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Customs legislation and human rights
Since October this year the interpretation of all law in England and Wales must have regard to the principles contained in the Human Rights Act 1998. Gavin McFarlane of Dechert and London Guildhall University foresees problems ahead in the scrutiny of Customs legislation.
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Internet fraud and mobile communications
The telecommunications industry is integrating the Internet with mobile phone services, a development which, industry sources warn, will increase the opportunities for fraud. They fear that third generation WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) mobile phones could expose the sector to the types of computer viruses that have already beset IT companies and also provide hackers with easier access to the Internet and the burgeoning e-economy. These concerns were debated at the Crime 2000 event that was held in Kent under the auspices of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Federation of Communication Services. Terry Corbitt reports.
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
BCCI: clarification of the law on constructive trusteeship
On 14 June the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal handed down a judgment in Bank Of Credit and Commerce International (Overseas) Ltd and International Credit And Investment Company (Overseas) Ltd v Chief Labode Onadimaki Akindele which provided some welcome clarification as to the necessary foundations of a claim in equity against a recipient of money transferred in breach of trust of fiduciary duty. Joanna Gray reviews the decision.
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Hackers: illegal/immoral?
It is not often that one has the opportunity to listen to any hacker put his or her viewpoint, let alone some of the world’s most (in-)famous, but this was possible during a packed keynote session at the infosecurity event in Olympia, London. The lineup comprised Winn Schwartau, President of Interpact and bestselling author of Information Warfare, Time Based Security and Cybershock, Sir Dystic of Cult of the Dead Cow, the oldest online hacking group, and creator of Back Orifice, arguably the most notorious hacker program to date and Ken Browne, also known as rloxley, spokesman for condemned.org and a vigilante hacker who specialises in removing paedophile sites from the World- Wide Web. Timon Molloy reports.
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Fraud and the 20% solution
There is far more to fraud detection and prevention than accounting forensics and controls. Steve White of Control Risks Group argues that companies need to adopt a much wider definition of fraud risk if they are to counter it effectively.
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Dirt tracks
Countryland Wellness Resorts markets itself as a mining and electrical contracting concern and claims that it intends to establish a longevity center or health farm in Las Vegas. However, it has been named in an SEC injunction which alleges that it..
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Blinding performance
Michael Hiebert, the former chief financial officer of Premier Laser Systems, a maker of medical lasers and fibre optic equipment in Orange County, California, has been sued for causing the firm to overstate quarterly sales by more than 33 per cent..
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Don’t bank on it
The SEC has sued YourBankOnline, a software company, its president Pakie Plastino, and William Butcher, the firm’s external auditor. The charges allege that YourBankOnline and Plastino published a press release that massively overvalued the..
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Securing sales
Cylink, which is located in Silicon Valley, operates in the computer network security industry. The SEC complaint against John Daws, its former chief financial officer, Thomas Butler, ex-vice president of sales, and Mark Folit, head of North..
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Credit where credit’s not due
Craig Consumer Electronics, no longer extant, sold consumer electronics products from Los Angeles County. The SEC has sued Richard Berger, the former CEO, and Donna Richardson, the former chief financial officer, for not disclosing the..
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
It’s all in the timing
Maurice Newman, the former chairman and CEO of Sirena Apparel Group, and, Richard Gerhart, the ex-chief financial officer of the women’s swimwear manufacturer, have been sued for causing false figures to be issued in a press release and a..
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Numerology
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced the success of its initiative against fraud on the West Coast of the United States by filing proceedings for accounting and reporting offences against officers and directors of six public..
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
EU prosecutor
The balance of power between international fraudsters who pay no heed to state borders and national law enforcement organisations who are restricted by them has long been a cause for concern. However, the reluctance of sovereign states to relinquish..
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Gilty
Stephen Humphries, who took just 92 minutes to lose UK£750,000 in fraudulent trading on the gilts futures market, was jailed for three years and nine months on 3 October. During an afternoon in which his counsel said that Humphries had..
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Overseas absence of lead defendant no bar to writ service
On 12 October, the House of Lords supported the Court of Appeal finding that defendants resident in a country that had signed the Lugano Convention could be sued in the courts of a another country where a co-defendant was being sued despite the fact..
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
OLAF the hopeful
OLAF Director General, Mr. Franz-Hermann Bruener has announced a major re-organisation of the EU’s independent anti-fraud office in an effort to improve its internal working methods in advance of a major staff increase. The number of special..
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Civil forfeiture threatened by European Convention on Human Rights
It appeared to be an elegant yet straightforward solution to the problem of how to prevent fraudsters from benefiting from their illicit activities. Admittedly there were mutterings about a shift in the burden of proof to the respondent and..
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01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
No unbreachable defence
Microsoft admitted at the end of October that hackers, believed to be based in St Petersburg, had broken through its network’s cyber-defences and that they “may have viewed the source code for a single future product under..
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
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32 - 01 November 2000
Goodness, hasn’t it grown since last year
Every parent has a collection of baby photos. They were nice to look at when they were just taken, but the real fun comes when you compare your offspring to how they used to look. In the same way, the second Unisys annual survey into the impact of fraud on e-commerce, whose results were released in mid-October, is even more telling and thought-provoking when compared with its predecessor from October 1999. Sue Grossey discusses the findings.
Online Published Date:
01 November 2000
Appeared in issue:
32 - 01 November 2000