Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Nation/World Briefs

Detroit News staff, wire and Bloomberg News reports

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Finance

Citigroup agrees to pay $208 million fine

Citigroup Inc., the world's biggest financial company, agreed to pay $208 million to settle regulators' claims that it kept discount payments owed to its mutual funds. Citigroup made $100 million at the expense of its mutual funds' shareholders during a five-year period by pocketing discounts from a vendor, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. The company didn't admit or deny wrongdoing. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Smith Barney Fund Management LLC were accused of misrepresenting and omitting facts when recommending to the mutual funds' boards that they change to a transfer agent that was a Citigroup affiliate, the SEC said.

 

Facilities management

Johnson Controls will buy USI Cos.

Johnson Controls Inc., the world's largest facilities management company, said it will purchase USI Cos. Inc., a corporate real estate services firm, for $80 million to improve its property management operations. Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, which is also the world's largest maker of automotive seats, said it plans to complete the acquisition of Stamford, Conn.-based USI by the end of June. Johnson Controls said it expects USI to have sales of $60 million this year.

 

Health care

Study: Doctors' unnecessary tests common

CHICAGO -- Fear of getting sued leads an alarming number of doctors to practice "defensive medicine," such as ordering unnecessary tests and avoiding risky procedures, a survey found. The practice has been around for decades, and is no secret to many patients. But the survey of 824 Pennsylvania doctors suggests it is surprisingly common, researchers said. A separate study found that caps on malpractice damages and other changes in liability law appear to have less effect on the nation's supply of doctors than ardent supporters of tort reform contend. The studies were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

Court

Russian oil tycoon gets 9 years in prison

MOSCOW -- A court declared oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of an array of charges Tuesday in a trial widely criticized as politically motivated, sentencing him to nine years in prison minus time served. The declaration of guilt and sentence came in the 12th day of the laborious verdict-reading process in the most closely watched trial of post-Soviet Russia. Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company and once estimated to be Russia's richest man, has already spent 583 days in jail, meaning he would serve about another 7 1/2 years in prison.