Posted by Basbibi Kakar.

According to American and European officials, United States and Iran’s are closing in on a historic agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program. But the parties are facing problems, including when United Nations sanctions would be lifted and how inspections would be conducted.

President Obama is strongly against an agreement with Iran without curbing nuclear weapons in such a dangerous region. He also wants to reassure the world that all options would be available if Iran ultimately cheated. In an interview with New York Times, Obama said that America has Israel’s back, and he also said that he can accept a vote in Congress as long as it did not block his ability to carry out the agreement. The President said that he would make sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. America also will send a clear message to Iranians that if anybody messes with Israel, America will be there.

Under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, the Congress has power to provide for the common defense and general welfare; Congress also has the power to declare war. Congress can provide for organizing, and arming the United States. The Congress can also decide to ratify the agreement with Iran thereby restricting them or stop the process of creating the Nuclear weapon. America can go to war with Iran, since Congress has the power to organize and arm soldiers.

Obama gave new details about how international inspectors would inspect Iran’s covert nuclear sites and about how they would lift the sanctions. Obama hopes that security will be transformed in Middle East, however, the Middle East was never secure. America’s main focus is to ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.

But Iran never stopped working on their nuclear weapon. Since Iran has promised before that they would stop working toward a nuclear weapon, they have broken contract law. Contract law could be enforced and their rights to continue working the plant could be taken away. The alternative is Congress could exercise their authority under Article I to resolve the problem.

Basbibi is an economics and international trade and development major at Montclair State University, Class of 2017.

Posted by Kate Robinson.

Tyco International, Limited, is a corporation that provides over three million customers globally with fire protection and security products and services. It is currently the world’s largest pure-play fire and security company. Tyco is incorporated in Switzerland and its operational headquarters are located in Princeton, New Jersey.

In 2002, Tyco’s former CEO, Dennis Kozlowski and CFO, Mark Swartz, were charged for stealing $150 million and inflating the company income by $500 million. The two of them were siphoning money through unapproved loans and fraudulent stock sales. They would then smuggle the money out of the company disguised as executive bonuses and benefits.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Manhattan District Attorney investigated the scheme and uncovered questionable accounting practices, such as large loans made out to Mr. Kozlowski, which were later forgiven. After discovering these violations, Mr. Kozlowski and Mr. Swartz were sentenced to 8 to 25 years in prison and a lawsuit was filed forcing Tyco to pay back $2.92 billion to their investors.

Kate is a sports, events and tourism marketing major at Montclair State University, Class of 2017.

Posted by Marlon Javier Tatis.

As roughly a million Apple customers impatiently wait for their watches to arrive, they now have an answer as to what’s the holdup. Apple claims to have found a defect in the “taptic engine of the watch, which mimics the sensation of being tapped on the wrist, the newspaper said Wednesday.” With record orders already in the smart watch category, Apple has a lot of work to do to keep up supply. They are jumping into a different market aside from cellphones, which they try to dominate.

Ever since the watch was announced last year, millions of customers have been anxiously waiting for the release date to order the device. Hundreds of thousands of people lined up outside Apple stores across the nation waiting to order their watch and be amongst the first to own the next piece of technological innovation.

With Samsung, LG, Motorola and plenty of other top companies already in the smart watch business, Apple has a lot of catching up. They are entering the market a little late, and having delivery of so many watches delayed isn’t the best way to enter a new market.

Marlon is a business administration student with a concentration in finance at Montclair State University, Class of 2016.

Posted by Jenifer Canas-Benavides.

What’s worse than saying something racist? Sending something racially inappropriate with not only your personal phone, but also the business work phone. President of AT&T Aaron Slater was sued for sending a racist photo to a co-worker. The co-worker, Knoyme King, is of African descent. The photo was of an African child dancing with a caption that included an offensive term. How was the photo discovered? An assistant was transferring data to a new phone and discovered the images during the transfer.

The company did not take action when they first heard about the incident, which is why the lawsuit will continue to take place. So exactly how much is this lawsuit going for? It is a $100 million discrimination lawsuit, which names Slater, the company, and other members as the defendants. According to King, she was passed over promotions and raises because of her race. She said she was mistreated and attempts were made to get her to leave the company. She is still employed there after 30 years. Not only is Aaron Slate the problem, but so is the company because the failed to report it right away.

Jenifer is a business administration student at Montclair State University, Class of 2017.

Posted by Leonardo Terzulli.

McDonald’s has recently been involved in a case of a customer, Lynn Gipson, having hot water spill on her at a McDonald’s drive-through. The incident happened in 2012 when a cup’s lid popped off, “spilling the scalding water and causing second-degree burns on Ms. Gipson’s thigh and stomach,” a quote from the court documents. This incident is similar to the 1994 incident when Stella Liebeck sued McDonald’s in the case Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants in which a top to a coffee lid came off in between Liebeck’s legs causing severe burn injuries with resulted in skin grafting. The turnout for this case was Liebeck was awarded $2.86 million. Gipson is alleging that McDonald’s drive-through employees delivered tea and other hot liquid substances in a negligent matter.

Unlike the case the in 1994, McDonald’s is most likely opting to not take the case to court and settle. The turnout for the 1994 case ended in the jury calling for McDonald’s to pay punitive damages. Knowing that they have faced a few court cases already this year, and that they will probably lose this case again, they feel the best choice for them is to just settle with Gipson’s terms. Although the case is still not fully resolved, it is safe to say that McDonald’s is going to lose. Similar to the 1994 case, this is a case that might seem a little obscure but, Lynn Gipson exerted all of her options, taking into account all actions by both parties, and taking the educated step to ensure she was given justice.

 Leonardo is a finance major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2018.

Posted by Ryan Neligan.

Earlier in the month, the state of New York banned the use of Fanduel and Draftkings, both websites in which people use to bet on daily fantasy sports. These websites are run daily in which people place down money and compete against each other in order to see who the best judge of sports is, and the winner acquires a large sum of money from those people who took place in the game. Games like this take place all over the world through these websites and have instantly gained a great amount of popularity.

The attention it is getting from the population has caused some heads to turn, such as the state government of New York. It has seen these websites as illegal gambling taking place within the state, and New York’s attorney general is set on shutting down this business. FanDuel and DraftKings are not going down without a fight though, as “the two biggest daily fantasy sports sites are taking on Eric Schneiderman in court, accusing him in lawsuits of bullying and abusing his powers in ordering that they stop operations in New York and are seeking a judge’s order to let them keep operating” (BloombergBusiness). To lose the participation of New York would be a huge blow for these two businesses, because New York accounts for “more than $1 billion each and have drawn investors across the sports, media and venture-capital industries. The state accounts for 5 percent of FanDuel’s customers and more than 7 percent for DraftKings, according to the companies’ filings” (BloombergBusienss).

Fanduel and DraftKings are taking action and are filing suit against this banning, for they do not see their business as an illegal online gambling site. They see it as a game of skill and knowledge in sports. Fanduel stated in its complaint about the case that “Such a shutdown would deprive hundreds of thousands of subscribing New Yorkers of the opportunity to pit their skills against the skills of others in selecting a ‘fantasy’ team of athletes from different sports teams and competing in contests offering prizes to the players whose fantasy teams perform best” (BloombergBusiness).

The case can be made for both sides of the argument. These websites are definitely a test of skill in the area of sports just like when people play regular Fantasy games, but it can also be seen as a website used for gambling and requiring money online, which is illegal in the state of New York. If these website continuing operating, the attorney general will take action and put chargers against these companies. The people of New York will be watching this case closely to see what the final outcome is, but for now daily fantasy sports has been banned from the state.

Ryan Neligan is a finance major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2018.

Posted by Ryan Neligan.

Human beings have a natural tendency to expand upon whatever the present is. In America, pilgrims settled in the state of Massachusetts and eventually expanded all the way to California. This trend of expanding continues today, as now people look forward to what is beyond Earth: Outer Space. This week Congress has passed a bill called the Space Act of 2015, which will help the small business of asteroid mining become an official operation.

The resources that are in outer space could be quite valuable to our world for the future. There are so many things untouched out there and in such great supply. In the past, “the prospect of large scale extraction of minerals from other planets or cosmic bodies has been both technologically and legally questionable, with starry-eyed entrepreneurs hard at work on the first part, but without much guidance on the second” (Good Magazine). Our civilization has not had the knowledge or technology in order to make obtaining a vast amount of resources from outer space an appropriate business. That has changed in current day though, as technology has made leaps forward in progress of this venture, and now to is officially about to become legitimate. With the passing of the Act, the business of space mining could boom into a full blown industry in the market, for “this lays the legal groundwork for private businesses to own extra-planetary resources, as well as sell their goods back on Earth” (Good Magazine). Huge potential is seen for space mining. Businesses are waiting for the new act to become official so they can jump into the extraterrestrial world of space mining and make as profit off of it.

The Space Act of 2015 is not yet complete to be used, but it is laying the foundation to open up endless possibilities that reach far beyond he extant of this world. Humans continue to expand the horizons that are in front of them, and this act would put them in the galaxies.

Ryan Neligan is a finance major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2018.

Posted by Leonardo Terzulli.

Two new cases that have just arose, DraftKings and FanDuel, two one-day fantasy sports websites that guarantee immediate cash payouts, have been banned in the state of New York. New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this past week accusing FanDuel and DraftKings to be considered illegal gambling. This whole debate started over news that had been circulating that an employee who worked for DraftKings won $350,000 in a contest on the website. There were allegations that the employee had inside information that was used to help him win the contest. DraftKings response to the allegation was “the information was only available after player lineups had been locked in.” Both companies claim that employees are banned from participating in competition on the website, and failed to check-up on internal controls.

Both DraftKings and FanDuel have chose to file lawsuits feeling that the Attorney General wasn’t fair in his cease-and-desist order. “The two companies made separate filings that asked the New York Supreme Court to throw out Schneiderman’s order. In its lawsuit, DraftKings argued that Schneiderman’s cease-and-desist order is unconstitutional, saying the Attorney General acted as ‘judge, jury and executioner.’”

While there are already a few states that have prohibited daily sports, I feel that this case is really going to be contingent on the employee who violated the rules and lack of check-up on the internal control in the companies.

Leonardo is a finance major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2018.

Posted by Ilse Narvaez.

Oladipupo Kupoloyi, an 18-year-old Nigerian living in Binghamton, NY, pleaded guilty to his participation in a wire fraud conspiracy. Kupoloyi was a student at SUNY Brome Community College through a student visa. The wire fraud statute involves fraud by wire, radio or television. According to the statute 1343, it applies to anyone having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent statements. A person involved and found guilty may be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both. In order for someone to be found guilty, the government must show there was an interstate wire used and intent to defraud.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealed that Kupoloyi had wired unlawfully obtained money to Nigeria using two different banks located in Binghamton. The fraud involved thousands of dollars that were sent overseas and Kupoloyi was unemployed and had no other source of income. One of his co-conspirators obtained money through the mail by requesting funds from a 65-year-old woman, while posing as a military representative stationed in Nigeria. Later, another co-conspirator contacted the same woman but in this case, claiming to be a U.S. Customs service agent. He advised the woman that he had valuable jewelry that could be released to her if she paid between $48,000 to 50,000. Since the woman did not have the money available they asked for her personal information such as social security number and opened bank accounts with it. Money from an unidentified business bank account was then transferred into the victim’s personal accounts (Borrelli).

Kupoloyi’s participation occurs when the woman is asked to withdraw the amounts and to purchase U.S. Postal, Western Union and Monegram in order to send them to his personal address. Kupoloyi then opened a bank account in M&T Bank and a second one in Citizens Bank. He deposited $81,000 and 28,000 respectively, and wired funds to Nigeria on two occasions. M&T Bank suspected bank fraud when for a third occasion, a fund wire to Nigeria was requested. The bank reported the suspicion to the federal investigators that later found about the scheme. On November 6, 2015, Kupoloyi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud. His sentence is expected to occur in March 25^th, 2016.

Ilse is a graduate student in accounting with a certification in forensic accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.

Works-cited

Borrelli Anthony, “SUNY Broome Student Pleads Guilty in Wire Fraud Case.” Pressconnects.

Web.

Posted by Samar Baeshen.

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads” The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” The amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and requires the police to have a warrant. However, there are a considerable amount of debate of whether the cell phones of people who are arrested can be searched without having a warrant.

According to an October 21, 2015 news article in the NBC news, “Feds detail how they secretly track Americans’ phones.” In a testimony, some long-concerns about how Feds utilize secret devices to track Americans ‘cell phones were clarified by Federal law enforcement officials. Regarding the secret devices, for many years police have been utilizing Stingray device which connects someone’s phone with cell phone towers.

Congress has been informed that Stingray devices are not using to track calls or messages but to locate someone. Moreover, new rules have been issued by the Department of Justice regarding the lack of warrants of tracking cell phones. However, agency officials confirmed that there are some situations do not require warrants. Therefore, many arguments have been raised that Americans’ phones ought to be protected according to their Fourth Amendment rights.

Lastly, according to ACLU technologist Christopher Soghoian, the nation’s leading expert on Stingrays, the FBI has begun using the device for almost 20 years, and this is the first congressional hearing. The agreements about Stingrays between the FBI and local police are secret. However, due to the legal battles led by the American Civil Liberties Union this becomes public.

Samar is a graduate student in accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.