TechLuver.com

St. Louis, MO — Dec 19, `07 — Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google have entered into settlements with the US to resolve claims that they promoted illegal gambling, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced today. The total amount of the three settlements is $31.5 million in value to the United States.

Three companies also agreed to stop accepting ads for sports wagering and other online gambling, US Attorney Catherine Hanaway said.

The investigation conducted by Hanaway’s office, along with the IRS and the FBI, dates to 2000, she said. Negotiations have been going on for 12 to 18 months, she added.

All three companies said they stopped taking the ads years ago.

As part of the settlement, the companies will pay cash to the US government and provide millions of dollars worth of public service advertisements informing young adults and teenagers that Internet gambling is illegal.

The US Attorney’s office in St. Louis, MO has led in the effort to halt illegal Web-based gambling, a roughly $6 billion a year industry in the US that violates the Federal Wire Wager Act among other federal laws.

Earlier this year, the London-based Internet gambling firm BetOnSports pleaded guilty in St. Louis to federal racketeering charges. Cases are still pending against company executives. Hanaway’s office also settled a civil case against BetOnSports in November 2006. That settlement prohibits the company from accepting any bets from gamblers in the U.S.

Microsoft will pay $4.5 million to the US government, $7.5 million to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and provide $9 million worth of public service advertising.

Yahoo’s settlement of $7.5 million includes forfeiting $3 million to the US govt and providing $4.5 million worth of online ads for a public service advertising campaign. Google will pay $3 million, the department said.

Google will pay $3 million, the department said. More at US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.

Indianapolis, IN — Nov 19, ‘07 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — An Indianapolis man has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to more than 14 years in prison on child pornography charges, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Timothy Morrison announced today.

Timothy Lisby, 42, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker in the Southern District of Indiana to a three-count
indictment charging him with two counts of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Upon the acceptance of his guilty plea, Judge Barker sentenced Lisby to 169 months in prison. Lisby was taken immediately into custody.

The charges in the indictment were developed through an undercover law enforcement operation which targeted individuals who use Internet websites to trade in child pornography. After chatting online with an undercover agent on June 8, 2005, Lisby used his computer to send the agent several images of children engaged in sexual acts. Then, on June 16, 2005, Lisby again chatted with the agent and again used his computer to send similar illegal images. Subsequent investigation and forensic examination of Lisby’s computer revealed that at the time of these crimes, Lisby also possessed numerous other images depicting the sexual exploitation of children on his computer, in addition to the illegal images he sent the agent.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.
Led by the United States Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and
prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe
Childhood, please visit ProjectSafeChildhood.

The case is being prosecuted jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven DeBrota of the Southern District of Indiana and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Customs and Immigration Enforcement, the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Indiana State Police, the Kokomo Police Department, and the Lawrence Police Department. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Justice. More at PRNewsWire.

Six Settlements Require Payment of Nearly $7.7 Million in Civil Penalties;  Additional Complaint Charges Telemarketer with Multiple DNC-Related Violations.

November 07, 2007 — The Federal Trade Commission today announced a law enforcement crackdown on companies and individuals accused of violating the requirements of the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, resulting in six settlements collectively imposing nearly $7.7 million in civil penalties, along with an additional complaint that will be filed in federal district court.

The actions, brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the FTC’s behalf, are against companies ranging from adjustable bed seller Craftmatic Industries, Inc. (Craftmatic) to alarm-monitoring provider ADT Security Services (ADT) and lender Ameriquest Mortgage Company (Ameriquest), and bring to 34 the number of cases filed by the FTC to enforce the DNC Rule, which was implemented in 2003. To date, more consumers have put more than 145 million numbers on the Registry, indicating they do not want to receive calls from telemarketers at home.

“Consumers have made clear that they greatly value the Do Not Call Registry, and they must be able to depend on its privacy protection,” said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. “By bringing enforcement actions, like those announced today, we will ensure that the small number of bad actors pay a price for not adhering to the law and respecting consumers’ privacy requests.”

Recognizing its importance to consumers, the Commission recently announced that it will not remove telephone numbers from the Registry, pending final Congressional or agency action regarding whether to make registration permanent.

Since the DNC Registry was established in 2003, the FTC and DOJ have filed 34 law enforcement actions against individuals and companies that allegedly have violated the Registry provisions. In total, the two agencies have collected more than $16 million in civil penalties – the largest of which was $5.3 million from satellite television provider DirectTV in 2005 – as well as $8 million for consumer restitution or disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. DNC enforcement actions are part of the Commission’s enforcement of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, under which the FTC has brought complaints and filed orders on behalf of consumers for more than 20 years. More at FTC.

New York — November 07, 2007 — As earlier reported by CNBC, American Express said today that it has reached an agreement to drop Visa as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging that MasterCard, Visa and their member banks had illegally blocked American Express from the bank-issued card business in the United States.

Under terms of the settlement agreement, Visa will pay a maximum amount of $2.25 billion to American Express. Individual banks named in the lawsuit will also be dropped as defendants. These include: J.P. Morgan Chase, Capital One, U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo and Providian. The agreement is subject to the approval of Visa’s member banks.

MasterCard remains the sole defendant in the American Express case. The lawsuit, which was filed in Federal court (November 2004) by American Express, seeks monetary damages for the lost business opportunity that resulted from the illegal conspiracy to boycott American Express. American Express is expected to seek damages in the billions of dollars. As the sole remaining defendant, MasterCard would be liable for the full amount.

“The size of this settlement, along with earlier court rulings, underscores the seriousness of the damage done by the illegal boycott,” said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive. “We plan to move forward with the litigation to hold MasterCard accountable for the illegal actions that blocked banks from working with us for many years and to seek full compensation for the value that would have been generated for our shareholders.”

Under terms of the agreement reached with Visa, Inc., Visa USA, and Visa International, American Express will receive an aggregate maximum payment of $2.25 billion. An initial payment of $1.13 billion will likely be recognized by American Express in income during the fourth quarter 2007. The remainder, payable in installments of up to $70 million per quarter over the next four years, is subject to achieving certain quarterly performance criteria within the U.S. network services business of American Express. More at American Express.

Nov 07, ‘07 — CNBC is reports, “Visa has tentatively agreed to pay American Express a record $2.25 billion to settle a three-year-old antitrust case, CNBC has learned.” The payment, which still needs to be approved by Visa’s members, is being described as the largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history.

American Express filed an antitrust suit against Visa and MasterCard three years ago, claiming that American Express had been shut out of offering credit cards through banks that were Visa or MasterCard members.

MasterCard hasn’t settled the suit and apparently will take the case to court. If it loses, it faces triple damages.

One reason why Visa settled is that the Justice Department and the courts had weighed in against both Visa and MasterCard and found that they engaged in anticompetitive practices, a ruling upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court. Also, Visa is preparing for an initial public offering soon.

The lawsuit came on the heels of the Supreme Court’s vindication of the DOJ and sought solely to establish monetary damages that American Express suffered because of its two competitors’ actions, given that the courts had already ruled in its favor. The suit also had named a number of banks that cooperated with Visa and MasterCard in shutting out American Express.

Though it did not attach an official dollar number to the suit, American Express said it lost billions because of the practices. The company said it was prevented from launching a planned new generation of products and for eight years could not compete on a level ground with Visa and MasterCard in providing network services to banks.

Visa plans to pay half of the $2.25 billion now and the other half over four years. The deal has been approved by Visa’s general counsel.

Visa’s settlement could be announced in coming days and is a big victory for famed antitrust lawyer David Boies. At the time the suit was filed, Boies alleged the defendants were operating as “a cartel to eliminate competition and ignore the American consumer.”" More at CNBC.