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24 Feb 2011 13:20

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U.S.: A bad day for the Baltimore Police Department

  • Baltimore cops busted for kickbacks: Reports have come out that the Baltimore Police Department is charging seventeen officers, as well as a pair of brother auto mechanics, with running an extortion scheme through a towing company. Basically, the cops took bribes from the mechanics, proprietors of Rosedale’s Majestic Auto Repair shop, to steer accident tows and repair to their business instead of a city-authorized one. This scheme lasted two years, and now stands to cost those involved a maximum of twenty years in prison. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Dec 2010 09:17

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U.S.: How did Bell, California’s city government become so corrupt?

  • The L.a. Times has a lengthy article on Bell’s corruption that’s worth reading. We could go into great detail with the piece, but we think we can probably explain the story best through the starting and ending salary of one of the most corrupt members of Bell’s government, one of seven town officials who took advantage of low voter turnout and high amounts of power to bilk a fairly poor municipality out of $5.5 million. Here’s how much Robert Rizzo made when he started working for the city, and when he stopped:
  • $78,000 Bell city administrator Robert Rizzo’s starting salary in 1993; he was paid $8,000 less than his predecessor and known for cutting things left and right
  • $800,000 Rizzo’s salary just before he lost his job – at which point it became clear he was cheating one of the poorest municipalities in the L.A. area source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

24 Nov 2010 17:21

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World: Wikileaks to reveal how corrupt the U.S. thinks world leaders are

  • leak Wikileaks revealed today that their next leak will be U.S. diplomatic cables on corruption of various foreign leaders. It could come as soon as this weekend.
  • details Among those fingered in the cables will be obvious ones – Afghanistan, Russia – but allies in Europe and East Asia could also be on the list. Have fun, Obama! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Oct 2010 09:34

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World: Highlights from Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Index

  • 1st is Denmark, which suggests that very little is rotten there
  • 22nd is the U.S., which fell out of the top 20 due to the financial crisis
  • 78th is China, which may not like Google but is less corrupt than you think
  • 146th is Iran; they’re tied with Libya (both are too high on this list, honestly)
  • 154th is Russia, which makes a lot of sense if you know Russia
  • 164th is Venezuela, which at least has a fan in Oliver Stone, right?
  • 172nd is Sudan, which has Darfur and child soldiers to answer for
  • 175th is Iraq, what with their undecided election and everything
  • 176th is Afghanistan, what with their bags of money and everything
  • last is Somalia, which makes lots of sense considering it’s Somalia source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 09:53

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World: Great! Afghan government taking money from Iran, won’t stop

  • They have asked for good relations in return, and for lots of other things in return. And we have also asked for lots of things in return in this relationship. This is a relationship between neighbors and it will go on and we will continue to ask for cash help from Iran.
  • Afghan president Hamid Karzai • Admitting his government takes money from the Iranian government (a payment of around $1-2 million every other month, by the way). But here’s the kicker – even though they’ve been called out for it, they don’t plan to stop. The U.S. has been funding your nation for how many years, buddy? This is something you just don’t do if you’re working with the U.S. In other news, Karzai wants his country’s local media to “defame The New York Times just as they have defamed us.” The Times broke the story a couple days ago. Karzai claims they wrote it to defame his chief of staff, Umar Daudzai. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Sep 2010 18:25

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U.S.: California city lacks any oversight whatsoever

  • $56 million a year in illegal taxation in one city source
  • » According to an audit by State Controller John Chiang, the City Council of Bell, CA approved millions of dollars in fraudulent taxation in 2007, mostly for the benefit of former City Administrator Robert Rizzo. The charges include $93,000 to pay off Rizzo’s personal debts, $10 million to one of Rizzo’s business partners, and $1 million in pay raises for Rizzo and his assistant. The taxes were raised without voter approval and lacking any substantive debate on the part of the city council, Chiang says. The best part? The audit isn’t even done yet!
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2010 20:52

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U.S.: The key facts from the Rod Blagojevich (kinda) guilty verdict

  • one the number of charges that Blago is guilty of (lying to federal invesigators)
  • 23 the number of charges that the jury can’t agree he’s guilty of (yay deadlocks!)
  • five the number of years Blago could go to prison for that one charge alone source
  • » What does this mean? Two things. First, Blago isn’t off the hook just yet. Stuart Slotnick, a criminal defense attorney specializing in white collar crimes, suggests that the verdict is simply a safeguard to ensure more consideration for the other, more complex charges he’s facing.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

11 Aug 2010 19:46

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U.S.: Oh, Blago: Jury deadlocked on what to do about the dude

  • question The jury asked the judge what they could do if they could not reach agreement on all counts in the Rod Blagojevich case.
  • response The judge said it was OK for them to rule on some of the charges, and continue deliberating on what to do about the guy’s hair. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jun 2010 10:49

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U.S.: Supreme Court sides with Enron on a case for some reason

  • what? The Supreme Court favored limiting a law used to prosecute white-collar criminals, the “honest services” law, from being used that way ever again.
  • but … Two cases which used this law (Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling and newspaper magnate Conrad Black) were not simply overturned, but sent to lower courts. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jun 2010 21:24

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Politics: Trial of the century: Could Rod Blagojevich become Rod Gagojevich?

  • yes Rod Blagojevich has been talking way too much during his corruption trial. It’s annoying.
  • no The judge hasn’t put a gag order on the former governor, but he could. We can’t wait. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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