Judge to finalize ConAgra plea
in tainted peanut butter case
ALBANY, Ga. — A federal judge is scheduled to consider an $11.2 million plea deal to settle a criminal case against ConAgra stemming from a salmonella outbreak linked to the company’s Peter Pan peanut butter that sickened hundreds a decade ago.
U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands set a hearing Tuesday to finalize the agreement ConAgra reached last year after federal prosecutors charged one of its subsidiaries with one misdemeanour count of shipping adulterated food.
The proposed settlement includes an $8 million fine, which prosecutors say would be the largest criminal fine ever in a U.S. food safety case.
In early 2007, salmonella blamed for sickening at least 625 people in 47 states was traced to a plant in rural Sylvester, Georgia, that produced Peter Pan peanut butter.
A massive recall followed.
Ex-Amaya CEO asks court to order release insider trading case details
MONTREAL — Former Amaya CEO David Baazov’s lawyer says the Quebec securities regulator’s disclosure of more than one million documents isn’t helping to defend against insider trading charges.
Sophie Melchers told a Quebec Court judge on Tuesday that although l’Autorite des marches financiers has provided waves of documents, it refuses to disclose specific details that support the charges it laid last year.
She says it’s impossible to wade through the blizzard of documents to pinpoint the basis for the charges in order to deliver a proper defence.
Melchers along with a lawyer for a co-accused and several companies have asked the court to order the AMF to provide details including dates of alleged infractions, specific stock trades and the identities of aliases to help them defend against allegations that they acted on information that was not known to the public.
Unlike other highlighted cases across Canada that listed specific information, she said the charges laid against Baazov and the others merely copied and pasted the applicable infractions.
Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund eyes acquire of Canexus Corp
TORONTO — Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund says it’s in talks to buy Canexus Corp. (TSX:CUS), which had previously rejected a hostile takeover offer. It’s offering $1.65 per share for the Calgary-based sodium chlorate producer.
That’s up from an earlier bid of $1.50 per share that Canexus urged its shareholders to reject.
However, Chemtrade says there can be no assurance that any transaction will result from the negotiations.
Chemtrade (TSX:CHE.UN) says reaching a deal would be subject to, among other things, the negotiation and execution of a definitive transaction agreement, voting support agreements and approval by the boards of both companies.