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Koch Brothers Flout Law with Secret Iran Sales

Longreads Pick

A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries — in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East — has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism. Internal company documents show that the company made those sales through foreign subsidiaries, thwarting a U.S. trade ban. Koch Industries units have also rigged prices with competitors, lied to regulators and repeatedly run afoul of environmental regulations, resulting in five criminal convictions since 1999 in the U.S. and Canada.

Source: Bloomberg
Published: Oct 2, 2011
Length: 28 minutes (7,127 words)

Most Popular #Longreads, last 7 days: Caravan magazine on India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, plus Bloomberg Businessweek and Smithsonian Magazine.

“Bezos claims he doesn’t think defensively. ‘Everything we do is driven by seeing opportunity rather than being worried about defending,’ he says. Given Apple’s inroads into the media business, that’s hard to believe. Bezos is magnanimous toward Jobs. ‘On a personal level we have a tremendous amount of respect for Apple and Steve. I think that’s returned,’ he says. ‘Our cultures start in the same place. Both companies like to invent, both companies like to pioneer, both companies start with the customer and work backwards. There’s a like-mindedness.’ Pause. ‘Are two companies like Amazon and Apple occasionally going to step on each others toes? Yes.’”

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Out of Lehman's Ashes Wall Street Gets Most of What It Wants

Out of Lehman’s Ashes Wall Street Gets Most of What It Wants