| Pump-and-dump scams hit brokerages
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Trading has been suspended on 35 stocks that were the subjects of misleading spam e-mail campaigns, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday. The Commission had previously announced that unknown traders hacked into accounts at seven online brokerage firms, sold off investors' holdings and used the proceeds to pump up the stocks of 15 different companies, some of which currently trade on the Nasdaq. .
Minimum wage hike nears reality
The House overwhelmingly approved business tax breaks worth $1.8 billion over 10 years on Friday, a key step toward forging a congressional compromise on increasing the minimum wage. The vote on the tax cuts was 360-45. Passage of a wage hike for the lowest-paid workers now depends on how quickly the House and Senate work out differences between their tax packages. The Senate tax breaks - worth $8.3 billion - are more than four times bigger than the ones passed in the House. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said House and Senate negotiators could reconcile differences in the bills within two or three weeks. "The minimum wage provision is going to trump all of this and is going to drive us to get this thing done pretty quickly," Baucus said.
Senate panel mulls subpoenaing Justice officials
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee will ask several Justice Department officials to testify about the firing of eight federal prosecutors and could issue subpoenas if they refuse, Sen. Charles Schumer said Wednesday. Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the committee will discuss Thursday whether to authorize subpoenas if necessary. Six of eight fired U.S. attorneys told House and Senate committees Tuesday that lawmakers, a high-ranking congressional aide and a Justice Department official pressured them and interfered with their work. Some of that work involved corruption cases. The Senate Ethics Committee already is conducting a preliminary inquiry into a call last October by Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, to David Iglesias, since fired as the U.S.
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