Judicial independence: the Nazi or the Australian way?

 

‘Funk Money’: The End of Empires, The Expansion of Tax Havens, and Decolonization as an Economic and Financial Event Oxford Academic 

 

Bonuses not off the table for AusPost bosses

REMUNERATION: AusPost has announced record revenue of $7.5 billion; the CEO has taken a proposal to the board calling for executive bonuses to be paid, but a final decision has not yet been made.

The sick culture at the heart of corporate Australia

By Richard Talbot

You mightn't believe me, but this happened: by attending the corporate box at a rugby game, a man with no experience in the insurance game was appointed as the chief executive of a major Australian insurer. And, with a reference from a radio shock jock, a man with no experience in the motor vehicle repair industry was appointed as chief executive of a large motoring service.

 

The OneCoin scam is at the centre of popular BBC podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen, which investigates the disappearance of OneCoin founder Dr Ruja Ignatova.

The Bulgarian-based organisation has been accused of running a Ponzi scheme and did not respond to questions from The Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald.

Konstantin Ignatov, a prosecution witness appearing in the criminal trial of OneCoin lawyer Mark Scott, told the New York Southern District Court in November that Mr Abdulaziz was “one of the main money launderers” in the scam.

“I learned that Amer Abdulaziz took the money he stole and he started to buy a lot of racing horses for more than 25 million euros,” said Mr Ignatov, who has pleaded guilty over his involvement in the scam.

When asked where the money for the racehorses came from, Mr Ignatov responded: “OneCoin investors”.

Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel said the regulator was investigating Phoenix "to ascertain whether there is any issue with them racing horses in NSW".

Racing officials probe horse racing outfit over cryptocurrency scam

Cybercrime up 330 per cent as working from home creates 'perfect environment' for scammers

This article considers the risks of money laundering in the world of online games, and whether current anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF) laws are sufficient to address these risks.

"The risks of money laundering in the world of online games"

 

 

NSW Community Services bureaucrat used role to pocket $1.67m, investigation finds

CORRUPTION FINDING: ICAC found the bureaucrat had authorised or arranged FACS payments to real estate agents or property owners who then paid his company.

TAFE has been drained of funds for poorly performing and dodgy private providers

By LINDA SIMON | On 21 August 2020

What a  difference  there is between the public vocational education and training provider, TAFE, and private for-profit training providers.  Continue reading →

Judicial independence: the Nazi or the Australian way?

By IAN CUNLIFFE | On 25 August 2020

In an age when the Parliament nearly always does the bidding of the elected government and in a country which, uniquely amongst democratic nations, has no Bill of Rights, the courts are vitally important as a protection against arbitrary power. 

Continue reading →

California DMV Is Selling Drivers’ Data to Private Investigators - Motherboard: “The California Department of Motor Vehicles is selling drivers’ data to private investigators and bail bondsmen, according to an internal DMV document obtained by Motherboard. The document in all lists nearly 98,000 entities that have had access to some form of DMV data, including trucking companies and insurance firms. The revelation highlights how not only private companies are in the business of selling information but some government bodies as well, and has reignited calls for laws around drivers’ data to be changed. The news comes after Motherboard previously revealed that the California DMV makes $50 million a year selling data of drivers…”

ZDNet – The COVID-19 virus and our reaction to it have accelerated an emerging shift in our conventional ways of doing things. “Companies that return to the old ways without understanding that shift are likely to fail. The Next Normal is vastly different than the normal before the pandemic…To repeat, as soon as we stopped forming in groups, the economy fell apart. And it wasn’t just the economy. Despite all the obvious differences between commerce, education, healthcare, entertainment, travel and hospitality, religion and other institutions, they were all organized in the exact same way; a commercial, cultural and social world based on physical grouping, aggregation, massing, or centralization of employees, customers, students, patients, worshipers, travelers, fans and spectators, old people, prisoners, and others, into controlled environments where the associated functions (employment, commerce, education, healthcare, religion, etc.) took place. 

In a nutshell, our economy and our Old Normal were built on and were dependent on centralization. The second part of the story, the part about our current state, is more complicated. It’s complicated because it wasn’t planned, intentional or chosen, and because it isn’t “normal.” We are, in effect, in an extended state of emergency, an abnormal or exceptional set of circumstances. No one believes that this is a way to run an economy or live a social life…”

Vomit fraud in Uber.

Wikipedia on monoclonal antibodies.  And in the Covid-19 context.

Semi-herd immunity has come to Manaus without a lockdown (to be clear, I am not recommending this approach!  But you should use this data to recalibrate your mental models).

Finis Welch has passed away

“We find no consistent relationship between gender [of leadership] and pandemic outcomes.”

“It is therefore reasonable to assume that life has evolved – or possibly began with – a universal computer that yet remains to be discovered.”

Are cold storage requirements for vaccines a binding constraint?

New on-line magazine Works in Progress, very good people are behind it!  I will be covering this more

Freddie Sayers questions Michael Levitt on his predictions.  Although he has been broadly right on some matters, I don’t think overall Levitt does so well

“Nonetheless, this does feel like a little bit of a changing of the guard moment in the NBA — the Bucks did not feel compelled to consult LeBron James or Chris Paul before their decision not to take the court Wednesday.”

The new Elon Musk stuff, explained in words

ChicagoTeachersUnion, recommended, guess who thinks they will be running the Gulag?