Karl Herrington of Parma, Mich., was convicted of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the Internal Revenue laws, of filing false tax forms with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and of being a felon in possession of six different firearms.

Thomas E. Parenteau of Hilliard, Ohio, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison for conspiring with his wife, his mistress and their accountant, to commit tax fraud and money laundering.

Three separate indictments were returned by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama charging six different individuals on a variety of charges stemming from tax fraud and identity theft schemes.

Alexander Otis Matthews, a Virginia real estate businessman, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison in connection with mortgage and investment schemes to obtain more than $12 million in fraudulent loans.

Twelve individuals, including three medical doctors, a doctor of osteopathy and a chiropractor, were charged today in the Eastern District of New York for their roles in separate health care fraud schemes that resulted in the submission of more than $95 million in false claims to the Medicare program.

A federal court has permanently barred Robert Pendell from promoting any scheme that assists or advises customers to attempt to violate the tax laws.

A former executive of Ryan International Airlines, a charter airline company located in Rockford, Ill., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, Fla., to participating in kickback schemes to defraud Ryan.

Michael Eisenberg, a resident of Long Island, N.Y., was sentenced Monday in connection with a series of fraudulent business opportunity ventures.

Albert “Jack” Stanley, a former chairman and chief executive officer of Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by participating in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts and for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud as part of a separate kickback scheme.

The former director of corporate maintenance and renovations at Medical Facilities of America Inc. pleaded guilty today to accepting kickbacks and evading taxes.

A federal jury in Worcester, Mass., convicted William Scott Dion and Catherine Floyd, both of Sanbornville, N.H., and Charles Adams of Norwood, Mass., for conspiracies to defraud the United States through the promotion and use of multiple tax fraud schemes, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Three defendants in separate cases involving the use of stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns have pleaded guilty in the Middle District of Alabama, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Aleksandr Suvorov, of Estonia, was sentenced today to seven years in prison for his role in two separate hacking schemes involving a total of more than 240,000 stolen credit card numbers.

The former director of corporate maintenance and renovations at Medical Facilities of America Inc. (MFA) was today sentenced to serve 63 months in prison for accepting kickbacks from contractors and evading federal income taxes.

Two former high-ranking employees of facilities operations at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) were sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, in Manhattan, by Judge George B. Daniels today for their participation in two separate conspiracies involving kickbacks.

The Justice Department announced today that a federal court has permanently barred Cash Management Systems, a Virginia corporation, from promoting two tax schemes that allegedly involve disguising wages as tool-reimbursement or tool-rental payments.

Joseph Rizzuti, of Stuart, Fla., was sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Four current and former soldiers of the U.S. Army National Guard pleaded guilty today for their roles in bribery and fraud schemes that caused a total of more than $210,000 in losses to the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau.

A former executive of Ryan International Airlines, a charter airline company located in Rockford, Ill., was sentenced today to serve 87 months in prison and to pay restitution for participating in kickback schemes to defraud Ryan.

Two financial investors who purchased municipal tax liens pleaded guilty today for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids at auctions conducted by New Jersey municipalities for the sale of those tax liens, the Department of Justice announced.

A New Jersey jury convicted a former project manager for his central role in conspiracies that spanned seven years and involved kickbacks in excess of $1.5 million at two Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites in New Jersey, the Department of Justice announced today. The jury returned guilty verdicts on 10 counts charged in the indictment against Gordon D. McDonald, which was filed on Aug. 31, 2009.

Two current U.S. Army National Guard soldiers have pleaded guilty for their role in bribery and fraud schemes that caused a total of at least $70,000 in losses to the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau.

A federal court has permanently barred Gary J. Stern from promoting tax fraud schemes and from preparing related tax returns, the Justice Department announced today.

Two U.S. Army National Guard soldiers pleaded guilty for their roles in bribery and fraud schemes that caused a total of at least $70,000 in losses to the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau

The owner and operator of a Miami medical clinic pleaded guilty today in connection with multiple health care fraud schemes involving the defunct clinic Merfi Corp.

Sasha Webb and Charlie Jackson have each been indicted for stolen identity refund fraud crimes, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama announced today.

Three Georgia men have been charged in a 51-count indictment for their alleged participation in fraud and corruption schemes at the Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) in Albany, Ga., resulting in the loss of millions of dollars to the United States government.

Gordon D. McDonald, a former project manager for a prime contractor at two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites in New Jersey, was sentenced today to serve 14 years in prison for participating in multiple bid-rigging, fraud and kickback schemes.

The owner and operator of a Miami medical clinic, Merfi Corp., was sentenced today to serve 108 months in prison for her participation in multiple health care fraud schemes.

The United States has asked a federal court in Miami to permanently bar a South Florida man and his two Miami businesses, Ebenezer Tax Services Inc. and Primo Tax Service Inc., from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. He is alleged to have defrauded the government out of more than $20 million

Check important government schemes launched by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare which are important to study for the UPSC (IAS) Prelims 2020 exam.

COVID-19 has started showing its impact on the mutual fund industry. Few days ago I mentioned in my article, Debt mutual funds witnessed massive outflows of Rs 1.95 trillion in the month of March.

Though we could attribute most of that outflow to corporates redeeming funds to meet their quarter end obligations, high volatility and uncertainty as consequences of the pandemic could have also played a major hand in the redemption pressure for debt schemes.

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FII have been redeeming investments heavily in equity and debt segment ever since WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. In March, FIIs pulled out Rs 60,375 crore from the debt market.

High redemption and lack of buying interest has made debt mutual fund schemes vulnerable, especially those with higher exposure to low rated instruments.

This instability has claimed its first casualty in debt mutual funds...

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund (FTMF) has decided to wind down six of its debt schemes with effect from April 23, 2020 due to COVID-19 related market dislocation. This is something that is unheard of in the mutual fund industry and has perplexed many investors and advisors.

The schemes that are wound up are:

• Franklin India Low Duration Fund
• Franklin India Dynamic Accrual Fund
• Franklin India Credit Risk Fund
• Franklin India Short Term Income Plan
• Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund
• Franklin India Income Opportunities Fund

Together these schemes have an AUM of 30,854 crore as on March 31, 2020. Notably, these are the very schemes which in the past had to create segregated portfolio for its exposure to downgraded papers of Vodafone Idea and Yes Bank.

What led to the move?

According to a statement to investors from FTMF, "Despite several measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the liquidity in certain segments of the corporate bond markets has fallen-off dramatically and has remained low for an extended period. In this scenario, mutual funds are facing unprecedented liquidity challenges due to a variety of factors-rising redemption pressures due to heightened risk aversion, mark to market losses following a spike in yields and lower trading volumes in the bond markets. These factors have together caused a significant and worsening liquidity crunch for open-end mutual fund schemes investing in corporate credits across the credit rating spectrum."

The schemes had to resort to continuous borrowing to fund redemptions during this time, and were unable to repay the borrowings through sale of portfolio securities due to the prevailing market environment. The Investment manager did not believe it was prudent to continue funding redemptions through potentially increasing levels of borrowings.

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FTMF follows a high-risk high-return strategy for the above mentioned funds - Meaning a major part of its portfolio is exposed to lower rated securities (rating below AAA). The market disruption due to the virus outbreak has impacted these securities the most.

Under conditions of high redemption pressure, mutual funds sell their liquid assets to meet the demand, leaving the portfolio highly exposed to illiquid assets.

Thus, investors who choose to stay invested are at a disadvantage here.

Anticipating continued liquidity stress to the funds, the fund house thought winding up the scheme is the only viable option for the unitholders to minimize erosion of value.

Table: Details of schemes being wound up

What does it mean for investors of these schemes?

Investors of these schemes will not be able to purchase/redeem investment, switch to other schemes or do systematic transactions. In short their funds will be locked. The fund will not charge any management fees for the funds that are being wound up.

The fund house will rely on coupon payments, maturity value of underlying securities, and selling of securities at realisable value. While the fund house expects to realise most of the proceeds as per maturities, there may be some low rated securities that may even default on the due date. The fund house may create segregated portfolios for such securities and pay back as and when the money is realised.

It will be prudent to check the average maturity of portfolios of each fund and expect major repayment within that period.

What should investors in debt funds do?

Debt mutual fund Investors are not as confident, due to incidents of exposure to toxic papers in the past. This event could make them even more wary about their investment in debt schemes. As a consequence, there may be some panic selling in other debt schemes by investors worried about their funds getting locked.

However, instead of taking any hasty decisions, it would be a great idea to check your funds for the quality of assets it holds.

Choose a fund house that follows prudent investment process and stringent risk-management system. In these uncertain times, it would be wise sticking to liquid funds and overnight funds for the fixed-income part of your portfolio. Alternatively, if you prefer safety of capital, invest in Bank fixed deposits.

Our friends at Quantum Mutual Fund have highlighted the secret behind their debt management strategy which has helped them provide safety and liquidity to investors when it comes to investing in quantum funds. Don't Worry, Quantum Liquid Fund always aims for Safety and Liquidity

The way ahead...

While the fund house has done this to protect investors' interest, it has made the funds illiquid from the investors' point of view. Many investors may lose faith in debt funds for their short-term goals.

Going further, investors may have to consider liquidity risk due to AMC action, while investing in any high credit risk oriented debt funds.

It is time for the regulator to step up and clarify the illiquidity part for other debt schemes out there to investors. Moreover, it needs to provide a framework of strict guidelines to restrict fund managers from putting investors' hard-earned money at risk by exposing them to low rated securities for higher yield.

Meanwhile, AMFI has assured investors that a majority of the fixed income fund assets is invested in superior credit quality securities, and the schemes have appropriate liquidity to ensure normal operations. It further stated that the industry remains fully committed to the investors' interests and there is no need for them to panic and redeem investments.

Author: Divya Grover

This article first appeared on PersonalFN here.

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PersonalFN is a Mumbai based personal finance firm offering Financial Planning and Mutual Fund Research services.

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The EU has approved under state aid rules the introduction of a tonnage tax scheme in Estonia and the prolongation of a tonnage tax scheme in Cyprus.

For the first time, the Commission has presented a comprehensive report on investor citizenship and residence schemes operated by a number of EU member states.

As part of its ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the OECD is today launching a disclosure facility on the AEOI portal which allows interested parties to report potential schemes to circumvent the CRS.Over 1800 bilateral exchange relationships in place for the exchange of CRS information.

Public input is sought both to obtain further evidence on the misuse of CBI/RBI schemes and on effective ways for preventing abuse.

The consultation document assessed how these schemes are used in an attempt to circumvent the CRS; identified the types of schemes that present a high risk of abuse; reminded stakeholders of the importance of correctly applying relevant CRS due diligence procedures in order to help prevent such abuse; and explained next steps the OECD will undertake to further address the issue, assisted by public input.

Today’s revelations from the “Daphne Project” on the Maltese residence and citizenship by investment schemes underline the crucial importance of the the OECD’s work to ensure that the integrity of the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is preserved and that any circumvention is detected and addressed.

As part of its work to preserve the integrity of the CRS, the OECD has published the results of its analysis of over 100 CBI/RBI schemes offered by CRS-committed jurisdictions, identifying those schemes that potentially pose a high-risk to the integrity of CRS.

The OECD is pleased to announce that jurisdictions are taking further action to prevent the misuse of RBI/CBI schemes by account holders by putting in place an exchange of information mechanism that will ensure that the information on applicants of RBI/CBI schemes will be made available to their jurisdiction(s) of tax residence.

This report on climate change disclosure in G20 countries takes stock of mandatory climate change reporting schemes in G20 countries and identifies commonalities and divergences between the various schemes.

This paper provides a framework for comparing a defined benefit (DB) and a defined contribution (DC) point schemes, which are both pay-as-you go (PAYG) financed.

Unemployment insurance is a key tool for risk sharing and redistribution and also a prominent automatic stabiliser. It is a volatile spending item by design, which can lead to vulnerabilities. This paper explores various shocks and sources of vulnerability of the unemployment insurance schemes of OECD and BRIICS countries.

This report on climate change disclosure in G20 countries takes stock of mandatory climate change reporting schemes in G20 countries and identifies commonalities and divergences between the various schemes.

These FT Future 100 UK businesses are building sustainability into their model

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Companies running defined benefit pension schemes ask regulator to extend payment holidays

We examine what carbon offsetting organisations across the world say they do - and compare results from their 'carbon calculators', where you work out how much to pay to offset emissions.

India's National Pension System (NPS) has bucked the downtrend triggered by Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent nationwide lockdown to contain it. During the first three weeks of April, the scheme along with the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has seen an upsurge in new enrolments and an increase in assets under management (AUM) of these programmes.ALSO WATCH: The CEO of mutual fund house explains how to invest your savings in the post-coronavirus world In financial parlance, NPS and APY are Central government backed schemes which are administered by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The PFRDA is the statutory authority established by an enactment of the Parliament, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the NPS and the pension schemes to which this Act applies.75468072The

Workers have lost their savings after transferring their nest eggs to rogue schemes because they were enrolled with the UK's HMRC and Pensions Regulator - making it appear above board.