You are here: Home / Archives for filing

Officials widen net in HP Russian bribery probe | News | PC Pro

September 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A bribery investigation into HP’s business in Russia looks set to widen, according to a company filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The announcement relates to an ongoing investigation by German officials into allegations that Hewlett-Packard ISE, a former German subsidiary of HP, bribed Russia’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in order to secure a contract worth £30 million.

The latest filing suggests that the net is being thrown wider in the case and may involve other several transactions in the private sector.

The €35 million transaction spanned 2001 to 2006 and was for the delivery and installation of an IT network

“The German Public Prosecutor’s Office has been conducting an investigation into allegations that current and former employees of HP engaged in bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion relating to a transaction,” the company said in its statement.

“The €35 million transaction, which was referred to as the Russia GPO deal, spanned 2001 to 2006 and was for the delivery and installation of an IT network.

via Officials widen net in HP Russian bribery probe | News | PC Pro.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Improving legal records management: harness the DNA of data | CPA Global

August 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Data discovery has played a key role in US litigation for two generations, during which time nearly all forms of information have migrated to the digital realm. Yet, according to Texas-based trial lawyer and e-discovery expert, Craig Ball, few legal departments are addressing this reality. He says that, despite the central role of electronic information in our lives, e-discovery efforts are either overlooked altogether or pursued in such epic proportions that discovery dethrones the merits as the focal point of the case.

Ball believes that, at each extreme, lawyers must bear some responsibility for the failure. ‘Few have devoted sufficient effort to understanding their clients’ information architecture or mastering tools and techniques to manage data,’ he argues. ‘We didn’t know how good we had it when discovery meant only paper. Paper is tangible. It has to be stored somewhere physically accessible, and systems have developed over time to store and retrieve it. Paper holds power of place, whereas electronic data accumulates invisibly.

‘Even if employees label electronic data accurately, they rarely file it consistently,’ continues Ball. ‘Thousands of emails sit ignored in inboxes; their subject lines offering no clue as to their contents. Documents are saved in cryptically named folders on desktops and portable storage media or replicated between work and home computers. There is still plenty of paper around, too, but filing systems, like filing clerks, have all but disappeared.’

Ball adds that there is a standard misconception that evidence can be retrieved simply by running a Googlelike search across a company’s electronic files. ‘That’s rarely feasible, even in high-tech enterprises,’ he emphasises. Similarly, he is frustrated by the attempts by many lawyers to try to convert e-data into paper form. ‘Such is the volume of electronic information that it would be impossible to convert it all to hard copy,’ he says, ‘and yet lawyers seem to overwhelmingly favour this expensive, inferior path over learning to deal with electronic data differently.’

via Improving legal records management: harness the DNA of data.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Acquisition May Create Headaches for Merck in Foreign Corruption Probe | BNET

August 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Merck (MRK) disclosed in its quarterly 10-Q filing that it is the subject of an investigation by the Department of Justice and the SEC for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (which prohibits paying bribes to do business in foreign countries). The investigation comes with a bit of unspoken history — and some potential risk created by Merck’s recent acquisition of Schering-Plough.

Merck says “this inquiry is part of a broader review of pharmaceutical industry practice.” That’s true: at least 10 other companies are suspected of doing the same thing, and an 11th — SciClone (SCLN.O) popped up Tuesday.

However, the fuller context is that the letters are more serious than a “review.” A DOJ assistant attorney general warned an assemblage of pharma industry lawyers last year that DOJ “will be intensely focused on rooting out foreign bribery in your industry.” A similar criminal investigation has already led to the imprisonment of one executive at Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) in the U.K., and J&J admitted in its most recent 10-Q that it had violated anti-corruption laws and that investigations are under way in several nations, including the United States.

via Acquisition May Create Headaches for Merck in Foreign Corruption Probe | BNET.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Merck Is Subject of U.S. Bribery Inquiries – NYTimes.com

August 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Two federal agencies are investigating the drug maker Merck related to antibribery laws, the company acknowledged on Monday.

Merck, one of the world’s largest drug companies by revenue, said in a regulatory filing on Friday that it had received inquiry letters from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The letters “seek information about activities in a number of countries and reference the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” according to Merck.

via Merck Is Subject of U.S. Bribery Inquiries – NYTimes.com.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Wal-Mart in $86 million settlement of wage lawsuit | Reuters

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
OAKLAND, CA - JANUARY 08: The Wal-Mart logo i...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Wal-Mart Stores Inc agreed to pay as much as $86 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of failing to pay vacation, overtime and other wages to thousands of former workers in California.

About 232,000 people will share in the settlement, which was disclosed on Tuesday in a federal court filing.

It requires a minimum payout of $43 million, and “far exceeds other recent settlements” involving Wal-Mart, the filing shows. The accord requires court approval.

Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter declined to comment.

The world’s largest retailer was accused in the original 2006 complaint of failing to pay a variety of wages to former workers as required under California law.

In agreeing to settle, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company did not concede that any wages remained unpaid, according to Tuesday’s filing.

via Wal-Mart in $86 million settlement of wage lawsuit | Reuters.

Related articles by Zemanta
Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Litigation Watch: Goldman Getting Ahead of Bad News? | Westlaw Business

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Image via Wikipedia

Goldman Sachs’s disclosure pendulum appears to have now sharply swung in the other direction. In so doing, Goldman may be charting a new course for itself, and arguably for the broader world of besieged public companies, by disclosing, with detailed exhibits, the filing of several lawsuits against the firm’s leadership. This extensive disclosure stands in marked contrast to its much-criticized decisions to not disclose its 2009 receipt of a Wells Notice from the SEC, among other things.

On its face, this move seems intended to help Goldman get ahead of the steady drip of bad news and lawsuits. While certainly more forthcoming than the once-reticent bank has been, even this apparent openness is selective. The lawsuits by the shareholders were in response to a complaint filed by the SEC…yet the SEC’s own filing is not attached. Likewise, a class action recently filed by named plaintiff Ilene Richman (representing a class of allegedly harmed shareholders in the firm) is also not attached. Both are alluded to in subtle descriptions in the disclosure text itself.

In particular, Goldman has disclosed that multiple shareholders have filed a succession of derivative lawsuits against certain officers and each member of the board of directors. The lawsuits come on the heels of the SEC filing last month charging Goldman Sachs with fraud. The shareholders are accusing Goldman Sachs of failure to implement risk management controls while engaging in the offer and sale of the ABACUS 2007-AC1 offering, a complex synthetic collateralized debt obligation. The lawsuits also accuse Goldman of breach of fiduciary duty and corporate waste. Goldman Chairman and CEO, Lloyd C. Blankfein, has also been individually named in some of the lawsuits.

via Litigation Watch: Goldman Getting Ahead of Bad News?.

Related articles by Zemanta
Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Goldman Sachs Reveals Slew of Shareholder Suits | Corporate Counsel

May 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

General counsel Gregory Palm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. late Monday made a rare filing with the government, revealing at least six shareholder suits against the company over its dealings in the subprime mortgage market, and one highly critical letter from an institutional shareholder.

The filing made no direct reference to a rumored Justice Department criminal investigation. But it did say the company anticipates that additional shareholder actions “and other litigation may be filed, and regulatory and other investigations and actions commenced, with respect to offerings of collateralized debt obligations.”

Palm made the disclosures in an 8-K report (pdf) to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing came after shareholders had questioned Palm in a recent quarterly conference call about why the company hadn't revealed a civil investigation by the SEC over Goldman's role in the CDOs.

Monday's filing said that since the SEC filed suit (pdf) against Goldman on April 15, several putative shareholder derivative actions have been filed in New York Supreme Court and U.S. District Court in Manhattan against the company, its board of directors, and certain officers and employees.

Palm and Goldman have previously denied any wrongdoing. A Goldman spokesman Tuesday said the company would not comment on the filing or the suits.

The shareholder suits generally allege “claims for breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste, abuse of control, mismanagement and unjust enrichment in connection with collateralized debt obligation offerings made between 2004 and 2007,” the filing said.

The complaints also challenge “the accuracy and completeness of GS Inc.'s disclosure,” it said, which may be why the company decided to disclose them. Copies of the suits were included with the filing.

The complaints seek, among other things, declaratory relief, unspecified money damages, restitution, and corporate governance reforms. The filing also included a shareholder suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery relating to compensation levels for 2009, which was amended to include allegations similar to the five actions in New York.

In another unusual move, the company disclosed a critical shareholder demand letter in its filing. The letter, from counsel for the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees Retirement System, accused Goldman's top officers and directors — including Palm and his co-general counsel Esta Stecher — “with breaching their fiduciary duties and other misconduct.”

The retirement fund relies on its holdings of shares of Goldman Sachs and other companies to provide benefits to thousands of police personnel throughout Louisiana, wrote lawyer Albert Myers, a partner in the New York office of Kahn Swick & Foti. The letter was a follow-up to a Sept. 2, 2009, demand that the company take action to remedy the breaches and misconduct.

via Law.com – Goldman Sachs Reveals Slew of Shareholder Suits.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Daimler agrees to settle Justice Department charges of bribing foreign officials – washingtonpost.com

March 24, 2010 By

Daimler has agreed to pay $185 million in fines and penalties to the U.S. government to settle charges that it violated federal bribery laws by paying tens of millions of dollars to officials in at least 22 countries to win lucrative contracts, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The proposed settlement would end a U.S. Justice Department investigation that concluded the German automaker had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits companies from bribing government officials to land business or receive favorable treatment.

In a 76-page filing in federal court on Tuesday, prosecutors said that Daimler made improper payments starting in 1998 to officials in countries that included China, Russia, Egypt, Greece and Nigeria. The charges against Daimler were made in a “criminal information filing” — a document that typically precedes a plea agreement.

via Daimler agrees to settle Justice Department charges of bribing foreign officials – washingtonpost.com.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PBS&J discloses internal FCPA investigation

January 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

PBS&J, a large engineering and architecture firm for governments, is investigating possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company revealed in a regulatory filing.

The company's Securities and Exchange Commission filing doesn't go into detail about what may have happened at PBS&J's international subsidiary, and a company spokeswoman, C.L. Conroy, wouldn't elaborate.

However, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act generally prohibits U.S.-based companies from making improper payments to foreign officials, usually through bribes, said Mike Seigel, a law professor at the University of Florida and former federal prosecutor.

PBS&J does engineering and construction management work for government agencies, often departments of transportation. It had been based in Miami, but moved to Tampa a few years ago. The firm has 80 offices and 3,900 employees worldwide.

According to its short SEC notice, which it filed Dec. 30, the company has been unable to file its annual financial report for the year ended Sept. 30 because of an internal investigation. The company's audit committee is investigating whether any laws were broken, including the FCPA, in connection with overseas projects, PBS&J's filing says.

The company reported its internal investigation to the SEC, the company said. Seigel, the UF law professor, said the SEC typically is more lenient toward companies that self-report legal violations.

This is just the latest legal problem for PBS&J. A former chief financial officer and two other PBS&J employees were found to have misappropriated more than $36 million from the company from the late 1990s until 2005. The embezzling scheme caused PBS&J to erroneously calculate its overhead costs and to overcharge its government clients.

via PBS&J discloses internal investigation.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,