A UK court Thursday ordered Swiss multi-national commodity trading and mining firm Glencore to pay a £280 million ($400 million) fine after a UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation revealed the company paid over $29 million in bribes to gain preferential access to oil in Africa. Glencore pleaded guilty to seven counts of bribery in [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Tuesday urged governments attending Asian summits in November to support tougher sanctions to curb human rights abuses by Myanmar’s junta. The Myanmar junta seized power in February 2021 and has since then committed “widespread and systematic abuses,” according to HRW. International leaders will gather for a series of summits in Asia [...]

Opening arguments Monday began in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s criminal fraud case against the Trump Organization. Prosecutors claimed that the Trump Organization defrauded tax authorities for 15 years, while the Trump Organization legal team attempted to cast blame solely upon former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg. Susan Hoffinger led with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office [...]

The US Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules Thursday rejected a proposed rule to expand public access to financial information defendants submit to obtain court-appointed counsel in a criminal trial. The rejected rule was inspired by the July 2021 disclosure of attorney Michael Avenatti’s financial filings in an embezzlement case. The Judicial Conference Advisory [...]

A preliminary report from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Tuesday revealed the extent of damage the war in Ukraine has caused since Russia invaded on February 24. UNESCO verified the war damaged 207 sites, including 88 religious sites, 15 museums, 76 buildings of historic or artistic interest, 18 monuments and 10 libraries. [...]

A Russian court Tuesday upheld US Women’s National Basketball Association player Brittney Griner’s nine-year prison sentence for possession and smuggling cartridges of cannabis oil, according to Russian state news agency TASS. Griner appealed her nine-year sentence on the grounds that she regretted her mistake and had no malicious intent at the time she was arrested. [...]

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office criminal fraud case against the Trump Organization Monday began jury selection in a New York court. The Trump Organization is charged with scheming to defraud federal, state and local authorities to avoid taxes from 2005 through 2021. Jury selection began Monday in a courtroom at the Supreme Court of New York. [...]

Russian dissident and critic Alexei Navalny Thursday announced that the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a new criminal case against him. The committee alleges Navalny promoted and called for terrorism, publicly called for extremism, financed extremist activities and rehabilitated Nazism. Navalny is currently serving out a nine-year sentence for parole violations, fraud and contempt of [...]

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Thursday sued Google for allegedly collecting biometric data on millions of Texans without their informed consent. Paxton cited Texas’ Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, which prohibits companies from collecting voice or face data for commercial purposes without first informing users. Paxton alleged that, since at least 2015, Google [...]

French building materials manufacturer Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary Tuesday pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to conspiring to provide material in support of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the al-Nusrah Front (ANF). Both ISIS and ANF are designated foreign terrorist organizations in the US. Lafarge must pay a [...]