Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 16 July 2019

Treasury chief: Facebook currency plan ripe for illicit use

By MARCY GORDON cerns over potential use for
AP Business Writer money laundering, drug
WASHINGTON (AP) — and human trafficking, tax
The Trump administration evasion and other crimes.
came out strongly Mon- The Treasury Department
day against Facebook's has "very serious concerns
ambitious plan to create that Libra could be misused
a new digital currency, as by money launderers and
the Treasury chief warned it terrorist financers," he said.
could be used for illicit ac- Facebook has "a lot of work
tivity such as money laun- to do before we get to the
dering, human trafficking point where we're comfort-
and financing terrorism. able with it," Mnuchin said.
Treasury Secretary Steven On Tuesday, Congress be-
Mnuchin expressed "very gins two days of hearings
serious concerns" about on Facebook's Libra plan.
the currency proposed by The head of the Federal Re-
the social network giant, serve also raised an alarm
to be called Libra. "This is about the plan last week.
indeed a national security Facebook's plan "raises
issue," Mnuchin told report- a lot of serious concerns,
ers at the White House. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin speaks during a news briefing at the White House, in Washing- and those would include
His comments came a few ton, Monday, July 15, 2019. around privacy, money
days after President Don- Associated Press laundering, consumer pro-
ald Trump tweeted that Li- tection, financial stabil-
bra "will have little standing week: "I am not a fan of unlawful behavior, includ- venture will have to accept ity," Fed Chairman Jerome
or dependability." Bitcoin and other Crypto- ing drug trade and other the kind of tight regulation Powell said in congressional
Trump, fresh off a "social currencies, which are not illegal activity." that banks are under, the testimony. "Those are going
media summit" he led at money, and whose value If they want to get into the president said. to need to be thorough-
the White House that gath- is highly volatile and based financial business, Face- The Treasury chief's com- ly and publicly assessed
ered conservative critics on thin air. Unregulated book and its dozens of ments went further, though, and evaluated before this
of Big Tech, tweeted last Crypto Assets can facilitate partner companies in the tying Libra directly to con- proceeds."q

GAO: EPA skirted procedures in overhaul of science boards

WASHINGTON (AP) — The the advisory boards "to fa- ics attorney staff to make cent, the GAO said. On the managers instead.
Environmental Protection vor its polluter backers." sure all agency appointees Board of Science Counsel- Chris Zarba, who retired
Agency skirted some of its The EPA disputed one of comply with the disclosure ors, the decline was 45 per- early last year from his EPA
usual procedures and eth- the key findings in Mon- rules, spokesman Michael cent. job coordinating two of
ics rules when it overhauled day's GAO report, denying Abboud said. Meanwhile, the number the main advisory panels,
key agency advisory that the agency's senior po- President Donald Trump's of representatives of regu- questioned the EPA's ac-
boards, slashing the num- litical appointees privately first EPA administrator, Scott lated industries on the Sci- count Monday, saying the
bers of academic scientists picked new members for Pruitt, remade many of the ence Advisory Board in- administration's overhaul
on the panels and appoint- the boards in a way that panels advising the agen- creased from three to five, of the boards meant there
ing more industry figures, shut out recommendations cy. Pruitt's moves included the report said. On the oth- were far too many candi-
the Government Account- by career EPA staffers and barring scientists from serv- er board, it went from one dates to consider each ad-
ability Office said Monday. left little of a paper trail. ing on the advisory boards to three. equately in meetings.
Senate Democrats had And the agency said it if they had received EPA Pruitt and other EPA political "There's no way you can do
asked for the GAO probe. is dealing with the other research grants. Pruitt, one officials strayed from some that verbally," Zarba said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, main GAO criticism — that of the most enthusiastic of the agency's long-stand- "That would be like design-
a Rhode Island Democrat EPA ethics staff skimped on agents of Trump's rule-cut- ing, documentation-heavy ing an aircraft and doing it
and one of those request- proper review of financial ting, business-friendly mis- procedures of weighing verbally."
ing the review by the gov- disclosures by some of the sion, resigned amid ethics staff recommendations Zarba has criticized the
ernment watchdog, said new panel appointees. The scandals last summer. for new appointees to the remaking of the panels'
the administration's trim- disclosures are required to In the first few years of the panels, the GAO said. EPA membership since leaving.
ming of scientists on EPA guard against conflicts of Trump administration, the officials denied doing any- "My opinion is that the in-
scientific panels has slowed interest for panel members. share of scientists on the thing improper, saying the tent is to make the science
the agency's regulatory de- The agency has doubled agency's Science Advisory decisions were hashed out more favorable to special
cisions overall, and rigged the size of its career eth- Board dropped by 27 per- in briefings among senior interest," he said.q