Tag: ethics

Fraud claims, wine money, Sharia: Ethical storms around Ilhan Omar’s husband

A fresh wave of legal challenges facing Tim Mynett, the husband of US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), has brought renewed scrutiny to the couple. This attention focuses not only on business ethics but also on the apparent contradictions between Mynett’s commercial interests and the religious identity central to Omar’s public persona.

Mynett, a political consultant turned venture capitalist, is currently the subject of a lawsuit alleging fraud and breach of contract in connection with “eStCru,” a California-based wine business in which he is a partner.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC, claims that Mynett and his business partner, Will Hailer, defrauded investor Naeem Mohd. According to court documents, Mohd alleges he was persuaded to invest $300,000 based on a guarantee of a 200% return within 18 months, but the plaintiff’s promises were never fulfilled.

Although the principal investment was reportedly repaid after a delay, the lawsuit alleges that the promised profits were never paid. It accuses the partners of misrepresenting the company’s financial health. Mynett has denied the allegations, characterizing the matter as a contract dispute.

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Ethics Questions Swirl Around Somalia’s UN Ambassador Tied To Ohio Healthcare Company

Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Abukar Dahir Osman, is facing growing scrutiny over his connections to the Ohio healthcare company Progressive Health Care Services Inc. This comes as federal investigations into suspected Somali-linked welfare fraud, stretching from Minnesota to Washington, Ohio, and Maine, continue to intensify, with allegations that some entities (daycares, healthcare, or transportation service companies) were merely front operations to extract taxpayer funds.

The story surrounding Osman is certainly a strange one, with the news and analysis outlet Horn Diplomat publishing a report titled “Ethics Questions Surround Somalia’s UN Envoy, as U.S. Healthcare Fraud Scandals Heighten Scrutiny.”

Here’s the report:

Public corporate filings and professional records have raised questions about transparency and potential conflicts of interest involving Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

The scrutiny comes as Somalia prepares to assume the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council on January 1, 2026, a role that places the country at the center of global diplomatic decision-making on peace, security and sanctions.

Ohio state corporate records show that Osman was listed as the statutory agent for Progressive Health Care Services Inc, a Cincinnati-based home healthcare company, while simultaneously serving as Somalia’s top diplomat at the United Nations.

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The Moral Flaws in Corporate Ethics Codes

In the world of modern corporations, ethics codes are often presented as beacons of integrity, guiding employees toward right conduct and fostering a just workplace. Yet, upon closer scrutiny, many such codes reveal themselves to be deeply flawed, prioritizing institutional self-preservation over genuine moral principles. This is particularly evident in how they handle reporting mechanisms, employee treatment, enforcement roles, and inclusivity policies. Far from upholding true ethics rooted in human dignity and fairness, these codes can become instruments of imbalance and dehumanization, rendering them not only unethical but profoundly immoral. By examining these aspects through the lens of timeless moral values — those emphasizing justice, truth, and the inherent worth of every person — we can see why such codes fail to embody authentic goodness and instead perpetuate harm.

One of the most troubling features of these corporate ethics codes is their emphasis on anonymous reporting, which, while intended to encourage openness, often empowers complainers at the expense of fairness. Anonymity allows individuals to raise concerns without personal risk, but it creates a system where accusations can be made freely, even over trivial matters or with ulterior motives, without the accused having a chance to respond directly or challenge the claims. This imbalance undermines the core ethical principle that justice must be even-handed, protecting both the one who speaks and the one who is spoken against. Morally, it erodes trust and invites abuse, as it favors one side’s voice while silencing the other’s right to defend their reputation. In a truly moral framework, accountability should bind everyone equally; by skewing power toward hidden accusers, the code fosters division rather than harmony, making it unethical in its disregard for balanced resolution and immoral in its potential to enable falsehood and injustice.

Equally concerning is how these codes tend to safeguard the company above all else, treating employees as mere tools rather than beings of intrinsic value. They frame ethical behavior as a means to enhance business success — building trust with customers or maintaining operational excellence — while downplaying the human element. Employees are expected to comply rigorously, facing penalties for lapses, yet the code offers little assurance that the company will prioritize their well-being in return. This approach reduces people to interchangeable parts, valued only for their utility, which contradicts the ethical imperative that every individual deserves respect and care independent of their productivity. Morally, it offends the fundamental truth that humans are ends in themselves, not means to corporate ends; by elevating institutional interests over personal dignity, the code promotes a cold, utilitarian mindset that dehumanizes workers and sows resentment, proving its immorality through this inversion of priorities.

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College Students Can Take a Class to Learn How to Steal – Yes, Really

New York City college students at a four-year university in Manhattan can now take a course titled “How to Steal,” which promises to look at “radical ethics” around theft. Yes, you read that correctly.

Students at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts can take the four-credit class that will cost students upwards of $10,040 to look at things like the “aesthetics of theft in a world where accumulation is sacred,” the New York Post reported.

The report noted the insanity of the course description.

It read:

This field-based seminar explores the politics, ethics, and aesthetics of theft in a world where accumulation is sacred, dispossession is routine, and the line between private property and public good is drawn in blood. 

Students will critically examine what it means to steal-from whom, for whom, and why— through site visits and fieldwork in places where capital is hoarded and value is contested: corporate storefronts, grocery chains, museums, libraries, banks, and cultural institutions.

The one part that really stood out was the part about how the course will ask the question, “Is it possible to steal back what was already stolen?”

It went on:

What does theft look like under capitalism, colonialism, and in everyday life? When is theft survival, protest, or care-and when is it violence, appropriation, or harm?

The course catalog concluded by pointing out that the class is “not a course in petty crime—it is a study in moral ambiguity, radical ethics, and imaginative justice.”

The irony of teaching this class in a blue state like New York, where criminals can shoplift less than a $1,000 worth of goods and face nothing more than a misdemeanor, is not lost. California was also a place where this craziness ruled the day, allowing people to just steal and face little consequences, before residents said enough was enough, passing Proposition 36, as RedState reported.

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Terrifying new details of Canada’s advancing assisted suicide laws… including push to euthanize newborn BABIES

Canada‘s assisted suicide laws have continued rapidly expanding in recent years, with a group of doctors now pushing for disabled newborn babies to be euthanized.

The demand for euthanasia is so high that doctors who provide it cannot keep up, according to a new report by The Atlantic.

Assisted dying, legalized in 2016, now accounts for about one out of 20 deaths in Canada, far surpassing countries where it’s been legal for longer. 

As assisted deaths have become a major part of Canada’s health care system, the Quebec College of Physicians suggested legalizing euthanasia for infants born severely ill.

As The Atlantic noted, the practice is legal in the Netherlands – the first country to adopt it since Nazi Germany did it in 1939. 

In 2022, Louis Roy from the Quebec College of Physicians raised the notion of euthanasia for babies up to a year old ‘who are born with severe deformations, very grave and severe medical syndromes, whose life expectancy and level of suffering are such that it would make sense to ensure that they do not suffer.’

While parents already have the option of stopping treatment for babies suffering from medical conditions, the proposal would accelerate the infant’s death, sparking questions about consent. 

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Harvard ethics professor fired for dishonesty maintains her innocence

A Harvard University professor who lost her tenure due to data fraud maintains she is innocent and said she plans to fight for her reputation in court.

Francesca Gino became the first person since the 1940s to lose tenure at Harvard University after the school investigated allegations she tampered with data. The investigation followed accusations made by a trio of behavioral scientists with the blog Data Colada.

Gino (pictured), a business ethics professor, consistently denied the allegations and is fighting back with a lawsuit against Harvard. A judge previously ruled against her lawsuit against the Data Colada authors. However, the judge ruled Gino’s breach of contract claims can continue. She filed a further response on June 23, while Harvard has filed other motions in the past week.

In an unsigned email to The College Fix, Gino’s team noted several major concerns about the integrity of Harvard’s investigation.

According to Gino’s team, Harvard’s investigation report did not include the underlying data needed to independently verify Harvard’s claims. That is, the school denied the professor a proper forensic evaluation and access to raw datasets.

The response also said the burden of proof was reversed. Harvard’s own policy requires that the university proves misconduct occurred and not place the burden on the accused, but Gino was forced to prove her innocence without the backing of resources. Harvard was also supposed to prove the misconduct was committed “recklessly,” “knowingly,” or “intentionally.”

For example, Gino was reportedly not allowed to question witnesses, including her own co-authors and research assistants. She was also unable to obtain documentation that could potentially show who accessed or edited the data, Gino’s team said.

Gino’s team also noted four of five papers under scrutiny were published more than six years before the investigation, which falls outside the statute of limitations for misconduct investigations set by both Harvard and federal standards.

“The available evidence simply did not allow a thorough audit of the relevant data sets,” the email read.

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How NYT Magazine Threw Away Journalistic Ethics on Suicide

The New York Times Magazine recently published a cover story (6/1/25) that gave in-depth representation to the challenges faced by a chronically sick, disabled woman named Paula Ritchie, age 52. Ritchie dealt with underdiagnosed illnesses and pain, as well as challenges in supporting herself and managing her mental health.

The Times then told the story of Ritchie ending her own life out of despair over her situation. The journalist, Katie Engelhart, observed and documented her suicide, up until the last breath left her body. “I was with Ritchie until the very end,” she posted on X (6/1/25). Engelhart gave lengthy justifications for Ritchie’s choice to end her life, and described several people who supported her in that decision.

Articles like this aren’t common in the media. Suicide prevention is typically regarded as both a social good and an ethical responsibility. In the US and Canada (where the article takes place), suicidal people are involuntarily detained to prevent their deaths. It has long been illegal in Canada (and many US states) to assist or even “counsel” a person to commit suicide.

There are also ethical standards that guide media outlets in reporting on suicide, in order to minimize the risk of glamorizing or idealizing it. These guidelines are based on research showing that the media has an outsized influence when it comes to suicide. Graphic, detailed and sensationalized coverage has been shown to increase the “risk of contagion,” according to one guide. AP News specifically tries to avoid detailing the “methods used” in stories that reference suicide, based on this research.

The Times violated almost all of the published guidelines by personalizing, detailing, dramatizing, justifying and sentimentalizing Ritchie’s suicide, as well as by making it a cover story. The story featured close-up images of the method of Ritchie’s death and what appears to be her post-mortem body.

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Regeneron to buy bankrupt 23andMe, vows ethical use of customer DNA data

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN.O), opens new tab said on Monday it will buy genomics firm 23andMe Holding for $256 million through a bankruptcy auction, and promised to prioritize the ethical use of DNA data from customers using ancestry testing and other services.

Through the deal, Tarrytown, New York-based Regeneron aims to bolster its capabilities in genomics-driven drug discovery by integrating 23andMe’s trove of more than 15 million customer DNA profiles, collected via its popular direct-to-consumer saliva-testing kits.

South San Francisco, California-based 23andMe filed for bankruptcy last month, seeking to sell its business at auction after a decline in consumer demand and a 2023 data breach that exposed sensitive genetic and personal information of millions of customers.

The second-highest bid, for $146 million, was submitted by a nonprofit research institute founded by 23andMe’s former CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki, according to court documents.

The transaction, expected to complete in the third quarter, puts the spotlight back on data privacy issues sparked off by the data breach. 23andMe, once a trailblazer in ancestry DNA testing, has also faced dwindling demand for its core services.

The transaction “starts to bring about a good conclusion to what otherwise could have been a difficult bankruptcy case,” said trial attorney Daniel Gielchinsky, co-founder and partner at DGIM law.

Gielchinsky said Regeneron, with its proven track record, will do a better job in the long run of protecting consumer information safeguarded by privacy laws.

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Human ‘bodyoids’: We will soon be able to manufacture brain-less human bodies to generate replacement organs

Why do we hear about medical breakthroughs in mice, but rarely see them translate into cures for human disease? … [In] large part from a common root cause: a severe shortage of ethically sourced human bodies.

[We are forced] to rely heavily on animals in medical research, a practice that can’t replicate major aspects of human physiology and makes it necessary to inflict harm on sentient creatures. In addition, the safety and efficacy of any experimental drug must still be confirmed in clinical trials on living human bodies. These costly trials risk harm to patients, can take a decade or longer to complete, and make it through to approval less than 15% of the time.

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Columbia Journalism Review editor fired after insisting on ethics, deadlines: report

The Columbia Journalism Review fired Sewell Chan as its executive editor after he insisted on ethics, deadlines, and showing up in the office for work, the longtime journalist alleges. A journalism expert told The College Fix that it seems Chan acted appropriately and within his bounds as the executive editor.

Chan, who recently started a new job at the University of Southern California as a senior fellow in its Annenberg communications school, alleges the school fired him after “three pointed conversations.”

Chan (pictured) is the former editor of the Texas Tribune and also worked for the Los Angeles Times and New York Times.

“One was with a fellow who is passionately devoted to the cause of the Gaza protests at Columbia and had covered the recent detention of a Palestinian graduate for an online publication he had just written about, positively, for CJR,” Chan wrote in a LinkedIn post.

“I told him there was a significant ethical problem with writing for an outlet he had just covered,” Chan wrote.

This description fits CJR Journalism Fellow Meghnad Bose, who wrote an article about the Substack page Drop Site News for Columbia Journalism Review in February.

In late March, Bose wrote an article for Drop Site about Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist, arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 8. The article quotes Khalil’s claim that his arrest was a “direct consequence of exercising [his] right to free speech as [he] advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

Bose did not respond to two emails sent in the past week that asked about the accuracy of Chan’s statements on what happened.

While Chan declined to comment further to The Fix, a journalism professor at DePauw University said, “it would seem [Chan] has a good point in trying to reel in the apparent conflict of interest for the one fellow.”

“This kind of management would be expected from an executive editor who values the reputation of his outlet,” Professor Jeffrey McCall told The Fix via email. McCall regularly writes about journalism ethics and the media.

“Normally, an executive editor has wide leeway in making personnel and content decisions, and it appears Chan was perhaps having his role undercut,” McCall said.

“Conflict of interest policies are essential to any media organization in that they protect both the readers and the reporters, and provide transparency for news decisions,” he said.

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