News Corp: threat of US legal action raised in light of 'illegal payment' claim

[swag]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/27/news-corp-us-authorities

Dominic Rushe in New York , Monday 27 February 2012 19.46 GMT

Fresh allegations of a "culture of illegal payments" at the Sun newspaper have significantly increased the likelihood that US authorities will prosecute News Corp, according to legal experts.

US authorities are considering bringing action against Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the Sun's parent company, under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), legislation that allows officials to go after US firms alleged to have bribed foreign officials. If found guilty, News Corp faces a possible court case and hundreds of millions in fines.

This week, Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers told the Leveson inquiry, which is inquiring into the state of the British press following the phone-hacking scandal, that there was a "culture of illegal payments" at the Sun to a "network of corrupted officials".

The Sun and its former sister paper the News of the World are owned by News International, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp, the US media gaint that owns Fox, the Wall Street Journal and a controlling stake in Sky, among other assets.

"This is obviously a very significant development with regards to the likelihood of a US prosecution," said Mark MacDougall, partner in the Washington office of the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and a former federal prosecutor. "If the British authorities are articulating a pattern, a defined scheme, to bribe officials, that is a very big deal."

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, swag.

[dipsydoodle]

2. They'd need to wait

until such time as charges have been brought here, trials held and some found guilty where applicable. Until then nothing as such has happened.