We all read the full texts of settlement agreements with various US departments including the Securities and Investments Commission and many of us are seriously irritated by the wording "without admitting or denying".

We know why it's there: it's to discourage civil litigation claimants or even prosecutors from relying on the settlement agreement as conclusive proof of wrongdoing. 

But it also raises the question as to why any business would settle if it's actually done nothing wrong. 

And that raises a deeper question... what if other proceedings are commenced? If the agreement isn't conclusive, surely that's enough? 

Apparently not, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill

Bots filter access to customer service teams that can't actually achieve anything anyway. How "customer service" became as dumb as a box of rocks, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill

Look, I know... I keep nagging about clarity in communication, the false promise of thinking machines, the lie about "AI" and of "learning" technology and, of course, the utter failure of everything to do with law, regulation, systems and controls to actually do anything significant to reduce money laundering and other financial crime, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill

Moonlight Maze, first uncovered in 1999, but active for several years prior, marked the first large-scale demonstration that cyberspace had become the theatre of geopolitical espionage, says Andy Jenkinson. 

The harsh realities of the differences between what a board asks for and what it wants, as described by Ben Mason.

In the 1980s, the Del Monte canned fruits and packet fruit juice business built a reputation for reliability of its products. Its advertising was led by a mysterious stranger who roamed farms checking the produce, a concept that the company has reactivated every so often. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNbEUmVQeI But the name, if not the current company, has been in trouble before.

But there's been something rotten at the core for decades and this week, as the company's finances reached another crisis, it has sought protection from creditors in the USA.

I wanted to investigate some dark aspects of the xxxverse that we all inhabit, even if we don't want to. It only took me a few seconds to get into virtual trouble that could all too easily become real.

In the age of AI, what if the biggest compliance breach doesn't look like a breach at all? Imagine a synthetic identity that passes every check, earns your trust and still bankrupts your company. This isn’t science fiction. It’s the quiet catastrophe already brewing. Here's a wake-up call for compliance leaders, boardrooms, and risk professionals, says Dr. Aniesh Kumar

On 21st September 1990, Veronica Jill Blumhorst left work at a supermarket in the small in the small town of Mendota, Illinois, USA and drove home. . It was four blocks away which is, in general terms, about a quarter of a mile. She has not been heard of or seen since although a media report says that police dogs tracked her scent from the garage to a nearby alley. She was 21 years old. 

Uma Venkataraman opines that there is an inverse relationship between happiness and the incidence of crimes, including money laundering.