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The Morning Risk Report: Banker With Manafort Ties Faces Bribery Charge
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Stephen M. Calk leaving federal court in New York on Thursday after pleading not guilty to a bribery charge. PHOTO: MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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A Chicago bank executive was indicted for allegedly giving $16 million in loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in exchange for Mr. Manafort’s help in soliciting a high-level post in the Trump administration.
The executive, Stephen M. Calk, ran the Federal Savings Bank in Chicago and served as a former campaign adviser to President Trump. He was charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan with one count of financial-institution bribery and surrendered to authorities on Thursday. If convicted, Mr. Calk, 54, would face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
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Lawyers for Mr. Calk said the loans “were not a bribe for anything” and called the indictment baseless. They said the bank’s loans to Mr. Manafort “had nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Calk’s desire to serve.”
At a court hearing Thursday, Mr. Calk pleaded not guilty and was released on a $5 million bond. In a statement, the Federal Savings Bank said Mr. Calk was on a leave of absence and has no control over the bank.
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From Risk & Compliance Journal
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U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on an online pharmacy, alleging it operates as a drug trafficking and money-laundering network. PHOTO: PATRICK SISON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on an Argentina-based online pharmacy, alleging it operates as a drug trafficking and money-laundering network, the agency said.
The designation of Goldpharma as a foreign narcotics trafficker by the Office of Foreign Assets Control is the latest move by the Trump administration to address the nation’s opioid epidemic, Risk & Compliance Journal’s Mengqi Sun reports.
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Nasdaq Chief Executive Adena Friedman, pictured in February, said she recommended her staff look into legal options related to the ETF dispute. PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Nasdaq Inc. Chief Executive Adena Friedman testified in the exchange’s lawsuit against a former business partner that Nasdaq contends stole more than $1 billion in exchange-traded funds. Nasdaq’s civil suit alleges that ETF Managers Group LLC improperly kept millions of dollars in management fees generated by funds including a popular cybersecurity ETF best known by its ticker HACK.
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MiMedx Group’s injectable wound-care products don’t meet regulatory standards, including for purity and sterility, more than two years after the company told the Food and Drug Administration it had complied with the requirements, according to internal documents.
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Harvey Weinstein, women who accused him of sexual misconduct, his former film studio’s board members and the New York attorney general’s office have reached a tentative $44 million deal to resolve lawsuits and compensate alleged victims of the Hollywood producer, according to people familiar with the matter.
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This week’s court ruling against Qualcomm Inc. was more than a business setback: It came with a stinging rebuke of the chip giant’s leaders from the federal judge who delivered the decision. Federal District Judge Lucy Koh repeatedly criticized Qualcomm executives for their sworn testimony during the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against the chip maker, pointing to discrepancies between their words and the evidence.
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A cast iron statue of a dragon in London’s financial district. The U.K. Financial Reporting Council plans increased oversight of the audit and accounting sector. PHOTO: NEIL HALL/REUTERS
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U.K. regulator announced a flurry of actions aimed at improving the quality of audit and financial reporting in Britain following a number of high-profile corporate collapses. The U.K. Financial Reporting Council, the country’s watchdog for audit and accounting, said it plans to increase the number of reviews and investigations it conducts, hire more staff and raise its budget.
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Specialty equipment maker AZZ Inc. replaced its auditor after the company disclosed material weaknesses in controls over its financial reporting. AZZ said that BDO USA LLC included “adverse opinions” on the effectiveness of the company’s oversight of financial reporting contained in the auditor’s assurance reports. The dismissal wasn’t over disagreements with BDO’s accounting and auditing principles and practices, AZZ said.
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Credit Karma CEO Kenneth Lin, left, and finance chief Joe Kauffman are expected to bring the company public as soon as this year. Mr. Kauffman is a rare bird among CFOs: He’s helped two other startups go public. JASON HENRY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Silicon Valley has a problem that new technology can’t solve: not enough qualified CFOs. As more startups grow into complex firms, many are looking to hire a finance chief who can impose financial discipline and bring a new level of managerial expertise. The problem: Candidates who check all the boxes are in short supply, recruiters say. The lack of capable or willing CFO candidates is particularly acute among businesses on the cusp of unicorn status. But some of the biggest Silicon Valley companies—including Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc.—have also struggled to hire or retain executive finance talent.
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Zara-owner Inditex plans to elevate its chief operations officer to be its next chief executive, a management change the world’s largest fashion chain said would help it focus on enhancing its digital capabilities. The company said it is proposing 48-year-old Carlos Crespo as its new CEO, replacing Pablo Isla, who currently holds the joint role of CEO and executive chairman.
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaving court after being sentenced in London earlier this month. PHOTO: HENRY NICHOLLS/REUTERS
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was indicted on additional charges accusing him of violating the Espionage Act by engaging in a wide-ranging effort to obtain classified information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and other matters. The new charges put more pressure on Mr. Assange, whom the U.S. is trying to extradite from the U.K., and could have broad implications for First Amendment free-press protections in the U.S.
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A long-lasting U.S.-China trade conflict could possibly split the global tech industry. A Chinese assembly line. PHOTO: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Investors are growing concerned that the U.S.-China trade conflict is rapidly shifting into a new cold war, with highflying technology companies on the front line. The intensifying trade spat between the two countries gives investors another reason to avoid companies that have few broad avenues for growth in the smartphone era.
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President Trump is expected to release an executive order as early as next week to mandate the disclosure of prices in the health-care industry, according to people familiar with the discussion. The order could direct federal agencies to pursue actions to force a host of players in the industry to divulge cost data, the people said.
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Facebook Inc. said it stopped paying commissions to employees who sell political ads, as the tech giant overhauls how it engages with campaigns ahead of elections in 2020. Once seen as a growth area, political ads are now viewed within Facebook as more of a headache, according to former employees and campaign staffers who work on digital strategies.
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European Central Bank officials warned at their April policy meeting that the Eurozone’s economic soft patch might last longer than expected, and underscored their willingness to use all their policy tools to shore up the economy. Europe’s economic recovery appears to be stalling amid flagging international demand for its exports, according to a closely watched business survey.
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Georgia’s swelling film and television industry, known locally as Y’allywood, faces growing pressure from a boycott launched by some actors and producers over a new state law restricting abortion. The standoff differs from Hollywood’s past objections to Georgia policies.
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Presidential candidate Julián Castro rallies with McDonald's employees and other activists in Durham, N.C.. PHOTO: GERRY BROOME/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Hundreds of workers at McDonald’s Corp. restaurants walked off the job to protest what they described as low pay, unsafe workplaces and sexual harassment. The walkouts prompted operators to close 10 restaurants in St. Louis, and workers picketed outside McDonald’s in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The events are among the most visible disruptions to the chain’s operations in the years since unions sought to organize workers.
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Nestlé SA has achieved about half of the savings it hopes to implement by 2020 in a cost-cutting effort focused on boosting efficiency and centralizing procurement. The Swiss consumer-goods giant is scrutinizing its manufacturing footprint, consolidating procurement and simplifying its recipes to cut billions in costs by next year, Chief Financial Officer François-Xavier Roger told CFO Journal.
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Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum Brands, operates more than 500 restaurants across nearly 30 markets outside of the U.S. PHOTO: WILFREDO LEE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum Brands Inc., plans to build 600 restaurant locations in India in the next 10 years and enter into new international markets as the Mexican-inspired fast-food chain continues its global expansion. The brand said it signed a master franchise agreement in India with Burman Hospitality Private Ltd. The deal will make India Taco Bell’s largest market outside of the U.S.
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Huawei Technologies Co. is pinning its hopes on a self-designed operating system to replace Google’s Android following a U.S. blacklisting. The question is: Can it succeed where others have failed?
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Holiday Schedule for The Morning Risk Report
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The Morning Risk Report won't be published Monday in observance of Memorial Day in the U.S. We will be back on Tuesday.
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