Ex-Amazon Employee Accused of Insider Trading

A former manager in Amazon’s tax department and two family members have been charged with making insider trades in advance of the company’s earnings announcements.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Laksha Bohra passed on highly confidential information she obtained through her work ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 29, 2020

Biotech Exec Charged With COVID Test Fraud

In the latest legal fallout from an alleged fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the president of biotech firm Arrayit of making false claims to investors.According to the SEC, Mark Schena stated that Arrayit had developed a COVID-test an...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 28, 2020

SEC Drops Proposed Whistleblower Award Rule

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced changes to its whistleblower program but discarded a controversial proposal to allow staff to reduce awards of more than $30 million.The proposal for a discretionary “cap” on large awards had sparked an outcry among whistleblower advocates and...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 24, 2020

GOP Senators Offer 6-Month Lifeline for Airlines

Two Republican senators have introduced legislation to provide $28 billion in coronavirus relief to U.S. airlines, extending a program that is set to expire at the end of this month.Airlines have warned that tens of thousands of employees would be laid off next week unless the Payroll Support Pro...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 22, 2020

S&P Index Manager Charged With Insider Trading

A senior index manager at S&P Dow Jones Indices and his friend have been charged with trading on inside information he misappropriated from his employer, generating $900,000 in illicit profits.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Yinghang “James” Yang of Flushing, N.Y., traded in ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 22, 2020

Judge Gives WeChat Reprieve From U.S. Shutdown

A U.S. judge has barred the Trump administration from effectively shutting down the China-based messaging app WeChat, citing the free-speech rights of users and casting doubt on the government’s national security concerns.The Commerce Department issued an order on Friday requiring Apple and Googl...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 21, 2020

Fraud Prevention Firm’s Ex-CEO Charged With Fraud

The former CEO of fraud prevention startup NS8 has been charged with fraud for fabricating millions of dollars in revenue to raise $123 million from investors.The U.S. Department of Justice said Adam Rogas, 43, altered NS8’s bank statements before providing them on a monthly basis to its finance ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 18, 2020

Feds Net 57 People in Probe of PPP Loan Scams

The Department of Justice said it had uncovered widespread fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program, with 57 people, including an NFL player, being charged so far with trying to steal a total of $175 million in coronavirus relief loans for small businesses.The spectrum of fraud has ranged from in...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 11, 2020

Hedge Fund Founder Accused of Neiman Fraud

The founder of distressed debt hedge fund Marble Ridge Capital has been charged with defrauding creditors of Neiman Marcus by coercing a rival bidder to drop a higher offer for the thriving e-commerce business of the bankrupt retailer.Daniel Kamensky, 47, was arrested Thursday on criminal charges...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 4, 2020

Trump Signals Support for More Airline Aid

President Donald Trump indicated he supports more government aid to avert layoffs at U.S. airlines after their current relief package expires at the end of the month.Congress set aside $25 billion for U.S. passenger carriers in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March on the condition that they would...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 2, 2020

Herbalife Fined $123M Over China Bribe Scheme

Herbalife has agreed to pay $123 million to settle charges that it bribed Chinese government officials to promote and increase its business in China and disguised the payments as permissible legitimate expenses.U.S. authorities said the corruption scheme lasted from 2006, when Herbalife applied f...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 31, 2020

Engineer Gets 18 Months in Google Secrets Case

Former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets from the company to benefit himself and Uber’s self-driving car program.Levandowski, 40, was a pioneer of autonomous vehicle technology at Google’s Project Chauffeur before leaving to f...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 5, 2020

Top CEOs Urge Congress to Save Small Firms

Leaders of some of the largest U.S. companies have called on Congress to include long-term support for small businesses in the next COVID-19 relief package to save them from potential financial ruin.In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate, more than 100 executives said another round of...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 4, 2020

J&J Speeds Up Timeline for Coronavirus Vaccine

Playing catch-up in the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine, Johnson & Johnson said Thursday it now expects to begin a late-stage study of its vaccine candidate in September.The phase III study would follow the phase I human trial that J&J plans to begin this week with more than 1,000 p...

By Matthew Heller • July 16, 2020

High Court to Review Fannie-Freddie Dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review whether the federal government can continue to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in quarterly dividends from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The two mortgage giants have operated under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency since the...

By Matthew Heller • July 10, 2020

Alexion Fined $21M in Foreign Corruption Probe

Biotech firm Alexion has agreed to pay more than $21 million to settle charges that it bribed Turkish and Russian officials to secure favorable treatment for its main drug.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the alleged misconduct lasted from 2010 to 2015 and unjustly enriched Alexio...

By Matthew Heller • July 3, 2020

Cisco Sued for Discrimination Based on Caste

In an unusual case of discrimination by caste, the state of California has alleged two managers at Cisco Systems harassed a fellow Indian-American employee because he comes from the lowest social group in India’s caste system.The suit filed on Tuesday by California’s Department of Fair Employment...

By Matthew Heller • July 2, 2020

Telegram to Return $1.2B to ICO Investors

Messaging startup Telegram Group has agreed to return more than $1.2 billion to investors to settle allegations that it illegally sold digital tokens to raise money for a blockchain project.The settlement came three months after a court granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s reques...

By Matthew Heller • June 29, 2020

DoJ Proposes Weakening Tech Immunity Law

The U.S. Department of Justice has recommended changes to the law that protects online platforms from liability for content posted by their users and allows them to moderate that content.In unveiling the reform package, the DoJ said the time was “ripe to realign the scope of Section 230 [of the C...

By Matthew Heller • June 18, 2020

Former eBay Employees Accused of Roach Attack

Six former eBay employees have been accused of sending a box of live cockroaches and a pig fetus to a Massachusetts couple as part of a campaign to harass them for publishing a newsletter critical of the online auction site.James Baugh, eBay’s former senior director of safety & security, and ...

By Matthew Heller • June 16, 2020

EU Launches Probes of App Store, Apple Pay

The European Commission has opened antitrust investigations of two Apple services, citing concerns that the App Store and Apple Pay stifle competition.The App Store probe will focus on music streaming and e-books/audiobooks, following complaints by Spotify and e-reader company Kobo over the commi...

By Matthew Heller • June 16, 2020

Chicken Producer Execs Charged With Price Fixing

Four top executives with two major U.S. chicken producers have been charged with conspiring to fix prices and rig bids for chicken products sold to grocers and restaurants.The grand jury indictment announced Wednesday by the Department of Justice are the first in a still-open investigation involv...

By Matthew Heller • June 4, 2020

Aviron Pictures Founder Accused of $25M Fraud

The founder and former CEO of movie distributor Aviron Pictures has been charged with a $25 million fraud for illegally transferring money from a BlackRock investment fund to a sham company and using some of it to support his lavish lifestyle.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Willi...

By Matthew Heller • May 26, 2020

Former KPMG Auditors Charged With Exam Cheating

Three former KPMG audit partners have settled charges that they cheated on internal training exams by improperly sharing answers.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Timothy Daly received answers to a test on lease accounting from Michael Bellach while John Donovan supported exam shar...

By Matthew Heller • May 19, 2020

Moderna Stock Soars on COVID Vaccine Results

Shares in Moderna jumped on Monday after the biotech firm announced promising results from the first coronavirus vaccine to be tested in people.Moderna has been working on its mRNA-1273 drug with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, launching an early-phase study on March 16...

By Matthew Heller • May 18, 2020