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Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Mark Herr Communications Issues Statement Regarding the Sentencing of Anne Pramaggiore
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore, the only female CEO in the company's history, who turned around a failing electric utility and turned it into one of the country's best while cutting rates four times and reducing outages to historic lows, released the following statement today through a spokesman, Mark Herr Communications: Statement We are disappointed by the sentence imposed today. It is nearly impossible to reconcile the sentence– two years in prison – with the federal Probation Department's recommendation of no jail time and probation. The sentence is even harder to fathom when the bribery charges were vacated by the Court after the Supreme Court ruled in Snyder and the Government did not seek to retry those counts. With no bribery conviction, the sentence rests solely on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act allegations. There is nothing foreign or corrupt about the facts here. In February when President Trump paused FCPA enforcement, he said the law 'has been systematically, and to a steadily increasing degree, stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States.' That has happened here. Ms. Pramaggiore faces jail despite the documents at issue being true. Chicago is not a foreign jurisdiction. Ms. Pramaggiore, a civic leader, trailblazing electric utilities executive, the only female CEO in Commonwealth Edison's history -- and an innocent woman -- will appeal the verdict and sentence to the Seventh Circuit and, if necessary, to the Supreme Court.
Reuters
16-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US SEC ends Cognizant bribery case that the Justice Department also abandoned
July 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ended a civil bribery case against two former Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH.O), opens new tab executives, after President Donald Trump decided to stop enforcing a key anti-corruption law. In a filing in the Newark, New Jersey federal court, the SEC said it dismissed claims against Gordon Coburn and Steven Schwartz "in the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter," and not on the merits. The dismissal followed the Department of Justice's April 3 decision to abandon a related criminal case against Coburn and Schwartz. James Loonam, a lawyer for Coburn, said he was very happy with the dismissal. A lawyer for Schwartz did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. authorities charged, opens new tab Coburn and Schwartz in February 2019 with authorizing a $2 million bribe to an Indian official for helping to obtain a construction permit for a new Cognizant office in Chennai. The SEC accused Coburn and Schwartz of violating anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of federal securities laws. Alina Habba, the acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, said in April the criminal case should end in light of Trump's executive order pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA prohibits companies that operate in the United States from bribing foreign officials. Trump has called it a "horrible law," and when signing his executive order said ending enforcement would "mean a lot more business for America." Cognizant agreed in February 2019 to pay $25.2 million to settle with the SEC. The regulator also accused the Teaneck, New Jersey-based information technology and outsourcing company of authorizing two additional bribes.
Miami Herald
03-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Bondi made changes to DOJ policy. Her former client Pfizer might have benefited
For the past several years, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential foreign corruption violations related to its activities in China and Mexico, according to the company's financial filings. But that appears to have changed after the Trump administration tapped Pam Bondi — previously an outside legal counsel for Pfizer — to lead the Justice department as attorney general. In the company's most recent annual report, filed three weeks after Bondi took office in early February, there was no longer any reference to the Justice Department investigations into the company's potential violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. A quarterly report in May also contains no reference to these investigations. On her first day in office, Bondi rolled back the enforcement of foreign corruption cases that didn't involve drug cartels and international criminal organizations, among a host of sweeping changes she made to the department's priorities. That move was followed five days later, on Feb. 10, by a related executive order issued by President Donald Trump that paused new foreign corruption investigations and enforcement actions. The Justice Department also reportedly reduced the number of attorneys working on such cases and closed nearly half of existing foreign corruption cases. Bondi's stated goal in making the changes was 'Removing Bureaucratic Impediments to Aggressive Prosecutions,' but the actions she and President Trump took were widely seen as a signal that the Justice Department would be less interested in pursuing allegations that major corporations like Pfizer paid bribes to win business abroad. Pfizer is among several companies that filed financial documents this year suggesting that the Justice Department had dropped their federal corruption investigations. The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen raised concerns about Bondi's relationship with Pfizer in a letter sent last month to the Senate Judiciary Committee and questions how she may have played a role in the department's apparent decision to drop the case. 'We would always hope that our elected officials are above reproach ethically and a big part of that is ensuring that they don't have any conflicts of interest,' said Lisa Gilbert, the group's co-president. 'All of this comes back to the appropriateness of Pam Bondi's conduct and whether she should be touching anything that approaches Pfizer.' The Justice Department told The Miami Herald that Bondi's work for Pfizer had nothing to do with foreign corruption. 'Attorney General Bondi's brief work with this company occurred when she was a private citizen, concerned a Florida-specific legal matter, and bears no nexus whatsoever to the Department of Justice's FCPA guidance. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect,' said Justice Department spokesman Gates McGavick. Pfizer declined to comment beyond the disclosures in the company's financial filings. Work for Fort Lauderdale firm Bondi – who previously served as Florida's attorney general for two terms and also was one of Trump's attorneys during his 2019 impeachment trial – represented Pfizer while in private practice with the Fort Lauderdale law firm Panza Maurer, which she had been affiliated with since 2021, according to her financial disclosure form. It isn't clear exactly what Bondi did for Pfizer but the drug company is the only client she listed in connection with work for the law firm, which paid her more than $200,000 last year. Bondi also reported working as a lobbyist for the influential company Ballard Partners before entering office. The founder of that firm, Brian Ballard, also is listed as being of counsel with Panza Maurer, the same title Bondi held. Thomas Panza, a founding partner of the law firm, declined to say whether the firm is still representing Pfizer and on what matters it has represented the pharmaceutical company. He said Bondi did work for other clients besides Pfizer in the past, but declined to provide names. He also said that, to his knowledge, no one from the firm has been in contact with Bondi since she took the helm at the Justice Department. Under her federal ethics agreement before taking office, Bondi promised that she would not participate 'personally and substantially' in any matter involving former clients at Panza Maurer for one year after she last provided service to the client. Pfizer isn't the only former client that has raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest for Bondi. The Herald earlier reported that Bondi, before becoming attorney general, had lobbied on behalf of a China-backed refrigerant company called iGas USA which currently has an active lawsuit against the federal government, which is being defended by Justice Department lawyers. Reading the tea leaves While the Justice Department doesn't typically make public when it has decided to drop a foreign corruption investigation without seeking a penalty, legal experts say what a company says – or doesn't say – in its financial filings can provide clues. 'If they had language about it and then suddenly there's no language about it, you can probably infer that either the investigation is closed, or they no longer believe that it's material for investors to know,' said William Garrett, who manages a database of foreign corruption cases maintained by Stanford University's law school. Pfizer isn't the only company that appears to have benefited from the new policies. Three other companies listed in the Stanford foreign corruption case database – Johnson & Johnson, Toyota and medical device company Stryker – indicated in financial filings this year that the Justice Department had dropped investigations into potential foreign corruption violations by their companies. In early April, Alina Habba, the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, also dropped charges against executives for Cognizant Technologies, an information technology consulting and outsourcing company, citing Trump's executive order. President's Trump's pause on new foreign corruption cases was lifted last month, and the department said it would resume bringing new cases but that it would prioritize focusing on the conduct of individuals rather than attributing 'nonspecific' wrongdoing to 'corporate structures.' The recent foreign corruption investigations involving Pfizer weren't the first time the company's foreign activities came under such scrutiny. In 2012, Pfizer subsidiaries agreed to pay the federal government more than $60 million in penalties and surrendered profits and interest in response to allegations of corruption in a number of different countries. 'Pfizer took short cuts to boost its business in several Eurasian countries, bribing government officials in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan and Russia to the tune of millions of dollars,' Mythili Raman, then the principal deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, said of one of the investigations. More recently, Pfizer disclosed that the foreign corruption units from the Justice Department and the SEC had requested documents connected to the company's activities in Russia in 2019, but the company ceased making any mention of that investigation last year.
The Wire
28-06-2025
- Business
- The Wire
Indian Govt Is Yet to Serve Summons to Adanis, Says US SEC
New Delhi: The US Securities and Exchange Commission informed a New York federal court on June 27 that the Indian government has yet to forward the serving of summons to tycoon Gautam and Sagar Adani, nearly six months after being first contacted to do so under an international convention. In a letter dated June 27, the SEC submitted its third status report of the year, following earlier updates in February and April. The agency noted that it had previously sought the assistance of India's Ministry of Law and Justice under Article 5(a) of the Hague convention to serve the summons and complaint on the Adanis in India. It also said it had sent notices of the lawsuit and waiver requests directly to the Adani counsels. However, there has been no confirmation yet that the Indian authorities have delivered the documents. 'Since the April Status Update, the SEC has corresponded with the India MoLJ concerning the efforts of the relevant Indian judicial authorities to serve the Summons and Complaint on Defendants, but the SEC understands that those authorities have not yet effected service,' the SEC wrote in the status report filed to the Eastern District of New York. In its previous update submitted in April, the SEC had said that the Indian Ministry of Law and Justice had acknowledged receipt of the commission's request and had forwarded it to the relevant judicial authorities. The legal proceedings stem from criminal and civil action launched in November last year. The US Department of Justice had then accused Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, former Adani Green Energy CEO Vneet Jaain, two former executives of Indian renewables firm Azure Power, and three former officials of the Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) of funnelling over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials between 2020 and 2024 to secure solar energy contracts. In a parallel civil action, the SEC filed a suit against the Adanis for allegedly violating various anti-fraud provisions of US federal securities laws. Cyril Cabanes, CDPQ's former Asia-Pacific infrastructure head and a former board member of Azure Power, was also named by the SEC for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Two days after the two indictments were unsealed, the federal court in New York issued summons for the two Adanis in the SEC case on November 22. Two days after the criminal and civil cases were unsealed, the New York federal court issued summons for the two Adanis on November 22. But service of those summons remains pending. Following Donald Trump's return to office, he issued an executive order to suspend enforcement of the FCPA, prompting speculation that this might lead to a settlement between the Adanis and US authorities. While informal discussions may be underway, there has been no public indication of progress so far. The charges faced by the Adanis in the SEC are not related to FCPA, but for wire and securities fraud.
Time of India
25-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Adani Group to invest $100 billion over five years in clean energy sector
The Adani Group is targeting 100 GW energy generation capacity across thermal, renewable and pumped hydropower by 2030, chairman Gautam Adani said on Tuesday. This will include 31 GW capacity from Adani Power and 45 GW renewable energy from Adani Green Energy . Group company Adani Energy Solutions , meanwhile, is implementing transmission projects worth ₹44,000 crore and smart metering projects of ₹13,600 crore, Adani said at an annual general meeting of shareholders of the group's flagship company Adani Enterprises . The infrastructure and utilities conglomerate recorded a 7 per cent rise in revenue to ₹2.72 lakh crore in FY25 while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased over 8 per cent to ₹89,806 crore. Adani reiterated the group's capital expenditure plan of $15-$20 billion annually over the next five years. "These are not just investments in our group, but investments in the possibilities for doing our part to build India's infrastructure," he said. The group's ports business-Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone-handled a record 450 metric million tonnes (mmt) cargo last fiscal year while Adani New Industries is set to open an integrated 10 GW solar module manufacturing facility by the next fiscal year. In the airports business, the company handled a record 94 million passengers while its greenfield airport in Navi Mumbai is set to start operations later this year with an initial capacity of 20 million passengers. Adani, though, termed the group's Dharavi rehabilitation project as its most transformative. "...our most transformative project is unfolding in Dharavi - Asia's largest slum, now being reimagined as India's most ambitious urban rehabilitation project," he said. "And over 1 million people will move from narrow lanes to a township that will feature spacious layouts, dual toilets, open spaces, schools, hospitals, transit hubs and parks," he said. US Indictment Adani also said the group's governance is of global standards, referring to allegations from the US Department of Justice and the SEC. "Despite all the noise, the facts are that no one from the Adani Group has been charged with violating the FCPA or conspiring to obstruct justice," he said. "And as we cooperate with legal processes, let me also restate that our governance is of global standards, and our compliance frameworks are non-negotiable," he said.
