|
|
|
|
|
The Morning Risk Report: Glencore to Pay $320 Million to Resolve U.K. Bribery Charges
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Glencore PLC, the commodities giant, said it would pay a penalty and costs of 281 million pounds, equivalent to about $320 million, after pleading guilty to British charges of bribing officials in West Africa for preferential access to crude oil.
The penalty, imposed on a wholly-owned U.K. subsidiary of the company by a British judge Thursday, is part of a wide-ranging bribery investigation by authorities in Britain, the U.S. and elsewhere that has hung over the global mining and trading business for years.
Glencore in May said it would pay more than $1 billion to U.S. authorities, and admitted wrongdoing, to resolve allegations of bribery and market manipulation. At that time, Glencore also said it would plead guilty to U.K. bribery charges, which it did in June.
On Thursday, Glencore said it had provided a high level of cooperation with the U.K. investigation and revamped its ethics and regulatory compliance programs. “The conduct that took place was inexcusable and has no place in Glencore,” Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said.
|
|
|
Content from our Sponsor: DELOITTE
|
|
Consumers Continue to Rethink Priorities Amid Lingering Pandemic
|
The pandemic has caused many Americans to reevaluate their work-life balance. Even as more people return to offices and other in-person environments, sentiment shifts have held up. Read More ›
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WSJ Risk & Compliance Forum
|
|
|
Speakers at the WSJ Risk & Compliance Forum on Nov. 16 include Brian Nelson from the U.S. Treasury Department and Robert Silvers from the Department of Homeland Security, along with multiple experts on corporate risk and compliance. Sign up here for discussions on economic sanctions, forced labor, climate change regulation, whistleblowers and cybersecurity.
|
|
|
|
|
The IRS’s criminal investigation division expects to significantly increase its number of special agents, the division’s chief said. PHOTO: SUSAN WALSH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
|
|
|
The Internal Revenue Service has opened 20 criminal investigations in its crackdown on the evasion of sanctions that the U.S. imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an official said.
The law-enforcement unit at the tax-collection agency opened the probes as part of its work with Task Force KleptoCapture and continues to develop new leads, Guy Ficco, the criminal investigation division’s deputy chief, told reporters in a press conference Thursday.
|
|
|
Ericsson AB subsidiary Vonage will pay $100 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it created a web of obstacles for its customers to cancel the internet-based telephone service and charged unexpected termination fees.
The agreement, filed in a federal court Thursday, represents the largest settlement of its kind in the FTC’s enforcement push against companies that allegedly throw up high hurdles to customers seeking to cancel subscriptions or services.
|
|
|
-
A New York judge on Thursday required that former President Donald Trump’s family business be subject to monitoring requirements while it is facing a civil-fraud lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James.
-
Canada on Wednesday ordered three Chinese companies to divest their shares from domestic companies involved in extracting critical minerals, citing national-security concerns.
|
|
|
|
|
A large screen in Beijing displayed Presidents Biden and Xi during a virtual summit they held last year. PHOTO: KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
|
Increasingly adversarial U.S.-China relations are in for their next test, as the two governments try to arrange a summit between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month.
Senior officials and aides have been wrangling over whether the leaders will meet around the Group of 20 summit of major economies in Indonesia in mid-November. The meeting would be their first face-to-face since Mr. Biden’s election, and, people briefed on the discussions said, Chinese officials have only recently re-engaged after ill feelings over the leaders’ last exchange.
|
|
|
Société Générale SA promoted a veteran banker to be its new group chief risk officer, as the French bank continues to navigate geopolitical uncertainties in Europe and a possible economic slowdown.
Stéphane Landon, who has been Société Générale’s deputy chief risk officer since October 2020, will become the chief risk officer on Dec.1, the bank said on Thursday.
|
|
|
-
Europe must take further steps to limit its gas demand this winter or face a worsening energy crisis next year, the International Energy Agency warned on Thursday.
-
The U.S. and its allies have reached agreement on which sales of Russian oil will be subject to a price cap, racing to flesh out the details of the major new sanctions program before it begins on Dec. 5.
-
Eenergy giant Uniper SE posted a net loss of around $39.3 billion for the first nine months of the year—one of the biggest in Germany’s corporate history—highlighting the financial fallout from Russia’s decision to throttle natural-gas deliveries to Europe.
-
Top diplomats from the world’s wealthiest democracies opened two days of meetings Thursday aimed at coordinating their sometimes divergent approaches to Russia, China and Iran.
-
The U.S. and South Korea responded defiantly after North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile and two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, saying they would extend their military exercises this week and return next year to large-scale field exercises.
-
Ukraine said its Zaporizhzhia nuclear-power plant has been disconnected from the power grid after Russian shelling damaged transmission lines and left the facility reliant on diesel generators.
-
The Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by another 0.75 percentage point to combat inflation and signaled plans to keep raising them, possibly in smaller increments but to higher levels than previously anticipated. The Bank of England raised its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage point on Thursday, the largest increase since 1989.
-
In a closely watched survey published on Thursday by the Munich-based Ifo Institute, German auto makers and suppliers said they were losing confidence in the European economy.
|
|
|
|
|
The SEC is concerned that auditors too often fail to respond adequately to red flags that point to possible financial chicanery. PHOTO: ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
|
Wall Street’s top watchdog is warning that the market selloff and fears of a recession could encourage more companies to cook their books, and it is pressuring auditors to catch them.
“The current economic environment is subject to significant uncertainties and, historically, that oftentimes leads to heightened fraud risk,” Paul Munter, acting chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in an interview. “So we are trying to be proactive and speak to the marketplace.”
The warning comes as regulators increase their scrutiny of auditors.
|
|
|
|
|
Kare Schultz said he wanted to make time for his family. PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER GOODNEY/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
|
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said it is looking for a new chief executive officer after Kare Schultz confirmed he will step down when his contract expires next year.
Mr. Schultz said on Thursday that he chose not to renew his contract, which expires in November 2023. “I’m here until then,” he said in an interview.
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon plans to pause hiring across its corporate workforce, including employees in high-profile teams such as Prime Video and grocery. PHOTO: MARK LENNIHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
|
|
|
The outlook for tech industry jobs worsened on Thursday, with ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. and payments company Stripe Inc. both announcing major layoffs and Amazon.com Inc. saying it will freeze corporate hiring for months.
The stream of grim news for the industry came as the Federal Reserve has moved again to raise interest rates to combat inflation, signaling greater risk that the U.S. economy is sliding into a recession. Faced with that possibility, tech company executives are warning of tougher times ahead.
|
|
|
Contract talks between the biggest U.S. carriers and their pilots’ unions have turned acrimonious in recent weeks, with pilots saying the summer disruptions have left them as frustrated as passengers.
As travel demand surges back to prepandemic levels, several airlines are contending simultaneously with years of pent-up frustration among pilots and other labor groups.
|
|
|
More than 200 Gannett Co. staffers are staging a one-day strike Friday to push for better wages and benefits and protest layoffs and furloughs, among other cost-cutting measures at the news publisher.
|
|
|
|
|
General Mills, whose brands include Cheerios, confirmed the company has paused Twitter ads. PHOTO: DANIEL ACKER/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
|
Food company General Mills Inc., Oreo maker Mondelez International Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Volkswagen AG’s Audi are among a growing list of brands that have temporarily paused their Twitter advertising in the wake of the takeover of the company by Elon Musk, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some advertisers are concerned that Mr. Musk could scale back content moderation, which they worry would lead to an increase in objectionable content on the platform. Others are temporarily halting their ads because of the uncertainty at the company as top executives exit and Mr. Musk considers a raft of changes, some of the people said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|