Those detained have been charged with ‘illegal banking activity’, and face up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million roubles (roughly $32,000).The Interior Ministry in Moscow says fake corporate accounts worth 1.5 billion roubles were established. Client money was funneled through phony payment orders for ‘business consulting’ and was transferred to bank accounts at OPM Bank, which collected a 5 percent commission on the transactions.The illegal activity yielded high profits for the alleged money launderers, an amount the police have not yet calculated or released.The ministry alleges the suspects had engaged in illicit cash management practices, translation services, and transits, all under the name of non-existent companies, bypassing registration with regulatory bodies. According to the police, the false corporate accounts were opened between May and September 2012.Interfax first reported 26 banks were raided on Wednesday, and searches were carried out at OPM Bank and Banke24.ru, but at the time, no suspects had been detained or identified.The first 13 searches began in April 2013. The arrest of the first batch of suspects was reported by Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. … Read More
LinkedIn forbids prostitution listings, angering legal sex workers
The social network has never allowed “unlawful” profiles, which it categorizes as those advertising illegal services, but, as prostitution is not forbidden by law everywhere in the world or even everywhere in the United States, escorts have long taken advantage of the opportunity to bring attention to themselves. Under the section titled “Don’t undertake the following,” LinkedIn’s new privacy policy and user agreement stipulates, “Even if it is legal where you are located,” users must not “create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution.” Legal sex workers displaced by the update have criticized LinkedIn for assuming the role of moral arbiter of the Internet. “What’s the problem? We have a license to do this stuff,” Dennis Hof, owner of multiple legal brothels including Nevada’s Moonlite Bunny Ranch, told NBC on Monday. “Our business is legal as theirs. We’re the good guys. We have no reason to be knocked off.” Hof said he hopes LinkedIn doesn’t try to remove his or his employees’ profiles as they, like so many other legal businesses in the information age, rely on social media to attract customers. “LinkedIn needs to realize they don’t need to filter out legal businesses in America,” he continued. “These are businesswomen, and some of them are making mid-six-figure incomes. If it’s okay to do that, is it okay to drop Dairy Queen too because it serves too much fat and calories?”A casual inspection of LinkedIn’s listings reveals that many young men and women, while not listing prostitution as one of their career skills, do advertise thinly-veiled massage services, independent escort professionalism, and companionship, among other professions. “I’m not saying we’re going to do a purge, though we very well may,” said Hani Durzy, LinkedIn’s director of corporate communications, during an interview with NBC. “In a nutshell, as we become aware of profiles that violate our policies we will take the appropriate actions. Does that mean shutting them down on day one? Or giving our members the benefit of the doubt, and telling them that’s a violation and you’ve got to change it? There is no hard and fast rule.” … Read More
In Taiwan, Lamenting a Lost Lead
Fostering innovation has become a mantra among corporate leaders and government officials because Taiwan’s huge consumer electronics industry has run into serious trouble. … Read More
Prince Charles criticizes ‘corporate lobbyists’ and climate change skeptics for turning Earth into a ‘dying patient’
Prince uses speech at St James’s Palace to single out ‘confirmed sceptics’ and environmentally unfriendly businesses The Prince of Wales has criticised “corporate lobbyists” and climate change sceptics for turning the earth into a “dying patient”, in his…
Navalny-backed political party has registration suspended
The already registered political party with the full name ‘Alliance of the Greens – People’s Party’ earlier complained that the People’s Alliance’s was using the words from their official name. Russian law forbids a political party from using other parties’ names, even in part, and the Greens threatened to sue the Justice Ministry if the registration procedure continued.The head of the Greens party Oleg Mitvol has told the press that he addressed both the Justice Ministry and the minister personally with a request to stop the registration, but as these instances did not react, prepared a lawsuit and sent it to a district court in Moscow.After this announcement the ministry announced through its website that the registration of the People’s Alliance has been suspended.The People’s Alliance submitted its registration documents to the Justice Ministry on April 10. According to the party’s program it is a liberal and democratic project with a priority on political reforms and the ultimate objective of “bringing Russia closer to the European civilization”.What makes the project unique is its open support on Aleksey Navalny – a Russian anti-corruption blogger and aspiring politician who recently announced his presidential ambitions. It should be noted that Navalny says he supports the People’s Alliance, but refuses to take a leading post in the party or even to become a member.However, one of Navalny’s closest allies, Vladimir Ashurkov, is the secretary of the People’s Alliance’s central council. Ashurkov used to be a high-level professional in corporate finance and banking, but gave up his career to become a coordinator in Navalny’s anti-corruption projects on the internet, and later the head of the NGO that united these projects – the Foundation for Fighting Corruption.Navalny is currently standing trial within a major embezzlement case and law enforcers have charged him within several more cases of embezzlement and tax evasion. The activist has denied all accusations as groundless and claimed that the process and criminal charges were revenge of the Russian authorities for the disclosure of certain corruption schemes.He also said in a recent televised interview that he was going to run for presidency in the nearest future and promised to imprison all those who obstructed or punished the activities of the non-system opposition.Navalny’s earlier political projects involve membership of the pro-democracy party Yabloko (he was ousted from the party over radical nationalism) and a brief experience with his own nationalist movement. At the same time, the activist’s popularity as an anti-corruption blogger made him one of the leaders of the 2011-12 street protests against alleged parliamentary elections violations.Navalny also has some experience as a civil servant – he worked as a volunteer aide the governor of the Kirov Region. It was this work that allowed prosecutors to launch the first criminal case against him. He is now accused of defrauding a state-owned timber company for about 16 million rubles (over $530,000). If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. … Read More
How pro-austerity executives use loopholes to break the debt
It’s been a while since we’ve heard much from Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, but a new report details how the major corporations that back a group founded by the pro-austerity former lawmakers take advantage of a loophole to avoid paying taxes on some of what they pay their CEOs. The report, from the liberal Institute for Policy Studies, finds that between 2009 and 2011, top executives at the 90 publicly held corporate members of the Fix the Debt coalition raked in at least $953 million — and as much as $1.6 billion — through the “performance pay” loophole, which counts some executive compensation as a tax-deductible business expense, instead of a salary. Fix the Debt, founded by Simpson and Bowles, is one of the many groups tied to Wall Streeter cum policy entrepreneur Pete Peterson, who has spent the last 20 years trying to reduce the debt, in large part through cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare. The group has attracted some of the largest corporations in the country as sponsors, as well as former lawmakers, giving it serious clout in Washington.Continue Reading… … Read More
22 Facts That Prove That The Bottom 90 Percent Of America Is Systematically Getting Poorer
The mainstream media is not telling you this, but the truth is that most Americans are steadily getting poorer. The middle class is being absolutely eviscerated, and poverty is soaring to unprecedented heights. … Read More
