The Bank of Canada will begin releasing its Monetary Policy Report (MPR) as an interactive, web-based publication on October 23, 2024. The quarterly report from the Bank’s Governing Council will continue to present the Bank’s base-case projection for inflation and growth in the Canadian economy, projections for the global economy and its assessment of risks.
The shift to an online MPR is aimed at improving transparency and enhancing the user experience. The interactive format will allow readers to find their preferred content with ease, while also ensuring timely access to data, charts and tables. All data will be available for download by API.
With the shift to a web-based format, we will introduce new interactive charts and tables where current data can be compared against previous MPRs. At the same time, we will continue to provide the robust economic analysis and reader-friendly content the MPR is known for.
To help users familiarize themselves with how the data and analysis will be presented going forward, Bank staff have drafted a sample online version drawing content from the July 2024 MPR:
While we have done our best to provide users with an accurate representation of how the MPR will look and perform in October, there will be adjustments. Going forward, we anticipate the design and content of the MPR will evolve based on technological change, user experience and our ongoing commitment to transparency and clear communication.
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The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is central to the economic, trade, and investment relationship between Canada and the European Union (EU).
October 10, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada
The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is central to the economic, trade, and investment relationship between Canada and the European Union (EU).
The agreement has promoted and increased diversification in major industrial, services, and investment sectors and across supply chains. That means more opportunity for Canada and Canadian businesses. It has also enhanced Canada-EU collaboration in key areas such as the environment, critical minerals, and regulatory practices.
The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, welcomes the adoption of the Mutual Recognition Agreement for professional qualifications of architects (MRAA) under CETA, which was signed today in Brussels, Belgium.
Once the Agreement becomes binding, the MRAA will further strengthen Canada-EU commercial ties and benefit the Canadian architecture sector and related activities, such as engineering and construction. It will expand investment, grow our economy, and help create jobs. By making it easier to recognize Canadian and European architects’ professional qualifications, it will also expand access to new business opportunities in both economies.
This is the first time that a mutual recognition agreement for professional services will become binding under a Canadian free trade agreement.
Huzaif Qaisar Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development 343-575-8816 Huzaif.Qaisar@international.gc.ca
Today, while visiting the Uquutaq Society’s facilities in Iqaluit, the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for PrairiesCan and CanNor, announced that the Government of Canada is investing over $970,000 for the construction of a commercial kitchen and training space.
October 10, 2024 – Iqaluit, Nunavut – Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
The Government of Canada is making strategic upgrades to community infrastructure that benefit residents, build capacity for services and skilled work, while providing immediate support to those in need.
Today, while visiting the Uquutaq Society’s facilities in Iqaluit, the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for PrairiesCan and CanNor, announced that the Government of Canada is investing over $970,000 for the construction of a commercial kitchen and training space.
The Uquutaq Society is an Iqaluit-based organization servicing the most vulnerable citizens of Iqaluit, including through the operation of a homeless and transitional shelter. The commercial kitchen will be a complementary service, with an in-house catering service, where training programs for cooking and safe food handling will be hosted. The kitchen will generate additional revenue for the Society to support its core work, while also creating a dedicated space to foster food service training capacity in Iqaluit. The project is also expected to create full-time and part-time employment opportunities.
By investing in this project, the Government of Canada is supporting the vital work of a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping those less fortunate in Iqaluit, while also creating new training opportunities that strengthen a key sector of the city’s economy.
Quotes
“We are proud to support the construction of the new commercial kitchen in Iqaluit, which will create jobs, enhance local food services, and provide valuable training opportunities. This investment reflects our commitment to fostering economic growth and supporting the vital work of organizations like the Uquutaq Society, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have in Iqaluit.”
The Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for PrairiesCan and CanNor
“The commercial kitchen project has been in planning since 2019. We’re grateful that we will soon be able to offer our shelter guests and other program participants the choice to grow skills and gain experience while serving the shelters and expanding economic opportunities.”
Laurel McCorriston, Executive Director, Uquutaq Society
Quick facts
CanNor is contributing up to $971,257 for the construction of the commercial kitchen through the Jobs and Growth Fund. The Government of Nunavut is contributing $20,000 and the Uquutaq Society is investing $49,928. In addition, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association is investing $18,000 to this project and Kakivak is contributing $20,000. The total funding for this project is $1,079,185.
The Jobs and Growth Fund provides funding to businesses and organizations to help create jobs and position local economies for long-term growth.
The Uquutaq Society was founded in November 2009 with the goal of expanding homelessness services to the most vulnerable citizens of Iqaluit, fill in gaps on the housing continuum by providing more options, and developing transition and support services to help Iqalummiut in maintaining safe and secure permanent housing.
Associated links
Contacts
Kyle Allen Director of Communications, Parliamentary Affairs and Issues Management Office of the Minister of Northern Affairs, Minister Responsible for PrairiesCan, and Minister Responsible for CanNor kyle.allen@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca
Craig Welsh Communications Advisor, Nunavut Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) craig.welsh@cannor.gc.ca
Remarks by Krista McWhinnie, Deputy Commissioner, Monopolistic Practices Directorate: Opening statement to the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology: Credit card practices and regulations
Remarks by Krista McWhinnie, Deputy Commissioner, Monopolistic Practices Directorate
The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Industry and Technology
October 10, 2024
Ottawa, Ontario
(As prepared for delivery)
Good morning Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. My name is Krista McWhinnie and I’m the Deputy Commissioner of the Monopolistic Practices Directorate at the Competition Bureau. I am joined today by my colleague, Brad Callaghan, who is the Associate Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau’s Competition Promotion Branch.
The Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that protects and promotes competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses. We administer and enforce Canada’s Competition Act, a law of general application that applies to every sector of the economy. We investigate and address abuses of market power, anti-competitive mergers, price-fixing and deceptive marketing practices. The Bureau also advocates for pro-competitive government rules and regulations.
It’s important to recognize that we are enforcers of our legislation and advocates for more competitive markets. We are not adjudicators or regulators that set rules for companies. The Competition Act requires us to meet several thresholds and standards when we bring cases before the courts, such as proving that there has been a significant harm to competition.
In the context of your study, the issues most relevant to the Bureau’s mandate relate to investigating and policing against monopolistic practices and guarding against deceptive practices.
The Competition Bureau has experience analyzing issues related to the Canadian payments sector. For example, in December of 2010, the Bureau filed an application with the Competition Tribunal under the price maintenance provision of the Competition Act alleging that Visa and MasterCard were imposing restrictive rules on merchants who accept their cards.
In the Bureau’s view, these rules reduced competition among credit card network services, including competition with respect to credit card acceptance fees. Ultimately, the Competition Tribunal dismissed the application in 2013, finding that it did not meet certain requirements under the price maintenance provision of the Act . That said, the Tribunal also carried out an alternative analysis in the event it was wrong in its legal interpretation. Under this analysis, the Tribunal found that these rules had raised prices and had an adverse effect on competition.
While the application was dismissed, the Tribunal noted the importance of this issue for Canadians. Notably, the Tribunal said that even if the Bureau had proved its case, the Tribunal would not have given an order to remedy the concerns raised by the Commissioner’s application. Instead, it suggested the issues would be better addressed through regulation.
Following that case, Visa and MasterCard submitted separate and voluntary proposals to the Minister of Finance in 2014 to reduce their credit card acceptance fees for a period of five years. To date, the Government has not regulated these fees.
The Bureau does not play an active role in commitments from companies to lower fees. We also have no mandate to develop or implement industry codes of conduct. Our role is limited to enforcing the Competition Act should its provisions be engaged, and advocating that any government action be carried out in ways that encourage the most competition.
Before responding to your questions, I will note that the law requires the Bureau to conduct its investigations in private and keep confidential the information we have. This obligation may prevent us from discussing certain details of our investigations.
I would like to again thank the Committee for the opportunity to appear today. We look forward to your questions.
Today is World Mental Health Day and this year’s theme is, “It is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace.”
October 10, 2024 | Ottawa, ON | Health Canada
Today is World Mental Health Day and this year’s theme is, “It is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace.” Prioritizing workplace mental health is good for people, companies, and communities, and we are committed to improving the health and mental well-being of all Canadians regardless of where they live, work or play.
As employers and employees, we bring our whole selves to work, including stress from major events and day-to-day life. Likewise, stress from work can impact our mental health in our lives outside of work. It’s okay not to be okay – help is available if you need it.
To ensure that help is available where and when people need it, the Government of Canada is taking a compassionate approach to provide a range of support services and resources that can help address mental health challenges. Through the Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians Plan, close to $200 billion over 10 years is being invested to improve health services across the country.
Young people in particular have been struggling with mental health and well-being. Changing responsibilities such as entering or engaging in the workforce, balancing work, school and personal commitments may be a new experience for some young adults and can impact their mental health. Mental health care is an essential part of ensuring every young person in Canada can reach their full potential. Canada’s new Youth Mental Health Fund will help community health organizations provide more care for younger Canadians.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline on November 30, 2024, we can already see what a difference this resource is making in the lives of people in Canada. With more than 250,000 calls and texts received since its launch last November, 9-8-8 is providing a safe space to talk.
9-8-8 is available right across the country and offers trauma-informed and culturally appropriate suicide prevention crisis support in both official languages 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you or someone you care about is thinking of suicide, please call or text 9-8-8.
Mental health is health, and every single person should have access to the mental health support they need, when and where they need it. Please take advantage of your employee assistance program, if you have one available to you, or consult Canada.ca/mental-health for a list of free mental health resources.
As you go through your daily routines and face the challenges that life presents, take time to check in on your work colleagues and loved ones, or to reach out for support. There is always someone waiting to lend a compassionate and empathetic ear.
Today, one of North America’s largest banks pleaded guilty to some of the most serious charges a financial institution can face.
This case should serve as a warning and a reminder that we will hold corporate wrongdoers accountable, no matter their size or stature.
But this case also highlights the critical importance of maintaining a culture of compliance — and offers a cautionary tale of how bad things can go without one.
When you put your hard-earned money in a bank – that bank should meet a very basic requirement.
It should follow the law.
For financial institutions, that means — among other obligations — adhering to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
This law is fundamental — not only for protecting our financial system — but also our national security.
The BSA requires that banks:
Maintain robust anti-money laundering programs;
Report suspicious activity; and
Train employees to be the first line of defense against money laundering.
Despite being one of the largest banks in the country, TD Bank failed to meet these requirements and violated the law.
Even as profits rose, the bank starved its compliance program of the resources it needed to obey the law.
Time and time again, TD Bank failed to meet its obligations — day after day, year after year.
The problems were so widespread — so pervasive — that it was only a matter of time before the bank’s own employees could exploit these failures and engage in money laundering themselves.
And that’s exactly what happened.
As TD Bank admitted in its plea today, its anti-money laundering failures spanned nearly a decade.
Things got so bad that five of the bank’s own employees participated in a scheme that laundered millions of dollars to Colombia, resulting in felony convictions for individuals both inside and outside the bank.
What makes this even more troubling is that — for years — TD Bank knew of its compliance failures.
In 2013, federal regulators began penalizing the bank for its lack of money laundering controls.
But as the light continued blinking red, TD Bank could only see green.
Every bank compliance official in America should be reviewing today’s charges as a case study of what not to do.
And every bank CEO and board member should be doing the same.
Because if the business case for compliance wasn’t clear before — it should be now.
The Bank Secrecy Act includes a unique penalty provision: the ability to fine a financial institution up to $500,000 for each day it lacks a functional anti-money laundering program.
The daily fine provision is rarely used.
In fact, the Justice Department has never before sought this maximum daily penalty against any financial institution.
Until now.
The financial penalty under today’s resolution is based on TD Bank’s failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program every single day from the beginning of 2014 to the end of October 2023.
Today’s guilty plea — and the resulting $1.8 billion penalty — represents the largest penalty ever imposed under the Bank Secrecy Act.
And it provides an unmistakable lesson: crime doesn’t pay. And neither does flouting compliance.
This resolution also sets a new course for TD Bank.
With today’s guilty plea, TD Bank has agreed to tough new rules.
It must overhaul its compliance program;
It must retain an independent monitor;
It must report misconduct to the government; and
It must cooperate in our ongoing criminal investigations into the individuals responsible – up and down the corporate ladder.
The bank has begun this work, and we will continue to hold its feet to the fire.
We are putting down a clear marker on what we expect from financial institutions — and the consequences for failure.
When it comes to compliance, there are really only two options: invest now – or face severe consequences later.
As I’ve said before, a corporate strategy that pursues profits at the expense of compliance isn’t a path to riches; it’s a path to federal prosecution.
I want to thank the women and men of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, and investigative partners joining us today for their continued work on this matter.
With that, I’ll pass it to Deputy Secretary of Treasury, Wally Adeyemo.
Good afternoon everyone. Before we get started today, I want to extend my sympathy to the millions of Americans who’ve had their lives turned upside down by Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene.
I know I speak for all of us in expressing my gratitude to the first responders on the ground who are carrying out rescue missions. And I want to thank all of the volunteers who are helping their neighbors get through these storms.
And now to the subject of today’s announcement.
Today, TD Bank pled guilty to multiple felonies, including conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and commit money laundering. TD Bank has also agreed to a $1.8 billion criminal penalty. Combined with civil enforcement actions announced today by other agencies, the United States will be imposing a total [penalty] of approximately $3 billion against TD Bank.
TD Bank created an environment that allowed financial crime to flourish. By making its services convenient for criminals, it became one.
Today, TD Bank became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures and the first U.S. bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
This is also the largest-ever penalty under the Bank Secrecy Act and the first time the Justice Department has assessed a daily fine against a bank.
As part of the plea agreement, TD Bank will fundamentally restructure its corporate compliance program at its U.S.-based bank, which is the 10th largest in the United States.
The bank has also agreed to the imposition of a three-year monitorship and a five-year term of probation. While the bank has started its remediation, it will continue to remediate and improve its anti-money laundering compliance program to ensure that the bank operates lawfully and safely moving forward.
In addition to obtaining today’s corporate felony pleas, the Justice Department has also prosecuted two dozen individuals for their involvement in money laundering schemes that moved over $670 million in illicit funds through TD Bank accounts. So far, the Justice Department has charged two TD Bank employees for their involvement in one of these schemes.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, TD Bank is required to fully cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the bank and any of its officers, directors, and employees. If the bank fails to do so, it will again be subject to criminal prosecution, in which the statement of facts that are part of the plea agreement may be used as evidence against it.
Our criminal investigations into individual employees at every level of TD Bank are active and ongoing.
As is the case in all corporate criminal matters, no one involved in TD Bank’s illegal conduct will be off limits. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads.
Federal anti-money laundering laws are designed to prevent criminals from using U.S. banks to fuel their crimes.
Our laws dictate that the narcotics traffickers who flood our communities with deadly drugs cannot use American financial institutions to move their money.
And our anti-money laundering laws dictate that a bank that willfully fails to protect against criminal schemes is also a criminal.
That is what TD Bank was, because it failed to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program between January 2014 and October 2023.
Over a six-year period, TD Bank failed to monitor $18.3 trillion in customer activity.
As TD Bank admitted in its plea agreement, this allowed three money laundering networks to transfer over $670 million through TD Bank accounts. At least one of those schemes involved five TD Bank employees.
The bank maintained an automated transaction monitoring system that was supposed to detect and generate alerts on suspicious transactions and activities. But that system was willfully deficient.
As the bank admitted in the statement of facts, which it filed today, at various times high-level executives, including the person who became the bank’s chief anti-money laundering officer, knew there were serious problems with the bank’s anti-money laundering program. But the bank failed to correct them.
Three money laundering networks took advantage of TD Bank’s failed anti-money laundering system.
First, over the course of a three-year period, a person who TD Bank employees knew as David moved over $470 million in illicit funds through TD Bank branches in the United States.
David has separately pled guilty to laundering drug proceeds through the bank.
David had attempted to launder money through numerous financial institutions. But he found that TD Bank had the most permissive policies and procedures and chose to launder most of his funds there.
He also bribed TD Bank employees with more than $57,000 in gift cards in furtherance of his scheme.
David’s illegal conduct was obvious, to say the least. On more than one occasion, he deposited more than $1 million in cash in a single day. He then immediately moved the funds out of the bank using official bank checks and wire transfers.
TD Bank employees at many levels understood and acknowledged the likely illegality of David’s activity.
In August 2020, one TD Bank store manager emailed another store manager and remarked, “You guys really need to shut this down LOL.”
In late 2020, another store manager implored his supervisors — several TD Bank regional managers — to act, noting that “[i]t is getting out of hand and my tellers are at the point that they don’t feel comfortable handling these transactions.”
In February 2021, one TD Bank store employee saw that David’s network had purchased more than $1 million in official bank checks with cash in a single day. The employee asked: “How is that not money laundering.” A back-office employee responded, “oh it 100% is.”
In a second, separate money laundering scheme, five TD Bank employees conspired with criminal organizations to open and maintain accounts at the bank that were used to launder $39 million to Colombia, including drug proceeds.
That money laundering organization reused the same Venezuelan passports to open multiple accounts at TD Bank. It sometimes used the same passport to obtain multiple debit cards for a single account.
Despite significant internal red flags, the bank did not identify that its own employees were conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars to Colombia, until law enforcement arrested one of them.
In yet a third scheme, outlined in today’s charges, a money laundering network maintained accounts at TD Bank for at least five shell companies. It used those accounts to move over $100 million in illicit funds through the bank.
Even though retail employees flagged suspicious activity connected to those accounts, the bank did not file a suspicious activity report until law enforcement alerted the bank to the money laundering network’s activity. By that time, the accounts had been open for over 13 months and had been used to transfer nearly $120 million.
On multiple occasions, bank employees openly joked about the bank’s enabling of criminal activity.
In one instance a compliance employee asked a manager what “the bad guys” thought about the bank. The manager replied: “Lol. Easy target.”
Other employees consistently joked on the bank’s instant messaging platform about the bank’s motto, “America’s Most Convenient Bank.” They linked it to the bank’s approach to combating money laundering.
For example, a compliance employee asked a colleague why “all the really awful ones bank here lol.”
The colleague replied: “because … we are convenient.”
There is nothing wrong with a bank that tries to make its services convenient for its honest customers.
But there is something terribly wrong with a bank that knowingly makes its services convenient for criminals.
The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions like TD Bank to establish and maintain compliance programs that guard against money laundering.
But TD Bank chose profits over compliance, in order to keep its costs down.
That decision is now costing the bank billions of dollars in criminal and civil penalties.
Less than a year ago, the Justice Department secured felony guilty pleas from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and from its founder and CEO. We also obtained one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history.
The Department’s actions against both Binance and TD Bank are a reminder that financial institutions in this country have an obligation to guard against criminals exploiting their services.
The Justice Department will aggressively prosecute any company that fails to do so.
I want to express my gratitude to the public servants of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, and the DEA for their extraordinary work on this case. We are also grateful to IRS Criminal Investigation, the FDIC’s Office of Inspector General, FinCEN, and our other federal, state, and local partners for their work.
I am proud of them.
I will now turn the podium over to Deputy Attorney General Monaco.
Thank you, Deputy Secretary Adeyemo. I’m Nicole Argentieri, head of the Criminal Division.
Today, we are announcing the guilty plea of TD Bank, the 10th largest retail bank in the United States, for Bank Secrecy Act violations and money laundering. Over the course of a decade, TD Bank placed profits over compliance, prioritizing a “flat cost paradigm” that limited spending across the bank — including on the bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program, despite growing risks — even while profits soared.
The bank knew it had pervasive and systemic deficiencies in its AML program, including a transaction monitoring system that remained stagnant over the course of 10 years despite warnings from regulators, consultants, and even its own employees.
AML employees joked that the Bank’s failed AML system made TD an “easy target” and a “convenient” bank for bad actors. And they were right. TD’s failed AML compliance program created vulnerabilities that criminals — including TD’s own employees — used to launder money through the Bank.
All told, three large money laundering networks, two prosecuted by our partners in the District of New Jersey and the third prosecuted in the District of Puerto Rico, laundered over $670 million through TD.
And in one of these schemes, five bank insiders helped. These TD Bank employees opened and maintained accounts for money laundering networks and provided dozens of ATM cards that the launderers used to withdraw funds in Colombia, shortly after the money was deposited in the United States. The insiders took kickbacks for their work, sometimes using the very debit cards they issued to the money laundering organization to take their cut. Through the TD accounts these five insiders opened, the laundering networks moved over $39 million in illicit funds.
That’s why today, TD Bank is pleading guilty not only to violating the Bank Secrecy Act. It’s also pleading guilty to money laundering. Because TD Bank’s inadequate AML program allowed bank insiders to facilitate a significant money laundering scheme. This resolution, in addition to the historic daily BSA fine we have imposed, sends a clear message to U.S. banks — you are the first line of defense. When you criminally fail to protect your own bank from money laundering you put our financial system at risk, and we will hold you accountable.
But it’s never too late to do the right thing. After TD learned of our investigation, the Bank provided strong cooperation. For example, TD identified additional misconduct and provided evidence of that misconduct to the department. Some of that evidence helped advance our investigation of individuals, including video surveillance footage TD provided after reviewing hundreds of hours of videotape and materials recovered because TD secured the workplaces of employees involved in misconduct.
What’s more, TD took steps on its own to hold its employees financially accountable. The Bank clawed back bonuses, including for its CEO and other executives, resulting in a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the Bank’s fine of approximately $2 million, consistent with the Criminal Division’s Pilot Program on Compensation Incentives and Clawbacks. Under that pilot program, as of today, 10 companies that have resolved with the Criminal Division have implemented compliance metrics in their compensation system. But today’s resolution marks a first. This is the first time a company has committed to clawing back compensation prospectively. Over the next few months, TD will identify additional compensation it will claw back from its employees. And if the bank is successful during the term of its agreement with the department, the Criminal Division will credit those clawbacks against the fine.
TD has also started on the path to reform, beginning to remediate its compliance system, committing to additional compliance enhancements, and agreeing to retain an independent compliance monitor. That monitor will closely assess TD’s compliance with our agreement while moving swiftly to ensure that TD makes necessary reforms. Under the close oversight of the department and the monitor, TD can right this ship. While there is a long road ahead, today’s resolution demonstrates that accepting responsibility and cooperating with the department can ensure that even the largest companies can be held accountable for serious crimes, but also choose a different path and successfully move their business forward in full compliance with the law.
I want to thank our trial attorneys in the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section’s Bank Integrity Unit and our partners in the District of New Jersey, along with our law enforcement partners at IRS-Criminal Investigation, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, and Drug Enforcement Administration. And now I’ll turn it over to the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Philip Sellinger.
RCMP Halifax Regional Detachmentis warning the public about a cryptocurrency investment scam reported in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
On October 2, RCMP officers learned that a man interacted with a woman through social media platforms and was convinced to invest into a cryptocurrency app. The victim was defrauded of more than $400,000.
With the introduction of cryptocurrencies, these scams are becoming more common and harder to detect.
RCMP officers stress the importance of due diligence when considering investment opportunities. You can protect yourself by following these tips:
Be cautious:Be wary of anyone offering high-reward, low-risk investment opportunities. If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably a scam.
Do your research:Take the time to investigate an investment opportunity. Anyone who trades or advises on securities in Nova Scotia must be registered with theNova Scotia Securities Commission (NSSC). If someone isn’t registered with the NSSC or another Canadian securities regulator, it’s likely they’re a scammer.
Get advice:Remember that cryptocurrencies are currently unregulated in Canada and don’t have the same fraud protection as credit cards, nor are they covered by theCanada Deposit Insurance Corp.Always use well-known and reputable exchanges to purchase cryptocurrency. When in doubt, seek advice from a reputable financial institution.
If you or someone you know is a victim of investment fraud, report it to your local police and theCanadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
October 10, 2024
[ROCK ISLAND, IL] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and U.S. Representative Eric Sorensen (D-IL-17) today visited Rock Island Arsenal to discuss current manufacturing operations and how Congress can continue to support the Arsenal. Duckworth and Sorensen met Arsenal Leadership, including LTG Mark Landes, Commanding General, First Army, BG John “Brad” Hinson, Army Sustainment Command and COL William “Joe” Parker, III, Garrison Commander, to tour the Arsenal’s Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center and learn about their metal manufacturing operations.
“Rock Island Arsenal plays an important role in the strength ofbothour national security and the Quad Cities community,” Duckworth said. “I’m glad to have the opportunity to see how the Arsenal’s expertise and resources are helping protect our nation and keep the region’s economy strong. I’ll keep working with Congressman Sorensen to ensure the men and women of Rock Island Arsenal have the support they need and that the Arsenal can succeed for years to come.”
“The Rock Island Arsenal, and the brave men and women that work there, help make the Quad Cities community such a special place to live in,” Sorensen said. “I was honored to join Senator Duckworth and the Arsenal’s leadership in touring the facility and talking about ways we can work together to create more jobs and strengthen its operations. The Arsenal has always been an important part of how we keep our nation safe, and I will always work hard with Senator Duckworth to bring resources from Washington back home to support the Arsenal’s work.”
As a member of SASC, Duckworth has helped secure critical resources for Rock Island Arsenal and the surrounding communities through the yearly National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In this year’s Senate-passed NDAA, Duckworth secured provisions to allow the Department of Defense to make grants to local communities to improve infrastructure around military bases that benefit local communities, like those surrounding Rock Island Arsenal. In the Fiscal Year 2022 NDAA Duckworth secured $14 million for the Arsenal to support Army’s development of additive manufacturing capabilities in austere operating environments, and another $75 million in the FY 2020 NDAA for eligible projects near the Arsenal that would improve military value and enhance the lives of servicemembers who live in the surrounding communities.
Last month, Duckworth helped announce more than $11 million in federal funding to support the rehabilitation of critical bridge access to Rock Island Arsenal. This funding was awarded as one of fourteen Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP) grants from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation.
The world is facing multiple — potentially catastrophic — crises, including inequality, poverty, food insecurity, climate change and biodiversity loss. These issues are interconnected and require systemic solutions, as changes in one system affects others.
However, human systems have largely failed to acknowledge their connection to ecological systems. Most modern societies have dominating and exploitative relationships with nature, which are underpinned by imperialist and dualistic thinking that divides living beings into racial, gender, class or species hierarchies.
Our current mindset, with its focus on competition, growth and profit, has been a key contributor to social and ecological crises. Even more alarming is that this mindset has depleted nature to the point that it may soon fail to sustain human and non-human lives entirely.
While current sustainability efforts, such as those outlined in Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity — a collaboration between scientists and economists from around the world — and the United Nations’ Pact for the Future offer pathways for action, they often fall short. These initiatives, though well-intentioned, remain rooted in a business-as-usual approach.
This isn’t enough. What’s needed is a transformative shift in how we interact with the natural world. A reciprocal relationship between humans and nature, where humans give back to the environment as much as we take, is essential. Sustainable and equitable well-being must be placed at the centre of human societies.
Central to this transformation is the need to ensure good lives for all while staying within the Earth’s planetary boundaries. These boundaries are the limits within which humanity can safely operate without causing irreversible environmental harm. This will require a new economic mindset that enables people to live with nature, instead of destroying it.
Change is daunting, but possible
Though the scale of change needed may seem daunting, it’s achievable and already in motion in some places. In many communities around the world, like Puget Sound on the northwestern coast of Washington state, people are already living in ways that allow humans and ecosystems to flourish.
In other regions, like Ecuador and Sumas First Nation, new possibilities are emerging for building human societies that operate within the planetary boundaries. Humans are exceptionally adaptable and have the advantage of foresight and the ability to transform entire systems through ethical collaboration.
Individual action is one necessary element to accelerate this shift. Change often starts small, with individuals and small groups adjusting their lives. But while personal choices do matter, individuals must also push for systemic changes in their communities, organizations, and broader society.
To make nature-connected living more widely accessible, collaborative, equitable and intentional efforts are needed. This involves intercultural communication, collaboration and open dialogue to ensure diverse perspectives are considered in decision-making processes.
Thoughtfully considering the direct and indirect impacts of our action, including the immediate and long-term consequences of any decisions, will create more equitable and sustainable systems.
People looking to create meaningful change should seek to support a range of groups and organizations dedicated to environmental and social justice. This includes Indigenous leaders and treaty protocols, local authorities, environmental advocacy groups, community organizations or labour unions. A good example of this is the work being done by the UNESCO-recognized biosphere reserves.
Creativity — the essence of adaptability — flourishes when different knowledge systems are woven together. However, this must be done ethically and involve consensual and collaborative exchanges to ensure no knowledge system is exploited or undervalued. We must be careful to avoid repeating the mistakes of imperialism and domination that have created our current planetary crises.
In addition to rethinking how we approach knowledge, rebuilding strong, interconnected relationships between humans and nature also means rethinking our technological systems.
Technological innovation has been used to exploit the Earth for short-term gains, but it also holds great potential for positive change. It can either maintain or disrupt the status quo, depending on how we use it.
To build healthier relationships between people and nature, human societies need to adopt a systems thinking approach. This approach looks at the bigger picture, considering the ecological, cultural, political and social aspects of technology in an integrated manner. It ensures that innovation is guided by principles of sustainability and equity.
Climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion are not isolated problems — they are part of an interconnected web of crises that demand urgent and comprehensive action.
Incremental approaches are not enough to address the scale of these looming threats. Purposefully co-ordinated actions are needed to shift the current trajectory away from exploitation to one of mutual benefit for humans and the natural world.
What is needed is radical transformation aimed at creating just and flourishing relationships between nature and humanity for the benefit of all current and future life on Earth.
Christie Manning, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Macalester College; Jacqueline Corbett, Professor of Information Systems, Université Laval; and Simone Bignall, Senior Researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, co-authored this article.
Liette Vasseur receives funding from New Frontiers Research Program Exploration program in Canada.
Anders Hayden and Mike Jones do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19)
Washington, D.C. – House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) introduced a resolution “strongly condemning Vice President Kamala Harris for championing policies that would exacerbate the national debt and reduce energy independence.”
“Issuing 250 anti-energy executive orders, the Biden-Harris Administration led a whole-of-government attack on the oil and gas industry – an industry that employs 10 million people and accounts for almost 10 percent of our total economy – which have resulted in higher gas prices, a weaker economy, and more dependence on foreign sources of fuel,” said Chairman Arrington. “A Kamala Harris presidency would be much worse. As Senator, she was an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal, which would cost the federal government $93 trillion over 10 years and increase annual household energy costs by 31%. As a presidential candidate, she advocated to ban fracking, and, as Vice President, supported an $800 billion dollar EV mandate. I introduced this legislation to remind the American people that Kamala Harris’ energy policies would be disastrous for the American economy, threaten our energy and national security, and significantly increase energy costs for American consumers.”
“From day one, the Biden–Harris administration has been obsessed with banning gas stoves, gas cars, and other sources of clean, affordable energy—no matter the cost for families,”said Ryan Walker, Executive Vice President, Heritage Action.“Americans shouldn’t forget: Vice President Kamala Harris is a vocal supporter of radical ‘Green New Deal’ policies that lower energy efficiency and drive up costs. Conservatives in Congress must follow Rep. Arrington’s lead and continue to call out Harris’s climate alarmist agenda and fight back against her war on American energy independence.”
Background:
Chairman Arrington’s resolution lays out:
The Federal Government has a debt of $35 trillion, amounting to a 120 percent debt-to-gross domestic product ratio not seen since World War II;
Energy independence and security in the United States is critical to the national security of the United States;
In 2019, then-Senator from California, Kamala Harris, was an original cosponsor of S. Res. 59, a resolution recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal, a proposal which, if implemented in its entirety, would cost the Federal Government $93,000,000,000,000 over 10 years;
A July 2019 analysis found that through 2040, the Green New Deal would reduce the annual employment in the United States by 1,200,000, reduce average annual household incomes by $7,964, and increase annual household energy costs by 31-percent, while having a negligible effect on reducing global surface temperatures;
Then-Senator Harris, as a candidate for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination, proposed her own climate plan that would cost American taxpayers approximately $10,000,000,000,000 over 10 years;
Then-Senator Harris’s climate plan called for a 100 percent electric vehicle mandate by the year 2035, banning combustion-engine vehicles, reducing automotive supply employment, and becoming more reliable on battery component and critical mineral imports from China;
Then-Senator Harris’s climate plan would significantly increase energy costs for consumers in the United States by banning extraction on Federal lands and phasing out all oil and natural gas production, even if renewable alternatives are not readily available to make up the energy demand needs of the United States;
Then-Senator Harris’s climate plan would double the financial contributions of the United States to the international Green Climate Fund;
Then-Senator Harris’s climate plan calls for the Federal Government to acquire millions of acres of private land in the United States; and
Then-Senator Harris said during a CNN town hall that she was ‘‘in favor of banning fracking.’’
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. (Teva USA) and Teva Neuroscience Inc. (collectively, Teva) have agreed to pay $450 million to resolve two matters that allege Teva violated the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the False Claims Act (FCA). Teva, headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, is the largest generic drug manufacturer in the United States. The settlement amount was based on Teva’s ability to pay.
“Kickbacks designed to induce referrals or purchases of healthcare goods or services distort physician and patient decision-making, thwart competition and bypass controls put in place to protect federal health care programs,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department is committed to pursuing those who engage in kickback violations, including drug manufacturers, to ensure that federal health care programs continue to serve the interests of taxpayers and program beneficiaries.”
The settlement encompasses two alleged kickback schemes. First, Teva has agreed to resolve allegations in a complaint the United States filed in the District of Massachusetts in August 2020 that Teva violated and conspired to violate the AKS and FCA by paying Medicare patients’ cost sharing obligations (copays) for the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone from 2006 through 2017, while steadily raising Copaxone’s price. In particular, the United States alleged that Teva coordinated and conspired with multiple third parties, including a specialty pharmacy and two allegedly independent copay assistance foundations, to ensure that purported donations to the foundations were used specifically to cover the copays of Medicare Copaxone patients, which Teva knew was prohibited by the AKS, and that Teva thereby caused the submission of false claims to Medicare.
Second, Teva USA has agreed to resolve separate allegations that it conspired with other generic drug manufacturers to fix prices for pravastatin, a drug widely used to treat high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as two other generic drugs, clotrimazole and tobramycin. Teva USA previously entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division to resolve related criminal charges. Teva USA paid a criminal penalty of $225 million and admitted to conspiring with three other generic drug companies to fix prices on certain generic drugs. Under the civil settlement announced today, Teva agreed to resolve allegations that the benefits it received under its price fixing scheme constituted illegal kickbacks.
Teva will pay collectively $450 million to resolve the two kickback schemes. This payment is in addition to the criminal penalty paid by Teva USA under its deferred prosecution agreement.
“Kickback arrangements by pharmaceutical companies escalate the costs for critical drugs used by our citizens and federal health care programs,” said U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “My office is proud to work with the rest of the Department of Justice and our investigative partners to enforce federal laws prohibiting kickback arrangements. We will continue to take action to lower the drug costs for our country and its health care programs supporting senior citizens, our military service members and others.”
“For far too long, Teva gamed the charitable foundation process by paying kickbacks through two foundations, and with the aid of a specialty pharmacy. Those kickbacks undermined the purpose of the Medicare co-pay system and violated the Anti-Kickback Statute,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts. “This office has taken the leading role in cracking down on these highly lucrative schemes that drive up the cost of essential drugs by bringing multiple enforcement actions that have returned more than $1 billion to the Medicare system. We will continue to pursue these actions to ensure that all pharmaceutical companies play by the rules and to protect the American taxpayers.
“The Medicare program’s copay structure serves as a safeguard against the artificial inflation of drug prices. When a pharmaceutical company manipulates drug prices through collusion, or disguises kickbacks as charitable donations to subsidize copays for its own drugs, the integrity of the Medicare program is jeopardized,” said Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Adam Globerman of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “This type of conduct is unacceptable, and HHS-OIG remains committed to thoroughly pursuing allegations of price fixing and kickbacks that put the Medicare program at risk.”
“The Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the law enforcement arm of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, seeks to protect the integrity of TRICARE, the healthcare system for U.S. military members and their dependents,” said Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty of DCIS Northeast Field Office. “When pharmaceutical corporations artificially inflate prices, they place an unnecessary financial burden on the TRICARE program. The settlement agreement announced today demonstrates our commitment to partner with investigative agencies and the Department of Justice, including the Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to combat healthcare fraud.”
Since 2017, the United States has collected over $1 billion, in addition to today’s settlement, from pharmaceutical companies that allegedly used third-party foundations as conduits to unlawfully pay patient copays. The department has also reached settlements with four foundations and a specialty pharmacy pertaining to those allegations. Today’s resolution with Teva is the largest of these settlements to date. The settlement of Teva’s price fixing conduct is the seventh pertaining to allegations of price fixing involving generic drugs, with total recoveries exceeding $500 million.
The government’s pursuit of these matters illustrates the department’s emphasis on combating health care fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement can be reported to HHS at 800‑HHS‑TIPS (800-447-8477).
The resolution of the patient copay matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, with investigative support from HHS-OIG and the FBI.
Attorneys Douglas Rosenthal and Nelson Wagner of the Civil Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham R. George, Diane Seol and Evan Panich for the District of Massachusetts handled the matter.
The civil resolution of the price fixing matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, with investigative support from HHS-OIG, the Defense Health Agency Program Integrity Office, DCIS and Office of Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Senior Trial Counsel Jennifer L. Cihon and Senior Litigation Counsel Laurie A. Oberembt of the Civil Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Landon Y. Jones III, Rebecca S. Melley and Anthony D. Scicchitano for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania handled the matter. Fraud Section financial analyst Sheryl Paynter provided support for both matters.
The civil action in Massachusetts is captioned United States v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. et al., No. 20-cv-11548 (DMA).
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. (Teva USA) and Teva Neuroscience Inc. (collectively, Teva) have agreed to pay $450 million to resolve two matters that allege Teva violated the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the False Claims Act (FCA). Teva, headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, is the largest generic drug manufacturer in the United States. The settlement amount was based on Teva’s ability to pay.
“Kickbacks designed to induce referrals or purchases of healthcare goods or services distort physician and patient decision-making, thwart competition and bypass controls put in place to protect federal health care programs,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department is committed to pursuing those who engage in kickback violations, including drug manufacturers, to ensure that federal health care programs continue to serve the interests of taxpayers and program beneficiaries.”
The settlement encompasses two alleged kickback schemes. First, Teva has agreed to resolve allegations in a complaint the United States filed in the District of Massachusetts in August 2020 that Teva violated and conspired to violate the AKS and FCA by paying Medicare patients’ cost sharing obligations (copays) for the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone from 2006 through 2017, while steadily raising Copaxone’s price. In particular, the United States alleged that Teva coordinated and conspired with multiple third parties, including a specialty pharmacy and two allegedly independent copay assistance foundations, to ensure that purported donations to the foundations were used specifically to cover the copays of Medicare Copaxone patients, which Teva knew was prohibited by the AKS, and that Teva thereby caused the submission of false claims to Medicare.
Second, Teva USA has agreed to resolve separate allegations that it conspired with other generic drug manufacturers to fix prices for pravastatin, a drug widely used to treat high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as two other generic drugs, clotrimazole and tobramycin. Teva USA previously entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division to resolve related criminal charges. Teva USA paid a criminal penalty of $225 million and admitted to conspiring with three other generic drug companies to fix prices on certain generic drugs. Under the civil settlement announced today, Teva agreed to resolve allegations that the benefits it received under its price fixing scheme constituted illegal kickbacks.
Teva will pay collectively $450 million to resolve the two kickback schemes. This payment is in addition to the criminal penalty paid by Teva USA under its deferred prosecution agreement.
“Kickback arrangements by pharmaceutical companies escalate the costs for critical drugs used by our citizens and federal health care programs,” said U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “My office is proud to work with the rest of the Department of Justice and our investigative partners to enforce federal laws prohibiting kickback arrangements. We will continue to take action to lower the drug costs for our country and its health care programs supporting senior citizens, our military service members and others.”
“For far too long, Teva gamed the charitable foundation process by paying kickbacks through two foundations, and with the aid of a specialty pharmacy. Those kickbacks undermined the purpose of the Medicare co-pay system and violated the Anti-Kickback Statute,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts. “This office has taken the leading role in cracking down on these highly lucrative schemes that drive up the cost of essential drugs by bringing multiple enforcement actions that have returned more than $1 billion to the Medicare system. We will continue to pursue these actions to ensure that all pharmaceutical companies play by the rules and to protect the American taxpayers.
“The Medicare program’s copay structure serves as a safeguard against the artificial inflation of drug prices. When a pharmaceutical company manipulates drug prices through collusion, or disguises kickbacks as charitable donations to subsidize copays for its own drugs, the integrity of the Medicare program is jeopardized,” said Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Adam Globerman of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “This type of conduct is unacceptable, and HHS-OIG remains committed to thoroughly pursuing allegations of price fixing and kickbacks that put the Medicare program at risk.”
“The Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the law enforcement arm of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, seeks to protect the integrity of TRICARE, the healthcare system for U.S. military members and their dependents,” said Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty of DCIS Northeast Field Office. “When pharmaceutical corporations artificially inflate prices, they place an unnecessary financial burden on the TRICARE program. The settlement agreement announced today demonstrates our commitment to partner with investigative agencies and the Department of Justice, including the Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to combat healthcare fraud.”
Since 2017, the United States has collected over $1 billion, in addition to today’s settlement, from pharmaceutical companies that allegedly used third-party foundations as conduits to unlawfully pay patient copays. The department has also reached settlements with four foundations and a specialty pharmacy pertaining to those allegations. Today’s resolution with Teva is the largest of these settlements to date. The settlement of Teva’s price fixing conduct is the seventh pertaining to allegations of price fixing involving generic drugs, with total recoveries exceeding $500 million.
The government’s pursuit of these matters illustrates the department’s emphasis on combating health care fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement can be reported to HHS at 800‑HHS‑TIPS (800-447-8477).
The resolution of the patient copay matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, with investigative support from HHS-OIG and the FBI.
Attorneys Douglas Rosenthal and Nelson Wagner of the Civil Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham R. George, Diane Seol and Evan Panich for the District of Massachusetts handled the matter.
The civil resolution of the price fixing matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, with investigative support from HHS-OIG, the Defense Health Agency Program Integrity Office, DCIS and Office of Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Senior Trial Counsel Jennifer L. Cihon and Senior Litigation Counsel Laurie A. Oberembt of the Civil Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Landon Y. Jones III, Rebecca S. Melley and Anthony D. Scicchitano for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania handled the matter. Fraud Section financial analyst Sheryl Paynter provided support for both matters.
The civil action in Massachusetts is captioned United States v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. et al., No. 20-cv-11548 (DMA).
WASHINGTON — TD Bank N.A. (TDBNA), the 10th largest bank in the United States, and its parent company TD Bank US Holding Company (TDBUSH) (together with TDBNA, TD Bank) pleaded guilty today and agreed to pay over $1.8 billion in penalties to resolve the Justice Department’s investigation into violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and money laundering.
TDBNA pleaded guilty to conspiring to fail to maintain an anti-money laundering (AML) program that complies with the BSA, fail to file accurate Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs), and launder money. TDBUSH pleaded guilty to causing TDBNA to fail to maintain an AML program that complies with the BSA and to fail to file accurate CTRs.
TD Bank’s guilty pleas are part of a coordinated resolution with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), as well as the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
“By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Today, TD Bank also became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first US bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. TD Bank chose profits over compliance with the law — a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties. Let me be clear: our investigation continues, and no individual involved in TD Bank’s illegal conduct is off limits.”
“For years, TD Bank starved its compliance program of the resources needed to obey the law. Today’s historic guilty plea, including the largest penalty ever imposed under the Bank Secrecy Act, offers an unmistakable lesson: crime doesn’t pay — and neither does flouting compliance,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “Every bank compliance official in America should be reviewing today’s charges as a case study of what not to do. And every bank CEO and board member should be doing the same. Because if the business case for compliance wasn’t clear before — it should be now.”
“For nearly a decade, TD Bank failed to update its anti-money laundering compliance program to address known risks. As bank employees acknowledged in internal communications, these failures made the bank an ‘easy target’ for the ‘bad guys.’ These failures also allowed corrupt bank employees to facilitate a criminal network’s laundering of tens of millions of dollars,” said Principal Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “U.S. financial institutions are the first line of defense against money laundering and illicit finance. When they participate in crime rather than prevent it, we will not hesitate to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
“TD Bank prioritized growth and convenience over following its legal obligations,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey. “As a result of staggering and pervasive failures in oversight, it willfully failed to monitor trillions of dollars of transactions – including those involving ACH transactions, checks, high-risk countries, and peer-to-peer transactions – which allowed hundreds of millions of dollars from money laundering networks to flow through the bank, including for international drug traffickers. The bank was aware of these risks and failed to take steps to protect against them, including for two networks prosecuted in New Jersey and elsewhere – one that dumped piles of cash on the bank’s counters and another that allegedly withdrew amounts from ATMs 40 to 50 times higher than the daily limit for personal accounts.”
According to court documents, between January 2014 and October 2023, TD Bank had long-term, pervasive, and systemic deficiencies in its U.S. AML policies, procedures, and controls but failed to take appropriate remedial action. Instead, senior executives at TD Bank enforced a budget mandate, referred to internally as a “flat cost paradigm,” requiring that TD Bank’s budget not increase year-over-year, despite its profits and risk profile increasing significantly over the same period. Although TD Bank maintained elements of an AML program that appeared adequate on paper, fundamental, widespread flaws in its AML program made TD Bank an “easy target” for perpetrators of financial crime.
Over the last decade, TD Bank’s federal regulators and TD Bank’s own internal audit group repeatedly identified concerns about its transaction monitoring program, a key element of an appropriate AML program necessary to properly detect and report suspicious activities. Nonetheless, from 2014 through 2022, TD Bank’s transaction monitoring program remained effectively static, and did not adapt to address known, glaring deficiencies; emerging money laundering risks; or TD Bank’s new products and services. For years, TD Bank failed to appropriately fund and staff its AML program, opting to postpone and cancel necessary AML projects prioritizing a “flat cost paradigm” and the “customer experience.”
Throughout this time, TD Bank intentionally did not automatically monitor all domestic automated clearinghouse (ACH) transactions, most check activity, and numerous other transaction types, resulting in 92% of total transaction volume going unmonitored from Jan. 1, 2018, to April 12, 2024. This amounted to approximately $18.3 trillion of transaction activity. TD Bank also added no new transaction monitoring scenarios and made no material changes to existing transaction monitoring scenarios from at least 2014 through late 2022; implemented new products and services, like Zelle, without ensuring appropriate transaction monitoring coverage; failed to meaningfully monitor transactions involving high-risk countries; instructed stores to stop filing internal unusual transaction reports on certain suspicious customers; and permitted more than $5 billion in transactional activity to occur in accounts even after the bank decided to close them.
TD Bank’s AML failures made it “convenient” for criminals, in the words of its employees. These failures enabled three money laundering networks to collectively transfer more than $670 million through TD Bank accounts between 2019 and 2023. Between January 2018 and February 2021, one money laundering network processed more than $470 million through the bank through large cash deposits into nominee accounts. The operators of this scheme provided employees gift cards worth more than $57,000 to ensure employees would continue to process their transactions. And even though the operators of this scheme were clearly depositing cash well over $10,000 in suspicious transactions, TD Bank employees did not identify the conductor of the transaction in required reports. In a second scheme between March 2021 and March 2023, a high-risk jewelry business moved nearly $120 million through shell accounts before TD Bank reported the activity. In a third scheme, money laundering networks deposited funds in the United States and quickly withdrew those funds using ATMs in Colombia. Five TD Bank employees conspired with this network and issued dozens of ATM cards for the money launderers, ultimately conspiring in the laundering of approximately $39 million. The Justice Department has charged over two dozen individuals across these schemes, including two bank insiders. TD Bank’s plea agreement requires continued cooperation in ongoing investigations of individuals.
As part of the plea agreement, TD Bank has agreed to forfeit $452,432,302.00 and pay a criminal fine of $1,434,513,478.40, for a total financial penalty of $1,886,945,780.40. TD Bank has also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years and to remediate and enhance its AML compliance program. TD Bank has separately reached agreements with the FRB, OCC, and FinCEN, and the Justice Department will credit $123.5 million of the forfeiture toward the FRB’s resolution.
The Justice Department reached its resolution with TD Bank based on a number of factors, including the nature, seriousness, and pervasiveness of the offenses, as a result of which TD Bank became the bank of choice for multiple money laundering organizations and criminal actors and processed hundreds of millions of dollars in money laundering transactions. Although TD Bank did not voluntarily disclose its wrongdoing, it received partial credit for its strong cooperation with the Department’s investigation and the ongoing remediation of its AML program. TD Bank did not receive full credit for its cooperation because it failed to timely escalate relevant AML concerns to the Department during the investigation. Accordingly, the total criminal penalty reflects a 20% reduction based on the bank’s partial cooperation and remediation.
IRS Criminal Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, and Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. The Morristown Police Department, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and New York City Police Department provided substantial assistance.
Trial Attorneys D. Zachary Adams and Chelsea R. Rooney of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark J. Pesce and Angelica Sinopole for the District of New Jersey prosecuted the case.
MLARS’ Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers, and employees, whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system. Since its creation in 2010, the Bank Integrity Unit has prosecuted financial institutions for violations of the BSA, money laundering, sanctions, and other laws, imposing total penalties of over $25 billion.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The Justice Department has filed a civil lawsuit against Paul Bakhoum, who was the Vice President for Operations for Ecosolargy Inc., a California Corporation that imported Chinese-manufactured solar panels into the United States. The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Bakhoum made false statements to customs officials and, as a result, avoided paying harmonized tariff schedule (HTS), antidumping and countervailing duties owed on the imported solar panels.
At the time merchandise is entered into the United States, the importer is responsible for providing all information necessary to enable Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess the applicable duties owed on the goods, including any HTS, antidumping and countervailing duties applicable to the merchandise. The HTS sets duties based on the category of the product (for example, solar cells), while antidumping and countervailing duties are trade remedies that help protect domestic industries from unfair trade practices by foreign businesses and countries, such as government subsidies or below market sales.
The United States’ complaint contends that Bakhoum caused Ecosolargy to falsely classify solar panels imported from China as LED lights. In particular, the United States alleges that Bakhoum negligently misrepresented to CBP the imported solar panels’ HTS code and value and failed to identify both the proper antidumping duty and countervailing duty rates applicable to the panels.
“The Justice Department is committed to pursuing those who evade customs duties or otherwise engage in unfair trade practices that harm U.S. manufacturers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to employ all of our available tools to ensure that U.S. manufacturers are competing on a level playing field.”
“CBP takes its trade mission of protecting the U.S. economy very seriously as we strive to maintain fair trade and preserve American jobs from predatory practices,” said Executive Director Susan Thomas of CBP’s Cargo and Conveyance Security, Office of Field Operations. “These civil penalties should serve as a warning to those who attempt to do harm to our economy and American businesses.”
The complaint seeks the recovery of almost $300,000 in import duties and almost $800,000 in civil penalties.
CBP’s Electronics Center of Excellence and Expertise investigated the case. CBP and Homeland Security Investigations are the agencies responsible for enforcing U.S. laws related to the importation of merchandise into the United States, including the collection of duties and assessment of penalties.
Trial Counsel Daniel Hoffman of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, National Courts Section, handled the case.
The case, which is filed in the Court of International Trade, is captioned United States v. Paul Bakhoum No. 24-00188.
To combat trade fraud, including avoidance of import duties, the Justice Department created a Trade Fraud Task Force. The Task Force partners with CBP and other law enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with United States trade laws.
The claims in the complaint are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
WASHINGTON — TD Bank N.A. (TDBNA), the 10th largest bank in the United States, and its parent company TD Bank US Holding Company (TDBUSH) (together with TDBNA, TD Bank) pleaded guilty today and agreed to pay over $1.8 billion in penalties to resolve the Justice Department’s investigation into violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and money laundering.
TDBNA pleaded guilty to conspiring to fail to maintain an anti-money laundering (AML) program that complies with the BSA, fail to file accurate Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs), and launder money. TDBUSH pleaded guilty to causing TDBNA to fail to maintain an AML program that complies with the BSA and to fail to file accurate CTRs.
TD Bank’s guilty pleas are part of a coordinated resolution with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), as well as the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
“By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Today, TD Bank also became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first US bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. TD Bank chose profits over compliance with the law — a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties. Let me be clear: our investigation continues, and no individual involved in TD Bank’s illegal conduct is off limits.”
“For years, TD Bank starved its compliance program of the resources needed to obey the law. Today’s historic guilty plea, including the largest penalty ever imposed under the Bank Secrecy Act, offers an unmistakable lesson: crime doesn’t pay — and neither does flouting compliance,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “Every bank compliance official in America should be reviewing today’s charges as a case study of what not to do. And every bank CEO and board member should be doing the same. Because if the business case for compliance wasn’t clear before — it should be now.”
“For nearly a decade, TD Bank failed to update its anti-money laundering compliance program to address known risks. As bank employees acknowledged in internal communications, these failures made the bank an ‘easy target’ for the ‘bad guys.’ These failures also allowed corrupt bank employees to facilitate a criminal network’s laundering of tens of millions of dollars,” said Principal Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “U.S. financial institutions are the first line of defense against money laundering and illicit finance. When they participate in crime rather than prevent it, we will not hesitate to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
“TD Bank prioritized growth and convenience over following its legal obligations,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey. “As a result of staggering and pervasive failures in oversight, it willfully failed to monitor trillions of dollars of transactions – including those involving ACH transactions, checks, high-risk countries, and peer-to-peer transactions – which allowed hundreds of millions of dollars from money laundering networks to flow through the bank, including for international drug traffickers. The bank was aware of these risks and failed to take steps to protect against them, including for two networks prosecuted in New Jersey and elsewhere – one that dumped piles of cash on the bank’s counters and another that allegedly withdrew amounts from ATMs 40 to 50 times higher than the daily limit for personal accounts.”
According to court documents, between January 2014 and October 2023, TD Bank had long-term, pervasive, and systemic deficiencies in its U.S. AML policies, procedures, and controls but failed to take appropriate remedial action. Instead, senior executives at TD Bank enforced a budget mandate, referred to internally as a “flat cost paradigm,” requiring that TD Bank’s budget not increase year-over-year, despite its profits and risk profile increasing significantly over the same period. Although TD Bank maintained elements of an AML program that appeared adequate on paper, fundamental, widespread flaws in its AML program made TD Bank an “easy target” for perpetrators of financial crime.
Over the last decade, TD Bank’s federal regulators and TD Bank’s own internal audit group repeatedly identified concerns about its transaction monitoring program, a key element of an appropriate AML program necessary to properly detect and report suspicious activities. Nonetheless, from 2014 through 2022, TD Bank’s transaction monitoring program remained effectively static, and did not adapt to address known, glaring deficiencies; emerging money laundering risks; or TD Bank’s new products and services. For years, TD Bank failed to appropriately fund and staff its AML program, opting to postpone and cancel necessary AML projects prioritizing a “flat cost paradigm” and the “customer experience.”
Throughout this time, TD Bank intentionally did not automatically monitor all domestic automated clearinghouse (ACH) transactions, most check activity, and numerous other transaction types, resulting in 92% of total transaction volume going unmonitored from Jan. 1, 2018, to April 12, 2024. This amounted to approximately $18.3 trillion of transaction activity. TD Bank also added no new transaction monitoring scenarios and made no material changes to existing transaction monitoring scenarios from at least 2014 through late 2022; implemented new products and services, like Zelle, without ensuring appropriate transaction monitoring coverage; failed to meaningfully monitor transactions involving high-risk countries; instructed stores to stop filing internal unusual transaction reports on certain suspicious customers; and permitted more than $5 billion in transactional activity to occur in accounts even after the bank decided to close them.
TD Bank’s AML failures made it “convenient” for criminals, in the words of its employees. These failures enabled three money laundering networks to collectively transfer more than $670 million through TD Bank accounts between 2019 and 2023. Between January 2018 and February 2021, one money laundering network processed more than $470 million through the bank through large cash deposits into nominee accounts. The operators of this scheme provided employees gift cards worth more than $57,000 to ensure employees would continue to process their transactions. And even though the operators of this scheme were clearly depositing cash well over $10,000 in suspicious transactions, TD Bank employees did not identify the conductor of the transaction in required reports. In a second scheme between March 2021 and March 2023, a high-risk jewelry business moved nearly $120 million through shell accounts before TD Bank reported the activity. In a third scheme, money laundering networks deposited funds in the United States and quickly withdrew those funds using ATMs in Colombia. Five TD Bank employees conspired with this network and issued dozens of ATM cards for the money launderers, ultimately conspiring in the laundering of approximately $39 million. The Justice Department has charged over two dozen individuals across these schemes, including two bank insiders. TD Bank’s plea agreement requires continued cooperation in ongoing investigations of individuals.
As part of the plea agreement, TD Bank has agreed to forfeit $452,432,302.00 and pay a criminal fine of $1,434,513,478.40, for a total financial penalty of $1,886,945,780.40. TD Bank has also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years and to remediate and enhance its AML compliance program. TD Bank has separately reached agreements with the FRB, OCC, and FinCEN, and the Justice Department will credit $123.5 million of the forfeiture toward the FRB’s resolution.
The Justice Department reached its resolution with TD Bank based on a number of factors, including the nature, seriousness, and pervasiveness of the offenses, as a result of which TD Bank became the bank of choice for multiple money laundering organizations and criminal actors and processed hundreds of millions of dollars in money laundering transactions. Although TD Bank did not voluntarily disclose its wrongdoing, it received partial credit for its strong cooperation with the Department’s investigation and the ongoing remediation of its AML program. TD Bank did not receive full credit for its cooperation because it failed to timely escalate relevant AML concerns to the Department during the investigation. Accordingly, the total criminal penalty reflects a 20% reduction based on the bank’s partial cooperation and remediation.
IRS Criminal Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, and Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. The Morristown Police Department, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and New York City Police Department provided substantial assistance.
Trial Attorneys D. Zachary Adams and Chelsea R. Rooney of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark J. Pesce and Angelica Sinopole for the District of New Jersey prosecuted the case.
MLARS’ Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers, and employees, whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system. Since its creation in 2010, the Bank Integrity Unit has prosecuted financial institutions for violations of the BSA, money laundering, sanctions, and other laws, imposing total penalties of over $25 billion.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at http://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Up to $15.2 million in rent relief for affected businesses and the Municipality of Jasper allowing them to redirect financial resources towards recovery and rebuilding efforts.
Up to $15.2 million in rent relief for affected businesses and the Municipality of Jasper allowing them to redirect financial resources towards recovery and rebuilding efforts
October 10, 2024 Jasper, Alberta Parks Canada
Residents and local business owners of Jasper are doing their best to get back on their feet in the face of the devasting impacts from the wildfire that went through Jasper in July 2024. The Government of Canada is working hard to help the community rebuild after the fire to restart economic activity and deal with the costs they face.
Today, in his new role as Ministerial Lead to Jasper, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages and Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced rent relief for Parks Canada administered leases and licences in Jasper National Park. This rent forgiveness of up to $15.2 million provides financial relief to business owners, tenants and residents impacted by the wildfire.
The Government of Canada, through Parks Canada, along with the Government of Alberta and the Municipality of Jasper, have been coordinating efforts from the initial incident response to the subsequent recovery and rebuilding efforts in Jasper. In early August, Parks Canada announced a pause to all rent collection from lessees and licensees in Jasper and began working towards providing more formal rent relief measures. While most leases and licences within the Town of Jasper have a nominal annual rent, with no money formally exchanged with Parks Canada, this rent relief will be of significant benefit to the Municipality of Jasper and lessees and licensees outside of the townsite allowing them to redirect resources towards recovery or rebuilding efforts, rather than on immediate financial obligations. In parallel, Parks Canada jointly with the Municipality of Jasper are working to ensure efficient processes that will lessen the burdens and stresses related to the loss of residential homes and commercial businesses.
Rent relief is another important step in delivering on the Government of Canada’s commitment to support the community and local businesses in the National Park as they rebuild over the coming years. In mid-September, the Government introduced new legislation to enable the transfer of land use planning and development authorities to the Municipality of Jasper, aimed at giving the town, businesses and residents greater control to shape the future of Jasper, in partnership with Parks Canada.
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Oliver Anderson Director of Communications Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change 819-962-0686 oIiver.anderson@ec.gc.ca
Reopenings support businesses and residents whose livelihoods rely directly and indirectly on hosting and guiding visitors to Jasper National Park.
Reopenings support businesses and residents whose livelihoods rely directly and indirectly on hosting and guiding visitors to Jasper National Park.
October 10, 2024 Jasper National Park, Alberta Parks Canada
This week, some of the most visited places in Jasper National Park are reopening! Visitor experiences that have reopened since the Jasper Wildfire Complex required closing the entire park include: Miette Hot Springs, the Columbia Icefields, Sunwapta Falls, Pyramid Lake, Athabasca Falls, Old Fort Point and Lake Annette.
Today, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, as Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages and in a newly appointed role as Ministerial Lead to Jasper, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced fall and winter backcountry camping availability, an update on winter activities expected in Jasper, and the reopening of Maligne Road on Friday, October 11, 2024. The Parks Canada Reservation System will have select backcountry sites available to book on October 10, 2024 at 14:00 p.m. MST.
The economy of Jasper depends on visitors and the Government of Canada is committed to welcoming tourists to Jasper National Park following the Jasper Wildfire Complex. As one of the hardest hit areas during the wildfire, Maligne Road is a significant reopening—in addition to all the incredible work to open many other popular areas. Parks Canada will continue to reopen areas of Jasper National Park as soon as it is safe to do so.
The reopening of the major visitor experience areas within Jasper National Park ensures that Jasper residents, Canadians and international visitors alike can make plans to enjoy this iconic winter destination. Winter activities this year in Jasper will include many of the beloved experiences the park is known for, including winter events and outdoor recreation experiences like cross-country and downhill skiing, snowshoeing, skating, and flat-packed trails for walking and fat biking.
Visitors are encouraged to plan their trip in advance. Jasper National Park has launched an interactive map of what’s open to simplify trip planning. While in Jasper, visitors can stop by the Jasper National Park Visitor Information Centre in the heart of downtown for advice and recommendations on making the most of their of their Parks Canada experience.
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Oliver Anderson Director of Communications Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change 819-962-0686 oIiver.anderson@ec.gc.ca
Alice Hansen Director of Communications Office of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, and Ministerial Lead for Jasper Alice.hansen@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
October 10, 2024
Nearly half of 2023 audits had significant deficiencies.
“This is an astonishing finding that calls for immediate action by the PCAOB—and careful review by regulators….(I)nvestors and the public essentially face a coin flip when it comes to whether they should believe and trust the results of public companies’ audits.”
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), members of the Senate Committee on Finance, called on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to establish stricter accountability for accounting firms with “unacceptable” deficiency rates. The PCAOB is charged with overseeing the audits of public companies to protect investors and provide the public with “informative, accurate, and independent audit reports.” But the agency is not doing its job.
Last year, the PCAOB’s review of over 200 accounting firms’ audits found that 46% had errors so significant that that auditor “had not obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support its opinion” about a public company’s financial statements and financial reporting. The findings of this review reveal a nearly complete failure by the agency and cast doubts on the auditing process that plays a crucial role for investors in publicly traded companies.
“[T]he findings of this new analysis reveal a nearly complete failure [by PCAOB], indicating that investors and the public essentially face a coin flip when it comes to whether they should believe and trust the results of public companies’ audits,” wrote Senators Warren and Whitehouse.
Yet, the PCAOB does not appear to recognize the seriousness of the problem. In fact, Chair Erica Williams said the report showed “small signs of movement in the right direction.” And Board Member Christina Ho downplayed the findings, asserting that “there is another side to the story.”
‘[T]his is the wrong conclusion to draw from an embarrassing and intolerable set of findings,” wrote Sens. Waren and Whitehouse.
“The PCAOB must do better. …Either [auditing] standards are inadequate—or the PCAOB is failing to establish accountability for firms that do not meet them. These are unacceptable failures by the PCAOB,” concluded the lawmakers.
The senators request clarification about how the PCAOB plans to hold auditors accountable for ongoing problems by October 23, 2024.
Senator Warren has led the charge to ensure the PCAOB is effective and accountable to the public:
In January 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to the PCAOB raising concerns about crypto accounting firms’ independence and methodology following reports of whitewashed audits of crypto firms with histories of malfeasance.
In May 2021, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler requesting the SEC use its authority to immediately remove and replace the members of the PCAOB, which sets standards for audits of public company financial statements required under Sarbanes-Oxley.
In April 2017, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) wrote to PCAOB, raising questions and releasing new information about KPMG’s role as the independent auditor of Wells Fargo during the time period in which thousands of Wells Fargo staff engaged in fraudulent behavior affecting millions of accounts.
The Global Barometers record a small increase in October, largely offsetting the previous month’s decline. The Coincident Barometer continues to signal economic development below the medium-term average, while the leading barometer continues to point to a normalisation of growth in the coming months.
The Coincident Global Economic Barometer increases by 2.1 points in October, to reach 93.8 points, while the Leading Barometer gains 1.9 points, to 102.5 points. The rise in both indicators is mainly driven by the results of the Asia, Pacific & Africa region.
“Since December 2022, the leading global barometer has been more positive or less negative than the coincident global barometer. For some time now, both indicators have been moving more or less sideways. This is historically quite unique and suggests that general expectations of economic normalisation seem to be repeatedly disappointed. At present, the situation in the Middle East seems to be preventing a real recovery in the global economy. We remain hopeful that solutions will be found that will allow us to move forward and that the assessment of the situation will improve significantly in the near future”, evaluates Jan-Egbert Sturm, Director of KOF Swiss Economic Institute.
Coincident Barometer – regions and sectors
The gain in the Coincident Barometer in October is the result of a 2.2-point positive contribution of the coincident indicator for the Asia, Pacific & Africa region, while Europe remains stable, and the Western Hemisphere contributes slightly negatively with -0.1 points. After losing ground between February and July of this year, the indicator for the Asia, Pacific & Africa region has stopped falling, and now fluctuates between 88 and 92 points, signalling the difficulty of the region to regain the increasing tendency observed in 2023.
All the Coincident sector indicators increase in October, with Construction standing out. Economy (aggregated business and consumer evaluations) remains at the lowest level among the sector indicators.
Leading Barometer – regions and sectors
The Leading Global Barometer leads the world economic growth rate cycle by three to six months on average. In October, the Asia, Pacific & Africa region and the Western Hemisphere contribute positively to the aggregate result with 1.7 and 0.4 points, respectively, while Europe contributes in the opposite direction with -0.2 points.
In October, all the Leading sector indicators increase, with Construction standing out for a gain of over 10 points, reaching a level that reflects a positive outlook.
There is a long-standing belief within cryptocurrency circles that ‘Uptober’ gives way to the Halloween effect—a period between the end of October and the end of May when markets trend higher.
To find out what Bitcoin’s price could be during Halloween 2024, Finbold interviewed five finance professionals and revealed that BTC is expected to, on average, hit $69,400 on the spookiest of holidays.
There is also some variance in the forecasts despite the general optimism, and the average of the upper bounds of the target ranges would see the cryptocurrency trade at $70,400 on Halloween and of the lowest at $59,400.
Furthermore, the most bullish individual target hopes for a BTC climb to $85,000 on October 31, while the lowest is worried about a drop to $35,000.
Therefore, Bitcoin’s price this Halloween is expected to be 101.16% higher than in October 2023.
Finance experts who participated in the survey include the CEO of Joy Wallet, the CEO of ForexMT4Indicators, HodlMaven’s owner and investment research manager at Gold IRA Investment Guy, and the founder of Stock Dork.
Bitcoin poised for a record Halloween price in 2024
Nonetheless, Bitcoin is likely to experience a strong October and is already at its highest ‘Uptober’ prices compared to every preceding year, save for 2021. Furthermore, as Andreja Stojanovic, the co-author of the research, pointed out:
“Should the average expert price target be reached, BTC would set a new record for its Halloween price as it would be $8,100 higher than three years earlier, almost twice as high as in 2023, and more than ten times higher than in 2017 or 2018.”
Finally, despite expert bullishness and market optimism, October may bring negative surprises for BTC.
Notably, recent Middle East expectations severely depressed the cryptocurrency’s price at the beginning of the month, and the danger of a further expansion of the war runs high.
Source: United States Small Business Administration
ATLANTA – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced today the addition of seven primary counties and ten adjacent counties to the disaster declaration for Hurricane Helene that began on Sept. 23, giving more businesses and residents eligibility to apply for SBA’s low-interest disaster loan program.
The declaration covers Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Leon, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota, Suwannee, Taylor, Union and Wakulla counties which are eligible for both Physical and Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the SBA. Small businesses and most private nonprofit organizations in the following adjacent counties are eligible to apply only for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs): Bay, Broward, Calhoun, Clay, DeSoto, Flagler, Gadsden, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Liberty, Marion, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Polk, St. Johns, Sumter, Volusia in Florida; Brooks, Charlton, Clinch, Echols, Grady, Lowndes, Thomas and Ware in Georgia.
Disaster survivors should not wait to settle with their insurance company before applying for a disaster loan. If a survivor does not know how much of their loss will be covered by insurance or other sources, SBA can make a low-interest disaster loan for the total loss up to its loan limits, provided the borrower agrees to use insurance proceeds to reduce or repay the loan.
Businesses and private nonprofit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets.
For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.
Disaster loans up to $500,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $100,000 to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed personal property.
Interest rates are as low as 4% for businesses, 3.25% for nonprofit organizations, and 2.813% for homeowners and renters, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not begin to accrue, and monthly payments are not due, until 12 months from the date of the initial disbursement. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.
Building back smarter and stronger can be an effective recovery tool for future disasters. Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase of up to 20% of their physical damages, as verified by the SBA for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements may include a safe room or storm shelter, sump pump, French drain or retaining wall to help protect property and occupants from future disasters.
“SBA’s disaster loan program offers an important advantage–the chance to incorporate measures that can reduce the risk of future damage,” said Sánchez. “Work with contractors and mitigation professionals to strengthen your property and take advantage of the opportunity to request additional SBA disaster loan funds for these proactive improvements.”
With the changes to FEMA’s Sequence of Delivery, survivors are now encouraged to simultaneously apply for FEMA grants and the SBA low-interest disaster loan assistance to fully recover. FEMA grants are intended to cover necessary expenses and serious needs not paid by insurance or other sources. The SBA disaster loan program is designed for your long-term recovery, to make you whole and get you back to your pre-disaster condition. Do not wait on the decision for a FEMA grant; apply online and receive additional disaster assistance information at sba.gov/disaster.
Applicants may also call the SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or send an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Nov. 27, 2024. The deadline to return economic injury applications is June 30, 2025.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or 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 http://www.sba.gov.
Headline: FEMA Extends Renewal Period for Flood Insurance Policyholders in Seven States Affected by Helene
FEMA Extends Renewal Period for Flood Insurance Policyholders in Seven States Affected by Helene
Flood insurance policyholders can receive advance payments to receive up to $20,000 for their recovery
WASHINGTON – FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program is taking immediate actions to help policyholders throughout the seven states recently affected by Helene.
While renewal dates have passed for some National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in states affected by Helene may be able to take steps that will renew their policy and receive immediate help.
Policyholders who received flood damage from Helene should be sure to ask their insurance agent or company about advance claims payments to help start their recovery. Advance payments may be available of up to $20,000 prior to a visit from an adjuster.
Certain policyholders in seven states impacted by Helene now have a limited opportunity to renew their policies without a consequence of a lapse in coverage. Policyholders in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia who had flood damage now have until Nov. 26, 2024, to renew their policies, an increase from the standard 30-day renewal grace period.
“I am deeply committed to helping our policyholders prioritize financial resources to help speed their recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destruction,” said Jeff Jackson, the interim Senior Executive of the program. “By extending the grace period for renewing policies, we are giving our policyholders some breathing room and demonstrating that the National Flood Insurance Program stands with them at time of tremendous heartache and difficulty.”
The extension applies to policies with policy expiration dates beginning Aug. 28, 2024, as follows:
If the policy term ended on:
The grace period would have ended:
But now runs until:
Aug. 28, 2024
Sept. 26, 2024
Nov. 26, 2024
Sept. 26, 2024
Oct. 25, 2024
Nov. 26, 2024
Oct. 15, 2024
Nov. 13, 2024
Nov. 26, 2024
Nov. 1, 2024
Nov. 30, 2024
Nov. 30, 2024
Nov. 15, 2024
Dec. 14, 2024
Dec. 14, 2024
Policyholders whose policy renewal date is within this range should contact their agent or insurance company.
For example, if the original policy expiration date was Aug. 28, 2024, the policy may be renewed on or before Nov. 26, 2024. Holders of active policies can file claims for damage received from Helene if premium is paid.
Other Actions to Help Policyholders
The program has extended the proof of loss requirement for policyholders who suffered flood damage from Hurricane Helene from the standard 60 days to 120 days from the date of loss.
FEMA also authorized its Write Your Own insurance company partners and the direct to pay claims based on the adjuster’s report without requiring policyholders to sign a proof of loss. When a policyholder seeks additional payment for any reason or disagrees with the adjuster report, they may still submit a signed proof of loss to the insurer along with supporting documentation, such as a contractor’s estimate, bills, receipts, photographs and other related documents.
Anyone affected by Helene who has a National Flood Insurance Program flood insurance policy and has suffered flood damage should begin filing their claim now. Evacuated policyholders can still start their claim and provide specifics later once local officials say it’s safe to return home.
Policyholders who wish to take advantage of the grace period should contact their agent or insurance company. Those who don’t have their insurance agent or company’s contact information should call 877-336-2627 for assistance.
To learn more about how to file a flood insurance claim visit floodsmart.gov.
How Modeling Feedback Loops Informs Analysis and Decisions Across Decarbonization Technologies
NREL researchers Swaroop Atnoorkar (right), Shubhankar Upasani (center), and Guilherme Castelao look at data analysis. Photo by Agata Bogucka, NREL
“When you look at renewable energy, not everything is linear,” said Swaroop Atnoorkar, an analyst at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). “Technologies often operate in complex systems with many moving parts in the background.”
Atnoorkar relies on understanding the intricacies of clean energy systems in her research on biofuel economics and supply chains. Research like hers is a vital step in understanding how each decision made with any given technology could impact its evolution.
But how do researchers examine the relationships between various factors within a given system, how they could change, and how those changes ultimately lead to different behaviors in the system over longer periods of time? And what exactly does this type of research inform?
The answers to those questions may lie within a sophisticated modeling method known as system dynamics.
Brief History of System Dynamics
Since its creation in the 1950s by Jay W. Forrester, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, system dynamics has become a tried-and-true method for understanding the behaviors of complex systems in terms of stocks, flows, and the feedback loops that connect them.
A simplified and generic example of a system dynamics model illustrates the complex interactions that could occur within a biofuel supply and production chain, featuring a feedstock, conversion pathway, and biofuel supply module. Graphic by Liz Craig, NREL
Think of this relationship like planting crops such as corn. The growth of corn in the field—a flow—is controlled by feedback processes including watering and nutrient availability. When the stock of corn is harvested, other feedback loops control the decomposition of residues and the return of nutrients to the soil.
At the time Forrester developed it, system dynamics research was applied to corporate managerial questions at General Electric’s plants. Studying corporate managerial problems remained its primary application through the 1960s, until researchers broadened its uses to examine other larger-scale societal questions. Initially, these simulations of stock-flow feedback structures were conducted with command-line programs, visualized with hand-drawn diagrams, and showed how internal management decisions impacted the dynamics of inventory and human resource systems. Now, its applications include examining everything from public health to renewable energy systems.
“Many of the early users of system dynamics knew its potential was far greater than its original business management use,” said Bobby Jeffers, acting laboratory program manager in NREL’s Energy Systems Integration directorate. “We are always trying to answer the question: ‘What are the feedback loops that really take hold of the system and cause it to go on some trajectory?’ We’re trying to encourage virtuous cycles that build on themselves while finding dampening cycles that allow things to grow sustainably.”
Jeffers specializes in system dynamics research. He and other researchers at NREL, like Atnoorkar, now use computer modeling to explore the complex relationships between various elements of system structures.
NREL program manager Bobby Jeffers leads a session during a workshop put together by the Energy Security and Resilience Program Office. Photo by Joe DelNero, NREL
Snapshot of System Dynamics at NREL
Atnoorkar is among the newer members of the research team working to find new ways to approach biofuel development at NREL.
For the last decade, much of the work being done to gain insights into the biofuel market has utilized NREL’s Bioenergy Scenario Model (BSM), which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). The System Dynamics Society Award-winning model tracks biofuel deployment and the effects of various influences on the biofuel market, such as changes in consumer demand, government policies, and land availability for feedstock. It dynamically models these elements as part of the U.S. domestic biofuels supply chain.
“Factors like oil prices, biofuel demand, and the costs of resources are always fluctuating—sometimes unpredictably—and changes in each one creates different outcomes, especially at the national scale,” Atnoorkar said.
NREL and BETO have historically used BSM to develop deployment strategies for advanced biofuels. Currently, it helps researchers like Atnoorkar develop insights into U.S. biofuels market growth and examine potential barriers to broader expansion of biofuel technologies. Among those technologies are those that create sustainable aviation fuels.
System dynamics research at NREL helps inform development and policies surrounding sustainable aviation fuel that is used at airports across the United States. Photo from Getty Images
“Many airports nowadays have sustainability goals, and they want to determine if those goals are feasible,” Atnoorkar said. “While the BSM does analysis for potential biofuels supply at the national scale, the analysis we do at the regional scale can also help ports and airports make decisions about their biofuel sourcing.”
To that end, the system dynamics research being done at NREL has ultimately helped inform policy strategies surrounding low-carbon fuel standards. A major part of that research is the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge—a plan set forth by DOE, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Transportation, and other federal agencies that aims to spur the expansion of commercial SAF production technologies.
Critically, the SAF Grand Challenge is targeting at least a 50% reduction in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and ramping up SAF supply to meet 100% of aviation fuel demand by 2050.
“The BSM is now being used to investigate how we could reach those goals and what kinds of roadblocks may need to be overcome,” said Emily Newes, the NREL Strategic Energy Analysis Center’s Integrated Modeling and Economic Analysis Group manager.
NREL Integrated Modeling and Economic Analysis Group Manager Emily Newes leads the teams studying supply chain and policy questions for aviation and maritime biofuels. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL
Newes works extensively with the system dynamics models informing potential biofuel deployment, specifically the SAF Grand Challenge and biofuels for maritime applications. These models are answering questions about how changes in everything from the resources needed to build refineries to the different types of potential feedstocks ultimately affect the policies and decisions being made.
“It helps inform us about what barriers there could be so that we can help find solutions—either through policy or the industry—to overcome them,” Newes said.
System dynamics models are also informing NREL’s research in battery energy storage. A key modeling framework used in this space is the Lithium-Ion Battery Resource Assessment, or LIBRA, model. LIBRA is vital in NREL’s work in understanding the supply chain of lithium-ion batteries, which have become a key component to a future with more electric vehicles (EVs) on the road.
“When we’re talking about the needs for manufacturing in this country and globally, you can’t just look at one technology at a time,” NREL’s supply chain analytics lead Maggie Mann said. “When we talk about batteries, we’re looking at how much cobalt, nickel, and lithium are needed to manufacture them, as well as the demand for those same materials for other technologies.”
NREL’s system dynamics modeling examines supply chains for raw materials like the lithium used in electric vehicle batteries. Photo from Getty Images
Mann was on the team that pioneered and developed the LIBRA model. It gives users the means to examine the long-term effects of changes in the battery supply chain for multiple EV battery types, consumer electronics, and utility-scale storage systems.
Through examining elements such as the costs, raw materials, and changing policies at both the domestic and international scales, LIBRA is providing invaluable insights into the U.S. battery recycling supply chain. Those insights then inform manufacturing and industry practices as well as policy decisions in the clean energy sector.
Along with the LIBRA model, supply chain researchers at NREL, like Mann, are also developing the Recursive Integrated Networks for Growth (RING) model, which supports NREL’s Mapping, Modeling, and Analysis Consortium (MMAC). This model, designed specifically for DOE’s Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) office, calculates how each output can be cycled back into the supply chain itself. What does that mean?
“Say you want to look at how many batteries are manufactured, then go through their life, hit the end of their life, and you want to recycle them, so the raw materials and battery components go back into manufacturing,” Mann said. “System dynamics can allow for those types of recursive calculations and help us look out 10 to 12 years to see the total demand for manufactured batteries minus the raw materials that are recycled.”
Both the RING and LIBRA models help researchers answer the critical question of “How much could recycling batteries affect the amount of new material we need to produce?” Each model helps inform the decisions behind battery production and policies through 2050 and quantify the impact that recycling can have on decreasing the United States’ dependence on foreign resources.
NREL Decision Support Analysis Group Manager Maggie Mann presents about her research to a group at the Coordinating Research Council’s Sustainable Mobility Workshop. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL
How Is System Dynamics Evolving at NREL?
Much of the research Atnoorkar, Jeffers, Mann, Newes, and others do in supply chains is centered around system dynamics. Because of their broad lenses, models like BSM, LIBRA, and RING are often used to develop strategies for new technology deployment.
In the case of BSM, bioenergy’s large, comprehensive nature makes it tougher to focus on smaller-scale system dynamics. That is why the team is working to modify it for limited-case, regional scenarios, using a new BETO-funded model called the Regional Bio-Economy Model (RBEM).
“The main structure is the same,” Atnoorkar said. “But with RBEM, we are able to focus on biorefinery investment decisions in specific regions, such as marine biofuel production in coastal areas or aviation biofuel production in the immediate area around a major airport.”
RBEM will enable researchers to examine the logic behind the feedback loops in those smaller systems. The team aims to publicly release this model in the next year or two.
And while Atnoorkar and Newes are helping with the development of RBEM, Jeffers says NREL could look to system dynamics as a unique lens to broaden the scope of NREL’s research into a low-carbon energy system future.
“I think we lead the world in showing what a decarbonized energy system could look like,” Jeffers said. “But system dynamics can help us realize this future by giving us a means to think about all the complex elements of economic, social, and environmental systems that influence the pathway to affordable, resilient, and secure decarbonization.”
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amalgamated Financial Corp. (“Amalgamated” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: AMAL) today announced that its third quarter 2024 financial results will be released before market open on Thursday, October 24, 2024. The Company will host a conference call at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the same day to discuss the financial results.
Investors and analysts interested in participating in the call are invited to dial 1-877-407-9716 (international callers please dial 1-201-493-6779) approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available on the website at https://ir.amalgamatedbank.com/.
A replay of the conference call will be available within two hours of the conclusion of the call and can be accessed both online and by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (international callers please dial 1-412-317-6671). The pin to access the telephone replay is 13748697. The replay will be available until October 31, 2024.
About Amalgamated Financial Corp.
Amalgamated Financial Corp. is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a bank holding company engaged in commercial banking and financial services through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Amalgamated Bank. Amalgamated Bank is a New York-based full-service commercial bank and a chartered trust company with a combined network of five branches across New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, and a commercial office in Boston. Amalgamated Bank was formed in 1923 as Amalgamated Bank of New York by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, one of the country’s oldest labor unions. Amalgamated Bank provides commercial banking and trust services nationally and offers a full range of products and services to both commercial and retail customers. Amalgamated Bank is a proud member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values and is a certified B Corporation®. As of June 30, 2024, our total assets were $8.3 billion, total net loans were $4.4 billion, and total deposits were $7.4 billion. Additionally, as of June 30, 2024, our trust business held $34.6 billion in assets under custody and $14.0 billion in assets under management.
GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, Oct. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Patria (Nasdaq:PAX) announced today that it will release financial results for the third quarter 2024 on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, and host a conference call via public webcast at 9:00 a.m. ET.
For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, there will be a webcast replay on the Shareholders section of Patria’s website at https://ir.patria.com/.
Patria distributes its earnings releases via its website and email lists. Those interested in firm updates can sign up to receive Patria press releases via email at https://ir.patria.com/ir-resources/email-alerts.
About Patria
Patria is a global alternative asset manager and industry leader in Latin America, with over 35 years of history, combined assets under management of $40.3 billion, and a global presence with offices in 13 cities across 4 continents. Patria aims to provide consistent returns in attractive long-term investment opportunities as the gateway for alternative investments in Latin America. Through a diversified platform spanning Private Equity, Infrastructure, Credit, Real Estate, Public Equities and Global Private Markets Solutions strategies, Patria provides a comprehensive range of products to serve its global client base. Further information is available at http://www.patria.com.
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (Nasdaq: CGBD) (the “Company”) today announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of $300 million in aggregate principal amount of 6.750% unsecured notes due 2030 (the “Notes”). The Notes will mature on February 18, 2030 and may be redeemed in whole or in part at the Company’s option at the applicable redemption price. The offering is expected to close on October 18, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay the Company’s outstanding debt including the revolving credit facility, the Company’s 4.750% unsecured notes and 4.500% unsecured notes in the aggregate principal of approximately $190.0 million, each of which is scheduled to mature on December 31, 2024, and to fund new investment opportunities, and for other general corporate purposes.
J.P. Morgan, Barclays, BofA Securities, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. and R. Seelaus & Co., LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for this offering. ICBC Standard Bank, TCG Capital Markets L.L.C., B. Riley Securities, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company and Raymond James are acting as co-managers for this offering.
Investors are advised to carefully consider the investment objectives, risks and charges and expenses of the Company before investing. The pricing term sheet dated October 10, 2024, preliminary prospectus supplement, dated October 10, 2024, and the accompanying prospectus, dated April 29, 2024, each of which has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), contain a description of these matters and other information about the Company and should be read carefully before investing.
The Company’s shelf registration statement is on file with the SEC and is effective. The offering is being made solely by means of a preliminary prospectus supplement and an accompanying prospectus, which may be obtained for free by visiting the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov or from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, 383 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10179, Attn: Investment Grade Syndicate Desk, facsimile: 212-834-6081; or Barclays Capital Inc., Attention: Syndicate Registration, 745 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10019, telephone: 1-888-603-5847; or BofA Securities, Inc., NC1-022-02-25, 201 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department, or by calling 1-800-294-1322; or Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attn: Prospectus Department, or by calling 1-866-718-1649.
The information in the pricing term sheet, the preliminary prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and this press release is not complete and may change. The pricing term sheet, the preliminary prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, and this press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, the Notes in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.
About Carlyle Secured Lending: Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. is a closed-end, non-diversified and externally managed investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. Our objective is to generate current income and capital appreciation by sourcing and providing senior secured debt investments to U.S. companies in the middle market that are generally backed by private equity sponsors. The Company is managed by Carlyle Global Credit Investment Management L.L.C., an SEC-registered investment adviser and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Carlyle Group Inc (“Carlyle”). We derive significant benefit from our ability access and leverage Carlyle’s significant scale, vast resources and world-class talent.
About Carlyle: Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Global Investment Solutions. With $435 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2024, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs more than 2,200 people in 29 offices across four continents.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements included herein contain certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements with regard to the Company’s Notes offering and the anticipated use of the net proceeds of the offering. You can identify these statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “will,” “should,” “may,” “plans,” “continue,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “would,” “could,” “targets,” “projects,” “outlook,” “potential,” “predicts” and variations of these words and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements include these words. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they discuss our plans, strategies, prospects and expectations concerning our business, operating results, financial condition and other similar matters. We believe that it is important to communicate our future expectations to our investors. There may be events in the future, however, that we are not able to predict accurately or control. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which we make it. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ, possibly materially from our expectations, include, but are not limited to, the risks, uncertainties and other factors we identify in the sections entitled “Risk Factors,” “Supplementary Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in filings we make with the SEC, and it is not possible for us to predict or identify all of them. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
TYLER, Texas, Oct. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Southside Bancshares, Inc. (“Southside”) (NASDAQ: SBSI), the holding company for Southside Bank, announced today it will release its third quarter financial results before the market opens on Thursday, October 24, 2024. Southside will host a conference call to discuss its results on Thursday, October 24, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. CDT.
The call will be hosted by Lee R. Gibson, CEO, Julie Shamburger, CFO, and Lindsey Bailes, VP, Investor Relations. Following prepared remarks there will be a question and answer session for the analyst community.
The Conference Call Details
The conference call can be accessed by webcast, for listen-only mode, here or on the company website, https://investors.southside.com, under Events.
Those interested in participating in the question and answer session, or others who prefer to call-in, can register using this online form to receive the dial-in number and unique code to access the conference call seamlessly. While not required, it is recommended that those wishing to participate register 10 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure a more efficient registration process.
For those unable to attend the live event, a webcast recording will be available here or on the company website, https://investors.southside.com, for at least 30 days, beginning approximately two hours following the conference call.
About Southside Bancshares, Inc.
Southside Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Tyler, Texas, with approximately $8.36 billion in assets as of June 30, 2024. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Southside Bank, Southside currently operates 54 branches and a network of 73 ATMs/ITMs throughout East Texas, Southeast Texas and the greater Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and Houston areas. Serving customers since 1960, Southside Bank is a community-focused financial institution that offers a full range of financial products and services to individuals and businesses. These products and services include consumer and commercial loans, mortgages, deposit accounts, safe deposit boxes, treasury management, wealth management, trust services, brokerage services and an array of online and mobile services.
To learn more about Southside Bancshares, Inc., please visit our investor relations website at https://investors.southside.com. Our investor relations site provides a detailed overview of our activities, financial information and historical stock price data. To receive e-mail notification of company news, events and stock activity, please register on the website under Resources and Investor Email Alerts. Questions or comments may be directed to Lindsey Bailes at 903-630-7965 or lindsey.bailes@southside.com.
For further information: Lindsey Bailes 903-630-7965
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Varonis Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNS), a leader in data security, announced that it will report its third quarter 2024 financial results following the close of the U.S. financial markets Tuesday, October 29, 2024.
In conjunction with this announcement, Varonis will host a conference call Tuesday, October 29, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the company’s financial results.
To access this call, dial 877-425-9470 (domestic) or 201-389-0878 (international). The conference ID number is 13749435. A replay of this conference call will be available through November 5, 2024, at 844-512-2921 (domestic) or 412-317-6671 (international). The replay passcode is 13749435.
A live webcast of this conference call will be available on the “Investor Relations” page of the company’s website (https://ir.varonis.com), and the replay will be archived on the website for one year.
Additional Resources
About Varonis
Varonis (Nasdaq: VRNS) is a leader in data security, fighting a different battle than conventional cybersecurity companies. Our cloud-native Data Security Platform continuously discovers and classifies critical data, removes exposures, and detects advanced threats with AI-powered automation.
Thousands of organizations worldwide trust Varonis to defend their data wherever it lives — across SaaS, IaaS, and hybrid cloud environments. Customers use Varonis to automate a wide range of security outcomes, including data security posture management (DSPM), data classification, data access governance (DAG), data detection and response (DDR), data loss prevention (DLP), and insider risk management.