwide, employs over 30 people, and boasts sales of $5 million, 100 percent of which is export-related.
“The increased sales and remarkable job growth enjoyed by California small businesses like Valley of the Sun reflect Ex-Im Bank’s commitment to boosting exports and supporting jobs,” Hochberg added. “Last year alone, Ex-Im Bank supported $4.9 billion in California small-business exports, which accounts for 26 percent of the state’s total exports.”
“Before using Ex-Im Bank, we never had the money or working capital to grow and develop the company as envisioned,” said Jim Ajmal, owner of Valley of the Sun. “Since working with Ex-Im Bank, we have been able to give customers a line of credit and borrow against pending orders, which has helped us expand over the past few years.”
AG HOLDER ANNOUNCES DOJ DESIGNEE CO-CHAIR OF PRESIDENT'S TASK FORCE ON PUERTO RICO
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, November 7, 2014
Attorney General Holder Announces Stuart Delery Will Serve as the Department of Justice Designee as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico
Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that Stuart Delery, the Acting Associate Attorney General, will serve as the Department of Justice’s designee as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico.
“Stuart Delery is an exceptional public servant who will continue the work of his predecessors, Tom Perrelli and Tony West, as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico,” said Attorney General Holder. “Stuart demonstrated his commitment to strengthen our nation’s security and to protect public health and safety in his prior role as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. Stuart will serve the Task Force – and the people of Puerto Rico – well.”
“The ongoing work of the Task Force reflects the Administration’s – and the Department of Justice’s – commitment to the people of Puerto Rico,” said Associate Attorney General Delery. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the Task Force, and look forward to working with my federal colleagues and Commonwealth officials in Puerto Rico and Washington.”
The President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico, which is co-chaired by the Attorney General’s designee and the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, was created by President Bill Clinton to examine Puerto Rico’s political status and to identify a process by which the people of Puerto Rico could express their views on the subject. The Task Force continued to address these issues through the Administration of President George Bush. President Barack Obama expanded the Task Force’s scope and directed it to recommend policies to promote job creation, education, health care, clean energy, and economic development on the island. The Task Force published its report and recommendations to the President and Congress in March of 2011, and its efforts to implement the recommendations continue today.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Attorney General Holder Announces Stuart Delery Will Serve as the Department of Justice Designee as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico
Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that Stuart Delery, the Acting Associate Attorney General, will serve as the Department of Justice’s designee as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico.
“Stuart Delery is an exceptional public servant who will continue the work of his predecessors, Tom Perrelli and Tony West, as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico,” said Attorney General Holder. “Stuart demonstrated his commitment to strengthen our nation’s security and to protect public health and safety in his prior role as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. Stuart will serve the Task Force – and the people of Puerto Rico – well.”
“The ongoing work of the Task Force reflects the Administration’s – and the Department of Justice’s – commitment to the people of Puerto Rico,” said Associate Attorney General Delery. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the Task Force, and look forward to working with my federal colleagues and Commonwealth officials in Puerto Rico and Washington.”
The President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico, which is co-chaired by the Attorney General’s designee and the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, was created by President Bill Clinton to examine Puerto Rico’s political status and to identify a process by which the people of Puerto Rico could express their views on the subject. The Task Force continued to address these issues through the Administration of President George Bush. President Barack Obama expanded the Task Force’s scope and directed it to recommend policies to promote job creation, education, health care, clean energy, and economic development on the island. The Task Force published its report and recommendations to the President and Congress in March of 2011, and its efforts to implement the recommendations continue today.
SEC CHARGES CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY IN PUMP-AND-DUMP SCHEME TO DEFRAUD INVESTORS
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
The Securities and Exchange Commission last week charged an attorney in Orange County, Calif., and two men in Massachusetts behind a pump-and-dump scheme that defrauded investors in a Boston-based ticket brokering business.
The SEC alleges that Richard Weed, a partner in a Newport Beach law practice, facilitated a scheme to pump and dump the stock of CitySide Tickets Inc., which he helped structure into a publicly traded company through reverse mergers. Weed created backdated promissory notes and authored false legal opinion letters that enabled Thomas Brazil and Coleman Flaherty to obtain millions of purportedly unrestricted shares of stock in the company. Investors were then blitzed with a false and misleading promotional campaign touting CitySide Tickets as a budding national leader on the verge of acquiring smaller ticket firms across the country and positioning itself as an attractive takeover target for Ticketmaster. As the company’s stock price increased on the false hype, Brazil and Flaherty sold their shares to unsuspecting investors for illicit proceeds of approximately $3 million, and Weed was well-compensated for his role in the scheme. Shortly thereafter, the market for CitySide Tickets stock collapsed and the company eventually went out of business.
In a parallel case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts today announced criminal actions against Weed, Brazil, and Flaherty.
“CitySide was billed as the hottest ticket in town and investors were encouraged to get in the game when the playing field was actually tilted against them,” said Paul G. Levenson, Director of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office. “Weed exploited his position of legal authority to enable Brazil and Flaherty to get the stock needed to pull off the scheme, and he served as an officer and director of CitySide to help them secretly control the company.”
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Boston, all of the false promotions painted a rosy, optimistic picture of a company that was actually in dire financial straits. For example, one promotional alert falsely claimed that CitySide Tickets was “in the process now of swallowing up 5 smaller ticket resellers that could send next year’s profits through the roof.” In reality, CitySide Tickets lacked the means for such acquisitions. The alert further embellished that the company’s growth from purportedly swallowing up smaller fish in the ticket-selling market would make CitySide Tickets “an irresistible takeover target for Ticketmaster, the biggest fish of all.” The alert estimated that a Ticketmaster acquisition of CitySide Tickets “could easily jump this under-50-cent stock to $2.50 - $3.50 overnight.”
The SEC’s complaint charges Brazil, Flaherty, and Weed with violating antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and related rules. The SEC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains from the scheme plus interest and penalties as well as penny stock bars and permanent injunctions against further violations of the securities laws. The SEC also is seeking to bar Weed from serving as an officer or director of any public company. Weed lives in Newport Beach, Brazil lives in Topsfield, Mass., and Flaherty lives in Hingham, Mass.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Andrew J. Palid and Mark Albers of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office and supervised by Michele T. Perillo. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Martin F. Healey. SEC attorney Eric A. Forni has been appointed a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the parallel criminal case. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
The Securities and Exchange Commission last week charged an attorney in Orange County, Calif., and two men in Massachusetts behind a pump-and-dump scheme that defrauded investors in a Boston-based ticket brokering business.
The SEC alleges that Richard Weed, a partner in a Newport Beach law practice, facilitated a scheme to pump and dump the stock of CitySide Tickets Inc., which he helped structure into a publicly traded company through reverse mergers. Weed created backdated promissory notes and authored false legal opinion letters that enabled Thomas Brazil and Coleman Flaherty to obtain millions of purportedly unrestricted shares of stock in the company. Investors were then blitzed with a false and misleading promotional campaign touting CitySide Tickets as a budding national leader on the verge of acquiring smaller ticket firms across the country and positioning itself as an attractive takeover target for Ticketmaster. As the company’s stock price increased on the false hype, Brazil and Flaherty sold their shares to unsuspecting investors for illicit proceeds of approximately $3 million, and Weed was well-compensated for his role in the scheme. Shortly thereafter, the market for CitySide Tickets stock collapsed and the company eventually went out of business.
In a parallel case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts today announced criminal actions against Weed, Brazil, and Flaherty.
“CitySide was billed as the hottest ticket in town and investors were encouraged to get in the game when the playing field was actually tilted against them,” said Paul G. Levenson, Director of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office. “Weed exploited his position of legal authority to enable Brazil and Flaherty to get the stock needed to pull off the scheme, and he served as an officer and director of CitySide to help them secretly control the company.”
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Boston, all of the false promotions painted a rosy, optimistic picture of a company that was actually in dire financial straits. For example, one promotional alert falsely claimed that CitySide Tickets was “in the process now of swallowing up 5 smaller ticket resellers that could send next year’s profits through the roof.” In reality, CitySide Tickets lacked the means for such acquisitions. The alert further embellished that the company’s growth from purportedly swallowing up smaller fish in the ticket-selling market would make CitySide Tickets “an irresistible takeover target for Ticketmaster, the biggest fish of all.” The alert estimated that a Ticketmaster acquisition of CitySide Tickets “could easily jump this under-50-cent stock to $2.50 - $3.50 overnight.”
The SEC’s complaint charges Brazil, Flaherty, and Weed with violating antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and related rules. The SEC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains from the scheme plus interest and penalties as well as penny stock bars and permanent injunctions against further violations of the securities laws. The SEC also is seeking to bar Weed from serving as an officer or director of any public company. Weed lives in Newport Beach, Brazil lives in Topsfield, Mass., and Flaherty lives in Hingham, Mass.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Andrew J. Palid and Mark Albers of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office and supervised by Michele T. Perillo. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Martin F. Healey. SEC attorney Eric A. Forni has been appointed a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the parallel criminal case. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY MEETS WITH CHINESE BUSINESS LEADERS
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Secretary Kerry Roundtable with Chinese CEOs on Investment and Innovation
Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 8, 2014
Secretary of State John Kerry met with Chinese business leaders in Beijing today to discuss the importance of open investment climates and innovation as critical ingredients for continued economic success. The Secretary led an interactive discussion on the value of an open, transparent and predictable investment environment in promoting entrepreneurship and job creation.
Representing $20 billion in existing investments in the United States and annual revenues of over $120 billion, the participants included the Chairmen and CEOs of about ten companies across several sectors, including real estate, technology entertainment, manufacturing, and food products.
Secretary Kerry was joined at this event by U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman, and Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin.
The roundtable focused on areas of cooperation between the United States and China that would expand economic opportunities in both countries and strengthen the foundation for global growth. The following essential building blocks of a cutting edge, innovative economy were highlighted:
Trade and Investment: An open, transparent, and predictable investment environment gives businesses confidence to invest and helps spur innovation, economic growth, and job creation. The U.S. government welcomes foreign direct investment, including from China. Chinese investment in the United States benefits both countries and demonstrates the concept of “shared prosperity.” Our growing two-way trade and investment relationship is fueling economic growth and job creation in both countries and is a key pillar in our overall bilateral relationship.
Intellectual Property Rights: Better intellectual property rights protection and enforcement are in our common interest and are critical to economic growth in both China and the United States. Robust patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret systems provide vital incentives for innovators to take the risk to develop and commercialize new ideas. Adhering to clear and consistently-applied rules and regulations creates predictable markets where businesses are confident to invest.
Free Flow of Information: The U.S. government strongly supports respect for freedom of expression, including on the Internet. The more freely information flows, the stronger our societies become. The open exchange of information, including on the Internet, enables companies and employees to share and refine ideas, allowing the broader economy to benefit from their diversity.
At the roundtable, Secretary Kerry invited participants to apply to attend the SelectUSA 2015 Summit that U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will host on March 23-24, 2015 in Washington, DC. The event will connect businesses and investors from around the world with U.S. economic development organizations at the state, regional, and local levels. Participants will benefit from unique networking opportunities; one-on-one meetings; moderated panels; and discussions on the latest information on business investment. Established by President Obama in 2011, SelectUSA promotes and facilitates business investment into the United States as part of efforts to strengthen America’s global competitiveness.
Secretary Kerry Roundtable with Chinese CEOs on Investment and Innovation
Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 8, 2014
Secretary of State John Kerry met with Chinese business leaders in Beijing today to discuss the importance of open investment climates and innovation as critical ingredients for continued economic success. The Secretary led an interactive discussion on the value of an open, transparent and predictable investment environment in promoting entrepreneurship and job creation.
Representing $20 billion in existing investments in the United States and annual revenues of over $120 billion, the participants included the Chairmen and CEOs of about ten companies across several sectors, including real estate, technology entertainment, manufacturing, and food products.
Secretary Kerry was joined at this event by U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman, and Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin.
The roundtable focused on areas of cooperation between the United States and China that would expand economic opportunities in both countries and strengthen the foundation for global growth. The following essential building blocks of a cutting edge, innovative economy were highlighted:
Trade and Investment: An open, transparent, and predictable investment environment gives businesses confidence to invest and helps spur innovation, economic growth, and job creation. The U.S. government welcomes foreign direct investment, including from China. Chinese investment in the United States benefits both countries and demonstrates the concept of “shared prosperity.” Our growing two-way trade and investment relationship is fueling economic growth and job creation in both countries and is a key pillar in our overall bilateral relationship.
Intellectual Property Rights: Better intellectual property rights protection and enforcement are in our common interest and are critical to economic growth in both China and the United States. Robust patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret systems provide vital incentives for innovators to take the risk to develop and commercialize new ideas. Adhering to clear and consistently-applied rules and regulations creates predictable markets where businesses are confident to invest.
Free Flow of Information: The U.S. government strongly supports respect for freedom of expression, including on the Internet. The more freely information flows, the stronger our societies become. The open exchange of information, including on the Internet, enables companies and employees to share and refine ideas, allowing the broader economy to benefit from their diversity.
At the roundtable, Secretary Kerry invited participants to apply to attend the SelectUSA 2015 Summit that U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will host on March 23-24, 2015 in Washington, DC. The event will connect businesses and investors from around the world with U.S. economic development organizations at the state, regional, and local levels. Participants will benefit from unique networking opportunities; one-on-one meetings; moderated panels; and discussions on the latest information on business investment. Established by President Obama in 2011, SelectUSA promotes and facilitates business investment into the United States as part of efforts to strengthen America’s global competitiveness.
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK SAYS IT APPROVED $200 MILLION IN SUPPORT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY EXPORTS IN FY 2014
FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ex-Im Bank Approves $200 Million to Support Renewable Energy Exports in FY 2014
Washington, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank announced today that it authorized approximately $200 million to finance U.S. renewable energy exports in FY 2014, bringing its total support to nearly $2 billion since 2009. Backed by a congressional mandate to support environmentally beneficial U.S. exports, Ex-Im is committed to empowering American companies to sell their renewable energy goods and services in overseas markets, which results in more highly skilled jobs for U.S. workers.
“American businesses have the innovation, technologies, and skilled workers needed to seize the unprecedented opportunities emerging in the global renewable energy sector,” said Ex-Im Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “Our goal at Ex-Im is to fill the gap when private lenders can’t offer support, so that U.S. companies can compete on a level playing field in this growing market.”
Last year alone, the Bank’s nearly $200 million in financing authorizations enabled U.S. companies to ship approximately $550 million worth of renewable energy exports to the global marketplace in support of wind, solar, hydropower, and geothermal projects. Private sector lenders generally are unable to offer longer financing terms on renewable energy projects, so the Bank’s support is especially important in a sector where capital needs and fuel costs are spread across the lives of projects in very different ways as compared with traditional energy projects.
Ex-Im Bank Approves $200 Million to Support Renewable Energy Exports in FY 2014
Washington, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank announced today that it authorized approximately $200 million to finance U.S. renewable energy exports in FY 2014, bringing its total support to nearly $2 billion since 2009. Backed by a congressional mandate to support environmentally beneficial U.S. exports, Ex-Im is committed to empowering American companies to sell their renewable energy goods and services in overseas markets, which results in more highly skilled jobs for U.S. workers.
“American businesses have the innovation, technologies, and skilled workers needed to seize the unprecedented opportunities emerging in the global renewable energy sector,” said Ex-Im Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “Our goal at Ex-Im is to fill the gap when private lenders can’t offer support, so that U.S. companies can compete on a level playing field in this growing market.”
Last year alone, the Bank’s nearly $200 million in financing authorizations enabled U.S. companies to ship approximately $550 million worth of renewable energy exports to the global marketplace in support of wind, solar, hydropower, and geothermal projects. Private sector lenders generally are unable to offer longer financing terms on renewable energy projects, so the Bank’s support is especially important in a sector where capital needs and fuel costs are spread across the lives of projects in very different ways as compared with traditional energy projects.
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK REPORTS PROVIDING MORE THAN $5 BILLION FINANCING FOR SMALL BUSINESS EXPORTS
FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ex-Im Bank Finishes Fiscal Year Strong, Providing over $5 Billion to Finance U.S. Small Business Exports and Supporting over 160,000 American Jobs
Washington, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank today unveiled its total authorizations and the value of the U.S. exports it supported in Fiscal Year 2014, including its strong support for small businesses, which accounted for nearly 90 percent of the Bank’s customers. Last year, Ex-Im Bank’s financing again supported American jobs and boosted U.S. exports by filling private sector financing gaps and leveling the playing field for U.S. businesses as they compete overseas.
“Ex-Im is proud to serve as a backstop, filling in gaps in the private sector and ensuring that the American export economy remains vibrant in a world of market ebbs and flows,” said Chairman Fred P. Hochberg. “This year’s numbers are reflective of a strong economic recovery and of Ex-Im Bank’s continued record of supporting quality American jobs while generating a surplus for the American taxpayer.”
Key FY 2014 Highlights:
In FY 2014, Ex-Im Bank authorized approximately $20.5 billion to support 164,000 U.S. jobs.
Of the 3,746 transactions Ex-Im Bank approved in FY 2014, 3,347, or almost 90 percent, supported American small businesses.
Of the total dollar amount authorized by Ex-Im Bank in FY 2014, small business authorizations accounted for 24.7 percent, or more than $5 billion.
The total value of exports supported by Ex-Im Bank amounted to almost $27.5 billion, $10.7 billion (39 percent) of which accounted for small business export value.
Ex-Im Bank authorized $2 billion, a record-high dollar value, for sub-Saharan African transactions.
Approximately $675 million in deficit-reducing receipts was transferred to the U.S. Treasury's General Fund.
Ex-Im Bank Finishes Fiscal Year Strong, Providing over $5 Billion to Finance U.S. Small Business Exports and Supporting over 160,000 American Jobs
Washington, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank today unveiled its total authorizations and the value of the U.S. exports it supported in Fiscal Year 2014, including its strong support for small businesses, which accounted for nearly 90 percent of the Bank’s customers. Last year, Ex-Im Bank’s financing again supported American jobs and boosted U.S. exports by filling private sector financing gaps and leveling the playing field for U.S. businesses as they compete overseas.
“Ex-Im is proud to serve as a backstop, filling in gaps in the private sector and ensuring that the American export economy remains vibrant in a world of market ebbs and flows,” said Chairman Fred P. Hochberg. “This year’s numbers are reflective of a strong economic recovery and of Ex-Im Bank’s continued record of supporting quality American jobs while generating a surplus for the American taxpayer.”
Key FY 2014 Highlights:
In FY 2014, Ex-Im Bank authorized approximately $20.5 billion to support 164,000 U.S. jobs.
Of the 3,746 transactions Ex-Im Bank approved in FY 2014, 3,347, or almost 90 percent, supported American small businesses.
Of the total dollar amount authorized by Ex-Im Bank in FY 2014, small business authorizations accounted for 24.7 percent, or more than $5 billion.
The total value of exports supported by Ex-Im Bank amounted to almost $27.5 billion, $10.7 billion (39 percent) of which accounted for small business export value.
Ex-Im Bank authorized $2 billion, a record-high dollar value, for sub-Saharan African transactions.
Approximately $675 million in deficit-reducing receipts was transferred to the U.S. Treasury's General Fund.
NEWLY FOUND GROUNDHOG-LIKE SKULL MAY CHANGE VIEWS ON EARLY MAMMAL EVOLUTION
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Newly discovered fossil alters thinking on evolution of early mammals
Paleontologists have discovered an almost complete skull of a previously unknown mammal that likely resembled a large modern-day groundhog and lived alongside dinosaurs.
The species, found on Madagascar, is shaking up theories of early mammal evolution and diversity.
Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause led the research team, which reports its findings in today's issue of the journal Nature.
The new fossil mammal is named Vintana sertichi.
Vintana belongs to a group of early mammals called gondwanatherians, which had been known only from a few teeth and jaw fragments.
Because of this fragmentary understanding, the mammals' evolutionary placement hadn't been clear. The well-preserved skull of Vintana sertichi is giving researchers their first clear insights into the life habits and relationships of gondwanatherians.
"We know next to nothing about early mammalian evolution on the southern continents," says Krause. "This discovery underscores how little we really know. No paleontologist could have come close to predicting the odd mix of features this cranium exhibits."
The skull measures almost five inches long, twice the size of the largest known mammal skull from the Age of Dinosaurs in the Southern Hemisphere.
At a time when the majority of mammals were shrew- or mouse-sized--mere shadows of dinosaurs--Vintana was a super heavyweight, estimated to have had a body mass of about 20 pounds, two or three times the size of an adult groundhog today.
Vintana's skull has an unusual shape, with deep, huge eye sockets, and long, scimitar-shaped flanges for attachment of massive chewing muscles.
"This is the first discovery of a cranial fossil from the extinct group of mammals called Gondwanatheria in the Southern Hemisphere," says Yusheng (Chris) Liu, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the research along with the National Geographic Society.
"The finding will help us better understand the early evolution of this mammal group," says Liu.
The initial discovery came about by chance, says Krause.
Vintana means luck and refers to the good fortune its discoverer, researcher Joe Sertich, then of Stony Brook University, had in finding the fossil.
Sertich collected a 150-block rock matrix filled with fish fossils. When the block was CT-scanned at Stony Brook, the images revealed something rare inside--a nearly complete skull of a previously unknown ancient mammal.
"When we realized what was staring back at us on the computer screen, we were stunned," says scientist Joe Groenke of Stony Brook, the first to view the CT images.
Groenke spent the next six months extracting the skull from the surrounding rock matrix, one sand grain at a time.
Krause and colleagues conducted a comprehensive analysis of the skull, much of it using micro-computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy to reveal minute aspects of its anatomy.
They compared the skull to those of hundreds of other fossil and extant mammals.
Its teeth, eye sockets, braincase, and inner ear revealed that Vintana was likely a large-eyed herbivore that was agile, with keen senses of hearing and smell.
These and other features were also used to analyze its relationships to other early mammals.
Vintana and other gondwanatherians were probably close relatives of multituberculates, the most successful mammalian contemporaries of dinosaurs on Northern Hemisphere continents.
Krause says that a major question remains for scientists: How did such an unusual creature evolve?
Madagascar was an island for more than 20 million years before the time in which the rock strata containing Vintana were deposited.
Krause theorizes that the primitive features of the skull are holdovers from a time when an ancient lineage that ultimately produced Vintana was marooned on the island.
It was this isolation, he believes, first from Africa, then Antarctica/Australia, and finally the Indian subcontinent that allowed the evolution of Vintana's unique and bizarre features.
-NSF-
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas,
Saturday, November 8, 2014
TROPICAL CYCLONE 05B EXPECTED TO HEAD TO EAST-CENTRAL INDIA
Right: NASA's Terra satellite flew over Tropical Cyclone 5B in the Bay of Bengal on Nov. 6, 2014. Image Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team.
NASA-NOAA's
Suomi NPP Satellite Sees Tropical Cyclone 05B Headed to India
Tropical Cyclone 05B was meandering in the Bay of Bengal on Nov. 8, but forecasters expect it to move west and head toward east-central India for landfall. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of the tropical storm off India's coast.
When Suomi NPP flew over Tropical Cyclone 05B (TC05B) on Nov. 7 at 08:09 UTC (3:09 a.m. EST), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite or VIIRS instrument aboard captured a visible image of the storm. The VIIRS image showed a band of thunderstorms wrapping into the center from the northern quadrant, and fragmented bands of thunderstorms around the rest of the storm.
VIIRS is a scanning radiometer that collects visible and infrared imagery and "radiometric" measurements. Basically it means that VIIRS data is used to measure cloud and aerosol properties, ocean color, sea and land surface temperature, ice motion and temperature, fires, and Earth's albedo (reflected light).
At 1400 UTC (9 a.m. EST) Tropical Cyclone 05B's (TC05B) maximum sustained winds were near 35 knots (40.2 mph/64.8 kph). It was located near 14.3 north latitude and 87.4 east longitude, about 333 nautical miles (383.2 miles/616.7 km) southeast of Visakhapatnam, India. TC05B was moving to the north at 2 knots (2.3 mph/3.7 kph), and is expected to turn to the west.
The India Meteorological Department's Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) forecast noted that light to moderate rainfall would occur at a few places on Nov. 8 and on Nov. 9 would spread over a larger area over Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north coastal Tamil Nadu as TC05B nears. RSMC calls for sustained winds between 30 and 40 kph with higher gusts along and off the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and north Tamilnadu. Sea conditions are expected to be rough along those coasts both days and fishermen were advised not to venture out to sea.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS IN BEIJING, CHINA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Press Availability in Beijing, China
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
China National Convention Center
Beijing, China
November 8, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. I want to begin by thanking our Chinese hosts for their very, very warm welcome and for the depth and breadth of the discussions that we’ve been able to have at APEC this year.
This is my ninth trip to Asia and the Asia Pacific in the 21 months since I have served as Secretary of State. And I have returned again and again to this region for one simple reason: The United States is a Pacific nation, and we take our enduring interests here very seriously, our responsibilities likewise. We know that America’s security and prosperity are closely linked to the Asia Pacific, and that is why President Obama began the rebalance to Asia in 2009. It’s why he has asked me to redouble my own efforts in the region over the course of the next two years.
I’ve had a number of very productive bilateral meetings in the course of the last day here on the sidelines of the APEC conference with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China and other Asia Pacific allies and partners, including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand. And both the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers briefed me on the progress that they announced in their bilateral relations, and we, the United States, very much welcomed the reduction in tension between Asia’s two largest economies. I look forward to continuing these discussions and to deepening our partnerships with APEC economies when President Obama arrives on Monday for the APEC Leaders’ meetings here in Beijing. Excuse me.
To ensure that the partnerships that we talk about here at APEC are able to endure, it is really essential that we reach agreement on the rules of the road. And we need to do so through multilateral institutions where all voices can be heard. APEC is essential to upholding the rules-based system throughout the Asia Pacific. It is the best way to ensure that all of our economies, big and small economies, have a voice. And I am very pleased with the progress that we made this year on the regional economic integration and on strengthening connectivity and infrastructure development. The United States is very committed to working with our APEC partners in order to build stable regional economic order based on rules and norms that are reinforced by institutions. Our goal is to remove barriers to trade and investment so that businesses in all APEC economies can grow and create jobs and compete with other companies and other countries on an equal basis. APEC has and will continue to play a critical role in guaranteeing that.
Today, we also made important progress with China and other APEC economies on promoting women’s economic empowerment, combating corruption, supporting educational opportunities across borders, and advancing our commitment to clean energy. First, we launched the APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard. The dashboard will be a measure of progress across APEC economies on key issues for women’s economic empowerment. And it will allow us the ability to be able to measure education, leadership positions, opportunities for employment, all the different things that contribute to the ability to increase women’s empowerment in the economy. We also launched a Women’s Entrepreneurship in APEC Network. And that will link women entrepreneurs and business owners to each other and to supply chains all across the region. Frankly, that is good for business, it is good for workers, and it is good for all of our economies.
Second, we deepened our partnership with APEC economies on combating corruption. The principles that we adopted are clear and they are compelling. We are determined to prevent, detect, and effectively prosecute foreign bribery. We’re providing guidance to our businesses on how they could help prevent and detect corruption. And we are enhancing our law enforcement cooperation and we’re promoting the adoption of APEC business codes of ethics for small and medium enterprises. And we believe that this cooperation is a major step forward. Corruption not only creates an unfair playing field, it not only distorts economic relationships, but corruption also steals from the people of every country the belief that the system can work for everybody. So it is important that systems are transparent and accountable, and ultimately, that people at every level have an ability to have confidence that that system is working for everybody with the same set of rules.
We also made progress in education and clean energy. We launched an APEC scholarship, an internship initiative, to provide more educational opportunities for students in all APEC economies. We committed to doubling the share of renewables in the region’s energy banks by the year 2030. And we reaffirmed our commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. I can’t emphasize enough how critical it is for APEC to lead the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We at last have an opportunity to put ourselves on the path to a clean energy future, and that is a path that is more essential than ever because of the urgent threat of global climate change. The solution to climate change is good energy policy. And we believe today, we helped in APEC to move APEC economies to a commitment in that direction.
These efforts complement and reinforce one another. Curtailing corruption makes our marketplace more efficient and more fair. Cutting fossil fuel subsidies creates a cleaner environment and a stronger economy. Enhanced opportunities for women affect and advance the cause of social justice and prosperity. And these are all separate fronts, but actually, all of them support a single, important goal: securing an equitable and sustainable future for all of our countries.
Finally, we also discussed a broad array of challenges, global challenges – from Daesh or ISIL, from the turmoil of the Middle East, from Ebola, to climate change, to the threat of terrorism in many different places. We all understand that Ebola is a global threat requiring global action, and I particularly want to thank Japan for providing an additional $100 million for treatment, prevention, and broader efforts that will promote stability in the hardest-hit countries. Over the last weeks under President Obama’s leadership, many countries have been coming together in an effort to try to create a greater response on Ebola. Many countries have responded remarkably and they’re contributing healthcare workers, they’re contributing construction materials, medical supplies, doctors, nurses, experts, technicians, laboratories, beds, hospital equipment. Every country has an ability to do something, and we are grateful for those that are, but we need more countries to still do more.
And I want to emphasize, across the board, as a planet, all of us on this globe are not yet doing enough to be able to curb and eradicate the threat of Ebola. There are hundreds of new cases each week, and the UN has identified $1 billion in urgent needs. In my meetings over the past two days, I urged all of our APEC partners to help to meet that need with specific efforts along the lines that I just described. So we hope the response will grow, and obviously, out of that can come an enormous example of the ability of countries to come together. What we do against Ebola can actually be a model for what we can do against any other future challenge of similar kind. So this is not a one-time lost moment; this is something that can serve all of us to build a long-term infrastructure to deal with the potential of any communicable disease that can move across boundaries and borders at any time.
With that, I would be happy to answer a few questions.
MS. HARF: Our first question is from Carol Morello of The Washington Post, and there is a microphone for you too, if you’ll just hold on one second.
QUESTION: Could you provide some more details on your discussions this morning with Mr. Lavrov, specifically about Ukraine and Iran? Did he provide any assurances that Russia is committed to upholding the Minsk agreement, particularly when it comes to sending troops and tanks into Luhansk? And if there is credible evidence to the contrary, how would the U.S. respond? New sanctions or something else?
On Iran, did he assess what he considers the prospects for a November 24th agreement? And what is your sense, given the correspondence between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei, that Iran is prepared to make a deal given they – the fact they still refuse to be transparent regarding current and past use of nuclear materials?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, the meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov was a very in-depth meeting in which we discussed a number of different crises in the following context: Obviously, the United States and Russia have some clear differences and some clear disagreements about certain policies at this point in time. And we discussed, obviously, those disagreements. But we also know that we need to find the places where we can agree and cooperate because it is important for the world to do so.
With respect to Iran, Russia has been a constructive, engaged, serious partner in the effort to try to find a solution to a problem that is not – that shouldn’t lend itself to other disagreements, but which has enormous impact for everybody and which is strategically important not just to the United States or the P5+1, but to all countries, and which can have a profound impact on nonproliferation for the long term. So Russia has been working as a constructive participant in the P5+1 process. They have made various suggestions that have helped to move the process along. And we are hopeful that over the course of the next weeks, it will be possible to close real gaps that still exist in order to be able to reach an agreement, but I’m not going to stand here and predict at this point in time what the odds of that are.
I also want to make this very, very clear: No one, to my knowledge, has confirmed or denied whether or not there is a letter or was a letter, and I’m not going to comment on what the President of the United States and a leader of another country may or may not communicate – may or may not communicate privately. I will tell you this, though: No conversation, no agreement, no exchange, nothing has created any kind of a deal or agreement with respect to any of the events that are at stake in the Middle East. There is no linkage whatsoever of the nuclear discussions with any other issue, and I want to make that absolutely clear. The nuclear negotiations are on their own, they are standing separate from anything else, and no discussion has ever taken place about linking one thing to another, one involvement with another, that I am aware of. And I’m confident I am aware of what the President has been doing and saying with respect to this issue.
The issue of Ukraine we discussed, obviously, at length, but we also discussed Syria, we discussed the Middle East peace process, we discussed other issues of concern. Suffice it to say that we do have some disagreements about some of the facts on the ground with respect to Ukraine. We have agreed to exchange some information between us regarding that. And we have also agreed that this is a dialogue that will continue. But the issue of sanctions or other issues obviously have been made clear, are that the choices Russia makes will decide what happens with respect to sanctions in the long run here.
And our hope is still that the process of the Minsk agreements can go forward, that they will be implemented, and that it will be possible over time, with their implementation, to see the border sealed, to see the troops withdrawn, and to see stability restored in a way that allows everybody to move down a path of de-escalation. But it really is up to the events over the course of the next weeks to determine whether or not that happens.
MS. HARF: Great. Our final question is from Hu Ling of Phoenix TV. The mike is coming.
QUESTION: Thank you, Secretary. I come from Hong Kong, Phoenix TV. My question --
SECRETARY KERRY: Okay, go ahead.
QUESTION: Yeah, sorry. My question concern about the China and Japan relationship. You have also mentioned about a little bit in your final (inaudible) speech, and I wonder how you – what’s your comment on the agreement reached by China and Japan, and that they finally made the top leader meeting during the APEC time? And also, do you think it’s come to a release – relief for U.S. and also other Asia country? Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: What was the last part of the question? I’m sorry.
QUESTION: Sorry, I do wonder, the meeting – the top leader meeting welcomes to relief for U.S. and also other neighboring country in Asia? Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: The top leader meeting in – between --
QUESTION: Yeah, between China and Japan.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I discussed this new agreement with both Foreign Minister Wang Yi and also with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. And both of them explained to me what they believe they have achieved in the four points with respect to the agreement between them. I want to be clear that the United States welcomes this initiative. We think that any steps that the two countries can take to improve the relationship and reduce the tensions is helpful not just to those two countries, but it’s helpful to the region.
And I think it’s entirely appropriate that that particular discussion took place here at APEC, which frankly is becoming not just a place to discuss economic ideas, but also to reflect on the fact that today, the ability of economics to work requires stability and a peaceful process in place. So I think that security issues are also automatically on the table. So to have this emerge from this meeting, I think, is important.
Now this agreement is a beginning; it’s not an end. It’s the outline of steps that now need to be taken in order to really define how certain tensions are going to really be resolved. So it will be over time that this will be given a little more meat on the bones. But we absolutely appreciate the initial effort, we think it’s very constructive, and we have hopes that it can lead to a greater definition and to a reduction further of any conflict or tension in the region.
MS. HARF: Great. Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much. Thank you.
Press Availability in Beijing, China
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
China National Convention Center
Beijing, China
November 8, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. I want to begin by thanking our Chinese hosts for their very, very warm welcome and for the depth and breadth of the discussions that we’ve been able to have at APEC this year.
This is my ninth trip to Asia and the Asia Pacific in the 21 months since I have served as Secretary of State. And I have returned again and again to this region for one simple reason: The United States is a Pacific nation, and we take our enduring interests here very seriously, our responsibilities likewise. We know that America’s security and prosperity are closely linked to the Asia Pacific, and that is why President Obama began the rebalance to Asia in 2009. It’s why he has asked me to redouble my own efforts in the region over the course of the next two years.
I’ve had a number of very productive bilateral meetings in the course of the last day here on the sidelines of the APEC conference with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China and other Asia Pacific allies and partners, including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand. And both the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers briefed me on the progress that they announced in their bilateral relations, and we, the United States, very much welcomed the reduction in tension between Asia’s two largest economies. I look forward to continuing these discussions and to deepening our partnerships with APEC economies when President Obama arrives on Monday for the APEC Leaders’ meetings here in Beijing. Excuse me.
To ensure that the partnerships that we talk about here at APEC are able to endure, it is really essential that we reach agreement on the rules of the road. And we need to do so through multilateral institutions where all voices can be heard. APEC is essential to upholding the rules-based system throughout the Asia Pacific. It is the best way to ensure that all of our economies, big and small economies, have a voice. And I am very pleased with the progress that we made this year on the regional economic integration and on strengthening connectivity and infrastructure development. The United States is very committed to working with our APEC partners in order to build stable regional economic order based on rules and norms that are reinforced by institutions. Our goal is to remove barriers to trade and investment so that businesses in all APEC economies can grow and create jobs and compete with other companies and other countries on an equal basis. APEC has and will continue to play a critical role in guaranteeing that.
Today, we also made important progress with China and other APEC economies on promoting women’s economic empowerment, combating corruption, supporting educational opportunities across borders, and advancing our commitment to clean energy. First, we launched the APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard. The dashboard will be a measure of progress across APEC economies on key issues for women’s economic empowerment. And it will allow us the ability to be able to measure education, leadership positions, opportunities for employment, all the different things that contribute to the ability to increase women’s empowerment in the economy. We also launched a Women’s Entrepreneurship in APEC Network. And that will link women entrepreneurs and business owners to each other and to supply chains all across the region. Frankly, that is good for business, it is good for workers, and it is good for all of our economies.
Second, we deepened our partnership with APEC economies on combating corruption. The principles that we adopted are clear and they are compelling. We are determined to prevent, detect, and effectively prosecute foreign bribery. We’re providing guidance to our businesses on how they could help prevent and detect corruption. And we are enhancing our law enforcement cooperation and we’re promoting the adoption of APEC business codes of ethics for small and medium enterprises. And we believe that this cooperation is a major step forward. Corruption not only creates an unfair playing field, it not only distorts economic relationships, but corruption also steals from the people of every country the belief that the system can work for everybody. So it is important that systems are transparent and accountable, and ultimately, that people at every level have an ability to have confidence that that system is working for everybody with the same set of rules.
We also made progress in education and clean energy. We launched an APEC scholarship, an internship initiative, to provide more educational opportunities for students in all APEC economies. We committed to doubling the share of renewables in the region’s energy banks by the year 2030. And we reaffirmed our commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. I can’t emphasize enough how critical it is for APEC to lead the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We at last have an opportunity to put ourselves on the path to a clean energy future, and that is a path that is more essential than ever because of the urgent threat of global climate change. The solution to climate change is good energy policy. And we believe today, we helped in APEC to move APEC economies to a commitment in that direction.
These efforts complement and reinforce one another. Curtailing corruption makes our marketplace more efficient and more fair. Cutting fossil fuel subsidies creates a cleaner environment and a stronger economy. Enhanced opportunities for women affect and advance the cause of social justice and prosperity. And these are all separate fronts, but actually, all of them support a single, important goal: securing an equitable and sustainable future for all of our countries.
Finally, we also discussed a broad array of challenges, global challenges – from Daesh or ISIL, from the turmoil of the Middle East, from Ebola, to climate change, to the threat of terrorism in many different places. We all understand that Ebola is a global threat requiring global action, and I particularly want to thank Japan for providing an additional $100 million for treatment, prevention, and broader efforts that will promote stability in the hardest-hit countries. Over the last weeks under President Obama’s leadership, many countries have been coming together in an effort to try to create a greater response on Ebola. Many countries have responded remarkably and they’re contributing healthcare workers, they’re contributing construction materials, medical supplies, doctors, nurses, experts, technicians, laboratories, beds, hospital equipment. Every country has an ability to do something, and we are grateful for those that are, but we need more countries to still do more.
And I want to emphasize, across the board, as a planet, all of us on this globe are not yet doing enough to be able to curb and eradicate the threat of Ebola. There are hundreds of new cases each week, and the UN has identified $1 billion in urgent needs. In my meetings over the past two days, I urged all of our APEC partners to help to meet that need with specific efforts along the lines that I just described. So we hope the response will grow, and obviously, out of that can come an enormous example of the ability of countries to come together. What we do against Ebola can actually be a model for what we can do against any other future challenge of similar kind. So this is not a one-time lost moment; this is something that can serve all of us to build a long-term infrastructure to deal with the potential of any communicable disease that can move across boundaries and borders at any time.
With that, I would be happy to answer a few questions.
MS. HARF: Our first question is from Carol Morello of The Washington Post, and there is a microphone for you too, if you’ll just hold on one second.
QUESTION: Could you provide some more details on your discussions this morning with Mr. Lavrov, specifically about Ukraine and Iran? Did he provide any assurances that Russia is committed to upholding the Minsk agreement, particularly when it comes to sending troops and tanks into Luhansk? And if there is credible evidence to the contrary, how would the U.S. respond? New sanctions or something else?
On Iran, did he assess what he considers the prospects for a November 24th agreement? And what is your sense, given the correspondence between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei, that Iran is prepared to make a deal given they – the fact they still refuse to be transparent regarding current and past use of nuclear materials?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, the meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov was a very in-depth meeting in which we discussed a number of different crises in the following context: Obviously, the United States and Russia have some clear differences and some clear disagreements about certain policies at this point in time. And we discussed, obviously, those disagreements. But we also know that we need to find the places where we can agree and cooperate because it is important for the world to do so.
With respect to Iran, Russia has been a constructive, engaged, serious partner in the effort to try to find a solution to a problem that is not – that shouldn’t lend itself to other disagreements, but which has enormous impact for everybody and which is strategically important not just to the United States or the P5+1, but to all countries, and which can have a profound impact on nonproliferation for the long term. So Russia has been working as a constructive participant in the P5+1 process. They have made various suggestions that have helped to move the process along. And we are hopeful that over the course of the next weeks, it will be possible to close real gaps that still exist in order to be able to reach an agreement, but I’m not going to stand here and predict at this point in time what the odds of that are.
I also want to make this very, very clear: No one, to my knowledge, has confirmed or denied whether or not there is a letter or was a letter, and I’m not going to comment on what the President of the United States and a leader of another country may or may not communicate – may or may not communicate privately. I will tell you this, though: No conversation, no agreement, no exchange, nothing has created any kind of a deal or agreement with respect to any of the events that are at stake in the Middle East. There is no linkage whatsoever of the nuclear discussions with any other issue, and I want to make that absolutely clear. The nuclear negotiations are on their own, they are standing separate from anything else, and no discussion has ever taken place about linking one thing to another, one involvement with another, that I am aware of. And I’m confident I am aware of what the President has been doing and saying with respect to this issue.
The issue of Ukraine we discussed, obviously, at length, but we also discussed Syria, we discussed the Middle East peace process, we discussed other issues of concern. Suffice it to say that we do have some disagreements about some of the facts on the ground with respect to Ukraine. We have agreed to exchange some information between us regarding that. And we have also agreed that this is a dialogue that will continue. But the issue of sanctions or other issues obviously have been made clear, are that the choices Russia makes will decide what happens with respect to sanctions in the long run here.
And our hope is still that the process of the Minsk agreements can go forward, that they will be implemented, and that it will be possible over time, with their implementation, to see the border sealed, to see the troops withdrawn, and to see stability restored in a way that allows everybody to move down a path of de-escalation. But it really is up to the events over the course of the next weeks to determine whether or not that happens.
MS. HARF: Great. Our final question is from Hu Ling of Phoenix TV. The mike is coming.
QUESTION: Thank you, Secretary. I come from Hong Kong, Phoenix TV. My question --
SECRETARY KERRY: Okay, go ahead.
QUESTION: Yeah, sorry. My question concern about the China and Japan relationship. You have also mentioned about a little bit in your final (inaudible) speech, and I wonder how you – what’s your comment on the agreement reached by China and Japan, and that they finally made the top leader meeting during the APEC time? And also, do you think it’s come to a release – relief for U.S. and also other Asia country? Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: What was the last part of the question? I’m sorry.
QUESTION: Sorry, I do wonder, the meeting – the top leader meeting welcomes to relief for U.S. and also other neighboring country in Asia? Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: The top leader meeting in – between --
QUESTION: Yeah, between China and Japan.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I discussed this new agreement with both Foreign Minister Wang Yi and also with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. And both of them explained to me what they believe they have achieved in the four points with respect to the agreement between them. I want to be clear that the United States welcomes this initiative. We think that any steps that the two countries can take to improve the relationship and reduce the tensions is helpful not just to those two countries, but it’s helpful to the region.
And I think it’s entirely appropriate that that particular discussion took place here at APEC, which frankly is becoming not just a place to discuss economic ideas, but also to reflect on the fact that today, the ability of economics to work requires stability and a peaceful process in place. So I think that security issues are also automatically on the table. So to have this emerge from this meeting, I think, is important.
Now this agreement is a beginning; it’s not an end. It’s the outline of steps that now need to be taken in order to really define how certain tensions are going to really be resolved. So it will be over time that this will be given a little more meat on the bones. But we absolutely appreciate the initial effort, we think it’s very constructive, and we have hopes that it can lead to a greater definition and to a reduction further of any conflict or tension in the region.
MS. HARF: Great. Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much. Thank you.
SEC CHARGES ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN WITH FRAUD INVOLVING MUNICIPAL BOND OFFERING
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
November 6, 2014
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against the City of Allen Park, Mich., and two former city leaders in connection with a municipal bond offering to support a movie studio project within the city.
An SEC investigation found that offering documents provided to investors during the Detroit suburb’s sale of $31 million in general obligation bonds contained false and misleading statements about the scope and viability of the movie studio project as well as Allen Park’s overall financial condition and its ability to service the bond debt.
The city and the two officials – former mayor Gary Burtka and former city administrator Eric Waidelich – have agreed to settle the SEC’s charges.
“Municipal bond disclosures must provide investors with an accurate portrayal of a project’s prospects and the municipality’s ability to repay those who invest,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “Allen Park solicited investors with an unrealistic and untruthful pitch, and used outdated budget information in offering documents to avoid revealing its budget deficit.”
The SEC alleges that Burtka was an active champion of the project and in a position to control the actions of the city and Waidelich with respect to the fraudulent bond issuances. Based on this control, the SEC charged Burtka with liability for violations committed by the city and Waidelich. This is the first time the SEC has charged a municipal official under a federal statute that provides for “control person” liability. Burtka has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty.
“When a municipal official like Burtka controls the activities of others who engage in fraud, we won’t hesitate to use every legal avenue available to us in order to hold those officials accountable,” said LeeAnn Ghazil Gaunt, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
According to the SEC’s administrative order against Allen Park and its complaints against Burtka and Waidelich filed in federal court in Detroit, the city began planning the studio project in late 2008 with the belief it would bring much-needed economic development. The state of Michigan had just enacted legislation that provided significant tax credits to film studios conducting business in Michigan. The original plan detailed a $146 million facility with eight sound stages led by a Hollywood executive director, and the city initially planned to repay investors with $1.6 million in revenue from leases at the site. Allen Park issued bonds on Nov. 12, 2009, and June 16, 2010, to raise funds to help develop the site.
The SEC’s order finds, however, that by the time the bonds were issued, Allen Park’s plans to implement and pay for the studio project had deteriorated into merely building and operating a vocational school on the site. Yet none of these plan changes were reflected in the bond offering documents or other public statements, which continued to repeat the original plans for the movie studio project. Investors were left uninformed not only about the deterioration of the project itself, but also the substantial impact it would have on the city’s ability to service the bond debt. Without the planned revenues from the studio project, the expected annual debt payments on the bonds represented approximately 10 percent of the city’s total budget. Furthermore, Allen Park used outdated budget information in the bond offering documents that did not reflect the city’s budget deficit of at least $2 million for fiscal year 2010. The studio project completely collapsed within months after the second set of bonds were issued, and Michigan appointed an emergency manager for Allen Park in October 2010 while citing the failed project as a primary factor in the city’s deteriorating economic condition.
The SEC’s complaints allege that Waidelich as city administrator reviewed and approved the offering documents for the bonds. Waidelich’s actions violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5(b). Without admitting or denying the allegations, Waidelich has consented to a final judgment barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings and enjoining him from future violations. The SEC alleges that Burtka is liable as a control person under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, based on his control of Waidelich and the city. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Burtka consented to a final judgment requiring him to pay the $10,000 penalty, barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings, and enjoining him from future violations.
The SEC’s order against Allen Park finds it violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Section 10 (b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5(b). The city agreed to cease and desist from future violations of those provisions. The SEC considered certain remedial measures taken by the city, which settled the enforcement action without admitting or denying the findings.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Sally J. Hewitt of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit with assistance from John E. Birkenheier, John E. Kustusch, and Jean M. Javorski in the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office and Mark R. Zehner, Deputy Chief of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
November 6, 2014
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against the City of Allen Park, Mich., and two former city leaders in connection with a municipal bond offering to support a movie studio project within the city.
An SEC investigation found that offering documents provided to investors during the Detroit suburb’s sale of $31 million in general obligation bonds contained false and misleading statements about the scope and viability of the movie studio project as well as Allen Park’s overall financial condition and its ability to service the bond debt.
The city and the two officials – former mayor Gary Burtka and former city administrator Eric Waidelich – have agreed to settle the SEC’s charges.
“Municipal bond disclosures must provide investors with an accurate portrayal of a project’s prospects and the municipality’s ability to repay those who invest,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “Allen Park solicited investors with an unrealistic and untruthful pitch, and used outdated budget information in offering documents to avoid revealing its budget deficit.”
The SEC alleges that Burtka was an active champion of the project and in a position to control the actions of the city and Waidelich with respect to the fraudulent bond issuances. Based on this control, the SEC charged Burtka with liability for violations committed by the city and Waidelich. This is the first time the SEC has charged a municipal official under a federal statute that provides for “control person” liability. Burtka has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty.
“When a municipal official like Burtka controls the activities of others who engage in fraud, we won’t hesitate to use every legal avenue available to us in order to hold those officials accountable,” said LeeAnn Ghazil Gaunt, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
According to the SEC’s administrative order against Allen Park and its complaints against Burtka and Waidelich filed in federal court in Detroit, the city began planning the studio project in late 2008 with the belief it would bring much-needed economic development. The state of Michigan had just enacted legislation that provided significant tax credits to film studios conducting business in Michigan. The original plan detailed a $146 million facility with eight sound stages led by a Hollywood executive director, and the city initially planned to repay investors with $1.6 million in revenue from leases at the site. Allen Park issued bonds on Nov. 12, 2009, and June 16, 2010, to raise funds to help develop the site.
The SEC’s order finds, however, that by the time the bonds were issued, Allen Park’s plans to implement and pay for the studio project had deteriorated into merely building and operating a vocational school on the site. Yet none of these plan changes were reflected in the bond offering documents or other public statements, which continued to repeat the original plans for the movie studio project. Investors were left uninformed not only about the deterioration of the project itself, but also the substantial impact it would have on the city’s ability to service the bond debt. Without the planned revenues from the studio project, the expected annual debt payments on the bonds represented approximately 10 percent of the city’s total budget. Furthermore, Allen Park used outdated budget information in the bond offering documents that did not reflect the city’s budget deficit of at least $2 million for fiscal year 2010. The studio project completely collapsed within months after the second set of bonds were issued, and Michigan appointed an emergency manager for Allen Park in October 2010 while citing the failed project as a primary factor in the city’s deteriorating economic condition.
The SEC’s complaints allege that Waidelich as city administrator reviewed and approved the offering documents for the bonds. Waidelich’s actions violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5(b). Without admitting or denying the allegations, Waidelich has consented to a final judgment barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings and enjoining him from future violations. The SEC alleges that Burtka is liable as a control person under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, based on his control of Waidelich and the city. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Burtka consented to a final judgment requiring him to pay the $10,000 penalty, barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings, and enjoining him from future violations.
The SEC’s order against Allen Park finds it violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Section 10 (b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5(b). The city agreed to cease and desist from future violations of those provisions. The SEC considered certain remedial measures taken by the city, which settled the enforcement action without admitting or denying the findings.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Sally J. Hewitt of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit with assistance from John E. Birkenheier, John E. Kustusch, and Jean M. Javorski in the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office and Mark R. Zehner, Deputy Chief of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
FTC, PATENT ASSERTION BUSINESS SETTLES ALLEGATIONS BUSINESS MADE PHONY LEGAL THREATS
FROM: U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC Settlement Bars Patent Assertion Entity From Using Deceptive Tactics
A company and its law firm have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they used deceptive sales claims and phony legal threats in letters that accused thousands of small businesses around the United States of patent infringement. The settlement would bar the company, MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, and its law firm from making deceptive representations when asserting patent rights.
The settlement with MPHJ is the first time the FTC has taken action using its consumer protection authority against a patent assertion entity (PAE). PAEs are companies that obtain patent rights and try to generate revenue by licensing to or litigating against those who are or may be using patented technology.
“Patents can promote innovation, but a patent is not a license to engage in deception,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Small businesses and other consumers have the right to expect truthful communications from those who market patent rights.”
According to the FTC’s administrative complaint, MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, bought patents relating to network computer scanning technology, and then told thousands of small businesses that they were likely infringing the patents and should purchase a license. In more than 9,000 letters sent under the names of numerous MPHJ subsidiaries, the complaint alleges, MPHJ falsely represented that many other companies had already agreed to pay thousands of dollars for licenses.
The administrative complaint also alleges that MPHJ’s law firm, Farney Daniels, P.C., authorized letters on the firm’s letterhead that were sent to more than 4,800 small businesses. These letters warned that the firm would file a patent infringement lawsuit against the recipient if it did not respond to the letter. The letters also referenced a two-week deadline and attached a purported complaint for patent infringement, usually drafted for filing in the federal court closest to the small business receiving the letter. In reality, the complaint alleges, the senders had no intention—and did not make preparations—to initiate lawsuits against the small businesses that did not respond to their letters. No such lawsuits were ever filed.
In the proposed consent order, announced today for public comment, MPHJ, Farney Daniels, and MPHJ’s owner, Jay Mac Rust, agree to refrain from making certain deceptive representations when asserting patent rights, such as false or unsubstantiated representations that a patent has been licensed in substantial numbers or has been licensed at particular prices. The proposed order also would prohibit misrepresentations that a lawsuit will be initiated and about the imminence of such a lawsuit.
The Commission vote to accept the proposed consent order was 5-0.
The FTC will publish a description of the consent agreement package in the Federal Register shortly. The proposed consent order will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through December 8, 2014, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent order final. Interested parties can submit written comments electronically or in paper form by following the instructions in the “Invitation to Comment” part of the “Supplementary Information” section of the Federal Register notice.
NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative 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. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000.
FTC Settlement Bars Patent Assertion Entity From Using Deceptive Tactics
A company and its law firm have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they used deceptive sales claims and phony legal threats in letters that accused thousands of small businesses around the United States of patent infringement. The settlement would bar the company, MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, and its law firm from making deceptive representations when asserting patent rights.
The settlement with MPHJ is the first time the FTC has taken action using its consumer protection authority against a patent assertion entity (PAE). PAEs are companies that obtain patent rights and try to generate revenue by licensing to or litigating against those who are or may be using patented technology.
“Patents can promote innovation, but a patent is not a license to engage in deception,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Small businesses and other consumers have the right to expect truthful communications from those who market patent rights.”
According to the FTC’s administrative complaint, MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, bought patents relating to network computer scanning technology, and then told thousands of small businesses that they were likely infringing the patents and should purchase a license. In more than 9,000 letters sent under the names of numerous MPHJ subsidiaries, the complaint alleges, MPHJ falsely represented that many other companies had already agreed to pay thousands of dollars for licenses.
The administrative complaint also alleges that MPHJ’s law firm, Farney Daniels, P.C., authorized letters on the firm’s letterhead that were sent to more than 4,800 small businesses. These letters warned that the firm would file a patent infringement lawsuit against the recipient if it did not respond to the letter. The letters also referenced a two-week deadline and attached a purported complaint for patent infringement, usually drafted for filing in the federal court closest to the small business receiving the letter. In reality, the complaint alleges, the senders had no intention—and did not make preparations—to initiate lawsuits against the small businesses that did not respond to their letters. No such lawsuits were ever filed.
In the proposed consent order, announced today for public comment, MPHJ, Farney Daniels, and MPHJ’s owner, Jay Mac Rust, agree to refrain from making certain deceptive representations when asserting patent rights, such as false or unsubstantiated representations that a patent has been licensed in substantial numbers or has been licensed at particular prices. The proposed order also would prohibit misrepresentations that a lawsuit will be initiated and about the imminence of such a lawsuit.
The Commission vote to accept the proposed consent order was 5-0.
The FTC will publish a description of the consent agreement package in the Federal Register shortly. The proposed consent order will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through December 8, 2014, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent order final. Interested parties can submit written comments electronically or in paper form by following the instructions in the “Invitation to Comment” part of the “Supplementary Information” section of the Federal Register notice.
NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative 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. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000.
OWNER OF HOME HEALTH COMPANIES RECEIVES PRISON SENTENCE IN $74 MILLION FRAUD
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Owner and Administrator of Two Miami Home Health Companies Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison for $74 Million Fraud Scheme
The owner and administrator of two Miami home health care companies was sentenced today to serve 80 months in prison for her participation in a $74 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office made the announcement. U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke in the Southern District of Florida imposed the sentence.
Elsa Ruiz, 45, of Miami, pleaded guilty in July 2014 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In addition to the prison sentence, Ruiz was ordered to pay $45 million in restitution.
Ruiz was an owner and operator of Professional Home Care Solutions Inc. and an administrator of LTC Professional Consultants Inc., both of which purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. According to admissions during her plea hearing, Ruiz and her co-conspirators operated LTC and Professional Home Care for the purpose of billing the Medicare program for, among other things, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary or were not provided.
According to her admissions, Ruiz’s primary role in the scheme was to negotiate and pay kickbacks to patient recruiters and to otherwise oversee the schemes operating out of LTC and Professional Home Care. Specifically, Ruiz and her co-conspirators paid kickbacks to patient recruiters for the referral of patients and for the provision of prescriptions, plans of care, and certifications for medically unnecessary therapy and home health services. Ruiz and her co-conspirators used these prescriptions, plans of care, and medical certifications to fraudulently bill the Medicare program for home health care services.
From approximately January 2006 to June 2012, LTC and Professional Home Care submitted approximately $74 million in claims for home health services that were not medically necessary or not provided, and Medicare paid approximately $45 million on those claims.
The case is being investigated by HHS-OIG and the FBI and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Joseph S. Beemsterboer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Owner and Administrator of Two Miami Home Health Companies Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison for $74 Million Fraud Scheme
The owner and administrator of two Miami home health care companies was sentenced today to serve 80 months in prison for her participation in a $74 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office made the announcement. U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke in the Southern District of Florida imposed the sentence.
Elsa Ruiz, 45, of Miami, pleaded guilty in July 2014 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In addition to the prison sentence, Ruiz was ordered to pay $45 million in restitution.
Ruiz was an owner and operator of Professional Home Care Solutions Inc. and an administrator of LTC Professional Consultants Inc., both of which purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. According to admissions during her plea hearing, Ruiz and her co-conspirators operated LTC and Professional Home Care for the purpose of billing the Medicare program for, among other things, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary or were not provided.
According to her admissions, Ruiz’s primary role in the scheme was to negotiate and pay kickbacks to patient recruiters and to otherwise oversee the schemes operating out of LTC and Professional Home Care. Specifically, Ruiz and her co-conspirators paid kickbacks to patient recruiters for the referral of patients and for the provision of prescriptions, plans of care, and certifications for medically unnecessary therapy and home health services. Ruiz and her co-conspirators used these prescriptions, plans of care, and medical certifications to fraudulently bill the Medicare program for home health care services.
From approximately January 2006 to June 2012, LTC and Professional Home Care submitted approximately $74 million in claims for home health services that were not medically necessary or not provided, and Medicare paid approximately $45 million on those claims.
The case is being investigated by HHS-OIG and the FBI and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Joseph S. Beemsterboer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Friday, November 7, 2014
1,500 ADDITIONAL TROOPS TO BE DEPLOYED TO IRAQ
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
President Authorizes Additional Troops for Counter-ISIL Effort
By Claudette Roulo
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2014 – As part of the strategy to defeat terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, President Barack Obama authorized Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to deploy up to 1,500 additional troops to Iraq, the Pentagon press secretary announced today.
Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said the troops will serve in non-combat roles by joining the existing advise-and-assist mission and initiating a comprehensive training effort for Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
The defense secretary recommended the troop increase following a request by Iraq’s government and an assessment of Iraqi units by U.S. Central Command, Kirby said.
Based on Evaluation of Iraqi Forces’ Progress
The decision also was based on an evaluation of the progress made by Iraqi security forces in the field, and it comes in concert with the development of a coalition campaign plan to defend key areas and go on the offensive against ISIL terrorists, the admiral said.
“U.S. Central Command will establish two expeditionary advise-and-assist operations centers in locations outside of Baghdad and Irbil to provide support for the Iraqis at the brigade headquarters level and above,” he said.
The admiral said about 630 of the newly authorized troops will be assigned to the expanded advise-and-assist mission. In addition, Centcom will establish several new training sites across Iraq that will accommodate the training of 12 Iraqi brigades -- nine from the Iraqi army and three Kurdish peshmerga brigades, Kirby said.
The remainder of the troops, about 870, will be assigned to this mission in various roles, including logistics and force protection, he added.
While site surveys are still being conducted, a senior administration official speaking on background said the training sites likely will be located in Anbar, Irbil, Diyalah and Baghdad provinces. The locations reflect the geographic areas in which the Iraqi security forces want to make progress, the official added.
Coalition Forces Will Participate
Several hundred coalition troops will join U.S. personnel at these locations to help build Iraqi capacity and capability, Kirby said. A number of coalition nations have agreed to contribute personnel to the training effort, he said, noting that Hagel met today with Danish Defense Minister Nicolai Wammen, and the Danes have agreed to provide 120 trainers.
The training will be funded through a request for a $1.6 billion fund that the administration will submit to Congress, as well as from the Iraqi government, the admiral said. It will take about two months to prepare the training sites, he noted, while the training itself is expected to be six to seven months in length.
“Ultimately, these Iraqi forces, when fully trained, will enable Iraq to better defend its citizens, its borders, and its interests against the threat of ISIL,” Kirby said, “and it is perfectly in keeping with the mission that we've been assigned there to assist the [Iraqi security forces] and peshmerga forces again as they improve their capability against ISIL.”
President Authorizes Additional Troops for Counter-ISIL Effort
By Claudette Roulo
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2014 – As part of the strategy to defeat terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, President Barack Obama authorized Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to deploy up to 1,500 additional troops to Iraq, the Pentagon press secretary announced today.
Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said the troops will serve in non-combat roles by joining the existing advise-and-assist mission and initiating a comprehensive training effort for Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
The defense secretary recommended the troop increase following a request by Iraq’s government and an assessment of Iraqi units by U.S. Central Command, Kirby said.
Based on Evaluation of Iraqi Forces’ Progress
The decision also was based on an evaluation of the progress made by Iraqi security forces in the field, and it comes in concert with the development of a coalition campaign plan to defend key areas and go on the offensive against ISIL terrorists, the admiral said.
“U.S. Central Command will establish two expeditionary advise-and-assist operations centers in locations outside of Baghdad and Irbil to provide support for the Iraqis at the brigade headquarters level and above,” he said.
The admiral said about 630 of the newly authorized troops will be assigned to the expanded advise-and-assist mission. In addition, Centcom will establish several new training sites across Iraq that will accommodate the training of 12 Iraqi brigades -- nine from the Iraqi army and three Kurdish peshmerga brigades, Kirby said.
The remainder of the troops, about 870, will be assigned to this mission in various roles, including logistics and force protection, he added.
While site surveys are still being conducted, a senior administration official speaking on background said the training sites likely will be located in Anbar, Irbil, Diyalah and Baghdad provinces. The locations reflect the geographic areas in which the Iraqi security forces want to make progress, the official added.
Coalition Forces Will Participate
Several hundred coalition troops will join U.S. personnel at these locations to help build Iraqi capacity and capability, Kirby said. A number of coalition nations have agreed to contribute personnel to the training effort, he said, noting that Hagel met today with Danish Defense Minister Nicolai Wammen, and the Danes have agreed to provide 120 trainers.
The training will be funded through a request for a $1.6 billion fund that the administration will submit to Congress, as well as from the Iraqi government, the admiral said. It will take about two months to prepare the training sites, he noted, while the training itself is expected to be six to seven months in length.
“Ultimately, these Iraqi forces, when fully trained, will enable Iraq to better defend its citizens, its borders, and its interests against the threat of ISIL,” Kirby said, “and it is perfectly in keeping with the mission that we've been assigned there to assist the [Iraqi security forces] and peshmerga forces again as they improve their capability against ISIL.”
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