Schneiderman, AG
come home, all forgiven cf circular firing squad
oops see other node
see exxon knew 3, team blue, red
see trump u bondi
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ACSH BS
Energy drinks under attack for supposed mislabeling | American Council on Science and Health
Energy drinks under attack for supposed mislabeling
Posted on August 29, 2012 by admin
...
:{Currently, New York attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman is investigating whether the companies have violated federal law by promoting these drinks as dietary supplements rather than as foods, given that supplements are much more loosely regulated.
Health advocates have expressed concern largely about the effect of the caffeine on those (typically college students) who drink these beverages along with alcohol. One concern is that caffeine can mask the effects of alcohol. Another concern is that regular consumption of these beverages may produce caffeine-induced cardiovascular complications. The caffeine content in these beverages ranges from 80 to 500 milligrams. Given that a 12-ounce soda has about 50 mg, and a 5-ounce coffee has about 100 mg, those who regularly down these energy drinks should probably be aware of the relative amounts of caffeine they contain, ACSH’s Dr. Ruth Kava notes.
But whether the labeling is a legal violation is dubious, saysACSH advisor Dr. Henry Manne.“Outright deception in advertising can usually be dealt with quickly and almost surgically by state law enforcement officials,” notes Dr. Manne, who is an emeritus dean at the George Mason University School of Law. “But if the campaign comes out of the blue without prior widespread complaints from the public and it has the earmarks of hype and publicity hounding, there probably is a hidden agenda.” In such instances, he says, “the general rule is ‘look for the competitors.’ Those are the ones most likely to complain about the new product’s danger for the community’s safety, welfare, or morality.” ...
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NO LNX JOE CONASON
:{alternet
How Trump corrupted Pam Bondi
Pam Bondi speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
Joe ConasonNovember 23, 2024
Newspaper profiles of Pamela Bondi -- subbed in as President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general following the scandalous implosion of Matt Gaetz -- often describe her with a phrase like "longtime loyalist."
The former Florida attorney general's unwavering fealty dates back to September 2013, when a political committee supporting her reelection campaign received a $25,000 check from the Trump Foundation. And the story behind that check foreshadows four more years of exceptionally corrupt administration, when the first felon returns to the White House. It is a tale that revolves around two of the most notorious scams pursued by the president-elect during his career as a "successful businessman," namely the Trump Foundation and Trump University.
Rather than an institution of higher learning, Trump U was a for-profit real-estate seminar that promised easy wealth to the suckers who paid huge sums to learn the Donald's investment secrets and received no instruction of any value whatsoever in return. Over the years before Bondi got that Trump check, thousands of defrauded consumers had complained to her office, demanding action.
And just three weeks earlier, then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman finally had announced the filing of a massive fraud case on behalf of New Yorkers ripped off by Trump University. According to Tristan Snell, the assistant attorney general handling the case, they hoped Florida would join New York's lawsuit "because it opened up the possibility that, if needed, we could pursue additional witnesses and documents" in the Sunshine State, where subpoenas would require Bondi's assistance.
Evidently that possibility also occurred to someone in the Trump Organization. Four days after the dramatic New York filing, Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff sent an email to the Bondi campaign finance director, seeking details of how to make a donation. Made out to "And Justice For All," the ironically named Bondi PAC, that donation arrived by mail on Sept. 13, 2013, along with a note signed by Trump that misspelled the candidate's name as "Biondi" and declared, "Dear Pam, You are the greatest!"
The check was drawn on the Trump Foundation -- a tax-exempt nonprofit organization prohibited from giving money to political campaigns or partisan committees. That was merely one of many examples of Trump's abuse of his foundation's tax-exempt status.
You may have surmised by this point that the Florida attorney general blew off her New York colleagues in seeking justice for the Trump U victims. Snell recalls that after sending the case documents to Tallahassee, "we never heard from the Florida AG's office again."
None of that hindered the legal team led by Snell -- one of very few officials ever to hold Trump accountable -- from winning a $25 million settlement from the Trump Organization after the 2016 election. The proceeds reimbursed Trump's victims for roughly 80% of what they had lost. Two years after he coughed up that punishing payment, the New York attorney general's office came after the Trump Foundation again, charging that its charitable activities were nonexistent and that its expenditures benefited Trump himself.
In the humiliating conclusion of that lawsuit, his lawyers agreed their client would shut down the foundation and pay the remaining millions in its accounts to bona fide charities.
So egregious were the depredations of Trump U that Republicans felt obliged to condemn its swindling. The National Review ran a scathing investigative report headlined "Yes, Trump University Was a Massive Scam." Sen. Marco Rubio, then a Trump rival, denounced Trump U as a "con job," and warned that "we cannot allow a con artist to become the Republican nominee for president of the United States." (The Florida senator's more recent sycophancy has now earned Rubio the opportunity to become secretary of state.)
Every Republican senator who votes to confirm Bondi as the nation's attorney general knows the saga of Trump University. As Snell sardonically asks, "Did Trump just happen to want to make a donation to Bondi a mere four days after the New York AG's case was filed? Really?"
He goes on to demand that journalists and senators interrogate Bondi about this scandal -- and explore its implications for her integrity, her subservience to the president, and her ability to carry out the attorney general's duties.
"We need to make sure this full story gets told -- and any profile of Bondi or analysis of her nomination that does not include this story is itself another example of corrupt complicity." Nobody, in the mainstream media or the United States Senate, should be able to claim they did not know.
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Karen Savage
In its fight to stave off a wave of climate change-related lawsuits, the fossil fuel industry has found a vocal and unapologetic ally in the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The 123-year old trade group represents a wide range of the nation’s manufacturing companies, but it has frequently gone to bat for select segments of its membership during major liability battles. Currently, it is Big Oil’s staunchest defender.
The group has filed briefs defending oil companies in liability lawsuits, launched campaigns to discredit the communities filing them, and has worked to stop shareholders from pressing the oil companies to disclose climate risks. In these roles, NAM has put itself front and center in the effort to keep fossil fuel companies from being held liable for their role in climate change, and from paying for the related damages that will run in the hundreds of billions of dollars to communities across the country.
“Taxpayer resources should not be used for baseless lawsuits that are designed to enrich trial lawyers and grab headlines for politicians,” Lindsey de la Torre, executive director of NAM’s spinoff group, the Manufacturers’ Accountability Project (MAP), said in a statement after Rhode Island filed one of the climate liability lawsuits last year. NAM launched MAP in 2017 as a response to the increasing number of climate liability suits.
Those suits, according to NAM, are a result of a coordinated campaign by activists “to disparage U.S. manufacturers with a focus on America’s largest energy manufacturers.”
MAP is now attempting to convince the American public—as well as judges who might hear those liability cases—that attempts to hold companies accountable for their role in climate change will harm business, said Richard Daynard, president of Northeastern University Law School’sPublic Health Advocacy Institute and chair of its Tobacco Products Liability Project.
“This is essentially the PR front for the defendants in climate litigation,” Daynard said, adding that MAP is also working to discourage municipalities from filing future suits.
“This is all part of a long history of tort reform propaganda,” he said, adding that NAM has worked for decades to reign in all types of liability litigation, including against the tobacco industry.
So perhaps it’s not surprising that NAM’s defense of fossil fuel companies has begun to look increasingly like its support for the tobacco industry in the 1980s. Similar tactics were used when tobacco companies were facing hundreds of lawsuits and were charged with racketeering by the federal government for deceiving the public about the catastrophic health hazards of smoking. NAM has even hired the same law firm that defended the tobacco industry to launch an assault on the climate liability lawsuits.
NAM recently named Phil Goldberg, a former coal lobbyist as special counsel for MAP. Goldberg is a managing partner in the Washington office of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, which gained notoriety for defending the tobacco industry, and is the co-chair of the firm’s public policy group.
Some say Shook, Hardy & Bacon went beyond defending tobacco companies, actively coordinating efforts by its clients to deliberately deceive the public about the ruinous health effects of smoking.
Judge Gladys Kessler, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who found 10 tobacco companies guilty of violating racketeering laws in 2006, said the company’s lawyers “played an absolute central role in the creation and perpetuation” of the companies’ “fraudulent schemes,” calling it a “sad and disquieting chapter” in the legal profession.
Even before Goldberg was hired, MAP had launched an offensive against climate suits, filing friend-of-the-court briefs and intervening in a landmark constitutional suit brought by 21 young people against the U.S. government. MAP has also submitted public recordsrequests and coordinated apublic relationscampaign todiscredit the municipalities behind the liability lawsuits.
Sharon Eubanks, a former Department of Justice lawyer who led the government’s racketeering case against the tobacco industry, said MAP is launching a direct attack on climate litigation suits.
“It’s very similar what they’re doing, only the tobacco industry at least didn’t come right out and say ‘We’re going to target these lawsuits directly,’” Eubanks said. “They did so indirectly. But NAM and MAP, they’re like, ‘We’re targeting the lawsuits.’”
Michael Barnett, a professor of management & global business at Rutgers Business School who has studied trade associations, said groups like NAM exist to defend the interests of their industry.
“It’s sort of an outsourced arm of those firms, rather than doing it all on their own, there’s strength in numbers,” Barnett said.“There’s some efficiency to having one centralized legal defense that attacks on behalf of the whole industry in addition to each of the individual firms taking on these issues.”
No Stranger to the Liability Battlefield
The addition of Goldberg to MAP’s legal team indicates a continuing commitment to defending NAM’s fossil fuel defendants. In addition to being the go-to law firm for tobacco companies,:{ Shook, Hardy & Bacon has a long history with NAM, partnering as far back as 2007 to support firms facing product liability suits. The firm worked so closely with the tobacco industry to attack the science showing the dangers of smoking it was named in several cases along with their clients, charging them with deceiving the public by fraudulently concealing the health effects of smoking.Oklahoma’s attorney general called Shook, Hardy & Bacon an “aider and abettor” of fraud in one suit.
}:
“[The Department of Justice] considered suing them and making them defendants because they were so much a part of the RICO violations we alleged,” Eubanks said.
“They’re not even hiding from anything, they’re just saying ‘we want to influence what’s happening in these cases the best way that we can.’”
She said she’s seen no evidence that MAP’s tactics are illegal, but they are similar to some of what was alleged in the tobacco cases.
Goldberg did not respond to a request for comment. In a NAM press release he said, “The NAM and its Manufacturers’ Accountability Project are the tip of the spear in the fight against the wave of unfounded public nuisance lawsuits targeting America’s manufacturers.”
Goldberg said climate liability suits get in the way of finding real solutions and “are more about politics than addressing the global challenge of climate change.” He did not elaborate on what the solutions are or how municipalities will pay for the infrastructure needed to protect their residents, costs that are projected to run into the hundreds of billions of dollars nationwide.
A History of Advocating for Fossil Fuel Members
NAM, which was founded in 1895, describes itself as the largest manufacturing association in the United States. It doesn’t publicly disclose its membership list, but its board includes some of the oil and gas industry’s most powerful executives.
Exxon senior vice president and management committee member Neil Chapman joined NAM’s executive committee in 2015, taking over the position vacated by current Exxon chief executive Darren Woods. Chapman, who donated $10,000 to NAM’s political action committee during the 2018 election cycle, also serves as NAM’s southwest regional vice chair.
Chapman and Exxon did not respond to a request for comment.
For decades, the association has promoted climate denial, founding the Global Climate Coalition in 1989 and sharing offices until 1992 while the Global Climate Coalition and its members—primarily energy companies and automobile manufacturers—worked to cast doubt on what was fast becoming overwhelming scientific evidence that the burning of fossil fuels drives climate change. The goal was to change the public’s perception and cast doubt on climate science.
The Global Climate Coalition was disbanded in 2002 after several of its largest corporate members pulled out under public pressure to accept that climate change—and the projected catastrophic effects—was an undeniable global threat.
More recently, NAM’s focus has shifted from promoting climate deception to defending member companies from efforts to hold them accountable for years of deceiving the public and damaging the climate.
Along with the American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, NAM in 2015 joined the landmark youth climate lawsuit:{Juliana v. United States:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: as an intervenor on side of the federal government.
Calling the suit a “direct threat to businesses,” the trade associations said the “significant reduction in [greenhouse gas] emissions would cause a significant negative effect on [their] members by constraining the sale of the product they have specialized in developing and selling.” When the court asked intervenors to explain their views on climate change, NAM quickly backed out.
When the liability lawsuits began—and now total more than a dozen from communities across the country and one state (Rhode Island)—NAM responded by launching MAPto “set the record straight and highlight foundations and other activists who have sought to undermine and weaken manufacturing in the United States” by engaging in climate change-related litigation.
MAP came out swinging, claiming that then-New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman’s use of the Martin Act to investigate Exxon for possible climate change-related fraud was “politically motivated.” It demanded New York Mayor Bill de Blasio apologize to New Yorkers for using an outside firm to file its suit against five major oil companies and launched a campaign to highlight what it called de Blasio’s “politically-motivated attacks on manufacturers.”
Eubanks said that rhetoric doesn’t add up.
“Lawsuits are to enforce the law, to ensure that people are following the law and it takes you out of a political process and puts you before a neutral person, a judge,” she said, adding that Shook, Hardy & Bacon also does a good bit of political lobbying.
“They say, ‘We think these matters should be handled by legislation, not litigation, and by regulations that will come out of any statutes that are enacted,” she said. “Then they fight real hard to make sure there are no statutes that come down the pike because regulations come out of regulatory authority, so it sounds real good, but that’s wholly inconsistent with their approach.”
NAM and MAP have made a big deal out of the potential for future RICO charges against the fossil fuel industry—the same racketeering laws that ultimately ensnared the tobacco industry—and contend that a conspiracy is being waged on the other side by a “group of politically motivated activists” who are “trying to take down America’s energy manufacturers.”
“Right now, there are groups of trial lawyers slinking around the country tantalizing elected officials in cities and states with unrealistic promises of jackpot justice if they will only agree to sue energy manufacturers over climate change,” saidNAM president and chief executive Jay Timmons in NAM’s State of Manufacturing Address last week in Houston. “These lawyers—they want to get rich at the expense of manufacturing workers.”
Daynard said this type of messaging is used in an effort to control the narrative around— and media coverage of—climate litigation.
“They have this notion that if they can get continue to get news coverage and establish themselves, they can make sure when cases are filed journalists will look go to them and they can then get in some comment on how this is all worthless crazy stuff stirred up by ‘greedy lawyers’ or ‘ideologically driven NGO’s,’” Daynard said.
To try and substantiate its view that litigation is part of a vast conspiracy—and in what some say is an attempt to have a chilling effect on municipalities that file lawsuits—MAP has also submitted extensive public record requests to plaintiffs in the suits, seeking documents and communication between the municipalities and their attorneys, prior records requests that include those attorneys, certain communication regarding the defendant companies and communication between the municipalities and billionaire Tom Steyer, founder of NextGen, a progressive organization working to stem the risks of climate change for future generations.
When Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin filed the first state-level suit last July, MAP denounced it.
Eubanks said ensuring manufacturers abide by state law is exactly what attorneys general should do.
“We have consumer protection statutes, we have consumer protection agencies, that’s part of what makes this country great,” Eubanks said. “You can’t just come in and roll over people with deceptive and unfair methods of competition, you can’t just lie about things without consequences and we have organizations to protect that. That’s what I find so alarming about this—the whole idea that there’s something wrong with enforcing the law.”
NAM did not respond to a request for comment. De la Torre, could not be reached for comment.
Perhaps NAM’s biggest attack on liability suits thus far has been its accusations against several California municipalities.
Not long after the suits were filed, Exxon went on the offensive, accusing plaintiffs of failing to disclose climate risks to their bond investors.
To try to bolster that allegation, NAM—along with the industry ally Competitive Enterprise Institute—asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether several cities and counties that filed climate suits misled investors when they stated in bond offerings that they couldn’t predict the impacts of climate change.
A report by the former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal bonds division later found the municipalities did not mislead potential investors.
In another instance, NAM partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to back Exxon, filing a friend-of-the-court brief in the oil giant’s quest to stop investigations by the attorneys general of Massachusetts and New York.
New York has since filed a lawsuit against Exxon based on that investigation, alleging the oil giant for years deceived investors by deliberately downplaying the climate risks to its business and long-term financial health. The Supreme Court recently ruled against Exxon’s attempt to stop Massachusetts’ investigation, which now continues.
This is the first in a series of articles on the trade group coordinating opposition to climate liability suits.
This story has been update to more accurately describe the review which found California municipalities did not mislead potential investors.
no lnx
Vulture capitalists are picking us dry: Why consumer debt buyers are on the rise
The great recession laid waste to the U.S. economy. Now debt collectors are feasting on the carrion
JIM HIGHTOWER
MARCH 22, 2015
Good news, people: The "boom" is back! Yes, good times are here again, thanks to an economic boom that's being generated by (of all things) bad times.
As you might know from your own experiences, tens of millions of Americans have been hit hard, knocked down and held down in recent years by the collapse of jobs and wages. This calamity has led to a second blow for millions of the same families, who find themselves suddenly buried in piles of overdue bills for credit card charges, student loans and other consumer debt.
But the good news is that there's a bright silver lining in that dark financial cloud. Only, it's not for the indebted families, but for a booming breed of finance hucksters known as consumer debt buyers. Believe it or not, in the warped world of high finance,"There's gold in them thar hills" of bad debt, and where there's gold, there are diggers.
Whenever a corporation issues a statement declaring that it's committed to "treating consumers fairly and with respect," chances are, it's not.
After all, why say such a thing, when actually practicing it would make a statement unnecessary? Indeed, with names like Encore Capital Group and Sherman Financial, these miners of human misery buy bales of these unpaid bills from banks and other lenders, paying pennies on the dollar. Then they unleash packs of their hard-nosed, aggressive collectors on the families. If they still can't extract payment, the corporate debt profiteers turn to their meanest dog: The courts.
Debt firms routinely file thousands of lawsuits a day against financially devastated Americans. They know that most debtors can't understand the legal gibberish filed against them, can't afford a lawyer, can't take time off to go to a court hearing and can't mount an effective defense against the corporate lawyers. So, some 95 percent of these lawsuits produce default judgments against hapless borrowers -- meaning debt buyers can then confiscate the wages of borrowers or freeze their bank accounts.
This boom in vulture capitalism is disgusting -- but, worse, it's subsidized by us taxpayers! We pay for the judicial system -- the judges, courtrooms and endless rounds of hearings. Predatory debt corporations have perverted our so-called justice system into their own subsidiary for squeezing profits out of destitute debtors.
This is why New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has started going after these for-profit corporate debt collectors. He found that Encore, based in San Diego, filed nearly 240,000 lawsuits against debtors in a recent four-year period, using the courts as its private collection arm. Problem is, Encore's bulk filing of lawsuits against the hard-pressed borrowers are rife with errors, out-of-date payment data, fabricated credit card statements, etc. With debt buyers scooping up millions of overdue bills each year from lenders, tons of them are missing original loan documents, payment histories and other proof of debt.
Debt predators, however, scoot around this lack of facts by simply having their employees sign affidavits asserting that the level of money owed is accurate. Judges, overwhelmed by the unending flood of lawsuits filed by Encore et al, have accepted those affidavits as true, thus ruling in favor of the corporations. But Schneiderman found that -- Surprise! -- affidavits were simply being rubber-stamped by company employees, with no effort to ensure the truth of the information. An employee of one large debt-buyer testified that his corporation ran an assembly-line scheme in which he signed about 2,000 affidavits a day.
This is no minor scam -- 1 in 7 adults in the U.S. is under pursuit by debt collectors. It's hard enough for struggling families to claw their way out from under the economic crash without having lying, cheating predator corporations twist the court system to pick their pockets and shut off their hope of recovery.
JIM HIGHTOWER
Jim Hightower's most recent book is "Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush." He produces a monthly newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown, and a syndicated daily radio commentary.
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Disgraced former NY AG Eric Schneiderman now a meditation teacher
https://www.nbcnews.com/.../disgraced-former-ny-ag-eric-schneiderman-now-meditat...
1.
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/01/16/exxon-continues-first-amendment-defense-climate-fraud-probes/
Karen Savage
Exxon continues to cry foul, alleging that two state attorneys general are violating its First Amendment right to express its opinion on climate change.
In a brief filed last week in New York, attorneys for Exxon once again asserted that that investigations by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and New York Attorney Eric Schneiderman are part of a politically motivated conspiracy against the company and an attempt to silence the oil giant through intimidation.
The filing was the latest effort by Exxon to thwart investigations by the attorneys general into possible climate change-related deception by the company. It follows a filing by the AGs in December urging a dismissal of Exxon’s suit against them, based on the company’s recent announcement that it would begin considering climate risks on its business in disclosures to its stockholders. Healey and Schneiderman contend that announcement equates to an admission that Exxon has not been forthcoming about those risks as the AGs have alleged.
But Exxon continues to insist that the investigations are an abuse of Healey’s and Schneiderman’s political positions and are violations of the oil giant’s First, Fourth and Fourteenth amendment rights.
In November, New York U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni ordered each side to submit written arguments in the case, which was first filed by Exxon in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in June 2016, but has since:{been transferred:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: to New York.
In its most recent brief, attorneys for Exxon:{said:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: the attorneys general are targeting Exxon with “burdensome” and “harassing” investigations because of the company’s views on climate change. Attorneys also link Healey and Schneiderman to climate activists who Exxon says are seeking to “harass perceived political opponents” and “delegitimize” Exxon.
Attorneys for Healey call Exxon’s allegations absurd, particularly considering Exxon has taken the public stance of supporting the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change.
“Exxon asserts that Attorney General Healey has joined in an illegal conspiracy to violate Exxon’s rightsbecause she does not agree with Exxon’s views about climate change. Yet Exxon also states that it now endorses climate science, the existence of climate change, and efforts to combat it—consistent with Attorney Healey’s position,” Healey’s attorneys wrote in a recent brief.
Schneiderman’s attorneys said that for Exxon to prevail on a free speech allegation, it must plead and prove its right to free speech has been violated, something they contend Exxon has not done.
They point to Exxon’s own court filings, in which the company said it speaks publicly about the risks of climate change and shares its perspective on climate change on the company’s:{website:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:.
In a website posting last week, Exxon denounced a recent climate change-related lawsuit:{filed:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: against it by New York City and reiterated its climate change perspective.A:{video:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}: shared on the company’s Twitter page carried a similar message.
“These public statements demonstrate that, far from being muzzled, Exxon:{regularly:(style="box-sizing:inherit"):}:engages in corporateadvocacy concerning climate change,” wrote attorneys for Schneiderman, adding that a state investigation is not a violation of Exxon’s constitutionally protected rights.
Schneiderman also said that fraudulent statements are not protected by the First Amendment.
Exxon fired back, alleging that not only are its statements protected but also the company has been harmed by having to endure the “burden and expense” of the investigations.
“Based on the record before this Court, there is no basis to classify ExxonMobil’s speech on climate change and climate policy as anything but fully protected by the First Amendment,” wrote attorneys for Exxon.
But attorneys for Healey said Exxon’s recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that promised climate risk disclosure raises further questions about the company’s truthfulness.
That decision came after 62 percent of Exxon shareholders voted in favor of requiring the company to produce a report outlining financial risks to the company from global efforts to prevent temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celcius.
“This filing makes clear that, at a minimum, Exxon’s prior disclosures to investors, including Massachusetts investors, may not have adequately accounted for the effect of climate change on its business and assets,” attorneys for Healey wrote.
:{[Exxon Will Continue to Fight Climate Probes by State Attorneys General](https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/04/23/exxon-climate-probe-new-york-massachusetts/ "Exxon Will Continue to Fight Climate Probes by State Attorneys General
By Karen Savage Exxon continues to try to shake probes by two state attorneys general into possible climate fraud by the company. The oil giant filed notice on Friday that it will appeal the decision by a federal judge to dismiss its suit against Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and…")}:
:{[Exxon's First Amendment Claims in Climate Fraud Case Draw Judge's Skepticism](https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/11/30/exxon-climate-fraud-case-schneiderman-healey/ "Exxon's First Amendment Claims in Climate Fraud Case Draw Judge's Skepticism
By Karen Savage Exxon’s quest to convince a federal judge that two state attorneys general are stifling their right to free speech is proving to be no easy task. In a hearing Thursday in New York, U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni said the oil giant’s rationale involved “wild leaps…")}:
:{[Federal Judge Dismisses Exxon Lawsuit Challenging State Climate Probes](https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/29/exxon-climate-fraud-lawsuit-ny-mass-schneiderman-healey/ "Federal Judge Dismisses Exxon Lawsuit Challenging State Climate Probes
By Karen Savage A federal judge dismissed Exxon’s lawsuit attempting to stop investigations by two state attorneys general into potential climate fraud by the company, which the company claimed are politically motivated and in violation of its Constitutional rights. Ruling that Exxon’s allegations against Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and…")}:
yikes
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eric quit:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052018/new-york-attorney-general-eric-schneiderman-assualt-allegations-resigned-exxon-climate-investigation-environment-lawsuits
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's abrupt resignation after allegations surfaced that he had physically assaulted four women has complicated, but probably not derailed, a series of high-profile environmental investigations and lawsuits that his office spearheaded.
Being the chief law enforcement officer for the state of New York gave Schneiderman a bully pulpit from which he attacked the environmental policies of the Trump Administration and challenged ExxonMobil and its political allies.
His admirers had seen him as a guardian of environmental and social justice—including protections for women. But the detailed allegations, published May 7 in *The New Yorker* magazine, that he assaulted and emotionally abused women in several relationships have sunk his reputation. He announced a few hours after publication that he was resigning. Schneiderman wrote that he contests the women's accounts, but that he cannot continue in office.
It may be too early to assess the damage to the environmental causes he was pursuing. Much depends on who replaces him as attorney general, how robustly his staff carries on, and how effectively other state officials take up the slack....
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win
https://www.ecowatch.com/new-york-constitution-pipeline-2564902494.html
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition filed by Constitution Pipeline to challenge New York state's denial of a water quality certification for the natural gas project.
Natural Gas Intelligence reported: "The petition was distributed for conference, or discussion, on Friday, but the justices simply denied it."
The ruling leaves in place the August 2017 judgment of the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided with the state. This is a big win for the attorney general's office and the state's authority to protect its waters and natural resources.
...
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/exxon-climate-change-disclosure-state-investor-fraud-investigations-court-documents
ExxonMobil's recent announcement that it will strengthen its climate risk disclosure is now playing into the oil giant's prolonged federal court battle over state investigations into whether it misled shareholders.
In a new court filing late Thursday, Attorney General Maura Healey of Massachusetts, one of two states investigating the company, argued that Exxon's announcement amounted to an admission that the company had previously failed to sufficiently disclose the impact climate change was having on its operations.
Healey's 24-page filing urged U.S. District Court Judge Valerie E. Caproni to dismiss Exxon's 18-month legal campaign to block investigations by her office and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's.
Exxonagreed last week to disclose in more detail its climate risks after facing pressure from investors. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it wrote that those enhanced disclosures will include "energy demand sensitivities, implications of 2 degree Celsius scenarios, and positioning for a lower-carbon future."
Healey and her staff of attorneys seized on that SEC filing to suggest it added weight to the state's investigation of Exxon.
"This filing makes clear that, at a minimum, Exxon's prior disclosures to investors, including Massachusetts investors, may not have adequately accounted for the effect of climate change on its business and assets," Healey's filing states.
This is the latest round of legal maneuvering that erupted last year in the wake of subpoenas to Exxon by the two attorneys general. They want to know how much of what Exxon knew about climate change was disclosed to shareholders and potential investors.
Coming at a point thatthe once fiery rhetoric between Exxon and the attorneys general appears to be cooling, it nonetheless keeps pressure on the oil giant.
Exxon has until Jan. 12 to file replies with the court.
In the documents filed Thursday, Healey and Schneiderman argue that Exxon's attempt to derail their climate fraud investigations is a "baseless federal counter attack" and should be stopped in its tracks.
"Exxon has thus attempted to shift the focus away from its own conduct—whether Exxon, over the course of nearly 40 years, misled Massachusetts investors and consumers about the role of Exxon products in causing climate change, and the impacts of climate change on Exxon's business—to its chimerical theory that Attorney General Healey issued the CID (civil investigative demand) to silence and intimidate Exxon," the Massachusetts filing states.
Exxon maintains the investigations are an abuse of prosecutorial authority and encroach on Exxon's right to express its own opinion in the climate change debate.
Schneiderman scoffs at Exxon's protests, noting in his 25-page filing that Exxon has freely acknowledged since 2006 there are significant risks associated with rising greenhouse gas emissions.
"These public statements demonstrate that, far from being muzzled, Exxon regularly engages in corporate advocacy concerning climate change," Schneiderman's filing states.
The additional written arguments had been requested by Caproni and signal that the judge may be nearing a ruling.
PUBLISHED UNDER:
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https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/04/court-papers-claim-rex-tillerson-approved-misleading-carbon-accounting-scheme-while-exxonmobil-boss
Former ExxonMobil CEO and now-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson personally approved a scheme for accounting for the financial impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the company's business that deliberately misled investors, one that continued right through ExxonMobil's May 31st shareholders', according to an explosive court filing by the New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman....
==
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19052017/exxon-investigation-destroyed-evidence-wayne-tracker-rex-tillerson-new-york-attorney-general
The probe of ExxonMobil by the New York Attorney General's Office is widening. Investigators have taken depositions of company executives and issued additional subpoenas to determine whether the company may have destroyed evidence connected to an alias email used by former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson.
The disclosure was made Friday in arguments filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a Manhattan federal court. He is seeking dismissal of a request by Exxon for an injunction that would halt his investigation into the oil giant involving whether it misled shareholders and the public about the risks of climate change.
Attorneys for Schneiderman did not elaborate in the 25-page document on the scope of the expanded investigation other than to suggest that it involved the recent disclosure that Tillerson, now U.S. secretary of state, used an email alias when discussing issues including climate change and the risk that it posed to the company.
New York and Massachusetts investigators denounced the company's attempt in federal court to derail their parallel inquiries as a vexatious legal tactic that has no chance of succeeding.
"So far, this federal action's primary purpose has been to investigate the NYOAG's Investigation," the New York brief states.
The filings by Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey represent the first round in a series of legal jousts expected over the course of the summer before U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni.
The two attorneys general argued that the proper venue for Exxon to fight the investigations, which are based on each state's fraud statutes, are in the respective state courts. Having a federal court intervene could mean that states might lose their autonomy in future investigations. "If this action proceeds, even to discovery, federal judges regularly could be called upon to determine when a recipient of a document subpoena may learn details of, or even halt, the state investigation that generated the subpoena," according to the New York brief.
Healey's office echoed that positionin its brief.
The disclosure by Schneiderman's office of a widening investigation focused on the possible destruction of evidence that heightened the stakes.
"In this ongoing investigation, the NYOAG has served additional subpoenas upon Exxon," according to the New York brief. "For example, because of concern about spoliation of documents, and in conformance with proceedings before the New York court on that issue, the NYOAG has taken, pursuant to subpoena, testimony of witnesses who may possess information relevant to spoliation."
The expanded investigation comes after Exxon conceded that it failed to preserve all documents from Tillerson's shadow email account, under the alias Wayne Tracker, and has failed to turn over other documents from top executives. New York investigators said in the brief that "no preservation hold was placed on Wayne Tracker" emails by Exxon, a process meant to insure they were not destroyed.
"We have and will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to get to the bottom of these issues and to further our investigation," said Amy Spitalnick, Schneiderman's press secretary.
An Exxon spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Exxon has until June 16 to formally respond in court.
Schneiderman's office disclosed the existence of Tillerson's alternate email as part of an open investigation of Exxon that began in November 2015 in connection with possible securities fraud over whether the company misled shareholders and the public about climate change.
Tillerson used the Wayne Tracker email account for eight years to discuss, among other things, climate change-related issues and the risks they posed to the company's business, investigators claim.
The company turned over a handful of the emails in January and at that time said the emails had been overlooked because the company did not have the technical capability to identify them.
Exxon later said it could account for all but a one-month period of emails from Tillerson's alternate email account, from September to November 2014, according to a letter to a New York state court judge.
The case landed in Caproni's courtroom in March after a federal judge in Texas determined Exxon'schallenge to the investigations was best settled in New York.
While Exxon enjoyed a series of favorable rulings in Texas, Caproni has signaled she is skeptical of Exxon's arguments to put a stop to climate fraud investigations by the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts.
Investigations launched by the two attorneys general provoked Exxon tofile a lawsuit seeking an injunction to derail the probes. The investigations focus on whether past statements by Exxon questioning climate change science and downplaying climate change risks to the company constituted a form of fraud against the public and its shareholders.
Exxon argued that the investigations were politically motivated and intended to silence the company and any others who did not share the same views of climate change as the two attorneys general. The company has indicated that it willrepeat that argument in Caproni's court.
PUBLISHED UNDER:
==
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/4/1650163/-NY-Attorney-General-Eric-Schneiderman-files-lawsuit-against-Trump-Administration
...Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced he has begun legal proceedings against the Trump Administration for “violating federal law by delaying energy efficiency standards for several common consumer and commercial products.” In his statement, Schneiderman says:
“We won’t hesitate to use the full force of our office to protect New Yorkers.”
Here is the full statement via :{AG.NY.Gov::(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:
Attorney General Schneiderman Announces Lawsuit And Other Legal Action Against Trump Administration For Illegally Blocking Cost-Saving, Pollution-Cutting Energy Efficiency Standards
Coalition Takes Action Against Trump DOE For Violating Federal Law By Obstructing Implementation Of Energy Efficiency Standards For Common Consumer And Commercial Products
These Common Sense Standards Would, Over Time, Save Consumers And Businesses Approximately $24 Billion, Provide Energy Savings Equivalent To The Annual Electricity Consumption Of 36 Million Households, And Eliminate Millions Of Tons Of Air Pollution
Schneiderman: We Won’t Hesitate To Use The Full Force Of Our Office To Protect New Yorkers
NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, leading a state and municipal coalition, today announced that he is commencing legal action against the Trump Administration for violating federal law by delaying energy efficiency standards for several common consumer and commercial products - such as ceiling fans, portable air conditioners, walk-in coolers and freezers, commercial boilers, and more.
The six standards being blocked by the Trump Administration offer dramatic air pollution reductions, as well as energy- and cost-savings to consumers and businesses. According to federal Department of Energy (“DOE”) estimates, the standards would combine to eliminate emissions of 292 million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, 734 thousand tons of the pollution that creates soot and smog, 1.2 million tons of the potent climate change pollutant methane, and over 1,000 pounds of highly-toxic mercury, over a 30 year period.
...
...This is the one of:{ two actions Schneiderman has taken:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: this week to protect our planet. The other was dismissing Exxon/Mobil’s attempt to block a climate change fraud case. It’s no surprise big oil companies also love Trump’s executive order rolling back environmental protections and taking advantage in every way they can.
Schnedierman’s move is what some might call “judiciary resistance”—and we can’t get enough of it. Thank you, all the individuals and organizations that have joined in on this and other legal actions against a despicable man and his government ilk (which includes every Republican that supports him).
Related:
**NY Judge dismisses Exxon/Mobil’s attempt to block climate change fraud case**
==
push back to lamar subpoenas
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2016_07_26_nyoag_letter_to_sst_objecting_to_subpoena.pdf
==
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072016/exxon-climate-investigation-subpoenas-lamar-smith-maura-healey-eric-schneiderman
how subpoena war could play out
http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/11/05/ny-attorney-general-investigation-subpoena-exxonmobil-peabody-coal-climate-denial
In a blockbuster story, The New York Times reported that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has subpoenaed oil and gas industry giant ExxonMobil to “determine whether the company lied to the public about the risks of climate change or to investors about how those risks might hurt the oil business.”
ExxonMobil, now also the subject of U.S. congressionaland activist group calls for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, knew about the risks of climate change since the 1970s and studied those risks internally for decades.
But the company subsequently funded climate change denial and disinformation efforts to the tune of at least $31 million.
Coal giant Peabody Energy has also been swept into the fold by Schneiderman, with The Times revealing for the first time that Schneiderman's office has been digging — for the past two years — into the coal company's climate denial activity and possible acts of deception.
“The focus includes the company’s activities dating to the late 1970s, including a period of at least a decade when Exxon Mobil funded groups that sought to undermine climate science,” wrote The Times.
ExxonMobil has yet to decide how it will respond to the subpoena.
==
“This is about facts, and science, and transparency,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who spoke at a press conference alongside New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, former Vice President Al Gore and seven other Attorneys General.
“Fossil fuel companies that deceived investors and consumers about the dangers of climate change should be, must be held accountable,” Healey continued, saying there is a “troubling disconnect between what Exxon knew, what industry folks knew and the company and industry chose to share with investors and the American public.”
The coalition of Attorneys General from 16 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands was convened by Schneiderman, who in November announced a state investigation into Exxon after reporting revealed that the oil giant had for decades known and suppressed evidence about the dangers that fossil fuels posed to the environment and then purposely disseminated false information in order to boost its profits.
California has also launched an investigation and on Tuesday Healey and U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Earl Walker confirmed their states have as well. Schneiderman said that additional states were pursuing similar action and that the purpose of the coalition is to work together in this “common interest.”
...
The coalition includes Attorneys General from California, Connecticut, District Of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington state and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
==
HOPE
Peabody Energy, described as the largest coal company in the world, is the next coal giant facing bankruptcy. The price of Peabody stock has dropped 97% over the past year and it recently warned its investors that it may seek bankruptcy protections from creditors.
The company had recently reached a settlement with the New York Attorney General, over allegations that it had misled its investors about the risk climate change posed to its longterm business. But that investigation was about the rights of shareholders and the price of their shares, not directly about Peabody's role in funding climate change denial. If the company does file for bankruptcy then much more may soon be revealed about coal funding for climate change denial and opposition to tackling climate change.
http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/03/exxon-lawsuit
icn
Climate scientist Michael Mann has spent much of his career in the crosshairs of climate denialists. A professor of meteorology and director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, Mann is best known for helping to develop the famous "hockey stick" graph, which reconstructed 1,000 years of global temperature data and showed the abrupt warming of the late 20th century.
Mann, who studied theoretical physics before taking up climate research, published the paper explaining the hocky stick graph in 1999, just three years after he completed his Ph.D.
The graph drew widespread public attention, especially after it appeared in the 2001 Third Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Mann soon became a target of climate contrarians and the institutions that support them, including those funded by ExxonMobil. He has received death threats, been accused of scientific fraud by people who don't accept climate science and targeted by politicians.
He recounted his many run-ins with the denialist movement in his 2012 book, "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars."
In 2003, as the U.S. Senate debated a bipartisan bill that would have forced the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases, a paper by economist Ross McKitrick and Stephen McIntyre, a self-described "semiretired minerals consultant," claimed to debunk the science behind the hockey stick chart. According to Mann's book, the website Tech Central Station publicized the paper three days before the Senate vote. (The bill failed by a 55-43 vote.)
Tech Central was one of many Exxon-funded groups that helped sow doubt about the scientific consensus on global warming. In 2006, Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) wrote a letter asking ExxonMobil to stop funding groups like Tech Central, "whose public advocacy has contributed to the small but unfortunately effective climate change denial myth."
Mann said he was angry but not surprised by the recent revelations that Exxon spent years conducting serious climate research before starting its campaign to fuel doubt about global warming. He said the investigation by InsideClimate News has "suddenly refocused attention" on something the scientific community long suspected: that Exxon scientists were too smart to be ignorant of the early, emerging science of global warming.
Read the series, "Exxon: The Road Not Taken," on our website or as an ebook Kindle Single.
He also said he's curious to see what will turn up in the climate change-related probe of Exxon by the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. On Nov. 5, Schneiderman's office subpoenaed Exxon for documents on climate change spanning almost four decades. The investigation seeks to determine whether Exxon misled the public and investors about the risks posed by global warming.
Mann spoke to ICN via phone and email about Exxon's research history, its efforts to muddy climate science and Schneiderman's investigation. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
InsideClimate News:What was your initial reaction to ICN's Exxon series? Do you feel at all vindicated by the news?
Michael Mann: Well, frankly it confirmed things that we had long suspected. …[We knew] that Exxon had really bright scientists, and there's no way those scientists couldn't have known what the rest of the scientific community knew, that [climate change] was a real problem.
But nonetheless, it really proves that in some sense, the villainy that we long suspected was taking place within ExxonMobil really was. It wasn’t just a conspiracy theory. It was a legitimate conspiracy.
As I've described in my book, fossil fuel interests, including ExxonMobil in particular, have been waging a bad faith assault on me (and on other climate scientists) for decades now. It makes me angry that they would knowingly risk the degradation of our planet for future generations in the name of their own short-term profits.
ICN:Climate modeling is your specialty, and Exxon did extensive modeling in the 1980s. Do you have any thoughts on the company's modeling efforts?
Mann: They identified—they used the word "catastrophic" [effects]—in one of their internal discussions describing the potential impacts of climate change.
So not only did they know the science is real, they knew it was harmful to society, and they were sort of headed in the direction of doing the modeling to try to assess the degree of harm. And as you guys describe, they chose a different path...to fund a massive disinformation campaign, to hide the threat of their products. And the parallels then become rather striking with what the tobacco industry did.
ICN: One big difference between the tobacco and Exxon cases is that Exxon didn't hide its climate change research. Exxon scientists have published peer-reviewed papers and participated in government panels. How do you think that changes the situation?
Mann: Frankly, there was sort of a good cop/bad cop thing going on there...The cynic in me thinks that they were playing both sides. In fact, we know that they continued to have some scientists who participated in the IPCC process into the 2000s, while they were obviously engaged in massive funding of climate change disinformation, basically financing propaganda that was fundamentally inconsistent with the sort of work that their own scientists were doing.
Shadowy political outfits like Crossroads GPS and the US Chamber of Commerce—both nonprofits that don't have to disclose their donors—are increasingly dominating the airwaves and the campaign cash fight in the run-up to the 2012 election. In 2010, politically active nonprofits outspent super-PACs by a 3-to-2 margin. This time around, Crossroads GPS- and Chamber-like groups are even more important: Through late April, nearly 90 percent of TV advertising in the 2012 election came from such nonprofits.
Now, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is training his investigative firepower on one of the most powerful dark money players, the *New York Times* reports. On Tuesday Schneiderman sent subpoenas to officials with the National Chamber Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with the US Chamber of Commerce, one of the biggest-spending nonprofits in American elections. Schneiderman has asked for emails, bank records, and more concerning whether the National Chamber Foundation funneled $18 million to the US Chamber for politicking and lobbying purposes.
Here's more from the Times:
The investigation is also looking at connections between the chamber's foundation, the National Chamber Foundation, and another philanthropy, the Starr Foundation, which made large grants to the chamber foundation in 2003 and 2004. During the same period, the National Chamber Foundation lent the chamber $18 million, most of it for what was described as a capital campaign.
In a complaint filed last year with the attorney general, watchdog groups asserted that the loan had been used to finance lobbying for "tort reform" legislation in Congress and to run issue advertising in the 2004 presidential and Congressional campaigns, most of it against Democrats.
mojo kroll
Schneiderman
wiki
Eric T. Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American attorney and politician. He serves as the 65th and current New York Attorney General. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to becoming Attorney General, Schneiderman served in the New York State Senate.
Contents
Early life, education, and early career:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Schneiderman graduated from Trinity School in 1972, Amherst College in 1977, and from Harvard Law School in 1982.[1]
Schneiderman's career began when he served for two years as Deputy Sheriff in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.[citation needed] He also clerked for two years within theU.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, subsequent to which he became a partner at the law firm of Kirkpatrick and Lockhart.[2] As a public interest lawyer, Schneiderman served for over a decade as counsel to the West Side Crime Prevention program, and as lead counsel to the Straphangers Campaign's lawsuit against New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority.[citation needed]
New York Senate:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Before being elected Attorney General, Schneiderman previously represented the 31st District in the New York State Senate. This comprises Manhattan's Upper West Side, as well as Morningside Heights, West Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill, in addition to part of Riverdale,The Bronx.[3]
Elections:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
In the 1998 Democratic primary, Schneiderman, an anti-crime activist, defeated Daniel O'Donnell, a civil rights attorney, with 68% of the vote.[4] In the general election, he defeated Vincent McGowen with 82% of the vote.[5] He won re-election in 2000 (84%),[6] in 2002 (87%),[7] in 2004 (89%),[8] in 2006 (92%),[9] and 2008 (90%).[10]
Leadership:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Schneiderman is a former Chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. This post has served as a source of irritation to some of his colleagues within the Senate Republican leadership, prompting the redrawing of Senator Schneiderman's district in 2002 in order to include Washington Heights.[citation needed] This prompted former City Councilman Guillermo Linares - the first Dominican elected official within New York City - to run against him in the Democratic primary in an ultimately unsuccessful bid for office.
In October 2009, Schneiderman was selected to chair the special committee to investigate the conduct of former Senator Hiram Monserrate. The bipartisan committee unanimously recommended Monserrate's expulsion from the Senate.
Tenure:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Schneiderman was the chief sponsor of the Rockefeller Drug Law reforms, which were passed and signed into law in 2009. The reforms included moving away from long, mandatory minimum sentences, and allocating funds for alternatives to incarceration, treatment and reentry of prisoners into society.[11] His other legislative activities include passing ethics reforms [12][13] to root out fraud against taxpayers.
Attorney General:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Main article: New York Attorney General election, 2010
In his first weeks in office, Attorney General Schneiderman launched a plan to root out fraud and return money illegally stolen from New York taxpayers at no additional cost to the state. This initiative includes a new "Taxpayer Protection Unit" specifically designed to go after corruption in state contracts, pension fund rip-offs, and large-scale tax cheats. Schneiderman has also bolstered the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit by cracking down on fraud in the Medicaid program.Schneiderman was the Democratic Party nominee for New York Attorney General, defeating four other candidates in the Democratic Primary on September 14, 2010.[14] He won the general election against Republican nominee and Richmond County district attorney Dan Donovan and took office on January 1, 2011.
He was also instrumental in pushing for a tougher fraud settlement with large banks over illegal foreclosure practices. Along with California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Schneiderman pushed to prevent the settlement from including immunity for the banks from further investigation and prosecution of other related illegal activities.[15]
Schneiderman and Speaker of the State Assembly Sheldon Silver have opposed legalizing Mixed martial arts in New York State.[16][17]
In August 2013, Schneiderman filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against Donald Trump for his "Trump University", alleging it to be an "unlicensed university"[18] and calling it a "bait-and-switch scheme."[19] Trump responded publicly calling Schneiderman a "political hack" and claimed that the school has a 98% approval rating among students.[20] In October 2014 a New York judge found Trump personally liable for the institution's violation of state education laws.[21]
In September 2013, Schneiderman announced a settlement with 19 companies to prevent astroturfing, i.e.; buying fake online praise. "'Astroturfing' is the 21st century's version of false advertising, and prosecutors have many tools at their disposal to put an end to it," according to Schneiderman. The companies paid $350,000 to settle the matter, but the settlement opened the way for private suits as well. "Every state has some version of the statutes New York used,” according to lawyer Kelly H. Kolb. “What the New York attorney general has done is, perhaps, to have given private lawyers a road map to file suit.”[22][23]
Main article: New York Attorney General election, 2014
Schneiderman won re-election in 2014. His major opponent was Republican John P. Cahill, who had been an environmental conservation commissioner for the state.
References:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Official Biography on New York Office of the Attorney General website Retrieved August 31, 2011
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- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Gormley, Michael. "Trump Calls NY Attorney General a 'Political Hack:{':(style="padding-right:0.2em"):}:". ABC News. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Karen Freifeld (October 16, 2014). "New York judge finds Donald Trump liable for unlicensed school". Reuters. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Brush, Pete (September 23, 2013). "NY 'Astroturfing' Cases Mark Fertile Ground For Civil Suits". Law360. LexisNexis. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "A.G. Schneiderman Announces Agreement With 19 Companies To Stop Writing Fake Online Reviews And Pay More Than $350,000 In Fines". New York State Office of the Attorney General. State of New York. RetrievedFebruary 20, 2014.
External links:{:(style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- Official NY Attorney General Website
- Eric Schneiderman for Attorney General Official campaign website
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Bank of America Uses Attack Dog to Smear NY AG Schneiderman
DAVID DAYENAUGUST 14, 2011 AT 7:00 PM PDT
Firedog
http://firedoglake.com/2011/08/14/bank-of-america-uses-attack-dog-to-smear-ny-ag-schneiderman/
links
I could barely suppress a laugh when reading about Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan begging Tim Geithner to settle the foreclosure fraud issue so they can get out from under their liability. As Yves Smith points out, if Tim Geithner had the power to get Bank of America out of their mess, he surely would have done it by now, before their stock dipped 36% in the last three weeks. Geithner simply doesn’t have jurisdiction over state courts, where many judges are simply not going to allow foreclosures when standing to foreclose cannot be proven (Moynihan apparently distinguished on a conference call between “states where foreclosure can take place” and “states where foreclosure is going through very slowly,” and he might as well have been distinguishing between states that respect the rule of law and states that don’t).
Geithner may try, but he cannot compel Attorneys General in both parties to settle for pennies on the dollar and relinquish all of their liability for consumer protection violations and fraud upon state courts. He cannot influence investors who see a giant meal ticket in the form of forcing big banks to repurchase faulty mortgage backed securities. If there was a magic bullet in this debacle, it would already have been fired.
The problem is enough AGs are proceeding with mortgage lawsuits against banks so as to render that advantage moot. New York’s Eric Schneiderman is moving ahead in a very systematic way, and Delaware’s Beau Biden seems to be moving in concert. Massachusetts’ Martha Coakley is also pushing ahead, albeit on different mortgage issues. Nevada’s Catherine Masto has a major anti-Countrywide suit outstanding that she has no intention of dropping. Kamala Harris in California has nibbled at some foreclosure related issues and may proceed on a broader basis. Colorado’s John Suthers is apparently also likely not to participate in the settlement, which means he may file litigation.
Moreover, any state AG settlement does not restrict private parties’ rights to sue. It won’t stop the $10+ billion AIG action against Countrywide, nor will it bar the various private efforts to derail BofA’s $8.5 billion mortgage settlement. And it will not stop borrowers from using chain of title issues to fight foreclosures.
Best part of this article was learning in the last line that Lawrence DiRita, a former spokesman for Donald Rumsfeld, now flaks for Bank of America. Poetic.
So having figured out that the Feds cannot come riding to the rescue with another back-door bailout, Bank of America has settled on Plan B. They’ve decided to smear the AGs who are doing their job. [cont’d.]
And they’re doing it in a very roundabout way. They’ve trotted out Kathryn Wylde, the President of the Partnership for New York City, to attack Eric Schneiderman for his intervention in the Bank of America settlement with investors over mortgage backed securities. Wylde is going to bat for BofA as well as the Bank of New York Mellon, the trustee for the MBS in the settlement. And she is actually arguing that Schneiderman, by defending the rights of investors and seeking the truth on out and out securitization fraud, is threatening the existence of the financial sector in New York City. No, really.
A BNY Mellon spokesman told me the bank didn’t want to comment on the broader implications of the AG’s filing, but directed me to Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a business development non-profit. She said that the AG’s “careless action” hurts New York’s standing as a financial center.
“It’s disappointing from the standpoint of the business community that the AG would make a fraud accusation against a major financial institution — in the press,” she told me. “And to not have any consultation with the institution? The bank was blindsided by what appears to be an outrageous charge.” (The AG’s press office didn’t respond to my request of comment.)
BNYM DIRECTED the reporter to Wylde, incidentally. Wylde has done this before, back in November 2009, arguing that breaking up big banks would hurt New York City. This would be outrageous enough on its own. But Wylde happens to sit on the board of directors for the New York Federal Reserve (sub. reqd.).
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman keeps cracking down on wage theft, and around 250 workers will be sharing in a nearly $500,000 settlement from four current and former Papa John's franchisees.
"Once again, we’ve found Papa John’s franchises in New York that are ripping off their workers and violating critical state and federal laws,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. "Once again, I call on Papa John’s and other fast food companies to step up and stop the widespread lawlessness plaguing your businesses and harming the workers who make and deliver your food."
Though it often isn't treated this way, it actually is illegal to fail to pay minimum wage or overtime, to make people work off the clock, to force workers being paid at the tipped worker subminimum wage to do non-tipped work, and a disturbing list of other ways businesses have found to keep money that workers have earned. And about that "once again":
In July, the attorney general's office arrested Abdul Jamil Khokhar, owner of nine Papa John's stores in New York, accusing him of breaking minimum wage and overtime laws. According to his plea agreement, Khokhar could serve up to 60 days in jail. In another case, the attorney general's office secured a judgment of nearly $3 million against two other Papa John's franchisees.
So while the workers were technically employed by—and cheated by—the franchisees, at a certain point you see a pattern and start to think maybe the parent company has something to do with it. That's one of the reasons the National Labor Relations Board pushed to treat some fast food chains as joint employers responsible for working conditions in franchise restaurants.
In 2013, a report from Fast Food Forward found 84 percent of New York City fast food workers reporting that they'd been victims of wage theft. Fully 100 percent of fast food delivery workers said the same. Schneiderman's efforts to crack down have also led to settlements at franchises of other chains, including Domino's and McDonald's.
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