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The Morning Risk Report: Judge Puts New CFTC Chairman in Unusual Position
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Heath Tarbert took over as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in July. PHOTO: KYLE GRILLOT/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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A federal judge in Chicago has made an unusual demand of the new chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission: Testify in front of—and perhaps be cross-examined by—lawyers for two companies that were recently penalized by the regulator.
U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey last week ordered Chairman Heath Tarbert to testify about statements he and his agency made following a $16 million agreement with Kraft Foods Group Inc. and Mondelez Global LLC to settle wheat price-rigging allegations.
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Heads of regulatory agencies aren’t typically called upon to testify in court. Lawyers who specialize in CFTC cases called the move by Judge Blakey surreal and unprecedented.
The order, which also requires two other CFTC commissioners to testify at the hearing in Chicago, is an early setback for Mr. Tarbert, who took the helm July 15. The hearing could delve into the agency’s sensitive internal deliberations, and Judge Blakey raised the possibility he could make a referral for criminal contempt of court. Mr. Tarbert didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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From Risk & Compliance Journal
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Deutsche Bank to Pay $16 Million for Improper Hiring Practices
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Deutsche Bank AG has agreed to pay $16 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it violated U.S. foreign bribery law by hiring relatives of foreign government officials.
Deutsche Bank settled the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges without admitting to or denying the SEC’s findings in an administrative settlement Thursday. The bank had hired relatives of foreign officials in China and Russia to obtain business, the regulator said.
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U.K. Regulator Warns Claims-Management Firms About Advertising
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A U.K. financial regulator on Friday issued a warning to claims-management companies, saying the industry has been providing misleading information to customers in its marketing materials.
The Financial Conduct Authority, which began regulating the industry in April, said it would take action against companies that fail to identify themselves or disclose fees in advertisements. The agency said it has reviewed more than 200 advertisements and found “widespread poor-practice” in the industry.
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Qualcomm Inc. pavilion during an event in Barcelona. PHOTO: JORDI BOIXAREU/ZUMA PRESS
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A federal appeals court froze a ruling that Qualcomm Inc. had committed an array of antitrust violations, a boost for the chip maker that allows it to maintain its business practices for the time being. The court decision Friday is a setback for the Federal Trade Commission, which had sued the company alleging it engaged in an illegal monopoly that harmed smartphone manufacturers and rival chip producers. Qualcomm also said Friday its interim finance chief David Wise is retiring.
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U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton is seeking to scuttle the pending Chinese acquisition of a Ukrainian aerospace company on grounds that it will give Beijing vital defense technology, according to senior U.S. administration officials familiar with the matter. Mr. Bolton’s personal interest and involvement in the deal, acknowledged by the senior administration officials, underscores the growing importance of this case to the U.S. national-security establishment.
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Seven U.S. publishers have filed a lawsuit against Audible, Amazon.com Inc.’s audiobook subscription service, alleging its plan to offer real-time captioning of some audiobook titles violates copyright law. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, said the publishers didn’t give permission to publish a text version of their titles to Audible, noting that the text rights require a separate agreement. The publishers are asking the court to block the captioning service and are seeking damages.
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The Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to rule that a longstanding federal civil-rights law prohibiting sex discrimination doesn’t protect gay people in the workplace. “The ordinary meaning of ‘sex’ is biologically male or female; it does not include sexual orientation,” the Justice Department wrote in a high court brief submitted by U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco. The legal filing came in a highly anticipated case the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear in October, the justices’ first major exploration of LGBT rights since it legalized same-sex marriage in 2015.
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The Justice Department’s fraud section has been using data analytics in health-care prosecutions for several years—combing through Medicare and Medicaid billing data for evidence of fraud, and deploying the strategy in cities around the country that saw outlier billings. In 2018, the health-care fraud unit charged more than 300 people with fraud totaling more than $200 billion, according to the Justice Department. Using the data to combat the opioid crisis, which is ravaging communities across the country, is a new development for the department, which has made tackling the epidemic a key priority in the Trump administration.
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Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is facing fears of an economic downturn, volatile markets and criticism from President Trump. WSJ's Nick Timiraos explains what pressures are weighing on the Fed chief as he heads to this year's annual central bank conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Photo: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gave his most forceful warning yet about the risks to the U.S. economy from escalating trade tensions and the limits to the central bank’s ability to cushion any fallout.
Mr. Powell, in a widely anticipated speech here Friday, signaled the central bank would follow its rate cut last month, its first in more than a decade, with an additional reduction soon. But he stopped short of saying how much stimulus the Fed might provide beyond that.
Instead, he cautioned that the Fed’s tools weren’t well suited to counter rising business and investor anxieties over the intensifying trade war between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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Norsk Hydro’s warnings for employees after the March cyberattack. PHOTO: TERJE PEDERSEN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Norwegian authorities were able to learn enough about the hackers behind the March cyberattack on Norsk Hydro ASA to warn other companies and prevent similar attacks, officials said.
The ransomware attack crippled operations at the Norway-based aluminum and energy company. Production levels returned to normal in about a month, a spokesman said.
Five months in, the investigation has spread to several European countries, Norwegian officials said without giving details. The identity of the perpetrators is unknown.
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An employee packs goods at a checkout counter of a hypermarket operated by Future Retail in Mumbai. PHOTO: DHIRAJ SINGH/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Amazon.com Inc. is acquiring a small stake in one of India’s largest retailers in a deal that gives it an option to take a much larger stake after three years, underlining its interest in expanding its operations in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The deal sets up the retail giant for a big potential move into bricks-and-mortar stores in India, as it could eventually make Amazon the biggest shareholder in Future Retail Ltd.
Initially the deal would indirectly give Amazon a stake of around 3.5% in Future, which runs more than 2,000 stores in Asia’s third-largest economy. The agreement--subject to regulatory approval--also includes an option to buy part or all of the more than 40% stake owned by the retailer’s founding family, which includes Chief Executive Kishore Biyani, according to a stock-exchange filing.
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Img caption/IMG CREDIT HERE
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Google issued new guidelines limiting employee discussion of politics and other topics not related to work, in a major shift for a company that has long prided itself on open debate and a freewheeling internal culture.
The Alphabet Inc. unit on Friday said in a public memo that staffers should avoid spending time hotly debating matters unrelated to their jobs and refrain from name-calling, among other discouraged behavior. The company also reiterated that confidential information discussed internally should be kept private, a message that follows multiple leaks on corporate projects and deliberations that vexed senior executives.
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