The final report of an outside investigation into corruption within DeKalb County’s government calls for the county’s Interim Chief Executive Officer (ICEO), Lee May, to resign. But May is firing back. Wednesday, May and former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers, who led the probe, traded barbs through the media.
Category Archives: Corruption
Is VW’s Fraud the End of Large-Scale Corporate Deception?
Volkswagen’s brazen and bizarre “Diesel-gate” deception beggars belief. This sustained and sophisticated software scamsuggests truly pathological levels of managerial desperation and contempt: desperation around a failed promise of clean diesel technology and unsubtle contempt for unsuspecting regulators and customers alike. Precisely how gullible did these wizards of Wolfsburg think people would be?
That’s why the real story here revolves less around the deceit than its discovery. An eco-NGO, the International Council on Clean Transportation — not formal regulatory review — effectively uncovered the con. A $50,000 emissions test was run bya West Virginia University lab and its researchers have told reporters they “kind of opened the can of worms” on Volkswagen’s cheating. The discrepancies measured proved neither minor nor marginal; they grotesquely exceeded what the law allowed by 10 times to 30 times. Follow-up tests erased any reasonable, or benefit of the, doubt. Data-driven analysis drove the German giant to confess tampering with 11 million cars.
Judge Keeps Intact Bulk of Corruption Case Against Menendez
A federal judge on Monday dismissed four of the 22 corruption charges against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and a wealthy friend, keeping intact most of the case against the New Jersey Democrat and his alleged co-conspirator.
In his ruling, Judge William Walls of the U.S. District Court of New Jersey determined that prosecutors failed to meet the legal standard necessary to show that donations to the senator’s legal-defense fund were given in exchange for official acts from the senator.
But Judge Walls issued a number of decisions Monday that maintained most of the Justice Department’s case against Mr. Menendez and his friend, Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor.
Volkswagen Scandal: Norway, India Probe Emissions Fraud As Board Gathers To Appoint New CEO
Even as Volkswagen readies itself to name a new CEO, the fallout from its emissions test rigging scandal in the United States continues to broaden. On Friday, Norway and India joined a growing list of countries that have launched investigations over the malpractices of the world’s biggest carmaker by sales.
Gallup: Americans Increasingly View Government as Corrupt, Threat to Their Freedom
The American people’s trust in government is the lowest it has been in the last 10 years, according to three Gallup polls released recently.
The polls measured the population’s opinions on government corruption, government regulation of business, and whether the government poses an immediate threat to personal liberties.
In a poll that was released on Saturday, 75 percent of respondents said they believe corruption is widespread in the government. This figure has increased from 66 percent in 2009.
Don’t call it a scandal: Volkswagen corruption is a syndrome
What were they thinking?
That’s the question on everyone’s mind as the Volkswagen crisis unfolds. That question makes a big assumption: that the company’s leaders were thinking about anything beyond their greed. About decency, about our environment, about their progeny.
Former Detroit treasurer sentenced to 11 years in prison for corruption
The city of Detroit’s former treasurer has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in a case related to years of pay-to-play corruption under then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Jeff Beasley, who was Kilpatrick’s college fraternity brother, apologized Monday but said he didn’t extort anyone while serving as a trustee at Detroit’s pension funds. He was convicted in December, along with two other officials in a scheme to take cash in exchange for approving certain pension fund investments.
Three in four Americans say corruption widespread in U.S. government
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) — A new Gallup survey shows that three in four Americans viewed corruption as rife in the U.S. government last year.
Although the percentage was four points lower than that in 2013, when 79 percent of Americans held such perception, it still represented the second highest number in the past seven years, said the survey.
While the numbers fluctuated since 2007, the percentage of Americans who see corruption as pervasive had never dropped under 70 percent with the exceptions in 2007 and 2009, when about two in three Americans held such perception, the survey showed.
United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek steps down amid corruption probe
United Continental Holdings has announced Chief Executive Jeff Smisek had stepped down amid a federal probe of the airline, and that two other senior executives tied to the investigation would also be leaving the company.
The airline named CSX Corp Chief Operating Office Oscar Munoz as CEO, effective immediately.
US federal agent investigating Silk Road admits $800,000 bitcoin theft
A former US secret service agent has pleaded guilty to stealing over $800,000 worth of bitcoin during an investigation into online drug marketplace Silk Road.