UPDATE: US Senators Seek Investigations Into Alleged News Corp Hacking
13 Luglio 2011 - 8:51PM
Dow Jones News
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Two U.S. Senators are calling for probes
into a News Corp. (NWS, NWSA) phone-hacking scandal, with one
suggesting that alleged violations may have occurred in the U.S.
and go beyond reporting tactics at one of its British
newspapers.
On Wednesday, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) asked the U.S.
Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
to investigate whether anyone at the company violated anti-bribery
laws amid allegations that reporters paid law-enforcement officials
for information. A day earlier, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman
Jay Rockefeller (D., W. Va.) asked U.S. authorities to investigate
whether American phones were hacked, saying he was concerned that
hacking may have extended to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks or other Americans.
"This is going to be a huge issue," Rockefeller told reporters
on Wednesday as he left a vote on the Senate floor. He said that he
may hold hearings in his committee, although jurisdiction would
extend to the Senate Judiciary Committee in the event that a probe
focused on criminal activity. "My bet" is "we'll find some criminal
stuff," he told reporters, specifying he meant related to hacking
in the U.S. He declined to elaborate.
A News Corp. spokesman declined to comment. News Corp. owns Dow
Jones & Co., publisher of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall
Street Journal.
Separately, Lautenberg raised questions about possible
violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an
anti-bribery law that U.S. authorities have enforced with vigor in
recent years.
"I am writing to express my deep concerns regarding allegations
that News Corporation and its subsidiaries bribed foreign law
enforcement officials for information to advance their business
interests," Lautenberg wrote to the SEC and the Justice Department.
He said that the law forbids bribery of foreign government
officials, and may "apply to all company employees regardless of
their nationality or where they reside or do business."
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency would review
the letter and declined further comment. An SEC spokesman declined
to comment. He said he wasn't aware of any earlier cases in which
the SEC had had brought charges against a news company involving
payments for information.
On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius
Genchowski said that he didn't expect the agency to get involved in
the ongoing probe in the U.K. He said that the FCC's mass-media
bureau would "do its job if issues arise."
-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; (202) 862-6654;
siobhan.hughes@dowjones.com
--Brent Kendall contributed to this report.
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