Hedge fund Och-Ziff to pay $412m in Africa bribery case

Leading US hedge fund Och-Ziff has been ordered to pay $412m (£316m) to settle charges that it paid millions in bribes to top officials across Africa to secure mining and investment rights.

It is the first time a fund has been sanctioned under US foreign bribery laws, the US justice department said.

Its investigation details bribes of tens of millions of dollars paid to Democratic Republic of Congo officials.

It says the bribes secured investments for the fund in diamonds and mining.

Corrupt payment to officials in Libya, Chad, Niger, Guinea and Zimbabwe were also detailed as part of the settlement.

Campaign group Global Witness called the fine "a major step forward" in tackling corporate corruption and called for the individuals behind the deals to be jailed.

New York-based Och-Ziff had more than $39bn in assets under management as of September 2016, making it one of the world's largest hedge funds.

"Gaining the upper hand in a business venture by engaging in corrupt practices is bribery in its purest form," said FBI investigator William Sweeney, quoted in a statement from the US Department of Justice.

Hillary Clinton Talks Police Brutality and More with Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige’s much-talked-about interview with Hillary Clinton has arrived.

Apple Music released the full version of Mary J. Blige’s 30-minute sit-down with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Friday. They discussed everything from Hillary’s public perception and her feelings on police brutality.

“I’ve always been the same person,” Hillary said. “When you’re in the public eye, whether it’s in entertainment or politics, you do have the challenge of presenting yourself and have people perceive you as you think you are.”

She added, “I think some of the misperception is manufactured, and some of it I take responsibility for, that I’m not communicating clearly enough what I care about and what I do.”

When asked by Mary if it’s hard to be seen as both tough and likable as a woman, Hillary laughed and said, “Yes, I think it’s really hard, to be honest.”

“I think it’s rooted in tens of thousands of years of how people’s lives have been defined, what it’s meant to be a woman or a man,” she said. “For women to be assuming leading roles … it still is not fully understood because there’s no blueprint for doing it.”

After singing a bit of Bruce Springsteen’s “American Skin,” Mary then asked Hillary to explain “where we go from here” in terms of police brutality.

“I have been so heartbroken about what’s going on,” Hillary responded.

“There needs to be a greater opening of our hearts to one another, we’ve got to put ourselves in each other’s shoes, feel the pain that a mother and a father feels when their son and daughter can go out the door, and they don’t know what’s going to happen to them,” Hillary said. “I particularly want white people to understand what that’s like, and feel like they must be part of the solution.”

Watch the full interview here

Amber Rose Says She Felt ‘Body-Shamed’ By ‘DWTS’ Judge Julianne Hough: ‘My Body Made Her Feel Uncomfortable’

Amber Rose thinks Julianne Hough judged her for more than her dance moves during Wednesday’s performance with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

via NYDN:

“It was a point in the dance where I had to lift my leg up and Maks dipped me and (Hough) said, ‘Oh, I’m uncomfortable,’ and I instantly, I felt, I did feel body shamed,” Rose, 32, revealed on her “Loveline with Amber Rose” podcast on the Monday Play.it network the Monday night show.

The mom of one continued: “You know, all the beautiful professional dancers that are on “Dancing with the Stars,” I mean they dress very sexy and they do splits and they grind up on these guys and they look absolutely stunning and they get a standing ovation. And for me, and my body, my hips, my ass, my breasts, made her uncomfortable.”

But the “Footlose” star has denied the dis, explaining to E! News that the comment was taken out of context.

“To be clear, that was a produced package, not live coverage and they can put those sound bites anywhere,” Hough said.

“My ‘uncomfortable’ comment was about the fact that I felt like I wanted more out of the performance — when someone is doing a hot, sexy dance like that without the right amount of energy that is required, it can be uncomfortable to watch.”

“Trust me I’m ALL for a sexy booty dance!! We all know what!!” she continued. “And any kind of body shaming goes against everything I believe in.”

NeNe Leakes’ Son Robbed at Her Comedy Show in Chicago

NeNe Leaker's son, Brentt, was trying to help his mom out on her tour but got robbed by an irate fan instead.

Brentt was hawking mom's merch Wednesday night when her "So Nasty, So Rude" comedy tour rolled through The Promontory in Chicago. Our PD sources tell us a customer was demanding a refund, and when the 17-year-old didn't fork it over ... the guy made off with a backpack containing Brentt's wallet and laptop.

We're told cops already have surveillance of the heist, but haven't made any arrests yet. Brentt wasn't hurt, and we're told he and NeNe are actually more pissed about losing his ID.

DMV lines are a bitch.

HUGH HEFNER ALIVE DESPITE DEATH SCARE

Law enforcement rushed to the Playboy Mansion Friday ... when rumors swirled Hugh Hefner may have died. 

Several news agencies got a tip the Playboy king had passed away. We called law enforcement to confirm or shoot down the story ... and we were told they were unaware of a death at the Mansion.

We've learned earlier today, cops went to the bunny house and spoke with staff members who said Hef's health remained unchanged. A staff member told Hef the police had come to check on him and he then personally called cops to say he was okay.

Hef has been in frail health over the last few years ... and rarely comes out of his bedroom.