There has been a growing investigation into gifts that Virginia’s governor and wife have secured from businessman, Jonnie R. Williams Sr. One of the key issues that the FBI is investigating is Governor Bob McDonnell’s ties to a company known as Star Scientific and gifts from its chief executive is Mr. Williams. Questions: 1. Based… Read more »
Posts Tagged: ethics
Making government contracting pay and pay and pay……..
According to the Washington Post, a federal judge sentenced Kerry F. Khan, the mastermind of a contracting scam of “historic proportions,” to nearly two decades behind bars. This sentence was even more than prosecutors had requested because of the “staggering” scope of the scheme. Questions: 1. What were some of the “red flags” associated with… Read more »
Deloitte Fined and Banned: Accounting Firm Botches Consulting Engagement Dealing with Bank Regulatory Problems
Deloitte was hired by Standard Chartered, a British bank, to independently spot suspicious money transfers routed through its New York branches. However, as the consultants, a final report submitted to state regulators was watered down, indicating misconduct by Deloitte and a lack of autonomy for Standard Chartered’s illicit transfers of billions of dollars on behalf… Read more »
Welcome to the GMO free zone of the future
As we head into the hot summer, what sounds great? Well, ice cream, of course! And who is in the news? Ben and Jerry’s. According to the Huffington Post, Ben and Jerry’s is removing a controversial ingredient from its ice cream: Genetically-modified organisms (or GMOs). The back story is that only 80% of Ben &… Read more »
Pension Predators – A New York Investigation
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ordering New York’s top banking regulator to investigate “pension advance” firms. The payments by these firms are advertised as advances. However, they are really cleverly disguised high interest rate loans that target older citizens’ assets. Questions: 1. What are the benefits for the firms on insisting that they are advances rather… Read more »
Why is the IMF chief in court?
Recently, Christine Lagarde was grilled by a French court in regards to a business settlement with disgraced tycoon Bernard Tapie in 2007. Questions: 1. What is the IMF? Why was the IMF in the news in 2011? 2. What is the controversy about? Is anyone alleged to have profited from the incident? 3. What does… Read more »
Is it fair that some hospitals are charging 400% above their costs to deliver services?
According to government data, hospitals charge Medicare wildly differing amounts — sometimes 10 to 20 times what Medicare typically reimburses — for the same procedure. This raises questions about how hospitals determine prices and why they differ so widely. Questions: 1. Discuss the data set and what was included. 2. According to the article, who… Read more »
The Tragedy of “Fast Fashion”
A garment factory, manufacturing products for international clothing companies, collapsed outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh, last month. The collapse killed more than 400 workers and injured many others. This tragedy came on the heels of a factory fire in November 2012, which killed 112 workers. Questions: 1. Who are some of the chains that supply “cheap… Read more »
Academic Fraud
In the summer of 2011, Diederik Stapel was accused of research fraud. It became the lead story in the Netherlands and would dominate headlines for months. Overnight, Stapel went from being a respected professor to perhaps the biggest con man in academic science. Questions: 1. How did Stapel commit the fraud? 2. Why did Stapel… Read more »
Pension Advances to be Scrutinized by Congress and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
This New York Times article discusses the allure of borrowing against pensions, which underscores an abrupt reversal in the financial fortunes of many retirees in recent years. The offers, known as pension advances, are having devastating financial consequences for a growing number of older Americans, both threatening their retirement savings and exacerbating mounting debt within… Read more »