6/18/2015 The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that the government acted illegally when it acquired stock during its $85 billion bailout of insurance giant, American International Group (AIG). Although a win for AIG’s former longtime CEO, Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg, he considers it to be only a moral victory, as Judge Thomas C. Wheeler
6/17/2015 America is a land of wacky museums, including ones honoring Pez dispensers, barbed-wire, and even the Museum of Bad Art in Massachusetts, but there is no law museum despite there being myriads of museums dedicated to similarly significant professions. That is about to change, however, as legendary consumer advocate and not-so-legendary presidential candidate, Ralph
6/17/2015 Four more banks have agreed to settlements in a massive, two-year long ordeal regarding manipulation of the $5.3 trillion currency market. HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and BNP Paribas all signed settlement agreements this week. HSBC agreed on a $285 million settlement, Barclays settled for $375 million, Goldman Sachs is finalizing an agreement estimated to
6/17/2015 Bill Belichick might be quite upset to hear that a new sports franchise has allegedly taken cheating to the next level. The FBI is investigating baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals for allegedly hacking into a rival team, the Houston Astros’ information database, stealing important information about players and others involved in the organization. Although sign-stealing
6/16/2015 It appears that the wave of high-level consolidations in the business world has now carried over to the nation’s top health insurers. United Healthcare, by far the industry leader, has approached Aetna, the U.S.’s third-largest health insurer, this week in early discussions of a merger. Anthem, the country’s second-leading health plan provider has also
6/15/2015 Although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been defeated by the courts twice before in very public fashion over the issue of net neutrality; new rules proposed by the FCC in February quietly went into effect on Friday, June 12th. This comes as a three-judge panel from the D.C. Circuit Appeals Court denied a
6/14/2015 New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer may make several new fans on the frequent-flyer circuit on Sunday, as he conducted a news conference to blast airlines for a proposal to reduce the allowable size of carry-on baggage. The current standards, depending on the airline, range from 22 to 24 inches long by 14 to
6/13/2015 Tuesday’s, $663 million settlement against guardrail manufacturer Trinity industries includes the largest-ever award given to a whistle-blower under the False-Claims Act, a whopping $199 million given to former competitor, Virginian Joshua Harman. Harman sued on behalf of the government claiming that Trinity defrauded taxpayers by failing to notify the Federal Highway Administration of a
6/11/2015 The House of Representatives began a two-day debate on Thursday over giving President Obama “fast-track” authorization (FTA) to negotiate the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement on behalf of the U.S., leading to a congressional vote without amendments or filibusters. Friday’s expected House vote is the final hurdle the president needs after the Senate
6/11/2015 It looks like the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into General Motors’ pre-recall knowledge is tightening its grip around the company, as the agency is now considering wire fraud charges against the company. Star Manhattan U.S. Attorney, Preet Bharara, and his office are leading the investigation in conjunction with the Department of Justice.