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The head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday said he is opening an investigation into the diversity practices of Walt Disney and its ABC unit, saying they may violate U.S. equal employment opportunity regulations. FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote Disney CEO Robert Iger in a letter dated Thursday that the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts may not have complied with FCC regulations and that changes by the company may not go far enough. “I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,” Carr wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters. He has sent letters to Comcast and Verizon announcing similar probes into diversity practices. “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commissions letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions,” a Disney spokesperson said. Disney recently revised its executive compensation policies to remove diversity and inclusion as a performance metric, adding a new standard called “talent strategy,” aimed at upholding the companys values. Carr said FCC’s Enforcement Bureau will be engaging with Disney “to obtain an accounting of Disney and ABCs DEI programs, policies, and practices.” Carr, who was designed chair by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, has been aggressively investigating media companies. In December, ABC News agreed to give $15 million to Trumps future presidential library to settle a lawsuit over comments that anchor George Stephanopoulos made on air involving the civil case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll. Days after Carr took over as chair, the FCC reinstated complaints about the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, as well as complaints about how ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump. It also reinstated complaints against Comcast’s NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election. Trump has sued CBS for $20 billion, claiming that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited the interview in order to interfere in the November presidential election, which he won. CBS, which is owned by Paramount Global, this week called on the FCC to dismiss the complaint “without delay,” but Carr quickly rejected the idea, saying the investigation would continue. David Shepardson and Dawn Chmielewski, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola who was sentenced to prison last year for fraud, was pardoned by President Donald Trump, the White House confirmed Friday. The pardon of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his technology, could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors. Milton, 42, and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election, according to the Federal Election Commission. At Milton’s trial, prosecutors say a company video of a prototype truck appearing to be driven down a desert highway was actually a video of a nonfunctioning Nikola that had been rolled down a hill. Milton had not been incarcerated pending an appeal. Milton said late Thursday on social media that he had been pardoned by Trump. “I am incredibly grateful to President Trump for his courage in standing up for what is right and for granting me this sacred pardon of innocence, Milton said. The White House confirmed the pardon Friday, though there was no notice of a pardon on the White House website. When asked by a reporter in a news conference Friday why he pardoned Milton, Trump said it was highly recommended by many people. Trump suggested that Milton was prosecuted because he supported the president. They say the the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president, Trump said. Trump went on to say that Milton did nothing wrong and that the Southern District of New York’s prosecutors were a vicious group of people. During his securities fraud case, Milton was defended by two lawyers with connections to Trump: Marc Mukasey, who has represented the Trump Organization; and Brad Bondi, the brother of Pam Bondi, who Trump appointed as U.S. Attorney General. Trump wasted little time in using his pardon power since beginning his second term. Hours after taking office, he wiped clean the records of roughly 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The next day, Trump announced that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs. Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets. Nikola, which was a hot start-up and rising star on Wall Street before becoming enmeshed in scandal, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. Milton, convicted of fraud, was portrayed by prosecutors as a con man six years after he had founded the company in a basement in Utah. Prosecutors said Milton falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors product with Nikolas logo stamped onto it. Called as a government witness, Nikolas CEO testified that Milton was prone to exaggeration when pitching his venture to investors. Milton resigned in 2020 amid reports of fraud that sent Nikolas stock prices into a tailspin. Investors suffered heavy losses as reports questioned Miltons claims that the company had already produced zero-emission 18-wheel trucks. The company paid $125 million in 2021 to settle a civil case against it by the SEC. Nikola didnt admit any wrongdoing. The U.S. District Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted the case, declined to comment on Miltons pardon. At the time of his conviction U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, Trevor Milton lied to investors again and again on social media, on television, on podcasts, and in print. But todays sentence should be a warning to start-up founders and corporate executives everywhere fake it till you make it is not an excuse for fraud, and if you mislead your investors, you will pay a stiff price. Matt Ott, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
As part of a push to roll back dozens of environmental regulations, the Trump administration is offering coal-fired power plants and other industrial polluters a chance for exemptions from requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene. The Environmental Protection Agency has set up an electronic mailbox to allow regulated companies to request a presidential exemption under the Clean Air Act to a host of Biden-era rules. Companies were asked to send an email by Monday seeking permission from President Donald Trump to bypass the new restrictions. The Clean Air Act enables the president to temporarily exempt industrial sites from new rules if the technology required to meet them is not widely available and if the continued activity is in the interest of national security. Environmental groups denounced the administration’s offer, calling the email address a polluters’ portal that could allow hundreds of companies to evade laws meant to protect the environment and public health. Exemptions would be allowed for nine EPA rules issued by the Biden administration, including limits on mercury, ethylene oxide and other hazardous air pollutants. Mercury exposure can cause brain damage, especially in children. Fetuses are vulnerable to birth defects via exposure in a mothers womb. Margie Alt, campaign director of the Climate Action Campaign, said the request for exemption applications is a gift to the fossil fuel industry” and further indication of a polluters-first agenda” under Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. Companies can now apply for a gold-plated, ‘get-out-of-permitting free’ card,” she said, adding that the latest action marked at least the third time Zeldin has moved to weaken enforcement of environmental laws since he took office less than two months ago. On March 12, he announced a series of actions to roll back landmark environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles. Last month, Zeldin said he would push for a 65% spending cut at the agency, saying, We dont need to be spending all that money that went through the EPA last year. Trump and Zeldin, aided by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, have also pushed to drastically reduce EPA staffing, and the agency is considering a plan to eliminate its scientific research office. About 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientific foundation for EPA rules safeguarding human health and the environment could be fired. The EPA’s offer for companies to request exemptions was first reported by The New York Times. Submitting a request via this email box does not entitle the submitter to an exemption,” the EPA said in a statement. The President will make a decision on the merits. Authority for exemptions solely rests with the president, not EPA,” added EPA spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou. Former President Joe Biden offered similar exemptions after issuing a rule last year tightening emission standards for ethylene oxide from commercial facilities that sterilize medical equipment, she noted. Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, called EPA’s action an invitation to pollute and an abuse of power by Zeldin. Coal-fired power plants have long used scrubbers and other devices to limit mercury and other toxic pollution and can continue to do so, she said, adding that hundreds of companies nationwide could potentially apply for exemptions that are neither needed nor legal. “We will go to court. We will get their records and we will make that list (of exemptions) public,” she said. Jason Rylander, a lawyer for another environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, called the EPA’s actions ridiculous and one more demonstration that the Trump administration wants to help polluters, not protect the environment. It is an enormous stretch to suggest that theres some national interest in giving industry the right to pollute. That doesnt make sense to me, he said. Trump declared an energy emergency early in his term and has embraced policies to boost and oil and gas production, which he sums up as drill, baby drill.” In my view, we’re in the middle of a climate emergency,” Rylander said. But in the Trump administrations view, we have this fictitious national energy emergency that may provide a basis for (Trump) to claim this is somehow in the national security interests of the United States. Exemptions offered this week also could apply to more than 200 chemical plants nationwide that are being required to reduce toxic emissions likely to cause cancer. The rule, issued last year, advanced the former presidents commitment to environmental justice by delivering critical health protections for communities burdened by industrial pollution from ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other dangerous chemicals, the Biden administration said. Formally undoing the Biden administrations protections, however, is complicated and could take years. Exemptions for specific plants may be a faster workaround in the meantime, according to Bradford Mank, a law professor at the University of Cincinnati. Matthew Daly, Associated Press Associated Press writer Michael Phillis contributed to this report.
Category:
E-Commerce
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