Bloomberg News Fined Over $7 Million For Fake News Report In France

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times

Bloomberg News was fined $7.6 million, or five million euros, for reporting fake news that caused shares of French construction company Vinci to tumble.

Two journalists on the Speed Desk of the Paris office of the outlet, owned by Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg, reported on Nov. 22, 2016, on a press release that was purportedly from Vinci, according to AMF, a financial markets watchdog in France.

The release was titled: “Vinci undertakes an audit of its consolidated accounts for 2015 and the first half of 2016.”

The desk pushes out real-time financial information from press releases and other sources in the form of newsflashes or alerts.

The alleged statement said Vinci fired its chief financial officer and had discovered major accounting errors, prompting the company to issue updated figures for 2015 and the first two quarters of 2016, which resulted in a net loss instead of profits for the time period in question.

But the statement wasn’t actually from Vinci. It was posted on a website, vinci.group, that looked like Vinci’s site, vinci.com, but was not the company’s legitimate website. The fake website included an erroneous address and a mobile phone number that didn’t match the number for Vinci’s spokesman, according to AFP.

After the report, shares of Vinci fell 18 percent, erasing six billion euros from the company’s value. Vinci later issued a statement denying the report and its shares recovered. Vinci filed a legal complaint to the AMF.

Xavier Huillard, chairman of French construction group Vinci, addresses the group’s general meeting in Paris on April 17, 2019. (Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images)

A page for the company on the Bloomberg News website lists the correct phone number and website but there are no stories from November 2016 about Vinci. It’s not clear if the company ever apologized for pushing the false information.

AMF, said that Bloomberg News distributed “information that it should have known was false.”

“In considering that Bloomberg LP disseminated information which it should have known to be false, the Enforcement Committee noted that the publication of the dispatches by Bloomberg, which began one minute after receiving the fraudulent news release, was preceded by no verification by the journalists of the Speed Desk, even though the release, which contained several errors, sent to Bloomberg during a trading session and reporting very serious information, suggesting that a dramatic and immediate drop in the share price was likely, required increased vigilance from the journalists,” it said in a statement.Ethics in journalism requires verifying information prior to publication, which the outlet didn’t do, AMF said.

“The Committee stressed that the protection enjoyed by journalists is subject to the condition that they act in good faith so as to provide information that is accurate and credible,” it stated. The watchdog said that Bloomberg News could appeal.

The fine was the first levied against a media outlet in France, according to the Financial Times.

In a statement sent to news outlets, a spokesman said Bloomberg News would appeal and tried portraying the outlet as a victim.

“Bloomberg News was one of the victims of a sophisticated hoax, like the company that was directly targeted by the fraudsters, and the many other press agencies who were all victims of the same deception,” the statement said.

“We regret that the AMF did not find and punish the perpetrator of the hoax, and chose instead to penalise a media outlet that was doing its very best to report on what appeared to be newsworthy information. “

SEC Investigating BMW For Using "Sales Punching" To Potentially Inflate Sales Numbers

From Zero Hedge:

While Tesla continues to waltz around regulators, breaking any and all securities laws it wants to, underreserving its warranty liabilities and allowing its self-driving cars with human beta testers to slam into inanimate objects before bursting into flames, regulators have decided to instead pay attention to BMW.

It was reported yesterday that the SEC has now opened an investigation into whether BMW's sales figures have been manipulated, according to the Wall Street Journal. On a side note, there's been no word on whether or not BMW counts its "factory gated" vehicles in its press releases. 

Instead, the SEC is looking at whether or not the automaker has engaged in "sales punching", a practice that encourages dealers to register cars despite them not being sold.

BMW acknowledged they were being investigated, stating: “We have been contacted by the SEC and will cooperate fully with their investigation.”

BMW also faces litigation by European authorities on allegations of colluding with rivals to manipulate prices and control emissions. BMW has vowed to fight the case and took a $1.1 billion charge as a result in April. 

The company has also faced headwinds due the U.S./China trade war's effect on its Spartanburg, S.C. factory exports. 

The SEC investigation comes as U.S. officials are reportedly pursuing other car companies suspected of engaging in the same practice.

Fiat paid a $40 million fine in September to settle claims by the SEC that the company had paid dealers to report exaggerated sales numbers. But don't worry, the company has said it "reviewed and refined its sales reporting procedures and was committed to maintaining strong controls."We feel better.

Fiat was also forced to revise several years of sales results, nullifying a streak of 75 months of sales increases. Using the revised numbers, the streak ended in September 2013. 

Regulators also found that VW had defrauded U.S. consumers and the U.S. government in 2015 by rigging their cars to cheat emissions tests. 

As a reminder, the investigation into BMW comes at arguably the peak of the auto bubble - as well as the peak of auto regulator apathy. We recently reported that only 7% of incomes had been verified on new auto loans since 2017 and, despite these ongoing investigations into other companies, the name we see as the industry's main offender, Tesla, has been mostly left alone by regulators. 

Epstein "Admitted To Me He Was A Spy", Ex-Biz Partner Warns "He's Got Prince Andrew Pinned To The Wall"

Authored by Dylan Howard via Medium.com,

Steven Hoffenberg was arrested by FBI agents in Arkansas in 1996, after regulators accused him of defrauding investors. The former business partner of Jeffrey Epstein in Towers Financial spent 18 years in jail for the largest Ponzi schemes in history prior to Bernie Madoff’s crimes. But the notorious sex criminal got away scot-free. Why? In a series of new and exclusives conversations, Hoffenberg reveals the real reason he evaded justice in one of America’s largest Ponzi schemes—he was an international spy.

Ghislaine Maxwell (right) with Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts in 2001.

Britain’s Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged pimp Ghislaine Maxwell have joined forces to stonewall investigators and prevent Epstein’s victims from obtaining justice.

That’s the explosive claim of former Epstein colleague and friend, Steven Hoffenberg, who confirms that Epstein was indeed a top-level agent for the Israeli Mossad, as first confirmed in the best-selling book Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

In a series of bombshell interviews with me following the release of the book, Hoffenberg confirmed that not only does he have first-hand knowledge of Epstein’s work as an agent of the Mossad, as described in the book; but also, his former cohorts Prince Andrew and Maxwell are still actively working to keep his explosive secrets.

Hoffenberg famously worked as Epstein’s business partner at the ill-fated Towers Financial Group in the 1990s. In 1993, the business collapsed as a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme was exposed. Hoffenberg pleaded guilty and went to prison in 1995, but Epstein got off scot-free.

Steven Hoffenberg is the former chairman of Towers Financial Corporation, a debt collection agency, that he used in a Ponzi scheme. He was the owner of the New York Post. The firm collapsed in 1993, and in 1995 Hoffenberg pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of $475 million. The SEC considered his financial crimes as “one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history” prior to Bernie Madoff’s crimes a decade later.

According to Hoffenberg, it was his espionage connections that helped him skate. During his work with Epstein, Hoffenberg says, he had a front-row seat to the espionage work that brought Epstein into close contact with foreign agents from Saudi Arabia, Israel, Russia and more.

Hoffenberg revealed:

I liked the book [Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales] a lot.

Unfortunately, the media doesn’t understand 75% of the Epstein story.

Because it’s a complicated story. Maxwell, the Crown, and spying. Of course, right now Prince Andrew is preventing the Southern District of New York from arresting Maxwell.

There is a problem, because [Alex] Acosta in 2008, the reason that Epstein didn’t get any time and got a non-prosecution agreement was because of the intelligence agencies involvement with Epstein, and the two Maxwells, in Israel. I know that for a fact from Epstein.

What you write [in Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales] is true. Matter of fact, I have been asked by many others about the spying, and I would never comment on the spying. I didn’t want to get ahead of this. But you have now created the platform. Your story is true.

It is the truth. There’s no question. What you write is true. I am an eyewitness.

He admitted this to me. That was not a core problem because he shared with me thousands of conversations; everything about his life. I mean, I was like his brother. We were inseparable for a long time. So I know every step of what you write.

You see the espionage connections were too hot, and that concerned me for risk — up until your book. I’ve been pressed on espionage and I wouldn’t give it up. I didn’t confirm the espionage until your book came out. It’s a very serious master plan to the whole Epstein mystery. That was the master plan by Epstein.

He’s got Andrew pinned to the wall right now. He’s got the crown stuck. Why the Crown is now taking this position. Maxwell has been described as a Co-conspirator. (She has denied any claims of wrongdoing). Why doesn’t the Crown in the U.K. seek justice? That’d bust the bubble in the UK. There’s 75% of Epstein’s story that is not understood by the media and the public. But we’ve got to bring it out there, we’ve got to tell them.

He was needed by the CIA or the FBI for intelligence, because he was manipulating the American intelligence for the overseas organizations: MI6, the Israeli’s, and the Saudi’s. That’s what he was doing. They were afraid of the exposure that he brought to the table for what he did with Prince Andrew, MI6, the Israeli’s, and the Saudi’s. That’s why (Alex) Acosta said to the media, “This is an intelligence criminal case, this is not a standalone criminal case.” Acosta said that.

Don’t forget, he and I interacted from ’87 through ’96 or around that timeframe. So we were inseparable, as being together and talking every day. Working together every day. I set up that office at Villard House at that time, which was his office that we opened up specifically for him. We were always together and he trusted me totally. I didn’t know he was setting me up at the time, which he was, to take the entire fall for the crimes. I was not supposed to take the fall. I was supposed to get a slap on the wrist. But he’s the one that caused me to not get a slap on the wrist, because he double-crossed me with the money.

I don’t actually have an axe to grind for something that happened decades ago. But I was there, and that’s what happened and I have the evidence of that — of how he framed me. This is all true. I mean, I’m not using this as a story for that, because this is only one little component that I got set up. I got set up in the first round of big money crimes with Epstein. The story is remarkable. Nobody’s going to say that I have an axe to grind because I’m not a participant in all of these cover ups. I’m in one, heavily. Heavily. So you know, that’s not an axe to grind at all. That’s a story to tell. That’s all it is. It’s something to explain. His mindset, the profile, how Epstein saw things, and how he played the chess board. That’s all it is.

For more on Epstein’s work for the Mossad, and Hoffenberg’s revelations about how he made his dirty millions, pick up Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales at Amazon or other booksellers nationwide.

This post Sponsored by Ubuy.me a Partner of Amazon

Hunter Biden Accused Of $156M Ukraine Money Laundering Scheme In Court Filing

From Zero Hedge:

A new filing in an Arkansas lawsuit against Hunter Biden claims that the former Vice President's son "is the subject of more than one (1) criminal investigation involving fraud, money laundering and a counterfeiting scheme."

Filed by private investigator Dominic Casey of D&A Investigations on behalf of Lunden Alexis Roberts - with whom Hunter fathered a child, Monday's "Notice of Fraud and Counterfeiting and Production of Evidence" alleges that Hunter Biden and associates Devon Archer and John Kerry stepson Christopher Heinz engaged in a money laundering scheme which accumulated over $156 million between March 2014 and December 2015.

According to the document, Biden, Archer and Heinz became directors of consulting firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC in order to "conceal their family members ownership," establishing financial accounts at Morgan Stanley and China Bank, the latter of which was used in a money laundering scheme.

Biden and associates are accused of using the counterfeiting scheme "to conceal the Morgan Stanley et al Average Account Value.

The filing also says that "Family members of DEFENDANT Robert Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and Christopher Heinz are business partners of Serhiy Leshchenko and Mykola Zlochevesky in the Ukraine, and are currently under investigation for their part in the counterfeiting scheme."

Of note, Leshchenko is a former Ukrainian parliamentarian who made headlines in August 2016 for helping to leak the so-called "black ledger" that resulted in the firing of then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort - the supposedly 'debunked' Ukraine meddling detailed in a November, 2017 Politico article.

Notably, following an outreach to the Ukrainian embassy by Democratic operative Alexandra Chalupa, Artem Sytnyk, Ukraine's Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and Leshchenko released the "black ledger" containing off-book payments to Manafort. In December of 2018, a Ukrainian court ruled that Sytnyk and Leshchenko "acted illegally" by releasing Manafort's name - a conviction which was later overturned on a technicality.

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Zlochevsky, meanwhile, is the owner of Burisma.

Read below:

Law Crime

Security is the next concern for Crypto exchanges

As those who follow Crediblock know, we’ve been monitoring Crypto for some time.  But 2019 was the year of the hack, so we are thinking that 2020 will be the year of security.  Here are just a few examples of big hacks that happened.  And then there’s the huge example of Upbit, that made investors fed up:

Cryptocurrency exchange UPbit announced today that it lost almost US$50 million worth of ether (ETH) in an apparent security breach.  According to this statement by Lee Seok-woo, the CEO of the exchange’s operator Dunamu, around 342,000 ETH were moved from the platform’s ‘hot wallet’ to this unrecognized wallet today shortly after 1 p.m. local time. Client funds were not affected, said the South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange.

So we know that security is going to be a big issue if not THE issue in 2020, but what firms are doing something about it?  As we’ve referenced before, there are security companies offering full-stack solutions, like Blackwatch Digital.  But what exchanges are implementing them?  What are the exchanges to watch in 2020?

One notable exchange is ECXX, they have a 3 step security protocol that blows 2FA out of the water.  Multiple departments must authorize a withdraw, similar to military protocols for Nuclear missiles (In the US, the President can’t unilaterally start a Nuclear war, it takes 2 other top ranking Generals to agree).   They also use a solid user id verification system, with a proven track record.

Based in Singapore, ECXX is one to watch out for in 2020.  Binance was hacked recently and has been buying up the Crypto industry (a strategy similar to large cap technology companies).

So it’s only reasonable that ECXX would be snapped up next. 

It seems like security is going to be the big concern for the Crypto community in 2020, and perhaps for the coming years ahead as well.  But the biggest issue that companies face, isn’t implementing a good security protocol, it’s finding trustworthy employees, which will be hard to find in Asia.  Although it has been known for years that the majority of hacks come from an inside threat, and this number keeps falling; the number is still quite large. 

An article on Tech Republic says that 70% of organizations are seeing insider threats more frequently:

The majority (70%) of organizations are seeing insider attacks more frequently, with 60% experiencing at least one attack within the past 12 months, according to the Nucleus Cyber 2019 Insider Threat Report, conducted with Cybersecurity Insiders, released on Thursday. 

The report surveyed 400,000 members of the Cybersecurity Insiders community to determine how prevalent email attacks are in the cyber threat landscape. Some 68% of respondents reported feeling "extremely to moderately" vulnerable to them, and 85% said it's difficult to fully see the damage caused from each attack. 

 One mistake that many Crypto exchange have made, is by being biased that Crypto is somehow different than I.T. – or in other words, that traditional threats do not apply.  Exchanges have firewalls, Windows machines, networks, routers, and employees.  Exchanges do not live inside their own world – they are part of the world that you and I are part of.  This systemic (Cybernetics) thinking has not ‘trickled down’ to most of the exchanges, which is why we are seeing the hacks.  Basic I.T. and security hygiene would have prevented 90% of these Crypto attacks.

In other words, it’s not the Blockchain being hacked – that’s possible but very complex.  Hackers are using the tried and true methods of phishing, brute force attacks, and other methods that have been used since the 90s. 

Various security companies have risen proposing a ‘Blockchain’ solution to security, when having secure protocols, as pioneered by ECXX, is sufficient.

So we’ll be watching ECXX closely in 2020, and look forward to seeing more security developments in a space plagued with fraud and hacks.