Month: January 2018

Enlarge / WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 25: Committee chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) questions witnesses during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing concerning federal efforts to combat the opioid crisis. (credit: Getty | Drew Angerer)

Drug companies hosed tiny towns in West Virginia with a deluge of addictive and deadly opioid pills over the last decade, according to an ongoing investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

For instance, drug companies collectively poured 20.8 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills into the small city of Williamson, West Virginia, between 2006 and 2016, according to a set of letters the committee released Tuesday. Williamson’s population was just 3,191 in 2010, according to US Census data.

“These numbers are outrageous, and we will get to the bottom of how this destruction was able to be unleashed across West Virginia,” committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and ranking member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said in a joint statement to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Enlarge / Bitcoin and cash. (credit: Thomas Trutschel / Getty Images News)

The Securities and Exchange Commission has shut down an initial coin offering for a little-known cryptocurrency project called AriseBank. Organizers claimed to have raised $600 million for the project—though we haven't been able to find independent confirmation of this figure. The project was also endorsed by boxer Evander Holyfield earlier this month.

The SEC says that the AriseBank ICO was legally a securities offering, and, as such, it should have been registered with the agency. Beyond that, the SEC says that the founders of AriseBank made at least two fraudulent claims as it sold its new cryptocurrency.

The decision is the latest sign that the SEC is stepping up its efforts to enforce securities laws in a realm where there had previously been hardly any regulatory oversight. Last summer, the SEC warned that using a blockchain didn't excuse anyone from the requirements of securities laws. Then last month, the SEC shut down PlexCoin, a cryptocurrency project that the agency said had "all of the characteristics of a full-fledged cyber scam." Now the commission is shutting down AriseBank—another project that seems to have some major red flags.

Enlarge (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple's battery fiasco continues to grow as the US government gets involved. According to a Bloomberg report, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating if Apple violated securities laws with its disclosures surrounding a software update that intentionally slowed down the performance of older iPhones. The DOJ and SEC have requested more information from Apple on the subject.

No other details have been reported since the investigation is still new. It's possible that the government is looking into Apple violating the securities laws that require publicly traded companies to disclose accurate financial information, including risk factors associated with investing in the company. The DOJ and SEC may consider the update that included the slow-down practices a risk factor that could affect the company's stock and one that wasn't properly disclosed to investors. As of writing this article, Apple's stock fell 1.02 percent to $166.21 per share.

But this new investigation doesn't signal definite wrongdoing by Apple—just an investigation by the government to see whether or not wrongdoing occurred. It's also unclear which securities laws the DOJ and SEC are referencing—and since the probe is private, it's hard to anticipate when more information about the investigation will be made public.