Filed under: Investigations

Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.

 

Online poker players to be reunited with cash

Online poker players in the United States will be able to withdraw money from accounts associated with two Internet poker companies recently indicted for bank fraud and money laundering, federal authorities said Wednesday. Get the full story »

Feds: Fake news sites link to acai berry diet

By Ellen Gabler | The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit against 10 companies the agency says are using fake news websites to market acai berry weight-loss products.

The FTC said the defendants operate websites that seem like legitimate news-gathering sites, but actually promote deceptive advertisements that urge consumers to buy acai berry products. Get the full story »

Man died of head injuries at Caterpillar

A worker was crushed by the machine he was servicing at a Caterpillar facility in central Illinois, an autopsy has found.

The (Peoria) Journal Star reports that an autopsy performed Monday confirms that 34-year-old Troy Bryner of Wyoming died Sunday of head injuries. Bryner was pronounced dead at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center about 40 minutes after being crushed by the machine.

Illinois man arraigned in online gambling schemeā€Ž

A Chicago man was arraigned today in the sweeping nationwide crackdown on online poker gambling.

Bradley Franzen, 41, was arraigned this morning in New York, authorities said. Get the full story »

11 arrested in crackdown on online gambling

The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds. Get the full story »

Johnson & Johnson to pay U.S. $70M in fines

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $70 million to settle U.S. charges that it paid bribes and kickbacks to win business overseas, the first major pharmaceutical company to settle since the Obama administration began its scrutiny of the industry more than a year ago. Get the full story »

FTC, Justice Dept. mull Google antitrust probe

U.S. antitrust regulators may investigate Google’s dominance of the Web search industry, and will settle on the agency to launch a probe once scrutiny into the company’s plan to buy ITA software is done, a source told Reuters on Tuesday. Get the full story »

Firms to pay $1M to settle salvaged-cab case

Taxis move across Van Buren Street in downtown Chicago, Jan. 3, 2011. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

By John Byrne | Taxi companies have agreed to pay the city of Chicago more than $1 million in fines and to upgrade their fleets after the city accused them of illegally using rebuilt or salvaged vehicles as cabs.

As part of a settlement, cab mogul Simon Garber and his business partners agreed to pay $839,320 in fines and court costs for using 183 salvaged or rebuilt vehicles as taxicabs in violation of a city ordinance, according to a press release from the city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart gets sympathetic bias case hearing

Activists rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, March 29, 2011. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Wal-Mart got a sympathetic hearing from several Supreme Court justices Tuesday as the retailer sought to prevent female employees from bringing the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history.

The justices sharply questioned whether more than a million female employees can join together against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, accused of paying women less and giving them fewer promotions. Get the full story »

FBI investigates hole found in US Airways jet

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a hole possibly caused by a bullet discovered Monday in the fuselage of a US Airways Group Inc.Ā  plane in a pre-flight inspection at an airport in Charlotte, N.C., Bloomberg News reported Tuesday on its website, citing the airline. Get the full story »

Judge orders Jobs to answer iTunes questions

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who is out on medical leave, has been ordered by a federal judge to answer questions from plaintiffs’ lawyers in an antitrust lawsuit related to his company’s iTunes business. Get the full story »

FDIC sues ex-WaMu execs, wives over bank’s failure

A Washington Mutual branch at 2053 N. Clybourn that closed in 2008. (Candice C. Cusic/Chicago Tribune)

A U.S. government regulator sued Kerry Killinger and two other Washington Mutual Bank executives accused of pioneering reckless home loans that led to biggest bank failure in U.S. history.

The three “gambled billions of dollars of WaMu’s money” by rewarding employees and themselves for pushing risky, low-teaser rates loans while ignoring warnings about the housing bubble, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said in its lawsuit. Get the full story »

Airbus probed in 2009 Air France crash

European planemaker Airbus was placed under investigation on Thursday over the 2009 crash of a flight between Rio de Janeiro and Paris that killed 228 people, Airbus Chief Executive Thomas Enders said.

Investigators are trying to establish why the Airbus 330 plane, operated by Air France, plunged into the Atlantic during a storm on May 31, 2009, killing passengers from 32 nations, including 72Ā  French citizens. Get the full story »

Deere accused of systematic sex bias in hiring

From BusinessWeek | Moline-based Deere & Co., the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment, was accused in an amended lawsuit of systematically discriminating against women seeking entry-level positions.

U.S. urged to probe auditors’ role in credit crisis

Audit firms that failed to flag risks ahead of the financial crisis have not been held to account and an in-depth investigation is needed, an advisory group to the U.S. auditor watchdog agency said on Wednesday. Get the full story »