Tag: scandal

  • Theranos: Scandal hit blood-checking out firm to shut

    Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes Image copyright Reuters Image caption Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is going through legal charges of twine fraud

    Scandal-hit US blood-checking out start-up Theranos is to formally dissolve, the firm’s leader government David Taylor has advised shareholders in an e mail.

    Mr Taylor stated Theranos had run “out of time” to protected further funding or protected a buyer for its assets.

    Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and previous president Ramesh Balwani are dealing with prison charges of wire fraud.

    Prosecutors say they engaged in a multi-million buck scheme to defraud buyers, doctors and patients.

    Mr Taylor, who also serves as basic suggest to the company, stated that Theranos had engaged the services and products of funding bank Jeffries to try to “maximise the worth of the company” for shareholders.

    Theranos founder hit with legal fees Dangerous blood: the upward push and fall of Theranos

    Within The e mail got by way of the Wall Boulevard Magazine, he stated the investment financial institution had “reached out” to over EIGHTY doable consumers, however to no avail.

    “Sadly, none of those leads has materialized right into a transaction. we’re now out of time,” he wrote.

    Mr Taylor mentioned the company had breached the terms of its mortgage settlement with investor Citadel Funding Crew, meaning the firm used to be now entitled to promote or take possession of Theranos’ intellectual assets and assets.

    Shareholders are expected to obtain not anything after the company’s cave in.

    Felony fees

    Theranos, based in 2003 while Ms Holmes was 19, had claimed its Edison gadgets could take a look at for prerequisites akin to most cancers and cholesterol with just a few drops of blood from a finger-prick, instead of taking complete blood samples by needle from a vein.

    Ms Holmes raised over $700m in funding for Theranos, but when she tried to pitch the technology to the united states Department of Safeguard in 2012, her pitch used to be rejected due to the gadgets’ unpredictable results.

    The Wall Side Road Journal started investigating and revealed a chain of exposes starting from October 2015.

    Theranos denounced these articles, however through June 2016 it was once dealing with prison demanding situations from buyers, medical authorities and five federal agencies.

    In April 2017, the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Products And Services (CMS) sanctioned Theranos and revoked its scientific laboratory testing certificates, which caused the drugstore chain Walgreens to terminate its partnership with the start-up and sue Theranos for $140m.

    In March, Ms Holmes settled charges with the Securities and Change Commission, a top US monetary regulator.

    The regulator alleged that Theranos, Ms Holmes and Mr Balwani made a series of fake and misleading statements in investor presentations, product demonstrations and interviews.

    As a part of the payment, Ms Holmes had to return tens of millions of shares to the privately held corporate and pay a $500,000 high quality. She used to be additionally banned from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years.

  • Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe steps down to face fees

    Alvaro Uribe, casting his vote in elections Bogota, Colombia May 27, 2018 Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption There has been hypothesis over the reasons behind Mr Uribe’s decision to stand down

    Colombia’s powerful former President Alvaro Uribe has resigned his Senate seat to face a bribery and fraud research in the Supreme Court.

    He Is observed because the power at the back of the country’s incoming President, Ivan Duque, who’s as a result of take place of work in August.

    Mr Uribe, who was once president from 2002 to 2010, faces fees of creating false accusations and witness tampering.

    It is the first time a Colombian court docket has asked an ex-president to testify.

    Alvaro Uribe’s exit from the Senate eliminates a vocal critic of the peace deal signed with the Farc rebels in 2016, which ended greater than 50 years of armed warfare.

    Symbol copyright Getty Images Image caption President Juan Manuel Santos (centre) signed the 2016 peace care for the Farc

    His 8-yr presidency used to be marked by means of his onerous-line stance against the guerillas, who killed his father in 1983. Mr Aribe has at all times called for more difficult treatment for former Farc rebels within the courts.

    Why did Mr Uribe surrender?

    In a Tweet on Tuesday, Mr Uribe mentioned he felt “morally impeded to be a senator” and explained that he was resigning to ensure that “my defence doesn’t interfere with the paintings of the Senate”.

    However, his determination has prompted press speculation about his real purposes for leaving workplace.

    In Colombia, the Perfect Court is accountable of investigations towards elected officials, even as abnormal voters are investigated by means of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

    According to his critics, Mr Uribe’s resignation will help him to circumvent being known as before the Ultimate Courtroom.

    The instances in opposition to him are more likely to be transferred to Colombia’s notoriously corrupt and inefficient Public Prosecution Provider.

    Why is Mr Uribe being investigated?

    The case that led to the Ideal Court investigation started in 2012, while the former president accused leftwing lawmaker Ivan Cepeda of orchestrating a plot to hyperlink him to proper-wing paramilitary groups.

    however the Excellent Court disregarded the fees towards Mr Cepeda and stated that it appeared Mr Uribe had threatened witnesses.

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption Ivan Cepeda defined the case towards Mr Uribe as “an excessively essential precedent”

    Mr Cepeda hailed the Excellent Court Docket’s decision to press charges towards Mr Uribe as a historic milestone.

    “Uribe was thought to be untouchable and all tough till the day before today. This marks an excessively important precedent,” he mentioned.

    Alvaro Uribe and his family have lengthy been accused of paramilitary involvement but earlier investigations haven’t borne fruit. The circle of relatives has denied all links.

    Mr Uribe’s brother, Santiago, is currently waiting for trial for allegedly working a paramilitary group identified because the Twelve Apostles.

    Paramilitary teams in Colombia had been in the beginning funded by way of landowners to offer protection to them from left-wing rebellion teams such because the Farc.

    However, they later changed into feared death squads linked to rural massacres, drug trafficking and sexual violence.

  • Oxfam Haiti allegations: How the scandal spread out

    An Oxfam sign above one of its shops Image copyright PA Symbol caption The scandal has rocked the charity, which has apologised and promised to ‘atone for the previous’

    Oxfam, one in every of the UK’s greatest charities, has ruled the headlines in latest weeks following allegations its group of workers employed prostitutes at the same time as operating overseas.

    Since then, the story has persisted to enhance, with the Charity Commission launching a statutory inquiry – the most severe motion it might take.

    Oxfam – which has just about 10,000 team of workers working in additional than 90 countries – denies any cover-up.

    Here is a abstract of the occasions so far:

    Friday NINE February

    The Days newspaper publishes a entrance web page article beneath the headline: “Best Oxfam staff paid Haiti survivors for sex”. The Item alleges that Oxfam lined up claims that senior team of workers running in Haiti within the wake of the 2010 earthquake used prostitutes, some of whom will have been underage. Image copyright The Days Symbol caption The Days broke the tale on its entrance page a few of the male body of workers accused of sexual misconduct is Oxfam’s then-director of operations in Haiti, Roland Van Hauwermeiren. He’s speculated to have used prostitutes at a villa rented for him through the charity. In a press release, Oxfam denies claims of a cover-up. It says the behaviour of its staff was once “totally unacceptable”. The charity says it exposed the accusations in 2011 and straight away launched an interior research. consistent with Oxfam’s own 2011 document, 4 members of personnel had been brushed aside and 3, together with Mr Van Hauwermeiren, were allowed to surrender prior to the top of the research. It says claims of underage ladies being concerned have been unproven. Symbol copyright VRT Image caption Roland Van Hauwermeiren, who denies paying for sex Oxfam provides that it had publicly introduced the research on the time. Tradition Secretary Matt Hancock orders Oxfam to hand over all of the proof to the Charity Commission.

    Saturday 10 February

    The Charity Fee says it was once no longer given full information about the use of prostitutes through support employees. It says it will have acted otherwise if it had recognized the entire details. In a recent story, the days says Oxfam didn’t warn different help companies approximately problem personnel stuck the usage of prostitutes. It emerges that Mr Van Hauwermeiren went directly to paintings elsewhere in the aid sector. Oxfam’s chief government, Mark Goldring, says the charity did “anything but” duvet up the incident. But he admits the 2011 record launched through the charity did not supply main points of the revelations, and best cited them as “severe misconduct”. Symbol copyright Getty Images Image caption Oxfam GB’s chief govt Mark Goldring and chair of trustees Caroline Thomson depart the department for World Development

    Sunday ELEVEN February

    Oxfam is hit with further allegations that group of workers on its project to Chad, also led by way of Mr Van Hauwermeiren, used prostitutes in 2006. The Sunday Occasions also experiences new claims alleging more than 120 employees from UK charities had been accused of sexual abuse in the past yr. In The Meantime, Oxfam announces new measures for the prevention and managing of sexual abuse instances. Oxfam’s chair of trustees, Caroline Thomson, says team of workers contributors have been coming ahead with “issues approximately how team of workers had been recruited and vetted” following the new media studies. Global Construction Secretary Penny Mordaunt warns that ministers may just bring to a halt funding for Oxfam if it cannot account for the way it handled claims.

    Monday 12 February

    Oxfam’s deputy chief executive Penny Lawrence resigns over the dealing with of the intercourse scandal. She says she is “ashamed” and takes full responsibility. Symbol copyright PA Symbol caption Penny Lawrence, who resigned as deputy leader government of the charity, said issues had been raised about team of workers behaviour in Chad and Haiti The Charity Commission, which regulates the trade, opens a statutory inquiry into Oxfam – the most serious motion it might probably take. The watchdog says it has concerns that Oxfam “would possibly not have fully and albeit disclosed” everything it knew about the claims. The Eu Fee, which gave €1.7m to Oxfam’s Haiti programme in 2011, threatens it’s able to “cease funding any spouse now not living as much as high moral standards”.

    Tuesday THIRTEEN February

    The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, condemns Oxfam and says the movements have been an “extremely serious violation of human dignity”. A senior govt supply in Haiti confirms an research might be embarked on overseas help companies working there. Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption President Jovenel Moise condemned “sexual predator” team of workers exploiting “needy other people of their moment of biggest vulnerability”

    Wednesday 14 February

    Actress Minnie Driver becomes the primary well-known face to chop ties with Oxfam. In an announcement Ms Motive Force, who stepped down from her role as a celebrity ambassador for the charity, stated she was “not anything short of horrified” through the allegations. Symbol caption The advert used to be paid for by supporters rather than the charity Meanwhile, some other charity – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – comes beneath scrutiny as the president of Haiti requires an research into the actions of aid businesses working in his country. Jovenel Moïse, asks why MSF had repatriated 17 of its staff members. MSF said it takes seriously any reviews of misconduct.

    Sunday 18 February

    In a separate story on the subject of alleged sexual misconduct in the charity sector, the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox, Brendan Cox, quits charities arrange in her reminiscence. Mr Cox denies assaulting a girl in her 30s at Harvard School in 2015 but admits “inappropriate” behaviour even as running for Store the youngsters.

    Monday 19 February

    Oxfam publishes a redacted version of its 2011 internal file into alleged abuse by way of team of workers. it’s going to present the original report to the government in Haiti. The file finds that three of the boys accused of sexual misconduct physically threatened witnesses through the charity’s 2011 research.

    Tuesday 20 February

    Oxfam boss Mark Goldring and two different senior executives are hauled in entrance of MPs. The World Development Committee hears that around 7,000 folks have cancelled donations to the charity. Mr Goldring apologises for the wear done and says 26 claims of sexual misconduct were made for the reason that scandal broke.

    Media playback is unsupported to your software

    Media captionMark Goldring: ‘We are sorry for the wear performed to Haiti and the broader help efforts’ Shop the youngsters chief government Kevin Watkins additionally provides evidence and says his charity investigated 53 allegations in 2016. He says the Oxfam scandal has been a “wake up call” for the field. In The Meantime, a former chief executive of Retailer the youngsters, Justin Forsyth, makes headlines over three claims of beside the point behaviour he won ahead of leaving the charity. He says he has “apologised unreservedly” to the 3 staff.

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