Team of Rivals? Not Quite. In response to a series of 2007 FTC antitrust suits, Whole Foods has asked 96 of its U.S.-based competitors to hand over sensitive company data. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, believes the information will help fight the 29 separate lawsuits it is facing – one for

In 2007 a Code of Conduct for transparency and disclosure was drawn up for the private equity industry in the United Kingdom. It was created, and still remains, as a voluntary code that firms can agree to sign onto at their leisure. Unfortunately, even after signing up voluntarily, many firms didn’t fully comply

Three of the largest internet service providers agreed on Wednesday to block child pornography newsgroups and other related materials from their servers, according to a report by the Associated Press. The three companies

Will there ever be an end to the Oil-for-Food abuses? Flowserve Corporation announced last Thursday that it will pay nearly $10.6 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice for violating the United Nation’s Iraq Oil-for-Food humanitarian program. A Dutch and French-based subsidiary of the company, Flowserve Pompes SAS, [...]

After investigating a former Enron employee’s high profile whistle-blower story, USA Today discovered she’s not everything she claims to be.

In 2007 the European Commission issed the largest fine in the EU’s history- a whopping €990 million (that’s $1.3 billion, folks). In spite of recent criticism, an EC spokesman revealed that the Commission intends to continue increasing fines. As EC spokesman Jonathan Todd explained, the Commission has “increased the level of fines . . . [...]

A British businessman and two Ikea managers pleaded guilty on Sept. 7 to charges dealing with bribery. Adam David Hauxwell-Smith, owner of Godfrey and Warner Ltd, a company that sold items such as potpourri, candles and picture frames to Ikea, admitted to giving £648,000 to John Brown, a purchaser for Ikea, and £243,437 to Paul [...]

What happened to the good old days, when employees just raided the supply closet? Fidelity National reported that the personal data of as many as 8.5 million customers was taken by a senior database administrator at the company. The company suggested that this number, up from initial reports from Fidelity of 2.3 million, may be [...]

The Crane Company, a manufacturer of products, such as valves and marine components, has agreed to pay the United States $7.5 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations, the Justice Department announced today. The government alleges the company did not comply with Defense Department Qualified Products List (QPL) regulations, which require that product suppliers submit [...]

Qualcomm Inc. announced today the resignation of General Counsel Lou Lupin. Lupin had been known for his aggressive “take no prisoners” approach. Carol Lam, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, was named his interim successor. Analysts are thinking that in pushing Lupin out the door, the company may be signaling that [...]

Italy’s antitrust authority has fined Bristol-Myers Squibb $3.2 million for illegal collusion with competitors in the colostomy bag market (competitors Coloplast SpA, Hollister SpA, and B Braun Milano SpA were also fined lesser amounts for similar anti-competitive behaviour). At issue is that the four companies (which control 95% of the colostomy bag market in the [...]

After a five-week trial, former Brocade CEO Gregory L. Reyes was convicted by a federal court jury on 10 counts of conspiracy and fraud over illegal stock option backdating. Mr. Reyes had been accused of intentionally changing the grant dates for hundreds of stock option awards without disclosing the move to investors. Sentencing is scheduled [...]

Houston oilfield services company, Nabors Industries, became the latest oilfield services firm to launch an internal review in response to a federal investigation into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In a filing with the SEC, Nabors said, “We are reviewing certain transactions with this vendor, which provides freight forwarding and customs [...]

The Senate Finance and Judiciary committees have released the results of their investigation into the SEC’s firing of a former staff lawyer, Gary Aguirre, in September 2005. Mr. Aguirre had been leading the SEC investigation into possible illegal insider trading by large hedge fund Pequot Capital that is run by Arthur J. Samberg. Aguirre was [...]

Securities regulators have announced a $6.1 million fine against Morgan Stanley for overcharging customers who purchased bonds from the firm. Morgan Stanley allegedly overcharged customers of its retail brokerage unit by $59 million for bond sales. According to FINRA, the industry’s regulatory body, an acceptable “mark-up” is typically around 5%. However, Morgan Stanley charged mark-ups [...]

Morgan Stanley had agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over alleged systemic discrimination against 1,200 African-American and Latino employees, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case. According to the original compliant filed last year (which can be downloaded here), the firm has discriminated against African Americans and Latinos in the distribution of accounts and [...]

Six weeks ago, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $5.5 million in damages in a Florida lawsuit over a defective pain-killing patch that resulted in the death of a Florida man. While initially the company looked like it would appeal the judgment, they instead tried to settle it quietly for $2.5 million. An excerpt [...]

Two months ago, we noted that British Airways (BA) had set aside $700 million in anticipation of fines from the U.S. Department of Justice on the heels of price-fixing and illegal collusion investigations (as well as to pay for editing to James Bond movies). Now the price has come in and BA and Korean Air [...]

Home Depot confirmed yesterday that it terminated four purchasing managers nearly two weeks ago for allegedly taking over $1 million in kickbacks from suppliers. Reportedly, the three lower-level managers were taking large bribes from flooring vendors out of Asia in return for featuring these vendors’ products in Home Depot stores. Home Depot is cooperating with [...]

Ryan Brant, the former CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software (maker of popular video games such as “Grand Theft Auto”), has been sentenced to five years of probation for his role in overseeing the fraudulent backdating of stock options. Mr. Brant pleaded guilty in back February. He had been facing up to four years in prison [...]

In a stunning surprise to most, coated-paper maker Stora Enso North America Corp. has been acquitted of price-fixing in a federal jury trial in Connecticut. The company had been indicted by DOJ in December 2006 on charges of conspiring with competitors to fix coated magazine paper prices during 2002-03. Stora’s North American division is a [...]

As reported in the Dallas Business Journal, a group of dairy farmers has filed a series of lawsuits against Dean Foods and several other companies, including Dairy Farmers of America and National Dairy Holdings, accusing them of illegal price fixing and monopolization. The lawsuit says that, as early as 2001, Dean and the others began [...]

Online virtual worlds like “Second Life” continue to grow at a rapid clip. Commerce, business meetings, and other far racier ‘encounters’ are becoming more commonplace in these virtual worlds. To help protect its reputation, IBM announced this week that it was establishing a code of conduct to govern its more than 5,000 employees who have [...]

In a “reverse discrimination” lawsuit, a federal jury has ruled that Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. did indeed discriminate against a white former maintenance manager at its old Landover coffee-roasting plant based on race. John Sullivan was hired in 1999 and then later demoted and replaced by a black subordinate. He claimed an African [...]

Swiss-based engineering group ABB announced this week that it may have violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) anti-bribery law after discovering suspect payments made by some employees overseas. ABB said the probe is uncovering payments of concern made in Asia, South America, and Europe (with a particular focus on Italy). The company disclosed [...]