Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Tuesday 11 april 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Regulators find lots of ‘fake news’ aimed at stock investors

MARCY GORDON they were reading on web- lawsuits. One writer was deliberate efforts to reach mentary on several stocks
AP Business Writer sites were independent, im- said to have used at least prospective investors with may be part of a paid stock
WASHINGTON (AP) — “Fake partial analyses of stocks. nine pseudonyms as well as positive articles about a promotion that hasn’t been
news” is not limited to presi- The writers were secretly his own name. One of the stock, while hiding that the disclosed. People should
dential politics and conspir- paid for writing the bullish phony identities was “an companies paid for those never make an investment
acy theories. Investors also articles, the Securities and analyst and fund manager articles,” Melissa Hodg- based only on information
have to be on the alert for Exchange Commission said with almost 20 years of in- man, associate director of published on an investment
stock promotions masquer- Monday. vestment experience.” the SEC’s enforcement divi- research website.
ading as unbiased reports More than 250 articles had By law, a company paying sion, said in a statement. Of the 27 businesses and
online. false statements attest- someone to publish or pub- The SEC also issued an in- individuals charged, 17
Federal regulators have ing that the writers hadn’t licize articles about its stock vestor alert warning that ar- agreed to settlements call-
brought civil fraud charges been compensated by the must publicly disclose the ticles on an investing web- ing for penalties and resti-
against 27 businesses and companies they were writ- payments. site that appear to be an tution ranging from $2,200
individuals for deceiving in- ing about, the agency said “Our markets cannot op- impartial source of informa- to about $3 million, the SEC
vestors into believing what in a series of orders and erate fairly when there are tion or that provide com- said.q
Toyota announces $1.33 billion investment in Kentucky plant

BRUCE SCHREINER tucky plant are part of President Donald Trump, evidence that manufac- Manufacturers’ first-quar-
TOM KRISHER Toyota’s plans to invest $10 in a paragraph that Toy- turers are now confident ter outlook survey. It found
Associated Press billion in the United States ota said was added to its that the economic climate that 93.3 percent of manu-
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — over the next five years, news release at the White has greatly improved un- facturers are somewhat or
Toyota said Monday it is very positive about their
investing $1.33 billion to company’s outlook, a re-
retool its sprawling factory cord high that’s up from
in Georgetown, Kentucky, 77.8 percent in December.
where the company’s flag- Trump wasn’t included in
ship Camry sedans are the first version of a news
built. release distributed on Fri-
No new factory jobs are day by Toyota in advance
being added, but Toyota of Monday’s announce-
says the upgrades amount ment. The release, how-
to the biggest single in- ever, included quotes from
vestment ever at one of Kentucky’s two senators
its existing plants in the and governor.
United States. The retool- White House spokeswom-
ing also will sustain the ex- an Natalie Strom said that
isting 8,200 jobs at Toyota’s Toyota “actually reached
largest plant, where about out to us and wanted to in-
one-fourth of all Toyota ve- clude the president.”
hicles produced in North The Toyota investment has
America are made, the been in the works for years
automaker said. as it gears up for produc-
“This major overhaul will tion of the revamped 2018
enable the plant to stay Camry, long the top-selling
flexible and competitive, Toyota employee Vince Tharpe installs headliners in new Camrys at the Toyota Motor Manufac- car in the U.S. Toyota has
further cementing our pres- turing, Kentucky plant in Georgetown, Ky. Toyota said Monday, April 10, 2017, it is investing $1.3 said the Camry’s new un-
ence in Kentucky,” said Wil billion to retool its sprawling Georgetown factory, where the company’s flagship Camry sedans derpinnings were designed
are built.
James, president of the (AP Photo/Ed Reinke) four or five years ago, and
plant, which also assem- the factory upgrade is
bles the Avalon and the said CEO Jim Lentz of Toyo- House’s request on Sunday der my administration.” needed to build the new
Lexus ES 350. ta Motor North America, in night, praised the invest- The paragraph cited the car which goes on sale
The updates at the Ken- a news release. ment and said it is “further National Association of late in the summer. q

Barclays CEO investigated for trying to unmask whistleblower

GREGORY KATZ blowers. Staley then sought significant” adjustment in of a new senior employee dent law firm to investigate
Associated Press again to identify the per- his pay, Barclays said. The and Staley’s role in the hir- the allegations and also
LONDON (AP) — The CEO son, even using help from amount will be determined ing process. notified authorities of the
of Barclays bank is being a U.S. law enforcement once the official inquiries Staley at first tried to use possible wrongdoing.
investigated by regulators agency, but failed. have concluded. the bank’s security team The bank says Staley ex-
for his attempts to unmask The bank, which has faced He faces an official inquiry to identify the author, the plained his actions to the
a whistleblower who had a number of legal prob- by the Financial Conduct bank said. Barclays says the board. The statement says
written anonymous letters lems in recent years, said Authority and Prudential board first learned about the board concluded that
raising concerns about a Monday that Staley had Regulation Authority for his the problem earlier this Staley “honestly but mis-
senior employee. honestly, but mistakenly, actions. year “as a result of a con- takenly” believed it was
Jes Staley had sought to believed that he had clear- The incident involves anon- cern raised by an employ- permissible to identify the
identify the author of the ance to identify the whistle- ymous letters written in ee” who questioned the author of the letter.
letters but was told it was blower. 2016 to the board and an effectiveness of the bank’s The bank and Staley will co-
inappropriate to do so un- Staley will face a written executive that raised ques- whistleblowing policy. operate fully with the inves-
der rules protecting whistle- reprimand and a “very tions about the recruitment It said it used an indepen- tigations. Sq