Fraud

Boeing in court on fraud charge

Both accidents were down to flaws in the flight control systems on the 737 Max aircraft which caused nosedives.

Boeing was found to have failed to disclose information about the system but avoided a trial by agreeing to pay $2.5bn (£1.8bn) in fines and compensation.

Relatives of those who died are trying to reopen the settlement.

It means that for the first time, the company will be formally charged in court in relation to the two crashes, and will have to plead guilty or not guilty.

Chinese 'love mother' jailed for fraud

Li Yanxia was found guilty at Wu'an Court in Hebei province on Wednesday of extortion, fraud, forgery and disturbing social order.

The former orphanage owner, who was once nicknamed "Love Mother", was also fined 2.67m yuan (£311,000; $388,000).

Fifteen accomplices, including her boyfriend, were also convicted.

The court found that Li Yanxia - also known as Li Lijuan - had "abused the orphanage's influence".

Solomons election fraudster registered seven aliases

Police said the 50-year-old man from Malaita province used different dates of birth and other details for each alias.

Only one of them was his true identity.

He was arrested on Tuesday and charged with seven counts of providing misleading information, an offence under the country's new Electoral Act, which carries a maximum penalty of $US6,000 or five years imprisonment or both.

Police said more election fraud cases relating to the voter registration period were being investigated.

'Afghan Girl' from National Geographic cover arrested for ID fraud

Sharbat Gula could now face a fine and up to 14 years in jail.

Officials say she was arrested by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after a two-year probe in Peshawar, near the Afghan border.

Pakistan recently launched a crackdown against fake IDs.

Mrs Gula applied for an identity card in April 2014, using the name Sharbat Bibi. If the fraud allegations are true, she is one of thousands of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan who have tried to dodge its computerised system.

New Mexico secretary of state pleads not guilty to fraud

Two-term Republican Secretary of State Dianna Duran is accused of funneling campaign contributions to her personal bank accounts and withdrawing large sums of money at casinos around the state.

Duran sat silently next to her attorney, who entered the pleas on her behalf in state district court. It marked her first public appearance since the charges were leveled in a 64-count complaint more than two weeks ago.

Chinese farmer pretended to be princess to commit fraud

Wang Fengying and her co-accused Yang Janglin said she was called Princess Changping and persuaded people to lend them money to help them get back assets worth billions of dollars held by authorities, the Lianhu District Court in Shaanxi province said.

They promised high returns on the investments and the fraud lasted two years until a victim went to the police, the court said in a statement Tuesday. In the meantime, Wang had bought a sedan car and put a down payment on an apartment.