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   From: §pamÐuster@usa.com   
      
   "Travis"  wrote in message news:Xns9F27C1FB427   
   6fdas@194.177.98.144...   
   > Even the right wing National Post agrees.   
   >   
   > Concerns about News Corp’s dark practices look likely to spread to the   
   > U.S.   
   >   
   > Araminta Wordsworth  Jul 19, 2011 – 3:00 PM ET | Last Updated: Jul 19,   
   > 2011 4:55 PM ET   
   >   
   > Full Comment’s Araminta Wordsworth brings you a daily round-up of quality   
   > punditry from across the globe. Today: Rupert Murdoch and his companies   
   > are under the gun on both sides of the Atlantic.   
   >   
   > Initially, calls to probe the News of the World phone-hacking scandal came   
   > from outraged citizens and politicians in Britain. Hence today’s grilling   
   > of the media mogul, his son James and chief henchperson Rebekah Brooks by   
   > MPs in London.   
   >   
   > But because the Murdochs’ business is headquartered in New York and thus   
   > subject to U.S. regulations — which have far more teeth than any British   
   > body — they are also likely to face increased scrutiny this side of the   
   > Atlantic, as well as in Rupert’s native Australia.   
   >   
   > The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Justice Department and the   
   > Securities & Exchange Commission are among those reportedly starting   
   > inquiries.   
   >   
   > Even if no criminal charges are filed, Murdoch could face problems over   
   > his TV stations. Owners are supposed to be of “good character.” CNN   
   > provides a primer to the rapidly expanding scope of probes into the   
   > Murdochs’ business practices.   
   >   
   >    The scandal is spreading, and American authorities are probing two   
   >    separate lines of inquiry — one into whether Murdoch journalists   
   >    hacked the phones of September 11, 2001, victims, and one into whether   
   >    the company broke U.S. law by bribing foreign officials. The Federal   
   >    Bureau of Investigation is looking into the 9/11 claim, first floated   
   >    by the Daily Mirror newspaper, a competitor to Murdoch’s Sun in   
   >    Britain. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is coming under pressure   
   >    from American lawmakers to probe whether the company violated the   
   >    Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying British police officers for   
   >    information. Australia — where Murdoch was born and still owns   
   >    newspapers — is also considering an investigation. Even if the company   
   >    is not found to have broken laws, the scandal is shaking all of News   
   >    Corp, holdings of which spans the globe.   
   >   
   > At The New York Times, Peter J. Henning details the long list of laws that   
   > might have been broken.   
   >   
   >    There is no clearer sign of the seriousness of the company’s potential   
   >    exposure to criminal prosecution than its hiring of Brendan V.   
   >    Sullivan Jr. of Williams & Connolly, one of the most aggressive   
   >    criminal defense lawyers in the country … If telephone records were   
   >    accessed [by News of the World reporters], that could be a violation   
   >    of the Telephone Records & Privacy Protection Act, … which prohibits   
   >    making false or fraudulent statements to obtain another person’s   
   >    telephone records… Information has come out that News Corp paid   
   >    officials at Scotland Yard to obtain telephone numbers of various   
   >    individuals as part of the phone hacking program, including members of   
   >    the royal family. The payment of a bribe to a foreign official by an   
   >    American company — News Corp is incorporated in Delaware — can be a   
   >    violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. Both the Justice   
   >    Department and the Securities & Exchange Commission can investigate   
   >    potential violations … And federal investigations may not be the only   
   >    ones the company faces. Many states have their own privacy laws, so do   
   >    not be surprised if a state attorney general announces an   
   >    investigation into News Corp’s conduct if a resident was involved.   
   >   
   > Among those leading the charge for prosecution stateside is Eliot Spitzer,   
   > the former New York governor whose sexual shenanigans were gleefully   
   > exposed by New York’s ferocious tabloids, one of which is owned by Rupert   
   > — a chip off the British block. Opining in Slate, he calls on Washington   
   > to go after Murdoch’s company for corrupt practices and yank its   
   > television licence if it’s found guilty.   
   >   
   >    First, it is hard to believe that the misbehavior in Murdoch’s media   
   >    empire stopped at the water’s edge. Given the frequency with which he   
   >    shuttled his senior executives and editors across the various oceans —   
   >    Pacific as well as Atlantic — it is unlikely that the shoddy ethics   
   >    were limited to Great Britain. Much more importantly, the facts   
   >    already pretty well established in Britain indicate violations of   
   >    American law, in particular a law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices   
   >    Act. The Justice Department has been going out of its way to undertake   
   >    FCPA prosecutions and investigations in recent years, and the News   
   >    Corp case presents a pretty simple test for Attorney General Eric   
   >    Holder: If the department fails to open an immediate investigation   
   >    into News Corp.’s violations of the FCPA, there will have been a major   
   >    breach of enforcement at Justice. Having failed to pursue Wall Street   
   >    with any apparent vigor, this is an opportunity for the Justice   
   >    Department to show it can flex its muscles at the right moment.   
   >   
   > At the AllGov website, Noel Brinkerhoff wonders what’s behind News Corp’s   
   > cozying up to a powerful U.S. business group.   
   >   
   >    The Center for American Progress called attention to a $1-million   
   >    donation last summer from News Corp to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,   
   >    which almost immediately began work to amend the Foreign Corrupt   
   >    Practices Act (FCPA). Lobbyists say the law is hurting American   
   >    business competitiveness and needs to be changed. FCPA bars companies   
   >    with U.S. ties from bribing foreign officials to get or retain   
   >    business. News Corp, which faces allegations of having bribed British   
   >    police, was originally incorporated in South Australia, but   
   >    re-incorporated in Delaware in 2004. The center also began circulating   
   >    a petition demanding that the Department of Justice and the Securities   
   >    & Exchange Commission investigate Murdoch’s company to determine if   
   >    officials violated the FCPA. Three Democratic U.S. senators echoed the   
   >    center’s call by requesting that Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.   
   >    conduct a probe of News Corp.   
      
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