US Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announces that the United States has paid more than $20 million in rewards for information on people involved in organized crime, under a government program launched in 2013.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States has paid more than $20 million in rewards for information on people involved in organized crime, under a government program launched in 2013, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has announced.
Capital One Financial Corp. said the U.S. Justice and Treasury departments are looking into possible money-laundering violations at the company.
The bank said the Justice Department is also reviewing its subprime auto finance business.
The McLean, Va., company said the federal authorities had asked for the information in “early 2015,” according to a regulatory filing.
Last year, Capital One disclosed similar requests for information from the New York District Attorney’s Office, saying New York officials were reviewing “certain check casher clients of the Commercial Banking business.”
Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver pleaded not guilty to an extortion and fraud indictment during a brief appearance on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.
Silver’s lawyers said they were moving immediately to dismiss the case based on news conferences and speeches by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, which they said improperly prejudiced both the grand jury that indicted Silver and any future trial jury.
Does this count as a smoking gun? Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, the scrappy investigative journal that is perhaps best known in the West for regularly publishing pieces by the late Anna Politkovskaya, says he has in his possession a strategy document drafted and accepted by the Kremlin which outlines in broad strokes just what Russia’s long game in Ukraine may be:
Muratov said the document characterized then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as “a person without morals and willpower whose downfall must be expected at any moment.” Yanukovych fled Ukraine for Russia on Feb. 22, 2014.
Dishonest Chicago aldermen, crooked Cook County pols, sleazy suburban overlords and untoward state officials.
There’s also: infamous shoeboxes stuffed with thousands in embezzled cash, courtesy of the late Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell; the groundbreaking “Hired Truck” scandal that rocked former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration; and the Mirage Tavern sting, where the Sun-Times and Better Government Association teamed up to snare greedy municipal inspectors.
And let’s not forget the trials and tribulations of two former governors — impeached and imprisoned Rod Blagojevich, and his predecessor, George Ryan, who recently completed his hitch in the pen.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker have asked the New Jersey attorney general’s office to investigate whether insurers were purposely underestimating Hurricane Sandy damages suffered by homeowners.
The two senators, in a letter to Acting Attorney General John Hoffman, said they were concerned that insurance companies had been rewriting engineering reports to avoid payments by claiming that damage was caused by factors other than the hurricane.
A federal grand jury in Manhattan voted on Thursday morning to indict AssemblymanSheldon Silver on the fraud and extortion charges that were the basis of his arrest last month, and led to his ouster as speaker of the State Assembly.
Geneva: Geneva’s public prosecutor searched HSBC’s lakeside Swiss office on Wednesday after opening a criminal inquiry into allegations of aggravated money laundering, the second probe to hit the bank this week.
Europe’s largest lender is in regulators’ sights after details about how its Swiss private bank allegedly helped wealthy clients dodge taxes were leaked to the media and published last week.
In an unusual move, the Geneva prosecutor’s office notified the media of the raid as it was going on. It searched two HSBC offices and said its investigation could target individuals, who would be liable to a fine and up to five years in prison if found guilty of serious money laundering offences.
