Compliance & Ethics

France Fines Fuel Suppliers €187.5 Million Over Corsica Market Agreement

France’s competition authority has handed down €187.49 million in fines to several major players in Corsica’s fuel sector, finding that they struck an agreement that shut out rivals and helped keep prices higher on the island.

DHS Contractor to Pay $3.9 Million After Allegedly Inflating Flight-Hour Invoices

Zephyr Aviation, a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security, has agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle federal allegations that it charged the government for flight hours that never occurred. The agreement, announced Friday by the Department of Justice, resolves claims that the company and its owners, Frederick Credno Jr. and Frederick W. Credno III, violated the False Claims Act while performing transportation work for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Italy Fines Wizz Air Over Misleading “All You Can Fly” Subscription

Italy’s competition watchdog has ordered Wizz Air to pay a €500,000 fine after finding that the airline’s much-promoted “Wizz All You Can Fly” subscription was marketed without clearly spelling out the limits that came with it.

Diagnostic Lab to Pay More Than $9 Million After Alleged Medicare Kickback Scheme

Patients Choice Laboratories, an Indianapolis-based diagnostic testing company, has agreed to pay $9.62 million to settle federal allegations that it billed Medicare for unnecessary respiratory tests and used kickbacks to generate referrals, according to a settlement announced by federal prosecutors on Thursday.

ASIC Targets Research & Advice Failures That Led Australians Into Collapsed Investment Products

Australia’s financial regulator has filed two major Federal Court actions alleging that SQM Research and Interprac Financial Planning failed in their gatekeeping duties, contributing to widespread losses tied to the Shield Master Fund and First Guardian Master Fund. The coordinated actions demonstrate the ASIC’s growing pressure on research houses, licensees, and intermediaries responsible for steering Australians into high-risk investment products.

SEC Staff Tries to Untangle Filing Backlog After Government Shutdown

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance is stepping back into gear after the federal government shutdown, and its first order of business is tackling the more than 900 registration statements that piled up while the lights were off. To help issuers understand what happens next, the Division has released new guidance that outlines how filings submitted during the shutdown will move forward now that staff are back at their desks.

EU Opens DMA Investigation into Google Over Demotion of News Publishers in Search

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into whether Google is complying with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) after signs emerged that the company may be pushing news publishers’ content lower in search results. The case marks one of the most significant early tests of how far the EU will go in enforcing the bloc’s landmark digital competition rules.