Direct Evidence Of Corporate Criminal Activity By News Corporation Surfaces

From The Independent:

Detectives investigating possible corporate charges against Rupert Murdoch's media empire have obtained evidence to suggest that News International paid private detectives to unlawfully access the phone records of a leading IRA mole who lives under the protection of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Senior Scotland Yard officers are analysing an invoice originally seized from a private investigator by the Metropolitan Police in 2007. The document – which dates from the time of the discredited original phone-hacking investigation – bills News International £850 for "Scappaticci phone records".

At the time the invoice was submitted, in April 2006, a senior News of the World executive had allegedly commissioned private detectives to find Freddie Scappaticci, Britain's top agent inside the IRA who was known by the codename "Stakeknife". David Cameron's former director of communications Andy Coulson was the newspaper's editor at the time. Last week, he was convicted of conspiracy to hack mobile phones.

It is understood the explicit request to be paid for obtaining confidential phone records makes the invoice unique amongst the files held by the Metropolitan Police (Met) – and central to possible corporate charges. The request is effectively asking, in black-and-white, to be compensated for a criminal offence.

... 

Last week, Coulson was convicted of conspiracy to hack mobile phones. Five other News of the World journalists pleaded guilty to similar offences. After an eight-month trial that made headlines around the world, former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was acquitted of four charges.  

However, the conviction of such a senior figure as Coulson has raised the possibility that News International – now rebranded News UK – could face a corporate charge, which may have serious consequences for the ability of the parent company News Corp to operate in the United States. The investigation into News UK as a "corporate suspect" caused pandemonium at the upper echelons of the Murdoch media empire when they learnt of the development two years ago.

Shortly after the company was informed it was under suspicion in May 2012, executives in the US ordered that the company dramatically scale back its co-operation with the Met. A News Corp analysis of the effects of a corporate charge, produced in New York, said the consequences could "kill the corporation, and 46,000 jobs would be in jeopardy".

Lawyers for the media giant pleaded with the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute the company, saying it would not be in the "public interest" to put thousands of jobs at risk.

Gerson Zweifach, group general counsel of News Corp, flew to London for emergency talks with the Met in 2012. According to Scotland Yard, he told police: "Crappy governance is not a crime. The US authorities' reaction would put the whole business at risk, as licences would be at risk."

I remain skeptical that corporate charges will be filed against News International/News Corporation or hopeful that even if they are, Murdoch's millions won't win the day for the evildoers, as they did in the Brooks case.

But it's becoming increasingly clear that if the Brits want to file corporate charges against Murdoch in the UK, the evidence is there to do so, and with the FBI grabbing 80,000 emails from News Corporation servers last week here in the U.S., there's a good chance the DOJ could mount a criminal case against Murdoch and News Corporation here as well.

What Happens To Rupert Murdoch And News Corporation After Brooks/Coulson Verdict?

Daily News reports the upside:

A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp pleaded with British police and prosecutors not to file corporate charges in a phone-hacking scandal, arguing it would be “apocalyptic” for the company, according to a report.

News Corp brass so feared prosecutors would hold the company liable for the phone-hacking mess, they ordered up an analysis that showed such a move would likely doom the media giant.

The consequences of a corporate charge could “kill the corporation and 46,000 jobs would be in jeopardy,” the News Corp analysis concluded, The Independent of Britain reported Wednesday.

The scandal has already cost News Corp a whopping $535 million, including financial settlements with 718 phone-hacking victims, according to figures reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in May.

Word of the turmoil inside News Corp leaked out a day after it was revealed that Scotland Yard detectives have asked to interview Murdoch “under caution” — a warning given to suspects.

On Tuesday, one of Murdoch’s former top honchos, Andy Coulson, was convicted on phone-hacking crimes that occurred under his editorship of the News of the World.

Coulson’s conviction and Murdoch’s pending grilling indicate prosecutors are pursuing corporate charges against Murdoch’s company and could prosecute the 83-year-old media baron himself.

Prosecutors could go after Murdoch under section 79 of Britain’s Regulation and Investigatory Powers Act, which holds company directors liable if evidence shows they consented or connived with the misdeeds of employees.

I'm skeptical the Brits are going to really go after either Murdoch himself or News Corp.

Murdoch paid for Brooks' legal defense in the hacking trial and he won her acquittal.

 

That's not a promising sign for further legal battles against Murdoch or News Corp.

Hoping I'm wrong, though.

Former Murdoch Aides Charged With Bribery

Yesterday the NY Times ran a suck up piece about Rupert Murdoch that said, essentially, the News Corporation hacking scandal fall-out is over, Rupert is back with his old mojo and all is right in News Corp Land.

Today news broke that Rupert's top former aides in his British newspaper empire were charged with bribery charges related to the hacking scandal:

 LONDON — In a dramatic new turn in the scandals swirling around Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper outpost, prosecutors said on Tuesday that two former top executives — Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks — will be charged with making corrupt payments to public officials along with an an array of previous accusations.

 The development has far-reaching implications for Prime Minister David Cameron, who hired Mr. Coulson, a former editor of The News of the World tabloid, as his director of communications while in opposition and kept him on after coming to power in the 2010 elections. The Labour opposition has frequently accused the prime minister of showing poor judgment. 

The Crown Prosecution Service said on Tuesday that Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation, were among five people who should be charged as part of a police inquiry called Operation Elveden. The investigation ran in parallel with other investigations related to a phone hacking scandal that led to the closing of The News of the World. 

Among the five were Clive Goodman, a former royal correspondent at The News of the World, who served a brief jail term in 2007 for hacking into voice mail accounts in the royal household.

So much of the hacking scandal being over.

Murdoch's Former Chief Aide To Be Prosecuted For Hacking Cover-Up

From The Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, is to be charged over allegations that she tried to conceal evidence from detectives investigating phone hacking and alleged bribes to public officials.

Brooks, one of the most high-profile figures in the newspaper industry, will be charged later on Tuesday with three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in July last year at the height of the police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced.

She is accused of conspiring with others, including her husband, Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, and her personal assistant, to conceal material from detectives.

Brooks and her husband were informed of the charging decision – the first since the start of the Operation Weeting phone hacking investigation last January – when they answered their bail at a police station in London this morning.

They are among six individuals from News International, along with the company's head of security, Mark Hanna, to be charged over allegations that they removed material, documents and computers to hide them from officers investigating phone hacking. The charge is a serious one which carries a maximum penalty of life, although the average term served in prison is 10 months.

...

Brooks is accused in one charge of conspiring with her PA Cheryl Carter to "remove seven boxes of material from the archives of News International".

In a separate charge she is accused of conspiring with her husband, Hanna, her chauffeur and a security consultant to conceal "documents and computers" from the investigating detectives. All the offences are alleged to have taken place in July last year.

Alison Levitt QC, Starmer's principal legal adviser, said the decision to charge six of the seven individuals arrested over the allegations came after prosecutors applied the two-stage test they are required to when making charging decisions.

"I have concluded that in relation to all suspects except the seventh there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction," she said.

"I then considered the second stage of the test and I have concluded that a prosecution is required in the public interest in relation to each of the other six."

Murdoch/Cameron/Hacking Update

Lots of things happening in the ever-growing Murdoch/Cameron/News Corporation scandal - here's a rundown:

Former News of the World editor and Cameron aide Andy Coulson and former News International chief Rebekah Brooks will testify before the Leveson inquiry this week. Coulson has been arrested once in the hacking case, Brooks twice.

The Independent is reporting that a News Corporation lobbyist who has bragged about his close working relationship with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has also worked closely with David Cameron as well, undercutting Tory excuses that the lobbyist was making empty claims:

David Cameron agreed to a meeting with one of Rupert Murdoch's senior executives that was arranged by the lobbyist now at the centre of the Jeremy Hunt scandal, The Independent on Sunday has learnt.

Frédéric Michel, whose numerous emails to Mr Hunt's special adviser have put pressure on the Culture Secretary to resign, set up the secret talks between Mr Cameron and Jose Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain and a member of Mr Murdoch's News Corporation board.

The involvement of Mr Michel, the head of public affairs for News Corp, in such a top-level meeting severely undermines his portrayal by Mr Hunt and the Prime Minister as simply a lobbyist and "Walter Mitty" fantasist.

The previously undisclosed meeting in November 2009 also shows how Mr Cameron was being assiduously courted by News Corp executives beyond the Murdoch family, as the company was gearing up for its bid to take over BSkyB.

George Osborne and William Hague were also present at the talks, The IoS understands.

The Prime Minister is under increasing pressure over the Leveson inquiry ahead of the appearances this week of the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and Mr Cameron's ex-communications chief, Andy Coulson.

At the same time, Mr Cameron is struggling to contain open revolt among Conservative MPs over the direction of his party, including pressure from some figures to sideline George Osborne as election strategist, following Boris Johnson's securing of a second term as London Mayor. Mr Johnson's double victory exposes Mr Cameron's weakness as a leader who never crossed the finishing line, say some MPs.

The Daily Mail reports David Cameron has reason to dread Rebekah Brooks' testimony before Leveson:

David Cameron faces the embarrassment of highly personal text messages and emails to and from former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks being revealed this week.

Mrs Brooks and the Prime Minister’s ex-No 10 spin doctor, Andy Coulson, who resigned as editor of the News of the World newspaper over phone hacking, are both due to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into the scandal.

It has been claimed that Mr Cameron was so close to Mrs Brooks that he texted her up to a dozen times a day – and that Mrs Brooks has kept all the communications.

Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks are said to sign-off some of their text messages to intimate friends with the friendly ‘x’ preferred by many habitual phone texters.

If they did so in messages to each other, it could add to the Government’s growing discomfort over the Leveson disclosures.

According to some sources, Mr Cameron sent text messages of support to Mrs Brooks and her husband, race-horse trainer Charlie Brooks, before she was forced to resign over the phone-hacking affair.

So much for Cameron's claims that he wasn't all that close to News Corporation executives.

The Independent also reports that former Cameron aide Andy Coulson owned News Corporation shares while working for the prime minister at a time when News Corporation was trying to buy up the rest of BSkyB:

Andy Coulson held shares in News Corporation while he was David Cameron's head of communications at Downing Street, at a time when the Government was deciding whether to approve the company's takeover of BSkyB, it is revealed today.

Mr Coulson, who faces a tough time when he gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry this Thursday, was awarded the blue-chip shares as part of his pay-off when he resigned as editor of the News of the World over the phone-hacking scandal in 2007.

The revelation raises difficult questions for the Prime Minister over whether he knew about Mr Coulson's financial interests.

An Independent editorial wonders if Cameron is "competent" enough to stand as prime minister.

And it seems the rest of Britain is wondering the same. Local elections in Britain saw Conservatives and Liberal Democrats swept from power, indicating patience with and support for the coalition government is waning and (perhaps) support for a Labor Party led by Ed Milliband is growing. Hard to know how much loss of support Cameron and the Tories had over the hacking scandal (it's probably very little, actually) but you'd have to say the fallout from the scandal is not helping them much at a time when the economy has fallen into recession again.

And finally, The Guardian says Cameron dare not cast Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation adrift despite the bad smell emanating from the relationship:

The greatest fear is among the Conservatives. Murdoch's decision to release emails that showed how Jeremy Hunt's adviser was facilitating News Corporation's takeover of BskyB was a taste of what may come. Not just Hunt, but Cameron and George Osborne were complicit in promising sweetheart deals to News Corporation. Coulson, Brooks, James Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch know it. What is more, the Tory leadership suspects they can prove it.

We are in the absurd position where the Conservatives dare not stop fawning over Murdoch now for fear that he will reveal how they fawned over him in the past.

Should be another interesting week in the News Corporation scandal.