Gas canister man storms office

One of the country's busiest shopping streets has been closed as a man wearing gas canisters stormed into an office and threatened to blow himself up, it was reported. Tottenham Court Road in central London was closed after police received emergency calls at midday. Scotland Yard sent a hostage negotiator to the scene amid reports the man had held people hostage inside the building several floors up. Pictures emerged of computer and office equipment being thrown through one of the office windows. A police spokesman said it was "too early to say if the suspect was armed or indeed had taken any hostages" but businesses and nearby buildings were evacuated. Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: "There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building. "All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut. "We don't know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage."

Busy London street evacuated over ‘hostage situation’

POLICE have been called to a potential hostage situation after Tottenham Court Road in London, one of the country’s busiest shopping streets, was closed. Businesses and shoppers were evacuated from the area at midday. Scotland Yard said it had sent a negotiator to the scene after reports of a man throwing furniture out of a window several floors up. A spokesman said it was “too early to say if the suspect was armed or indeed had taken any hostages”. Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: “There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building. “All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut. “We don’t know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage.” A spokesman for Transport for London could not confirm details of the ongoing operation but confirmed they were “aware of an incident”. Staff from news website The Huffington Post UK were evacuated from their building after a man reportedly wearing a gas canister threatened to blow himself up in the adjoining building, they said. People near the scene reported shots being fired and said computers and equipment had been thrown out of the windows of the office block housing the Huffington Post. Huffington Post UK executive editor Stephen Hull posted a video on Twitter of an office worker who saw the man enter the building. Abby Baafi, 27, the head of training and operations at Advantage, a company which offers HGV courses, told Mr Hull the man had targeted her offices and was currently holding four men hostage. In a video posted on YouTube, she said: “What happened is, we were in the office and someone came in. He asked him what his name was and he said it was Michael Green. “I recognised him because he was one of our previous customers but he is not quite stable - mentally stable. “He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office. “He said he doesn’t care about his life. He doesn’t care about anything, he is going to blow up everybody. “He was specifically looking for me but I said ‘My name’s not Abby’ and he let me go.” Ms Baafi said the man failed the HGV training course and wanted his money back.

Credit card fraud websites shut down on three continents

Three men have been arrested and 36 criminal websites selling credit card information and other personal data shut down as part of a two-year international anti-fraud operation, police have confirmed. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), working with the FBI and US Department of Justice, as well as authorities in Germany; the Netherlands; Ukraine; Australia and Romania, swooped after identifying the sites as specialising in selling card and bank details in bulk. The move comes as a blow to what is a growing black market for stolen financial data. Detectives estimated that the card information seized could have been used to extract more than £500m in total by fraudsters. SOCA claimed it has recovered more than two and a half million items of compromised personal and financial information over the past two years. “The authorities have shut down 36 websites but it is difficult to know how many other people had access to that data. They could spring back up somewhere else if a gang is not eradicated completely,” said Graham Cluley of internet security firm Sophos. He added: “This is big business and, just as in any legitimate company there are people who specialise in different things, so there are those who actually get their hands on the personal data and those who sell it on; they are not often the same person.” An investigation by The Independent last summer found that scammers were making a “comfortable living” getting their hands on sensitive information and selling it online. Card details were being offered for sale for between 4p and £60 per card – depending on the quality – according to one source in the business. Some cards would be sold with incomplete or unreliable information; others ready to use. Some of the card details for sale on the websites shut down by SOCA were being sold for as little as £2 each. Investigators said that the alleged fraudsters were using Automated Vending Carts, which allowed them to sell large quantities of stolen data. They are said to be a driver of the growth in banking fraud over the last 18 months because of the speed with which stolen data can be sold. Lee Miles, Head of Cyber Operations for SOCA said: “This operation is an excellent example of the level of international cooperation being focused on tackling online fraud. Our activities have saved business, online retailers and financial institutions potential fraud losses estimated at more than half a billion pounds, and at the same time protected thousands of individuals from the distress caused by being a victim of fraud or identity crime.” An alleged operator in Macedonia was one of those arrested, while two British men accused of buying the information were also detained. Britain’s Dedicated Cheque & Plastic Crime Unit also seized computers suspected of being used to commit fraud.

Hacking scandal: the net tightens on the Murdochs

 Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow state" which launched a dirty tricks campaign against MPs and now faces a salvo of phone-hacking claims in the United States. On a tumultuous day for the media mogul, the lawyer who brought the first damages claims against the News of the World in Britain said he had uncovered new allegations of the use of "dark arts" by News Corp in America and was ready to file at least three phone-hacking lawsuits in the company's backyard. The sense of a legal net tightening around Mr Murdoch and News Corp was heightened by the announcement that he and his son James will testify separately next week before the Leveson Inquiry into press standards during three days of what is likely to be uncomfortable scrutiny of alleged widespread criminality in their British tabloid newspapers. In a separate development, the royal editor of The Sun became the latest journalist on the paper to be arrested on suspicion of making corrupt payments to public officials. The arrest coincided with the publication of an incendiary book on the scandal which levelled new accusations that the NOTW set out on an extraordinary campaign of intimidation of MPs to try to blunt their investigations into its alleged law breaking. Last night senior MPs called for News International (NI) to be investigated by the Commons for potential contempt of Parliament over the claims that members of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee were targeted by attempts to dig dirt on their private lives. Dial M for Murdoch, written by the Labour MP Tom Watson and The Independent's Martin Hickman, also alleges that: l Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of NI, was bugged in her own office shortly before she resigned last summer over the phone hacking of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl. l On his release from prison, Glenn Mulcaire, the convicted NOTW hacker, allegedly was contracted to give security advice to a private security company, Quest, whose chairman is Lord Stevens, a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. l NI intermediaries approached Mr Watson with a "deal" to "give him" former NOTW editor and Downing Street press chief Andy Coulson but that Ms Brooks was "sacred". NI, which runs Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, said it had no comment to make on the book. At a packed Westminster press conference, Mr Watson, who is a member of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, said the claim that the NOTW set out in 2009 to undermine the MPs investigating it came from Neville Thurlbeck, the NOTW's former chief reporter. In the book, Mr Thurlbeck, who has been arrested in connection with phone hacking, says: "An edict came down... and it was find out every single thing you can about every single member: who was gay, who had affairs, anything we can use." Mr Thurlbeck told The Independent last night that the order to target the MPs, which involved assigning two politicians each to a group of six reporters, had not originated from inside the paper but instead came from "elsewhere inside News International". He insisted that NOTW staff had been reluctant and there was a "degree of procrastination" before the plan was "suddenly and unexpectedly halted about 10 days later". Mr Watson, who has received an apology from NI after he was placed under surveillance, said he believed the campaign was nonetheless successful and had contributed to a decision by the media committee not to demand that Ms Brooks give evidence to it in 2010. He added: "Parliament was, in effect, intimidated. News International thought they could do this, that they could get away with it, that no one could touch them; and they actually did it, and it worked." Labelling News Corp a "toxic institution", he added: "We conclude that the web of influence which News Corporation spun in Britain, which effectively bent politicians, police and many others in public life to its will, amounted to a shadow state." Former Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price, who is gay and was a member of the DCMS committee, is described in the book as having been warned by a Conservative colleague that their private lives would be raked over if they called Ms Brooks to give evidence – "effectively they would delve into our personal lives in order to punish us". Hours after publication of the book, Mark Lewis, the lawyer who has doggedly pursued hacking claims, told a press conference in New York that he was investigating allegations of impropriety at Mr Murdoch's US media companies, including Fox News. He said a high-profile trip to America to prepare claims on behalf of victims whose phones were allegedly hacked on US soil had generated a slew of new allegations about wider use of "dark arts" to obtain private information. He said: "The investigation in the UK began with one claim by one client and look where it is now. While it starts in America with three cases, it seems likely it might end up with more." The allegations will provide an awkward backdrop for the Murdochs to their appearances before the Leveson Inquiry. Rupert Murdoch, who is the first witness before the inquiry to be scheduled for two days of testimony, will be questioned about practices in his British newspapers and whether he had knowledge of those activities. Chris Bryant last night confirmed that he would be asking Parliament to investigate the claims that NI carried out targeted intimidation. Royal editor of The Sun arrested The royal editor of The Sun was arrested yesterday after News Corp handed over information to detectives investigating alleged illegal payments to public officials. Duncan Larcombe, 36, who had previously worked as the newspaper's defence editor, was arrested during an early morning raid at his home in Kent on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office. Officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden also arrested a 42-year-old former member of the armed forces and a woman, 38, at their home in Lancashire. All three were later released on bail. Mr Larcombe was the paper's royal correspondent from 2005 to 2009 before being appointed defence editor for 14 months. He returned to the royal beat last year and led the newspaper's coverage of the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. He was the second Sun defence editor to be arrested during the police inquiry.

France and Germany want to suspend the Shengen Agreement

They say they want a temporary suspension while the crisis continues. Spain will being introducing border restrictions during the European Central Bank meeting in Barcelona at the start of May.Angela Merkel and Nicolás Sarkozy - The Interior Ministers of France and Germany have written a joint letter in which they call for the reform of, and ‘temporary suspension’ of the Schengen agreement which allows for the free movement between most member states of the EU. They say the change is necessary ‘to control the massive flow of immigrants’. The call comes just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the treaty this coming Monday, although many countries signed up in March 1995. France and Germany consider that a ‘temporary suspension’ is needed during the crisis, and Paris and Berlin speak of ‘provisional’ closure of frontiers, and only when a country in the Schengen space cannot control the flow of immigrants. They say they will give the details to their European partners at the next conference. Meanwhile Spain has announced the suspension of the Schengen Treaty and the re-establishing of frontier controls with France ahead of the European Central Bank meeting which is to be held in Barcelona on May 3. It has not yet been decided how long the border restriction will remain in place, but say it will allow the authorities to act if there is ‘a serious threat to public order or interior security’. The measure will only affect the frontiers between Spain and France from the Basque Country to Cataluña. Reports indicate that it was the Catalan Government to step up the controls in the face of possible disturbances and the arrival of anti-system protestors from other countries in Europe.

Britain's biggest banks in £2bn crash over Spain fears

UP to £2billion was wiped off the value of Britain’s biggest bank yesterday amid worries over Spain’s ailing finances. Lloyds Banking Group lost nearly 4% of its value, while Royal Bank of Scotland shed more than 4% and Barclays fell by almost 2%. Traders were troubled by events in Spain, where the government’s borrowing costs creep towards unsustainable levels and there are fears the struggling country will need an EU bailout. Rupert Osbourne, futures dealer at IG Index, said: “Spain is very much front and centre for global markets. “If there is one thing that we have learnt from the past couple of years of European debt, it is that these problems tend not to be resolved quickly and painlessly.” The yield on Spain’s 10-year government bonds hit 6.1% – moving closer to the 7% which forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek financial help from the EU.

TagAZ files for bankruptcy

The Rostov Regional Commercial Court registered an application filed by Taganrog Motor Works (TagAZ) for its own bankruptcy.

The hearing date has yet to be scheduled.

The court terminated proceedings in VTB Bank's request to declare Taganrog Motor Works (TagAZ) bankrupt in December 2011 as VTB withdrew its application.

The debt burden of TagAZ increased up to 20 billion rubles ($678.8 million) after production dropped three times in 2009. In 2010 the motor plant managed to agree with most of creditors on debt restructuring, except VTB. TagAZ owed the bank 5.8 billion rubles ($197 million).

In 2010 VTB filed several lawsuits against TagAZ for 726 million rubles ($24.6 million), $38.6 million, $70 million, $60 million and 774 million rubles ($26.2 million). The court levied execution on the plants equipment pledged as a security for loans.

In July 2011 TagAZ secured a suspension of 726 million rubles ($24.6 million) debt recovery until late December 2011. The plant was also allowed to repay debt by installments until December 2012.

In September 2011 VTB filed an application with a commercial court to declare TagAZ bankrupt.

TagAZ was founded in February 1997 and launched a joint venture with the South Korean Hyundai in 2001. The plant can simultaneously produce up to six different car models on its primary conveyor. The plant's production capacity is 180,000 vehicles per year.

The developer behind an ambitious £350m plan to build the world's largest indoor ski resort in Suffolk has been declared bankrupt.

SnOasis, which planners were told would create 3,000 jobs in Great Blakenham, was already years behind schedule.

Godfrey Spanner, the man behind the project, was declared bankrupt on 14 March, Companies House records show.

He said it was a "huge personal disappointment" but insisted the SnOasis project would be unaffected.

Mr Spanner has resigned as a director of Onslow Suffolk Ltd but will continue as an adviser.

'Nothing has changed'

He said he expected to be back working on SnOasis in a year's time, with work due to begin on the site next month.

He added: "Nothing has changed."

The SnOasis project, which would include chalets, ice skating rinks and toboggan runs, was first put forward in 2004.

The scheme is planned for a disused quarry

It had been due to open in 2007 but was not granted outline planning permission until a year later.

Part of the land near Ipswich has been sold off to a developer for housing and those homes are being built.

A spokeswoman for Mid Suffolk District Council, the local planning authority, said Mr Spanner's personal financial situation would not impact on the planning consent for the scheme.

She said the current planning consent would remain in force until 31 October 2016.

Andrew Stringer, Green and Independent group leader on Mid Suffolk District Council, said he had doubts over whether the project would go ahead.

"On a personal level, I think it's rather doubtful whether the existing plans will be able to be built," he said.

"I would've thought a frontman being declared bankrupt would make it harder to attract investors."

Former Newcastle Knights Chairman and prominent lawyer, Michael Hill has revealed he has been declared bankrupt as a result of several failed property investments.

Mr Hill helped found the Knights 25 years ago and also built the successful legal firm Turnbull Hill lawyers, but in recent years has operated a business management firm.

He says after giving personal guarantees in support of various property development projects, he was declared bankrupt by the Federal Court a few weeks ago.

He blames the impact of the global financial crisis on the property industry.

"The GFC has had a critical impact on the property industry and these projects were not immune, so as a result a major financial institution has forced me into personal bankruptcy and this has had a flow on effect to other development projects and business activities of mine," he said.

"I deeply regret any losses incurred by investors in these projects."

Warren Sapp has been on something of a losing streak over the last few weeks, and things appear to be on the verge of going from bad to worse.

 Just days after news of his having recently filed for bankruptcy hit the wire, reports are now emerging that the NFL Network will probably sever its relationship with Sapp as soon as possible.

According to the Boston Globe’s Greg Bedard, Sapp’s expiring contract (up in August of this year) will likely not be picked by the NFL Network – though the reasoning for that has not yet been disclosed. Most attribute it at least partially to Sapp weirdly saying that Jeremy Shockey was the guy who snitched the New Orleans Saints out to the league for Bountygate, but there could be a myriad of other factors involved.

When the whole mess with Sapp and Shockey initially went down, the NFL Network’s Senior VP of programming, Mark Quenzel, made it clear that Sapp would not be relieved of his duties for what had transpired. While most took that as a sign of the network sticking by its guy, perhaps it was just a matter of the powers that be realizing it would be less messy to wait out Sapp’s contract and cut ties after that.

And for what it’s worth, Sapp hasn’t been back on air since his “outing” of Shockey.

As part of his bankruptcy proceedings, it came out (via TMZ) that the NFL Network pays Sapp $540,000 per year. If the network opts not to renew his contract, that money will presumably be spent on someone who doesn’t have Sapp’s excellent laugh, but also doesn’t out players for various non-offenses (with zero proof, no less).

Administrators appointed to Houston Fashions

Administrators have been appointed to a Northern Ireland fashion retail chain which employs 68 people. Houston Fashions was established more than 50 years ago as an independent clothing retailer. It operates four stores in Ballymena, Armagh, Enniskillen and Lurgan, and a further two outlets in the Republic of Ireland. The Ballymena store is to close immediately, resulting in 10 redundancies. PwC were appointed as joint admininstrators on Wednesday, at the request of the directors of Houston Fashions. The company is also active in the commercial and residential property sector. In addition to Houston Fashions, the Houston companies collectively employ over 125 people with a further 125 in concession departments. Company Director John Houston said they were "disappointed" but added that the last few years had been "a challenging time for retail, residential and commercial property in Ireland". Mr Houston said: "By working closely with the administrators and lenders during this group restructuring, we are pleased that the overwhelming majority of the 250 jobs will be saved." Joint administrator Stephen Cave said the company's financial performance had deteriorated due to a "combination of reduced retail demand and pressures in the commercial and residential property sector". "Following discussions with the company's lender and key stakeholders, we have agreed a strategy that will permit most of the stores to continue trading. "This will safeguard the majority of the company's jobs and minimise disruption to suppliers and concession operators," Mr Cave said.

OFT says 'no licence' to broker Yes Loans

 

One of Britain's biggest personal loan brokers, Yes Loans, has been successfully shut down by the Office of Fair Trading after preying on consumers with "deceitful and oppressive business practices". Yes Loans was notorious for practices such as as charging customers an upfront fee even though it was not always able to arrange a loan for them, tricking people into handing over debit or credit card details, and charging fees without telling customers. The trading watchdog, which has pursued Yes Loans for three years, revoked its consumer credit licence as well as those of two associates, Blue Sky Personal Finance and Money Worries. Yes Loans, based in Cwmbran, South Wales, is run by three directors including Simon Chorlton, the son of its founder, Keith Chorlton, who died last year. It posted profits of £2.2m in 2010 and paid £1m in dividends to directors.

WESTLIFE star Shane Filan has started a court battle over massive debts.

• A property company set up by the Irish boyband singer, 32, ran into trouble owing £4million.

He applied for a legal agreement in London this week to pay back creditors over a period of time.

A source said last night: “Shane was desperate to launch himself as a property tycoon when Westlife started to wind down.

“But it has backfired massively. The property company is saddled with millions of debt.

“It’s been disastrous timing for him to invest in property amid a global economic crisis.

“He’s in dire straits.”

 

Cash crisis ... Shane and wife Gillian

 

The Flying Without Wings star was once said to be worth £25million.

He moved from Sligo, Ireland, to Cobham in Surrey at Christmas with his wife Gillian, 32, and their three children.

His trouble-hit property business Shafin Developments Ltd is based in Ireland.

 

Mansion ... star's home in Sligo

 

Shane and two family members are now being pursued by the Bank of Ireland in the Irish High Court over unpaid debts.

The bank was one of several that helped fund Shafin building projects.

One development, a community centre, office units, private clinic, gym, creche and 68 homes in Sligo, Ireland, was due to begin last summer but no work has taken place.

The firm lost £2.2million in 2009 and £2.4million in 2010. It also has £4.1million debts.

Westlife — once managed by X Factor judge Louis Walsh — have a final world tour lined up this year and will then split up.

Shane declined to comment last night.

Pensioner shoots himself at Greek Parliament, refuses to 'search for food in garbage'

77-year-old Greek man has committed suicide in central Athens by the nation’s parliament, shooting himself with a handgun in apparent financial desperation. Eyewitness reports say that the man shouted “So I won’t leave debts for my children” before turning the gun on himself. Others claimed he said nothing. Greek state media reports the man left a suicide note saying “The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival. And since I cannot find justice, I cannot find another means to react besides putting a decent end [to my life], before I start searching the garbage for food." Georgios Tsolakoglou headed the Greek collaborationist government during the German occupation of Greece in the Second World War. The note has been widely regarded as drawing a parallel between Lucas Papademos’ current collaborationist government and Tsolakoglou’s regime because of the economic crisis in the country. The incident occurred around 9 am (local time) in Syntagma Square, just outside a metro station, when the area was filled with people and commuters. The man took his life behind a big tree, which concealed him from most eyes. Two people sitting on a bench some 10 meters away have been questioned by the police. An investigation into a motive has been opened. The pensioner, whose name is not yet released, appears to have been a pharmacist who owned a drugstore in Athens, which he later had to sell, Lourantos Costas, the head of the Attica Pharmacist’s Association told the Greek daily The City Press. The shocked Greek community is issuing calls for a "Syntagma afternoon" later on Wednesday. Motorcyclists are planning a protest ride around the capital starting at 17:30 local time (14:30 GMT). ‘Who’s next?’ People are bringing flowers to the tree under which the desperate old man took his own life. They also leave messages on the tree: "Austerity kills," "Not a suicide; a murder” or “Who’s gonna be next?” The number of suicides has dramatically increased in the country since the beginning of the economic crisis, shows data released by the Greek Health Ministry. Prior to the economic downturn Greece had the lowest suicide rate in Europe at 2.8 for every 100,000 inhabitants. Now, this figure has almost doubled, with police reporting over 600 suicide cases in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Attempted suicides are also on the up. Just on Tuesday, a 38-year-old Albanian man killed himself on the island of Crete. He had been unemployed for some time. The financial hardship made him jump off his second-floor balcony, reported local news. The private sector is proving to be no safe haven either, as in the last few months several businessmen have fatally shot themselves. To secure loan payments to foreign investors, Greece has been forced to drastically cut state spending by slashing public salaries and pensions by almost 40 per cent, while the unemployment rate has hit 21 per cent. But so far the Greek government has failed to pull the country out of its three-year economic downturn and continues to rack up austerity measures to qualify for EU bailout packages.

Stolen Tax CD Case: Germany Outraged over Swiss Arrest Warrants

 

The tax office in the Barmen district of the western German city of Wuppertal is a yellow-and-gray building from the 1970s, directly opposite a discount supermarket and a cheap clothing store. Here, on the sixth floor, an official who can only be identified as Peter B. has worked for many years in the service of the tax authorities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is possibly Germany's most successful tax investigator, and has been dubbed the "terror of the millionaires." There is no photo of Peter B. available, and he is not on Facebook. Neither is it possible to find biographical information on the official. Calls to the office are fobbed off by resolute staff who politely explain that the boss is not available. But among his peers, Peter B., the 61-year-old head of the Wuppertal-Barmen tax office, enjoys an excellent reputation. The head of the state chapter of the German tax collectors' union (DSTG), Manfred Lehmann, calls him a "very remarkable person" and "an absolute professional." It is not possible to find "a more committed tax inspector," Lehmann says. But now, Peter B. has his own legal problems. Swiss investigators accuse him of industrial espionage and have issued arrest warrants for him and two other tax officials in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Swiss are demanding that German authorities question the men and report their findings to their Swiss colleagues. A CD Worth Millions The man behind the warrants, which have caused an escalation in the long-running tension between Germany and Switzerland over a planned tax-evasion prevention deal, is Switzerland's Attorney General Michael Lauber, the country's top criminal prosecutor. Lauber suspects that the officials from North Rhine-Westphalia issued concrete "instructions to spy on the Credit Suisse bank." It is the first big case for Lauber, who has only been attorney general of Switzerland since the beginning of the year. The new allegations are based on a case that made headlines in Germany and internationally in 2010. In February of that year, Peter B.'s team bought a CD containing data about German clients of Credit Suisse for €2.5 million ($3.3 million). The seller was a 42-year-old Austrian man called Wolfgang U., who lived in Switzerland. Wolfgang U. acted as a middleman for the former Credit Suisse employee who stole the data. As a result of the purchase, German tax authorities were able to secure convictions against over 100 tax evaders. Not only that, but the news about the CD alone was enough to prompt more than 6,000 people to voluntarily declare unreported income to the tax authorities, in a bid to avoid criminal charges. That wave of remorse brought over €300 million in tax revenue for the German state. But while the authorities were celebrating in Germany, the officials' deal with the data thieves sparked indignation in Switzerland. Many Swiss people felt that the German officials had acted as a receiver of stolen goods and had cooperated with criminals. 'We Won't Put Up with Everything' Hence, the news about the arrest warrants has been welcomed in Switzerland, where editorials in the major newspapers and leading politicians have praised the country's new assertiveness. "Even Germany has to understand that we won't put up with everything," commented Swiss politician Martin Landolt, a conservative member of the National Council of Switzerland, the lower house of the county's parliament. There has even been support for the warrant within Germany. Patrick Döring, general secretary of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP), which traditionally sees itself as representing high-income voters, defended the move in remarks to the regional newspaper Passauer Neue Presse. "It's not surprising that the Swiss authorities have no interest in allowing crimes in their country to be rewarded," he said. But other German politicians have strongly attacked the arrest warrants. German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen, who is the conservative Christian Democratic Union's lead candidate in the upcoming North Rhine-Westphalia state election, called the warrants "completely unacceptable." German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble called for calm in the dispute. "Switzerland is a state based on the rule of law, just like us, and it doesn't make any sense for us to lay into each other," he told the radio station Südwestrundfunk on Tuesday. At the same time he defended the "very, very good" work of the North Rhine-Westphalian tax officials. "According to German law, everything that they did was legally correct, and they were only doing their duty," he said. Different Versions To complicate matter, there are different versions of how the purchase of the data CD actually took place. Basically, the German version holds that the tax officials acted absolutely above board when buying the CD, because they only played a passive role. They were merely offered the data and were within their rights to buy it, in order to pursue tax cheats. Many Swiss people -- including, presumably, Attorney General Lauber -- take a different view of events. They accuse the officials in North Rhine-Westphalia of having commissioned the theft. On Monday, the online edition of the major Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger even led with the headline: "How the Germans Deployed Their Mole at Credit Suisse." According to the newspaper article, the German investigators were "delighted with the quality of the information." But they also wanted to prove that the bank was "systematically aiding tax evasion." The German officials allegedly asked the middleman, Wolfgang U., if he could provide documentation that supported that claim. Wolfgang U. then gave the tax inspectors an internal Credit Suisse presentation which apparently included the estimate that 88 percent of their German customers' money was untaxed. If those claims are true, then it shows the German officials' actions in a completely different light. It raises questions about whether the tax inspectors overstepped the mark or even committed a crime. If Lauber is able to prove that the North Rhine-Westphalia officials really did deliberately order the documents, then "they must be held accountable," says Peter Cosandey, a Swiss expert on economic crime. Cosandey, who now works as a management consultant, was responsible for international mutual assistance in criminal matters and fighting bank fraud in the canton of Zurich for 18 years. He dismisses the idea, which has been circulating in the German press, that Lauber is trying to influence the ongoing negotiations about a tax treaty with Germany. "The man is absolutely above suspicion politically," Cosandey says. He argues that it is "absolutely normal" that the Swiss attorney general is trying to clarify whether there are other guilty parties in the case, and what role the German tax officials played. Main Witness Was Found Hanged in His Cell Officials in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, firmly reject the accusations. "Since 2010, we have been of the opinion that German law was not violated in relation to the data purchase. Nothing has changed in that respect," said a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf. The crucial question is, however, whether the German officials encouraged Wolfgang U. or the Credit Suisse employee to deliver additional information, or whether the middleman only claimed to already be in possession of the data and in reality told the bank employee to obtain it after the fact. But these questions will be difficult to answer, because Wolfgang U., the main witness, is dead. He was arrested in Switzerland in September 2010 on a charge of industrial espionage and was found hanged in his cell two weeks later. For that reason, it is unclear how the Swiss authorities plan to proceed with the case. Manfred Lehmann from the German tax collectors' union spoke out in support of his colleagues in North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday: "We are outraged that Switzerland has issued arrest warrants against officials," Lehmann said. After all, he explains, the tax inspectors were not acting as private individuals but were acting on behalf of the German state. Although the three officials could face arrest if they enter Switzerland, Peter B. and his two colleagues have reacted to the arrest warrants with "great composure," according to Lehmann. "I haven't heard about any uproar within the authorities at any rate," he said.

Financers and Sex Trafficking

 

THE biggest forum for sex trafficking of under-age girls in the United States appears to be a Web site called Backpage.com. Damon Winter/The New York Times Nicholas D. Kristof On the Ground Share Your Comments About This Column Nicholas Kristof addresses reader feedback and posts short takes from his travels. Go to Columnist Page » Related Times Topic: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. This emporium for girls and women — some under age or forced into prostitution — is in turn owned by an opaque private company called Village Voice Media. Until now it has been unclear who the ultimate owners are. That mystery is solved. The owners turn out to include private equity financiers, including Goldman Sachs with a 16 percent stake. Goldman Sachs was mortified when I began inquiring last week about its stake in America’s leading Web site for prostitution ads. It began working frantically to unload its shares, and on Friday afternoon it called to say that it had just signed an agreement to sell its stake to management. “We had no influence over operations,” Andrea Raphael, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, told me. Let’s back up for a moment. There’s no doubt that many escort ads on Backpage are placed by consenting adults. But it’s equally clear that Backpage plays a major role in the trafficking of minors or women who are coerced. In one recent case in New York City, prosecutors say that a 15-year-old girl was drugged, tied up, raped and sold to johns through Backpage and other sites. Backpage has 70 percent of the market for prostitution ads, according to AIM Group, a trade organization. Village Voice Media makes some effort to screen out ads placed by traffickers and to alert authorities to abuses, but neither law enforcement officials nor antitrafficking organizations are much impressed. As a result, pressure is growing on the company to drop escort ads. After my last column on this issue, 19 U.S. senators wrote the company, asking it to stop abetting traffickers. On Thursday, antitrafficking campaigners protested outside the Village Voice newspaper (which is owned by Village Voice Media). A petition on Change.org criticizing the company has gathered 220,000 signatures. In Washington State, the governor signed a bill into law on Thursday that could expose Backpage to criminal sanctions if it advertises under-age girls for sex without verifying their ages. (There’s some uncertainty about the constitutionality of the law.) Village Voice Media has been able to resist pressure partly because, as a private company, it doesn’t disclose its owners. But I’ve obtained documents that, with some digging, shed light on who’s behind it. The two biggest owners are Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey, the managers of the company, and they seem to own about half of the shares. The best known of the other owners is Goldman Sachs, which invested in the company in 2000 (before Backpage became a part of Village Voice Media in a 2006 merger). A Goldman managing director, Scott L. Lebovitz, sat on the Village Voice Media board for many years. Goldman says he stepped down in early 2010. Let’s be clear: this is a tiny investment by a huge company, and I have no reason to think that Goldman’s top executives knew of its connection to sex trafficking. Goldman prides itself on its work on gender: its 10,000 Women initiative does splendid work supporting women in business around the globe. Full disclosure: Goldman’s foundation was one of about 15 funders of a public television documentary version of a book that my wife and I wrote about the world’s women. That said, for more than six years Goldman has held a significant stake in a company notorious for ties to sex trafficking, and it sat on the company’s board for four of those years. There’s no indication that Goldman or anyone else ever used its ownership to urge Village Voice Media to drop escort ads or verify ages. Elizabeth L. McDougall, chief counsel for Village Voice Media, told me Friday that she was “unaware of any dissent” from owners. Several lesser-known financial companies also hold significant stakes in Village Voice Media, and one person close to the company says that there are about a dozen owners in all. One is Trimaran, an investment company in New York. It wouldn’t disclose the size of its stake but told me that it had “no influence whatsoever” on management and is now trying to sell its shares. Two other companies, Alta Communications and Brynwood Partners, did not respond to my repeated inquiries about ties to Village Voice Media (Brynwood may be an asset manager rather than an owner). One thought: If the minority shareholders, Goldman included, worked together instead of rushing for the exits, they might be able to pressure Village Voice Media to get out of escort ads. There are no easy solutions to sex trafficking. I think the most important single step is for prosecutors to focus more on pimps and johns. Closing down the leading Web site used by traffickers would complicate their lives, and after so many years of girls being trafficked on this site, it’s time to hold owners accountable.