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The Morning Risk Report: Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou Reaches Deal With Justice Department
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Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, leaving her home in Vancouver Friday. PHOTO: DARRYL DYCK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Good morning. The U.S. Justice Department agreed to allow Huawei Technologies Co. finance chief Meng Wanzhou to return to her home in China nearly three years after she was detained in Canada on behalf of the U.S.
Under the agreement, entered in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday, Ms. Meng admitted remotely from Canada to some wrongdoing in exchange for prosecutors deferring and later dropping wire and bank fraud charges.
[Continued below...]
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The U.S. Justice Department agreed to allow Huawei Technologies Co. finance chief Meng Wanzhou to return to her home in China nearly three years after she was detained in Canada on behalf of the U.S., removing one irritant in a deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and China. Under the agreement, Ms. Meng admitted remotely from Canada to some wrongdoing in exchange for prosecutors deferring and later dropping wire and bank fraud charges.
In a four-page statement of facts, Ms. Meng acknowledged that she made untrue statements to a bank in 2013 about the relationship between Huawei and a company it controlled that operated in Iran, leading the bank to provide services that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.
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WSJ Risk & Compliance Forum
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Join us on Oct. 12 for the WSJ Risk & Compliance Forum. The virtual program includes sessions on anti-money laundering laws, emerging risks, compliance and cryptocurrencies, lessons from Wirecard and workshops on ESG reporting and responding to ransomware. Register here.
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From Risk & Compliance Journal
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Robinhood, which went public in July, said that month that its crypto business reached a settlement with a New York state regulator. PHOTO: PATRICK SISON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The cryptocurrency unit of popular trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc. has hired a new chief compliance officer, a move that comes as the company faces regulatory scrutiny. Benjamin Melnicki joined Robinhood Crypto LLC this week, a Robinhood spokesman said. His appointment followed the departure of Scott Hershorin, who left Robinhood in June.
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Petrofac Ltd. said it had reached a plea agreement with the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office in relation to an investigation into the company’s failure to prevent bribery. The British energy services company said it would plead guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent former Petrofac employees from offering or making payments to agents involved in projects in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
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Afghans receiving food aid distributed by Red Crescent in Kabul on Monday. PHOTO: STRINGER/SHUTTERSTOCK
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The Biden administration said it would allow U.S. agencies, aid groups and the private sector to send food and medicine to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, supplies that officials say are critical to address the country’s growing humanitarian crisis. Terror sanctions against the group have restricted trade and finance to the country after the Taliban took control last month, but waivers issued by the Treasury Department will now allow humanitarian aid distributed by outside groups.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission said the compliance gaps surfaced as WPP implemented an aggressive growth strategy that involved buying smaller advertising firms in high-risk markets. The acquired firms’ founders would often stay on as chief executive and have broad autonomy, the agency said.
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Alphabet Inc.’s Google begun its appeal Monday to overturn a $5 billion antitrust fine imposed by the European Union, contending that its Android operating system for mobile devices has boosted competition rather than foreclosing it. The tech giant presented oral arguments in Luxembourg before the EU’s second-highest court, in its appeal to overturn the 2018 decision from the bloc’s antitrust enforcer.
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Theranos Inc.’s former lab director testified about what he called pervasive and persistent errors in the company’s blood-testing technology and his efforts to stop the startup from using its machines on real patients. The comments by Adam Rosendorff, who served as lab director for the defunct blood-testing company from 2013 to 2014, capped the third week of witness testimony in the criminal fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
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A New York state judge ordered the Trump Organization to turn over documents subpoenaed by the state attorney general’s office, indicating that a 2½-year civil-fraud investigation into the former president’s business affairs is still active. The order by Justice Arthur Engoron, dated Sept. 2 and unsealed Friday, requires the Trump Organization to provide a report by next Thursday of what it had done to preserve, collect and produce documents detailed in the attorney general’s subpoenas.
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A California prosecutor filed criminal charges including manslaughter against PG&E Corp. for its role in igniting a wildfire that killed four people last year. Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said Friday that her office had filed 11 felony and 20 misdemeanor counts, including four counts of involuntary manslaughter, against the company related to the Zogg Fire.
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Buyout giant EQT AB, one of Europe’s best stock-market performers this year, is under investigation by Sweden’s regulator for potential market abuse over the timing of its disclosure that it allowed its partners to sell about $2.7 billion of stock a year ahead of schedule.
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Hundreds of Chinese online game companies have vowed to self-regulate and combat user addiction, the country’s state-backed gaming industry association said, falling in line with a government effort to restrict negative influences from entertainment on China’s youth.
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Apple Faces Off With Europe Regulators Over Phone Chargers
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Russian Gas Firm Executive Arrested in U.S. on Tax Charges
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HNA Group Chairman Chen Feng, CEO Adam Tan Detained by Police
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Tokens tied to crypto-trading platforms including Uniswap have attracted investment from a fund set up by Grayscale Investments, a digital-currency asset manager. PHOTO: GABBY JONES/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Asset managers are offering funds that invest in cryptocurrencies whose legal viability has been questioned by regulators, underscoring the risks investors are taking to try to benefit from the sector’s rapid growth.
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China’s central bank said all cryptocurrency-related transactions are illegal, reinforcing the country’s tough stance against digital rivals to government-issued money. The People’s Bank of China said the latest notice was to further prevent the risks surrounding crypto trading and to maintain national security and social stability.
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to dispose of its minority ownership in a state-owned broadcaster, the first concrete step the Chinese internet giant is taking to dismantle its sprawling media empire following pressure from Beijing.
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Evergrande’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China. PHOTO: NG HAN GUAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Property developer China Evergrande Group—teetering on the edge of financial collapse, weighed down by an $88.5 billion debt burden and total liabilities in excess of $300 billion—received a clean bill of health from its auditor in an annual report.
When PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong signed off on the company’s 2020 financial statements, it didn’t include a so-called going concern warning. These red flags from an auditor show that it has doubts about the company’s ability to stay afloat for at least 12 months.
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National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre has denied allegations made in a lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general. PHOTO: JOE SKIPPER/REUTERS
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A National Rifle Association board member called for the removal of the organization’s entire board and Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre, saying the actions were required for meaningful reform of the nonprofit gun-rights group as it battles corruption allegations.
The unusual move came in a series of legal filings Friday by Roscoe “Rocky” Marshall, an NRA board member since early this year, who is seeking to intervene on behalf of the association’s members in a continuing legal battle in state court in New York between the organization and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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A group of finance chiefs from large international companies is urging peers to tie more of their companies’ financing to corporate sustainability goals.
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The Detroit auto maker isn’t requiring any workers—hourly or salaried—to get the Covid-19 vaccines. PHOTO: REBECCA COOK/REUTERS
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General Motors Co. is cracking down on white-collar employees who haven’t complied with a corporate mandate to report their vaccination status, illustrating the hurdles companies face in trying to navigate the sensitive topic of workforce immunity.
Meanwhile, Pfizer Inc. booster doses will be available to millions of Americans after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky backed the shots for workers at high risk of Covid-19 exposure and others.
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