Tag: corruption

Election Software CEO Arrested Over Data Theft, Storing Data on Servers in China

The head of Konnech Corporation, a Michigan-based software company, was arrested on Oct. 4 for allegedly stealing and storing personal data of Los Angeles County election workers on servers in China.

Konnech’s CEO Eugene Yu, 51, was arrested on charges of stealing “the personal identifying information” of LA County election workers, according to the LA County District Attorney’s Office.

Investigators also seized computer hard drives and other digital data relevant to the case. The office said that it would seek Yu’s extradition to Los Angeles.

According to the office, Konnech won a five-year, $2.9 million contract with LA County in 2020 for an election worker management system—named PollChief software—that was used by the county in the last California election.

The software was designed to assist with poll worker assignments, communications, and payroll, LA County District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement.

Under the contract, Konnech was supposed to securely maintain the data and only provide access to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. But investigators found that it stored the data on servers in China.

“In this case, the alleged conduct had no impact on the tabulation of votes and did not alter election results,” Gascon said. “But security in all aspects of any election is essential so that we all have full faith in the integrity of the election process.”

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Current, Former IRS Employees Took Thousands In Fraudulent COVID Relief, Spent It On Gucci, A Mercedes, And Trips To Vegas

Five current or former employees of the IRS have been charged with scheming to defraud hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID relief.

The Department of Justice announced in a press release Tuesday that the five individuals had each been charged with separate counts of wire fraud after they defrauded the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which provided economic relief to small business owners and individuals affected by the COVID pandemic. The fraudulent loans ranged from as little as $11,000 to more than $170,000.

“These individuals – acting out of pure greed – abused their positions by taking government funds meant for citizens and businesses who desperately needed it,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Kevin G. Ritz, said in a statement. “I thank our law enforcement partners for rooting out this fraud. Our office will not hesitate to pursue and charge individuals who steal from our nation’s taxpayers.”

The first suspect was employed by the IRS as a Program Evaluation and Risk Analyst in the Human Capital Office. According to the criminal indictment, the suspect filed four fraudulent EIDL applications, seeking more than $500,000 in funds; he received a total of $171,400 in funds. The suspect allegedly spent the relief money on a Mercedes-Benz and placed the rest of his funds into a personal investment account. He is charged with two counts of wire fraud and an additional two counts of money laundering.

The second suspect worked for the IRS as a contact representative in the Wage and Investment Service Centers Department. According to the indictment, she allegedly sought at least $32,500 in loans from multiple PPP and EIDL applications; she received $11,500 in funds. She spent the funds on manicures, massages, and luxury clothing. She also obtained more than $16,050 in fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits from the Tennessee Department of Labor. She is charged with three counts of wire fraud.

The third suspect worked as a Management and Program Assistant in Information Technology. According to the DOJ, she allegedly submitted EIDL applications for a fashion business, seeking more than $300,000 in loans and obtaining $28,900. She allegedly spent the loan funds on Gucci apparel and a vacation in Las Vegas. She plead guilty to one count of wire fraud Tuesday.

The fourth suspect worked as a Contact Representative in the Wage and Investment Service Centers Department. He allegedly applied for four PPP and EIDL loans, seeking more than $113,000; he received $66,666 in funds. He allegedly spent the money on a Gucci satchel and other personal items. He plead guilty to a single count of wire fraud in August.

The fifth suspect worked as a Lead Management and Program Assistant in the Human Capital Office. She allegedly applied for four PPP and EIDL loans, seeking more than $133,000 in loans; she received more than $123,000. She then allegedly spent the funds on jewelry and trips to Las Vegas. She also plead guilty to one count of wire fraud in July.

Each wire fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The first suspect could also face up to 10 years in prison for each money laundering charge.

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EPA Refuses to Regulate Pesticide-Coated Seeds That Harm Pollinators

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a legal petition by Center for Food Safety (CFS), Pesticide Action Network of North America and others, demanding that the agency fix its failure to regulate pesticide-coated seeds, which are known to be widely harming bees and other pollinators.

These crop seeds are coated with systemic insecticides known as neonicotinoids, the most widely used insecticides, and have devastating environmental effects.

CFS filed the rulemaking petition in 2017 that would close the loophole, but was forced to take take the agency to court when EPA failed to answer the petition as of late 2021.

Last week’s response is issued pursuant to a court-set deadline.

“We gave EPA a golden chance and a blueprint to fix a problem that has caused significant harm to people, bees, birds, and the environment — and it stubbornly refused,” said Amy van Saun, senior attorney with the Center for Food Safety. “It’s extremely disappointing and we’ll be exploring all possible next steps to protect communities and the environment from the hazard of pesticide-coated seeds, including a lawsuit challenging this decision.”

Crops grown from pesticide-coated seeds, such as corn, soybean and sunflower seeds cover over 150 million acres of U.S. farmland each year.

Neonicotinoids are taken up into the plant’s circulatory system as the plant grows, permeating leaf, pollen, nectar and other plant tissues. Neonicotinoids affect the central nervous system of insects, causing paralysis and death.

Sublethal impacts include impaired navigation and learning. As a result, beneficial insects, valuable pollinators and birds — including threatened and endangered species protected under the Endangered Species Act — are killed or injured.

For songbirds, ingesting just one neonic-coated seed can cause serious harm or death.

Additionally, more than 80% of the pesticide coating can leave the seed, contaminating the air, soil and waterways of surrounding environments. Most notably, clouds of neonicotinoid-laced dust released during planting operations have caused mass die-offs of honeybees and wild native bees.

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US Postal workers arrested in $1.3 million fraud and identity theft scheme, authorities say

Three US Postal employees are among four people arrested in connection with a $1.3 million fraud and identity theft scheme allegedly carried out in New York and New Jersey since 2018, according to the Department of Justice.

A further five people facing changes in connection with the case remain at large, it said.

The individuals are accused of stealing credit cards from the mail and using them to buy merchandise at a variety of stores, including high-end retailers in New York and New Jersey, authorities said.

They are then said to have sold some of the merchandise on the website LuxurySnob.com, according to a statement from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

US postal workers Nathanael Foucault, Johnathan Persaud, Fabiola Mompoint, and civilian Devon Richards were arrested on Thursday, according to the statement.

Officials said five other people face charges, including Conspiracy to Commit Access Device Fraud, Access Device Fraud, and Aggravated Identity Theft charges, and each face lengthy prison sentences if found guilty.

“The defendants took advantage of the public trust we place in US Postal Service employees for their own financial gain,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Thanks to the diligence of USPIS (the Postal Inspection Service), the NYPD, and USPS-OIG (the Office of the Inspector General), the defendants will now be held accountable for their brazen criminal conduct.”

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Dem Mayor Who Blew $30K on First-Class Flights Found Living in Luxury Taxpayer-Funded Apartment

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat, admitted to living in a $3000-a-month luxury apartment rent-free just weeks after being caught blowing $30,000 on first-class fights, all funded by the taxpayer.

Last month, Cantrell was caught spending city funds on first class air travel, saying economy class was ‘unsafe’ for black women.

Cantrell’s opulent apartment is located in the city’s Upper Pontalba building on Jackson Square in the famous district.

The apartment, which has a market rate of $2,991 per month, is owned by the city and managed by the French Market Corp.

A spokesperson for Cantrell said the Mayor had done nothing wrong, arguing that everything is legal according to the city’s terms with French Market Corp.

But despite Cantrell’s spokesperson’s claims, the city’s Metropolitan Crime Commission sent a report asking for an investigation into the Mayor’s use of the apartment.

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Investigator who revealed Jimmy Savile’s sick crimes says he is working with police on child sex case against ‘very significant’ person who is ‘untouchable’ and may only be named when he dies

Mark Williams-Thomas, the former police detective-turned-TV journalist who exposed Savile, claimed that the other individual has so far evaded justice because he is ‘untouchable’.

Williams-Thomas was the leading investigator on the ITV Exposure documentary, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which revealed how one of Britain’s most loved entertainers systematically and disturbingly preyed upon young and vulnerable girls.

The award-winning film, broadcast just over a decade ago on 3 October 2012 – a year after Savile’s death – prompted hundreds of other unheard victims to come forward with their experiences. 

In the documentary,  five women stated that they had been sexually abused by Savile as teenagers. This exposure of Savile as a paedophile led to extensive media coverage, including 41 days on the front pages.

The film led to the Met Police’s Operation Yewtree investigation, which ultimately resulted in sexual abuse convictions for multiple celebrity personalities.  

By October 2015, 19 people had been arrested by Operation Yewtree; seven of those arrests led to convictions.

However Williams-Thomas, a child protection expert has expressed his frustration that his pursuit of one high-profile target has so far been thwarted.

‘There are still people out there who are untouchable,’ the former Surrey Police and family liaison officer told i.

‘There is one very significant person who I’ve done everything to try and get prosecuted because he is clearly a child sex offender.’

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Navy lied about fuel-laced water on US aircraft carrier

A US Navy whistleblower has reportedly accused his superiors on the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier of lying to crew members about the severity of a fuel leak into their drinking water and denying them medical treatment when they were sickened by the contaminated fluid.

“We were exposed to an unhealthy amount of JP-5,” a sailor on the carrier told Business Insider, referring to a common type of kerosene-based jet fuel. The media outlet, which posted its article on Saturday, said it didn’t identify the sailor out of concern that he might face retribution from the Navy for speaking out.

The incident occurred in mid-September, when members of the nearly 3,000-person crew noticed discoloration and a foul smell in the water that they use for drinking and showering. After initially advising the crew to drink only bottled water, the ship’s commanding officer and executive officer later announced that the Nimitz’s normal water supply was safe to use.

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Major Scientific Publisher Retracting Over 500 Papers

One of the world’s largest open-access journal publishers is retracting over 500 papers, based on the discovery of unethical actions.

London-based Hindawi, which publishes over 200 peer-reviewed journals across multiple disciplines, says its research team in June identified “irregularities” in the peer review process in some of the journals.

“All Hindawi journals employ a series of substantial integrity checks before articles are accepted for publication. Following thorough investigation, we identified that these irregularities in the peer review process were the result of suspicious and unethical activities. Since identifying this unethical activity and breach of our processes, we began proactively adding further checks and improving our processes and continue to do so,” Liz Ferguson, a senior vice president for John Wiley & Sons, Hindawi’s U.S.-based parent company, said in a statement on Sept. 28.

As a result of the investigation, 511 papers will be retracted.

The papers were all published since August 2020.

Sixteen journals published the papers that are being retracted.

Some of the authors and editors who contributed to the articles may have been “unwitting participants” in the unethical scheme, according to Ferguson. She said that the scheme involved “manipulation of the peer review process and the infrastructure that supports it.”

Richard Bennett, vice president of researcher and publishing services for Hindawi, told the Retraction Watch blog that the review uncovered “coordinated peer review rings,” which featured reviewers and editors coordinating to get papers through peer review.

Neither Ferguson nor Bennett identified any of the suspects.

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Pfizer CEO pulls out of testifying to EU Parliament COVID panel

Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla has pulled out of an appointment to testify before the European Parliament’s special committee on COVID-19, at which he was expected to face tough questions on how secretive vaccine deals were struck.

The decision follows an audit report into the EU’s vaccine procurement strategy published earlier in the month that raised new questions about contact between Bourla and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that preceded a multibillion-euro vaccine contract.

The head of the U.S. pharmaceutical giant, the largest supplier of COVID-19 vaccines to the EU, was scheduled to appear before the panel on October 10. The committee is meeting with key officials involved in the EU’s vaccine procurement process to draw lessons on how to respond to future pandemics. Other pharmaceutical executives have addressed the committee, including the CEO of Moderna and senior officials from AstraZeneca and Sanofi.

The committee’s chair, Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt, told POLITICO she “deeply regrets” the decision taken by Pfizer.

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The House fails to pass bill barring lawmakers from stock trading

Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia excoriated her party leadership including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer for delaying a potential vote this week meant to ban lawmakers from holding and trading in stocks. Spanberger even called for new leadership in the Democrat party.

Spanberger had partnered with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) to introduce the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust in Congress Act on Jan. 15, 2021. The legislation had 71 co-sponsors, ranging from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

The legislation would have required lawmakers and immediate family members to place stocks in a blind trust. 

Business Insider magazine’s Conflicted Congress investigation in December 2021 revealed dozens of STOCK Act violations, and numerous potential conflicts of interests driven by lawmakers’ stock holdings, as well as paltry enforcement of anti-insider trading rules. Forty-nine members of Congress and 182 senior congressional staffers violated laws aimed at preventing insider trading.

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