Tuesday, September 24, 2013
SEC CHARGES TD BANK & FORMER EXEC WITH VIOLATION OF SECURITIES LAWS IN FLORIDA-BASED PONZI SCHEME
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged TD Bank and a former executive with violating securities laws in connection with a massive South Florida-based Ponzi scheme conducted by Scott Rothstein, who is now serving a 50-year prison sentence.
The SEC alleges that TD Bank and its then-regional vice president Frank A. Spinosa defrauded investors by producing a series of misleading documents and making false statements about accounts that Rothstein held at the bank and used to perpetuate his scheme. Spinosa falsely represented to several investors that TD Bank had restricted the movement of the funds in these accounts when, in fact, Rothstein could transfer investor money however he desired. Spinosa also orally assured investors that certain accounts held balances totaling millions of dollars, but each account actually held zero to $100.
TD Bank agreed to settle the SEC’s charges in an administrative proceeding and pay $15 million. The SEC filed a complaint against Spinosa in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
“Financial institutions are key gatekeepers in the transactions and investments they facilitate and will be held to a high standard of accountability when their officers enable fraud,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. “TD Bank through a regional vice president produced false documents on bank letterhead and told outright lies to investors, failing in its gatekeeper role.”
Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office, added, “Spinosa played a key supporting role in Rothstein’s Ponzi scheme by providing false comfort to investors that their money was safe and secure in the accounts at TD Bank. He enabled Rothstein to con investors into believing he couldn’t move their money when he could, and that the bank was holding money that it wasn’t.”
In previous enforcement actions, the SEC has charged two feeder funds to the Rothstein Ponzi scheme.
According to the SEC’s order and complaint, Rothstein claimed to represent plaintiffs who had reached purported legal settlements that were confidential and payable over time by large corporate defendants. He claimed that the purported plaintiffs were willing to sell their periodic payments to investors at a discount in exchange for one lump-sum payment. The legal settlements were fake and the plaintiffs and defendants were not real. Rothstein told investors that the purported defendants had deposited the entire settlement amounts into attorney trust accounts. Rothstein opened 22 such accounts at Commerce Bank and TD Bank (the two merged in 2008) from November 2007 to October 2009.
The SEC alleges that as Rothstein’s scheme began to unravel in the fall of 2009, Spinosa made false statements to investors about the safety of their investments that enabled Rothstein to continue raising funds for the scheme. Spinosa executed so-called “lock letters” from TD Bank purporting to irrevocably restrict Rothstein’s trust accounts. Under these conditions, TD Bank could only distribute funds in the accounts to the investor’s bank account designated in the lock letter. However, the representations were purely false as Spinosa did not apply any procedures to block the accounts or implement any system to restrict Rothstein from moving money out of the trust accounts. Spinosa also misrepresented to Rothstein’s investors that the lock letters were commonplace at TD Bank when, in fact, they were never previously used by the bank. In fact, when Spinosa instructed his assistant to prepare the letters on TD Bank letterhead, she questioned whether it was even permissible because she had never seen such a letter before. Spinosa confirmed that she should prepare the letter for his signature anyway. Later, a vice president and branch manager who reported to Spinosa noted to him shortly after the first lock letter went out in August 2009 that the “lock” instructions put onto an account would have no practical effect because Rothstein could still transfer the money without bank officials being alerted. Spinosa dismissed those concerns.
The SEC further alleges that Spinosa provided false assurances to two different groups of investors that certain trust accounts held the multi-million dollar balances claimed by Rothstein. On Aug. 17, 2009, Spinosa participated in a conference call with Rothstein and representatives of an investor group who asked how much money was in a particular account. Spinosa responded that it held $22 million – the amount the investor was expecting to hear. Spinosa had full access to the account information to know the actual account balance was no more than $100. The following month, Spinosa met with the same group after it made additional investments with Rothstein, and falsely assured the investors that their money was safe because the provisions of the lock letter restricted the movement of their money. Also in September 2009, a different investor group bought a purported $20 million settlement from Rothstein, and one of the investor group’s representatives obtained a TD Bank deposit slip that indicated a $0 balance as of that morning for the account that purportedly held the investor’s $20 million. Rothstein falsely stated that the funds were indeed in the account, but the funds would not appear “available” on the deposit slip because they were in TD Bank’s “federal wire queue.” Rothstein and representatives from the investor group met with Spinosa on Sept. 14, 2009, and Spinosa falsely represented that the $20 million did not appear as available funds for the same reason provided by Rothstein. Spinosa falsely represented that the lock letter restricted the movement of their money. In reality, TD Bank was not holding the money in such a queue, and the account didn’t contain the $20 million.
TD Bank consented to the entry of an administrative order finding that it violated Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, TD Bank agreed to pay $15 million and cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act.
The SEC’s complaint against Spinosa charges him with violating Sections 17(a)(1), 17(a)(2), and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Spinosa also is charged with aiding and abetting Scott Rothstein’s violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5. The complaint seeks disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, financial penalties, and a permanent injunction.
The SEC coordinated the filing of its cases with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which today announced their own actions against TD Bank.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Steven J. Meiner, D. Corey Lawson, and Tonya E. Tullis under the supervision of Chad Alan Earnst in the Miami Regional Office. The SEC’s litigation against Spinosa will be led by Amie Riggle Berlin. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged TD Bank and a former executive with violating securities laws in connection with a massive South Florida-based Ponzi scheme conducted by Scott Rothstein, who is now serving a 50-year prison sentence.
The SEC alleges that TD Bank and its then-regional vice president Frank A. Spinosa defrauded investors by producing a series of misleading documents and making false statements about accounts that Rothstein held at the bank and used to perpetuate his scheme. Spinosa falsely represented to several investors that TD Bank had restricted the movement of the funds in these accounts when, in fact, Rothstein could transfer investor money however he desired. Spinosa also orally assured investors that certain accounts held balances totaling millions of dollars, but each account actually held zero to $100.
TD Bank agreed to settle the SEC’s charges in an administrative proceeding and pay $15 million. The SEC filed a complaint against Spinosa in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
“Financial institutions are key gatekeepers in the transactions and investments they facilitate and will be held to a high standard of accountability when their officers enable fraud,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. “TD Bank through a regional vice president produced false documents on bank letterhead and told outright lies to investors, failing in its gatekeeper role.”
Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office, added, “Spinosa played a key supporting role in Rothstein’s Ponzi scheme by providing false comfort to investors that their money was safe and secure in the accounts at TD Bank. He enabled Rothstein to con investors into believing he couldn’t move their money when he could, and that the bank was holding money that it wasn’t.”
In previous enforcement actions, the SEC has charged two feeder funds to the Rothstein Ponzi scheme.
According to the SEC’s order and complaint, Rothstein claimed to represent plaintiffs who had reached purported legal settlements that were confidential and payable over time by large corporate defendants. He claimed that the purported plaintiffs were willing to sell their periodic payments to investors at a discount in exchange for one lump-sum payment. The legal settlements were fake and the plaintiffs and defendants were not real. Rothstein told investors that the purported defendants had deposited the entire settlement amounts into attorney trust accounts. Rothstein opened 22 such accounts at Commerce Bank and TD Bank (the two merged in 2008) from November 2007 to October 2009.
The SEC alleges that as Rothstein’s scheme began to unravel in the fall of 2009, Spinosa made false statements to investors about the safety of their investments that enabled Rothstein to continue raising funds for the scheme. Spinosa executed so-called “lock letters” from TD Bank purporting to irrevocably restrict Rothstein’s trust accounts. Under these conditions, TD Bank could only distribute funds in the accounts to the investor’s bank account designated in the lock letter. However, the representations were purely false as Spinosa did not apply any procedures to block the accounts or implement any system to restrict Rothstein from moving money out of the trust accounts. Spinosa also misrepresented to Rothstein’s investors that the lock letters were commonplace at TD Bank when, in fact, they were never previously used by the bank. In fact, when Spinosa instructed his assistant to prepare the letters on TD Bank letterhead, she questioned whether it was even permissible because she had never seen such a letter before. Spinosa confirmed that she should prepare the letter for his signature anyway. Later, a vice president and branch manager who reported to Spinosa noted to him shortly after the first lock letter went out in August 2009 that the “lock” instructions put onto an account would have no practical effect because Rothstein could still transfer the money without bank officials being alerted. Spinosa dismissed those concerns.
The SEC further alleges that Spinosa provided false assurances to two different groups of investors that certain trust accounts held the multi-million dollar balances claimed by Rothstein. On Aug. 17, 2009, Spinosa participated in a conference call with Rothstein and representatives of an investor group who asked how much money was in a particular account. Spinosa responded that it held $22 million – the amount the investor was expecting to hear. Spinosa had full access to the account information to know the actual account balance was no more than $100. The following month, Spinosa met with the same group after it made additional investments with Rothstein, and falsely assured the investors that their money was safe because the provisions of the lock letter restricted the movement of their money. Also in September 2009, a different investor group bought a purported $20 million settlement from Rothstein, and one of the investor group’s representatives obtained a TD Bank deposit slip that indicated a $0 balance as of that morning for the account that purportedly held the investor’s $20 million. Rothstein falsely stated that the funds were indeed in the account, but the funds would not appear “available” on the deposit slip because they were in TD Bank’s “federal wire queue.” Rothstein and representatives from the investor group met with Spinosa on Sept. 14, 2009, and Spinosa falsely represented that the $20 million did not appear as available funds for the same reason provided by Rothstein. Spinosa falsely represented that the lock letter restricted the movement of their money. In reality, TD Bank was not holding the money in such a queue, and the account didn’t contain the $20 million.
TD Bank consented to the entry of an administrative order finding that it violated Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, TD Bank agreed to pay $15 million and cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act.
The SEC’s complaint against Spinosa charges him with violating Sections 17(a)(1), 17(a)(2), and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Spinosa also is charged with aiding and abetting Scott Rothstein’s violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5. The complaint seeks disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, financial penalties, and a permanent injunction.
The SEC coordinated the filing of its cases with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which today announced their own actions against TD Bank.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Steven J. Meiner, D. Corey Lawson, and Tonya E. Tullis under the supervision of Chad Alan Earnst in the Miami Regional Office. The SEC’s litigation against Spinosa will be led by Amie Riggle Berlin. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service.
SEC CHARGES FILMMAKER WITH INSIDER TRADING
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Manhattan-based independent filmmaker with insider trading on confidential information about impending takeovers of two biotechnology companies.
The SEC alleges that Lawrence Robbins reaped illicit profits by trading Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sepracor Inc. securities based on confidential information that he received from his business partner John Michael Bennett in advance of the acquisition announcements by the two companies. Bennett had received the inside information from his friend Scott Allen. The SEC previously charged Bennett and Allen for their roles in the scheme.
Robbins, who lives in New York City, has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying more than $1 million.
“Robbins plotted with his business partner to perpetrate an insider trading scheme that enabled him to invest a portion of his illegal profits in their film production company,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, Senior Associate Director for Enforcement in the SEC’s New York Regional Office. “Their plot, however, did not account for the real world consequences of being caught by the SEC.”
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, Allen learned confidential information in advance of the two acquisitions through his job at a global consulting firm that was advising the acquiring company in each deal. Based on the information that Allen leaked, Robbins and Bennett collectively spent tens of thousands of dollars acquiring call options in the companies. They made more than $2.6 million in illicit profits following public announcements of the deals, and Robbins used a portion of his proceeds to fund the independent film production business that he shared with Bennett.
The SEC alleges that Allen communicated with Bennett about the Millennium and Sepracor transactions through phone calls or in-person meetings, some of which were tracked through their simultaneous use of Metrocards at subway stations in New York City as well as large ATM and bank cash withdrawals made by Bennett prior to the meetings. Allen first obtained non-public information about the Millennium transaction in mid-February 2008 when his firm began advising Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Company during its negotiations with Millennium. On February 27, Allen tipped Bennett with inside information about Takeda’s impending cash tender offer, and Bennett then tipped Robbins. Starting on February 29 and continuing up until the week before the public announcement of the acquisition, Robbins and Bennett spent tens of thousands of dollars amassing Millennium call options. Additionally, Robbins purchased Millennium shares and sold Millennium put options. After the deal was publicly announced on April 10, the price of Millennium shares increased more than 48 percent, and that afternoon Robbins began liquidating his holdings of Millennium securities for ill-gotten gains of more than $1.12 million. Bennett liquidated his Millennium holdings for illicit profits of more $602,000.
The SEC further alleges that in May 2009, Allen participated in due diligence work for the Japanese firm Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. (DSP) in connection with its impending acquisition of Sepracor. Allen again tipped Bennett with inside information about the upcoming transaction, and Bennett again shared the information with Robbins. In the months leading up to the September 3 public announcement that DSP had agreed to acquire Sepracor, Robbins and Bennett purchased more than $350,000 worth of call options in Sepracor. Additionally, they sold tens of thousands of dollars of Sepracor put options, and Robbins purchased Sepracor shares. Following the public announcement, Sepracor's stock price rose more than 26 percent, and both Robbins and Bennett liquidated their entire positions in Sepracor for ill-gotten profits of more than $388,000 and $516,000 respectively.
The SEC’s complaint charges Robbins with violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, and Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act and Rule 14e-3. Robbins has agreed to pay $865,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $150,000 penalty. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, takes into account Robbins’s current financial condition. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Robbins also agreed to be permanently enjoined from future violations of these provisions of the federal securities laws.
The SEC’s case continues against Allen and Bennett, who have now pled guilty in parallel criminal actions filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Charles D. Riely of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit in New York and Layla Mayer, Sandra Yanez, and Amelia A. Cottrell in the New York Regional Office. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Options Regulatory Surveillance Authority, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Manhattan-based independent filmmaker with insider trading on confidential information about impending takeovers of two biotechnology companies.
The SEC alleges that Lawrence Robbins reaped illicit profits by trading Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sepracor Inc. securities based on confidential information that he received from his business partner John Michael Bennett in advance of the acquisition announcements by the two companies. Bennett had received the inside information from his friend Scott Allen. The SEC previously charged Bennett and Allen for their roles in the scheme.
Robbins, who lives in New York City, has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying more than $1 million.
“Robbins plotted with his business partner to perpetrate an insider trading scheme that enabled him to invest a portion of his illegal profits in their film production company,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, Senior Associate Director for Enforcement in the SEC’s New York Regional Office. “Their plot, however, did not account for the real world consequences of being caught by the SEC.”
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, Allen learned confidential information in advance of the two acquisitions through his job at a global consulting firm that was advising the acquiring company in each deal. Based on the information that Allen leaked, Robbins and Bennett collectively spent tens of thousands of dollars acquiring call options in the companies. They made more than $2.6 million in illicit profits following public announcements of the deals, and Robbins used a portion of his proceeds to fund the independent film production business that he shared with Bennett.
The SEC alleges that Allen communicated with Bennett about the Millennium and Sepracor transactions through phone calls or in-person meetings, some of which were tracked through their simultaneous use of Metrocards at subway stations in New York City as well as large ATM and bank cash withdrawals made by Bennett prior to the meetings. Allen first obtained non-public information about the Millennium transaction in mid-February 2008 when his firm began advising Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical Company during its negotiations with Millennium. On February 27, Allen tipped Bennett with inside information about Takeda’s impending cash tender offer, and Bennett then tipped Robbins. Starting on February 29 and continuing up until the week before the public announcement of the acquisition, Robbins and Bennett spent tens of thousands of dollars amassing Millennium call options. Additionally, Robbins purchased Millennium shares and sold Millennium put options. After the deal was publicly announced on April 10, the price of Millennium shares increased more than 48 percent, and that afternoon Robbins began liquidating his holdings of Millennium securities for ill-gotten gains of more than $1.12 million. Bennett liquidated his Millennium holdings for illicit profits of more $602,000.
The SEC further alleges that in May 2009, Allen participated in due diligence work for the Japanese firm Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. (DSP) in connection with its impending acquisition of Sepracor. Allen again tipped Bennett with inside information about the upcoming transaction, and Bennett again shared the information with Robbins. In the months leading up to the September 3 public announcement that DSP had agreed to acquire Sepracor, Robbins and Bennett purchased more than $350,000 worth of call options in Sepracor. Additionally, they sold tens of thousands of dollars of Sepracor put options, and Robbins purchased Sepracor shares. Following the public announcement, Sepracor's stock price rose more than 26 percent, and both Robbins and Bennett liquidated their entire positions in Sepracor for ill-gotten profits of more than $388,000 and $516,000 respectively.
The SEC’s complaint charges Robbins with violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, and Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act and Rule 14e-3. Robbins has agreed to pay $865,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $150,000 penalty. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, takes into account Robbins’s current financial condition. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Robbins also agreed to be permanently enjoined from future violations of these provisions of the federal securities laws.
The SEC’s case continues against Allen and Bennett, who have now pled guilty in parallel criminal actions filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Charles D. Riely of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit in New York and Layla Mayer, Sandra Yanez, and Amelia A. Cottrell in the New York Regional Office. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Options Regulatory Surveillance Authority, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
GSA SAYS IT IS WORKING TO TRANSFORM THE GOVERNMENT WORKPLACE TO SAVE MILLIONS
FROM: GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
GSA Transforming the Government Workplace, Saving Agencies Millions
Initiative to do away with “Mad Men” style offices, modernize the federal government
Full service offerings include design, technology, furnishings to cut office space, reduce costs and increase collaboration
Washington, DC -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) launched a comprehensive service to create a 21st century workplace throughout the federal government. GSA’s Total Workplace initiative provides resources and expertise to help federal agencies reduce their office space, foster collaboration, better manage IT spending, and increase energy efficiency. In a time of shrinking budgets, the initiative is already saving taxpayer dollars and helping customer agencies better serve the American people. The U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have announced today that they have joined the Total Workplace program and are on their way to realizing significant savings and reducing their real estate footprint. The effort will also help agencies meet Obama Administration goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs, including the freeze the federal footprint directive.
GSA has been meeting with agencies throughout the federal government to lay out the benefits of this program. Here's how GSA’s Total Workplace is already delivering savings and cost avoidance for federal agencies and the American people:
- At DHS, a reduction of rented space with subleasing, increased teleworking and the adoption of desk sharing, has allowed the agency to begin reducing its real estate footprint, resulting in a projected savings of $55 million in office real estate costs.
- USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will reduce its footprint from 43 state offices across the country to 12 regional locations which will create significant savings. Through the efforts to-date, the agency is projected to save more than $700,000 in annual real estate costs.
- HHS will improve space efficiencies, reduce the agency’s footprint, and save the federal government more than $15 million in real estate costs over a ten year lease.
GSA’s Total Workplace will also allow FWS to eliminate 72,200 square feet, saving taxpayers more than $3 million in annual real estate costs.
“We are replacing buildings built around hierarchies from an era where people used the telegraph with workspaces more suited to today’s world,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “The kind of open office environment that Total Workplace creates encourages collaboration and cooperation that in turn leads to better services for the American people. By using our space more efficiently, we also save valuable taxpayer dollars.”
“Total Workplace gives federal workers access to the technology they need to accomplish their missions not only effectively, but also efficiently. Today’s workforce demands the tools necessary to work anywhere, anytime. Reducing the federal footprint gives agencies appropriate work spaces to get the job done together, while encouraging mobility,” said Charles Hardy, GSA’s Chief Total Workplace Officer.
GSA is leading workplace transformation with the renovation of its own headquarters in Washington, DC. GSA was able to collapse a number of leases in the region and bring those employees into the renovated headquarters, allowing it to go from 2,200 to 3,300 employees. By consolidating GSA employees into a single facility, the agency is eliminating $24.4 million in annual lease payments. The renovation also includes high-performance green building initiatives, such as photovoltaic rooftop arrays; an underground cistern to recapture and reuse rainwater/grey water; a green roof; solar hot water panels; high efficiency mechanical systems; and daylight harvesting.
GSA Transforming the Government Workplace, Saving Agencies Millions
Initiative to do away with “Mad Men” style offices, modernize the federal government
Full service offerings include design, technology, furnishings to cut office space, reduce costs and increase collaboration
Washington, DC -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) launched a comprehensive service to create a 21st century workplace throughout the federal government. GSA’s Total Workplace initiative provides resources and expertise to help federal agencies reduce their office space, foster collaboration, better manage IT spending, and increase energy efficiency. In a time of shrinking budgets, the initiative is already saving taxpayer dollars and helping customer agencies better serve the American people. The U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have announced today that they have joined the Total Workplace program and are on their way to realizing significant savings and reducing their real estate footprint. The effort will also help agencies meet Obama Administration goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs, including the freeze the federal footprint directive.
GSA has been meeting with agencies throughout the federal government to lay out the benefits of this program. Here's how GSA’s Total Workplace is already delivering savings and cost avoidance for federal agencies and the American people:
- At DHS, a reduction of rented space with subleasing, increased teleworking and the adoption of desk sharing, has allowed the agency to begin reducing its real estate footprint, resulting in a projected savings of $55 million in office real estate costs.
- USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will reduce its footprint from 43 state offices across the country to 12 regional locations which will create significant savings. Through the efforts to-date, the agency is projected to save more than $700,000 in annual real estate costs.
- HHS will improve space efficiencies, reduce the agency’s footprint, and save the federal government more than $15 million in real estate costs over a ten year lease.
GSA’s Total Workplace will also allow FWS to eliminate 72,200 square feet, saving taxpayers more than $3 million in annual real estate costs.
“We are replacing buildings built around hierarchies from an era where people used the telegraph with workspaces more suited to today’s world,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “The kind of open office environment that Total Workplace creates encourages collaboration and cooperation that in turn leads to better services for the American people. By using our space more efficiently, we also save valuable taxpayer dollars.”
“Total Workplace gives federal workers access to the technology they need to accomplish their missions not only effectively, but also efficiently. Today’s workforce demands the tools necessary to work anywhere, anytime. Reducing the federal footprint gives agencies appropriate work spaces to get the job done together, while encouraging mobility,” said Charles Hardy, GSA’s Chief Total Workplace Officer.
GSA is leading workplace transformation with the renovation of its own headquarters in Washington, DC. GSA was able to collapse a number of leases in the region and bring those employees into the renovated headquarters, allowing it to go from 2,200 to 3,300 employees. By consolidating GSA employees into a single facility, the agency is eliminating $24.4 million in annual lease payments. The renovation also includes high-performance green building initiatives, such as photovoltaic rooftop arrays; an underground cistern to recapture and reuse rainwater/grey water; a green roof; solar hot water panels; high efficiency mechanical systems; and daylight harvesting.
SEC CHARGES OWNER NY ADVISORY FIRM WITH INSIDER TRADING IN ADVANCE OF MERGERS
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the owner of a New York-based advisory firm with insider trading in his own account and client accounts based on non-public information in advance of a merger announcement by pharmaceutical companies.
The SEC alleges that Tibor Klein, who lives on Long Island and is president of Klein Financial Services, learned confidential information about Pfizer Inc.'s planned acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals. He misappropriated the information and traded in advance of the public announcement for illicit profits of more than $300,000 for himself and his clients.
The SEC also charged Klein's close friend Michael Shechtman, a stockbroker living in South Florida who was tipped by Klein and traded on the non-public information for more than $100,000 in illegal profits.
According to the SEC's complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Klein learned material, non-public information about the impending merger in August 2010 from one of his clients - an attorney who works on matters for King Pharmaceuticals. On August 16 - the first day that the markets opened after he learned the confidential information - Klein began purchasing large amounts of King Pharmaceuticals' stock. Klein had not purchased so many securities of an individual stock for so many clients in such a short time period in 2010 as he did when he made these purchases.
The SEC alleges that Klein then went one step further and tipped his best friend, Shechtman, with the non-public information about King Pharmaceuticals. Klein and Shechtman speak often but rarely more than once a day. But Klein called Shechtman six times on August 16, when Shechtman submitted an application to open an options trading account and handwrote "Please expedite ASAP" at the top of the form. Shechtman had never before traded in options. On August 18, Klein called Shechtman 11 more times as Shechtman purchased 2,500 shares of King Pharmaceuticals stock and 300 call options in his personal account, and 2,400 shares in his wife's Roth IRA account.
According to the SEC's complaint, the public announcement was made on Oct. 12, 2010. King Pharmaceuticals stock subsequently rose 39 percent and trading volume increased by more than 12,000 percent from the previous day. Following the announcement, Klein sold his King Pharmaceuticals stock and generated profits of $328,375.02 for himself and his clients. Shechtman sold his shares and his wife's share in King Pharmaceuticals stock and options for profits of $109,040.53.
The SEC's complaint charges Klein and Shechtman with violations of Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3. The SEC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, financial penalties, and permanent injunctive relief against Klein and Shechtman to enjoin them from future violations of the federal securities laws.
The SEC's investigation was conducted by Rachel K. Paulose and supervised by Elisha L. Frank in the Miami Regional Office. The SEC's litigation will be led by Robert K. Levenson. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the owner of a New York-based advisory firm with insider trading in his own account and client accounts based on non-public information in advance of a merger announcement by pharmaceutical companies.
The SEC alleges that Tibor Klein, who lives on Long Island and is president of Klein Financial Services, learned confidential information about Pfizer Inc.'s planned acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals. He misappropriated the information and traded in advance of the public announcement for illicit profits of more than $300,000 for himself and his clients.
The SEC also charged Klein's close friend Michael Shechtman, a stockbroker living in South Florida who was tipped by Klein and traded on the non-public information for more than $100,000 in illegal profits.
According to the SEC's complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Klein learned material, non-public information about the impending merger in August 2010 from one of his clients - an attorney who works on matters for King Pharmaceuticals. On August 16 - the first day that the markets opened after he learned the confidential information - Klein began purchasing large amounts of King Pharmaceuticals' stock. Klein had not purchased so many securities of an individual stock for so many clients in such a short time period in 2010 as he did when he made these purchases.
The SEC alleges that Klein then went one step further and tipped his best friend, Shechtman, with the non-public information about King Pharmaceuticals. Klein and Shechtman speak often but rarely more than once a day. But Klein called Shechtman six times on August 16, when Shechtman submitted an application to open an options trading account and handwrote "Please expedite ASAP" at the top of the form. Shechtman had never before traded in options. On August 18, Klein called Shechtman 11 more times as Shechtman purchased 2,500 shares of King Pharmaceuticals stock and 300 call options in his personal account, and 2,400 shares in his wife's Roth IRA account.
According to the SEC's complaint, the public announcement was made on Oct. 12, 2010. King Pharmaceuticals stock subsequently rose 39 percent and trading volume increased by more than 12,000 percent from the previous day. Following the announcement, Klein sold his King Pharmaceuticals stock and generated profits of $328,375.02 for himself and his clients. Shechtman sold his shares and his wife's share in King Pharmaceuticals stock and options for profits of $109,040.53.
The SEC's complaint charges Klein and Shechtman with violations of Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3. The SEC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, financial penalties, and permanent injunctive relief against Klein and Shechtman to enjoin them from future violations of the federal securities laws.
The SEC's investigation was conducted by Rachel K. Paulose and supervised by Elisha L. Frank in the Miami Regional Office. The SEC's litigation will be led by Robert K. Levenson. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
FROM DEFIBRILLATOR TO "LIGHT HEART"
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| Photo Credit: CDC |
Researchers envision switching a heart beat on and off with light
With a few flicks of a light switch--on-off-on-off--Stanford University's Oscar Abilez is one step closer to changing the lives of millions.
Why? Because as a focused speck of light turns on and off in Abilez's lab, a cluster of heart cells begins to expand and contract. He demonstrates that he can control the rhythm of a heart using just light.
Currently, 4 million Americans suffer from some degree of cardiac arrhythmia, wherein a person's heart beats too slowly, too quickly or at irregular intervals. Such heart rhythm problems can cause a shortness of breath, fainting and, in worst-case scenarios, death.
The good news is devices like pacemakers and defibrillators allow doctors to introduce electrical signals to set patients' hearts at regularly timed beats. But these small mechanical devices come with risks.
"It's like using a cannon to kill an ant," says Leon Esterowitz, director of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Engineering's Biophotonics program, which funds this research through the Living Matter Lab at Stanford, under the direction of Ellen Kuhl, a professor of engineering at Stanford.
Patients must undergo invasive surgical procedures to permanently implant the devices, which can cause cardiac tissue damage. There are other challenges too, such as lifestyle limitations and the occasional battery malfunction.
Doctors and patients agree there must be a better solution.
"I think progress has to happen," says Ryan Aleong, a leading University of Colorado Denver cardiologist who diagnoses and treats the heart's electrical irregularities. "I think we all realize there's going to be a move for more translational medicine to solve some of these problems."
Dr. Light to the rescue
That's where Abilez, a cardiovascular physician with a doctorate in bioengineering, comes in. He's working with a team of Stanford scientists to develop a novel biological pacemaker--one that controls the human heart with light.
The project, Optogenetic Control of the Human Heart--Turning Light into Force, received $600,000 from NSF last year. The Biomechanics and Mechanobiology program and the Mechanics of Materials program in NSF's Engineering Directorate co-fund the research along the Biophotonics program.
It was one of 40 new projects funded during the first round of NSF's INSPIRE initiative, which addresses complicated and pressing scientific problems that do not fit neatly into any one traditional scientific field or domain.
Abilez's research suits that characterization. It involves two seemingly disconnected and developing technologies: optogenetics and stem cells.
At first glance optogenetics seems more like a magic trick than science, using just flashes of light to control a targeted group of cells.
But, not so fast. Optogenetics uses techniques from both optics and genetics to control the activity of individual neurons in living tissue.
Only a few organisms, such as algae, have naturally light-sensitive cells. In 2002, however, scientists in Germany were able to isolate the genes for the proteins--called opsins--responsible for cells' light sensitivity and modify the genetic code of other cells so that they, too, would produce opsins.
Once produced, the opsins act like small hatches on the surface of a cell. When light shines on them, the hatches either open or close, depending on the type of opsin they are. If the hatches open, electrical signals are able to flow through the cell and be translated into some action, such as regulating a heart. In 2005, Karl Deisseroth and colleagues, also at Stanford, were able to genetically introduce opsins into neurons and control these cells with light; this work and subsequent work has led to the field of optogenetics.
Optogenetics has huge implications for medicine. Researchers, for example, already have shown that they can stop a seizure, cure anxiety and even implant fake memories into the minds of mice using the technology.
Shining a light on someone's chest
Abilez's grand vision is to take stem cells from a person suffering from cardiac arrhythmia and convert the cells into light-sensitive cardiomyocytes--cells that constitute cardiac muscle and are responsible for pacemaker functions in the heart. The cardiomyocytes would then be grafted onto a person's heart, thus allowing doctors to control the whole heart's rhythm using light.
"The applications can be of very high reward," says Natalia Trayanova, director of John Hopkins University's Computational Cardiology Lab.
Current high-energy defibrillation is painful, traumatic and has been associated with a higher rate of mortality, she says. Trayanova also works on cardiac optogenetics.
"Wouldn't it be nice to be able to shine a light on someone's chest and defibrillate them painlessly?"
Abilez has already successfully grown light-sensitive cardiomyocytes. His next step is to test whether the lab-grown cells are accepted when coupled with a larger body of non-stem-cell derived heart cells.
If they are, then Abilez will be on his way to creating a less-invasive, longer-lasting and glitch-free treatment for arrhythmias.
Moreover, Abilez also will have paved the way for optogenetic success in other fields. If he can successfully couple light-sensitive cells with normal cells, then his method of creating light-sensitive stem cells could be used by other researchers to grow any type of light-sensitive cell they wanted, from neurons to pancreatic cells, magnifying the applications of optogenetics in an unprecedented way.
Optogenetic hurdles
At a time when many medical treatments, from prescription drugs to surgeries, can result in a laundry list of complications, it may be difficult to trust that cardiac optogenetics offers a relatively complication-free treatment for patients.
In a way, the mistrust is valid, say researchers. There still are risks involved in cardiac optogenetics. Such risks, however, exist not with the treatment itself but with the feasibility of its development. That is to say, there are still major hurdles to overcome before any applications can be realized.
Ronald Berger, professor of medicine at John Hopkins University, is concerned that biological pacemakers might not be able to coordinate electrical activity between the atria and the ventricles.
Abilez acknowledges such risk, saying that there is a chance the team will discover that their light-sensitive stem cells cannot control the heart as well as they hoped. A large part of the research's difficulty is that the team is in uncharted waters--they have no prior research on which to base their efforts.
"We have to invent things along the way. We don't have any precedent," Abilez says.
Computer models reduce uncertainty
Ellen Kuhl, director of Stanford's Living Matter Lab is helping to take out some of the uncertainty by creating computer models that simulate the heart under different conditions.
With her models, Kuhl has been able to predict optimal configurations for the gene expression of opsins, how much light needs to be shined on the cardiomyocytes and where in the heart cells should be implanted. She can predict all of this for hearts of varied sizes and ages.
"Computational models can help interpret observations in the complex cardiac setting and can guide future developments," says Emilia Entcheva, a biomechanical engineering professor at Stony Brook University in New York and a colleague of Trayanova.
More immediately, however, Kuhl says, "We can make physical or experimental models of arrhythmia and use those as a platform to test drugs to see which drugs are effective in stopping arrhythmias." In fact, companies are looking into using the technology for such drug testing purposes now.
The computational models used for cardiac optogenetics are a product of a new way of practicing medicine--one that involves not only biology and chemistry, but also engineering, mathematics and computer science.
While the applications of cardiac optogenetics are far-reaching, the field has been slow to develop. This is in part because interest in the technology started just as the scientific community began to feel the effects of the recession, says Entcheva.
"NSF support will be a great incentive for more cardiac researchers to focus on fundamental questions that can elevate the use of optogenetics in electrophysiology and cell signaling," she says.
The researchers estimate the main applications of cardiac optogenetics will be realized in the next 10-15 years.
Monday, September 23, 2013
JOHN KERRY'S REMARKS TO UN ON DISABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at a High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Disability and Development
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
United Nations
New York City
September 23, 2013
Good morning. And it’s a great pleasure for me to be able to be here with all of you, an honor to be here for my first high-level meeting at the United Nations General Assembly as Secretary of State.
Before we begin, I want to just reiterate that we are monitoring very closely and with great concern the situation in Kenya. Ruthless and valueless terrorists remain a serious challenge everywhere in the world, as we all know, whether it’s in downtown Manhattan or in a mall in Nairobi or anywhere else in the world, and all of us have a responsibility to remain vigilant. We stand with the Kenyan people. The President has talked to their President; I’ve talked to their Foreign Minister. They are a resilient people, and they will need the world’s support in the coming difficult days.
But the bottom line is that this tragedy is a reminder, a terrible reminder, to all of us that we all share a stake in one another. And that is especially important to keep in mind as the international community prepares to renew the development goals for 2015 and beyond. What happens in one country, we are reminded day to day, matters to many others, to all of us. And what matters in one culture has to be considered elsewhere. That is a bottom line with respect to the topic that we are discussing here today. The way we treat people of all backgrounds, including how we treat disabled and non-disabled alike, this is how we demonstrate our values, and it’s how we define who we are.
Through our development agenda, we have a very important opportunity to show the world that we value everyone’s contributions, and that we leave no one behind, including those with disabilities. It is clear, and we have seen here in the United States over the last years, that we can make an enormous number of lives better in that process.
The principle behind this is really very, very simple: Our societies, all of our societies, are stronger when every single one of our citizens, able bodied and disabled alike, all get to live up to their full potential. And that’s why here in our country, many states have established standards, and they steadfastly enforce them – laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which we passed in 1990 and we believe is really a gold standard with respect to how we treat people and how we open up the world for opportunities. We encourage the international community to look at, study, and, hopefully, emulate this law.
Thanks to laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, nearly one in five Americans are now protected from disability-based discrimination, and all Americans benefit from the contributions of our fellow citizens with disabilities. We see this every day in everyday life in the workplace, in schools, in education all across our nation.
Thanks to other groundbreaking non-discrimination laws like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, nearly 60 percent of students with disabilities are in general education classrooms for 80 percent or more of their school day. Nearly 350,000 infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families now receive early intervention services. And more than 6.6 million children and youth receive special education and related services designed to meet their individual needs.
This year the Federal Communications Commission issued the first-ever National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program in order to help meet the needs of deaf-blind individuals. And since then, hundreds of deaf-blind individuals have gained access to communication technologies through this program, allowing them to lead independent lives and stay connected with their family members and their friends.
In too many countries, however, we still see the rights and the dignity that we have been blessed to be able to now almost take for granted, that it is not existent in many of those places. So as we work to ensure equal access to public spaces, communications technology, education, and more, and though we’ve seen progress internationally, everybody here knows that we still have a lot to do.
Though disabled persons comprise 15 percent of the world, 8 in 10 live in developing countries. And there’s obvious reasons for that. And in those developing countries, 9 out of 10 children with disabilities don’t go to school. Compared with 5 or 10 years ago, many more countries now have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, and many more countries require buildings to be accessible. But all countries, we believe, can work harder to enforce these laws, and to ensure that disabled people have as much right and ability to access their local supermarket or their school or even election booths.
Frankly, this is as much an economic issue as it is a human rights issue. But it is also profoundly a family issue, a personal issue, and a moral issue. None of the change that is needed is possible without the partnerships that we’re building at the international level, including meetings like this, where the world can come together to learn from each other’s experience of how we can make rights a reality for disabled people. No one can forget, however, that the most important partnerships we build are, in the end, those that we build with persons with disabilities themselves. We cannot afford to forget that disabled individuals are not only the beneficiaries of development efforts and investments, but they are also leaders, and they are the agents of progress. And they do so on an equal basis with others.
I’m honored today to be joined by Judith Heumann and Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, who are well known to you all as longtime leaders in the international disability movement. We’re honored that they have brought their expertise and leadership into our government to guide United States policy and practice that leaves no one behind in our diplomacy or in our development, including persons with disabilities.
So we’re here because we see the possibilities of diplomacy, the promise of development, and the potential of every single person. And in fact, I think all of us understand and we have learned gracefully in our country that the possibilities are, frankly, unlimited. So I hope everyone will leave here with a commitment to do everything that we can to make sure that we are pursuing the policies of inclusivity and that we mean it when we say we will not leave anyone behind. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Remarks at a High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Disability and Development
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
United Nations
New York City
September 23, 2013
Good morning. And it’s a great pleasure for me to be able to be here with all of you, an honor to be here for my first high-level meeting at the United Nations General Assembly as Secretary of State.
Before we begin, I want to just reiterate that we are monitoring very closely and with great concern the situation in Kenya. Ruthless and valueless terrorists remain a serious challenge everywhere in the world, as we all know, whether it’s in downtown Manhattan or in a mall in Nairobi or anywhere else in the world, and all of us have a responsibility to remain vigilant. We stand with the Kenyan people. The President has talked to their President; I’ve talked to their Foreign Minister. They are a resilient people, and they will need the world’s support in the coming difficult days.
But the bottom line is that this tragedy is a reminder, a terrible reminder, to all of us that we all share a stake in one another. And that is especially important to keep in mind as the international community prepares to renew the development goals for 2015 and beyond. What happens in one country, we are reminded day to day, matters to many others, to all of us. And what matters in one culture has to be considered elsewhere. That is a bottom line with respect to the topic that we are discussing here today. The way we treat people of all backgrounds, including how we treat disabled and non-disabled alike, this is how we demonstrate our values, and it’s how we define who we are.
Through our development agenda, we have a very important opportunity to show the world that we value everyone’s contributions, and that we leave no one behind, including those with disabilities. It is clear, and we have seen here in the United States over the last years, that we can make an enormous number of lives better in that process.
The principle behind this is really very, very simple: Our societies, all of our societies, are stronger when every single one of our citizens, able bodied and disabled alike, all get to live up to their full potential. And that’s why here in our country, many states have established standards, and they steadfastly enforce them – laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which we passed in 1990 and we believe is really a gold standard with respect to how we treat people and how we open up the world for opportunities. We encourage the international community to look at, study, and, hopefully, emulate this law.
Thanks to laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, nearly one in five Americans are now protected from disability-based discrimination, and all Americans benefit from the contributions of our fellow citizens with disabilities. We see this every day in everyday life in the workplace, in schools, in education all across our nation.
Thanks to other groundbreaking non-discrimination laws like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, nearly 60 percent of students with disabilities are in general education classrooms for 80 percent or more of their school day. Nearly 350,000 infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families now receive early intervention services. And more than 6.6 million children and youth receive special education and related services designed to meet their individual needs.
This year the Federal Communications Commission issued the first-ever National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program in order to help meet the needs of deaf-blind individuals. And since then, hundreds of deaf-blind individuals have gained access to communication technologies through this program, allowing them to lead independent lives and stay connected with their family members and their friends.
In too many countries, however, we still see the rights and the dignity that we have been blessed to be able to now almost take for granted, that it is not existent in many of those places. So as we work to ensure equal access to public spaces, communications technology, education, and more, and though we’ve seen progress internationally, everybody here knows that we still have a lot to do.
Though disabled persons comprise 15 percent of the world, 8 in 10 live in developing countries. And there’s obvious reasons for that. And in those developing countries, 9 out of 10 children with disabilities don’t go to school. Compared with 5 or 10 years ago, many more countries now have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, and many more countries require buildings to be accessible. But all countries, we believe, can work harder to enforce these laws, and to ensure that disabled people have as much right and ability to access their local supermarket or their school or even election booths.
Frankly, this is as much an economic issue as it is a human rights issue. But it is also profoundly a family issue, a personal issue, and a moral issue. None of the change that is needed is possible without the partnerships that we’re building at the international level, including meetings like this, where the world can come together to learn from each other’s experience of how we can make rights a reality for disabled people. No one can forget, however, that the most important partnerships we build are, in the end, those that we build with persons with disabilities themselves. We cannot afford to forget that disabled individuals are not only the beneficiaries of development efforts and investments, but they are also leaders, and they are the agents of progress. And they do so on an equal basis with others.
I’m honored today to be joined by Judith Heumann and Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, who are well known to you all as longtime leaders in the international disability movement. We’re honored that they have brought their expertise and leadership into our government to guide United States policy and practice that leaves no one behind in our diplomacy or in our development, including persons with disabilities.
So we’re here because we see the possibilities of diplomacy, the promise of development, and the potential of every single person. And in fact, I think all of us understand and we have learned gracefully in our country that the possibilities are, frankly, unlimited. So I hope everyone will leave here with a commitment to do everything that we can to make sure that we are pursuing the policies of inclusivity and that we mean it when we say we will not leave anyone behind. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
FTC ANNOUNCES SHUTDOWN OF PAY TO OBTAIN PRIZE SWEEPSTAKES SCAM
FROM: FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has halted a massive sweepstakes scam that has taken more than $11 million from consumers throughout the United States and dozens of other countries throughout the world, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. The FTC seeks to permanently end the allegedly illegal practices that have continued for seven years and return money to victims.
According to the FTC’s complaint, Liam O. Moran, a resident of Ventura, California, and his companies, mass mail personalized letters to millions of consumers telling them that they have won a large cash prize, typically more than $2 million with bold, large-type statements such as “Over TWO MILLION DOLLARS in sweepstakes has been reserved for you.” Consumers are told that they can collect the prize by sending in a small fee of approximately $20 to $30. The letters often indicate that recipients are “guaranteed” to receive the prize money if they pay the fee, and they create a sense of urgency by stating that it is a limited-time offer.
In “dense, confusing language,” often on the back of the letters, there are statements in direct conflict with the bold claims of major winnings. A very careful reader might learn that they in fact have not won, and that the defendants do not sponsor sweepstakes but instead claim only to provide consumers with a list of available sweepstakes. Consumers frequently fail to see or understand this language and send money to the defendants. The FTC alleges that this language does not appear designed to correct deceptive statements, but exists mainly as an attempt to provide a defense to law enforcement action. Consumers get nothing of value in exchange for their payment.
The defendants have sent more than 3.7 million letters during the past two years, including nearly 800,000 letters to people in 156 countries in the first half of 2013. They have collected more than $11 million from consumers since 2009. The vast majority of the victims of this scam appear to be over 65.
The court order temporarily stops the illegal conduct, freezes the operation’s assets, and appoints a receiver over the corporate defendants while the FTC moves forward with the case.
Moran’s co-defendants are Applied Marketing Sciences LLC; Standard Registration Corporation, also doing business as Consolidated Research Authority and CRA; and Worldwide Information Systems Incorporated, also doing business as Specific Monitoring Service, SMS, Specific Reporting Service, SRS, Universal Information Services, UIS, Compendium Sampler Services, and CSS.
The FTC would like to thank the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Vancouver Police Department, the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for their assistance in this case.
To learn how to avoid these kinds of scams, read the FTC's Prize Offers: You Don't Have to Pay to Play.
The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint was 4-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The case will be decided by the court.
At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has halted a massive sweepstakes scam that has taken more than $11 million from consumers throughout the United States and dozens of other countries throughout the world, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. The FTC seeks to permanently end the allegedly illegal practices that have continued for seven years and return money to victims.
According to the FTC’s complaint, Liam O. Moran, a resident of Ventura, California, and his companies, mass mail personalized letters to millions of consumers telling them that they have won a large cash prize, typically more than $2 million with bold, large-type statements such as “Over TWO MILLION DOLLARS in sweepstakes has been reserved for you.” Consumers are told that they can collect the prize by sending in a small fee of approximately $20 to $30. The letters often indicate that recipients are “guaranteed” to receive the prize money if they pay the fee, and they create a sense of urgency by stating that it is a limited-time offer.
In “dense, confusing language,” often on the back of the letters, there are statements in direct conflict with the bold claims of major winnings. A very careful reader might learn that they in fact have not won, and that the defendants do not sponsor sweepstakes but instead claim only to provide consumers with a list of available sweepstakes. Consumers frequently fail to see or understand this language and send money to the defendants. The FTC alleges that this language does not appear designed to correct deceptive statements, but exists mainly as an attempt to provide a defense to law enforcement action. Consumers get nothing of value in exchange for their payment.
The defendants have sent more than 3.7 million letters during the past two years, including nearly 800,000 letters to people in 156 countries in the first half of 2013. They have collected more than $11 million from consumers since 2009. The vast majority of the victims of this scam appear to be over 65.
The court order temporarily stops the illegal conduct, freezes the operation’s assets, and appoints a receiver over the corporate defendants while the FTC moves forward with the case.
Moran’s co-defendants are Applied Marketing Sciences LLC; Standard Registration Corporation, also doing business as Consolidated Research Authority and CRA; and Worldwide Information Systems Incorporated, also doing business as Specific Monitoring Service, SMS, Specific Reporting Service, SRS, Universal Information Services, UIS, Compendium Sampler Services, and CSS.
The FTC would like to thank the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Vancouver Police Department, the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for their assistance in this case.
To learn how to avoid these kinds of scams, read the FTC's Prize Offers: You Don't Have to Pay to Play.
The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint was 4-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The case will be decided by the court.
READOUT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CALL TO KENYAN PRESIDENT KENYATTA
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Readout of the President’s Call with President Kenyatta of Kenya
President Obama called President Kenyatta of Kenya this morning to express condolences to the government and people of Kenya for the terrorist attack carried out by al-Shabaab yesterday on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi. President Obama reiterated U.S. support for Kenya’s efforts to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. The President also reaffirmed the strong and historic partnership between the United States and Kenya as well as our shared commitment to combating terrorism and promoting peace and prosperity in East Africa and around the world.
REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY BEFORE MEETING WITH EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FAHMY
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy Before Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
New York City
September 22, 2013
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what do you have to say to al-Shabaab after this weekend's attack?
SECRETARY KERRY: I’ll have something to say about it tomorrow, but obviously it’s an enormous offense against everybody’s sense of right and wrong. And President Obama talked today with the President; I talked with the Foreign Minister, our Ambassador. We’re in close touch with everybody there. But it’s – it represents the seriousness and the breadth of the challenge that we face with ruthless and completely reckless terrorists. So we’re going to proceed.
Thank you
Remarks With Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy Before Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
New York City
September 22, 2013
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what do you have to say to al-Shabaab after this weekend's attack?
SECRETARY KERRY: I’ll have something to say about it tomorrow, but obviously it’s an enormous offense against everybody’s sense of right and wrong. And President Obama talked today with the President; I talked with the Foreign Minister, our Ambassador. We’re in close touch with everybody there. But it’s – it represents the seriousness and the breadth of the challenge that we face with ruthless and completely reckless terrorists. So we’re going to proceed.
Thank you
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK FINANCES $34 MILLION IN EXPORTS TO SUPPORT 200 U.S. JOBS
FROM: EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
Ex-Im Bank Approves $34 Million to Finance the Export of U.S.
Solar-Related Products to Spain and South Africa
Transaction Supports White House Power Africa Initiative
Washington, D.C. – As part of its renewable-energy push, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a pair of direct loans totaling $33.6 million to Abengoa of Seville, Spain, that will facilitate the export of American heat-transfer fluid produced by The Dow Chemical Company for use in solar projects in Spain and South Africa.
Ex-Im Bank’s financing will support approximately 200 U.S. jobs, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology.
“Ex-Im Bank’s consistent support of renewable-energy projects demonstrates our commitment to supporting high-skilled jobs in an important homegrown industry and improving the environment,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “In addition to contributing to cleaner sources of energy and supporting U.S. jobs, these two transactions will support President Obama’s goal of doubling access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Power Africa is a new initiative to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. In its initial phase, the United States has already committed more than $7 billion in financial support to this effort.
DOWTHERMTM A heat-transfer fluid from Dow is a key component of the steam-heating process in concentrated solar power plants and replaces conventional fossil-fuel boilers.
Headquartered in Midland, Mich., The Dow Chemical Company, and its consolidated subsidiaries (Dow), delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions through the production, marketing, and sales of specialty chemicals and advanced materials and plastics. Dow operates manufacturing sites in 36 countries and employs approximately 54,000 people.
“The Ex-Im Bank is enabling growth in the U.S. and beyond,” said Carolina Barrios, market development manager for Dow Heat Transfer Fluids. “By supporting the use of high quality, U.S.-made exports, this transaction advances the competitiveness of Dow manufacturing and operations jobs locally, while helping to meet clean energy demands around the world.”
Abengoa is an international company based in Seville, Spain, that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors. The company operates two parabolic-trough solar plants in Logrosan, Spain, and is currently building two plants in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa with the Industrial Development Corporation. The two plants in Spain and one of the two in South Africa will rely upon DOWTHERM A.
Ex-Im Bank Approves $34 Million to Finance the Export of U.S.
Solar-Related Products to Spain and South Africa
Transaction Supports White House Power Africa Initiative
Washington, D.C. – As part of its renewable-energy push, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a pair of direct loans totaling $33.6 million to Abengoa of Seville, Spain, that will facilitate the export of American heat-transfer fluid produced by The Dow Chemical Company for use in solar projects in Spain and South Africa.
Ex-Im Bank’s financing will support approximately 200 U.S. jobs, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology.
“Ex-Im Bank’s consistent support of renewable-energy projects demonstrates our commitment to supporting high-skilled jobs in an important homegrown industry and improving the environment,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “In addition to contributing to cleaner sources of energy and supporting U.S. jobs, these two transactions will support President Obama’s goal of doubling access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Power Africa is a new initiative to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. In its initial phase, the United States has already committed more than $7 billion in financial support to this effort.
DOWTHERMTM A heat-transfer fluid from Dow is a key component of the steam-heating process in concentrated solar power plants and replaces conventional fossil-fuel boilers.
Headquartered in Midland, Mich., The Dow Chemical Company, and its consolidated subsidiaries (Dow), delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions through the production, marketing, and sales of specialty chemicals and advanced materials and plastics. Dow operates manufacturing sites in 36 countries and employs approximately 54,000 people.
“The Ex-Im Bank is enabling growth in the U.S. and beyond,” said Carolina Barrios, market development manager for Dow Heat Transfer Fluids. “By supporting the use of high quality, U.S.-made exports, this transaction advances the competitiveness of Dow manufacturing and operations jobs locally, while helping to meet clean energy demands around the world.”
Abengoa is an international company based in Seville, Spain, that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors. The company operates two parabolic-trough solar plants in Logrosan, Spain, and is currently building two plants in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa with the Industrial Development Corporation. The two plants in Spain and one of the two in South Africa will rely upon DOWTHERM A.
DOCTOR RECEIVES 151 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR ROLE IN $77 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Monday, September 16, 2013
“No Show” Doctor Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison in Connection with $77 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Gustave Drivas, M.D., 58, of Staten Island, N.Y., was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison for his role as a “no show” doctor in a $77 million Medicare fraud scheme. The State of New York revoked Dr. Drivas’s medical license earlier this year.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Thomas O’Donnell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
Drivas was convicted by a jury on April 8, 2013, of health care fraud conspiracy and health care fraud after a seven-week trial. He was acquitted of kickback conspiracy. Including Drivas, 13 individuals have been convicted of participating in the massive fraud scheme, either through guilty pleas or trial convictions. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Drivas to three years of supervised release with a concurrent exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and all Federal health programs, ordered him to forfeit $511,000 and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $50.9 million.
The evidence at trial showed that Drivas knowingly authorized his co-conspirators at a Brooklyn medical clinic to use his Medicare billing number to charge Medicare for more than $20 million in medical procedures and services that were never performed. In return, he received more than $500,000 for his role in the scheme. According to court documents, from 2005 to 2010, Drivas was the medical director of or a rendering physician at a clinic in Brooklyn that billed Medicare under three corporate names: Bay Medical Care PC, SVS Wellcare Medical PLLC and SZS Medical Care PLLC (collectively “Bay Medical clinic”). The evidence established that Drivas was a “no show” doctor, who almost never visited the clinic except to pick up his check. The evidence also showed that the clinic paid cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and used the beneficiaries’ names to bill Medicare for more than $77 million in services that were medically unnecessary and never provided.
The government’s investigation included the use of a court-ordered audio/video recording device hidden in a room at the clinic in which the conspirators paid cash kickbacks to corrupt Medicare beneficiaries. The conspirators were recorded paying approximately $500,000 in cash kickbacks during a period of approximately six weeks from April to June 2010. This room was marked “PRIVATE” and featured a Soviet-era poster of a woman with a finger to her lips and the words “Don’t Gossip” in Russian. The purpose of the kickbacks was to induce the beneficiaries to receive unnecessary medical services or to stay silent when services not provided to the patients were billed to Medicare.
To generate the large amounts of cash needed to pay the patients, Drivas’s business partners and co-conspirators recruited a network of external money launderers who cashed checks for the clinic. Clinic owners wrote clinic checks payable to various shell companies controlled by the money launderers. These checks did not represent payment for any legitimate service at or for the Bay Medical clinic, but rather were written to launder the clinic’s fraudulently obtained health care proceeds. The money launderers cashed these checks and provided the cash back to the clinic. Clinic employees used the cash to pay illegal cash kickbacks to the Bay Medical clinic’s purported patients.
This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG 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 Eastern District of New York. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Sarah M. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William C. Campos and Shannon C. Jones of the Eastern District of New York.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Monday, September 16, 2013
“No Show” Doctor Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison in Connection with $77 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Gustave Drivas, M.D., 58, of Staten Island, N.Y., was sentenced to serve 151 months in prison for his role as a “no show” doctor in a $77 million Medicare fraud scheme. The State of New York revoked Dr. Drivas’s medical license earlier this year.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Thomas O’Donnell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
Drivas was convicted by a jury on April 8, 2013, of health care fraud conspiracy and health care fraud after a seven-week trial. He was acquitted of kickback conspiracy. Including Drivas, 13 individuals have been convicted of participating in the massive fraud scheme, either through guilty pleas or trial convictions. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Drivas to three years of supervised release with a concurrent exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and all Federal health programs, ordered him to forfeit $511,000 and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $50.9 million.
The evidence at trial showed that Drivas knowingly authorized his co-conspirators at a Brooklyn medical clinic to use his Medicare billing number to charge Medicare for more than $20 million in medical procedures and services that were never performed. In return, he received more than $500,000 for his role in the scheme. According to court documents, from 2005 to 2010, Drivas was the medical director of or a rendering physician at a clinic in Brooklyn that billed Medicare under three corporate names: Bay Medical Care PC, SVS Wellcare Medical PLLC and SZS Medical Care PLLC (collectively “Bay Medical clinic”). The evidence established that Drivas was a “no show” doctor, who almost never visited the clinic except to pick up his check. The evidence also showed that the clinic paid cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries and used the beneficiaries’ names to bill Medicare for more than $77 million in services that were medically unnecessary and never provided.
The government’s investigation included the use of a court-ordered audio/video recording device hidden in a room at the clinic in which the conspirators paid cash kickbacks to corrupt Medicare beneficiaries. The conspirators were recorded paying approximately $500,000 in cash kickbacks during a period of approximately six weeks from April to June 2010. This room was marked “PRIVATE” and featured a Soviet-era poster of a woman with a finger to her lips and the words “Don’t Gossip” in Russian. The purpose of the kickbacks was to induce the beneficiaries to receive unnecessary medical services or to stay silent when services not provided to the patients were billed to Medicare.
To generate the large amounts of cash needed to pay the patients, Drivas’s business partners and co-conspirators recruited a network of external money launderers who cashed checks for the clinic. Clinic owners wrote clinic checks payable to various shell companies controlled by the money launderers. These checks did not represent payment for any legitimate service at or for the Bay Medical clinic, but rather were written to launder the clinic’s fraudulently obtained health care proceeds. The money launderers cashed these checks and provided the cash back to the clinic. Clinic employees used the cash to pay illegal cash kickbacks to the Bay Medical clinic’s purported patients.
This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG 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 Eastern District of New York. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Sarah M. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William C. Campos and Shannon C. Jones of the Eastern District of New York.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
TWO FUJIKURA LTD. EXECUTIVES INDICTED IN AUTO PARTS PRICE FIXING CASE
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Two Fujikura Ltd. Executives Indicted for Roles in Fixing Prices on Automobile Parts Sold to Subaru to Be Installed in U.S. Cars
A federal grand jury in Detroit returned an indictment against two Fujikura Ltd. executives for their roles in an international conspiracy to fix prices of auto parts used in automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru and installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit, charges Ryoji Fukudome and Toshihiko Nagashima, both Japanese nationals, with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses sold to Fuji Heavy Industries–an automaker more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru–for installation in automobiles sold in the United States and elsewhere.
Fukudome was employed by Fujikura as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2001 to April 2006 and Nagashima was employed by Fujikura as manager of the Fujikura Wire Harness Center in Ohta, Japan, from July 1994 to April 2006, and as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2006 to April 2009.
Fujikura is a Toyko-based manufacturer of automotive wire harnesses. Automotive wire harnesses are automotive electrical distribution systems used to direct and control electronic components, wiring and circuit boards. Fujikura pleaded guilty to its role in the conspiracy in June 2012, and was sentenced to pay a $20 million criminal fine.
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from at least as early as September 2005 until at least February 2010, Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators attended meetings in Japan to reach collusive agreements to rig bids and allocate the supply of automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru. The indictment alleges that Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators had further communications to monitor and enforce the collusive agreements.
“International cartels targeting U.S. businesses and consumers pose a serious threat to our competitive market place,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The Antitrust Division is working closely with competition enforcers abroad to ensure that there are no safe harbors for executives who engage in international cartel crimes.”
“Those who engage in price fixing, bid rigging and other fraudulent schemes harm the automotive industry by driving up costs for vehicle makers and buyers,” said John Robert Shoup, Acting Special Agent in Charge, FBI Detroit Division. “The FBI is committed to pursuing and prosecuting these individuals for their crimes.”
Fukudome and Nagashima are charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Including Fukudome and Nagashima, 11 companies and 18 executives have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry. To date, more than $874 million in criminal fines have been imposed and 14 individuals have been sentenced to pay criminal fines and to serve prison sentences ranging from a year and a day to two years each. One other executive has agreed to serve time in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 25, 2013.
The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Two Fujikura Ltd. Executives Indicted for Roles in Fixing Prices on Automobile Parts Sold to Subaru to Be Installed in U.S. Cars
A federal grand jury in Detroit returned an indictment against two Fujikura Ltd. executives for their roles in an international conspiracy to fix prices of auto parts used in automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru and installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit, charges Ryoji Fukudome and Toshihiko Nagashima, both Japanese nationals, with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses sold to Fuji Heavy Industries–an automaker more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru–for installation in automobiles sold in the United States and elsewhere.
Fukudome was employed by Fujikura as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2001 to April 2006 and Nagashima was employed by Fujikura as manager of the Fujikura Wire Harness Center in Ohta, Japan, from July 1994 to April 2006, and as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2006 to April 2009.
Fujikura is a Toyko-based manufacturer of automotive wire harnesses. Automotive wire harnesses are automotive electrical distribution systems used to direct and control electronic components, wiring and circuit boards. Fujikura pleaded guilty to its role in the conspiracy in June 2012, and was sentenced to pay a $20 million criminal fine.
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from at least as early as September 2005 until at least February 2010, Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators attended meetings in Japan to reach collusive agreements to rig bids and allocate the supply of automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru. The indictment alleges that Fukudome, Nagashima and their co-conspirators had further communications to monitor and enforce the collusive agreements.
“International cartels targeting U.S. businesses and consumers pose a serious threat to our competitive market place,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The Antitrust Division is working closely with competition enforcers abroad to ensure that there are no safe harbors for executives who engage in international cartel crimes.”
“Those who engage in price fixing, bid rigging and other fraudulent schemes harm the automotive industry by driving up costs for vehicle makers and buyers,” said John Robert Shoup, Acting Special Agent in Charge, FBI Detroit Division. “The FBI is committed to pursuing and prosecuting these individuals for their crimes.”
Fukudome and Nagashima are charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Including Fukudome and Nagashima, 11 companies and 18 executives have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry. To date, more than $874 million in criminal fines have been imposed and 14 individuals have been sentenced to pay criminal fines and to serve prison sentences ranging from a year and a day to two years each. One other executive has agreed to serve time in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 25, 2013.
The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION PROBLEM OF AIR TRAINING IN AFGHANISTAN
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
ISAF Air Training Commander Describes 'Delicate Balance'
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Sept. 20, 2013 - The commander of NATO's Air Training Command Afghanistan admits that he has a public perception problem: while polls show Americans have largely dismissed the war in Afghanistan as an effort that's winding down, his mission is ramping up in size and complexity and in the number of obstacles encountered.
Air Force Brig. Gen. John E. Michel's command is responsible for training the Afghan air force, or as he puts it, building a minimum, sustainable air capability suited to Afghanistan's needs, terrain, development and resources.
While visiting here this week to attend an Air Force conference, Michel spoke to American Forces Press Service about the challenges his command faces in ramping up a training mission to last through 2017 as the rest of NATO's International Security Assistance Force looks to draw down troops by the end of next year.
He acknowledges that to accomplish his mission by December 2017, he'll need every advantage he can wring from dwindling war funds.
"It's very easy to lose this in translation, because most people don't realize [air trainers are] staying [in Afghanistan] until '17," he said. "The mindset is, 'We're done in '14,' and I got that, but the biggest challenge is just where we are in time and space. The story has shifted to another direction.
"Everyone else is leaving, and we're growing," he continued. "We're building an 8,000-person force that can do what they need for Afghanistan -- humanitarian [missions], basic intelligence, troop insertion, resupply [and] casualty evacuation."
Michel's coalition aircrews fly alongside their Afghan counterparts during training, combat and joint missions, conducting resupply, troop and passenger movements and casualty evacuation for the Afghan army. Coalition advisors also train in maintenance, logistics, finance and communications.
The Afghan air force is divided into three wings, located respectively in Kabul, Kandahar and Shindand. The command center is in Kabul, and the Shindand Air Base in Herat province is the main training area.
The Afghan air force's fleet eventually will include 58 Mi-17 transport helicopters, six Mi-35 attack helicopters, 20 C-208 turboprop airliners, four C-130 transport aircraft and 20 A-29 light attack aircraft. The training command staff that will grow in the next few years as Afghan air capabilities come online, Michel emphasized, will shrink as the Afghan force develops its own experts.
"We've got to go from 649 to 1,114 people," he said. That number will plateau for a time, and then gradually decline as Afghan air capabilities are ramped up, brought to sustainment and handed off, the general said.
Michel said the American people are the command's "stockholders," along with the coalition nations and the Afghans.
His trainers are "very good stewards of every dollar we spend, every person we bring in," Michel said. He and his staff use detailed charts that show growing Afghan air mission capability to brief NATO International Security Assistance Force leaders. They demonstrate the progress made and justify future effort, he said.
Fighting for funding is becoming familiar again in military circles, Michel said, noting the importance of what he views as a mission vital to U.S. and Afghan security.
"My goal is, 'Let's use data to keep us on the intellectual high ground, instead of being pulled to the emotional low ground,'" he said.
Partner commitment is as important as economic commitment in mission success, the general noted.
"There are things the U.S. Air Force cannot build in an Afghan air force, because those skills aren't requisite [to American needs]," he said. "Where are we going to get Mi-17 talent? Where's my Mi-35 talent? Who's going to turn wrenches?"
American pilots have learned to fly those Russian helicopters, Michel said, and the training command relies on ISAF coalition partners, including Croatia and Italy, to teach the Afghan force how to maintain and support them. But some partners are reluctant to pledge people or funds after the larger national security mission transition wraps up in 2014, he added, partly because of uncertainty over U.S. intentions in Afghanistan.
"There's a series of concerns, realistically," he said, listing partner questions about final troop numbers, funding and security concerns. All contribute to an environment in which partner nations postpone commitment, Michel said.
"So we've got this very perilous situation setting up that, without the coalition support -- if we don't get the right people ... for the right time frame -- then we'll have to start de-scaling capabilities," he added.
Among other metrics, Michel said, the charts his command keeps track growth in the Afghan air force's overall and detailed capabilities, using a green-yellow-red legend. Given the state of development the Afghan forces have achieved to date, he said, "if we stop [training] today, the only things they could sustain is what's green."
Those capabilities all are in the "air movement" category, and about halfway mature there, judging by the green-yellow chart pattern, he said. The yellow areas, he added, "where we are currently improving slowly, would immediately start to diffuse and be unsustainable. And then if it's red, we haven't started it yet."
Red areas on the chart include advanced combat capabilities such as close air support and close air attack, which now are mostly yellow.
Likewise, he said, the air training command is still building infrastructure which will continue through 2015 if current plans hold. It was just last month, he noted, that the Shindand Air Wing Training Complex opened, adding 32 facilities from aircraft hangars to flight simulators to Afghanistan's training inventory.
"But now there are pressures to potentially reduce infrastructure," Michel said, noting that a recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction drew media and congressional attention when it blasted an unused headquarters building that was built in Helmand for $34 million.
"Every [inspector general] report is killing us," he said.
The general emphasized that all new Afghan air force facilities will be designed for Afghanistan's needs and budgeted accordingly. But, he added, "if all of a sudden we change our minds on infrastructure, that significantly impacts our ability to build a sustainable air force."
Michel and his staff also are preparing for a scaling-back in funding on Kabul's part; he said the Afghan air force is projected to cost its government between $600 million and $620 million a year after coalition funding support ends.
"Let's look at their overall defense budget," he said. "Because of the Chicago accords, it's fixed at $4.1 billion. So as a percentage, 3.5 percent of the force -- their air force -- is going to, now, absorb as much as 15 to 20 percent of their budget."
Planning in true military fashion for likely contingencies, Michel said, he and his staff offered to plan force structure options at a number of funding levels for Afghan leaders.
"The smart thing to do is find efficiencies [and] recommend options," he said.
Synchronizing the systems and subsystems that are working toward a self-sustaining Afghan air force with its own training, command, maintenance and support systems requires a delicate balance, the general said.
"We think [what they can pay for] is the right question," he said. "Because we can go to the [Afghan] leadership and say, 'It is affordable, therefore it's sustainable.' ... They've got to steward their own resources when we leave. It's our job to create the conditions, and advise, and train."
ISAF Air Training Commander Describes 'Delicate Balance'
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Sept. 20, 2013 - The commander of NATO's Air Training Command Afghanistan admits that he has a public perception problem: while polls show Americans have largely dismissed the war in Afghanistan as an effort that's winding down, his mission is ramping up in size and complexity and in the number of obstacles encountered.
Air Force Brig. Gen. John E. Michel's command is responsible for training the Afghan air force, or as he puts it, building a minimum, sustainable air capability suited to Afghanistan's needs, terrain, development and resources.
While visiting here this week to attend an Air Force conference, Michel spoke to American Forces Press Service about the challenges his command faces in ramping up a training mission to last through 2017 as the rest of NATO's International Security Assistance Force looks to draw down troops by the end of next year.
He acknowledges that to accomplish his mission by December 2017, he'll need every advantage he can wring from dwindling war funds.
"It's very easy to lose this in translation, because most people don't realize [air trainers are] staying [in Afghanistan] until '17," he said. "The mindset is, 'We're done in '14,' and I got that, but the biggest challenge is just where we are in time and space. The story has shifted to another direction.
"Everyone else is leaving, and we're growing," he continued. "We're building an 8,000-person force that can do what they need for Afghanistan -- humanitarian [missions], basic intelligence, troop insertion, resupply [and] casualty evacuation."
Michel's coalition aircrews fly alongside their Afghan counterparts during training, combat and joint missions, conducting resupply, troop and passenger movements and casualty evacuation for the Afghan army. Coalition advisors also train in maintenance, logistics, finance and communications.
The Afghan air force is divided into three wings, located respectively in Kabul, Kandahar and Shindand. The command center is in Kabul, and the Shindand Air Base in Herat province is the main training area.
The Afghan air force's fleet eventually will include 58 Mi-17 transport helicopters, six Mi-35 attack helicopters, 20 C-208 turboprop airliners, four C-130 transport aircraft and 20 A-29 light attack aircraft. The training command staff that will grow in the next few years as Afghan air capabilities come online, Michel emphasized, will shrink as the Afghan force develops its own experts.
"We've got to go from 649 to 1,114 people," he said. That number will plateau for a time, and then gradually decline as Afghan air capabilities are ramped up, brought to sustainment and handed off, the general said.
Michel said the American people are the command's "stockholders," along with the coalition nations and the Afghans.
His trainers are "very good stewards of every dollar we spend, every person we bring in," Michel said. He and his staff use detailed charts that show growing Afghan air mission capability to brief NATO International Security Assistance Force leaders. They demonstrate the progress made and justify future effort, he said.
Fighting for funding is becoming familiar again in military circles, Michel said, noting the importance of what he views as a mission vital to U.S. and Afghan security.
"My goal is, 'Let's use data to keep us on the intellectual high ground, instead of being pulled to the emotional low ground,'" he said.
Partner commitment is as important as economic commitment in mission success, the general noted.
"There are things the U.S. Air Force cannot build in an Afghan air force, because those skills aren't requisite [to American needs]," he said. "Where are we going to get Mi-17 talent? Where's my Mi-35 talent? Who's going to turn wrenches?"
American pilots have learned to fly those Russian helicopters, Michel said, and the training command relies on ISAF coalition partners, including Croatia and Italy, to teach the Afghan force how to maintain and support them. But some partners are reluctant to pledge people or funds after the larger national security mission transition wraps up in 2014, he added, partly because of uncertainty over U.S. intentions in Afghanistan.
"There's a series of concerns, realistically," he said, listing partner questions about final troop numbers, funding and security concerns. All contribute to an environment in which partner nations postpone commitment, Michel said.
"So we've got this very perilous situation setting up that, without the coalition support -- if we don't get the right people ... for the right time frame -- then we'll have to start de-scaling capabilities," he added.
Among other metrics, Michel said, the charts his command keeps track growth in the Afghan air force's overall and detailed capabilities, using a green-yellow-red legend. Given the state of development the Afghan forces have achieved to date, he said, "if we stop [training] today, the only things they could sustain is what's green."
Those capabilities all are in the "air movement" category, and about halfway mature there, judging by the green-yellow chart pattern, he said. The yellow areas, he added, "where we are currently improving slowly, would immediately start to diffuse and be unsustainable. And then if it's red, we haven't started it yet."
Red areas on the chart include advanced combat capabilities such as close air support and close air attack, which now are mostly yellow.
Likewise, he said, the air training command is still building infrastructure which will continue through 2015 if current plans hold. It was just last month, he noted, that the Shindand Air Wing Training Complex opened, adding 32 facilities from aircraft hangars to flight simulators to Afghanistan's training inventory.
"But now there are pressures to potentially reduce infrastructure," Michel said, noting that a recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction drew media and congressional attention when it blasted an unused headquarters building that was built in Helmand for $34 million.
"Every [inspector general] report is killing us," he said.
The general emphasized that all new Afghan air force facilities will be designed for Afghanistan's needs and budgeted accordingly. But, he added, "if all of a sudden we change our minds on infrastructure, that significantly impacts our ability to build a sustainable air force."
Michel and his staff also are preparing for a scaling-back in funding on Kabul's part; he said the Afghan air force is projected to cost its government between $600 million and $620 million a year after coalition funding support ends.
"Let's look at their overall defense budget," he said. "Because of the Chicago accords, it's fixed at $4.1 billion. So as a percentage, 3.5 percent of the force -- their air force -- is going to, now, absorb as much as 15 to 20 percent of their budget."
Planning in true military fashion for likely contingencies, Michel said, he and his staff offered to plan force structure options at a number of funding levels for Afghan leaders.
"The smart thing to do is find efficiencies [and] recommend options," he said.
Synchronizing the systems and subsystems that are working toward a self-sustaining Afghan air force with its own training, command, maintenance and support systems requires a delicate balance, the general said.
"We think [what they can pay for] is the right question," he said. "Because we can go to the [Afghan] leadership and say, 'It is affordable, therefore it's sustainable.' ... They've got to steward their own resources when we leave. It's our job to create the conditions, and advise, and train."
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