Category Archives: fools ‘n frauds

Fiat Chrysler Cops Plea on Fraudulently Reporting Sales

According to the SEC’s order, between 2012 and 2016, FCA US issued monthly press releases falsely reporting new vehicle sales and falsely touting a “streak” of uninterrupted monthly year-over-year sales growth. However, the growth streak had been broken in September 2013.  Continue reading

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SEC Charges Westport Fuels Systems and ex-CEO with Bribing a Chinese Government Official via a Private Equity Fund

According to the SEC’s order, beginning no later than 2016, Westport, acting through Gougarty and others, engaged in a scheme to bribe a Chinese government official to obtain business and a cash dividend payment by transferring shares of stock in Westport’s Chinese joint venture to a Chinese private equity fund in which the government official held a financial interest. Continue reading

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Death of the Diesel: Volkswagen Board Crisis as Three Chairman Indicted in Germany for Stock Market Manipulation

As a result, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG hastily convened a meeting, claiming that it was unaware that the indictments were coming since it was allegedly cooperating in the investigation by the public prosecutor. It will also meet again tomorrow to discuss what is company threatening development. Continue reading

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Death of the Diesel: Daimler Guilty of Selling Dirty Diesels in Germany – Pays $957,000,000 Fine Rather than Litigate

The negligent violation of supervisory duties occurred on the department head level. It appears that the Daimler has refrained from taking a legal action challenging the fine notice because senior executives are not implicated. The public prosecutor’s administrative offense proceeding against Daimler AG is thereby fully concluded. This is not so at Volkswagen Group where senior executives were indicted today. Continue reading

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SEC Charges and Settles False Financial Disclosures Against Nissan, Former CEO Carlos Ghosn, Former Director Greg Kelly  

Critics no doubt will say the settlement is laughable given the amount of money involved. Continue reading

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Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa Forced Out Over Ghosn Matter

The move comes following a report from the beleaguered company’s Audit Committee that recognizes several instances of misconduct from the findings of the internal investigation that is only partially available publicly in filtered form. On May 14, 2019, Nissan belatedly issued numerous amendments to its past annual securities reports, correcting director compensation figures to reflect the amounts that should originally have been disclosed. Continue reading

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Brexit – UK Car Production Declines -10.6%. Exports Hit

British car manufacturing output declined -10.6% in July, with 108,239 units produced, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This was the 14th successive month of decline as ongoing weakness in major EU and … Continue reading

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Honda Database Leaks 134M Rows of Employee Data

The information available in the database appeared to be something like an inventory of all Honda internal machines. This included information such as machine host name, MAC address, internal IP, operating system version, which patches had been applied, and the status of Honda’s endpoint security software. Continue reading

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California, Automakers Defying Trump Agree on Emissions

On April 13, 2018, however, the Trump Administration took the first step toward dismantling the national program when it issued a revised final determination that alleged the federal greenhouse gas standards for model year 2022-2025 vehicles were no longer [email protected] Continue reading

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Facebook to Pay $100m for Misleading Investors on Risks from Misuse of User Data Helping Russian Attacks on US Democracy

According to the SEC’s complaint, in 2014 and 2015, the now-defunct advertising and data analytics company, Cambridge Analytica, paid an academic researcher, through a company he controlled, to collect and transfer data from Facebook to create personality scores for approximately 30 million Americans.  Continue reading

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SEC Charges Engine Manufacturing Company Execs with Fraud

According to the complaint, filed in federal court in Chicago, Gary Winemaster, Power Solutions International Inc.’s former CEO, and two former senior sales executives, Craig Davis and James Needham, caused Power Solutions to fraudulently record revenue for purported sales of products that were not complete, that the customer had not agreed to accept, for which the price was falsely inflated, and from improper “bill and hold” arrangements. Continue reading

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Hispanics and Millennials – Big Changes in 2020 Electorate

Non-whites will account for a third of eligible voters – their largest share ever – driven by long-term increases among certain groups, especially Hispanics. At the same time, one-in-ten eligible voters will be members of Generation Z,  the Americans who will be between the ages 18 and 23 next year. That will occur as Millennials and all other older generations account for a smaller share of eligible voters than they did in 2016. Continue reading

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Ghosn – Muzzled – Bites Back After Nissan Board Ouster

“This is not about greed or dictatorship, this is about a plot, this is about a conspiracy, this is about a backstabbing,” Ghosn said. “I am innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me,” he said. Continue reading

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Directors Carlos Ghosn, Greg Kelly Voted Out at Nissan

Hiroto Saikawa, President, among others, came under shareholder scrutiny for his protested innocence of having any knowledge of the scandal even though he was one of Ghosn’s “ right hand men…” Continue reading

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Death of the Diesel – European Commission’s Ongoing Antitrust Probe Opens Formal Investigation into Possible Collusion Between Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche And VW

The EU maintains that Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche colluded, in breach of EU antitrust rules, to avoid competition on the development and roll-out of technology to clean the emissions of gasoline and diesel passenger cars. Continue reading

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