Financial Transparency Coalition

Keynote Address by Senator Carl Levin at the Conference on Increasing Transparency in Global Finance: A Development Imperative. Remarks as prepared for delivery.

Gerald Green and Patricia Green, Los Angeles-area film executives, were found guilty late last Friday of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and money laundering laws of the United States, as well as substantive violations of the FCPA and U.S. money laundering laws in relation to a sophisticated bribery scheme that enabled the defendants to obtain a series of Thai government contracts, including valuable contracts to manage and operate Thailand’s yearly film festival.

The New York Times is reporting that the US Treasury has determined that developing countries need a lot more money to cope with global climate change - but the Treasury doesn't know where to find the money. The Treasury department is expected to present their findings in a paper to the G-20 in Pittsburg. From the NYT:

The paper (pdf), to be presented along with two others when G-20 leaders meet in Pittsburgh this month, calls for public financial flows "to be increased significantly beyond existing levels, starting in the near...