Meet Tracy Warren. NPR says she’s not surprised by the mortgage meltdown because she was supposed to be in charge of preventing it. Tracy worked for a quality control contractor that reviewed subprime loans for investment banks before they were sold on Wall Street, and her company’s biggest client was none other than Bear Stearns. Tracy says she found plenty of loans to reject. The trouble is, according to Tracy, after she rejected them… her bosses unrejected them.
corruption
By 4.24.08
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A Bristol Meyers Squibb executive was indicted for making a secret deal with a Canadian drug manufacturer that they wouldn’t make a generic version of Apotex, a competing drug to Plavix, if the Canucks didn’t make a generic version of Plavix. Under federal law, such anti-competitive agreements need to be submitted to the FTC. [NYT]
By 4.18.08
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BitTorrent tracking site The Pirate Bay was raided by Swedish Police, and now the site claims they found evidence that the chief of police who called the raid was in the employ of Warner Brothers. [The Pirate Bay]
USDA Accused Of Bullying Inspectors Who Reported Safety Violations
By 4.18.08
First the FAA makes their own inspectors cry in front of Congress and now the Associated Press says that the head of the federal inspectors’ union is alleging that the USDA told him to “drop the matter” when he reported food safety violations at slaughterhouses. When he refused, he was placed on “disciplinary investigative status.”
FAA Says Southwest Tried To Hide Safety Problems
By 4.3.08 — Updated: 10.25.12
There’s a congressional hearing going on right now over the unsafe Southwest Airlines planes. It seems like the FAA’s Southwest Airlines operation was a smörgåsbord of delicious corruption that put many lives (and careers) at risk by becoming too cozy with the airline it was supposed to regulate.
NY Governor Eliot Spitzer Resigns Due To Predilection For Pricey Whores
By 3.12.08
NY Governor and former star Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, has resigned today after his predilection for pricey whores caught up with him.
JFK Airport Is Notoriously Corrupt: Baggage Handlers Caught Stealing $250,000 In Diamonds
By 1.17.08
Queens prosecutors said Monday that a 51-year-old worker and his 39-year-old supervisor are charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property. They say the jewelry was stolen last week from a container marked “high value” that was being shipped from Switzerland to Brazil.
We won’t lie, corrupt baggage handlers piss us off. These two specimens broke open the container and stole the jewelry, hiding it in a locker at the American Airlines terminal.
By 11.7.07
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Corrupt Government: Prison sentence for fraud and racketeering and a Nobel peace prize nomination. Who says you can’t deserve both? [NPR]
Fake Med Promoted Via Fraudulent Government Health & Drug Watchdog Site
By 11.6.07
The Chinese government has discovered a fake diabetes medicine on a fake research institute website, which then links to a fake version of the official government health and drug watchdog agency’s site. If you’re paying attention to urls, it’s hard to not notice that something’s wrong—but we’re sure there’s more than enough people who don’t notice that little detail.
Avoid Checking Valuables At The Philadelphia International Airport
By 8.27.07
According to evidence the Philadelphia Inquirer calls “anecdotal,” there seems to be a theft problem going on at the Philadelphia International Airport. Recently, quite a few baggage handlers were fired by US Airways for cooking the overtime logs in an attempt to get paid for work they never did.
US Airways Firing Lots Of Baggage Handlers At Philly Airport
By 8.10.07
US Airways is interviewing and firing baggage handlers at Philadelphia International Airport after it noticed they were falsifying overtime records.
Is China Going To Execute Lead-Toy Vendors?
By 8.9.07
Chinese officials have announced that they will “severely” punish the vendors responsible for the recent lead-tainted toy snafu. That leads us to ask, what do they consider severe punishment? Remember what they did to the director of the food and drug agency for accepting poisoned toothpaste bribes? And the new state-sponsored video game “Incorruptible Fighter”, where players get to execute corrupt officials with magic or weapons, is so popular that it’s been downloaded over 100,000 times.
Despite Crisp Cable Service, Time Warner Insists There Is No Wiring In Your Building Whatsoever
By 8.6.07
Time Warner refused to transfer Jim’s account information to his new apartment because they claimed, despite the crisp and clear signal he received, that his apartment was not wired for cable service. Time Warner insisted on dispatching a contractor, who, after verifying that Jim’s line worked perfectly, decided to do some unnecessary work so he could get paid. Jim writes:
Home Depot Fires Four Corrupt Managers After Receiving Anonymous Tip
By 8.5.07
Don’t doubt the power of the unidentified tipster: Home Depot recently sacked four corrupt purchasing managers accused by a whistleblower of taking bribes. In exchange for the payoffs, the managers arranged for Home Depot to stock tiles and other flooring products from Asia. From the AP:
Student Aid Administrators Are Pleasantly Paranoid
By 7.9.07
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators is too paranoid about the recent student loan scandal to allow Wachovia to splash its logo all over the nylon bags it ordered for its annual conference, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The group, which represents about 12,000 college-aid officials across the country, didn’t want to appear to be acting improperly by accepting money from Wachovia in exchange for the marketing opportunity. The association also ditched lanyards and pens from other businesses — and even cut off the bottom of notepads that featured the name of a financial-services company — forfeiting about $200,000 in sponsorship fees paid by various vendors.
Death Sentence For Corrupt Chinese Drug Official
By 7.6.07
China has sentenced a high ranking official to death on charges of corruption, reports the New York Times. Cao Wenzhuang is accused of accepting over $300,000 in bribes from pharmacutical companies in exchange for approving bogus drugs. Mr.Cao is the second Chinese offical to be sentenced to death for corruption in less than 2 months.
Columbia University Settles With NY Attorney General
By 6.1.07
The New York Times is reporting that Columbia University will pay $1.1 million into a fund to educate students about loans, and will have its student loan office monitored by the state of New York for 5 years under the terms of a settlement that NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday.
College Financial Aid Directors Are Dropping Like Flies
By 5.22.07
Columbia University has finally fired their director of undergraduate financial aid, David Charlow, after suspending him over “questionable financial ties” to Student Loan Xpress.
