Category Archives: fools ‘n frauds

Ex Cop Gets Prison Sentence for Robbing I-65 Motorists

Posted on 29 August 2012 by Ken Zino

A former Alabama police officer has been sentenced to prison for stealing money and property from motorists. The latter day highwayman, Jessie Alan Fuller, 25, of Pensacola, Florida was sentenced to 37 months in prison and two years supervised release. Continue reading →

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Nippon Seiki to Plead Guilt of Price Fixing on Instrument Panels

Posted on 28 August 2012 by Ken Zino

Nagoka, Japan-based Nippon Seiki Company has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $1 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of instrument panel clusters installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today. Including Nippon Seiki, eight companies and 11 executives – most of them Japanese – have been charged in the department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. Continue reading →

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Milestones – 40 Years of Toyota Auto Body – Thanks to a so-called “Chicken Tax”

Posted on 22 August 2012 by Ken Zino

In one of the ironies of history, Ford Motor, one of the then dominant Detroit Three companies that lobbied the Johnson Administration for protection against imported light trucks, now uses the same tax dodge by performing minor work on its Turkish-built Transit Connect van outside the incoming port of Baltimore to lower its tax rate to 2.5%. Continue reading →

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Auto Theft UK Style – $473 Million Unrecovered in 2011 Alone

Posted on 21 August 2012 by Ken Zino

The latest auto theft numbers in Great Britain are just as grim as in the U.S. In 2011, 65,000 vehicles were taken from their owners in the UK and never recovered for losses of £300 million or $473 million. More than two thirds (71%) of stolen cars disappear, never to be seen again. As they are stripped for either parts or shipped out of the country, according to swiftcover.com. Not surprisingly, more expensive stolen cars are more likely to disappear without a trace. Continue reading →

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Top Ten Stolen Vehicles for 2011 Revealed by NCIB

Posted on 20 August 2012 by Ken Zino

The National Insurance Crime Bureau or NICB today released its list of the 10 stolen vehicles in the United States. The top spots were evenly split in 2011 with five occupied by offshore brands and five by U.S. automakers. The most popular stolen vehicles among the Detroit Three bands were Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet pickup trucks each holding one spot with Dodge Caravan and Ford Explorer rounding out the domestic models. Continue reading →

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Yazaki Exec Guilty of Price Fixing Sentenced to 14 Months

Posted on 16 August 2012 by Ken Zino

An executive of Tokyo-based Yazaki Corporation pled guilty for his role in a conspiracy to fix prices of instrument panel clusters today in a U.S. District court in Detroit. Toshio Sudo from Japan is the 11th executive to be charged in the government’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. The sweeping investigation, which is ongoing, has implicated some of the auto industry’s largest suppliers, most of them Japanese. Yazaki manufactures and sells a variety of automotive parts, and is a major supplier to Japanese automakers, among other firms. Continue reading →

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Treasury To Sell More AIG Stock. Taxpayers Still Owed $24 Billion and Hold 53% from Controversial Bailout of Reckless Company

Posted on 6 August 2012 by Ken Zino

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it expects to receive an additional $750 million from its public offering of American International Group (AIG) common stock. The Wall Street underwriters have exercised their so-called over-allotment option to purchase another 24.6 million additional shares of AIG common stock at the public offering price of $30.50 per share. Continue reading →

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Pilot School Owners Go to Prison Over Swiss Bank Accounts

Posted on 31 July 2012 by Ken Zino

The criminal actions by the Roberts were made possible by UBS, which in February 2009 entered into a so-called deferred prosecution agreement whereby the bank admitted to helping U.S. taxpayers hide accounts from the IRS. As part of the agreement, UBS provided the U.S. government with the identities of, and account information for, certain U.S. customers of UBS’s cross-border business, including the Roberts. Continue reading →

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TRW Guilty of Price Fixing Seatbelts, Airbags, Steering Wheels

Posted on 31 July 2012 by Ken Zino

TRW Deutschland pled guilty to price fixing seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels sold to two German automobile manufacturers, and installed in cars sold in the United States yesterday. This is the second case filed over occupant safety systems sold to auto manufacturers as part of the department’s ongoing antitrust auto parts investigation. Continue reading →

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Pratt & Whitney of United Technologies Guilty of Criminal Charges for Helping China Develop a Military Attack Helicopter

Posted on 28 June 2012 by Ken Zino

Pratt & Whitney Canada, a Canadian subsidiary of the Connecticut-based defense contractor United Technologies Corporation, today pled guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act and making false statements in connection with its illegal export to China of U.S.-origin military software used in the development of China’s first modern military attack helicopter, the Z-10. Continue reading →

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Ex Alabama Cop Arrested for Stealing from Motorists on I-65

Posted on 12 June 2012 by Ken Zino

Former Fort Deposit, Alabama Police Officer Carlos Tyson Bennett was arrested today on charges of stealing money from motorists on Interstate 65 in central Alabama and subsequently trying to conceal his criminal activity. Continue reading →

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Yazaki Exec and Autoliv Plead Guilty on Price Fixing Auto Parts

Posted on 6 June 2012 by Ken Zino

This is the first case filed relating to occupant safety systems sold to auto manufacturers as part of the DOJ’s ongoing antitrust auto parts investigation. An executive of Japan-based Yazaki Corporation has also agreed to plead guilty for his role in a separate conspiracy to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses and related products installed in U.S. cars. Continue reading →

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No Jobs Crisis Continues in May as Washington Dithers

Posted on 2 June 2012 by Ken Zino

The looming choices facing voters are clearly unpalatable. At the top of the ticket, you have the demonstrably job-destroying Harvard-educated Republican party 1 percenter Mitt Romney running against the demonstrably non-job creating Harvard-educated Democratic party 1 percenter Barack Obama. It is time to put the name “somebody else” on all ballots, which if somebody else wins starts another election with the other previously listed candidates disqualified from running again. Continue reading →

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Republican NLRB Member Terence Flynn Resigns Over Ethical Violations. Romney Adviser under Criticism for Links

Posted on 29 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Flynn’s resignation as a temporary Board member is effective 24 July 2012, a laughably long time given the seriousness of the findings by the Inspector General of many instances of misconduct. In the view of many critics, Flynn should resign immediately and the Department of Justice should pursue criminal charges. For the moment, Flynn has recused himself from all agency business and has asked that the President withdraw his pending permanent nomination for Board Member of the NLRB. Continue reading →

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Owner of Hawaii Car Dealerships Pleads Guilty to Tax Crimes

Posted on 29 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Alan Pflueger, the owner of multiple car dealerships and one of Hawaii’s wealthiest people, was at the head of a tax crimes fraud that paid his personal expenses, which were deducted as business expenses by Pflueger Inc, the Justice Department said. Continue reading →

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