-Caveat Lector- from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [12/22] RJR unit says guilty of aiding cigarette smugglers WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International Inc. affiliate pleaded guilty to aiding cigarette smuggling and agreed to pay $15 million in fines and compensation, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. Northern Brands International Inc. pleaded guilty to helping customers avoid more than $2.5 million in U.S. excise taxes on cigarettes. "Today's guilty plea may be the first time an affiliate of a major tobacco company has been convicted of a federal crime in the United States," U.S. Attorney Thomas Maroney of the Northern District of New York said in a statement. Customers of Northern Brands smuggled Canadian made cigarettes, designated for export to Estonia or Russia, back into Canada from free trade zones in the United States, Justice Department officials said. More than 25,000 cases of Northern Brands cigarettes were smuggled this way in 26 shipments between August 1994 and June 1995. The cigarettes were carried from New York into Canada across the Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation, which straddles the U.S.-Canadian border. Northern Brands, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., was established to take advantage of this lucrative trade, Maroney said. He declined to comment if officers of R.J. Reynolds were aware of the scheme. U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy, who sentenced Northern Brands, ordered the company to pay $5 million in criminal fines and $10 million into the U.S. Treasury Asset Forfeiture Fund, which can be used to help defray the cost to agencies involved in this investigation. In addition to today's guilty plea, the four-year-long investigation has resulted in more than 20 individual felony convictions for smuggling. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is a unit of RJR Nabisco Holdings Co. [RN]. Last Updated: 12/22/98 18:07 EST =========== [12/21] AMA asks Justice to block Aetna-Prudential deal CHICAGO, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The American Medical Association said Monday it has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to block Aetna Inc.'s proposed $1 billion purchase of Prudential Insurance Co. of America's health care business and creation of a new medical insurance giant. AMA executive vice president E. Ratcliffe Anderson said in a letter to Joel Klein, head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, that the huge new firm would dominate the market, reducing competition and restricting patients' access to quality health care. ``The market power that would be created or exacerbated by this merger would limit the choices of patients and employers, reduce competition and further erode the ability of physicians to make medical decisions based on science and the medical needs of their patients, not share price,'' Anderson said. Aetna agreed on Dec. 10 to acquire Prudential's health care business in a deal that would make it the country's largest managed care company, with 18.4 million members. In his letter, Anderson said the new firm would be large enough to dictate prices and plan options to employers and patients. A spokeswoman at Aetna's Hartford, Conn., headquarters disputed the AMA's conclusions as a ``misperception'' of Aetna's commitment to quality. The spokeswoman said the company was disappointed that the AMA was seeking to block the deal. She said Aetna had met with AMA representatives several times to try to address the association's concerns, but AMA had not contacted Aetna before writing to the Justice Department. ``We don't really see that the facts bear out any of their statements,'' the spokeswoman said. ``From our perspective, we have very strong competition in managed care, both from national players as well as some very strong local health care plans. We are really concerned about their misperception about our commitment to quality.'' AMA's Anderson said the deal would allow the new company to drive medical decisions based on financial and stockholder expectations and to diminish patients' ability to receive quality care. ``Aetna has used its current market position to impose unreasonable contract provisions on physicians that define medically necessary services as 'the least costly of alternative supplies or levels of service','' Anderson said. Anderson said that, unlike Aetna, AMA shares its medical standards with the public so that they can be subject to critical review. ``The medical policies adopted by Aetna and other payers are frequently proprietary and secret and, therefore, cannot be critically evaluated,'' Anderson said. ``Moreover, Aetna's ultimate responsibility is to its shareholders, not to the medical needs of each patient. We are convinced that 'bigger' in the health care marketplace does not always result in 'better' outcomes for patients,'' he said. Shares of Aetna were up $1.25 at $80.94. Last Updated: 12/21/98 15:01 EST ========== [12/18] Halliburton unit settles suit with Amoco HOUSTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Landmark Graphics Corp., the information systems unit of oil services giant Halliburton Co., said Friday it settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Amoco Corp. [AN] in federal court in Tulsa, Okla. In that lawsuit, Amoco alleged infringement by Landmark of Amoco's patent rights relating to certain geophysical software developed and marketed by Landmark, the company said in a statement. As part of the agreement, Landmark agreed to discontinue the licensing, certain support and upgrading of its Continuity Cube software. Last Updated: 12/18/98 18:10 EST ========== 12/22] Mylan denies drug price conspiracy charges PITTSBURGH, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Mylan Laboratories Inc. on Tuesday denied allegations by the government that it conspired to eliminate competition and boost prices sky-high on two anti-anxiety drugs. The generic drug maker said it would ask Congress to review what it called an "unprecedented process used by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to undermine the company's position in the pharmaceutical market." "The agency's decision was radical, rushed and wrong," Mylan Chairman Milan Puskar said in a statement. He called the charges an "assault" on the generic drug industry. "Mylan has done nothing wrong," he added. The statement was the first from Puskar on the charges by the government, which were announced Monday and are to be filed in a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday. A Mylan lawyer, Kevin Arquit, said Monday that the company had a legal right to establish exclusive supply arrangements. The government said Monday it would seek $120 million in refunds for consumers who bought the Mylan anti-anxiety drugs clorazepate and lorazepam. The FTC and 10 states alleged that Pittsburgh-based Mylan engaged in a conspiracy to eliminate competition and boost wholesale prices for the drugs. On Wall Street, Mylan stock lost $1.875 to $24.875 in consolidated New York Stock Exchange trading at midday. According to the FTC, the company raised clorazepate prices from $11.36 to $377 for a bottle of 500 tablets. It said lorazepam prices went from $7.30 a bottle to $190. Mylan said it was forced to charge more for the drugs, instead of halting production, because a fierce price war caused it to lose money on 41 of its 97 drugs late last year. It also denied there was no competition in the market for the drugs and said it has a sterling record of compliance with government regulations. Mylan said at least one private lawsuit had been filed against the company in California. [MYL] Last Updated: 12/22/98 13:29 EST ======== [12/21] Judge recused in Wal-Mart suit against Amazon.com BENTONVILLE, Ark. (Reuters) - The judge overseeing a closely watched lawsuit filed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. against Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. was forced to recuse himself Monday after disclosing that he owned stock in the world's largest retailer. Benton County Chancery Court Judge Donald Huffman recused himself at the request of lawyers from both sides after making the disclosure from the bench during the first hearing in the lawsuit over alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. The move further delays any decision in Wal-Mart's request for a temporary restraining order preventing former employees from disclosing trade secrets to Amazon.com, billed as the world's biggest book store, and another Internet retailer. Wal-Mart contends the online retailers have recruited key employees from its technical staff in an effort to duplicate Wal-Mart's vaunted data-warehousing systems and other proprietary technology. Amazon denies the charges, saying it has ordered its employees not to use any Wal-Mart trade secrets. The case is being closely watched, particularly among technology companies, because it could test the theory that certain key employees inevitably carry trade secrets with them when they leave for new employers. Huffman opened the hearing in Wal-Mart's hometown of Bentonville, Ark., Monday by declaring he believed the case should continue to be heard in the Arkansas court as Wal-Mart has argued. He then said he owned about 6,000 shares of Wal-Mart but that would not influence his decisions in the non-jury case. Under the state's ethics code, a judge can preside in a case if its outcome would not substantially affect the value of his holdings, Huffman told Reuters. Under court procedure lawyers from all parties to the case then conferred and announced that at least one party objected to Huffman's continuing to preside. After deliberating briefly, Huffman recused himself. Huffman said a judge from outside Benton County likely would be appointed to take over the case. Bill Curry, a spokesman for Amazon.com, said lawyers for the Seattle-based company were encouraged by Huffman's comment in the aborted hearing that Wal-Mart had not yet shown justification for a temporary restraining order. Wal-Mart filed suit Oct. 16, contending that Amazon.com's chief information officer, Richard Dalzell, and nine other former Wal-Mart employees carried trade secrets with them when they joined the Seattle-based Internet retailer beginning in 1997. Wal-Mart also made similar allegations against Drugstore.com Inc., a Seattle-area company that intends to sell drugs and health-care products over the Internet, and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which owns stakes in both Drugstore.com and Amazon.com. Last Updated: 12/21/98 17:01 EST DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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