Univision pagara 1 millon de dlls. por PAYOLA/Empleados LEGALES de univision quiebran la ley mientras la gente indocumentada honesta sufre.
martes 27 de julio, 03:38 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Univision Communications Inc. acordó pagar un millón de dólares para resolver acusaciones de que sus radioemisoras y sus empleados aceptaron pagos secretos en efectivo para difundir con más frecuencia a los artistas de una ex disquera de Univision.
La Comisión Federal de Comunicaciones (FCC, por sus siglas en inglés) y el Departamento de Justicia anunciaron acuerdos separados el lunes por la noche sobre los cargos relacionados con la llamada "payola" _pagos por reproducción y difusión masiva_ con la empresa de medios en español.
Las dos agencias federales habían acusado a Univision Music, un sello discográfico en español, de haber sobornado entre el 2002 y el 2006 a los directores de programación de las estaciones propiedad de Univision Radio para que reprodujeran la música de ciertos artistas en español, sin revelar tales pagos al público, lo cual viola las leyes federales y las normas de la FCC.
En el sector musical de Estados Unidos, la payola es una práctica ilegal que consiste en ofrecer dinero u otros incentivos a una estación de radio o disc jockey con el fin de garantizar una difusión prominente de un disco o una pieza en particular.
El gobierno dijo que los directores de programas en estaciones radiales en San Antonio y El Paso, Texas; Los Angeles y Sacramento, California, presentaban facturas falsas a Univision Music por servicios que nunca fueron prestados. Entonces Univision Music pagaba las facturas y los directores de programas se embolsaban los pagos, que oscilaban entre 1.000 y 10.000 dólares.
La confabulación concluyó en septiembre del 2006, dijo el gobierno.
Univisión vendió su sello discográfico a Universal Music Group a principios del 2008. El sello había sido parte de Univision Services Inc.
Bajo el acuerdo con el Departamento de Justicia y la fiscalía federal por el distrito central de California, Univision Services Inc. se declaró culpable de un cargo de asociación ilícita para cometer fraude postal y acordó pagar una multa de 500.000 dólares.
Univision Radio también acordó pagar 500.000 dólares bajo un arreglo paralelo con la FCC. El acuerdo además limita el valor de los boletos para conciertos y otros regalos que las estaciones radiales y empleados de Univision pueden aceptar de sellos discográficos.
En un comunicado, Univision dijo que el ardid de payola involucró a "un grupo aislado de empleados" que actuaron sin conocimiento de nadie fuera del sello discográfico. La compañía no emitió comentarios en torno a la participación de Univision Radio.
Universal Media Group no respondió de inmediato a llamadas para comentar sobre el asunto.
Las ciudades payoleras encontradas culpables son:
LOS ANGELES (Mercado de Piolin)
SACRAMENTO (Mercado de Piolin)
SAN ANTONIO
EL PASO (Mercado de Piolin)
NUEVA YORK (Mercado de Piolin)
Estos mercados han de estar muy orgullosos que el Departamento de Justicia y el FCC les probo que son criminales
Felicidades Los Angeles Felicidades E l Paso......
SUBSIDIARY OF UNIVISION COMMUNICATIONS INC., PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MAIL FRAUDAND AGREES TO PAY $1 MILLION TO RESOLVE RELATED CRIMINAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CASES
WASHINGTON – Univision Services Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Univision Communications Inc., pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a scheme to obtain increased radio broadcast time, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California.
According to court documents, Univision Communications formerly owned Univision Music Group, a collection of entities that produced recordings and published music for the Latin music market. Univision Services admitted that executives, employees and agents of Univision Music Group conspired to commit and did commit mail fraud from approximately 2002 to September 2006. According to court documents, the mail fraud was related to a nationwide scheme in which Univision Music Group executives, employees and agents made illegal cash payments to radio station programmers and managers in exchange for increased radio broadcast time for Univision Music Group recordings. The cash payments were made without on-air acknowledgments or payment of broadcast fees to the radio stations, as required by law.
According to court documents, executives, music promoters and agents of Univision Music Group used fraudulent contract invoices and payments to obtain and conceal the nature of the cash that funded the scheme.
“Illegal cash payments never make for a good business model. Listeners have a right to know if someone has paid for increased air time or promotions,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “The Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with our partners at the FCC to ensure businesses operate within established laws and regulations.”
Under its plea agreement, Univision Communications, which is no longer involved in the Latin music recording and publishing business, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, to pay a fine of $500,000 and to cooperate fully with the department and other law enforcement agencies in related matters.
In a related administrative proceeding, Univision Radio Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of Univision Communications, has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $500,000 and implement a compliance plan to end a parallel investigation by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Enforcement Bureau.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Peter B. Loewenberg of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Richard Robinson. The investigation was conducted by the Department of Justice, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the FCC Office of Inspector General.
A three-year criminal investigation into a pay-for-play scandal at Univision Communications — in which Latin-music executives bribed radio station managers with briefcases stuffed with cash — ended Monday when Univision agreed to pay $1 million in penalties to federal authorities.
As part of an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, Spanish-language media giant Univision pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. During the four-year scheme, mid-level executives and music promoters at the now-defunct Univision Music Group paid thousands of dollars to radio station programmers in exchange for increased radio air time for Univision's songs.
In one instance, a Los Angeles-based Univision executive in February 2006 sent a Federal Express package that contained $157,800 to a New York radio station programmer, according to court documents filed with the plea agreement. Program managers in California and Texas also received bribes.
Univision executives and the record promoters then concocted phony contract invoices and payments to hide the true purpose of the payments, documents filed by the U.S. Justice Department said.
"The co-conspirator program managers would conceal from their radio stations the illegal cash consideration that [Univision Music] paid them," the documents said. In some cases, the radio programmers would instruct the Univision employees to deposit the cash in offshore bank accounts.
None of the people who participated in the scheme were identified in the court filings.
The cash payments violated federal laws because they were made without the stations disclosing to listeners that such payments had been received.
"Illegal cash payments never make for a good business model," Assistant Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer said in a statement announcing the plea deal. "Listeners have a right to know if someone has paid for increased air time or promotions."
Univision Services Inc. agreed to pay a $500,000 fine to the Justice Department and "cooperate fully" with law enforcement officials investigating related crimes. Meanwhile, another division of the company, Univision Radio, will provide
another $500,000 to the Treasury Department as part of a consent decree with the Federal Communications Commission, which was also investigating the scandal.
Univision also agreed to place limits on the size of gifts that its station employees could accept, appoint a compliance officer
to monitor the situation
and train programming personnel on payola restrictions.
"Payola — the idea of pay-for-play — misleads the listening public," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a separate statement. "This agreement with Univision underscores the FCC's focus on consumer protection and our commitment to ensuring that broadcasters play it straight with the public."
For its part, Univision described the scheme as one orchestrated "by an isolated group of employees.... The actions of these employees were undertaken without the knowledge of anyone at Univision outside of [Univision Music Group]," Univision said in a statement. "Upon learning of these activities, Univision self-reported [them] to the U.S. attorney's office, and has cooperated fully with law enforcement authorities throughout the investigation process."
Univision is owned by a consortium composed of Los Angeles billionaire Haim Saban and private equity firms Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Madison Dearborn Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Two years ago, the owners sold Univision Music — which included the Fonovisa and Disa record labels — to music giant Universal Music Group. As part of that sale, Univision, and not the Universal Music Group, agreed to be responsible for any penalties resulting from the criminal investigation.
The scandals within Univision Music came to light nearly four years ago when a former Fonovisa promotions executive, Daniel Mireles, filed a lawsuit that alleged that he was fired from the company when he refused to offer bribes to radio station executives.
In his suit, which has since been settled, Mireles listed several allegations, including that a programmer at a top Spanish-language radio station was paid "$10,000 a month, in cash, for eight Univision records … to be played three times per day."
elnefastovip ha escrito:
SUBSIDIARY OF UNIVISION COMMUNICATIONS INC., PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MAIL FRAUDAND AGREES TO PAY $1 MILLION TO RESOLVE RELATED CRIMINAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CASES
WASHINGTON – Univision Services Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Univision Communications Inc., pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a scheme to obtain increased radio broadcast time, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California.
According to court documents, Univision Communications formerly owned Univision Music Group, a collection of entities that produced recordings and published music for the Latin music market. Univision Services admitted that executives, employees and agents of Univision Music Group conspired to commit and did commit mail fraud from approximately 2002 to September 2006. According to court documents, the mail fraud was related to a nationwide scheme in which Univision Music Group executives, employees and agents made illegal cash payments to radio station programmers and managers in exchange for increased radio broadcast time for Univision Music Group recordings. The cash payments were made without on-air acknowledgments or payment of broadcast fees to the radio stations, as required by law.
According to court documents, executives, music promoters and agents of Univision Music Group used fraudulent contract invoices and payments to obtain and conceal the nature of the cash that funded the scheme.
“Illegal cash payments never make for a good business model. Listeners have a right to know if someone has paid for increased air time or promotions,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “The Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with our partners at the FCC to ensure businesses operate within established laws and regulations.”
Under its plea agreement, Univision Communications, which is no longer involved in the Latin music recording and publishing business, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, to pay a fine of $500,000 and to cooperate fully with the department and other law enforcement agencies in related matters.
In a related administrative proceeding, Univision Radio Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of Univision Communications, has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $500,000 and implement a compliance plan to end a parallel investigation by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Enforcement Bureau.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Peter B. Loewenberg of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Richard Robinson. The investigation was conducted by the Department of Justice, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the FCC Office of Inspector General.
