All Entries in the "Crime, Legal Issues" Category

Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Abu Ghraib Torture Case

|Center for Constitutional Rights|:

A group of 72 Iraqi citizens who allege they were tortured while imprisoned at detention facilities across Iraq can continue with their lawsuit against military contractor L-3 Services, Inc. and a former employee, a federal judge in Maryland ruled Thursday.

In a 92-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Peter J. Messitte denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the Iraqis’ federal and state court claims. He wrote, “On the facts alleged, Defendants’ actions arguably violated the laws of war such that they are not immune from suit under the laws of war.” The court also rejected claims of government contractor immunity defense.

“During wartime,” the court wrote, “‘many things are lawful in that season, which would not be permitted in a time of peace.’ Some actions, however, have been deemed so repulsive to mankind, or so disconnected from prosecuting and winning a war, that they are universally condemned. The law of war attempts to rein in these behaviors. …One such universally recognized rule is that torture is prohibited.”

Full Story: Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Abu Ghraib Torture Case | Center for Constitutional Rights.

SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION

Famed Dallas billionaire investors Sam and Charles Wyly made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading in the shares of companies on whose boards they served, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday.

In a 78-page complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court in New York, the SEC said the Wylys held and traded tens of millions of securities in the companies and “defrauded the investing public” by misrepresenting the Wylys’ ownership and trading of those shares.

“The apparatus of the fraud was an elaborate sham system of trusts and subsidiary companies located in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands … created by and at the direction of the Wylys,” the SEC complaint stated.

Full Story: SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION.

SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION

Famed Dallas billionaire investors Sam and Charles Wyly made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading in the shares of companies on whose boards they served, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday.

In a 78-page complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court in New York, the SEC said the Wylys held and traded tens of millions of securities in the companies and “defrauded the investing public” by misrepresenting the Wylys’ ownership and trading of those shares.

“The apparatus of the fraud was an elaborate sham system of trusts and subsidiary companies located in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands … created by and at the direction of the Wylys,” the SEC complaint stated.

Full Story: SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION.

Dems Take on Supreme Court’s Giant Sell-Out of Our Democracy to Corporations

The Supreme Court handed over our political system to corporate power, and now some lawmakers are fighting to get it back.

Democrats in Congress are fighting to undo, or at least mitigate, the potential damage wrought by the Supreme Court in its Citizens United decision, an example of right-wing judicial activism that has the potential to put the final nail in the coffin of American self-governance and turn over our elections to multinational corporations.

Speaking at last week’s Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of liberal activists, Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, put the threat posed by Citizens United in simple-to-understand terms. “We’re now in a situation,” he told the crowd, “where a lobbyist can walk into my office…and say, ‘I’ve got five million dollars to spend, and I can spend it for you or against you. Which do you prefer?’” That’s power.

Full Story: Dems Take on Supreme Court’s Giant Sell-Out of Our Democracy to Corporations | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.

Should Shirley Sherrod Sue Andrew Breitbart and Fox News?

John Dean:

Shirley Sherrod’s story was big news this week. If you missed it, the story went like this: Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted a video clip of Sherrod — a kindly African-American woman who was the Georgia State Director for Rural Development of the U.S. Department of Agriculture — giving what appeared to be a racist, anti-white speech to an NAACP audience in March.

In the speech, Sherrod appeared to be openly discriminating against a white farmer. Fox News ran large with the story, with prime-time hosts O’Reillyand Hannity in red-faced rage over Sherrod’s remarks, calling for her head. The Obama Administration quickly, and thoughtlessly, fired Sherrod, and the NAACP foolishly embraced her firing.

Turns out everyone except Sherrod got it wrong. Now, many are asking, Should Sherrod sue Breitbart, Fox News, or both?

Full Story: Should Shirley Sherrod Sue Andrew Breitbart and Fox News?.

Has the Most Common Marijuana Test Resulted in Tens of Thousands of Wrongful Convictions?

More than 800,000 people are arrested on marijuana charges each year in the United States, many on the basis of an error-prone test.

Raised in Montana and a resident of Alaska for 18 years, Robin Rae Brown, 48, always made time to explore in the wilderness. On March 20, 2009, she parked her pickup truck outside Weston, Florida, and hiked off the beaten path along a remote canal and into the woods to bird watch and commune with nature. “I saw a bobcat and an osprey,” she recalls. “I stopped once in a nice spot beneath a tree, sat down and gave prayers of thanksgiving to God.” For that purpose, Robin had packed a clay bowl and a “smudge stick,” a stalk-like bundle of sage, sweet grass, and lavender that she had bought at an airport gift shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Under the tree, she lit the end of the smudge stick and nestled it inside the bowl. She waved the smoke up toward her heart and over her head and prayed. Spiritual people from many cultures, including Native Americans, consider smoke to be sacred, she told me, and believe that it can carry their prayers to the heavens.

As darkness approached, she returned to her pickup truck to find Broward County’s Deputy Sheriff Dominic Raimondi and Florida Fish and Wildlife’s Lieutenant David Bingham looking inside the cab. The two men asked what she was doing and when she said she had been bird watching, Bingham asked whether she had binoculars. As she opened her knapsack, Officer Raimondi spotted her incense and asked if he could see it. He took the bowl and incense, asking whether it was marijuana. “No,” she recalls saying. “It’s my smudge, which is a blend of sage, sweet grass, and lavender.” “Smells like marijuana to me,” said Raimondi, who admitted he had never heard of a smudge stick. He then ordered Robin to stand by her truck, while he took the incense back to his car and conducted a common field test, known as a Duquenois-Levine, or D-L, test. The result was positive for marijuana.

Full Story: Has the Most Common Marijuana Test Resulted in Tens of Thousands of Wrongful Convictions? | Investigations | AlterNet.

GOLDMAN’S GOLDEN DEAL

Jim Hightower:

That’ll teach ‘em, won’t it?

The SEC, Wall Street’s top regulator, has whacked the mighty Goldman Sachs with one of the largest penalties in financial history. The high-strutting banking conglomerate will pay more than half-a-billion bucks for selling a complex investment scheme that was designed to fail. “This settlement is a stark lesson to Wall Street firms,” a stern SEC official stated. They will pay “a heavy price,” he warned, if they violate “the fundamental principles of honest treatment and fair dealing.”

Atta boy – go get those self-serving, narcissistic banksters!

But, wait – on the day that SEC officials imposed this supposed “humbling” penalty, Goldman’s stock price went up by five percent. Far from being deterred by the penalty, high-rolling speculators saw it as a vindication of Wall Street’s casino ethic. “It looks like a big win for Goldman,” gloated one financial analyst, adding that SEC’s $550 million assessment “seems like a paltry sum.”

audio & transcript at link:

Full Story: Jim Hightower | GOLDMAN’S GOLDEN DEAL.

Hayward: I’m ‘too busy’ to testify to the Senate about the Lockerbie bomber’s release.

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be holding a hearing on the release of Lockerbie airliner bomb Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, and the role that BP may have played. Today, however, ousted BP CEO Tony Hayward told reporters that he wouldn’t be attending the hearing because he’s “too busy”:

Speaking to journalists at the company’s London headquarters, Hayward claimed that he had been unfairly “demonised and vilified” in the US where Barack Obama and other politicians have been severely critical of BP’s actions and taken exception to some of Hayward’s public comments. [...]

But Hayward said today he could not go [to the hearing] because “I have got a busy week [in the office]“. BP said it would send another representative to testify at the hearing.

Full Story: Think Progress » Hayward: I’m ‘too busy’ to testify to the Senate about the Lockerbie bomber’s release..

Legal challenges could overturn half of Gitmo’s successful convictions

Decisions on two legal challenges to the Guantanamo military commissions system, both expected this summer, could undo half the convictions won so far before the tribunals and disrupt a number of pending cases.

The appeals of two 2008 convictions attack several core aspects of the young trial system. One potentially explosive argument is that the most commonly charged offenses — conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism — are not war crimes that can be tried in a military court.

The government insists there is longstanding precedent for prosecuting these acts through military justice. “Terrorism, though perhaps often by other names, is undoubtedly a war crime,” Edward White, a Navy lawyer who represents the government in one of the appeals, wrote in a brief. Violators, he added “were historically liable to be shot immediately upon capture.”

Full Story: Legal challenges could overturn half of Gitmo’s successful convictions | Raw Story.

Sen. Coburn cooperating with federal investigation of Nevada Sen. John Ensign

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Friday that he has provided information to federal authorities investigating whether Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) broke the law in trying to keep secret his affair with a part-time staff member.

Before Ensign publicly admitted the adulterous relationship last June, Coburn had been a key behind-the-scenes counselor to Ensign. Coburn had urged his friend to end the affair with Cynthia Hampton and later tried to help him mediate the tension when her husband, a senior aide to the Nevada senator, confronted Ensign about the affair in late 2008.

Investigators are looking into whether Ensign then tried to help Doug Hampton get lobbying work, through meetings with key donors and administration officials. Such actions could violate federal laws and congressional rules that require departing congressional staff members to avoid lobbying for a year. The Justice Department has issued subpoenas seeking information to more than five Las Vegas companies tied to Ensign.

Full Story: Sen. Coburn cooperating with federal investigation of Nevada Sen. John Ensign.

Alberto Gonzales says he’s angry about criminal probe

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday he’s angry about being put through a long-running criminal investigation into his role in the firings of U.S. attorneys.

“I feel angry that I had to go through this. That my family had to suffer through and what for?” Gonzales said in an interview with CNN.

The investigation by career prosecutor Nora Dannehy that began in September 2008 found the Justice Department’s actions in the firings of U.S. attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico during the Bush administration were inappropriately political, but not criminal. The investigative team also determined that the evidence did not warrant expanding the scope of the investigation beyond the removal of Iglesias.

Full Story: Former AG says he’s angry about criminal probe.

Deepwater Horizon Alarm System Was Partly Disabled Prior To Explosion, Technician Tells Congress

An alarm system was partially shut down the day the ill-fated oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and setting off the massive spill, an electronics technician who was aboard told an investigative panel on Friday.

Later in Washington, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the spill, asked Transocean Ltd. for documents concerning safety and the condition of equipment on the rig. Transocean owned the rig, which was being leased by BP PLC. BP is responsible for cleaning up the millions of gallons of oil that have seeped into the Gulf.

Technician Mike Williams told the panel that the alarm system was turned on to monitor for fire, explosive gas and toxic gas but that its sound and light alarms had been disabled. The Marine Accident Investigation panel was meeting in Kenner. It is made up of Coast Guard members and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement – formerly the Minerals Management Service.

Full Story: Deepwater Horizon Alarm System Was Partly Disabled Prior To Explosion, Technician Tells Congress.

Dems Demand That Salazar Stop Dragging His Heels And Investigate BP Whistleblower Allegations

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar still has yet to conduct a formal interview with Ken Abbott, a whistleblower from BP’s Atlantis rig where operators are allegedly missing engineering documentation essential to averting another oil rig disaster.

This week, House Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and 17 other members of Congress asked Salazar to sit down and talk to Abbott.

“A long, thorough investigation is certainly called for,” wrote Slaughter and her colleagues, “but in the meantime… immediate steps are absolutely necessary in order to assure that the Atlantis does not turn into an even larger disaster than the Deepwater Horizon.”

Full Story: Dems Demand That Salazar Stop Dragging His Heels And Investigate BP Whistleblower Allegations.

BP managers named ‘party in interest’ to rig probe

A BP executive and a company manager aboard the doomed oil rig Deepwater Horizon were designated “parties in interest” Thursday by the investigative board probing the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The designation given to Pat O’Bryan, the company’s vice president for well drilling and completions, and site manager Robert Kaluza indicates their actions are under scrutiny by the joint Coast Guard-Interior Department investigation into the disaster. It also gives them the right to examine documents collected by the board and to have attorneys in the board’s hearings cross-examine witnesses on their behalf.

The news was announced by Capt. Hung Nguyen, the Coast Guard’s top representative on the board, at the end of another day of hearings into the disaster. The board has one more scheduled day of testimony in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, Louisiana

Full Story: BP managers named ‘party in interest’ to rig probe – CNN.com.

Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Safety Concerns

“I’m petrified of dropping anything from heights not because I’m afraid of hurting anyone (the area is barriered off), but because I’m afraid of getting fired,” one worker wrote.

“The company is always using fear tactics,” another worker said. “All these games and your mind gets tired.”

Investigators also said “nearly everyone” among the workers they interviewed believed that Transocean’s system for tracking health and safety issues on the rig was “counter productive.”

Many workers entered fake data to try to circumvent the system, known as See, Think, Act, Reinforce, Track — or Start. As a result, the company’s perception of safety on the rig was distorted, the report concluded

Full Story: Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Safety Concerns – NYTimes.com.

Abandon ship! BP ‘accelerating’ asset sales (in anticipation of bankruptcy?)

British energy giant BP is speeding up the sale of up to 20 billion dollars (15.5 billion euros) of assets in a bid to boost funds after the Gulf oil spill, the Financial Times reported Friday.

The company is finalising details of the sales, including the disposal of American assets to Apache Corporation worth up to 12 billion dollars, said the paper, citing people close to the situation.

Announcements are expected in the next few weeks and an unnamed senior BP figure said the company could “easily” raise 20 billion dollars from the asset sales, according to the report.

This is double the amount the oil giant originally said it wanted to sell off when it announced plans to offload assets last month.

BP is seeking to build up a disaster fund of 20 billion dollars to cover the clean-up costs for the disastrous oil spill.

Full Story: Abandon ship! BP ‘accelerating’ asset sales (in anticipation of bankruptcy?) — Signs of the Times News.

OPS:  Two months ago Some of us were saying that Obama should freeze all BP assets

SPLC Sues to Protect Children in New Orleans School After First-Grader Handcuffed

Children at an elementary school in New Orleans are subjected to unlawful seizures and arrests – including handcuffing and shackling – for minor violations of school rules, according to a class action lawsuit filed today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL).

The suit was filed on behalf of a first-grade student who was brutally handcuffed and shackled to a chair by an armed security officer after he argued with another youth over a seat in the lunchroom at Sarah T. Reed Elementary School. The school is part of the Louisiana Recovery School District.

The boy, known as J.W. in the court filing, was just 6 years old when the incident occurred on May 6. He had previously been handcuffed and shackled for a similar incident. School officials told the boy’s father that the arrest and seizure was required under school rules.

Full Story: SPLC Sues to Protect Children in New Orleans School After First-Grader Handcuffed | Southern Poverty Law Center.

Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money and Getting Away with It

Wall Street has been caught laundering massive amounts of drug money. So why isn’t anybody being punished?

Too-big-to-fail is a much bigger problem than you thought. We’ve all read damning accounts of the government saving banks from their risky subprime bets, but it turns out that the Wall Street privilege problem is far more deeply ingrained in the U.S. legal system than the simple bailouts witnessed in 2008. America’s largest banks can engage in flagrantly criminal activity on a massive scale and emerge almost completely unscathed. The latest sickening example comes from Wachovia Bank: Accused of laundering $380 billion in Mexican drug cartel money, the financial behemoth is expected to emerge with nothing more than a slap on the wrist thanks to an official government policy which protects megabanks from criminal charges.

Bloomberg’s Michael Smith has penned a devastating expose detailing Wachovia’s drug-money operations and the government’s twisted response. The bank was moving money behind literally tons of cocaine from violent drug cartels. It wasn’t an accident. Internal whistleblowers at Wachovia warned that the bank was laundering drug money, higher-ups at the bank actively looked the other way in order to score bigger profits, and the U.S. government is about to let everyone involved get off scott free. The bank will not be indicted, because it is official government policy not to prosecute megabanks. From Smith’s story:

Full Story: Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money and Getting Away with It | Economy | AlterNet.

Nine CEOs Who Need To Be Fired In 2010

By 24/7 Wall Street: Public companies dismiss CEOs all the time. The firings can be due to incompetence, malfeasance, or tensions with boards of directors or founders. 24/7 Wall St. has chosen nine sitting CEOs who should be let go by their boards.

All the CEOs are on this list for simple reasons. The first is that many have presided over ethical or legal lapses. This is certainly an issue at Goldman Sachs, Dell, and Moody’s. It is easy for observers to say that the chief executive of a large firm cannot be responsible for every action of every employee. But when the trouble is repeated and widespread, it is senior management that must be blamed for refusing to set a strong moral tone.

Some candidates are on this list is because they have made strategic decisions that have cost their companies dearly. Sprint-Nextel has decided to adopt a 4G format that is different from the one that AT&T and Verizon Wireless will use. In coming to the market first, it hopes to steal subscribers from its two larger rivals. Unfortunately for Sprint, both AT&T and Verizon have very strong products and competitive pricing to keep their customers where they are. Sprint probably painted itself into a box – a box in which its technology is unsustainably in the minority.

Full Story: Nine CEOs Who Need To Be Fired In 2010: 24/7 Wall Street.

OPS: These  people should be in jail

BP Spending Big To Acquire An Army Of Expert Witnesses

In the latest salvo of BP’s War On Everything, the company is deploying its deep pockets in an attempt to buy up every single scientist it can get its hands on, in order to create an army of expert witnesses to take up its side in court. I guess the legacy of George Steinbrenner lives on!

Ben Raines of Mobile, Alabama’s Press-Register captures it, in gobsmacking fashion:

BP PLC attempted to hire the entire marine sciences department at one Alabama university, according to scientists involved in discussions with the company’s lawyers. The university declined because of confidentiality restrictions that the company sought on any research.

Emphasis mine, because: wow! Fortunately, for a wide variety of reasons, some of the scientists BP is approaching are balking at the overtures. For example, the contracts that BP is offering place substantial restrictions on what research scientists under their employ can publish, share, or even discuss. Also: some of the scientists approached apparently have that thing you often hear people talk about… what is that called again? Oh, yeah! A moral compass.

Full Story: Oil Spill Lawsuits: BP Spending Big To Acquire An Army Of Expert Witnesses.

Diabetes Drug Maker Hid Test Data, Files Indicate

In the fall of 1999, the drug giant SmithKline Beecham secretly began a study to find out if its diabetes medicine, Avandia, was safer for the heart than a competing pill, Actos, made by Takeda.

Avandia’s success was crucial to SmithKline, whose labs were otherwise all but barren of new products. But the study’s results, completed that same year, were disastrous. Not only was Avandia no better than Actos, but the study also provided clear signs that it was riskier to the heart.

But instead of publishing the results, the company spent the next 11 years trying to cover them up, according to documents recently obtained by The New York Times. The company did not post the results on its Web site or submit them to federal drug regulators, as is required in most cases by law.

“This was done for the U.S. business, way under the radar,” Dr. Martin I. Freed, a SmithKline executive, wrote in an e-mail message dated March 29, 2001, about the study results that was obtained by The Times. “Per Sr. Mgmt request, these data should not see the light of day to anyone outside of GSK,” the corporate successor to SmithKline.

Full Story: Diabetes Drug Maker Hid Test Data, Files Indicate – NYTimes.com.

Bank of America Says $10.7 Billion of Trades Wrongly Classified

Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank by assets, said it wrongly classified as much as $10.7 billion of short-term repurchase and lending transactions as sales from 2007 to 2009 to reduce its end-of-quarter assets.

Bank of America said the inaccuracies aren’t material and “don’t stem from any intentional misstatement of the Corporation’s financial statements and was not related to any fraud or deliberate error,” according to a May 13 letter released yesterday from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“A $10.7 billion accounting error would be a material event for about 99.9 percent” of U.S. banks, said Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law at Boston University School of Law. “It’s hard to see how the SEC can accept BofA’s rejoinder as being sufficient.”

Full Story: Bank of America Says $10.7 Billion of Trades Wrongly Classified – Bloomberg.

San Diego ACORN Worker Suing ‘Undercover Pimp’ James O’Keefe and Pals

As was widely predicted, a former employee at the San Diego ACORN office has brought a lawsuit against right-wing activist journalists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles who surreptitiously recorded him while posing as a pimp and a half-naked hooker seeking accomplices in the commission of crimes of prostitution, statutory rape and kidnapping.

Juan Carlos Vera was fired after O’Keefe’s San Diego ACORN exposé was released. The segment seemed to show Vera discussing crimes agreeably. Called ‘undercover reporting’, the sting was shown to the world in exclusives given to hyper partisan Fox TV host Sean Hannity who wholly tarred ACORN for condoning underage prostitution and human trafficking.

After informing an unprecedented vote by Congress to defund ACORN (later found unconstitutional), ACORN was cleared of all criminal wrongdoing in the videos, and in particular the footage showing Vera was ordered investigated by California Attorney General Jerry Brown who cut a strange backroom deal with O’Keefe in exchange for access to the full unedited San Diego tapes.

Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: San Diego ACORN Worker Suing ‘Undercover Pimp’ James O’Keefe and Pals.

‘Well-Oiled’ 5th Circuit Panel Rejects Emergency Stay of Injunction Against Drilling Moratorium

The BRAD BLOG :

Government ‘irreparable harm’ argument fails to gain traction before majority Republican-appointed appellate court…

A three judge panel of the heavily-Republican 5th Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans rejected the Department of Interior’s request for an emergency stay of Judge Martin Feldman’s June 22, 2010 preliminary injunction [PDF], which prevents enforcement of the Department of Interior’s six month moratorium on exploratory drilling on only 33 “of the approximately 3,600 structures in the Gulf dedicated to offshore oil exploration and production.”

The panel’s two Reagan appointees, Judge Jerry E. Smith, joined by Judge W.Eugene Davis, ruled that the government had failed to demonstrate that it would be irreparably harmed if a decision on whether to vacate Judge Feldman’s injunction was deferred until after the appeal was heard sometime around the end of August or early September. Judge James L. Dennis, a Clinton appointee, dissented, noting that he did not believe Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar had abused his discretion in ordering a moratorium, which, per the government’s motion is limited to those drilling operations that apply “the same technologies employed by Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon…only to waters over 500 feet deep…” Since, under the Administrative Procedures Act, a court cannot overturn an agency decision absent an abuse of discretion, Judge Dennis appears to have concluded that Judge Feldman erred in issuing the preliminary injunction.

Judge Dennis did have a question, however, about the six month length of the moratorium.

Full Story: The BRAD BLOG : ‘Well-Oiled’ 5th Circuit Panel Rejects Emergency Stay of Injunction Against Drilling Moratorium.

Identifying Suspicious Short Selling, But Not Who’s Behind the Trades

Last weekend, The Wall Street Journal highlighted new academic research showing that investors may be trading on insider information after companies approach hedge funds for loans.

Researchers found that on average, in the five days before companies announce a loan from a hedge fund, the volume of short sales increases by 75 percent as compared with the 60 days before a deal is announced. There was no comparable uptick in betting against companies that borrowed money from commercial banks instead.

With short selling, hedge funds and other investors make money by wagering that a stock’s price will fall. Borrowing from hedge funds rather than commercial banks can be seen as a sign of distress, as hedge funds tend to charge higher interest rates.

One of the researchers, Debarshi Nandy of the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, told ProPublica that the findings pose an important question of whether hedge funds are using insider information inappropriately.

Full Story: On The Hill: Identifying Suspicious Short Selling, But Not Who’s Behind the Trades.

Can Your Cell Phone Put You in a Cell Block?

Court to decide if cops need warrant to track you by cellphone.

Authorities say they have evidence that Luis Soto was near a bank that was robbed in Berlin, Conn. Was there an eyewitness? No.

Soto was reportedly betrayed by his cell phone. Federal authorities sought reams of records from phone companies. They said the data — which lists which cell towers handled certain calls — revealed that Soto was not only close to the bank, but he was close to other suspects in the robbery.

Should law enforcement agencies be able to obtain this sort of information without a warrant? That’s a question that will soon be debated in a U.S. District Court in Connecticut.

Defense lawyers and advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation say the way the government obtained the cell information constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure.

Full Story: Law.com – Can Your Cell Phone Put You in a Cell Block?.

For Claims of Bodily Injury, No Payments from BP Yet

BP has long maintained that it will pay all “legitimate” claims for damage caused by the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. But company data shows that while it has written checks for roughly half of the overall claims it has received — most of which address property damage and the loss of income — it has not made payments on any of the more than 1,100 claims that have been filed for damages caused by “bodily injury.”

As of Tuesday, BP’s statistics showed a total of 1,105 claims for compensation for bodily injury, including 298 claims for respiratory ailments, 275 claims for anxiety or stress, and 261 claims for nausea. These claims have not received any of nearly $149 million in compensation that the company has paid out to date.

BP’s inaction on bodily injury claims, the only category in which all claims remain unpaid, suggests that the company is still discussing its approach to claims that could establish its liability for illness and injury.

Full Story: On The Hill: For Claims of Bodily Injury, No Payments from BP Yet.

Soldier who leaked Iraq shootings video faces 52 years

Army intel analyst charged over leak of Iraq shootings video

An American soldier suspected of leaking video footage of a US Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad that killed two employees of the Reuters news agency has been charged, the military said on Tuesday.

Private First Class Bradley E. Manning, held in a military jail in Kuwait since last month in connection with the July 2007 attack, faces two charges of misconduct, said a statement released by the US army in Baghdad.

The first charge, is for violating army regulations by “transferring classified data onto his personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system,” the statement said.

Full Story: Army intel analyst charged over leak of Iraq shootings video | Raw Story.

Judge refuses to jail activist who hung banner in Senate building, over objection of US Attorney

US Attorney wanted jail sentence of 40 days, three years suspended sentence

Environmentalist Ted Glick narrowly escaped a jail sentence today for misdemeanor convictions related to hanging banners in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building (pictured at right).

“I’m overwhelmingly surprised,” Glick told Raw Story. “I fully expected to go to jail.”

The 60 year-old Bloomfield, NJ resident was convicted May 13 of two misdemeanors—disorderly conduct and unlawfully assembling on Capitol Grounds. He was facing up to three years in prison in today’s sentencing for unfurling two banners saying “Green Jobs Now” and “Get to Work” from the Hart Senate Office Building’s 7th floor into the atrium on Sept. 8, 2009, the day the Senate returned from its summer recess.

Full Story: Judge refuses to jail activist who hung banner in Senate building, over objection of US Attorney | Raw Story.

Reports: iTunes accounts, Apple Store hacked

Various blogs are reporting that it appears some iTunes customer accounts have been hacked and that funds from those accounts may have been used to purchase apps in the iTunes App Store.

Earlier Sunday, Engadget reported an inexplicable uptick in sales of book apps by a developer identified as Thuat Nguyen. According to the blog, at the time of writing its report, Nguyen apps accounted for 42 of the top 50 books by revenue in the Books section of the iTunes App Store. Engadget went on to mention “a number of people reporting up to hundreds of dollars being spent unwillingly from their [iTunes] account to these specific books.”

Blog TNW Apple reported that the phenomenon appeared to extend beyond apps by one developer, and that it seemed to be international in scope. It also ran excerpts from several posts to the MacRumors: Forums Web site.

“Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card.” TNW Apple quoted one post as saying. “Sure enough over 10 transactions in the $40-$50 area all on iTunes equaling to $558.”

Full Story: Reports: iTunes accounts, App Store hacked | Apple – CNET News.

Gulf Coast Chefs File Class Action Suit Against BP

New Orleans chef Susan Spicer has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of local restaurant owners against BP for damages related to the oil spill. Guest host Jacki Lyden talks with Spicer and famed chef Jose Andres about the lasting effects on restaurants and the future of the Gulf Coast seafood industry.

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. Im Jacki Lyden.

For the last 20 years, Chef Susan Spicer’s restaurant, Bayona, has been rated one of the best in New Orleans. But its reputation for delicious and inventive seafood dishes is being threatened by the lasting effects of the Gulf oil spill. Last week, Friday June the 25th, Chef Spicer filed a class-action suit seeking damages, not just for her business, but other New Orleans restaurants and seafood suppliers affected by oil spill.

Susan Spicer joins us from her restaurant, Bayona, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Welcome to the show.

Chef SUSAN SPICER (Owner, Bayona Restaurant): Thanks, Jacki. Im happy to be here today.

LYDEN: And also with us, famed Chef Jose Andreas and he joins us from his restaurant, Julio, in Bethesda, Maryland. Thanks for being with us once more.

Chef JOSE ANDREAS (Owner, Julio Restaurant): Thank you for inviting me.

Full Story: Gulf Coast Chefs File Class Action Suit Against BP : NPR.

How Goldman gambled on starvation

Johann Hari:

Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?

By now, you probably think your opinion of Goldman Sachs and its swarm of Wall Street allies has rock-bottomed at raw loathing. You’re wrong. There’s more. It turns out that the most destructive of all their recent acts has barely been discussed at all. Here’s the rest. This is the story of how some of the richest people in the world – Goldman, Deutsche Bank, the traders at Merrill Lynch, and more – have caused the starvation of some of the poorest people in the world.

It starts with an apparent mystery. At the end of 2006, food prices across the world started to rise, suddenly and stratospherically. Within a year, the price of wheat had shot up by 80 per cent, maize by 90 per cent, rice by 320 per cent. In a global jolt of hunger, 200 million people – mostly children – couldn’t afford to get food any more, and sank into malnutrition or starvation. There were riots in more than 30 countries, and at least one government was violently overthrown. Then, in spring 2008, prices just as mysteriously fell back to their previous level. Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, calls it “a silent mass murder”, entirely due to “man-made actions.”

Full Story: Johann Hari: How Goldman gambled on starvation – Johann Hari, Commentators – The Independent.

Report: US banks laundering money for Mexican drug war

Wachovia admits at least $110 million laundered through its branches

US banks are playing a crucial role in the running of the Mexican drug trade, allowing their facilities to be used to launder money in a drug war that has taken the lives of more than 22,000 people in the past four years, a new investigative report reveals.

According to a report from the August, 2010, issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine, both Bank of America and Wachovia are implicated in drug-money laundering schemes to purchase jets to smuggle drugs.

Full Story: Report: US banks laundering money for Mexican drug war | Raw Story.

Daily Kos Founder Suing Pollster Research 2000: ‘We Were Defrauded’

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas took to his website Tuesday morning to announce his recent decision to file a lawsuit against former pollster, Research 2000.

According to Moulitsas, a recent report carried out by “three statistics wizards” shows that a certain amount of the data compiled by the Maryland-based polling company for the Daily Kos’s weekly “State of the Nation” poll was, in fact, “bunk.”

“We were defrauded by Research 2000, and while we don’t know if some or all of the data was fabricated or manipulated beyond recognition, we know we can’t trust it,” Moulitsas wrote in his post.

Full Story: Daily Kos Founder Suing Pollster Research 2000: ‘We Were Defrauded’.

Exclusive: Congressman wants Attorney General to explain $12 million settlement for $100 million energy fraud

A proposed anti-trust settlement between the U.S. Justice Department and a subsidiary of energy giant National Grid is under fire for allegedly being too lenient to the power company — and critics say it’s just another sign of a dysfunctional regulatory climate.

National Grid subsidiary Keyspan Energy has been accused of using Enron-style tactics to manipulate the New York State energy market between 2006 and 2008, a scheme which withdrew power capacity from the market, raising prices and increasing profits for the power distributor.

But now Congressman Dennis Kucinich has joined consumer groups and regulatory agencies to urge the Justice Department to reconsider the settlement that requires the company to pay $12 million penalty to the government while not refunding a single dime of the $100 million the market manipulation cost consumers.

Full Story: Exclusive: Congressman wants Attorney General to explain $12 million settlement for $100 million energy fraud | Raw Story.

Supreme Court gives Don Siegelman a second chance.

In 2006, former Democratic Alabama governor Don Siegelman was sentenced to serve seven years in a bribery case. Siegelman charges that he was the victim of political persecution by former Bush official Karl Rove, and his case has been plagued by improper conduct by the prosecution. In 2008, a “bipartisan group of 54 former state attorneys general from across the country” supported Siegelman’s bid to overturn his conviction, but a year later, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld five of the seven charges. Today, however, the Supreme Court gave Siegelman a second chance, ordering the court to look at his case again:

The Supreme Court ordered the 11th Circuit to review the appeals again in light of a high-court ruling last week that found fault with part of the government’s prosecution of former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling. The justices used Mr. Skilling’s case to narrow the reach of a federal law that allowed prosecutors to bring cases against company executives and government officials who deprived the public of “the intangible right of honest services.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Supreme Court gives Don Siegelman a second chance..

BP Made $58.5 Bil in Net Profits over Past Three Years But Spent $0 – Zero Dollars – on Spill Response Research

From MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show last night:

MADDOW: Remember, this is how much BP made in profits over the last three years. Ding, ding, ding $58.5 billion with a B. This is how much they spent on researching safer ways to drill over a three-year period $29 million. And this is how much they spent on oil spill response research. Zero dollars. BP has spent zero dollars researching how to respond to an oil spill. Aren`t you glad BP is in charge of the oil spill response in the gulf right now?

Video and transcript follow…

Full Story: Pensito Review » BP Made $58.5 Bil in Net Profits over Past Three Years But Spent $0 – Zero Dollars – on Spill Response Research.

Is BP guilty of ecocide?

Thom  Hartman asks Kieran Suckling, Center for Biological Diversity,

US Supreme Court deals pedophilia blow for Vatican

The US Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal by the Vatican in a landmark case that opens the way for priests in the United States to stand trial for pedophilia.

Allowing a federal appeals court ruling to stand, the decision means Vatican officials including theoretically Pope Benedict XVI could face questioning under oath related to a litany of child sex abuse cases.

The Supreme Court effectively confirmed the decision of an appellate court to lift the Vatican’s immunity in the case of an alleged pedophile priest in the northwestern state of Oregon.

Full Story: US Supreme Court deals pedophilia blow for Vatican | Raw Story.

Court’s Dual Standards on Free Speech

A majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court seems to believe in free speech for corporations when it comes to influencing elections, but not so much for actual people trying to end wars.

Five months after the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that the First Amendment guarantees corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts of money in political campaigns, the Court issued a ruling making the First Amendment less sacrosanct when it comes to private citizens advocating for peaceful conflict resolution.

In a 6-3 ruling on June 21, the Court upheld a federal law that criminalizes giving “material support,” including providing “expert advice,” to groups that have been designated by the State Department as terrorist organizations.

Human rights groups had claimed the law’s vague language would inhibit their work by preventing education projects and limiting their ability in offering advice on how to resolve conflicts and work within the political process.

Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.

Its Scandal May Be Lost Within Gulf Oil, But Toyota’s Car Safety Still At Issue

BP, of course, has become the poster child for bad corporate behavior for its monster oil spill that the energy giant can’t seem to stop.

But before oil executives like Tony Hayward and Lamar McKay began coming to Capitol Hill for their regular tongue-lashings over the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it was Toyota bigwigs like James Lentz who came to town for congressional reaming due to problems with the carmaker’s vehicles that would accelerate uncontrollably, causing a number of fatalities.

It may seem as the Toyota safety scandal was from another age, as preoccupied as the nation has become with oil continuing to spew into the Gulf of Mexico. But, in reality, it was just a few months ago that Congress was probing the Toyota issue, hot-and-heavy. And just because Toyota’s ham-handed answers for “unintended acceleration” have given way in the headlines to BP’s ineffectual mutterings about “top kill” and paying damage claims, the issue itself isn’t over.

via On The Hill: Its Scandal May Be Lost Within Gulf Oil, But Toyota’s Car Safety Still At Issue.

Does the Judge Who Blocked Obama’s Drilling Moratorium Suffer from an Unethical Conflict of Interest?

John Dean:

Notwithstanding his widely-reported financial ties to the oil industry, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana Martin Leach-Cross Feldman — after two hours of oral argument — issued a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Interior’s drilling moratorium.

The moratorium seeks to ban deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for six months, while the federal government studies the reasons for the eleven deaths and the terrible environmental disaster caused by the spill involving BP’s Deepwater Horizon platform.

If Judge Feldman, in fact, still holds the oil investments that he last reported holding in 2008, then it is difficult to understand why he did not recuse himself. Indeed, if he still owns these oil and gas interests, then he has violated the canons of judicial ethics for the federal judiciary — which would be shocking, for Judge Feldman is a savvy, experienced and highly-respected federal judge. But something is going on here, for he has refused to comment: The Associated Press reported that ” Feldman did not respond to requests for comment and to clarify whether he still holds some or all of these investments.”

via Does the Judge Who Blocked Obama’s Drilling Moratorium Suffer from an Unethical Conflict of Interest?.

Those Electronic Health Records Obama Has So Invested In Could Open New Liability Risks

President Obama has long trumpeted the benefits of more quickly adopting electronic health records, and he and his administration like to talk about such benefits of health information technology and claim they will reduce health care costs and improve medical outcomes.

While it’s true that digital records can be substantial, these electronic health record (EHR) systems also give rise to increased liability risks for health care providers due to possible software or hardware problems or user errors, according to a new research study.

At Obama’s urging, Congress included $19 billion to hasten the adoption of EHR technology as part of last year’s economic stimulus plan, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Full Story: On The Hill: Those Electronic Health Records Obama Has So Invested In Could Open New Liability Risks.

Palin fund illegal; donors will get money back

Administrators of a legal defense fund set up for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have 90 days to return nearly $400,000 to donors, after an ethics investigator determined the fund was illegal.

The Alaska Fund Trust inappropriately used the word “official” on its website, wrongly implying that it was endorsed by Palin in her role as governor, State Personnel Board investigator Timothy Petumenos said Thursday.

But Petumenos also found that Palin — the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee — acted in good faith and relied on a team of attorneys, all but one from outside the state, to make sure the fund was lawful and complied with the Alaska Executive Branch Act.

Full Story: Palin fund illegal; donors will get money back.

Gulf Coast Attorneys File RICO Class Action Lawsuits Against BP

Gulf Coast law firms Levin Papantonio, Eastland Law and others have begun filing a series of civil RICO actions in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama to hold BP accountable for the false assurances it gave the American people that it could handle a worst-case scenario deepwater oil spill. The suits allege that BP committed mail fraud, wire fraud and potentially other RICO predicate act violations when the company sought permits from the federal government for deepwater offshore drilling, knowing that it did not possess the technical expertise or equipment necessary to respond to an emergency such as the ongoing Deepwater disaster.

This is the only RICO claim out of the more than 200 lawsuits filed so far against BP – and that doesn’t even count claims against Transocean, Halliburton and other associated defendants. All the other legal cases filed so far against BP are based on negligence associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, violations of various environmental statutes, and other legal angles.

By choosing the RICO approach, the Gulf Coast attorneys hope to provide an avenue for all Americans impacted by the disaster to stand up to the oil companies and prosecute them in civil court for their unlawful conduct.

Full Story: Brendan DeMelle: Gulf Coast Attorneys File RICO Class Action Lawsuits Against BP.

Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling

The Supreme Court on Thursday sharply curtailed prosecutors’ use of an anti-fraud law that was central in convicting politicians and corporate executives in many of the nation’s most prominent corruption cases. The ex-CEO of disgraced energy giant Enron and a Canadian media mogul, both in prison, are among the figures who could benefit from the ruling.

The justices voted 6-3 to keep the law in force, even as they joined unanimously in weakening it, and left it to a lower court to decide whether Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron boss, and Conrad Black, the former newspaper owner, should have their convictions stemming from “honest services” fraud overturned.

The “honest services” law has been criticized by defense lawyers as the last resort of prosecutors in corruption cases that lack the evidence to prove that money is changing hands. It also has been called vague, subjecting people to prosecution for mistakes and minor transgressions in the business and political worlds. But watchdogs consider it key to fighting white-collar and public fraud.

Full Story: Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling.

House votes to give subpoena power to oil spill commission

The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday that provides subpoena powers to a White House-created commission that is probing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The vote was 420-1 for Rep. Lois Capps’s (D-Calif.) bill that gives the authority to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Only Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) voted against it.

“Subpoena power is absolutely essential to ensuring that BP and others involved with this spill cannot stonewall the Commission,” Capps said in a prepared statement after the vote.

Full Story: House votes to give subpoena power to oil spill commission – The Hill’s E2-Wire.

Viacom Loses To YouTube In Landmark Copyright Case

A federal judge handed Google Inc. a major victory Wednesday by rebuffing media company Viacom Inc.’s attempt to collect more than $1 billion in damages for the alleged copyright abuses of Google’s popular YouTube service.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in New York embraces Google’s interpretation of a 12-year-old law that shields Internet services from claims of copyright infringement as long as they promptly remove illegal content when notified of a violation.

That so-called “safe harbor” helped persuade Google to buy YouTube for $1.76 billion in 2006, even though some of the Internet search leader’s own executives had earlier branded the video-sharing service as “a ‘rogue enabler’ of content theft,” according to documents unearthed in the copyright infringement case.

Full Story: Viacom Loses To YouTube In Landmark Copyright Case.

Man arrested for taking picture of cop in his own home

A Texas man has sued his local police department, saying he was arrested for taking a picture of a police officer when the officer entered his home without permission.

According to the lawsuit (PDF), Sgt. Justin Alderete of the Sealy, Texas, police department arrived at the home of Francisco Olvera in October, 2009, apparently responding to a noise complaint. Olvera had been playing music on his computer speakers while working outside in his patio.

The sergeant asked Olvera for identification. When Olvera went inside his home to grab his ID, Sgt. Alderete followed him inside. Believing the officer didn't have a right to enter his home without permission, Olvera picked up his cellphone and took a photo of the officer. At that point, the lawsuit states, Alderete accused Olvera of “illegal photography” and arrested him

Full Story: Man arrested for taking picture of cop in his own home | Raw Story.

US Gulf oil drilling ban overturned by federal judge

A US federal court judge has blocked President Barack Obama’s six-month moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The moratorium was put in place in the wake of the massive oil spill triggered by an explosion at a rig in April.

The judge said the lengthy ban was “invalid” and could not be justified, as the negative impact on local businesses was simply too great.

The White House said it would be appealing against the decision.

“An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in the depths over 500ft simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country,” judge Martin Feldman said.

Full Story: BBC News – US Gulf oil drilling ban overturned by federal judge.

Additional background:

#1 Judge Martin Feldman seems to have extensive investments in the oil industry.
http://slabbed.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/katrinas-who-dat-judge-martin-feldman-now-dabbling-in-oil/
Somebody tell me they’re surprised.

He also seems have a reputation in the Fifth Circuit for being overturned on appeal.
http://slabbed.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/who-dat-judge-martin-feldman-the-5th-circuits-opinion-in-versai-v-clarendon/
But that’s OK. The oil industry needed a hack who would block the drilling ban. Now the wheels of justice can grind slowly while the slick oil companies pollute for profit.

US probes Google Street View data grabs

The attorney general of Connecticut is looking into whether Google broke the law by capturing people’s personal data from wireless networks while Street View bicycles and cars mapped streets.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced Monday that his office will lead a multistate probe of “Google’s deeply disturbing invasion of personal privacy,” which has drawn ire and scrutiny in an array of countries.

“Street View cannot mean Complete View — invading home and business computer networks and vacuuming up personal information and communications,” Blumenthal said.

Full Story: France24 – US probes Google Street View data grabs.

Supreme Court Ruling Criminalizes Speech in Material Support Law Case

President Carter Could Be Prosecuted for Monitoring Fair Elections in Lebanon

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to criminalize speech in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the first case to challenge the Patriot Act before the highest court in the land, and the first post-9/11 case to pit free speech guarantees against national security claims. Attorneys say that under the Court’s ruling, many groups and individuals providing peaceful advocacy could be prosecuted, including President Carter for training all parties in fair election practices in Lebanon. President Carter submitted an amicus brief in the case.

Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority, affirming in part, reversing in part, and remanding the case back to the lower court for review; Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor. The Court held that the statute’s prohibitions on “expert advice,” “training,” “service,” and “personnel” were not vague, and did not violate speech or associational rights as applied to plaintiffs’ intended activities. Plaintiffs sought to provide assistance and education on human rights advocacy and peacemaking to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey, a designated terrorist organization. Multiple lower court rulings had found the statute unconstitutionally vague.

Said CCR Cooperating Attorney David Cole, “We are deeply disappointed. The Supreme Court has ruled that human rights advocates, providing training and assistance in the nonviolent resolution of disputes, can be prosecuted as terrorists. In the name of fighting terrorism, the Court has said that the First Amendment permits Congress to make human rights advocacy and peacemaking a crime. That is wrong.”

Full Story: Supreme Court Ruling Criminalizes Speech in Material Support Law Case | Center for Constitutional Rights.

Read the Internal Document that Contradicts BP’s Claims on Oil Flow

Rep. Ed Markey has been among BP’s toughest critics in Congress following the Deepwater Horizon blowout, accusing it, among other things, of lowballing its estimates of oil flow.

On Sunday, Markey was at it again. As you may have read, the Boston Democrat released an internal BP document that shows that early company estimates for worst-case oil flow scenarios were far higher than the company has ever acknowledged — up to 100,000 barrels per day if all containment mechanisms were to fail. Take a look at the document for yourself.

The document is not dated, but a statement from Rep. Markey that accompanied its release said that BP’s oil flow estimate at the time the document was made available to Congress was 5,000 barrels per day, and its worst-case scenario was 60,000 barrels per day, figures the company provided for much of the month of May.

The 100,000-barrels-per-day scenario contrasts sharply with the company’s public pronouncements at the time.

Full Story: On The Hill: Read the Internal Document that Contradicts BP’s Claims on Oil Flow.

Inflated Appraisals Are Key Evidence In Lawsuits Against Banks

The Inflatable Loan Pool

AMID the legal battles between investors who lost money in mortgage securities and the investment banks that sold the stuff, one thing seems clear: the investment banks appear to be winning a good many of the early skirmishes.

But some cases are faring better for individual plaintiffs, with judges allowing them to proceed even as banks ask that they be dismissed. Still, these matters are hard to litigate because investors must persuade the judges overseeing them that their losses were not simply a result of a market crash. Investors must argue, convincingly, that the banks misrepresented the quality of the loans in the pools and made material misstatements about them in prospectuses provided to buyers.

Recent filings by two Federal Home Loan Banks — in San Francisco and Seattle — offer an intriguing way to clear this high hurdle. Lawyers representing the banks, which bought mortgage securities, combed through the loan pools looking for discrepancies between actual loan characteristics and how they were pitched to investors.

Full Story: Fair Game – The Inflatable Loan Pool – NYTimes.com.

BP’s plan: Raise $50 billion, sue business partners

BP is trying to raise 50 billion dollars to cover the cost of the Gulf of Mexico spill and is preparing to sue its partners in the oil field, British newspapers said on Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph said BP is readying to take legal action against US firm Anadarko, its main partner in the field, for its share of the clean-up costs.

The broadsheet cited a “senior BP source” as saying Anadarko was “shirking its responsibilities”, not accepting its liabilities and that legal action in the United States is now likely to follow.

The Sunday Times said BP is working on a plan to raise 50 billion dollars to cover the cost of the oil spill, which would start next week with a bond sale to raise 10 billion dollars.

A further 20 billion dollars would come from bank loans, while the final slice is expected to come from asset sales over the next two years, the broadsheet said.

Full Story: BP’s plan: Raise $50 billion, sue business partners | Raw Story.

Jury Awards Florida Couple $2.4 Million In Damages For Poison Chinese-Made Drywall

A Florida couple who fled their dream home because of foul-smelling, ruinous Chinese drywall was awarded $2.4 million in damages Friday in the nation’s first jury trial over the defective wallboard that could have legal ramifications for thousands of similar cases.

The six-person jury ruled that Armin and Lisa Seifart should receive more than just the costs of gutting and renovating their home: they were also awarded damages for loss of enjoyment of the $1.6 million house and for the drywall stigma that might reduce its resale value.

The defendant, drywall distributor Banner Supply Co., is named in thousands of other lawsuits. Attorneys in those cases, as well as many others pending nationwide against other companies, will look to the Seifart damage award as a guide for what kinds of damages they seek

Full Story: Jury Awards Florida Couple $2.4 Million In Damages For Poison Chinese-Made Drywall.

BP Partner Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Blasts BP’s ‘Reckless Decisions And Actions’

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owns a quarter of BP PLC’s blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, late Friday blasted BP “reckless decisions and actions” that led to the well’s explosion.

Anadarko Chairman and CEO Jim Hackett’s statement came after some elected officials said Anadarko should help pay for the massive cleanup and spill-related claims. Company spokesman John Christiansen said the comments were in response to “a week’s worth of testimony” and other information and data compiled on the disaster.

“The mounting evidence clearly demonstrates that this tragedy was preventable and the direct result of BP’s reckless decisions and actions,” said Hackett in the statement. “We recognize that ultimately we have obligations under federal law related to the oil spill, but will look to BP to continue to pay all legitimate claims as they have repeatedly stated that they will do.”

Full Story: Gulf Oil Spill: BP Partner Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Blasts BP’s ‘Reckless Decisions And Actions’.

More Companies Knew About Tainted Drywall but Stayed Quiet—and Kept Selling It

At least a half-dozen homebuilders, installers and environmental consultants knew as early as 2006 that foul smells were coming from drywall imported from China – but they didn’t share their early concerns with the public, even when homeowners began complaining about the drywall in 2008.

ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported last month that two U.S. companies – WCI Communities, a major Florida homebuilder, and Banner Supply, a Miami-based distributor – knew about the problem in 2006. But according to recently released sworn depositions by current and former executives at Banner, other companies also were aware of the problem.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has since linked the foul odor to sulfur gases that can corrode electrical wiring and household appliances, including air conditioners and refrigerators. The long-term health effects of the air are still being studied, although homeowners have complained of respiratory problems, bloody noses and severe headaches.

Full Story: More Companies Knew About Tainted Drywall but Stayed Quiet—and Kept Selling It – ProPublica.

Doctors urge Cuccinelli to drop health-reform lawsuit

A grass-roots organization of physicians yesterday joined the battle in the court of public opinion over whether Virginia and other states should challenge the legality of recently passed health-care reform legislation.

The Washington-based group Doctors for America sent a letter to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli urging him to withdraw litigation filed against President Barack Obama’s reform.

The group’s letter argues that the litigation, successful or not, would harm patients by delaying funding appropriated in the bill to medical schools and community health centers, and medical care to underserved populations. More than 1 million people in Virginia are uninsured, and 131 health centers would receive federal aid under the new legislation, according to the group.

“Your lawsuit poses an imminent threat to the health of Virginians,” states the letter, signed by 155 Virginia physicians of the organization, which boasts 16,000 members nationwide.

There are 30,000 physicians in Virginia.

Full Story: Doctors urge Cuccinelli to drop health-reform lawsuit | Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Red Cross Fined $16 Million For Sloppy Blood Screening

Federal health regulators on Thursday fined the American Red Cross $16 million for sloppy screening of donated blood, the latest in a series of violations that have cost the group millions of dollars.

The Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that the group failed to take precautions to assure the safety of blood donations. Despite those oversights, the FDA says the U.S. blood supply appears to be safe.

Regulators fined the group nearly $10 million for mismanagement of blood products – including red blood cells, plasma and platelets – and over $6 million for faulty manufacturing practices. The violations occurred in fiscal years 2008 and 2009.

Full Story: Red Cross Fined $16 Million For Sloppy Blood Screening.

CORPORATE MURDER?

Jim Hightower :

A mass murder has taken place in another American workplace, taking 29 lives. The authorities know who did it, so shouldn’t that person be made to pay for this heinous crime?

Yes! But the killer is one of America’s largest coal corporations, Massey Energy Company, and you can’t give the death penalty to a corporation. Can you? Well, the Supreme Court has ruled that a corporation is a “person” – so why not?

Massey – headed by its right-wing multimillionaire CEO, Don Blankenship – has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and lawmakers to fend off any effective regulations to protect mine workers. By using its political clout to muzzle the federal watchdog, Massey has been able to flaunt the law. Last year, it had nearly 500 safety violations in just one of its mines, including life-threatening violations. It’s punishment? Fines totaling a mere $168,000 – chump change to an outfit with $56 million in profits last year.
Full Story: Jim Hightower | CORPORATE MURDER?.

Greer Charged With Theft, Money Laundering – Hotline On Call

Ex-FL GOP chair Jim Greer will be charged with 6 felony counts for allegedly laundering money through a company he and a former top aide set up, a contract that gave him $200K in money intended to go toward electing GOP candidates.

Announcing the indictments today, FL law enforcement officials said Greer could face significant time in jail. At least 2 of the charges carry maximum sentences of 30 years in prison. Greer was taken into custody at his home early this morning.

An alleged contract, signed when Greer was chairman, provided Victory Strategies LLC with a 10% cut of all major donations to the state party. As chairman, Greer also directed $60K in payments to the company. Greer and his former executive director, Delmar Johnson, controlled the company and profited from the payments.

Full Story: Greer Charged With Theft, Money Laundering – Hotline On Call.

BP Is a Corporate Criminal

Jim Hightower:

Gosh, how quickly things turn. One day, you’re a strutting peacock — the next day, you’re just another gasping, oil-covered bird.

In early April, BP was strutting about in full corporate splendor, showing off the $9 billion in profits that it had soaked up in just the first three months of this year. It was also basking in a corporate re-imaging campaign, depicting itself as a clean-energy pioneer and declaring that BP now stood for “Beyond Petroleum.”

Since its Gulf of Mexico well blew out on April 20, however, BP has proven to be beyond belief. The wider and deeper that this catastrophe spreads, the more we discover just how oily this giant is.

From the time it was known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and set out to grab and control the rich petroleum reserves owned by what is now Iran, BP has been a recidivist global criminal. In the past three decades, it grew huge by swallowing such competitors as Standard Oil of Ohio, Amoco and Arco. Along the way, it has been implicated in bribery, overthrowing governments, plunder and money laundering, plus having established one of the worst safety and environmental records in an industry that is notoriously reckless on both counts.

Full Story: BP Is a Corporate Criminal by Jim Hightower on Creators.com – A Syndicate Of Talent.

Louisiana To Require Ultrasounds Before Abortions

Women seeking abortions in Louisiana will be required to get an ultrasound first, even if they are a victim of rape or incest, under a bill that received final legislative passage Wednesday.

The bill by Democratic state Sen. Sharon Broome of Baton Rouge was sent to the governor’s desk with a 79-0 vote of the state House. Gov. Bobby Jindal supports the measure.

Supporters of the proposal said they hope the ultrasound dissuades some women from getting an abortion at the handful of abortion clinics in Louisiana, by giving them more information about their pregnancies.

Full Story: Louisiana To Require Ultrasounds Before Abortions : NPR.

Is Blackwater’s Erik Prince Moving to the United Arab Emirates?

Jeremy Scahill:

Sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world's most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince's top deputies were hit with a fifteen-count indictment by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince's longtime number-two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy and Prince's former legal counsel Andrew Howell.

Full Story: Is Blackwater’s Erik Prince Moving to the United Arab Emirates? | The Nation.

Closing BP’s Escape Routes

Robert Weissman:

BP generates enough cash to absorb its liabilities from the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

But that doesn’t mean it will.

One of the benefits of the corporate form is that it gives giant corporations the ability to escape liability. BP may or may not choose to capitalize on such escapes, but it would be foolish to presume that it won’t. That’s why President Obama’s call for the company to establish a $20 billion escrow account is such a positive and needed — if still inadequate — step.

Consider first the liabilities that BP may face. No one really knows what the damage from the oil gusher or the overall costs to BP may ultimately be. Some analysts are now throwing around numbers of $70 billion on the upper end — but it’s not hard to see how the ultimate cost to BP could rise even higher.

Full Story: Closing BP’s Escape Routes | CommonDreams.org.

BP hires Goldman Sachs as an adviser, possibly to avoid a takeover.

As BP continues to come under fire for its incompetence in cleaning up its own spill, the company is also ramping up legal and public relations efforts to try to rescue its tarnished reputation. Today, Reuters reports that the petroleum corporation has hired investment banks Blackstone Group, Credit Suisse Group, and Goldman Sachs as advisers, although the matter the banks are advising on is unknown. The Independent on Sunday speculated that BP hired Goldman “to fend off any potential takeover attempts” of the oil company. The choice of Goldman is sure to raise eyebrows as the investment bank is currently facing fraud charges from the SEC. The oil spill likely helped BP supplant Goldman as one of the most reviled companies operating in America.

Full Story: Think Progress » BP hires Goldman Sachs as an adviser, possibly to avoid a takeover..

Congressional report clears ACORN of wrongdoing — after group forced to disband

When a duo of right-wing provocateurs posing as a pimp and prostitute released selectively-edited videos trying to impugn the community activist group ACORN, both Democrats and Republicans condemned the organization.

Congress then voted to cut off federal funding for the group (a decision that was later ruled unconstitutional). Following negative press and Congress’ vote, ACORN effectively disbanded Apr. 1 and reorganized under new names.

But a just-issued report by the Government Accountability Office that reviewed ACORN’s federal funding at the behest of Congress found little grist for the mill for politicians or right-wing bloggers looking to bash the now-defunct advocacy group for the poor.

Full Story: Congressional report clears ACORN of wrongdoing — after group forced to disband | Raw Story.

“Lure People Into That Calm and Then Just Totally F–k ‘Em”: How All of Us Pay for the Derivatives Market

Derivatives are a hotbed of abuses and bailouts. So why are taxpayers footing the bill?

For the Wall Street reform package currently making its way through Congress to work, it has to accomplish two broad goals: It must take a huge bite out of banking profits and end the too-big-to-fail oligopoly that encourages megabanks to take megarisks and stick taxpayers with the tab. Neither of these goals can be accomplished without taking on derivatives — the wild, unregulated market that brought down AIG. Right now, the U.S. government pays big banks for operating derivatives casinos. If we’re going to clean up the derivatives mess, we have to move taxpayer money out of the market.

“The dirty little secret here is that the American government has been subsidizing the derivatives market through the Fed and other avenues since its inception,” says Adam White, director of research for White Knight Research and Trading. “That’s crazy.”

Full Story: “Lure People Into That Calm and Then Just Totally F–k ‘Em”: How All of Us Pay for the Derivatives Market | Economy | AlterNet.

Homeowners Score Points With $108 Million Fine, Wells Fargo Case

Fair Game – Finally, Mortgage Borrowers Score Points

WHILE the wheels of justice have turned very slowly in the years since our nation’s financiers and regulators nearly cratered our economy, the Federal Trade Commission’s settlement last Monday with Countrywide Home Loans suggests that they haven’t entirely ground to a halt.

Countrywide, now a unit of Bank of America, was once led by Angelo Mozilo and was the nation’s largest mortgage lender in the glorious, pre-crisis days of the housing boom. But it was also a predatory institution, and the F.T.C., citing Countrywide’s serial abuse of troubled borrowers, extracted a $108 million fine from Bank of America last week.

That money will go back to some 200,000 customers whom Countrywide forced to pay outsized fees for foreclosure services. These included billing a borrower $300 to have a property’s lawn mowed and levying $2,500 in trustees’ fees on another borrower, when the going rate for that service was about $600.

Full Story: Fair Game – Finally, Mortgage Borrowers Score Points – NYTimes.com.

BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence

While President Obama insists that the federal government is firmly in control of the response to BP’s spill in the Gulf, people in coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an inconvenient truth: BP — not our president — controls the response. In fact, people on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.

Even worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to shield itself from public accountability.

For example, while flying on a small plane from New Orleans to Orange Beach, the pilot suddenly exclaimed, “Look at that!” The thin red line marking the federal flight restrictions of 3,000 feet over the oiled Gulf region had just jumped to include the coastal barrier islands off Alabama.

Full Story: Riki Ott: From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence.

Alvin Greene A GOP ‘Plant’? James Clyburn Warns Of ‘Shenanigans’ With South Carolina Candidate

Is something fishy going on with Alvin Greene, the man who clinched an unlikely victory to become the Democratic nominee for South Carolina Senate? Fellow South Carolinian Rep. James Clyburn (D) thinks so, and on Thursday went as far as to say that Greene might be a “Republican plant.”

Speaking with liberal radio show host Bill Press, Clyburn questioned Greene’s improbable victory (Greene had no campaign signs, no website, and was largely invisible in the lead-up to Tuesday’s primary) and said that his candidacy warranted an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

“There were some real shenanigans going on in the South Carolina primary,” Clyburn said of Tuesday’s race. “I don’t know if he was a Republican plant; he was someone’s plant.”

Clyburn said the circumstances of Greene’s entry and eventual upset of the race were baffling.

Full Story: Alvin Greene A GOP ‘Plant’? James Clyburn Warns Of ‘Shenanigans’ With South Carolina Candidate.

Voter Lawsuit Filed in Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln, Bill Halter Senate Runoff

A lawsuit on behalf of three Arkansas voters against the Garland County Election Commission was filed late Tuesday afternoon, adding a dramatic twist to Tuesday's runoff between incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Governor Bill Halter for the Democratic Senate nomination.

The lawsuit, filed by Hot Springs attorney Ben Hooten, states that the commission intentionally scheduled only two polling sites for “the purpose of disenfranchising ” minority, elderly, poor and disabled voters in the county. It also says that “the greater part of the voting electorate are unable to find or reach” the polling places and are “thereby deprived of their right to vote and were disenfranchised.”

“They’ve tried this before,” Hooten said in an interview with Politics Daily. “They tried it in 2008 and I fled suit then. It was a special election on bonds that year, but they closed all the polls citywide, but one.”

Full Story: Voter Lawsuit Filed in Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln, Bill Halter Senate Runoff.

Rig Survivors: BP Ordered Shortcut on Day of Blast

The morning the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, a BP executive and a Transocean official argued over how to proceed with the drilling, rig survivors told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview.

The survivors’ account paints perhaps the most detailed picture yet of what happened on the deepwater rig — and the possible causes of the April 20 explosion.

The BP official wanted workers to replace heavy mud, used to keep the well’s pressure down, with lighter seawater to help speed a process that was costing an estimated $750,000 a day and was already running five weeks late, rig survivors told CNN

Full Story: Rig Survivors: BP Ordered Shortcut on Day of Blast | CommonDreams.org.

Exxon Valdez Lawyer: Louisianans, ‘To Use A Legal Term,’ Are ‘Just F–ked’

Long after oil stops spilling from the Gulf and the ecological catastrophe caused by the spill begins to be cleaned up, the process of determining the extent to which BP owes the afflicted will be litigated in the courts.

And while the case against the oil company seems fairly clear-cut (BP admits, after all, to being responsible for the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history), a lawyer with perhaps the most relevant experience on the matter at hand is painting a depressing picture about the litigation ahead.

“[I]f you were affected in Louisiana,” said Brian O’Neill, an attorney with the firm Faegre & Benson, “to use a legal term, you are just f–ked.”

Full Story: Exxon Valdez Lawyer: Louisianans, ‘To Use A Legal Term,’ Are ‘Just F–ked’.

Goldman Sachs Subpoenaed By Financial Crisis Panel For Withholding Key Info

Referring to its conduct as “abysmal,” “unacceptable,” “egregious,” and “disturbing,” the federal panel created to probe the causes of the financial crisis slapped Goldman Sachs with a subpoena on Friday for its “very deliberate effort to run out the clock” in failing to turn over key documents and make company executives available for interviews with federal investigators.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission turned to the subpoena after “multiple requests” and “months” of stalling by Wall Street's most profitable firm to turn over requested information.

Goldman Sachs missed at least seven deadlines, requested extensions that were subsequently missed at least three times, and was threatened with a subpoena on at least three different occasions, according to a summary of the back-and-forth provided by the financial crisis panel. The requests for information stretch back to January.

Full Story: Goldman Sachs Subpoenaed By Financial Crisis Panel For Withholding Key Info.

White House Endorses Unlimited Liability Cap For Oil Spillers

Democrats in Congress and officials in the White House are making yet another major push to pass legislation to make the liability for oil companies involved in damaging spills unlimited.

On Monday evening, the White House confirmed that it favors the most recent piece of legislation that would drop any numerical ceiling to the amount of money an oil company like BP would have to pay for economic damages caused by a spill. Currently, the cap is $75 million.

“The president supports removing caps on liability for oil companies engaged in offshore drilling,” said spokesman Ben LaBolt. “Oil companies should have every incentive to maximize safety and arbitrary caps on liability create a disincentive to achieve that goal.”

The statement was the most detailed the administration has offered to date with respect to the debate surrounding BP’s liability. And it reflects a growing sentiment within the White House that more aggressive action (if not optics) need to be in place to stem the fallout of the Gulf crisis. Several weeks ago, U.S. Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli made the case for an unlimited cap without formally endorsing the policy.

Full Story: White House Endorses Unlimited Liability Cap For Oil Spillers.

Doctors group says Bush Administration conducted medical experiments on detainees

A new report by the watchdog group Physicians for Human Rights alleges Monday that the Bush Administration experimented on terrorism suspects during their enhanced interrogation program put in force starting in 2002.

The group's review, which examined Bush-era documentation, asserts that the administration violated laws set up in the wake of the Holocaust to prevent medical testing on prisoners of war. (Nazi doctors sometimes experimented on their prisoners.)

The report states that, “Medical personnel were required to monitor all waterboarding practices and collect detailed medical information that was used to design, develop and deploy subsequent waterboarding procedures.” Notes the Associated Press:

Full Story: Doctors group says Bush Administration conducted medical experiments on detainees | Raw Story.

58 percent of federal trial judges in oil-affected states have a stake in oil industry.

The AP reports that well over half of the federal trial judges in states affected by the BP oil disaster have financial ties to that industry:

Thirty-seven of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have links to oil, gas and related energy industries, including some who own stocks or bonds in BP PLC, Halliburton or Transocean — and others who regularly list receiving royalties from oil and gas production wells, according to the reports judges must file each year. … [O]ne federal judge in Texas is a member of Houston’s Petroleum Club, an “exclusive, handsome club of, and for, men of the oil industry.”

Full Story: Think Progress » 58 percent of federal trial judges in oil-affected states have a stake in oil industry..

Judge James L Shumate Orders Halt to Bank of America Foreclosures in Utah

A court order issued by Fifth District Court Judge James L. Shumate May 22, 2010 in St. George, Utah has stopped all foreclosure proceedings in the State of Utah by Bank of America Corporation; Recontrust Company, N.A; Home Loans Serving, LP; Bank of America, FSB; www.envisionlawfirm.com. The Court Order if allowed to become permanent will force Bank of America and other mortgage companies with home loans in Utah to adhere to the Utah laws requiring lenders to register in the state and have offices where home owners can negotiate face-to-face with their lenders as the state lawmakers intended (Utah Code ‘ 57-1-21(1)(a)(i).). Telephone calls by KCSG News for comment to the law office of Bank of America counsel Sean D. Muntz and Amir Shlesinger, Esq. of Reed Smith, LLP, Los Angeles, CA and Richard Ensor, Esq. of Vantus Law Group, Salt Lake City, UT were not returned.

The lawsuit filed by John Christian Barlow, a former Weber State University student who graduated from Loyola University of Chicago and receive his law degree from one of the most distinguished private a law colleges in the nation, Willamette University founded in 1883 at Salem, Oregon has drawn the ire of the high brow Bank of America attorney and lawyers of the law firm of Reed Smith, LLP, the 15th largest law firm in the world, according to their website.

Full Story: KCSG Television – Judge James L Shumate Orders Halt to Bank of America Foreclosures in Utah.

In Gulf, It Was Unclear Who Was in Charge of Oil Rig

Over six days in May, far from the familiar choreography of Washington hearings, federal investigators grilled workers involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster in a chilly, sterile conference room at a hotel near the airport here.

The six-member panel of Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service officials pressed for answers about what occurred on the rig on April 20 before it exploded. They wanted to know who was in charge, and heard conflicting answers.

They pushed for more insight into an argument on the rig that day between a manager for BP, the well’s owner, and one for Transocean, the rig’s owner, and asked Curt R. Kuchta, the rig’s captain, how the crew knew who was in charge.

“It’s pretty well understood amongst the crew who’s in charge,” he said.

Full Story: In Gulf, It Was Unclear Who Was in Charge of Oil Rig – NYTimes.com.

Class action lawsuit: Retailers selling gas hotter than 60 degrees rip off consumers | Raw Story

Kansas paper estimated in 2006 that ripoff scams over $2.3 billion annually

Many oil companies and gasoline retailers carefully track the temperature, volume and exact value of their supplies every step of the way from well to gas station, where the measurement often stops.

Now, two lawsuits out of Kansas have been merged into a class action suit alleging that many big gas retailers are directly causing consumers to get less for their money when fuel is sold hotter than the industry standard of 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

They call it “hot fuel,” which has expanded at time of sale beyond the volume at which the value was based, resulting in more of a product that carries less energy.

Full Story: Class action lawsuit: Retailers selling gas hotter than 60 degrees rip off consumers | Raw Story.

BP, feds could make millions from runaway well’s oil

BP’s runaway deepwater well could still become a moneymaker for the company, even as it tries to stem the gush of crude oil that’s fouling the Gulf of Mexico.

If the current containment effort works — and BP and the government say they’re optimistic that it will — the oil giant will salvage much of the oil that’s now spewing from the crumpled pipes on the ocean floor. That captured oil, McClatchy estimates, could generate more than $1.4 million in revenue for BP each day.

Once the oil is piped to the surface to the drill ship Discoverer Enterprise, it will be processed and sent by tanker to a refinery to be sold.

Full Story: BP, feds could make millions from runaway well’s oil | McClatchy.

BP And Halliburton Build Legal Teams, Attempt To Buy Off Government Officials

Facing possible jail time for their roles in the largest oil spill in American history, BP and Halliburton are building high-powered legal teams with “deep Department of Justice and White House ties.” But the companies are pursuing other means to defend themselves as well.

Halliburton’s campaign donations have spiked as it tries to curry favor with key members of Congress investigating the disaster. The company donated $17,000 in May, making it “the busiest donation month for Halliburton’s PAC since September 2008,” Politico reports. Thirteen of the 14 contributions from May went to Republicans, while seven went to members of Congress who are “on committees with oversight of the oil spill and its aftermath”:

About one week before executive Timothy Probert appeared before the House Energy and Commerce’s investigative subcommittee, Halliburton donated $1,500 to Ranking Republican Joe Barton’s reelection effort. It was Halliburton’s second-largest donation of the month — topped only by $2,500 to former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is running for the Senate.

Full Story: Think Progress » BP And Halliburton Build Legal Teams, Attempt To Buy Off Government Officials.

Bank of America workers across US sue for overtime

Workers for Bank of America Corp, one of the nation’s largest employers, have sued the company for allegedly failing to pay overtime and other wages.

The lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, consolidates 12 lawsuits filed on behalf of employees in California, Florida, Kansas, Texas and Washington.

It seeks nationwide class-action status on behalf of employees at retail branches and call centers over the last three years. The federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in April directed that the cases be combined.

Full Story: Bank of America workers across US sue for overtime-International Business-News-The Economic Times.

CEO: BP will make good on $10 billion in profit payouts to shareholders, despite spill

BP’s shareholders may receive more this year from the company’s coffers than those affected by the spill in the Gulf of Mexico will receive in their lifetime.

BP CEO Tony Hayward has indicated that he will go ahead with massive dividend payouts to shareholders in the aftermath of the worst oil spill in US history. $10 billion in payouts are scheduled for this year. The cost of the spill has been estimated in the tens of billions, but ExxonMobil only ended up paying a $507 million settlement for the 1994 Exxon Valdez spill after 20 years of appeals.

BP’s dividend ratio is now at 7.4 percent per year, more than twice the average payout of companies listed in the S&P 500. This means that US investors who hold BP stock effectively earn 7.4% interest on their shares — more when US tax law is taken into account — in addition to any gains or losses as a result of price shifts in the stock’s value.

Full Story: CEO: BP will make good on $10 billion in profit payouts to shareholders, despite spill | Raw Story.

Threat of Federal Enforcement Helps Uncover Widespread Financial Malfeasance, Researchers Find

The need to “fix” or restate financial statements is an admission by corporate management that these reports (prior to their being corrected) to the government and the investing public misrepresented the corporations’ financial positions, Texas A&M University sociology professor Harland Prechel reports in a research paper published in the June 2010 issue of the American Sociological Review.

Prechel and Theresa Morris of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., examined the revised statements from hundreds of the largest U.S. companies between 1995 and 2004, then co-authored the paper, titled “The Effects of Organizational and Political Embeddedness on Financial Malfeasance in the Largest U.S. Corporations: Dependence, Incentives, and Opportunities.”

The researchers’ analysis examines restatements that occurred after Congress passed the 2001 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which holds chief financial officers (CFOs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) personally responsible for corporate violations of security and exchange laws. Soon after this legislation was passed, the number of financial restatements rapidly increased.

Full Story: On The Hill: Threat of Federal Enforcement Helps Uncover Widespread Financial Malfeasance, Researchers Find.

Clean Water Act might provide avenue for legal action on oil spill

If the Obama administration is serious about holding BP and others responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it can start with the federal Clean Water Act, which could allow the federal government to collect as much as $4.7 billion in civil fines just for the oil that’s spilled so far.

Even if the courts allow the fines, however, there are no guarantees that the money would go to the cleanup and economic recovery of the Gulf Coast, according to legal experts.

Though other laws could come into play, the Clean Water Act may provide the best avenue for legal action. After the1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, the law was beefed up to include harsh civil and criminal penalties for oil spills.

Full Story: Clean Water Act might provide avenue for legal action on oil spill – KansasCity.com.

BP Oil Spill, News You May Have Missed

The BP oil spill.

IMHO, we need to shout these facts out until everyone knows them.

Before the explosion, BP

1. Using a blowout preventer with known mechanical faults.

2. Faking the pressure tests, that indicate integrity.

3. Skipping the safety procedures and not filling the well with mud.

You may have seen analysis on how the booming effort is a joke. Watch this and be informed. Just skip the first two minutes.

Full Story: BP Oil Spill, News You May Have Missed | The Seminal.

Lawsuit Seeks Full Disclosure of Dispersant Impacts on Gulf’s Endangered Wildlife

SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed an official notice of its intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for authorizing the use of toxic dispersants without ensuring that these chemicals would not harm endangered species and their habitats. The letter requests that the agency, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, immediately study the effects of dispersants on species such as sea turtles, sperm whales, piping plovers, and corals and incorporate this knowledge into oil-spill response efforts.

“The Gulf of Mexico has become Frankenstein’s laboratory for BP’s enormous, uncontrolled experiment in flooding the ocean with toxic chemicals,” said Andrea Treece, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The fact that no one in the federal government ever required that these chemicals be proven safe for this sort of use before they were set loose on the environment is inexcusable.”

Dispersants are chemicals used to break oil spills into tiny droplets. In theory, this allows the oil to be eaten by microorganisms and become diluted faster than it would otherwise. However, the effects of using large quantities of dispersants and injecting them into very deep water, as BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, have never been studied. Researchers suspect that underwater oil plumes, measuring as much as 20 miles long and extending dozens of miles from the leaking rig, are the result of dispersants keeping the oil below the surface.

Full Story: Lawsuit Seeks Full Disclosure of Dispersant Impacts on Gulf’s Endangered Wildlife.

US citizen killed on flotilla was reportedly shot four times in head

“One of the nine people killed in the Israeli raid on an aid flotilla Monday was a 19-year-old man with dual U.S.-Turkish citizenship, a U.S. State Department official said,” CBS News reports.

The official identified the victim as Furkan Dogan, who was believed to have been residing in Turkey.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter has not been officially confirmed by the U.S. government.

The official said the victim had been shot but it was not clear who shot him. He was among eight of the dead being mourned at a funeral in Istanbul Thursday.

Full Story: US citizen killed on flotilla was reportedly shot four times in head | Raw Story.

Seize BP While it Still Has an Asset!

Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

BP is busted. Penalties already assessed BP exceed 60 $billion. The cost of the cleanup will run about $760m but that figure was ‘operative’ before the last failed attempt to plug up the hole. Damages increase daily, hourly as the hole remains unplugged, as the oil continues to spew!

Associated Press reports that damages have already wiped out some $75 billion in market value. By every definition, BP is bankrupt, finished! Kaput!

Firm’s stock sale nearly twice as large as any other institution; Represented 44 percent of total BP investment

Full Story: The Existentialist Cowboy: Seize BP While it Still Has an Asset!.

Judges Quit BP Gulf Oil-Spill Suits Over Conflicts of Interest

BP Plc and Transocean Ltd. oil-spill lawsuits may be combined before a judge from outside the Gulf Coast states, because judges in the region are withdrawing from cases, citing conflicts of interest.

Six of 12 active judges in the federal judicial district based in New Orleans have removed themselves from spill-damage cases filed by fishermen, property owners and coastal businesses, according to a court official and court records. The judges found conflicts tied to oil investments or personal relationships with lawyers or companies involved.

“Plaintiffs have been informed that most or all of the judges in the district have a conflict and cannot preside” over the litigation, victims’ lawyers said in a request to a Washington judicial panel asking that all the cases be combined before one judge in the New Orleans district.

Full Story: Judges Quit BP Gulf Oil-Spill Suits Over Conflicts of Interest – Bloomberg.com.

Breaking News: Ex Florida GOP Chair Arrested on Fraud Charges

Jim Greer, ex head of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) and huge Gov. Charlie Crist supporter (and vice versa) was arrested today on six counts of fraud for funneling money from GOP donors for his personal use.

The indictment is likely to shake up the Florida Senate race. Gov Crist, running without party affiliation, is a personal friend of Greer’s, instrumental in his chairmanship, and continued to support him after calls began for his resignation. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, along with other Florida Republican politicians, has been paying back money he received from the party under Greer.

Tampa Tribune:

[Statewide Prosecutor William] Shepherd said Greer was charged with organized scheme to defraud, four counts of grand theft and one count of money laundering.

Full Story: Pensito Review » Breaking News: Ex Florida GOP Chair Arrested on Fraud Charges.

BP Criminal Investigation Launched By Feds

BP’s stock plummeted and took much of the market down with it Tuesday as the federal government announced criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP engineers, meanwhile, tried to recover from a failed attempt to stop the gusher with an effort that will initially make the leak worse.

Attorney General Eric Holder, who was visiting the Gulf to survey the fragile coastline and meet with state and federal prosecutors, would not say who might be targeted in the probes into the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

“We will closely examine the actions of those involved in the spill. If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response,” Holder said in New Orleans.

Full Story: BP Criminal Investigation Launched By Feds.

When Companies Respond to Online Criticism With Lawsuits

After a towing company hauled Justin Kurtz’s car from his apartment complex parking lot, despite his permit to park there, Mr. Kurtz, 21, a college student in Kalamazoo, Mich., went to the Internet for revenge.

Outraged at having to pay $118 to get his car back, Mr. Kurtz created a Facebook page called “Kalamazoo Residents against T&J Towing.” Within two days, 800 people had joined the group, some posting comments about their own maddening experiences with the company.

T&J filed a defamation suit against Mr. Kurtz, claiming the site was hurting business and seeking $750,000 in damages.

Full Story: When Companies Respond to Online Criticism With Lawsuits – NYTimes.com.

Attorney General: Criminal probe of Gulf oil spill began ’some weeks ago’

Update: Obama promises criminal probe into Deepwater Horizon disaster

Calling for a “full and vigorous accounting” of the facts, President Obama demanded Tuesday that the ongoing probe into the Deepwater Horizon disaster keep open to the possibility of criminal charges.

“They have my full support to follow the facts wherever they may lead, without fear or favor,” he told press gathered in the White House Rose Garden, according to published reports.

“We have an obligation to determine what went wrong,” he said, according to The New York Times.

Pledging to strengthen laws and reform regulatory measures to prevent another similar disaster from occurring, Obama vowed: “If our laws were broken, leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region.”

Full Story: Attorney General: Criminal probe of Gulf oil spill began ’some weeks ago’ | Raw Story.

High Court Limits Miranda in 5-4 Ruling

High Court Limits Miranda in 5-4 Ruling

Silence Right Must Be Invoked Explicitly, Court Says 01 Jun 2010 Criminal suspects must explicitly invoke their right to remain silent to force police to stop questioning, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled. The 5-4 decision upholds the Michigan murder conviction of a man who sat silent throughout most of a three-hour interrogation by police. The ruling blunts the force of the landmark 1966 Miranda v. Arizona decision, which required police to inform suspects of their rights. The ruling divided the court along what have become familiar lines, with Chief ‘Justice’ John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito joining Kennedy in the majority.

Full Story: High Court Limits Miranda in 5-4 Ruling | Citizens for Legitimate Government.

Why Obama Should Put BP Under Temporary Receivership

Robert Reich:

It’s time for the federal government to put BP under temporary receivership, which gives the government authority to take over BP’s operations in the Gulf of Mexico until the gusher is stopped. This is the only way the public will know what’s going on, be confident enough resources are being put to stopping the gusher, ensure BP’s strategy is correct, know the government has enough clout to force BP to use a different one if necessary, and be sure the president is ultimately in charge.

If the government can take over giant global insurer AIG and the auto giant General Motors and replace their CEOs, in order to keep them financially solvent, it should be able to put BP’s north American operations into temporary receivership in order to stop one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

The Obama administration keeps saying BP is in charge because BP has the equipment and expertise necessary to do what’s necessary. But under temporary receivership, BP would continue to have the equipment and expertise. The only difference: the firm would unambiguously be working in the public’s interest. As it is now, BP continues to be responsible primarily to its shareholders, not to the American public. As a result, the public continues to worry that a private for-profit corporation is responsible for stopping a public tragedy.

Full Story: Robert Reich: Why Obama Should Put BP Under Temporary Receivership.

BP Prepared for Spill 10 Times Gulf Disaster, Permit Plans Say

BP Plc said in permit applications for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico that it was prepared to handle an oil spill more than ten times larger than the one now spewing crude into the waters off the southern United States.

“Proper execution of the procedures detailed in this manual will help to limit environmental and ecological damage to sensitive areas as well as minimizing loss or damage to BP facilities in the event of a petroleum release,” the company said in its oil-spill response plan, filed with the U.S. Minerals Management Service in 2008.

The company listed as its worst-case scenario a blowout in an exploratory well 57 miles west of the disaster, in a valley on the seafloor known as Mississippi Canyon. It’s about 33 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Such a blowout could have spewed 250,000 barrels a day, according to the 582-page plan.

Full Story: BP Prepared for Spill 10 Times Gulf Disaster, Permit Plans Say – Bloomberg.com.