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U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared reluctant to further limit the scope of who can be held liable for violating laws that protect investors from securities fraud as they weighed an appeal by a New York investment banker who had been banned from the industry.

Only eight of the nine justices were present to hear arguments over a ruling by a Washington-based federal appeals court that found Francis Lorenzo liable for participating in a scheme to defraud investors when he sent misleading emails about a financially-troubled clean energy company.

Most of the justices seemed to agree with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which had enforced the securities laws against Lorenzo, while Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, seemed sympathetic to him.

Continue reading “U.S. top court signals it will buttress anti-fraud securities laws”

The United States is pushing for a new global aviation standard by late 2019 that would expand the collection of passenger records from airlines, a high-ranking state department official said on Friday, in a move that would help combat terrorism while raising privacy concerns.

Nathan Sales, the U.S. counter-terrorism coordinator, urged the United Nations’ aviation agency in Montreal “to act with all deliberate speed” to come up with a new standard that would vastly expand the number of countries that collect passenger information like frequent flyer numbers, email addresses and credit card booking information.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) cannot impose rules on governments, but wields clout through its safety and security standards which are made mandatory through domestic legislation passed by its 192 member states.

Continue reading “U.S. wants new aviation standard to expand passenger data collection”

Marriott International Inc (MAR.O) said on Friday that hackers accessed up to 500 million customer records in its Starwood Hotels reservation system in an attack that began four years ago, exposing data including passport numbers and payment cards.

Shares were down 5.7 percent in late afternoon trade on news of the hack, one of the largest in history, which prompted regulators in Britain and at least five U.S. states to launch investigations.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was looking into the attack on Starwood, whose brands include Sheraton, St. Regis, W and Westin hotels. It advised affected customers to check for identity fraud and report it to the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Continue reading “Marriott’s Starwood hack hits up to 500 million customers”

Germany’s antitrust authority has launched an investigation into whether U.S. ecommerce giant Amazon is exploiting its market dominance in its relations with third-party retailers who use its website as a marketplace.

The move comes as European regulators have been taking a tough line on U.S. tech giants like Google and Facebook, with the European Commission also looking into Amazon’s dual role as retailer and marketplace.

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office said in a statement on Thursday that it had received many complaints from traders about the business practices of Amazon of late.

Continue reading “Amazon’s treatment of sellers comes under scrutiny in Germany”

A Hawaii man who had a heart attack after a false alert about an incoming ballistic missile flashed up on thousands of cellphones in January has sued the state, accusing it of negligence in the incident that panicked thousands of people.

James Sean Shields was driving to the beach with his girlfriend on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 13, when the state flashed out alerts onto phones across the islands: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

Continue reading “Startled by false missile alert, man sues Hawaii for heart attack”