North America | United States | Corruption

AOC, Chief of Staff Reportedly Hid $1 Million in Campaign Contributions – Could Face Jail Time?

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An explosive complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by a non-profit group alleges New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, illegally funneled nearly $1 million in campaign contributions to privately owned companies. The companies, controlled by Chakrabarti, allegedly received cash transfers from a pair of political action committees (PACs) that he personally oversaw. The complaint, filed by the National Legal and Policy Center, alleges that Ocasio-Cortez’ top aide engaged in “an elaborate scheme to avoid proper disclosur
North America | United States | Corruption

FDA: Government Recommends Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women

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In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the FDA has admitted, for the first time, that government agencies, including the CDC, are recommending vaccines for pregnant women that have neither been licensed for pregnant mothers by FDA nor tested for safety in clinical trials. The lawsuit, filed by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) attorney, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on behalf of Informed Consent Action Network(ICAN), a vaccine safety advocacy group, sought all clinical trial data used by FDA to approve influenza vaccines for pregnant women. The FDA’s terse reply: “We
Latin America | Brazil | Corruption

President Dilma Rousseff takes stand in Brazil impeachment trial

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President Dilma Rousseff insisted Monday she had committed no crime and said she was proud that she'd been "faithful to my commitment to the nation." Brazil's post-Olympic high came to an end as Rousseff's impeachment trial began. Her remarks from the Senate floor suggested the suspended president had no intention of accepting the bid for her impeachment without a fight. "I'll plan and fight for democracy," she said. "I don't fight for my term for the power, but I fight for the democracy for truth and justice and the people of my country."
North America | United States | Corruption

CDC Official Steps Down After Coca-Cola ILSI Scandal Comes to Light

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Two days after it was revealed that a veteran leader within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was assisting Coca-Cola and International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) in influencing world health authorities on issues related to sugar and beverage policy, Dr. Barbara Bowman has now stepped down from her position. Dr. Barbara Bowman, the disgraced former director of the CDC’s division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention began working with the CDC in 1992 and has since been involved with a number of different initiatives within that division which is charged with providing �
Europe | France | Corruption

IMF CHIEF LAGARDE TO STAND TRIAL IN FRENCH ARBITRATION DEAL

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France's top court has ruled that International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde must stand trial in France over a 2008 arbitration ruling that handed 400 million euros to a politically-connected business magnate. Lagarde, who was French finance minister at the time of the deal in favor of tycoon Bernard Tapie, is accused of negligence in the case. She has denied wrongdoing. A special court ruled in December that Lagarde should stand trial, but she appealed. France's Court of Cassation on Friday rejected the appeal.
Latin America | Brazil | Corruption

Leaked Tapes Expose Coup Plot Against Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff

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On Monday, Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo revealed a recording of a conversation between the country’s planning minister Romero Juca and Sergio Machado, former CEO of state-owned oil company Petrobras subsidiary Transperto, calling for a carefully orchestrated and arguably-legal coup against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. The conversation centered on "changing" the government to "stop the bleeding" revealed by the so-called Car Wash investigation into Petrobras’ corrupt practices. Both men are being actively investigated for corruption under the probe, and Juca res
Latin America | Argentina | Corruption

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Ex-Argentine President, Indicted on Financial Charge

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A judge in Argentina on Friday indicted former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and other officials on charges of manipulating the nation’s Central Bank during the final months of her administration. Mrs. Kirchner and the officials are accused of entering into contracts to sell the Central Bank’s dollars at below-market rates during her presidency in order to shore up the Argentine peso. Mrs. Kirchner has clashed with Judge Bonadio in the past, alluding to him as a gangster, and she had also unsuccessfully requested his recusal on this case. Supporters of Mrs. Kirchner contend
Latin America | Brazil | Corruption

Brazil’s Rousseff bows out defiantly after historic Senate vote to try her

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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff bowed out defiantly on Thursday, suspended from office after the Senate voted to put her on trial for breaking budget laws in a historic decision brought on by a deep recession and a corruption scandal. Rousseff, in office since 2011, will be replaced by Vice President Michel Temer, for the duration of a Senate trial that could take up to six months. Rousseff, speaking shortly before she left Brasilia's Planalto presidential palace, said was notified of her suspension on Thursday morning. "I may have made mistakes but I did not commit any crime," Rou
International | Brazil | Corruption

Dilma Rousseff asks Brazil supreme court to delay impeachment process

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Brazil’s embattled president, Dilma Rousseff, has resorted to the country’s supreme court in a last-ditch attempt to avert likely defeat in a criticalimpeachment vote in congress that could lead to her removal from office. Rousseff’s attorney general, José Eduardo Cardozo, asked the top court for an injunction to suspend Sunday’s lower house vote until the full court can rule on what he called procedural irregularities in the impeachment process. Rousseff, already struggling with Brazil’s worst economic crisis in decades and a historic corruption scandal, has lost support with
International | Corruption

IMF’s Christine Lagarde: “When The World Goes Downhill, We Thrive”

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When we wrote earlier that based on a leaked Wikileaks transcript, which the Greek government interpreted “as revealing an IMF effort to blackmail Athens with a possible credit event to force it to give in on pension cuts which it has rejected”, the article promptly went viral. While it remains to be determined if the IMF indeed made such an implied threat, we attribute this spike in interest to the general public’s surprise that the IMF could stoop to such a low, even by its own standards, level as to use a nation of 11 million people as a lab rat on which to conduct policy experiments.
North America | United States | Corruption

FBI’s Clinton probe expands to public corruption track

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The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email as secretary of state has expanded to look at whether the possible “intersection” of Clinton Foundation work and State Department business may have violated public corruption laws, three intelligence sources not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News. This new investigative track is in addition to the focus on classified material found on Clinton’s personal server. "The agents are investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts a
International | Corruption

Tapie Affair: IMF head Christine Lagarde ordered to face trial by French court over tycoon payments

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A French court has ordered IMF boss Christine Lagarde to face trial over the part she played in the Tapie Affair, regarding a €400m (£291m, $433m) transfer to French business tycoon and entrepreneur Bernard Tapie. In September, France's main prosecutor recommended magistrates at the Cour de Justice de la Republique, which deals with crime allegations against government officials, drop the investigation. The magistrates were probing Lagarde's alleged negligence in regards to the affair when she was finance minister of the country. In 2008, when Lagarde served under Nicolas Sarkozy'sgov
Africa | Nigeria | Corruption

Nigeria’s ex-oil minister Alison-Madueke arrested in London – sources

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Nigeria's former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke was arrested in London on Friday, a source from Nigeria's presidency circle and another with links to her family said. Alison-Madueke was minister from 2010 until May 2015 under former president Goodluck Jonathan, who was defeated by Muhammadu Buhari at the polls in March. Buhari took office in May promising to root out corruption in Africa's most populous country, where few benefit from the OPEC member's enormous energy resources. A police spokesman in London said he had no record of such an arrest. The National Crime Agency did no
North America | United States | Activism

Beth Clarkson, Kansas statistician, suing the state to obtain election records, says voting results don’t add up

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A university mathematician found something that didn't add up, and now she's suing the state of Kansas to make sure every vote counts. Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson requested Sedgwick County release election records for the recent election. This week, Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a judge to block that request. Clarkson said the election results in some counties, including Johnson County, are impossible to audit. During a celebration for the 95th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Clarkson said, “If we’re not bei