Article: Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance faces scrutiny from UK’s Serious Fraud Office

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Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance faces scrutiny from UK’s Serious Fraud Office

Stuart Burns , 18 May 2021

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has gone public investigating charges that Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance (Gupta Family Group Alliance) holding company and subsidiaries, such as Liberty Steel, has been involved in fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering.

As such, that has almost certainly put the end to refinancing efforts, at least for parts of the group in the UK. Continue reading “Article: Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance faces scrutiny from UK’s Serious Fraud Office”

Article: Government omits financial scams from Online Safety Bill

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Government omits financial scams from Online Safety Bill

FHope William-Smith, 12 May 2021

It comes after the Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) called on the government to legislate against online investment fraud in March after it pledged its Online Safety Bill last December.

The WPC’s report recommended the introduction of a regulatory framework for financial promotions to create parity between traditional media such as newspapers and TV, and new media including social media and paid-for advertising.

The Online Safety Bill was given the green light yesterday (11 May) in the Queen’s Speech; despite the parliamentary focus on rebuilding the nation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the soaring number of financial scams harnessing coronavirus to their benefit will remain largely unchecked.

Opening the parliamentary year, the Queen said the government “will lead the way in ensuring internet safety for all” while looking to retain “the benefits of a free, open and secure internet”.

WPC chair and MP Stephen Timms has said the government had been “repeatedly told by countless consumer groups and public bodies” about the financial and emotional harm caused by “online free-for-alls”.

“The government has so far failed to act,” he said. “Every day that goes by without proper regulation of online adverts gives scammers a free pass to prey on people on the internet.”

Timms said ministers had to work to ensure the Online Safety Bill would “live up to its name” and clearly lay out how it will cover scams before it was presented to the House of Commons.

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Article: UPDATED | Lordstown Motors now facing class-action lawsuit as stock slips another 14 percent

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UPDATED | Lordstown Motors now facing class-action lawsuit as stock slips another 14 percent

Justin Dennis, 18 March 2021

“I don’t think anyone thought that we had actual orders, right? That’s just not the nature of this business,” Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns said during an interview this morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

LORDSTOWN — Lordstown Motors Corp. is now facing a class action lawsuit from investors alleging executives delivered misleading statements about the company and committed securities violations.

Attorney Drew Legando of Cleveland law firm Merriman, Legando, Williams and Klang LLC filed the suit Monday in Ohio’s Northern District federal court on behalf of Lordstown Motors shareholder Matthew Rico.

Rico purchased 24 shares of Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ: RIDE) between Feb. 18 and March 5, paying in total about $540, according to a shareholder certification filed alongside the complaint. The stock has lost nearly half its value since Rico’s first purchase, which he made just a week after the stock had reached a nearly five-month peak.

At a 47 percent loss, Rico’s shares lost about $250 in value, more than half of which was lost after the short-seller firm Hindenburg Research published a damaging report on the state of the company and accused executives of misleading investors.

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Article: VIDEO | After Hindenburg Research report, Lordstown Motors set to face investors today

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VIDEO | After Hindenburg Research report, Lordstown Motors set to face investors today

Justin Dennis, 17 March 2021

Lordstown Motors has vowed to refute last week’s scathing short-seller report, which called demand for its Endurance all-electric pickup truck a “mirage” and claimed the company has been misleading investors.

LORDSTOWN — Lordstown Motors Corp. executives are expected to address the company’s investors during their end-of-year financial report this afternoon.

The report comes days after Hindenburg Research, a short-selling stock market research firm, delivered a damaging deep-dive into the Voltage Valley leader, claiming that its investors are being misled; that its all-electric pickup truck the Endurance is actually years away from production, despite executives’ September 2021 target; and that its book of about 100,000 non-binding pre-orders for the vehicle “are largely fictitious and used as a prop to raise capital and confer legitimacy.”

Lordstown Motors on Monday vowed to refute the report “in due time,” and a spokesperson last week promised a “thorough” statement. CEO Steve Burns, addressing reporters during a Monday tour of the plant where dozens of test vehicles are currently being built, reassured the Endurance is on-track.

“Whatever anybody thinks of us in the world, the main thing is we are going to be the first electric pickup truck in the United States, full-size, and that starts in September,” Burns said, as reported by The Business Journal.

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Subject: M. Michele Burns

Subject of Interest

M. Michele Burns has been the Director of Goldman Sachs since 2011. She serves on many Goldman Sachs Committees including: Compensation (Chair), Governance, and Risk. Prior to Goldman Sachs, she was the CEO of Mercer LLC. She also served as Chief Executive Officer, Retirement Policy Center, Chief Financial Officer, MMC, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Restructuring Officer and Executive Vice President, Mirant Corporation, an energy, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Delta Air Lines, Inc.,  and Senior Partner and Leader, Southern Regional Federal Tax Practice, Arthur Andersen LLP. She graduated from University of Georgia. 

Biography

Goldman Sachs

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