breakingnews
29.07.2009, 09:11
Pyramid schemes have been around for more than 100 years, sucking people in and spitting them out financially crushed when the pyramid collapses. The greatest con in Russia's recent history left millions penniless.
27.10.2010, 08:54
Capitol Hill insiders in the US are allegedly using and abusing their positions to make some extra pocket money.
15.11.2009, 10:42
3 comments
Russia's Interior Ministry is investigating charges of police corruption made by Russian police officer Aleksey Dymovsky. Meanwhile, more revelations are surfacing on the Internet of corruption in the police.
15.04.2010, 21:23
2 comments
Russian police raided the Moscow office of Hewlett-Packard looking for documents that might shed light on a corruption case brought by German prosecutors.
02.07.2010, 07:55
A year on since the ban on gambling came into effect in Russia, there is a growing disappointment that the business is still prospering.
14.09.2010, 22:58
1 comment
Austrian banking authorities have stonewalled an investment company's attempts to recover $230 million allegedly stolen by Russian tax officials.
06.03.2009, 19:43
The lawyers defending former Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, have appealed to a Moscow court to drop the charges against their clients, claiming absence of corpus delecti.
17.03.2009, 18:18
A Moscow court has turned down all appeals filed on behalf of former Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev.
09.05.2009, 15:04
A Saint Petersburg investigator might stand trial for helping a convict escape from prison. The woman is said to have acted in ‘personal interests.'
25.06.2009, 23:15
A cash collector is suspected of stealing around $8 million that he was supposed to deliver to a bank. Officials say this is the largest robbery ever committed in central Russia's Perm region.
Published: 30 June, 2009, 03:03
American financier Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years behind bars by a New York court for masterminding a massive fraud that robbed investors of $65 billion.
Your story misunderstands the American legal system. There was no trial of Mr. Madoff nor was there a verdict. In the Madoff case a criminal prosecution was brought by the federal prosecutor into federal court. The prosecutor claimed that Madoff stole billions of dollars. Madoff was required to answer the charges. His answer to the charge was that he admitted to the crimes--that he stole the money. This is called a plea of guilty. The proceeding then moved directly to what is called the "sentencing" where the judge decides the punishment. Madoff's guilty plea made a trial unnecessary since no issues of fact were in dispute. He admitted to the crimes. A trial is held only when the facts about what happened are in dispute, such as when an accused person says "I didn't do it." At a trial, a judge or sometimes a jury hears the testimony from both sides and decides who is truthful. The judge or jury then renders a verdict of guilty or a verdict of innocent. After a verdict is rendered, either the accused goes free, or is sentenced. Mr Madoff's case went directly to sentencing without trial becasue he admitted the crimes. So we would not say that there was a verdict at the end of trial, but that he was sentenced to 150 years after a guilty plea. Mr. Madoff had a right to a trial by jury if he so desired. He waived that right presumably because there was little doubt that his guilt could be proven by the prosecutor.