Japanese Prosecutors Bring New Charge Against Carlos Ghosn - The New York Times

TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors on Monday formally charged Carlos Ghosn, the former head of the Nissan-Renault auto alliance, with breach of trust, piling a new count of financial impropriety onto his existing charges in a move that adds pressure on him and ensures he remains jailed.

Mr. Ghosn, who continues to maintain his innocence, has been in a detention center on the outskirts of Tokyo since April 4, when prosecutors swarmed into his apartment in an early morning raid. They seized evidence and dragged him off to jail — his fourth arrest in the case so far — before attempting to take his wife in for questioning.

He was initially arrested in November on suspicion of hiding the true amount of his executive compensation and spent over 100 days in detention, racking up two additional arrests. Including Monday’s charge, prosecutors ultimately indicted him on four charges of financial wrongdoing, including temporarily shifting his personal financial losses onto Nissan’s books.

He was released in early March after paying $9 million in bail and agreeing to strict limits on his activities that put him under virtual house arrest.

But prosecutors soon revealed that the original charges were just a prelude to more serious allegations: After the April raid, prosecutors said they were investigating Mr. Ghosn over allegations that he used a Nissan subsidiary to redirect $5 million to himself.

Prosecutors have not revealed the details of the allegations, but an internal investigation by Nissan found that Mr. Ghosn had authorized over $30 million in payments to a business partner in Oman, according to a person familiar with the report, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the company has not yet made its full findings public.

Part of that money was sent on to a Lebanese company controlled by Mr. Ghosn, who then passed funds on to companies controlled by his wife, Carole, and his son, according to Japanese news reports. Mrs. Ghosn appeared before a Japanese judge in mid-April to answer questions about the allegations against her husband.

Neither Mr. Ghosn’s wife nor his son has been accused of wrongdoing. Mrs. Ghosn has said her husband is innocent. His representatives have said the payments were for business purposes only.

In a short statement Monday, the Tokyo prosecutor’s office said that it had presented Mr. Ghosn with “an additional charge for violating the Companies Act.”

Nissan on the same day said that it had filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Ghosn in relation to the charges.

“Nissan filed the complaint after determining that payments made by Nissan to an overseas vehicle sales company via a subsidiary were in fact directed by Ghosn for his personal enrichment and were not necessary from a business standpoint,” the company said in a statement.

Since Mr. Ghosn’s most recent arrest, his Japanese legal team has fought to have him released, taking its appeal to the country’s Supreme Court. But judges declined to set him free, won over by the prosecutors’ argument that Mr. Ghosn would be able to tamper with evidence or witnesses if he were released.

Monday was the last day for prosecutors to either release Mr. Ghosn or charge him, following his arrest this month.

His legal team has filed a new bail application, a spokesman for Mr. Ghosn said.

Mr. Ghosn’s treatment by Japan’s legal system has brought global attention to the harsh tactics employed by the country’s prosecutors.

His family and legal team have argued that the multiple arrests are intended to force Mr. Ghosn into confessing to a crime he did not commit.

Japanese prosecutors are notorious for extracting confessions from suspects, sometimes under duress: In 2017, 88 percent of those who went to trial confessed, according to data maintained by Japan’s Supreme Court.

In a video statement after his arrest this month, Mr. Ghosn insisted that he was innocent, saying that the charges against him were the result of a plot concocted by Nissan executives afraid of taking the blame for years of bad financial results at the company.

“My biggest wish,” he said, “is to have a fair trial.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/business/carlos-ghosn-japan-new-charges.html

2019-04-22 06:53:53Z
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Tesla investigates after car appears to explode in China - CNN

A short video of surveillance footage posted on Chinese social media site Weibo (WB) showed white smoke emerging from what looks like a white Tesla car parked at a lot in Shanghai. After a few seconds, the electric vehicle bursts into flames and the clip ends soon afterward.

The video, which was filmed just after 8.15 p.m. local time on April 21, appears to show a Tesla Model S sedan. It was posted on Chinese social media a couple of hours later and has since been shared widely.

Tesla (TSLA) would not confirm any of the details, other than to say it is investigating the incident alongside Chinese authorities.

"We immediately sent a team on-site and we're supporting local authorities to establish the facts. From what we know now, no one was harmed," a Tesla spokesperson told CNN Business on Monday.

The clip attracted a mix of derision and outrage on Weibo. "Us car owners demand an explanation," wrote user Miao Hongyang. "Jeopardizing our safety in a moment's instant and the fact it ignited so quickly is something we will not tolerate."

Another Weibo user registered under the name Your Dad, added: "One thing I've learned from this incident: from now on, don't ever park next to a Tesla."

China is huge for Tesla

This isn't the first time one of Tesla's cars has appeared to burst into flames, but previous incidents often involved moving vehicles or vehicles that had crashed.

"It seems strange that the battery, not charging, would combust on its own," said Tu Le, founder of consultant firm Sino Auto Insights.

Tesla has previously said that gasoline-powered cars are 10 times more likely to catch fire than those powered by electric batteries.

China is a hugely important market for Tesla. The country accounts for about 20% of the company's annual revenues, or more than $2 billion in sales. But its share of this market is still tiny.

The company wants to supercharge sales in China with a new factory in Shanghai. Tesla eventually hopes to produce 500,000 cars at the facility every year.

But Tesla is also grappling with a slowdown in the Chinese economy, which has already hit foreign brands including GM (GM) and Ford (F). Import tariffs resulting from the trade war with the United States have seen Tesla prices in China fluctuate wildly.

It also has to contend with heavy competition from Chinese players, such as BYD (BYDDF) and NIO (NIO).

Don Giolzetti contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/business/tesla-explosion-china/index.html

2019-04-22 07:23:00Z
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$13.4-million Lotto 649 jackpot won by ticket sold in Ontario - CTV News

TORONTO -- A ticket holder in Ontario won the $13.4-million jackpot in Saturday night's Lotto 649 draw.

The draw's guaranteed $1-million prize also went to a player in Ontario.

The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on April 24 will be approximately $5 million.

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April 21, 2019 at 06:49PM

Cannabis websites in US and Canada crash on biggest 4/20 day - The Guardian

Why Tesla critics and fans are both wrong - Business Insider

Pot stocks are soaring and the cannabis industry is poised for 'tons of growth' - KRIS Corpus Christi News

Publicly traded cannabis companies have reported strong sales since Canada legalized pot last October and several US states voted to approve recreational and medical marijuana use.

Corona owner Constellation Brands (STZ) has a more than 35% stake in Canopy Growth (CGC), a Canadian cannabis company that intends to take a bigger step into the United States with plans to buy American cannabis firm Acreage Holdings. Constellation also disclosed Thursday it may eventually boost its stake in Canopy to 50%.

Bubble or bargain?

“This business is still in its infancy. It’s like investing in alcohol post-Prohibition. There will be tons of growth,” said Dan Ahrens, chief operating officer with investment firm AdvisorShares. “But there are going to be home runs and there will be lots of strikeouts.”

Ahrens thinks that investors need to be patient and selective. But he believes they will be rewarded — that is, if they wind up picking the winners.

“These are new, up and coming companies. There is going to be volatility so you have to be selective,” Ahrens said, adding that he favors companies that haven’t already shot up because they’ve done big deals like Canopy and Cronos have.

Rob Almeida, global investment strategist with MFS Investment Management, said investors may be getting ahead of themselves. He’s worried that cannabis stocks are going to turn out to be an investing fad like 3D printing and blockchain companies.

“Cannabis is not going to have parabolic growth,” Almeida told CNN Business. “There is a lot of hope and enthusiasm.”

Cannabis prices are falling

One cause for concern: Now that more states are legalizing marijuana use, prices are dropping as competition has increased.

Research firm BDS Analytics, which calculates a consumer price index for the cannabis industry in the United States, recently reported that overall prices in February for products such as ingestibles, topical creams, vaporizers and vape pens and pre-rolled joints, fell 2.7% from February of 2018. Prices were down nearly 2% from the prior month.

Many of the publicly traded cannabis companies have been reporting a drop in the retail price in Canada since legalization last October as well.

Aphria, for example, reported sales this week that missed forecasts. Shares plunged nearly 15% on the news. But the stock is still up more than 40% so far in 2019.

More deals likely on the way

A lot of the excitement has to do with expectations of more mergers and partnerships. Aurora Cannabis (ACB), a Canadian company whose stock has soared 80% this year, recently announced that it was adding legendary investor and deal maker Nelson Peltz as an adviser.

That’s led to speculation that Peltz may help Aurora team up with a consumer products or healthcare company. Tilray, for example, also has a strategic relationship with generic drug maker Sandoz, a subisidiary of Novartis (NVS). So other cannabis firms may look to team up with Big Pharma.

Canopy’s plans to buy Acreage could lead to another wave of consolidation too.

Matt Hawkins, managing principal at Cresco Capital Partners and an investor in Acreage, said in an email to CNN Business that “this is the moment the cannabis sector knew was coming — consolidation.”

Hawkins added that the deal “will lead to a rush of cannabis companies merging in order to compete with Canopy/Acreage” and that “it’s now going to be very hard for early start-ups to enter the space and compete with the growing/emerging conglomerates.”

In other words, there’s another sign that cannabis is going legit: It’s starting to function just like any other major consumer industry.

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April 20, 2019 at 09:22AM

BC Ferries working to avoid more long weekend delays, missed reservations - CTV News

CTV News Vancouver
Published Saturday, April 20, 2019 5:17PM PDT
Last Updated Saturday, April 20, 2019 5:18PM PDT

BC Ferries is promising to do whatever it can to avoid the kind of terminal congestion that forced some passengers to miss their reservations on Good Friday.

Even though the company scheduled an extra 89 sailings for the Easter long weekend, staff couldn't keep up with the waves of passengers who showed up at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal.

By Friday afternoon, there was already a four-sailing wait on trips to Swartz Bay, and a two-sailing wait to Duke Point.

On Saturday, spokesperson Astrid Braunschmidt assured customers BC Ferries is taking "additional measures to improve the flow of traffic towards the end of the long weekend to help (them) get to their destinations."

"Increased traffic control will be in place Sunday and Monday leading to the Swartz Bay terminal," Braunschmidt told CTV News in an email. The same will be true for Departure Bay.

Easter weekend is one of the busiest times of year for BC Ferries, and the company prepared by bringing in extra staff, scheduling additional trips and taking some extra traffic control measures.

But Braunschmidt said it was even busier than expected, with some 25,000 passengers travelling through the Tsawwassen terminal on Friday alone.

"Traffic volumes were certainly above normal," Braunschmidt said.

BC Ferries couldn't confirm how many people were forced to miss their reservations because some people simply decide not to use them, or book multiple reservations for safety's sake.

Anyone who couldn't claim their reservation on Friday because of traffic can contact the BC Ferries customer relations team online for a refund, Braunschmidt said.  

Current wait times are available on the BC Ferries website. 

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April 21, 2019 at 07:17AM