Category: Business

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell Urges Lutnick to Protect Critical Work at National Weather Service & NOAA

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
    02.20.25
    Cantwell Urges Lutnick to Protect Critical Work at National Weather Service & NOAA
    “American lives depend on it,” writes Cantwell
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, calling on him to exempt the National Weather Service (NWS) from the federal hiring freeze, and protect all National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) workers from firings “that would jeopardize the safety of the American public.”
    “Without NOAA’s workforce, communities will not be prepared for the next big Nor’easter, hurricane, wildfire, or drought,” wrote Sen. Cantwell. “Ships will not be able to safely navigate through our waterways. Farmers will not have the data they need to manage their crops. NOAA’s workforce keeps people alive and provides communities with the scientific support tools to protect their families and grow their businesses. I urge you to appreciate these critical government functions and reverse the hiring freeze and refrain from mass firings of these invaluable public servants—American lives depend on it.”
    Sen. Cantwell has spoken out forcefully against the firings of federal workers.
    “The Trump Administration is trying to illegally cut the federal workforce in an attempt to come up with a budget and tax increases on middle class Americans, all while giving $4 trillion in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest individuals,” Sen. Cantwell said in a statement released Saturday. “Our deficit and essential programs like Medicaid can’t take the Trump hack job.”
    On Sunday, Sen. Cantwell sounded the alarm about reports that safety-critical Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) workers had been fired. “Now is not the time to fire technicians who fix and operate more than 74,000 safety-critical pieces of equipment like radars, navigational aids, and communications technology,” Sen. Cantwell said in a statement. “The FAA is already short 800 technicians and these firings inject unnecessary risk into the airspace — in the aftermath of four deadly crashes in the last month. The FAA’s safety workforce needs to be a priority for this Administration.”
    On Tuesday, speaking in opposition to the nomination of now-Secretary Lutnick on the Senate floor, Sen. Cantwell cited his “tepid support” for NOAA as a key reason for her decision to vote against his confirmation.
    “When asked for the record, ‘Should NOAA be dismantled, as called for in Project 2025?’, Mr. Lutnick would only say he’ll figure it out once he’s confirmed,” Sen. Cantwell said. “We needed a bigger commitment to NOAA. NOAA already supplies a big, important aspect of what we deal with, with weather forecasting, tracking extreme weather, hurricanes, wildfires, managing our fisheries, operating ships that conduct important charting for national security. Mr. Lutnick gave very tepid support for NOAA.”
    Project 2025 calls for NOAA to be “dismantled and many of its functions eliminated,” calling it part of the “climate change alarm industry.” NOAA provides critical services to the nation including weather forecasts, extreme storm tracking and monitoring, tools to enable communities to adapt to sea level rise and climate change, supporting fisheries management, and conserving marine mammals and other protected species including salmon and orcas.
    Sen. Cantwell is a champion of NOAA and helped secure $3.3 billion in NOAA investments in the Inflation Reduction Act to help communities prepare for and adapt to climate change, boost science needed to understand changing weather and climate patterns, and invest in advanced computer technologies that are critical for extreme weather prediction and emergency response. Her Fire Ready Nation Act, bipartisan legislation to strengthen NOAA’s ability to help forecast, prevent, and fight wildfires, passed the Commerce committee unanimously earlier this month and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
    The full text of last night’s letter is HERE and below.
    Dear Secretary Lutnick,
    I urge the Administration to protect the critical workforce of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”). NOAA’s National Weather Service (“NWS”) should be exempt from the January 20th executive order titled “Hiring Freeze”, which instituted a hiring freeze for all federal civilian employees, due to the critical role the agency plays in public safety and supporting our economy. In light of highly publicized firings at other agencies, all NOAA employees, including probationary or temporary employees, should be protected from firing or reduction in force initiatives that would jeopardize the safety of the American public.
    NOAA is the nation’s leading scientific agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring our oceans and atmosphere, managing our fisheries, restoring our coasts, and supporting maritime commerce. NOAA products and services, such as forecasts, are crucial to the U.S. economy and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product.
    Within NOAA, the NWS is responsible for protecting public safety and property and supporting the economy by providing timely and accurate weather forecasts and warnings. Our communities are extremely reliant on the data and research that NOAA and NWS scientists make available for decision-makers, emergency responders, and the public. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, last year there were 27 weather disaster events that cost over $1 billion each and resulted in 568 deaths. NWS meteorologists, using a network of satellites, buoys, balloon launches, ships, aircraft, and weather stations, collect data and develop forecasts and warnings on which communities rely for preparedness for hurricanes, heat waves, wildfires, tornadoes, blizzards, drought, and other extreme weather events.
    The NWS also supports real-time forecasts and services needed to protect the safety of the traveling public. The NWS Center Weather Service Units embed meteorologists at 21 Air Route Traffic Control Centers to provide tailored forecasts that ensure it is safe for aircraft to fly. The meteorologists identify, forecast, and communicate weather hazards, such as thunderstorms, turbulence, and icing, to help pilots and air traffic controllers make informed decisions that minimize risks to flights and delays.
    When a hurricane approaches our coasts, the National Hurricane Center sends Hurricane Hunters into the eye of the storm to give forecasters a better idea of the storm’s intensity and when it’s likely to make landfall. The Storm Prediction Center warns communities when a tornado or severe storm is developing to give them time to protect property and get to safety. The NWS also creates forecasts for emergency responders to plan for wildfire season, issues warnings to help communities prepare when fire conditions are severe, deploys specially trained forecasters to provide real-time lifesaving forecasts on the frontlines to keep firefighters safe, and models how smoke will move and impact air quality across the country.
    And far beyond our atmosphere, the NWS monitors space weather, such as solar flares and geomagnetic storms, to protect satellite systems, communication networks, and power grids. The Space Weather Prediction Center forecasts and helps mitigate the worst impacts of space weather including the potential for widespread and long-lasting blackouts, significant disruption of satellite and radio communication networks that are essential for safe air travel and military operations, and unreliable GPS signals that hamper navigation for ships, planes, and farm equipment.
    In addition to the NWS, NOAA provides a host of other life-saving data and services. The NOAA Office of Coast Survey ensures safe shipping routes in our waters by charting 95,000 miles of shoreline and 3.4 million square nautical miles of waters, providing more than $2.4 billion in annual benefits to the U.S. economy. NOAA manages the nation’s fisheries, which support 1.7 million jobs across the United States. The two Tsunami Warning Centers monitor seismic activity and ocean conditions to detect potential tsunamis, issuing timely warnings and advisories to protect coastal communities from disaster. And finally, NOAA plays a vital role in monitoring, forecasting, and researching harmful algal blooms (“HABs”) that produce toxins that can be deadly. NOAA scientists track HAB events using satellite imagery, water samples, and oceanographic data to provide early warnings to coastal communities, fisheries, and public health officials, helping to ensure commercially harvested fish and shellfish are safe to eat.
    Without NOAA’s workforce, communities will not be prepared for the next big Nor’easter, hurricane, wildfire, or drought. Ships will not be able to safely navigate through our waterways. Farmers will not have the data they need to manage their crops. NOAA’s workforce keeps people alive and provides communities with the scientific support tools to protect their families and grow their businesses. I urge you to appreciate these critical government functions and reverse the hiring freeze and refrain from mass firings of these invaluable public servants—American lives depend on it.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell on Deputy DOT Nominee: Aviation Sector Can’t Afford “Someone Who Thinks That We Can Bend The Law To An Outcome”

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
    02.20.25
    Cantwell on Deputy DOT Nominee: Aviation Sector Can’t Afford “Someone Who Thinks That We Can Bend The Law To An Outcome”
    As DOT General Counsel from 2017-2021, Bradbury helped sideline crucial safety regulations for plane manufacturers in immediate aftermath of fatal crashes; Cantwell grills Bradbury on decision to remove Safety Management System requirements: “There was a recommendation to move forward on it, and your office stopped it.”
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, pressed Steven Bradbury – President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation – on his role under the first Trump administration.
    From 2017 to 2021, Bradbury served as the General Counsel of DOT. Nine days after the fatal Lion Air flight 610 crash in 2018 on a Boeing 737 MAX, his policies halted the introduction of a critical aviation safety rule subsequently advocated for by crash victim family members. He sidelined a proposed requirement that plane manufactures must adopt a mandatory Safety Management System (SMS), which an expert panel determined would decrease the likelihood of another fatal accident.
    “Mr. Bradbury, I do have concerns about your record,” Sen. Cantwell said in her opening remarks. “We cannot afford in the aviation sector, someone who thinks that we can bend the law to an outcome.”
    “In this role, you orchestrated the rollback of multiple safety requirements under the guise of advancing a reform agenda. For example, just nine days, nine days after the first of the two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018, your office sidelined a proposed Safety Management System rule making for aviation manufacturers like Boeing,” she continued.
    “These findings give me serious concerns about your commitment to the transparency that Congress and the American people deserve […] We need a leader on safety. We need someone who is going to make it the number one priority, not modify the rule to suit the industry.”
    During the Q&A portion, Sen. Cantwell pressed Bradbury further on the decision to halt the rule requiring plane manufactures to adhere to a mandatory SMS.
    Sen. Cantwell: “We know that the rule was halted nine days after the MAX crash. Why did you stop the rulemaking from happening?”
    Bradbury: “Well, I don’t know that I stopped it.”
    Sen. Cantwell: “That’s what’s reported in the paper, and I mentioned the FAA person, who was in charge of the process, who said the industry and everybody wanted to move forward, and it was submitted, and then next thing you know, it’s pulled, so…”
    Bradbury: “Well, certainly we go through a review of every regulation, and as I recall, in that regulation, there were questions on the merits about which entities it should apply to and how it might apply to small businesses or small entities. Those are the kinds of questions that need to be addressed whenever you’re –“
    Sen. Cantwell: “So you’re saying you might have killed the SMS rule because you didn’t want it to apply to all manufacturers.”
    Bradbury: “I wouldn’t say I killed the SMS rule. And let me say –”
    Sen Cantwell: “We still don’t have one. Our committee has worked hard to get one, and now it’s going to be in law. But I have more questions about this. But yes, you did stop it from happening. There was a recommendation to move forward on it, and your office stopped it.”
    Last month, during the committee’s hearing before DOT Secretary Sean Duffy’s confirmation, Sen. Cantwell also pressed Duffy on whether he agreed with the previous administration’s decision to kill the requirement.
    “Safety Management Systems are a redundant circle of continued safety improvements that the expert panel has suggested that we do. The expert aviation panel has suggested that’s really what is missing. And I think in the prior administrations, people didn’t really push for a strong safety management culture,” Sen. Cantwell told Duffy.
    In August, Sen. Cantwell introduced the FAA SMS Compliance Review Act. The bill directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to:
    Convene an independent review panel that will make recommendations to help the FAA implement a robust, comprehensive Safety Management System across all lines of business at the agency, which includes Aviation Safety, Air Traffic Organization, Airports, Security & Hazardous Materials Safety, and the Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
    Develop and implement effective processes for performing root cause analyses to identify opportunities for improvement in the FAA’s execution of its regulatory oversight responsibilities.
    Revise its procedures to shorten the time that manufacturers have to prepare for audits from 50 days to one week. 
    Following the Alaska Airlines flight 1282 incident in January 2024, Sen. Cantwell has held a series of aviation safety hearings, along with leading legislation and letters calling for stronger safety oversight at the FAA.
    In January 2023 and January 2024, Sen. Cantwell requested that FAA perform a special technical audit of Boeing’s production line. The FAA later said the audit found multiple instances where Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.
    Sen. Cantwell held an April hearing to review the independent Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) Expert Review Panel’s final report, a March 2024 hearing with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy on its investigation of the January incident and a June hearing with FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker on the agency’s oversight.
    In May, Sen. Cantwell and Sen. Duckworth led the passage of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which includes new measures to improve aviation safety, such as putting more safety inspectors on factory floors, addressing the nation’s shortage of air traffic controllers, deploying new runway technology to prevent close calls, mandating new 25-hour cockpit recording systems to assist in investigations, and enhancing aircraft certification reforms.
    The FAA Reauthorization Act builds upon the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act of 2020, spearheaded by Sen. Cantwell in the aftermath of the Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.
    Video of Sen. Cantwell’s opening statement today is HERE; video of her first round of questioning is HERE; video of her second round of questioning is HERE; and a transcript is HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cornyn, GOP Colleagues Urge ATF to Rescind Unconstitutional Biden Rules, Align with Trump 2A Agenda

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Texas John Cornyn

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and 29 of his Senate GOP colleagues today sent a letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Deputy Director Marvin Richardson urging him to align the agency with President Trump’s Second Amendment priorities as laid out in his recent Executive Order and calling on him to identify and rescind former President Biden’s unlawful firearms regulations, including the “Engaged in the Business” rule, pistol brace rule, so-called “ghost gun” rule, and “zero tolerance” policy under which ATF has revoked the licenses of federal firearm licensees (FFLs) over minor bookkeeping violations:

    They wrote: “On Friday, February 7, 2025, President Donald J. Trump took decisive action to reaffirm law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights in issuing his Executive Order, Protecting Second Amendment Rights.  We urge you to immediately align ATF’s rules and policies with the President’s strong support for the Second Amendment.”

    “Under former President Joe Biden, ATF adopted numerous policies and rules that infringed upon Americans’ Second Amendment protections. President Trump’s Executive Order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to review and develop a plan of action regarding President Biden’s unlawful firearms regulations. We ask that you work with the Attorney General to quickly identify and rescind these policies.”

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Barrasso (R-WY), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jim Justice (R-WV), Jim Risch (R-ID), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), James Lankford (R-OK), John Hoeven (R-ND), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Rick Scott (R-FL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ted Budd (R-NC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Todd Young (R-IN), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jim Banks (R-IN), and Jerry Moran (R-KS) joined the letter.

    The full text of the letter is available here and below.

    February 20, 2025

    Marvin G. Richardson

    Deputy Director

    Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

    99 New York Avenue, NE

    Washington, DC 20226

    Dear Deputy Director Richardson:

    Thank you for your service in leading the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) during the presidential transition. On Friday, February 7, 2025, President Donald J. Trump took decisive action to reaffirm law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights in issuing his Executive Order, Protecting Second Amendment Rights.  We urge you to immediately align ATF’s rules and policies with the President’s strong support for the Second Amendment.

    Under former President Joe Biden, ATF adopted numerous policies and rules that infringed upon Americans’ Second Amendment protections. President Trump’s Executive Order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to review and develop a plan of action regarding President Biden’s unlawful firearms regulations. We ask that you work with the Attorney General to quickly identify and rescind these policies. In particular, we call your attention to the following anti-Second Amendment regulations and policies, which must be immediately rescinded:

    • The engaged in the business rule, which is an unconstitutional attempt to move ATF to do all it can to impose universal background checks on law-abiding Americans. ATF has been enjoined, at least temporarily, from enforcing the rule because it violated the text of the Gun Control Act. 
    • The pistol brace rule, which improperly reclassifies pistols equipped with stabilizing braces as “short-barreled rifles” (SBRs), thereby subjecting them to stringent regulations and serious criminal penalties under the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act. We are troubled by the fact that ATF promulgated this rule after it previously determined that attaching a stabilizing brace to a pistol did not render the pistol an SBR.  This rule threatens to put stabilizing braces out of reach of millions of gun owners, including disabled combat veterans who rely on them to be able to shoot heavy pistols. Furthermore, the rule made law-abiding Americans felons overnight for having lawfully purchased stabilizing brace equipped pistols. Multiple courts have already found the rule to be arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act, and it was ordered vacated by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.  We appreciate the Government’s recent motions to hold ATF’s 5th and 11th Circuit appeals defending the rule in abeyance and to postpone oral argument, and ATF should work quickly to accede to the vacatur given the ongoing litigation. 
    • The so-called “ghost gun” rule,  which cracks down on law-abiding hobbyists who are exercising their Second Amendment rights to privately build firearms—a longstanding tradition that traces back to the Colonial Era.  The regulations are currently before the Supreme Court, but ATF should act immediately to rescind this rule.
    • The “zero tolerance” policy, under which ATF has revoked the licenses of federal firearm licensees (FFLs) over minor bookkeeping violations.  This policy violates a decades-long precedent of ATF working with FFLs to address these minor, unintentional violations and revoking FFL licenses only in cases of major, willful violations that threaten public safety. ATF should develop a program to restore the federal firearms licenses of those FFLs whose licenses were unfairly revoked—or surrendered under duress—where they did not engage in willful conduct (as understood prior to June 23, 2021, when the policy was announced) and do not represent at threat to public safety.

    In addition to promptly rescinding these rules and policies, we urge you to immediately destroy the hundreds of millions of ATF Form 4473 firearm transaction records and other licensee records that are over 20 years old. These records have no particular law enforcement value but do contain the sensitive information of millions of law-abiding gun owners.  ATF should likewise return to the policy of allowing FFLs to destroy Form 4473 in their possession that are over 20 years old, which the Biden Administration initiated in violation of the federal prohibition on gun registration.  Ending the policy of retaining these very old records will save money for the American taxpayer and counteract ATF’s unconstitutional rule change.  

    Furthermore, we urge you to “continue collaboration to improve the process for” National Firearms Act applications. Congress recently instructed ATF to make these improvements.  While NFA wait times have improved significantly, ATF must continue to “address ongoing delays in application processing times” until the archaic process is at least as efficient as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. There is no reason that the right to purchase a firearm should be so greatly delayed; a right delayed is a right denied.

    The foregoing should not be considered a full accounting of every action or policy for which ATF may be held responsible under President Trump’s Executive Order but represent obvious and high priority places for ATF to initiate compliance.

    We look forward to working with you through the transition as you implement President Trump’s agenda and reorient ATF toward protecting Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

    Sincerely,

    /s/

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Senator Mullin Introduces Labor Secretary Nominee Lori Chavez-Deremer at Confirmation Hearing

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator MarkWayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)

    ICYMI: Senator Mullin Introduces Labor Secretary Nominee Lori Chavez-Deremer at Confirmation Hearing

    Washington, D.C. – At the request of President Trump, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced Lori Chavez-DeRemer at yesterday’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.

    “President Trump assembled a historic coalition for the American people. Lori represents that coalition as she can speak to both businesses and labor,” said Senator Mullin. “I will fight to confirm every one of his nominees.”    

    Watch the senator’s full remarks here.

    Highlights below:

    “Regardless of what you might think about the President, understand that this is someone that everybody should represent and should respect. If you’re looking for a bipartisan, independent, thinker… You would think this is someone you’d be very happy with… She is directly, uniquely, positioned in the center.”

    “One thing that both sides of the aisle agree on is supporting working class Americans that power our country’s economy.” 

    “No company can survive without employees and no employee is hired without a company. It takes both sides to be in the boat rowing together in the same direction to be successful.”


    “I’m only moderately successful because I’ve been very fortunate to have employees that were willing to get in the boat with me and row in the same direction.”

    “With Lori’s unique background as a small business owner, public servant, and through her relationship with union leaders, she has the ability to bridge the gap between businesses and workers.”

    “Oklahoma is a proud right-to-work state and yet, we still support Lori.”

    “But as both sides of the table continue to work together for hard working Americans… I don’t think we have to look any further than understanding Lori is the independent nonpartisan perspective who will always keep the work force top of mind.”

    Senator Mullin Also Called Out the Hypocrisy from the Democrats, the So-Called Party of “Inclusion”

    Watch the senator’s full remarks here.

     “I just kind of wanted to point out some interesting things that’s going on. The Senator from New Hampshire was complaining about a contract that was awarded by the Biden administration, and somehow, you’re tying it to the Trump administration for Tesla.”

    “You’re concerned about Mark and Jeff and Elon, it wasn’t too long ago, you guys were happy to take all their money. It’s just the party that’s supposed to be of inclusion. Now, all of a sudden, if you don’t agree with this, you’re the enemy.”

    “Yet what we do is we spend all of our time complaining and making reckless accusations about something that is absolutely false. And when you guys don’t want to hear it, you guys just accuse everybody else of being a criminal and for some reason being compromised.” 

    “It’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. It’s the same thing we heard in 2017 and yet you guys are just recycling. You guys are doing nothing but trying to stir up your base by fear when it’s absolutely one hundred percent wrong and shouldn’t even exist.”

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Carbon capture one step closer

    Source: New Zealand Government

    The Government has made key decisions on a Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) framework to enable businesses to benefit from storing carbon underground will support New Zealand’s businesses to continue operating while reducing net carbon emissions, Energy and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.
    “Economic growth is a key focus for this Government, and we want the energy sector to be the engine for our economy – driving electrification and unlocking economic growth,” Mr Watts says.
    “The Government is committed to removing regulatory barriers to enable the supply of abundant, affordable energy to power our homes and businesses – and to reduce net carbon emissions.”
    The Government has made decisions on the key elements of a CCUS framework, designed to enable carbon capture and storage in New Zealand, with legislation expected to be introduced this year.
    “Under our CCUS framework, businesses that capture and store CO2   will be rewarded through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), our Government’s key tool to reducing net emissions. This will help reduce emissions obligations for New Zealand businesses as we progress towards a low-emissions economy,” Mr Watts says.
    “By making these decisions, we are aligning New Zealand with other countries that are successfully utilising CCUS to drive economic growth and attract investment. Our framework not only supports innovation but also provides a pathway for businesses to remain competitive while reducing net emissions.
    “Ensuring safe and effective storage of CO2 is critically important. That’s why our framework will require any CCUS project to undertake a thorough assessment of storage site suitability and proposed operations, followed by ongoing monitoring.
    “CCUS is gaining momentum internationally as a way to reduce net emissions and support economic growth. In New Zealand, this innovative approach has significant untapped potential of capturing CO2 emissions that would not otherwise benefit Kiwis to create valuable products and materials.
    “Our Government’s second emissions reduction plan, which was released at the end of last year, highlighted carbon capture and storage as a key tool to meeting the second and third emissions budgets.”

    MIL OSI New Zealand News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hartford, Stamford Campuses Open ‘Innovate Labs’ Where Technology, Fun, and New Skills Connect

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Freshman Barbara Hawke Lopez was the captain of her high school robotics team and enjoys coding and emerging technology.

    When she discovered that Innovate Labs was opening a facility on the UConn Stamford campus, with hands-on learning opportunities in emerging technology, she was intrigued.

    Today, Hawke Lopez is employed as a lab assistant there, teaching her peers how to experiment with new technology, and helping them develop their confidence in the automation of the future.

    “When you come into the lab, there is almost always someone playing a game using virtual reality,’’ said Hawke Lopez, who is studying journalism and cognitive science. “Other students come in to 3D print everything from pop culture-inspired objects to fidget-spinner toys. There’s a good mix of activities.’’

    “The lab is very new-user friendly and there are always two or three people there to help you if you get stuck,’’ she said. The lab, which opened in September 2024, is located in Room 310.
    “People are excited when they discover it, and I think it is a good addition to our campus and the overall business environment. It is helping student develop confidence and career skills,’’ she said.

    Hartford Campus Debuted Lab Last Week

    But Stamford students aren’t the only ones with new experiences. Innovate Labs opened another facility in Hartford last week. This newest Lab can be found on the first floor of the Graduate Business Learning Center in Hartford, at 100 Constitution Plaza. All students, regardless of major, as well as faculty and staff are welcome to explore the Lab.

    On the opening day, Feb. 10, student workers demonstrated 3D pens, VR headsets and circuitry that can track a user’s heart rate. The event drew students and staff from the GBLC, Storrs, and the nearby Hartford Times Building.

    A festive balloon arch welcomed students and faculty to the first-floor center that includes stations featuring the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing and modeling, voice and smart technology, drones, robotic, and circuitry and sensors. Both the Stamford and Hartford Innovate Labs are modeled after the original lab located in the School of Business in Storrs.

    Lucy Ledesma, a junior majoring in the dual-degree MEM program and a Lab Outreach Specialist in Storrs, traveled to Hartford to demonstrate the technology. “I think it’s great that students on other campuses are getting to have the experiences we have,’’ she said.

    Innovate Labs Tech Manager, Sophia Hatzis, a sophomore majoring in sociology and mechanical engineering, said initially some students are reluctant to experiment.

    “At first they might not know how to get started, but there is always someone there to walk them through it and build their confidence to try more advanced things,’’ she said.

    Bringing Energy and Excitement to Campus

    Innovate Labs is part of the Digital Frontiers Initiative (DFI) at the School of Business. The program bridges academia and industry through cutting-edge research, innovation, and partnerships. DFI operates under the umbrella of the Connecticut Information Technology Institute at UConn.

    “Our goal is to create an opportunity for students to develop new skills that will foster the next generation of learners, leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators,’’ said OPIM professor Jon Moore, who is also the Executive Director of DFI. He created and oversees all three labs.

    The original Innovate Lab opened in Storrs eight years ago, after some recent graduates said they would have liked more emerging technology skills as they entered the workforce.

    “People can start where they are comfortable,’’ Moore said. “We encourage people to push themselves out of their comfort zone but also to acquire skills that match their career interests. Not only is it valuable but keeps students on campus and engaged but it brings energy and excitement to campus.’’

    OPIM professor Wei Chen, the Academic Director of the DFI, agreed.

    “The Innovate Labs are a vibrant space where students can explore emerging technologies and bring their ideas to life,’’ he said. “It’s an incredible opportunity for them to experiment, collaborate, and gain hands-on experience with the latest tools shaping the future.’’

    Students Can Advance to Local Makerspaces

    Another advantage of the regional Innovate Labs is that once students get comfortable with the technology there, they can expand their ideas at nearby makerspaces.

    Stamford students have access to GE’s CoCreate, a 65,000-square-foot maker space, that welcomes everyone from chefs to designers to contractors or homeowners to use their equipment and explore the “community playground.’’

    The Digital Frontiers Initiative is in conversation with GE CoCreate about joint workshops, events, and projects.

    In Hartford, DFI is building a dynamic relationship with MakerSpace CT, which is just a short walk from both Hartford campuses. Students have an opportunity to earn three months of free membership to this space by participating in a one of Innovate Labs’ non-credit programs, Innovate2Create. This program is designed to help students turn their idea into a marketable prototype. The nine-week program includes guest speakers from MakerspaceCT, and will conclude with a pitch presentation there in the spring.

    For UConn students who are interested, Innovate Labs offer employment opportunities, with students having the choice of working on the tech team (which oversees inventory and learning), the outreach team (which leads workshops, clubs, and classes), or the marketing team. Lab workers from all three campuses collaborate, and live-feed cameras allow them to share ideas, solve problems, or just say hello from across the state.

    Moore is now working towards offering workshops for non-UConn students, particularly elementary, middle and high school students in the area.

    If you would like to learn more about DFI, or take a guided tour of one of the Innovate Labs, please contact Katherine Lorange at Katherine.Lorange@uconn.edu.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Bradford Exchange in Court over alleged misleading representations about subscriptions

    Source: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

    The ACCC has instituted legal proceedings in the Federal Court against The Bradford Exchange Ltd (Bradford) for allegedly making false or misleading representations in its advertising of collectable coins and ingots in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

    A global retailer of coins and memorabilia, Bradford allegedly made misleading representations to consumers in over 300 newspaper and magazine advertisements for collectable coins and ingots across Australia.

    It is alleged that, in many cases, Bradford represented that it would send consumers a single advertised item, when in fact Bradford sent consumers multiple items subject to a subscription (in some cases up to 24 items) and charged them for those items.

    Bradford also allegedly represented that, if consumers responded to the relevant advertisements, they would be treated as only agreeing to purchase the single item identified in the advertisement, when this was not the case.

    Subsequent items in these collections were typically far more expensive than the originally advertised item, for example, costing $79.99 after the first item was priced at $29.99.

    The ACCC alleges that Bradford applied direct debits, or invoiced consumers for these subsequent items. Consumers who did not pay an invoice were sent follow up invoices, some of which incurred a ‘reminder charge’. If the invoice remained unpaid, consumers would ultimately be referred to a debt collection agency which charged additional fees.

    “We are alleging Bradford’s actions amounted to a ‘subscription trap’ for consumers who thought they were buying one coin or ingot but were treated as if they had agreed to subscribe to receive an entire series and be charged accordingly,” ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.

    Subscription traps occur when businesses mislead consumers into signing up for a subscription by representing that the consumer is only making a one-off purchase, or by making cancellation of a subscription difficult.

    The ACCC action relates to alleged misleading representations between 1 January 2021 and 26 June 2023 in advertisements by Bradford for collectable commemorative coins and ingots in various print newspapers and magazines across Australia such as the Herald Sun, the Courier Mail, Woman’s Day magazine and New Idea magazine.

    The advertisements featured a large image of a single coin or ingot, often with historical or nostalgic themes such as Queen Elizabeth II, World War 1, Phar Lap, and the 1971 Ford Falcon.

    In addition, the ACCC alleges Bradford’s advertisements prominently stated a single price for that item and did not state the total price of all the items in each collection.

    “Businesses must be open and transparent when signing consumers up to subscriptions, including by stating the total price of goods or services being purchased,” Ms Carver said.

    “There have been a large number of complaints about this company from consumers who purchased a single item from Bradford but were then sent and charged for additional items.”

    “We consider Bradford’s actions deprived consumers of the ability to make an informed choice about whether to buy an entire collection of items. As a result, many consumers are likely to have paid for subsequent items they did not want or intend to buy and some are likely to have experienced distress and financial loss when Bradford charged them for items they did not intend to purchase,” Ms Carver said.

    The ACCC is seeking penalties, declarations, injunctions, costs and other orders for Bradford’s alleged contraventions.

    Example of Bradford advertisements:

    Bradford exchange platinum jubilee coin ( PDF 2.71 MB )

    Background

    Bradford is a US-based, retailer of limited-edition memorabilia and collectables including coins and ingots, jewellery, prints, model cars, ornaments and figurines. A significant proportion of Bradford’s revenue comes from the sale of collections. Bradford advertises its products through mainstream newspapers and magazines, as well as on its website and social media accounts.

    The Bradford Exchange Group operates globally across fifteen countries including the US, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Germany. Bradford has operated in Australia for 34 years.

    Concise Statement

    ACCC v Bradford Exchange – Concise Statement ( PDF 3.75 MB )

    This document contains the ACCC’s initiating court document in relation to this matter. We will not be uploading further documents in the event these initial documents are subsequently amended.

    MIL OSI News

  • MIL-OSI Security: Florida Businessman Sentenced in Connection with Migrant Labor Employment Scheme, Payroll Tax Evasion, and Worker Death

    Source: United States Attorneys General 10

    A Florida man was sentenced yesterday to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $5.5 million to the United States as well as forfeit numerous real properties and cash, and to pay over $55 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and willful violation of a workplace standard that resulted in the death of his employee. Manual Domingos Pita, of Wesley Chapel, previously pleaded guilty to those charges on July 9, 2024.

    According to court documents, Pita owned and operated Domingos 54 Construction, a subcontracting business for the wood framing of new construction homes. Domingos 54 was a shell construction company that Pita used to provide workers, including undocumented aliens, with construction jobs. However, Pita failed to secure the required workers compensation insurance coverage for these employees by falsifying in worker’s compensation insurance applications the number of workers for which he sought coverage. In addition, Pita failed to pay any federal employment taxes on the wages that these workers earned during the course of the scheme between 2018 and 2022. As a result, Pita caused several worker’s compensation insurance companies to sustain a loss of over $22.7 million in premiums that they could have charged had they been aware of the number of workers which they had been manipulated into covering with their policies. In addition, Pita failed to pay to the IRS over $33.7 million in federal employment taxes on those workers’ wages.

    Between February and July 2019, investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued six citations to Domingos 54 for failure to provide fall protection to workers. Even after being cited for these violations, Pita continued to ignore OSHA requirements. In March 2020, Pita assigned a worker and three other carpenters to install sheeting on the roof of a residential home in windy conditions without providing the required fall-protection gear or ensuring its use. As a result, one of the workers was blown off the roof and died from his injuries.

    “Pita’s history of OSHA violations and deception tragically led to a worker’s death,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are committed to upholding the rule of law by prosecuting fraud and enforcing worker safety standards.”

    “The defendant in this case engaged in a deliberate scheme to defraud insurance companies, the government and evade taxes, resulting in huge losses to the U.S. Treasury, and to personally enrich himself,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Sara C. Sweeney. “In addition, flagrant violations of OSHA safety standards put workers at unacceptable risk, ultimately resulting in the death of an employee. My office is committed to federally prosecuting and holding accountable anyone who violates these laws and regulations.”

    “Mr. Pita repeatedly violated the longstanding policies designed to protect the workforce which resulted in a tragic death,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fodor of the FBI’s Tampa Field Office. “The FBI and its partners will aggressively pursue those who selfishly ignore the laws and policies in place to protect America’s workforce.”

    “Not only does this type of scheme give an illegal advantage over honest competitors, it intends to allow the use of illegal, undocumented labor to achieve that advantage,” said Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Tampa Field Office. “It’s a blatant form of cheating that undercuts fair competition, costs the government millions of dollars in tax revenue, and skirts our nation’s immigration laws. This case reaffirms our unwavering commitment to prosecuting those who engage in fraud at the expense of workers, taxpayers, and law-abiding businesses.”

    The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Florida Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Insurance Fraud-Criminal Investigations and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay L. Hoffer for the Middle District of Florida and Senior Trial Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI: Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco Announces Annual and Fourth Quarter 2024 Operating Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (Bank) today announced its unaudited annual and fourth quarter 2024 operating results.

    • Net income for the full year of 2024 totaled $402 million.
    • Net income for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $90 million.
    • In 2024, the Bank allocated $93 million to its Affordable Housing Program (AHP) and voluntary housing and community development initiatives.

    “The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco continues to be a vital force for economic growth and stability across our three-state region, providing steadfast support to our members and communities in all market conditions,” said Joseph E. Amato, interim president and chief executive officer of the Bank. “Throughout 2024, we delivered on-demand, low-cost liquidity to our members, empowering them to strengthen local economies and support community lending. Our collaboration with members to drive impactful affordable housing and economic development projects through our grant programs reflects our unwavering commitment to addressing housing affordability and enhancing the financial well-being of the communities we serve. Furthermore, our Bank responds to the urgent needs of our communities including those created by natural disasters. We recently committed $2 million to aid wildfire recovery efforts in Southern California, comprised of $1.4 million in matching funds from member financial institutions for local relief organizations, and $600 thousand in donations for nonprofit organizations to bolster both immediate and long-term disaster response efforts. Together with our members, we will ensure our communities have the resources needed to recover from these devastating wildfires.”

    Financial Results

    Net income for 2024 was $402 million, a decrease of $137 million compared with 2023. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in net interest income of $219 million and an increase in other expense of $19 million, partially offset by an increase in other income of $86 million.

    • The $219 million decrease in net interest income was attributable to lower average balances of advances and short-term investments and higher costs of interest-bearing liabilities. The decrease was also attributable to $106 million of higher net advance prepayment fees in the prior year. These decreases to net interest income were partially offset by lower average balances of consolidated obligation bonds and discount notes, an increase in the average balances of available-for-sale securities, and higher yields on interest-earning assets.
    • The $86 million increase in other income was primarily driven by $33 million in net realized losses recognized in the prior year from derivatives economically hedging prepaid advances, along with $30 million of other income recognized in 2024 in connection with the termination of a long-term funding arrangement entered into with a member borrower in 2017.
    • The $19 million increase in other expense was attributable to a $25 million increase in the Bank’s charitable, “mission-oriented” contributions in the current year, mainly to fund downpayment assistance grants to middle-income homebuyers (delivered by participating member financial institutions).

    For the fourth quarter of 2024, net income was $90 million, a decrease of $30 million compared to the same period during the prior year. This decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in net interest income of $14 million, mainly driven by lower average balances of advances and short-term investments. The decrease in net income was also attributable to an $8 million increase in the Bank’s charitable, “mission-oriented” contributions relative to the prior-year period, mainly to fund the Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development (AHEAD) Program. Additionally, the provision for credit losses increased by $8 million which was largely attributable to decreases in the fair values and the present value of expected cash flows of certain private-label residential mortgage-backed securities.

    Balance Sheet and Capital

    At December 31, 2024, total assets were $81.7 billion, a decrease of $11.1 billion from $92.8 billion at December 31, 2023. This decline was primarily driven by a reduction in advances of $15.7 billion, from $61.3 billion at December 31, 2023, to $45.6 billion at December 31, 2024. Advances declined primarily due to maturities of advances acquired by nonmembers in connection with certain Bank member acquisitions. Investments at December 31, 2024, were $35.0 billion, a net increase of $4.7 billion from $30.3 billion at December 31, 2023, attributable to net purchases of $2.7 billion in short-term investments and $2.0 billion in U.S. Treasury securities.

    As of December 31, 2024, the Bank exceeded all regulatory capital requirements. The Bank exceeded its 4.0% regulatory requirement with a regulatory capital ratio of 8.9% at December 31, 2024. The increase in the regulatory capital ratio from 8.0% at December 31, 2023 mainly resulted from the decrease in total assets during 2024. The Bank also exceeded its risk-based capital requirement of $1.1 billion with $7.3 billion in permanent capital. Total retained earnings increased to $4.5 billion at December 31, 2024, from $4.3 billion at December 31, 2023.

    On February 19, 2025, the Bank’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on the average capital stock outstanding during the fourth quarter of 2024 at an annualized rate of 8.75%. The quarterly dividend rate is consistent with the Bank’s dividend philosophy of endeavoring to pay a quarterly dividend rate that is equal to or greater than the current market rate for highly rated investments and that is sustainable under current and projected earnings while maintaining appropriate levels of capital. The quarterly dividend will total $63 million, and the Bank expects to pay the dividend on March 11, 2025.

    Affordable Housing Program and Voluntary Housing and Community Commitments

    The Bank’s community programs and targeted initiatives address the unique affordable housing and economic development needs of communities across its district of Arizona, California, and Nevada. The AHP is an annual statutory grant program that supports the creation, preservation, or purchase of affordable housing and is funded with 10% of the Bank’s previous year’s net income. Since its inception in 1990, the Bank awarded over $1.35 billion in grants to aid the purchase, development, or rehabilitation of over 154,600 affordable homes in the regions the Bank’s members serve.

    In addition, early in 2024, the Bank’s board of directors approved plans to voluntarily allocate an additional 5% of its 2023 annual net earnings (income before interest expense related to dividends paid on mandatorily redeemable capital stock and the assessment for the AHP) to fund affordable housing and economic development initiatives.

    To meet these commitments, the Bank recorded a total allocation of $93 million in 2024, an increase of $14 million compared to 2023. The $93 million allocation included $52 million related to the statutory AHP program and $41 million related to voluntary housing and economic development initiatives. The Bank’s voluntary contributions were disbursed through multiple initiatives during 2024, including, but not limited to:

    • $20 million in downpayment assistance grants delivered by Bank members to over 400 homebuyers,
    • $7 million awarded to 84 organizations across Arizona, California, and Nevada through the AHEAD Program,
    • $2 million benefiting Native American communities for essential infrastructure and affordable housing development, and
    • $1 million delivered through a targeted matching grant program distributed across 45 grants for local housing counseling agencies to expand homeownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income prospective homebuyers.

    Financial Highlights
    (Unaudited)
    (Dollars in millions)

    Selected Balance Sheet Items
      at Period End
      Dec 31, 2024     Dec 31, 2023  
    Total Assets $ 81,735     $ 92,828  
    Advances   45,637       61,335  
    Mortgage Loans Held for Portfolio, Net   693       754  
    Investments, Net1   34,961       30,294  
    Consolidated Obligations:      
    Bonds   58,174       64,297  
    Discount Notes   14,378       19,187  
    Mandatorily Redeemable Capital Stock   331       706  
    Capital Stock – Class B – Putable   2,458       2,450  
    Retained Earnings   4,483       4,290  
    Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income/(Loss)   63       (72 )
    Total Capital   7,004       6,668  
           
    Selected Other Data at Period End   Dec 31, 2024       Dec 31, 2023  
    Regulatory Capital Ratio2   8.90 %     8.02 %
      Three Months Ended   Twelve Months Ended  
    Selected Operating Results for the Period Dec 31, 2024     Dec 31, 2023   Dec 31, 2024   Dec 31, 2023  
    Net Interest Income $ 148   $ 162   $ 580   $ 799  
    Provision for/(Reversal of) Credit Losses   5     (3)         4  
    Other Income/(Loss)   15     22     93     7  
    Other Expense   57     52     219     200  
    Affordable Housing Program Assessment   11     15     52     63  
    Net Income/(Loss) $ 90   $ 120   $ 402   $ 539  
                     
      Three Months Ended   Twelve Months Ended  
    Selected Other Data for the Period Dec 31, 2024     Dec 31, 2023   Dec 31, 2024   Dec 31, 2023  
    Net Interest Margin3   0.72 %   0.72 %   0.69 %   0.71 %
    Return on Average Assets   0.43     0.52     0.47     0.47  
    Return on Average Equity   5.15     7.29     5.89     7.60  
    Annualized Dividend Rate4   8.75     8.25     8.75     7.49  
    Average Equity to Average Assets Ratio   8.36     7.15     8.02     6.23  
     
    1. Investments consist of federal funds sold, interest-bearing deposits, trading securities, available-for-sale securities, held-to-maturity securities, and securities purchased under agreements to resell.
    2. The regulatory capital ratio is calculated as regulatory capital divided by total assets. Regulatory capital includes retained earnings, Class B capital stock, and mandatorily redeemable capital stock (which is classified as a liability) but excludes accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss). Total regulatory capital as of December 31, 2024, and 2023, was $7.3 billion and $7.4 billion, respectively.
    3. Net interest margin is calculated as net interest income (annualized) divided by average interest-earning assets.
    4. Cash dividends are declared, recorded, and paid during the period, on the average capital stock outstanding during the previous quarter.
     

    Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco
    The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California, and Nevada build strong communities, create opportunity, and change lives for the better. The tools and resources we provide to our member financial institutions–commercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies, and community development financial institutions propel homeownership, finance affordable housing, drive economic vitality, and revitalize whole neighborhoods. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more vibrant, equitable, and resilient.

    Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to the Bank’s dividend philosophy and dividend rates. These statements are based on our current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof. These statements may use forward-looking terms, such as “endeavoring,” “will,” and “expects,” or their negatives or other variations on these terms. The Bank cautions that by their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk or uncertainty and that actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements or could affect the extent to which a particular objective, projection, estimate, or prediction is realized, including future dividends. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the Risk Factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic and current reports that we may file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as regulatory and accounting rule adjustments or requirements; the application of accounting standards relating to, among other things, hedge accounting of derivatives and underlying financial instruments, along with related fair values; future operating results; the withdrawal of one or more large members; high inflation and interest rates that may adversely affect our members and their customers; and our ability to pay a quarterly dividend rate that is equal to or greater than similar current rates for highly rated investments. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Executive Board Concludes 2024 Article IV Consultation with Thailand

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    February 20, 2025

    Washington, DC: On February 11, The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation[1] with Thailand and endorsed the staff appraisal without a meeting on a lapse-of-time basis.

    Thailand’s economy is gradually recovering, but at a slower pace than peers. Economic activity expanded modestly by 1.9 percent in 2023 and 2.3 percent in the first three quarters of 2024, driven by private consumption growth and a rebound in tourism. Inflation remained subdued, averaging 0.4 percent (y/y) annually in 2024, well below the Bank of Thailand’s target range of 1 to 3 percent. External factors such as the decline in global energy and food prices, lower import prices have played a role, but domestic factors such as energy subsidies, price controls, and the unwinding of pandemic-related fiscal support have also contributed to the lower inflation. The current account balance strengthened to 1.4 percent of GDP in 2023, from -3.5 percent of GDP in 2022, and continues to register a moderate surplus as of November 2024, supported by the continued recovery in tourism and higher exports.

    A gradual cyclical recovery is expected to continue. Real GDP is projected to grow by 2.7 percent in 2024 and to increase to 2.9 percent in 2025. This is underpinned by the expansionary fiscal stance envisaged under the 2025 budget, which includes additional cash transfers of 1.0 percent of GDP and a rebound in public investment. Tourism-related sectors are expected to continue to support growth, as well as private consumption that will be further boosted by the authorities’ cash transfers. As growth continues to firm up, inflation is expected to pick up but remain in the bottom half of the target range in 2025. The current account balance is expected to improve further in 2024 and 2025, driven by the ongoing recovery in tourist arrivals.

    Risks to Thailand’s economic outlook are tilted to the downside. On the external front, an escalation of global trade tensions or deepening geoeconomic fragmentation could disrupt Thailand’s export recovery and dampen FDI inflows, while increased commodity price volatility could affect growth and lead to inflation spikes, and potentially tighter-for-longer global financial conditions. The intensification of regional conflicts could disrupt trade and travel flows while more frequent extreme climate events would adversely impact growth prospects. On the domestic front, the private sector debt overhang could impair financial institutions’ balance sheets and further decrease credit supply, negatively affecting growth. Renewed political uncertainty could hinder policy implementation and undermine confidence.

    Executive Board Assessment[2]

    In concluding the 2024 Article IV consultation with Thailand, Executive Directors endorsed the staff’s appraisal, as follows:

    Thailand’s economic recovery is ongoing, but it has been relatively slow and uneven. Economic activity expanded modestly in 2024, driven by private consumption and a rebound in tourism-related activities, while delayed budget implementation slowed the pace of public investment. The slow recovery, compared to ASEAN peers, is also rooted in Thailand’s longstanding structural weaknesses, while emerging external and domestic headwinds have also contributed to subdued inflation. The outlook remains highly uncertain with significant downside risks.

    As economic slack narrows, the focus should shift to rebuilding fiscal space. A less expansionary fiscal stance than envisaged under the FY25 budget would still provide impulse to support the recovery while helping to preserve policy space. Alternatively, reallocating part of the planned cash transfers toward productivity-enhancing investments or social protection would enable stronger inclusive growth and help reduce the public debt-to-GDP ratio. Starting in FY26, a revenue-based medium-term fiscal consolidation is needed to bring down public debt and rebuild buffers.

    Thailand’s fiscal framework can be further strengthened. This would require strengthening fiscal rules to better support the debt anchor by introducing a risk-based rules approach. Costs associated with quasi-fiscal operations such as energy price caps should be adequately accounted for, and fiscal risks closely monitored. Improving data provision for government finance statistics and SOEs is important.

    Staff welcomes the BOT’s decision to cut the policy rate in October and recommends a further reduction in the policy rate to support inflation and also translate into improvements in borrowers’ debt-servicing capacity with limited risk of additional leverage amid tight lending. Given remaining high uncertainty in the outlook, the authorities should stand ready to adjust their monetary policy stance in a data and outlook-dependent manner. Central bank independence with clear communication of policy moves is key to maintaining the credibility and effectiveness of monetary policy in anchoring inflation expectations.

    Effective coordination across policy tools, underpinned by adequate buffers, is essential for managing adverse scenarios. While the flexible exchange rate should continue to act as a shock absorber, the complementary use of FXI might alleviate policy trade-offs by smoothing destabilizing premia when large non-fundamental shocks render the FX market dysfunctional. Further liberalization of the FX ecosystem and phasing out of remaining capital flow management measures would help deepen the FX market and limit the need for FXI over time.

    A comprehensive package of prudential and legal measures needs to be deployed to facilitate an orderly private deleveraging. Staff welcomes the measures already implemented to address both the existing household debt stock and the buildup of new leverage. However, simultaneous and forceful implementation of personal debt workouts via more effective bankruptcy proceedings is essential to lower the existing household debt stock.

    The external position in 2024 was moderately stronger than warranted by fundamentals and desirable policy settings. Policies aimed at promoting investment, enhancing social safety nets, liberalizing the services sector, and minimizing tax incentives and subsidies that distort competition would facilitate external rebalancing.

    Resolute structural reforms are needed to boost productivity and competitiveness. Reform priorities include facilitating competition and openness, upgrading physical and ICT infrastructure, upskilling/reskilling the labor force, increasing export sophistication by leveraging digitalization, and strengthening governance. Providing an adequate social protection floor to vulnerable households could help enhance their resilience to shocks and address structural drivers of household debt accumulation.

    Table 1. Thailand: Selected Economic Indicators, 2019–30

    Per capita GDP (2023): US$7,338

    Exchange Rate (2023): 34.8 Baht/USD

    Unemployment rate (2023): 1 percent

    Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line (2021): 6.3 percent

    Net FDI (2023): US$ -7.16 billion

    Population (2023): 70.18 million

                       

    Actual

    Projections

    2019

    2020

    2021

    2022

    2023

    2024

    2025

    2026

    2027

    2028

    2029

    2030

    Real GDP growth (y/y percent change) 1/

    2.1

    -6.1

    1.6

    2.5

    1.9

    2.7

    2.9

    2.6

    2.7

    2.7

    2.7

    2.7

    Consumption

    3.4

    -0.3

    1.3

    4.8

    4.6

    4.3

    4.0

    2.9

    2.1

    2.3

    2.6

    2.6

    Gross fixed investment

    2.0

    -4.8

    3.1

    2.3

    1.2

    0.1

    4.1

    2.1

    1.8

    2.3

    2.4

    2.5

    Inflation (y/y percent change)

                           

    Headline CPI (end of period)

    0.9

    -0.3

    2.2

    5.9

    -0.8

    1.2

    1.3

    1.5

    1.5

    1.7

    1.7

    1.8

    Headline CPI (period average)

    0.7

    -0.8

    1.2

    6.1

    1.2

    0.4

    1.0

    1.3

    1.5

    1.6

    1.7

    1.8

    Core CPI (end of period)

    0.5

    0.2

    0.3

    3.2

    0.6

    0.8

    1.3

    1.0

    1.2

    1.4

    1.4

    1.6

    Core CPI (period average)

    0.5

    0.3

    0.2

    2.5

    1.3

    0.6

    1.1

    1.2

    1.1

    1.3

    1.4

    1.5

    Saving and investment (percent of GDP)

                           

    Gross domestic investment

    23.8

    23.8

    28.6

    27.8

    22.5

    20.8

    21.9

    22.2

    22.0

    21.8

    21.8

    21.6

    Private

    16.9

    16.8

    16.9

    17.3

    17.3

    16.7

    16.6

    16.4

    16.3

    16.1

    16.1

    16.0

    Public

    5.7

    6.4

    6.5

    6.1

    5.6

    5.6

    5.9

    5.8

    5.7

    5.7

    5.7

    5.7

    Change in stocks

    1.2

    0.5

    5.1

    4.5

    -0.4

    -1.5

    -0.6

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    Gross national saving

    30.8

    27.9

    26.5

    24.4

    24.0

    22.6

    24.0

    24.5

    24.4

    24.4

    24.5

    24.4

    Private, including statistical discrepancy

    25.8

    26.2

    26.8

    22.6

    21.0

    19.8

    21.8

    21.9

    21.7

    21.7

    21.8

    21.6

    Public

    5.0

    1.8

    -0.3

    1.7

    3.0

    2.8

    2.2

    2.5

    2.7

    2.7

    2.7

    2.8

    Foreign saving

    -7.0

    -4.2

    2.1

    3.5

    -1.4

    -1.8

    -2.2

    -2.3

    -2.4

    -2.6

    -2.7

    -2.8

    Fiscal accounts (percent of GDP) 2/

                           

    General government balance 3/

    0.4

    -4.5

    -6.7

    -4.5

    -2.0

    -2.2

    -3.6

    -3.2

    -2.9

    -2.8

    -2.8

    -2.8

      SOEs balance

    0.4

    0.6

    -0.3

    -0.6

    -0.7

    -0.1

    -0.2

    -0.1

    -0.1

    -0.1

    -0.1

    0.0

    Public sector balance 4/

    0.8

    -3.9

    -7.1

    -5.1

    -2.7

    -2.3

    -3.8

    -3.3

    -3.0

    -2.9

    -2.9

    -2.8

    Public sector debt (end of period) 4/

    41.1

    49.4

    58.3

    60.5

    62.4

    63.3

    64.7

    65.4

    66.0

    66.1

    66.4

    66.4

    Monetary accounts (end of period, y/y percent change)

               

    Broad money growth

    3.6

    10.2

    4.8

    3.9

    1.9

    2.3

    3.7

    3.5

    3.2

    3.8

    3.2

    3.7

    Narrow money growth

    5.7

    14.2

    14.0

    3.1

    4.2

    5.9

    3.2

    4.7

    4.2

    5.1

    4.3

    4.9

    Credit to the private sector (by other depository corporations)

    2.4

    4.5

    4.5

    2.5

    1.5

    0.1

    1.0

    1.6

    1.8

    2.1

    2.3

    2.5

    Balance of payments (billions of U.S. dollars)

                           

    Current account balance

    38.3

    20.9

    -10.7

    -17.2

    7.4

    9.5

    11.9

    13.2

    14.6

    16.5

    18.2

    19.4

    (In percent of GDP)

    7.0

    4.2

    -2.1

    -3.5

    1.4

    1.8

    2.2

    2.3

    2.4

    2.6

    2.7

    2.8

    Exports of goods, f.o.b.

    242.7

    227.0

    270.6

    285.2

    280.7

    293.6

    301.8

    312.5

    327.2

    343.1

    359.0

    375.5

    Growth rate (dollar terms)

    -3.3

    -6.5

    19.2

    5.4

    -1.5

    4.6

    2.8

    3.6

    4.7

    4.9

    4.6

    4.6

            Growth rate (volume terms)

    -3.7

    -5.8

    15.4

    1.2

    -2.7

    2.1

    1.9

    2.7

    3.5

    3.6

    3.2

    3.2

    Imports of goods, f.o.b.

    216.0

    186.6

    238.6

    271.6

    261.4

    274.9

    284.6

    295.1

    309.1

    324.1

    339.1

    354.9

    Growth rate (dollar terms)

    -5.6

    -13.6

    27.9

    13.8

    -3.8

    5.2

    3.5

    3.7

    4.7

    4.9

    4.6

    4.7

            Growth rate (volume terms)

    -5.8

    -10.4

    18.0

    1.0

    -4.1

    3.7

    3.5

    3.3

    3.4

    3.3

    3.3

    3.3

    Capital and financial account balance 5/

    -24.7

    -2.6

    3.6

    6.9

    -4.9

    -9.5

    -11.9

    -13.2

    -14.6

    -16.5

    -18.2

    -19.4

    Overall balance

    13.6

    18.4

    -7.1

    -10.2

    2.6

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    Gross official reserves (including net forward position, end of period) (billions of U.S. dollars)

    259.0

    286.5

    279.2

    245.8

    254.6

    262.5

    262.5

    262.5

    262.5

    262.5

    262.5

    262.5

    (Months of following year’s imports)

    16.7

    14.4

    12.3

    11.3

    11.1

    11.1

    10.7

    10.2

    9.7

    9.3

    8.9

    8.5

    (Percent of short-term debt) 6/

    338.0

    315.3

    291.2

    236.3

    242.7

    239.6

    231.7

    222.5

    213.7

    206.2

    199.6

    252.3

    (Percent of ARA metric)

    252.5

    278.3

    263.3

    222.3

    233.2

    231.8

    226.4

    219.2

    212.3

    205.4

    199.3

    200.0

    Exchange rate (baht/U.S. dollar)

    31.0

    31.3

    32.0

    35.1

    34.8

    35.3

    NEER appreciation (annual average)

    7.2

    -0.3

    -4.5

    -1.8

    3.9

    REER appreciation (annual average)

    5.8

    -2.6

    -5.7

    -1.1

    1.2

    External debt

                           

    (In percent of GDP)

    31.7

    38.0

    38.9

    40.6

    38.2

    38.4

    38.5

    38.6

    38.7

    38.7

    38.8

    38.8

    (In billions of U.S. dollars)

    172.7

    190.1

    196.9

    201.4

    196.5

    202.4

    213.1

    223.8

    233.8

    245.9

    257.0

    270.0

    Public sector 7/

    38.0

    37.2

    41.5

    41.2

    35.8

    38.4

    40.8

    43.3

    45.6

    48.1

    50.8

    53.7

    Private sector

    134.0

    152.9

    155.4

    160.3

    160.7

    164.5

    172.9

    181.1

    188.8

    198.3

    206.8

    217.0

    Medium- and long-term

    74.6

    79.4

    82.3

    82.3

    80.3

    80.7

    86.5

    91.1

    95.3

    101.5

    107.1

    114.0

    Short-term (including portfolio flows)

    59.4

    73.5

    73.1

    78.0

    80.4

    83.8

    86.4

    90.0

    93.5

    96.8

    99.7

    103.0

    Debt service ratio 8/

    7.8

    7.5

    6.3

    7.3

    7.9

    7.8

    7.8

    7.3

    8.3

    9.3

    10.3

    10.3

    Memorandum items:

                           

    Nominal GDP (billions of baht)

    16889.2

    15661.3

    16188.6

    17378.0

    17922.0

    18603.0

    19371.2

    20282.2

    21143.0

    22211.7

    23164.5

    24307.8

    (In billions of U.S. dollars)

    544.0

    500.5

    506.3

    495.6

    515.0

    527.1

    553.9

    580.2

    604.8

    635.4

    662.7

    695.4

    Output Gap (in percent of potential output)

    0.2

    -4.2

    -4.1

    -2.0

    -1.5

    -0.7

    0.0

    0.1

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    0.0

    Sources: Thai authorities; CEIC Data Co. Ltd.; and IMF staff estimates and projections.

    1/ This series reflects the new GDP data based on the chain volume measure methodology, introduced by the Thai authorities in May 2015.

    2/ On a fiscal year basis. The fiscal year ends on September 30.

    3/ Includes budgetary central government, extrabudgetary funds, and local governments.

    4/ Includes general government and SOEs.

    5/ Includes errors and omissions.

    6/ With remaining maturity of one year or less.

    7/ Excludes debt of state enterprises.

    8/ Percent of exports of goods and services.

                                                             

    [1] Under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country’s economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board.

    [2] The Executive Board takes decisions under its lapse-of-time procedure when the Board agrees that a proposal can be considered without convening formal discussions.

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Pavis Devahasadin

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/02/20/pr25040-thailand-imf-executive-board-concludes-2024-article-iv-consultation-with-thailand

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Baltimore Department Of Finance Employee Sentenced To Four Years In Connection With Bribery And Covid-19 Cares Act Scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Baltimore Department of Finance employee took more than $250,000 in bribes and obtained more than $143,000 in fraudulent COVID-19 relief benefits

    Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, today, sentenced Joseph Gillespie, age 35, of Baltimore City, Maryland, to four years in federal prison and three years of supervised release in connection with a bribery scheme and conspiracy to commit wire fraud scheme involving COVID-19 CARES Act relief benefits.

    Phil Selden, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Baltimore Field Office.

    “Defendant Gillespie abused the public trust through a bribery scheme and took advantage of money meant to help during the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated Acting United States Attorney Selden. “When government employees take bribes and public funds, it harms the very communities they are meant to serve. The District of Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office will relentlessly pursue those who try to compromise the public trust.”

    “Gillespie’s extensive schemes and lies ultimately cost hardworking taxpayers. Instead of performing his job with honesty, he looked for illicit ways to line his own pockets. This sentence proves that corruption never pays,” said FBI Baltimore SAC William J. DelBagno. “The FBI and our partners remain committed to holding accountable those who try to cheat the system for their own benefit and profit.”

    According to Gillespie’s plea agreement, beginning in 2016, and continuing to 2023, the Defendant engaged in a bribery scheme in which he abused his position of trust as a public official within the Baltimore City Department of Finance for his own personal gain.

    As an employee of the Baltimore City Department of Finance, Revenue Collections Department, Gillespie routinely accepted bribes from various property owners in Baltimore City (“the City”) whose property was subject to certain financial obligations, and if the obligations remained unpaid, to a tax sale.  He accepted these bribes — typically 10-15 percent of the amount owed to the City — in exchange for removing or extinguishing these financial obligations, including for citations, tax obligations, and water obligations – thereby causing losses to the City.  Gillespie also accepted bribes in exchange for delaying or postponing — without approval or permission from other City officials — due dates for the payment of outstanding financial obligations, fines, and payments owed to the City, thus forestalling the placement of a lien on the property by the City.

    Once Gillespie received the bribe payment, he would extinguish the financial obligation owed to the City by marking the obligations as paid in the City’s online records.  After removing the obligation, the Defendant would, at times, send a photograph of a cashier slip from his office reflecting that a payment was made towards a financial obligation owed to the City when, in fact, no such payment was made.

    Gillespie engaged in multiple covertly recorded telephone and video conversations with an FBI undercover agent (UC), in which the Defendant and the UC discussed the specifics of the bribery scheme outlined above.

    For example, in a recorded phone conversation with the UC, the UC confirmed the size of the bribe payment with the Defendant: “[S]o you want 100 for each property?” Defendant said, “yeah that’s basically how I do.”  Gillespie then informed the UC that he (Gillespie) had a “girl” in “water”— i.e., the Baltimore City Department of Public Works — that could “wipe some s*** out,” referring to financial obligations owed to the City.

    During a covert video recording of the conversation with the UC, Gillespie told the UC that he had the ability to “wipe a bill off” the City’s record of outstanding obligations tied to a particular property or to “put paid next to ‘em,” even though the financial obligation had not in fact been paid.  The Defendant further stated that he removed certain financial obligations linked to the properties that the UC told the Defendant were his, stating “[t]here was a couple, extra miscellaneous bills that y’all had that I wiped off . . . . That s*** gone now.”

    Gillespie also extended the deadline for payment of financial obligations owed to the City on eight properties by three months.  Gillespie asked for $800 in bribes in return — $100 for each of the eight properties, and, during the recorded meeting, the UC provided Gillespie $800 cash.  Gillespie also stated that he had the ability to wipe out overdue water bills owed to the City, “Once I let you know [about a big water bill], I’ll give it to my girl, and I’ll tell you what you need to give me for her to knock it off.”  Gillespie then stated:

    “Going forward, I’m just your inside man . . . That’s what I do for a lot of different people around the City.  You know what I mean – manage their s*** for them a little bit. . . .  I’m gonna go look at your s***.  Anyone with a high water bill I’m gonna text you the address, and I’m gonna tell you what I need, and we can knock them out going forward with that . . . . Any water bill that’s too high, I’ll get my girl to take care of that.”

    Gillespie’s bribery scheme continued for years thereafter, and he admitted that he enlisted the help of multiple co-conspirators in connection with his scheme.  According to the plea agreement, Gillespie received more than $250,000 in connection with the bribery scheme and caused losses to the City in excess of $1,250,000.

    Further, Gillespie also engaged in a scheme to fraudulent COVID-19 CARES relief funds.  Financial assistance offered through the CARES Act included forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses, through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), administered through the United States Small Business Administration (SBA).

    For example, in 2021, Gillespie and co-defendant Ahmed (“Adam”) Sary submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application to Cross River Bank to obtain a PPP loan for JAG Investments (“JAG”), a company the Defendant owned.  The PPP loan application contained numerous material misrepresentations, including that JAG, in 2019, had 19 employees and an average monthly payroll of more than $55,000. In support of the loan application, a fabricated 2019 Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Form 940 – Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return – was submitted, which falsely stated that JAG’s total payments to employees, in 2019, was more than $275,000.

    Based on the false representations and fraudulent submissions made on behalf of Gillespie as the owner of JAG, the PPP loan was funded on March 6, 2021, and approximately $138,000 was distributed to a bank account controlled by Gillespie. Gillespie agreed to pay Sary kickbacks totaling $38,000 for his work in submitting the false application and obtaining the fraudulent PPP loan.  In addition, after receipt of the PPP loan, Gillespie established payroll services for JAG to facilitate documentation that would later be used to substantiate a request for the PPP loan to be forgiven.

    The District of Maryland COVID-19 Strike Force is one of five strike forces established throughout the United States by the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute COVID-19 fraud, including fraud relating to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.  The CARES Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The strike forces focus on large-scale, multi-state pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors.  The strike forces are interagency law enforcement efforts, using prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams designed to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

    For more information about the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.  Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

    Acting United States Attorney Phil Selden commended the FBI for their work in the investigation, the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General and the Baltimore City Inspector General for assistance as well.  Mr. Selden thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul A. Riley and Evelyn L. Cusson who are prosecuting the federal case.

    For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Norman Gray, Founder and CEO Of Biomedical Company, Sentenced For Defrauding Investors Of More Than $13 Million

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that NORMAN GRAY, the founder and CEO of a biomedical company (the “Biomedical Company”), who defrauded investors of over $13 million, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer to 10 years in prison.  GRAY was convicted of wire fraud at trial on May 29, 2024.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “Norman Gray preyed upon people who wanted to invest in developing life-saving medicine for children with a rare and generally fatal disease.  Gray gained his victims’ trust by lying about everything from his educational background and to his supposed access to off-shore trusts he could use to fund his company alongside the investors.  He even submitted false patent applications, invented a fake mortgage company, and forged FBI background check records.  Thanks to the work of the career prosecutors of this Office and our law enforcement partners, Gray has now received just punishment.”

    According to the Superseding Indictment, public filings, public court proceedings, the evidence presented at trial and in connection with sentencing:

    At all relevant times, GRAY was the founder and CEO of the Biomedical Company, which is headquartered in Hamden, Connecticut.  GRAY presented himself to investors (including “Victim-1” and “Victim-2”) and others as a billionaire scientist and successful entrepreneur with a Ph.D. from MIT at the helm of a company he was personally funding that was potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  GRAY claimed to have previously created a successful medical equipment company (“Prior Company”) with over 1,000 employees, which was earning approximately $900 million in revenues before GRAY sold it to a foreign pharmaceutical company.  GRAY claimed that he put the profits from the sale of the Prior Company into his offshore trust (“Offshore Trust”), which he claimed held more than $300 million, and which he was using to self-fund the Biomedical Company.  In reality, GRAY did not have a Ph.D., had not created or sold a nearly billion-dollar company, did not have access to hundreds of millions of dollars to fund Biomedical Company, and, as of 2020, both he and the Biomedical Company were in significant debt. 

    Beginning in 2016, GRAY also claimed to employees and investors in Biomedical Company, including Victim-1 and Victim-2, and in written investment materials, that a flagship medication being developed by Biomedical Company was approved for compassionate treatment in Saudi Arabia, where it was saving the lives of two specific children who were suffering from a rare and generally fatal disease known as MVID.  Victim-2 sent $200,000 to GRAY to continue funding this supposed program.  GRAY submitted treatment data from the supposed program in patent applications for the flagship drug.  But the program did not exist.

    Based on GRAY’s misrepresentations, between 2018 and 2020, Victim-2 invested approximately $7.6 million in the Biomedical Company through wire transfers into accounts controlled by GRAY.  In May 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, GRAY fraudulently induced Victim-2 to invest into a joint venture with GRAY to purchase personal protective equipment (“PPE”) and resell it to hospitals and universities in the United States and Spain. GRAY provided Victim-2 with fabricated purchase orders from two New York-area hospitals purporting to show that he had close to $8 million of committed sales. Victim-2 sent three wire transfers totaling $1,751,342 to GRAY’s account.  Ultimately, the PPE that GRAY purchased  could not be sold, because it was defective or otherwise not fit for market, and Victim-2 lost the $1.75 million supposedly invested by GRAY into the PPE project.

    In or about August 2020, GRAY induced Victim-1 to send him $250,000 as a purported investment in the Biomedical Company.  Rather than purchase equity for Victim-1, GRAY used nearly all of Victim-1’s $250,000 payment to repay a loan that GRAY had taken out from a tenant in the same building where the Biomedical Company is headquartered in order to make payroll. In the ensuing weeks, GRAY extracted an additional $1,217,000 from Victim-1, representing that Victim-1’s funds would be invested in deals involving the procurement of PPE for two major universities in the tristate area who committed to close to $8 million in sales in essentially the same amounts as GRAY’s prior fabricated purchase orders sent to Victim-2.  Notwithstanding the losses Victim-2 had already experienced through GRAY’s venture, GRAY falsely represented to Victim-1 that his prior PPE deals had turned a 40% profit within 90 days, that he already had purchase orders in hand for PPE worth nearly $8 million, and that, therefore, the risk was “virtually zero.” In reality, over the preceding months, GRAY had accumulated a vast inventory of unsellable PPE, the purported purchase orders were recycled fakes, and GRAY did not invest Victim-1’s funds in PPE. Instead, GRAY misappropriated Victim-1’s funds, in part, to purchase himself a nearly $1 million home, a $50,000 luxury SUV, and to pay down $200,000 of his and his family’s credit card debt.

    As part of his scheme to defraud Victim-1, and as a means of dispelling Victim-1’s concern that an investment with GRAY might require Victim-1 to forego the purchase of a home, GRAY offered Victim-1 a mortgage from a purported boutique mortgage company of which he was the sole investor.  GRAY directed Victim-1 to a purported mortgage broker that worked for this boutique mortgage company.  In reality, both the mortgage company and the mortgage broker were completely fabricated by GRAY and did not exist.  To further this aspect of the fraud on Victim-1, GRAY registered an internet domain in the name of the purported mortgage company and created an email address in the name of the invented mortgage broker contemporaneously with making his false representations to Victim-1.   As GRAY’s fraud began to unravel in or about early November 2020, GRAY promised to return all of Victim-1’s money.  Ultimately, GRAY never returned any money to Victim-1 and, after Victim-1 asked GRAY to provide her with the purported PPE purchase orders from the two universities, she never heard from GRAY again.

    Victim-2 was a board member of the Biomedical Company at the time that GRAY defrauded Victim-1.  Following Victim-1’s report of GRAY’s fraud to the board in November 2020, accompanied by publicly available evidence of GRAY’s prior criminal history, GRAY reassured Victim-2 that he had no criminal history beyond driving infractions.  GRAY also produced to the board a fraudulent record purportedly from the FBI disclaiming any criminal history and falsely asserting that GRAY had a “top secret” clearance status renewed on November 14, 2016.  After being reassured by GRAY that Victim-1’s allegations were meritless, Victim-2 provided approximately over $2.3 million in loans separate from his over $7.5 million of Vanessa investments and $1.75 million of PPE investments.

    At trial, GRAY obstructed justice by attempting to introduce into evidence a false document supposedly drafted after GRAY’s fraud on Victim-1 was complete and purporting to memorialize an agreement by Victim-1 to “convert” her PPE investment into shares of Biomedical Company.

    *                *                *

    In addition to the prison term, GRAY, 69, of Hamden, Connecticut, was sentenced to 3 years of supervised release.  GRAY also was ordered to pay forfeiture in the amount of $1,467,000 and to forfeit his interest in the home and luxury vehicle discussed above.  The Court also ordered restitution of $1,533,675 to Victim-1.

    Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents of Homeland Security Investigations.  Mr. Podolsky also thanked the New Haven Police Department, as well as law enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom and Spain and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, for their assistance.

    This case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin A. Gianforti, Vladislav Vainberg, and Jessica Greenwood are in charge of the prosecution.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Dallas Man Sentenced to 13+ Years in Multi-Million Dollar Insurance Fraud

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    The architect of a nearly $5 million insurance fraud was sentenced today to more than 13 years in federal prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham. 

    Jordan Ford, 32, was charged via criminal complaint in June 2024 and pleaded guilty in September 2024 to a criminal information charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was sentenced Thursday to 157 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, who also ordered him to pay $4,471,338.92 in restitution to the defrauded insurance companies. 

    According to court documents, Mr. Ford and his coconspirators recruited insurance company employees to pull clients’ personal information from legitimate insurance claims. The employees handed those details over to Mr Ford. 

    Using the stolen information, Mr. Ford – posing as the client – called the insurance companies and requested they update the payment information to accounts he and his coconspirators controlled. 

    Other times, Mr. Ford paid insurance employees to lend him their company-issued laptops, logged onto the companies’ systems, and authorized and issued payments, which were sent to accounts he and his coconspirators controlled. 

    In total, the coconspirators misdirected funds from at least three insurance companies, netting more than $4.4 million. 

    All nine defendants charged in the scheme have pleaded guilty, including Mr. Ford’s lieutenant, Humberto Corona; Jaquan Hall and Elexis McLain, who recruited insurance employees and received and distributed fraudulent proceeds; and insurance employees Timothy Starling, Desiree Thomas, Daja Webb, and Sesedrick Wedlow, who were compensated for handing over stolen client information and allowing Mr. Ford to access company systems.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office and the Texas Department of Insurance conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Weybrecht is prosecuting the case. 

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Sacramento Man Charged With Multimillion-Dollar Bank Fraud and Pandemic Loan Fraud Scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment last week against Akash Kumar Singh, 48, of Sacramento, charging him with four counts of bank fraud and three counts of money laundering, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced. The indictment was unsealed following Singh’s arrest today.

    According to court documents, Singh fraudulently obtained more than $3 million in Paycheck Protection Program loan funds intended to help small businesses maintain payroll and operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Singh obtained at least two PPP loans for a Sacramento software development company he purported to lead called Kryptoblocks. Singh falsely claimed that Kryptoblocks generated millions of dollars in revenue and paid millions of dollars in employee wages in 2019 and 2020. In reality, Kryptoblocks generated little to no revenues and employed no individuals in the United States during this time.

    This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Stefanki is prosecuting the case.

    If convicted, Singh faces a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million or of twice the amount of criminally derived property involved in each money laundering count. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

    This effort is part of a California COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force operation, one of five interagency COVID-19 fraud strike force teams established by the U.S. Department of Justice. The California Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources in the Eastern and Central Districts of California and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors. The strike forces use prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reed Opposes Kash Patel as FBI Director

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed

    WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) issued the following statement on his vote opposing the confirmation of Kash Patel to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):

    “The person in charge of running America’s most elite and powerful law enforcement agency should be someone with unquestioned character and integrity, a person with vast experience and clear independence who will put the Constitution and public safety first.

    “When a Republican like William Webster, who served as President Reagan’s FBI and CIA Director, says Mr. Patel should not be FBI Director, people, especially Republicans, ought to listen.  Sadly, once again, my colleagues are going along to get along.

    “Kash Patel is by far the most partisan, ideological, and extremist pick for this critical position.  Mr. Patel has no experience as a senior law enforcement officer.  Rather, he was chosen for his submissive fealty to Donald Trump and rabid willingness to serve Trump’s personal interest instead of the public interest. 

    “Mr. Patel’s past actions and statements make clear his focus will be turning the FBI from an apolitical agency into Trump’s politically-motivated police force.  I am deeply concerned that Mr. Patel will abuse the FBI’s resources and direct them against anyone who disagrees with President Trump or declines to carry out Trump’s wishes, including members of the media exercising their First Amendment rights through accurate reporting and ordinary Americans exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and assembly.

    “Even Trump’s own Attorney General from his first term said that Patel would become FBI director over his dead body.  And Trump’s own Vice President and White House counsel from his first term intervened to prevent Patel from being appointed as CIA deputy director.  Having seen his work up close, they had grave concerns about giving Mr. Patel responsibility and authority to enforce the law.

    “And in a stunning move, Mr. Patel has refused to sell his shares of a Chinese company and stands to receive millions of dollars in compensation while he will be responsible for protecting the American people from the threats of Chinese espionage and cybercrime.

    “Mr. Patel routinely spreads misinformation and debunked conspiracies and cannot be trusted to be forthright and truthful to Congress or the American people.  For these reasons and more, he is not fit to lead the FBI.”

    In practice, FBI Directors serve a ten-year term that spans multiple administrations unless they resign, die, or are removed.  Over the last thirty years, there have been just four Senate-confirmed FBI Directors: Louis Freeh; Robert Mueller; James Comey; and Christopher Wray, who President Donald Trump nominated during his first term and who President Joe Biden kept on.

    This marks the first time in his Senate career that Senator Reed voted to oppose a nominee to lead the FBI.  Mr. Patel’s nomination was narrowly approved on a vote of 51-49.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reed: Federal Government Must Assist Flood Victims, Invest in Flood Resilience & Reauthorize National Flood Insurance Program

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed

    WASHINGTON, DC – After severe winter storms over the weekend caused major flooding and wind damage across several states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, and West Virginia, causing multiple deaths and leaving communities in disrepair, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a member of the Appropriations Committee, said it is important for the federal government to help states recover and assist flood victims and those directly impacted.  

    “When Rhode Island has been hit by major flooding in the past, the federal government has stepped in with real relief and it needs to do the same for people in Kentucky and other states impacted by climate change and severe weather.  These devastating floods are further proof that Congress must act swiftly to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program, invest in flood resilience, and double down on clean energy,” said Senator Reed.  “Ordinary Americans can see and feel the impacts of climate change and sea-level rise for themselves.  Climate change is real and is having a widespread, devastating impact.  The federal government can’t bury its head in the sand or drill its way out of this problem, it needs to invest wisely and help communities adapt.”  

    The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was originally established in 1968 and is the principal provider of flood insurance across the United States. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manages the flood-insurance program and pays NFIP claims.  

    NFIP’s authorization is set to expire on March 14, 2025 unless Congress and President Trump take action.  Project 2025 calls for abolishing the NFIP, which could cause major economic upheaval, disrupting home sales and property insurance nationwide.  

    All fifty states have been or are currently going through a federal-state assessment process with FEMA for how states conduct floodplain management programs for all state-owned properties and state-development projects that are in Special Flood Hazard Areas to determine compliance with the minimum requirements of the NFIP.  

    “Higher seas and stronger storms are already in the forecast and homeowners, renters, businesses, and communities nationwide are at risk of substantial losses due to flooding.  Insurance companies are abandoning entire states due to the risk of climate change driven weather. The National Flood Insurance Program provides a way to protect against such risk and the program should be reauthorized and improved to better protect the public,” said Senator Reed.  “We also need coordinated national action and global leadership on climate change.  President Trump is irresponsibly undoing long-term environmental investments in order to generate bigger tax windfalls for the wealthy.  Instead, we should be focusing on improving the resilience of American communities and our economy by strengthening our infrastructure and protecting natural resources.”  

    Reed noted that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) plays a key role monitoring extreme weather, tracking water levels, and informing communities and residents when life-threatening flooding may occur and prompting evacuations.  

    But despite the critical roles that both FEMA and NOAA play, the Trump Administration continues to target these federal agencies for mass-firings and funding cuts that could undercut their ability to protect Americans in future emergencies.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: 21 February 2025 30 new homes for Wairoa in construction The first new state homes in Wairoa in many years are now being built. Thirty single-storey homes will be built on a two-hectare site, Tihitihi Pā. The development will see a mix of two, three, four and six-bedroom homes built.

    Source: New Zealand Government Kainga Ora

    Whakamanamana Ltd is the development company behind the project. After two devastating floods in 2023 and 2024, Director of Operations Benji King wanted to come home and build on his involvement in the Wairoa community.

    “It’s clear that Wairoa has a dire need for more homes. I was happy to get stuck in to make sure the 30 homes that were proposed some time ago, get built.” Once completed, Kāinga Ora will purchase the homes for use as social housing.

    “It is rewarding to see siteworks progressing well. They should be completed in the next three months. Framing for the first homes has been erected and it is full steam ahead to get more homes started.”

    “We have contracted PCS Projects to build and manage the project. Fred van der Sande has been involved in this development for the last couple of years and he is the project manager.

    “A big focus for Fred and the PCS team has been to ensure local labour is used on the project. They have worked with the Wairoa Young Achievers Trust (WYAT) to recruit local rangatahi and ensure they have the opportunity to work towards a qualification. This has resulted in more Wairoa people taking on apprenticeships. It also means that 85% of the people working on the development are locals.

    Naomi Whitewood, Kāinga Ora Regional Director East North Island says Kāinga Ora is focused on delivering social housing in areas where it is most needed. “Wairoa is definitely one of those areas and we are happy to be a partner to this development. Seeing progress made on the site means that mokopuna and whānau will be moving into warm, dry, safe homes by the end of the year.”

    Wairoa District Council Deputy Mayor Denise Eaglesome. “The good that comes from this project is endless. A housing development of this size bounces our economy by giving local people work. We know that Wairoa needs more housing, there are too many people in this region that don’t have a home. Having a nice place to live is so important for whanau wellbeing.”

    The first homes on Tihitihi Pa are expected to be completed late this year with more following in 2026. They will be low maintenance and fully insulated with carpets, curtains, double glazing and heat pumps.

    Some of the new state homes being built in Wairoa

    Page updated: 21 February 2025

    MIL OSI New Zealand News

  • MIL-OSI Australia: $29 million set aside for Queensland roads and rail crossings

    Source: Australian Ministers 1

    Roads and rail crossings across Queensland will receive important safety upgrades thanks to almost $29 million in new Albanese Government funding. 

    $14.6 million will go towards 50 high-priority improvements to railway level crossings across the state’s regional road network. Projects will increase safety at these critical junctures, with potential works including upgrades to boom gates, flashing lights, signage, sealing and more. 

    The Albanese Government recognises that local governments are crucial to maintaining and upgrading transport infrastructure.

    A further $14.17 million will help fund the following four new projects under the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program (SLRIP):

    • Almost $4.5 million to the Mareeba Shire Council for widening Leadingham Creek Road and upgrading the culvert at Sandy Creek in Dimbulah. 
    • $5 million to theQueensland Department of Transport and Main Roads for a new heavy vehicle rest area on the Kennedy Highway (Cairns–Mareeba) at Koah.
    • Almost $3 million to the Moreton Bay Regional Council for the Caboolture River Road Safety Upgrades in Upper Caboolture & $1.7 million for the O’Mara Road Upgrade at Narangba. 

    The SLRIP is part of the Albanese Government’s commitment to support the delivery of safer roads across Australia. 

    Investment for the level crossings falls under the Government’s Regional Level Crossing Upgrade Fund (RLCUF), which aims to improve railway crossing safety in regional areas and reduce serious and fatal accidents that have a devastating impact on communities.

    Further information on the information on the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program is available here, and Regional Level Crossing Upgrade Fund here.

    Quotes attributable to Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister, Catherine King:

    The Albanese Government recognises that local governments are crucial to maintaining and upgrading transport infrastructure.

    “We have increased funding under the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program to make sure we continue to invest in better, safer local roads across Queensland and Australia. 

    “We are committed to delivering the funding local councils need to improve road safety and in a way that reduces the burden on them, allowing more money to be spent on projects and less on administration.”

    Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Senator for Queensland, Anthony Chisholm:

    “Councils know their local road networks inside out, that’s why we’re backing four much needed roads projects thanks to the additional $14.17 million.

    “But it’s not just roads, our state’s growing dependence on rail transport for freight is why we’re working with the State Government on improving rail crossing safety across Queensland.

    “The $14.6 million worth of funding will support the delivery of low-cost treatments such as boom gates, signage, flashing lights and rumble strips, which aim to better alert motorists and pedestrians approaching regional rail crossings.”

     

    Funded projects – Regional Level Crossing Upgrade Fund:

    Project / Railway crossing

    Project location 

    Jambin Dakenba Road (ID6025)

    Earlsfield

    105 Callemondah Drive (ID6090)

    Callemondah

    105 Callemondah Drive (ID708)

    Callemondah

    Saville Road level crossing improvement works

    Allenview

    Booroondarra Road

    Middlemount

    Bulliwallah Rd Level Crossing Upgrade Project

    Belyando

    Tolmies Road

    Blackwater

    Tryphinia Road

    Locality – Wallaroo

    Stratford Rd Level Crossing Upgrade Project

    Mt Cooloon

    Mourindilla Road

    Dingo

    Robino Road Crossing Light Installation

    Braemeadows

    Camp Creek Road level crossing upgrade to active controls

    Running Creek

    Sarina upgrade

    Sarina

    Jambin Dakenba Road (ID6554)

    Earlsfield

    BSL Greatheads

    Woongarra

    Alma Street Crossing Light Installation

    Halifax

    BSL Managers House

    Qunaba

    BSL Ashfield

    Ashfield

    BSL Klotzs

    Windermere

    BSL Golcherts

    Woongarra

    BSL Bargara School

    Qunaba

    Yarrawonga Road

    Blackwater

    Innisfree Road

    Emerald

    533 Marian – Eton Road Ch 0.344km

    Marion

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 5

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 6

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    Wilson St and Kennedy Development Rd intersection

    Winton

    88A Bowen Developmental Road (Bowen-Collinsville) Ch32.6km

    Bowen

    10G Bruce Highway (St Lawrence – Mackay) Ch142.28km

    Mackay

    10G Bruce Highway (St Lawrence – Mackay) Ch 144.307km

    Mackay

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 1

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 2

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 3

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 4

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 5

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 6

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 7

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    614 OLC Upgrade project – Site 8

    Ingham / Trebonne / Abergowrie

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 1

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 2

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 3

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 4

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 7

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 8

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 9

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    824 OLC Upgrade project site 10

    Ingham / Halifax / Bemerside

    Whitsunday Coast Airport access road (Lascelles Avenue)

    Gunyarra

    Alice Street Mitchell

    Mitchell

    Cunningham Street Dalby

    Dalby

    Nicolson Street Dalby

    Dalby

    MIL OSI News

  • MIL-OSI: E Split Corp. Renews At-The-Market Equity Program

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Feb. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — (TSX: ENS, ENS.PR.A) E Split Corp. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has renewed its at-the-market equity program (“ATM Program”) that allows the Company to issue Class A and Preferred Shares (the “Class A Shares” and “Preferred Shares”, respectively) to the public from time to time, at the Company’s discretion. Any Class A Shares or Preferred Shares sold in the ATM Program will be sold through the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) or any other marketplace in Canada on which the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares are listed, quoted or otherwise traded at the prevailing market price at the time of sale.

    Sales of Class A Shares and Preferred Shares through the ATM Program will be made pursuant to the terms of an equity distribution agreement dated February 14, 2025 (the “Equity Distribution Agreement”) with National Bank Financial Inc. (the “Agent”). Sales of Class A Shares and Preferred Shares will be made by way of “at-the-market distributions” as defined in National Instrument 44-102 Shelf Distributions on the TSX or on any marketplace for the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares in Canada. Since the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares will be distributed at the prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, prices may vary among purchasers during the period of distribution.

    The ATM Program is being offered pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated February 14, 2025 to the Company’s short form base shelf prospectus dated February 12, 2025. The maximum gross proceeds from the issuance of the shares will be $200,000,000 for each of the Class A and Preferred Shares. Copies of the prospectus supplement and the short form base shelf prospectus may be obtained from your registered financial advisor or from representatives of the Agent and are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.. The volume and timing of distributions under the ATM Program, if any, will be determined at the Company’s sole discretion. The ATM Program will be effective until March 13, 2027, unless terminated prior to such date by the Company.

    The Company intends to use the proceeds from the ATM Program in accordance with the investment objectives and investment strategies of the Company, subject to the investment restrictions of the Company. E Split Corp. invests in a portfolio comprised primarily of common shares of Enbridge Inc. (“Enbridge”), a leading North American oil and gas pipeline, gas processing, and natural gas distribution company. Middlefield Capital Corporation provides investment management advice to the Company.

    The investment objectives for the Class A Shares are to provide holders with non-cumulative monthly cash distributions and to provide holders with the opportunity for capital appreciation potential. The investment objectives for the Preferred Shares are to provide holders with fixed cumulative preferential quarterly cash distributions, currently in the amount of $0.1750 per Preferred Share, and to return the original issue price to holders of Preferred Shares on June 30, 2028.

    For further information, please visit our website at www.middlefield.com or contact Nancy Tham in our Sales and Marketing Department at 1.888.890.1868.

    You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell shares of the investment funds on the Toronto Stock Exchange or other alternative Canadian trading system (an “exchange”). If the shares are purchased or sold on an exchange, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying shares of the investment fund and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them. There are ongoing fees and expenses associated with owning shares of an investment fund. An investment fund must prepare disclosure documents that contain key information about the funds. You can find more detailed information about the fund in the public filings available at www.sedar.com. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns including changes in share value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account certain fees such as redemption costs or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

    Certain statements in this press release may be viewed as forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as “expects”, “is expected”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “estimates” or “intends” (or negative or grammatical variations thereof), or stating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements including as a result of changes in the general economic and political environment, changes in applicable legislation, and the performance of each fund. There are no assurances the funds can fulfill such forward-looking statements and the funds do not undertake any obligation to update such statements. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing one or more of the funds, many of which are beyond the control of the funds. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Real Estate Split Corp. Renews At-The-Market Equity Program

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States.

    TORONTO, Feb. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — (TSX: RS, RS.PR.A) Real Estate Split Corp. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has renewed its at-the-market equity program (“ATM Program”) that allows the Company to issue Class A and Preferred Shares (the “Class A Shares” and “Preferred Shares”, respectively) to the public from time to time, at the Company’s discretion. Any Class A Shares or Preferred Shares sold in the ATM Program will be sold through the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) or any other marketplace in Canada on which the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares are listed, quoted or otherwise traded at the prevailing market price at the time of sale.

    Sales of Class A Shares and Preferred Shares through the ATM Program will be made pursuant to the terms of an equity distribution agreement dated February 14, 2025 (the “Equity Distribution Agreement”) with National Bank Financial Inc. (the “Agent”). Sales of Class A Shares and Preferred Shares will be made by way of “at-the-market distributions” as defined in National Instrument 44-102 Shelf Distributions on the TSX or on any marketplace for the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares in Canada. Since the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares will be distributed at the prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, prices may vary among purchasers during the period of distribution.

    The ATM Program is being offered pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated February 14, 2025 to the Company’s short form base shelf prospectus dated February 12, 2025. The maximum gross proceeds from the issuance of the shares will be $75,000,000 for each of the Class A and Preferred Shares. Copies of the prospectus supplement and the short form base shelf prospectus may be obtained from your registered financial advisor or from representatives of the Agent and are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The volume and timing of distributions under the ATM Program, if any, will be determined at the Company’s sole discretion. The ATM Program will be effective until March 13, 2027, unless terminated prior to such date by the Company.

    The Company intends to use the proceeds from the ATM Program in accordance with the investment objectives and investment strategies of the Company, subject to the investment restrictions of the Company. Real Estate Split Corp. has been designed to provide investors with a diversified, actively managed, high conviction portfolio comprised of issuers operating in the real estate or related sectors, including real estate investment trusts, that are engaged in E-Commerce, data infrastructure as well as the multi-family, retail, office and healthcare sectors. Middlefield Capital Corporation provides investment management advice to the Company.

    The investment objectives for the Class A Shares are to provide holders with non-cumulative monthly cash distributions and to provide holders with the opportunity for capital appreciation potential. On August 17, 2021, the monthly cash distribution was increased to $0.13 per Class A Share from $0.10 per Class A Share. The investment objectives for the Preferred Shares are to provide holders with fixed cumulative preferential quarterly cash distributions, currently in the amount of $0.13125 per Preferred Share, and to return the original issue price to holders of Preferred Shares on December 31, 2025.

    For further information, please visit our website at www.middlefield.com or contact Nancy Tham in our Sales and Marketing Department at 1.888.890.1868.

    You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell shares of the investment funds on the Toronto Stock Exchange or other alternative Canadian trading system (an “exchange”). If the shares are purchased or sold on an exchange, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying shares of the investment fund and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them. There are ongoing fees and expenses associated with owning shares of an investment fund. An investment fund must prepare disclosure documents that contain key information about the funds. You can find more detailed information about the fund in the public filings available at www.sedar.com. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns including changes in share value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account certain fees such as redemption costs or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

    Certain statements in this press release may be viewed as forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as “expects”, “is expected”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “estimates” or “intends” (or negative or grammatical variations thereof), or stating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements including as a result of changes in the general economic and political environment, changes in applicable legislation, and the performance of each fund. There are no assurances the funds can fulfill such forward-looking statements and the funds do not undertake any obligation to update such statements. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing one or more of the funds, many of which are beyond the control of the funds. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Tom Geisel to Join Dime’s Senior Executive Leadership Team

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., Feb. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: DCOM) (the “Company” or “Dime”), the parent company of Dime Community Bank (the “Bank”), announced today that Thomas X. Geisel will join Dime as Senior Executive Vice President of Commercial Lending. Mr. Geisel will be responsible for the continued buildout and diversification of Dime’s commercial lending business.

    Stuart H. Lubow, President and CEO said, “Dime has had tremendous success growing core deposits and business loans over the past two years by taking advantage of the significant disruption in our marketplace and adding talent to our organization. Recruiting Tom to our organization is the next logical step in the execution of our business plan. Tom has a proven track record as a business leader and he was instrumental in the growth and transformation of Sterling National Bank into a highly profitable $30 billion institution. Tom is an experienced leader and well-known brand name in the New York Metropolitan market. I look forward to working with him closely as we advance Dime’s mission of being the best business bank in New York.”

    Mr. Geisel stated, “I’m very pleased to join Dime and be part of the growth story. Dime’s entrepreneurial culture and customer first mindset attracted me to the institution.  Its strong balance sheet and best-in-class capital strength provides an attractive foundation for talented commercial bankers. I look forward to working with Stu and the management team to leverage its positive momentum in creating a high performing, local champion.” 

    Mr. Geisel has a diverse financial services background, including leadership experience growing regional banks for more than twenty years. He was President of Corporate Banking, at Webster Bank (formally known as Sterling National Bank). Prior to Sterling National Bank, Mr. Geisel was President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Sun Bancorp. Prior to Sun Bancorp, Mr. Geisel was at KeyCorp, including serving as President of the Northeast Region where he was responsible for $20 billion of assets within seven states, including commercial, consumer and private banking. He also helped to build the company’s general M&A investment banking practice in the East and West regions. Most recently, he was recruited to lead a turnaround of Republic First, which culminated in an assisted transaction.

    ABOUT DIME COMMUNITY BANCSHARES, INC.

    Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. is the holding company for Dime Community Bank, a New York State-chartered trust company with over $14 billion in assets and the number one deposit market share among community banks on Greater Long Island (1).

    Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.
    Investor Relations Contact:
    Avinash Reddy
    Senior Executive Vice President – Chief Financial Officer
    Phone: 718-782-6200; Ext. 5909
    Email: avinash.reddy@dime.com

    1 Aggregate deposit market share for Kings, Queens, Nassau & Suffolk counties for community banks with less than $20 billion in assets.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fischer Questions Steven Bradbury at Confirmation Hearing

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Nebraska Deb Fischer
    Today, U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, questioned Steven Bradbury at the confirmation hearing on his nomination to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation.  
    During the hearing, Senator Fischer asked Bradbury about his commitment to supporting rural America, specifically citing small, rural Nebraska communities, by maintaining the Essential Air Service (EAS) program for smaller to medium-sized airports. She also questioned him on his plans to ensure that all state Departments of Transportation receive clear, consistent guidance from the Federal Highway Administration over funding requests. Finally, Senator Fischer asked Bradbury how he plans to hold companies like Amtrak accountable for using their grants efficiently and effectively.
    Click the image above to watch a video of Senator Fischer’s questioning
    Click here to download audio
    Click here to download video
    Senator Fischer questions Steven Bradbury:
    Senator Fischer: Mr. Bradbury, as you know, rural communities rely heavily on the Essential Air Service program. It provides them with connectivity and access to critical services. In my home state of Nebraska, we have seven communities that are served by Essential Air Service. It provides these communities not just with an increased opportunity to connect with the outside world, but it serves to help them attract business, attract visitors, and it drives local economies.
    Yesterday, in our meeting to get to know each other and have a good conversation—thank you for coming—you mentioned looking at potential reforms to Essential Air Service, and you said, including examining the subsidies that airports receive. Are you willing to commit to me and the committee today that you stand with rural America, and ensure that our airports are able to maintain the Essential Air Service that meets those needs?
    Steven Bradbury: Yes, Senator, I appreciated our chance to meet together. Thank you very much for being available to meet with me. I appreciated that. The Secretary, I think, in his hearing, made it very clear he’s a strong supporter of Essential Air Service, and I certainly know how important it is to small and medium communities across the country, and clearly it has very strong support in Congress. And whatever proposals may have been made to reconsider that or phase it out, I don’t think that’s realistic, and I don’t expect to be pushing for anything approaching sunsetting or eliminating Essential Air Service. There are still decisions that the department makes in implementing the program and examining whether communities are meeting the metrics stated for the program. And that’s a process that happens periodically, and it’s a very important process. And sometimes new communities come into the program, and that’s something the Secretary will look at. And I expect to assist him in that with an eye to preserving the effectiveness of the program. Senator Fischer: Thank you. I also appreciated the opportunity yesterday to show you my frustration with FHWA. They seem to be struggling to provide any kind of clear, consistent guidance across their division offices. And as I stated yesterday, I’ve heard from state Departments of Transportation that there is a lack of that consistent guidance from U.S. DOT regarding the requirements needed for states, such as to justify building back better after a disaster. If confirmed, how would you work across the Federal Highway Administration to ensure that division offices are consistent, that they are clear in their guidance to our state DOTs?
    Steven Bradbury: Well, thank you, Senator, it really requires strong leadership from the head of FHWA and the Secretary out to those field offices. Consistency is critical, but also making clear that the states have a strong role in deciding the use of the funds that come into them from the Highway Trust Fund, but we need a focus on safety, efficiency, capacity, and resilience of our infrastructure—and not to be distracted by other goals, policy goals that may not be necessary and that may divert from those central, important goals of safety and efficiency. So, I think that consistency is critical and working closely with the state and the state DOTs is absolutely essential.
    Senator Fischer: I hope we can work together on that. It is extremely important, and we can certainly see cost savings when things are more streamlined and made available to the states, so they can get those projects out there and get them going. On rail service, Americans, they want safe and reliable rail service. With Amtrak, that’s not always been fiscally responsible, I believe, nor have they been cooperative with their state rail partners, who are operating profitable rail service across the network. I have some legislation on that, the Amtrak Transparency Act. It would require them to have open board meetings to state partners and requires disclosure of executive bonuses. I’m sure you recall the articles that came out about those bonuses several months ago, totally indefensible that they were given. As the DOT Deputy Secretary, how will you address concerns over Amtrak’s fiscal responsibility and ensure that they work well with their state rail partners?
    Steven Bradbury: Well, thank you. I appreciate those goals and definitely would look forward to working with you and this committee on any legislation that would address that. But with regard to the current situation with Amtrak, there’s so much additional funding that has been provided to Amtrak. There’s so much money in the system. We really need to take a careful look and ensure that it’s being used efficiently and effectively. And there shouldn’t be any wasteful spending, unnecessary bonuses that don’t make sense, and certainly they need to cooperate closely with states and local interests on their passenger service. You know, just before COVID hit, Amtrak was on the brink of finally being in the black for the first time across their network. Of course, that still assumes a lot of grant money coming from Congress. Real tragedy for Amtrak what COVID did in terms of hitting it. And it’s still coming back, but we really need to take a hard look at the economics.
    Senator Fischer: Thank you.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Politico Pro: Senate Dems press RFK Jr. for more ethics pledges ahead of floor vote

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
    February 06, 2025
    Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent ethics concessions aren’t assuaging two Senate Democrats on the panels charged with vetting his nomination to be HHS secretary.
    Senate Finance member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions member Tim Kaine (D-Va.) demanded additional commitments from Kennedy on Wednesday ahead of his confirmation vote – which could occur as soon as next week – to mitigate what they say are continued conflicts of interest.
    In a letter shared first with POLITICO, the pair asked Kennedy to either forfeit his financial interest in all cases he’s referred to Wisner Baum that involve HHS-regulated entities or accept a lump sum unrelated to their outcomes. That law firm is leading litigation against Merck’s HPV vaccine, Gardasil.
    They also called for Kennedy to recuse himself from matters involving former clients and employers for four years and to commit to not lobbying the department or litigating cases against pharma companies for at least four years after he leaves office. The senators requested a response by Friday.

    Read the full article here.
    By:  Lauren GardnerSource: Politico Pro

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Bloomberg Tax: Warren Demands Watchdog Probe of Musk Team’s Treasury Access

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
    February 07, 2025
    Democrats led by Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on Treasury and IRS watchdogs to probe federal payment system access granted to tech billionaire Elon Musk or his surrogates.
    Treasury has faced the ire of Democrats in both the House and Senate, and face lawsuits accusing the agency and newly confirmed Secretary Scott Bessent of breaking federal laws by providing access. Conflicting responses from Treasury and President Donald Trump about what happened is leading to more confusion. “
    Senators Warren, Wyden, and Reed each wrote to Secretary Bessent days ago seeking information about the facts underlying these disturbing reports. The Department of the Treasury’s (Department) response raised more questions than it answered,” Warren wrote in the letter.
    Bessent told Bloomberg News Thursday that Musk’s team had read-only access to federal payment data and denied any “tinkering.”
    Democrats in the House raised alarms this week that access could mean Musk and his team improperly reviewed confidential taxpayer information.

    Read the full article here.
    By:  Chris CioffiSource: Bloomberg Tax
    Previous Article

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Property Market – All eyes on lower mortgage rates as investors return – CoreLogic

    Source: CoreLogic

    Easing mortgage rates and further cuts on the horizon could drive further growth in borrower activity, potentially starting to lift NZ’s property market out of its recent soft patch.

    CoreLogic NZ’s February Housing Chart Pack shows increased market activity among ‘movers’ and mortgaged multiple property owners (MPOs) in January, rising to 28% and 24% of property purchases respectively.

    By contrast, first home buyers’ (FHBs) market share dropped back slightly to 25% last month, from 26% in Q4 last year. However, it remains at above-average levels.

    CoreLogic NZ Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson said although a modest upturn for property values may emerge in the coming months, current conditions remain favourable for all buyer types.

    “Investors, in particular, have certainly started to return at levels not seen since 2021. Falling mortgage rates have been a key factor, significantly reducing the income top-ups typically required to sustain cashflow on recent rental property purchases,” he said

    “They’ve also benefited from the easing in the LVR rules from 1st July last year, and the looming full reinstatement of interest deductibility from April this year.”

    Mr Davidson noted that while the market share for FHBs had edged down, the group remains a strong force, particularly in areas such as Hamilton and Wellington, where they continue to hold high market shares.

    “We expect this group to maintain a strong market presence in 2025, as overall deal volumes rise, even though their share of activity may dip a bit,” he added.

    Mr Davidson said with the OCR and credit conditions set to ease further, all eyes will be on loosening mortgage terms in coming months.

    “A key theme to watch this year is the terms that borrowers choose when taking out a new loan or repricing an existing mortgage. Recently, the focus has been on floating rates or short-term fixes, but at some stage in 2025, that could switch back to an emphasis on longer-term rates, especially if global uncertainty stays elevated.

    “All in all, 2025 could see a subdued upturn for the property market, with values nationally rising by around 5%,” he concluded.

    Highlights from the February 2025 Housing Chart Pack include:

    • New Zealand’s residential real estate market is worth a combined $1.61 trillion.
    • The CoreLogic Home Value Index shows property values across New Zealand edged down by another 0.1% in January. Over the year to January, values dipped by 4.3%, with the level now back down at an 18-month low.
    • Total listings on the market were 29,301 in January to be 25% up on the five-year average. Total listing counts in Northland and Waikato are lower than last year, but Canterbury, Wellington, Otago, and Gisborne have seen sizeable increases of 15% and more.
    • Rental market conditions remained flat amid slowing net migration. The pace of rental growth has now dropped to lows not seen since 2022.
    • Gross rental yields now stand at 3.9%, which Is the highest level since early 2016.
    • Around 71% of NZ’s existing mortgages by value are currently fixed but due to reprice onto a new mortgage rate over the next 12 months.
    • Inflation is firmly back in the 1–3% target range, and with February’s 0.5% cut, further OCR reductions seem likely in the coming months.

    Download and subscribe to the monthly CoreLogic Housing Chart Pack at: https://corelogic.co.nz/news-research/reports/housing-chart-pack

    MIL OSI New Zealand News

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Post-war order facing ‘greatest test since its creation’: UN relief chief

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Humanitarian Aid

    The international system set up among the ashes of the Second World War which established the United Nations and other multilateral institutions is now facing the “greatest test since its creation,” the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said on Thursday.

    Tom Fletcher was addressing the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) which was set up by the UN General Assembly in the early 1990s as a coordination forum for humanitarian aid worldwide.

    The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis,” he said, framing his remarks as personal reflections based on earlier discussions within the IASC.

    “We took time to recognize the devastating impact that funding cuts will have on those we serve, our partners, and our teams,” he continued.

    Without referencing any specific loss in funding – but against the backdrop of a suspension of most humanitarian spending by the new administration in Washington – Mr. Fletcher appealled for the aid community to be “calm, brave, principled, and united.”

    He said they need to make the case strongly for greater international solidarity.

    “We can draw confidence from extraordinary progress made by humanitarians over decades. The mission is right. Our allies are still out there. But the delivery system is struggling. We need to be lighter, faster, and less bureaucratic.”

    Four-point plan

    The UN relief chief said there needed to be four priorities: first, be clear that saving lives is paramount.

    “We agreed to remain independent, neutral, and impartial. This does not mean we do not pick a side: we are on the side of those in greatest need.”

    Secondly, he said duplication and bureaucracy must be pared down under a new “bold plan” of action.

    “Donors must simplify too. We must innovate or become obsolete. We will prioritize robustly and make the toughest choices. I have commissioned urgent work to identify how we could reach the 100 million people in greatest need.”

    ‘Genuine partnership’ with private sector

    He said aid chiefs must find new partners, not just rely on traditional sources and governments. This must include “genuine partnership” with the private sector and the World Bank.

    I believe there is a movement of billions of people who care, and who want to act in solidarity with those in most need. We should launch a public campaign to fill in the gaps left by governments, targeting the equivalent of 0.7 per cent for each country.”

    Mr. Fletcher said turf wars between agencies need to end with each organization focusing on what it does “uniquely well”.

    Leadership needs to be empowered, he added, with great authority vested in UN Humanitarian Coordinators throughout the system.

    Third, there needs to be more devolution, giving more power and accountability to local partners who are suffering the most from cuts.

    Fourth, aid workers need to defend their work more robustly.

    End impunity

    “We need to call time on the era of impunity: end attacks on civilians and aid workers; and hold perpetrators to account. We must communicate more clearly the impact we have and the cost of inaction, with humanity not institutions at the heart of the story.”

    Humanitarians worldwide are “underfunded, overstretched and under attack,” he declared, but the argument for lifesaving aid has not been lost: “Our cause is mighty, and our movement is strong.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler Issues Statement

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    WASHINGTON — Today, former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler issued the following statement after she was sworn in to serve as the 28th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration:

    “I am grateful to President Trump for entrusting me with the privilege and responsibility of serving America’s 34 million small businesses, who are the backbone of our nation’s economy. For four years, Main Street has borne the burden of inflation, unaccountable bureaucracy, excessive regulation, and unchecked fraud, waste, and abuse. It is a new day at the SBA as we begin immediate work to restore the agency to its founding mission of growing small business, fueling free enterprise, and driving economic resilience.

    “There’s no greater honor than to work with President Trump to advance the America First agenda by empowering our entrepreneurs. With a focus on Main Street, Made in America, and accountability, the SBA will help unleash a new golden era for job creators and the communities that rely on them.”

    SBA Administrator Loeffler was sworn in at the SBA headquarters this afternoon in Washington, D.C. A ceremonial swearing-in ceremony will be held at a later date. Follow SBA Administrator Loeffler on X and Instagram.

    # # #

     

    About the U.S. Small Business Administration
    The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Vice President of Health Care Software and Services Company Pleads Guilty to $1B Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

    Source: US State of Vermont

    A Kansas man pleaded guilty today to operating an internet-based platform that generated false doctors’ orders to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs of more than $1 billion.

    According to court documents, Gregory Schreck, 50, of Johnson County, admitted that he and his co-conspirators targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries to provide their personally identifiable information and agree to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces, pain creams, and other items through misleading mailers, television advertisements, and calls from offshore call centers. Schreck and his co-conspirators owned, controlled, and operated DMERx, an internet-based platform that generated false and fraudulent doctors’ orders for orthotic braces, pain creams, and other items for these beneficiaries. Schreck, a vice president of the company that operated DMERx, admitted that he offered to connect pharmacies, durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, and marketers with telemedicine companies that would accept illegal kickbacks and bribes in exchange for signed doctors’ orders that were transmitted using the DMERx platform. Schreck and his co-conspirators received payments for coordinating these illegal kickback transactions and referring the completed doctors’ orders to the DME suppliers, pharmacies, and telemarketers that paid for them. The fraudulent doctors’ orders generated by DMERx falsely represented that a doctor had examined and treated the Medicare beneficiaries when, in reality, purported telemedicine companies paid doctors to sign the orders without regard to medical necessity and based only on a brief telephone call with the beneficiary, or sometimes no interaction with the beneficiary at all. The DME suppliers and pharmacies that paid illegal kickbacks in exchange for these doctors’ orders generated through DMERx billed Medicare and other insurers more than $1 billion. Medicare and the insurers paid more than $360 million based on these false and fraudulent claims.

    Schreck pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting Special Agent in Charge Isaac Bledsoe of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office; Acting Special Agent in Charge Justin E. Fleck of the FBI Miami Field Office; Special Agent in Charge David Spilker of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG)’s Southeast Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Jason Sargenski of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Southeast Field Office made the announcement.

    HHS-OIG, FBI, VA-OIG, and DCIS are investigating the case.

    Trial Attorneys Darren C. Halverson and Jennifer E. Burns of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Fraud Section Trial Attorneys Andrea Savdie and Shane Butland assisted in the prosecution.

    The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Kugler, Navigating Inflation Waves: A Phillips Curve Perspective

    Source: US State of New York Federal Reserve

    Thank you, Tom, and thank you for the invitation to give the Whittington Lecture.1 It is humbling to be here giving this lecture to honor the memory and legacy of Leslie Whittington. While I did not cross paths with Leslie here at Georgetown University, when I arrived, I heard so many stories about her contributions to the school, the university, and the students. She worked on research about the effects of economic policies on children and families, so I know that if I had had the good fortune to overlap with her as a colleague, I would have benefited greatly from her work and presence. It is also an honor to be giving this lecture, because so many dynamic leaders have previously stood before you, including some who have been inspirations to me in my career, such as Alice Rivlin and Cecilia Rouse.
    Today I will be discussing a topic that has certainly captured the attention of central bankers, and the public at large, in recent years: inflation and the relationship between inflation and unemployment. But before I talk about a lens through which to think about the inflation experienced in the pandemic period, I want to update you with my views on the current outlook for the U.S. economy and the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) efforts to sustainably return inflation to our 2 percent objective while maintaining a strong labor market.
    Economic OutlookThe overall picture is that the U.S. economy remains on a firm footing, with output growing at a solid pace. Real gross domestic product grew 2.5 percent in 2024. Consumer spending continued to drive this solid pace last year. While retail sales posted a decline last month, January data are often difficult to interpret. Bad weather and seasonal adjustment difficulties may have affected the release, and it should be noted the slowdown came after a strong pace of sales in the second half of last year. That said, as usual, I pay attention to many indicators to gauge the state of the economy. Employment readings show that the labor market is healthy and stable. Payroll job gains have been solid recently, averaging 189,000 per month over the past four months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). After touching 4.2 percent as recently as November, the unemployment rate has flattened to 4 percent since then, consistent with a labor market that is neither weakening nor showing signs of overheating.
    Inflation has fallen significantly since its peak in the middle of 2022, though the path continues to be bumpy and inflation remains somewhat elevated. Readings last week from the BLS showed price pressures persisted in the economy in January. Our preferred inflation gauge at the Fed, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, will be released next week. Based on the consumer price index and producer price index data for January, it is estimated that the PCE index advanced about 2.4 percent on a 12-month basis in January. Excluding food and energy costs, core prices are estimated to have risen 2.6 percent. Those readings show there is still some way to go before achieving the FOMC’s 2 percent objective.
    Regarding monetary policy, the FOMC judged in September that it was time to begin reducing our policy interest rate from levels that were strongly restrictive on aggregate demand and putting downward pressure on inflation. We reduced that rate 100 basis points through December, leaving our policy rate at moderately restrictive levels. At our latest meeting in January, I supported the decision to hold the policy rate steady. I see this as appropriate, given that the downward risks to employment have diminished but upside risks to inflation remain. The potential net effect of new economic policies also remains highly uncertain and will depend on the breadth, duration, reactions to, and, importantly, specifics of the measures adopted.
    Going forward, in considering the appropriate federal funds rate, we will watch these developments closely and continue to carefully assess the incoming data and evolving outlook.
    Now, turning back to the main topic of my speech, I will start with the core mission of the Federal Reserve: to pursue the dual mandate, given to us by Congress, of promoting maximum employment and stable prices. We saw firsthand during the pandemic period why the price-stability portion of the mandate is so important. High inflation imposes significant hardship and erodes Americans’ purchasing power, especially for those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation. As a policymaker and economist, I think it is vitally important to have a good understanding of inflation dynamics and how those dynamics may have evolved over time. This knowledge allows me to pursue the best policies to deliver stable prices while maintaining a solid labor market.
    Waves of InflationFive years after the pandemic took hold suddenly and with little warning, there is a tendency to remember the inflation buildup as a fast and uniform phenomenon. But that was not the case. Inflation stemming from the pandemic shock came in waves. Today I will first describe the different waves of inflation experienced in the pandemic period. Then I invite you aboard the sailboat that we will use to navigate those waves: You could call it the SS Phillips Curve. The Phillips curve is a model that has been used for a long time to try to explain inflation dynamics and the tradeoffs between inflation and unemployment. Finally, I will discuss with you how this voyage may have changed the charts for policymakers.
    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S., and much of the world’s developed economies, experienced a prolonged period of low inflation. Then, when the economy broadly shut down in March and April 2020, the U.S. experienced a brief period of deflation. But by the middle of that year, we saw that the first of several waves of inflation began hitting the economy’s shores.
    The first notable wave of inflation came from food prices. With many restaurants closed and people fearful of gathering, consumers pivoted their spending to grocery stores and online grocery delivery to meet their families’ needs, with some stockpiling essential items because they feared future shortages. This jump in demand was met with snarled supply chains for food processing and groceries. Annual food inflation reached a first peak of 5 percent in June 2020. There was a second food inflation wave with the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the middle of 2022. Beyond the cost alone, grocery prices are an important determinant of inflation expectations for consumers since food is purchased so frequently.2 Another wave of inflation came from goods other than food and energy—what economists call “core goods.” In the years immediately before the pandemic, goods prices were not a significant source of inflation. During the expansion from 2009 until 2020, core goods inflation declined 0.5 percent annually on average. However, once the pandemic took hold, consumer demand rotated from services to goods. At the same time, additional supply chain issues arose, including closed factories and disrupted ports. As consumption rapidly shifted toward goods, their prices rose sharply.3 Core goods inflation picked up markedly in the spring of 2021 and reached a peak of 7.6 percent on a 12-month basis in February 2022. This was a notable development because, during most of this century, goods price deflation offset price increases in other categories and thus kept a lid on overall inflation.
    A third wave of inflation came from services costs, excluding housing. Near the start of the pandemic, millions of Americans lost their jobs, and many left the labor market, with some retiring and others fearful of being exposed to the virus. When the economy began to reopen from shutdowns, demand for workers rose faster than the supply. As a result, the labor market quickly became very tight. To attract workers, employers raised wages. And to offset that expense, many raised prices. Given that labor is the most important input into the production of services, core services inflation ensued, reaching a peak of 5.2 percent on a 12-month basis in December 2021. Core services inflation stayed persistently high until it began to turn down in February 2023.
    The final wave of inflation I will discuss came from PCE housing services inflation. During the pandemic, many Americans reassessed housing choices, including those who preferred to move to detached homes in the suburbs from multifamily dwellings in cities. The supply of housing has long been constrained, so when a further increase in demand met limited supply, prices rose. Housing inflation rose to a peak of 8.27 percent on a 12-month basis in April 2023 and has moved lower since then. The run-up in housing inflation came more slowly, but it is also the component most slowly to abate. This is an area that experienced catch-up inflation, as housing inflation rises and falls slowly because rents are reset infrequently, usually only once a year for most renters.
    For the remainder of this discussion, I will focus on core inflation, and specifically core goods and core services inflation. My objective is to discuss several additions to an augmented Phillips curve model that allow us to capture the dynamics of those waves we encountered on our journey.
    The Traditional Phillips CurveSince price stability and maximum employment are the two components of the Fed’s dual-mandate goal, it is important for policymakers to be able to interpret the inflation process and relate it to macroeconomic conditions, including unemployment. One traditional way of understanding the usual tradeoff between inflation and unemployment is the use of the Phillips curve. It was first employed by New Zealand economist A.W. Phillips in 1958 to describe a simple relationship between wage growth and unemployment. Basically, it demonstrates that wage inflation is lower when unemployment is high, and higher when unemployment is low. Since then, several variants and updates have been offered to the Phillips curve model, and I will offer updates, too.
    One of the most notable updates came from Milton Friedman in 1967 in his presidential address to the American Economic Association.4 In that speech, he argued that there is only a temporary tradeoff between inflation and unemployment, because inflation depends on both the unemployment rate relative to a natural rate (the unemployment gap) and expectations of future inflation.
    The unemployment gap measures how much unemployment is above or below some reference level such as the natural rate of unemployment, or NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment), which is thought to be the normal level of unemployment absent cyclical forces. An unemployment rate that is above the reference level indicates that there is slack in the economy. Conversely, if the unemployment rate is below the reference level, the economy is tight. The unemployment gap has an inverse relation to wage and price inflation, because slack in the economy means that there are excess resources to meet demand while tightness in the labor market means there is little room to expand demand without putting upward pressure on prices. Let’s turn now to the other ingredient in Friedman’s Phillips curve: inflation expectations. Inflation expectations represent the rate at which people expect prices to rise in the future. A Phillips curve model that includes inflation expectations is called an “expectations-augmented Phillips curve.”
    The idea behind adding inflation expectations to a Phillips curve is that workers care about their inflation-adjusted wage, rather than nominal wages, over the course of a period of employment when bargaining their pay. Meanwhile, price-setting firms care about their relative price in pricing their products. Both sets of agents must forecast as best as possible the future path of inflation to efficiently bargain their wages or set their prices. In other words, both parties form expectations about the general price level, and these expectations will feed back into the inflation process.5 Friedman assumed that inflation expectations respond to lagged observed inflation—or what are called “adaptive expectations”—and when that is so, it provides a mechanism for inflation to be persistent.
    This view captured inflation dynamics in the 1970s and early 1980s fairly well; however, it was not broadly applicable to the period from the late 1980s through 2019, often called the “Great Moderation.” Rather, regarding inflation dynamics over an extended period, inflation appears to be more strongly related to long-run inflation expectations than to lagged inflation or short-run inflation expectations measures. Monetary policy can play an important role in setting long-run inflation expectations. Both wage seekers and price setters form their inflation expectations, in part, from their beliefs about the central bank’s inflation goal. When long-run inflation expectations stay close to the central bank’s goal, we say that inflation expectations are anchored at that goal. That goal is currently set at 2 percent, and long-run inflation expectations have indeed been in a tight range around that target.6
    The empirical literature on the Phillips curve has considered additional variables that may affect inflation and used those variables to create new versions of a Phillips curve. For example, Phillips curves have long included measures of “cost-push” pressures such as core import prices. These cost pressures more fully capture shocks to firms’ costs coming from global price pressures and not captured by other measures of slack. Other Phillips curves also include lags of inflation to capture persistence in the inflation process.7
    To summarize, the empirical literature has come to the conclusion that inflation dynamics can best be captured by a Phillips curve that includes lags of inflation, long-run inflation expectations, and a measure of slack, as well as import and energy prices as cost-push shocks. An instance of that formulation of a Phillips curve is included in former Chair Janet Yellen’s speech from 2015.8 Next, I would like to assess the accuracy of this baseline model during the recent run-up of inflation and consider how to augment the Phillips curve model with some new variables that may be able to capture some of the shocks experienced during the pandemic and post-pandemic period. A large literature has emerged on how to interpret the recent run-up in inflation, and more research is needed to fully understand this complicated episode. The Phillips curve model that I will use is another approach to consider. This is a simple approach, but it is possible to consider more complex models, such as models that consider the joint dynamics of inflation and other variables or models that explicitly consider nonlinearities.9 However, I still see value in starting from this simple framework, seeing what it can and cannot explain about pandemic inflation, and then seeing whether the addition of certain variables can help the model more fully account for inflation during the pandemic.
    Estimation of the Phillips Curve TodayAs I just explained, the Phillips curve model allows flexibility in the choice of variables, but economists employing the model must decide how to weight these variables. And those weights must be chosen in some way. Economists choose weights by examining available data and deciding which capture the inflation process in the best possible way. This decision is called “estimation.” The modern way to undertake such an estimation is called “training.” Economists train a model on a specific set of data and consider different cuts of the data set to determine different ways to compute those weights.
    I will consider quarterly data that have been consistently produced since 1964, allowing us to include the periods of the Great Inflation, the Great Moderation, and the most recent inflation run-up. We could use this entire data set to train the model. However, subsample analysis also serves to prove some valuable points.
    First Result: Examining the Great ModerationLet’s start by updating former Fed Chair Yellen’s results. She estimated the model using the data during the so-called Great Moderation; I will update her results by training the model through 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the U.S. As the term “moderation” implies, this was a period in which both inflation and output became much less volatile. We do not know exactly what brought about the Great Moderation. Hypotheses include the effects of better inventory management or better monetary policy. We do know, however, that inflation settled into a trend near to or slightly below 2 percent during that period. We estimate the model with data from this period, and we decompose how much of inflation is explained by the variables and how much is left unexplained, which economists call the “residual.” As it turns out, this model does a good job of capturing the inflation process over that period before the pandemic, and my results are similar to Yellen’s. The model explains 70 percent of the variation in inflation, meaning that only 30 percent of the variation in inflation is attributed to unexplained residuals. An alternative way to understand the unexplained part is as the standard deviation of the residual or the unexplained portion of the model, which was 0.50 percentage point for the period from 2010 to 2019, compared with the standard deviation of inflation of about 0.8 percentage point.
    This model, however, struggles to explain the run-up in inflation in the years immediately after the pandemic took hold. The unexplained portion of inflation, the residual, rises dramatically in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the unexplained portion is almost 2 percentage points, and the following year, it is about 1.5 percentage points. Perhaps we should not be surprised by the outcome. These years saw inflation reach a four-decade peak, but the model has been trained on a Great Moderation sample that saw relatively quiet inflation.10
    Second Result: Using a Longer SampleThe results are more encouraging if, instead, we also include data from the previous period of significant inflation and train the model on data starting in 1964. Intuitively, it makes sense that including a period with persistent inflation, like the 1970s, might help us better understand another inflationary episode. I stop at 2019 because I want to see if training on data from the previous 55-year period can explain the post-2020 inflation.
    The model captures more of the most recent run-up in inflation when using the longer period of analysis. The unexplained residual drops to about 1.5 percentage points in 2021 and to a bit above 0.5 percentage point in 2022. Allowing for greater persistence in inflation allows an inflation equation to fit the pandemic period better, though it does not settle the question of whether the pandemic inflation was caused by large and persistent shocks or by large shocks and a persistent inflation process—for example, because of greater feedback between wages and prices.
    To improve the model further, it would be useful to include additional explanatory variables that could better capture the overheating of the economy. In what follows, I include variables that might account for factors experienced in the most recent bout of inflation, such as a very tight labor market and supply chain snarls.
    Third Result: Alternative Measure of SlackAs I mentioned before, the very tight labor market was an important contributor to inflation in recent years, especially to services inflation, yet the weight on the unemployment gap in the Phillips curve for the more recent period is very small. This measure of slack has become less and less important over time in explaining inflation, except during selected episodes such as in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, which was characterized by a very sluggish recovery. Outside of that episode, and very few others, the Phillips curve places little weight on that measure of slack in explaining inflation over the Great Moderation, including during the recent run-up. This is also a reflection of training the model over the Great Moderation, in which inflation moved fairly tightly around a very flat trend. Notice that this would suggest a “flat Phillips curve” or a big penalty in terms of unemployment needed to reduce inflation. Instead, I focus on another very promising alternative measure that I have paid a lot of attention to since I was chief economist at the Department of Labor—and again since I joined the Board of Governors—and that I am very familiar with as a scholar of labor markets. The measure is the ratio of vacancies to the level of unemployment.11 In effect, this ratio measures how much competition there is for a given job, or the “tightness” of the labor market. Labor is an important input into most production processes, and, thus, tightness in the labor market is closely related to price pressures. I use the standard version of this ratio that measures job openings from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey as the numerator and the unemployment level from the Current Population Survey as the denominator. This allows me to use data back to the 1960s.12 The vacancy-to-unemployment ratio as a measure of slack is more effective at explaining inflation than the unemployment gap. This represents an interesting result because it offers a larger role to heated labor markets in explaining the run-up in inflation. My results echo research that finds the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio is a helpful measure of slack to consider in out-of-sample forecasting exercises.13
    Fourth Result: Supply Chain SnarlsAlthough the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio offers a promising measure of slack and supply chain pressures due to labor shortages, that measure does not necessarily capture supply chain snarls whose roots lie outside of the labor market. As I mentioned earlier, there were substantial supply chain disruptions during the past few years that came at the same time as strong demand. That resulted in material and labor shortages. Attempts at quantifying supply-side disruptions have been around for some decades now.14 I rely on a new monthly shortages index created by a team of Fed Board economists, which relies on textual analysis to scan news articles for sentences that include the word pairs “labor shortages,” “material shortages,” or “food shortages.”15 The Shortage Index allows us to better measure cost-push pressures from different sources and is constructed all the way back to the beginning of the previous century. Thus, it makes a difference to have access to advances in natural language processing.16 When I add the Shortage Index to the baseline Phillips curve or to the vacancy-to-unemployment–based Phillips curve, I obtain that the Shortage Index explains an even larger portion of the inflation run-up during and after the pandemic. The residual for 2020 is cut in half, the residual for 2021 is about 1 percentage point, and the residual is effectively eliminated in 2022. I judge this a noteworthy result and a proof of concept that with additional augmentation, the Phillips curve model can better capture inflation dynamics during the recent period. Through the lens of this model, supply shortages played an important role in 2022 in constraining output to grow at an anemic rate and in pushing up inflation. Moreover, the model is also able to capture the decline in inflation in 2023 and 2024 despite the strong expansion in real activity. I view the Shortage Index as a powerful indicator of the nonlinear effects stemming from a compounding of the contemporaneous interaction of demand and supply bottlenecks.
    I have offered additional variables to account for a measure of slack as it relates to labor supply and material supply. This exercise could be extended further to better account for some of the subcategories of inflation that caused the waves I discussed earlier. For example, food inflation, which is characterized by two distinct waves, can mostly be explained by the Food Shortage Index, which captures a large portion of the residual in the baseline model.
    Lessons for the PolicymakerToday I have discussed the waves of inflation the country faced starting five years ago. I also talked about how the vessel we use to navigate those choppy waters can be improved upon. As I conclude, I want to discuss with you how central bankers might recalibrate their compasses, based on what we learned from considering these augmentations to Phillips curve models. I think a clear lesson is that no single model alone can give a policymaker an understanding of every possible state of the economy. Policymakers must be open to various options, models, and frameworks—and not be afraid to experiment in search of more accurate answers. Policymakers must be very attentive to the most recent contributions from academia and empirical practitioners. Broadly, that is the approach I take, and why I apply the same rigor I did as an academic researcher to the monetary policy decisions that I confront.
    The recent run-up in inflation in many ways was a rather unique period, spurred, at least initially, by the first onset of a global pandemic in more than a century. Fully understanding the dynamics at play has provided a tough test for economists. The models I described today have had some success in capturing salient features of the inflation process during the pandemic period. I hope this illustrative analysis helps you see the difficulties of forecasting inflation in real time.
    Another lesson to be learned from this experience is that the feared harsh tradeoff between unemployment and inflation, one that requires large costs in terms of job loss and reduction in incomes in order to reduce inflation, did not materialize in the years immediately after the 2022 inflation peak. Inflation has been significantly reduced while the labor market has remained solid. This is a historically unusual, but most welcome, outcome. While this outcome is in part due to the actions of Fed policymakers, it is also possible to explain that remarkable result through the lens of the models that I have presented today. A large fraction of the rise in inflation, most specifically core goods inflation, can be explained by supply chain snarls. The untangling of supply chains contributed to a decline in inflation with little cost in terms of unemployment. Likewise, labor markets were very tight in this period. As workers returned to the labor force, labor markets became less tight, and the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio declined. That corresponded with a subsequent decline in inflation. That is a consistent result because services inflation is closely connected to the cost of labor.
    Thank you for your time today. Once again, it is humbling to be asked to give the Whittington Lecture to honor the memory of fellow educator Leslie Whittington. I look forward to your questions.

    1. The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Federal Reserve Board or the Federal Open Market Committee. Return to text
    2. D’Acunto, Malmendier, Ospina, and Weber (2021) show that consumers disproportionately rely on the price changes of goods in their grocery bundles when forming expectations about aggregate inflation; see Francesco D’Acunto, Ulrike Malmendier, Juan Ospina, and Michael Weber (2021), “Exposure to Grocery Prices and Inflation Expectations,” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 129 (May), pp. 1615–39. Return to text
    3. Ferrante, Graves, and Iacoviello (2020) show that a sharp reallocation of demand from one sector to another can exacerbate supply chain disruption and cause aggregate inflation; see Francesco Ferrante, Sebastian Graves, and Matteo Iacoviello (2023), “The Inflationary Effects of Sectoral Reallocation,” Journal of Monetary Economics, supp., vol. 140 (November), pp. S64–81. Return to text
    4. See Milton Friedman (1968), “The Role of Monetary Policy,” American Economic Review, vol. 58 (March), pp. 1–17; and Edmund S. Phelps (1967), “Phillips Curves, Expectations of Inflation and Optimal Unemployment over Time,” Economica, vol. 34 (135), pp. 254–81. Return to text
    5. Friedman did not consider forward-looking price-setting firms, but more recent advances in macroeconomics do, such as New Keynesian models; see Jordi Galí (2015), Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework and Its Applications (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press). Return to text
    6. In an earlier speech, I have sketched a model in which agents infer the central bank target by observing inflation, interest rates, and unemployment data; see Adriana D. Kugler (2024), “Central Bank Independence and the Conduct of Monetary Policy,” speech delivered at the Albert Hirschman Lecture, 2024 Annual Meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association and the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter of the Econometric Society, Montevideo, Uruguay, November 14. Return to text
    7. For a review of Phillips curve formulations, see Robert J. Gordon (2018), “Friedman and Phelps on the Phillips Curve Viewed from a Half Century’s Perspective,” Review of Keynesian Economics, vol. 6 (4), pp. 425–36. Return to text
    8. The model that I will use is similar to the one described by Janet Yellen in her famous speech at the University of Massachusetts in 2015; see Janet L. Yellen (2015), “Inflation Dynamics and Monetary Policy,” speech delivered at the Philip Gamble Memorial Lecture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, September 24. Return to text
    9. See Pierpaolo Benigno and Gauti B. Eggertsson (2023), “It’s Baaack: The Surge in Inflation in the 2020s and the Return of the Non-Linear Phillips Curve,” NBER Working Paper Series 31197 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, April). Return to text
    10. The results that I obtain for the 1990–2019 period are similar to those that Yellen reports for the 1990–2014 period. Return to text
    11. The ratio of job openings to unemployment has attracted the attention of many researchers. See, for instance, Olivier J. Blanchard and Ben S. Bernanke (2023), “What Caused the US Pandemic-Era Inflation?” NBER Working Paper Series 31417 (Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, June). Return to text
    12. Although job openings from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) go back only as far as the early 2000s, I use here the extended series from Barnichon that pieces together JOLTS data for the more recent period with a corrected version of the help-wanted index originally from the Conference Board for the period before 2001. See Regis Barnichon (2010), “Building a Composite Help-Wanted Index,” Economics Letters, vol. 109 (December), pp. 175–78. Return to text
    13. See Regis Barnichon and Adam Shapiro (2022), “What’s the Best Measure of Economic Slack?” FRBSF Economic Letter 2022-04 (San Francisco: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, February); and Régis Barnichon and Adam Hale Shapiro (2024), “Phillips Meets Beveridge,” Journal of Monetary Economics, supp., vol. 148 (November), 103660. Return to text
    14. The Institute for Supply Management’s Supplier Deliveries Index has been around since the 1950s, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index since 1998, and the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization since 2008. Return to text
    15. See Dario Caldara, Matteo Iacoviello, and David Yu (2024), “Measuring Shortages since 1900,” working paper. Their index is available at https://www.matteoiacoviello.com/shortages.html. Return to text
    16. Other authors have used natural language processing in an attempt to produce a measure of shortages. For instance, see Paul E. Soto (2023), “Measurement and Effects of Supply Chain Bottlenecks Using Natural Language Processing,” FEDS Notes (Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 6). Blanchard and Bernanke use Google searches for the word “shortage” as an indicator of sectoral supply constraints in a Phillips curve equation; see Blanchard and Bernanke, “What Caused the US Pandemic-Era Inflation?” in note 11. For an early-attempt, hand-coded shortage index, see Owen Lamont (1997), “Do ‘Shortages’ Cause Inflation?” in Christina D. Romer and David H. Romer, eds., Reducing Inflation: Motivation and Strategy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), pp. 281–306. Return to text

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Security: Columbia Physician Pleads Guilty to False Statements to Medicare

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Columbia, Mo., physician pleaded guilty in federal court today to making false statements relating to a health care matter.

    Jerry Joseph Bruggeman, M.D., 53, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps, Jr. to one count of making false statements relating to a heath care matter.

    In early 2020, Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, became aware of a report that a Medicare beneficiary had been invoiced for a medical service purportedly performed by Bruggeman, even though the patient indicated he had never heard of Bruggeman. Investigation determined that in January 2019, Bruggeman had ordered genetic testing for this patient, for whom a laboratory submitted 26 claims to Medicare.

    Further investigation revealed that between January 2018 and December 2019, Bruggeman referred over 3,100 orders for cancer and pharmacological genetic testing and durable medical equipment such as orthotic braces. The orders referred by Bruggeman affected over 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries and resulted in over 8,700 claims being submitted to Medicare for payment. Genetic testing orders signed by Bruggeman had resulted in Medicare Part B paying a total of $1,055,303. Additionally, claims for durable medical equipment under Medicare Part B had resulted in $551,105 in Medicare payments. In total, Bruggeman’s orders for genetic testing and durable medical equipment caused Medicare Part B to pay a total of $1,606,408.

    A federal agent interviewed numerous beneficiaries, all of whom indicated that they had no idea who Bruggeman was and had never sought his services as a physician. The interviewed patients reported that they received braces that they did not need, did not request, and did not know how to use. Many patients received multiple braces for different body parts. Investigators also obtained a select number of patient files, which reflected that each patient’s orders were supported by highly similar assessments and/or letters of medical necessity, all of which had Bruggeman’s signature on them. Applicable Medicare regulations required that a licensed practitioner sign the orders, and that the items ordered be medically reasonable and necessary for the treatment of the patient’s illness or injury.

    Between approximately Jan. 31, 2018, and April 2019, Bruggeman received approximately $29,440 in compensation from a telehealth company for the orders he signed through an online portal. The company maintained an online portal that aggregated the personal information of Medicare beneficiaries who had been solicited by marketing companies. The company created medical assessments and orders for these beneficiaries, then hired medical professionals like Bruggeman to “review” and sign orders for cancer genetic testing, pharmacogenetic testing, and durable medical equipment. Bruggeman did not interact with the patients in any manner prior to signing the forms.

    Under federal statutes, Bruggeman is subject to a sentence of up to five in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

    This case is being prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren E. Kummerer. It was investigated by Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.

    MIL Security OSI