By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) -Amazon.com Inc failed to properly record work-related injuries and illnesses at six warehouses in five states, the U.S. Department of Labor said on Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into the company’s safety policies.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a part of the Labor Department, said it had cited Amazon for 14 separate recordkeeping violations, and the company faces $29,000 in fines.

OSHA fines generally cannot exceed about $14,500 per violation, and are often much lower for recordkeeping violations.

The citations involve warehouses in Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois and two facilities in New York. OSHA said it was still investigating alleged safety violations at the warehouses.

Amazon in a statement said the citations involve clerical errors and were not an indication of a systemic recordkeeping problem. OSHA classified the violations as “other than serious,” the agency’s lowest-level citation, the company said.

Kelly Nantel, a spokesperson for Amazon, said that worker safety is a top priority and the company invests hundreds of millions of dollars each year to ensure a robust safety program.

“While we acknowledge there may have been small administrative errors over the years, we’ve been confident in the numbers we’ve reported to the government,” Nantel said in a statement.

Amazon has 15 days to pay the fines or contest them before a federal review board.

SAFETY RECORD

Doug Parker, the head of OSHA, said in a statement that accurate recordkeeping is crucial to addressing workplace health and safety issues.

“Our concern is that nothing will be done to keep an injury from recurring if it isn’t even recorded in the logbook which – in a company the size of Amazon – could have significant consequences for a large number of workers,” Parker said.

Critics of Amazon have long said that the company puts profit over safety by requiring employees to work at an unsafe pace and forgo breaks to meet demanding quotas.

The company’s safety record came under renewed scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic and after an Illinois warehouse collapsed during a tornado last year, killing six workers. OSHA declined to fine Amazon in that case.

Those concerns helped spur union campaigns at warehouses across the country, including at a New York City facility where workers voted to unionize in March.

OSHA said on Friday that Amazon had failed to keep proper records at a warehouse near Albany, New York, where workers in October voted against joining a union.

Washington state’s labor department in March fined Amazon $60,000 for violating workplace safety laws by requiring warehouse employees to perform repetitive motions at a fast pace, increasing their risk of injury.

Amazon is contesting those findings, and in October filed a lawsuit claiming the department cannot force the company to address the alleged safety hazards while its appeal is pending.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Howard Goller and Aurora Ellis)

By Dietrich Knauth

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge overseeing the bankruptcy of FTX said on Friday that he will allow media companies to make their case that the collapsed crypto exchange must publicly disclose the names of its customers.U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in Delaware said the New York Times, Dow Jones, Bloomberg and the Financial Times could present their arguments on requiring FTX to disclose customer names at a hearing on Jan. 11.

The media companies argued in a court filing that keeping the names of as many as 1 million customers secret could turn bankruptcy proceedings into a “farce” if creditors start fighting anonymously over how much money they should receive.

FTX has argued the U.S. bankruptcy practice of disclosing details about creditors, which includes customers, could expose them to scams, violate privacy laws and allow rivals to poach them, undermining the FTX’s value as it hunts for buyers.

FTX said on Friday it planned to sell its LedgerX, Embed, FTX Japan and FTX Europe businesses during its bankruptcy case. The four companies are relatively independent from the broader FTX group, and each has its own segregated customer accounts and separate management teams, according to an FTX court filing.

FTX is not committed to selling any of the companies, but it already received dozens of unsolicited offers. FTX expects to generate additional bids by scheduling auctions in February and March.

Other bankrupt crypto companies, like crypto lenders Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, have struggled to auction their assets. Voyager had planned to sell its assets to FTX before FTX’s implosion, and Celsius said in a Thursday court filing it had postponed an auction of its business to try to improve the bids it had received.

FTX attorneys also said at Friday’s hearing they have made “significant progress” on recovering assets and are working to resolve a dispute with Bahamian securities regulators and attorneys overseeing the liquidation of the Bahamas-based FTX Digital Markets.

An attorney for the Bahamas-based liquidators, Jason Zakia, said FTX has prevented the Bahamas bankruptcy from moving forward by cutting off access to data and casting “aspersions” on the actions of the Bahamas government. Dorsey will address the data access dispute on Jan. 6 if the two sides do not reach a deal.

Friday’s bankruptcy hearing comes at the end of a dramatic week for the crypto exchange. Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on fraud charges on Monday, FTX CEO John Ray testified before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, and FTX opposed Bahamas-based liquidators’ demand for access to its systems and records on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York; Additional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del.; Editing by Amy Stevens, Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis)

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A dual citizen of Sweden and the United Kingdom pleaded guilty to U.S. fraud and money laundering charges on Friday for selling a fake cryptocurrency alongside one of the United States’ most-wanted fugitives, a woman referred to as the ‘Cryptoqueen.’

Karl Greenwood, 45, was arrested in Thailand and extradited to the United States in 2018 for his role in selling the purported cryptocurrency OneCoin, which federal prosecutors in Manhattan call a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors out of $4 billion. He has been detained since his arrest.

The plea comes as prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) ramp up enforcement of financial crimes related to digital assets. On Tuesday, prosecutors unsealed an indictment of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX crypto exchange, on charges of stealing billions in customer deposits.

“This guilty plea by the co-founder of OneCoin caps a week at SDNY that sends a clear message that we are coming after all those who seek to exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem through fraud,” Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Greenwood founded OneCoin in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2014 alongside Ruja Ignatova, a German citizen who prosecutors say is also known as the ‘Cryptoqueen.’ The FBI named her to its top ten most-wanted list in June, and prosecutors said on Friday she remains at large.

A lawyer for Greenwood declined to comment. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5 for the three counts to which he pleaded guilty.

Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk management failures at FTX but said he does not believe he has any criminal liability. He is currently detained in The Bahamas, where FTX is based, and is contesting a U.S. request for his extradition.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Josie Kao)

By Allison Lampert and Oliver Griffin

MONTREAL/BOGOTA (Reuters) – Latin America is drawing early investment for jet fuel produced from materials like forest residues and palm oil as emission-conscious airlines scour emerging markets for less-polluting fuel to power flights, industry executives say.

While most sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, is produced in the United States, Europe, and Singapore, Latin America is emerging as a budding market. That demand is driving early investments and reviving debate over palm oil, which has faced boycotts in southeast Asia over labor concerns and environmental grievances.

The push comes as industry faces fresh pressure to curb pollution, with the United Nation’s aviation agency targeting net zero emissions by 2050 and negotiators scrambling to reach an agreement on Monday at a Montreal summit to protect nature.

While SAF is not currently produced in Latin America, Honeywell’s Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT) unit is talking to companies about 12 proposed SAF projects in the region valued in the billions of dollars, up from three projects in 2018, an executive told Reuters.

“We have two that we are going to announce … in 2023,” said Jose Fernandes, the region’s president for Honeywell PMT, which supports companies in converting vegetable oil and fats into SAF. “Latin America right now is really a hot spot for Honeywell.”

The U.S. company is working with Brazilian biodiesel producer ECB Group on an $800 million to $1 billion plant in Paraguay featuring SAF expected to be operational in 2025.

Production of SAF, which can reduce emissions by up to 80% from conventional fuel, is used in an up to 50-50 blend with kerosene and remains scarce. It should hit 300 million liters in 2022 according to airline trade group IATA, but that is less than 1% of total fuel consumed by carriers.

In the near term, the industry sees SAF hitting 10% of the total by 2030, and the 2050 net zero emissions target relies on SAF accounting for 65%, which would require 450 billion litres annually.

That has spurred a race to boost SAF production for aviation, which accounts for 2% to 3% of global emissions. With supply now limited mainly to U.S. and European hubs, some travelers are making bulk purchases, while airlines seek new SAF sources in the developing world where traffic is growing more quickly than mature markets.

“In order to be successful, SAF needs to be available across the globe,” Juan Carlos Salazar, secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said.

Under ICAO’s CORSIA deal, most airlines will also limit their rising emissions from international flights, either by purchasing offsets or using SAF, driving demand for the fuel.

Chile’s LATAM Airlines, for one, says it favors fuel from South America to meet a pledge of using 5% of SAF in its operations by 2030.

Producing and distributing SAF in regions with faster-growing traffic like Latin America is key to meeting industry targets, said Landon Loomis, Latin America president for U.S. planemaker Boeing.

Brazil, the world’s second-largest producer of biofuels, has more than enough feedstock such as sugar cane, palm oil and urban waste to cover its jet fuel needs annually, Loomis said.

Brazil also has the technology to produce SAF, which is harder to make than biofuels for cars, an official at the country’s aviation regulator said. However, it lacks investment and government policy, which is still under review.

“Even if we are not moving as a government, there is movement and interest of the private sector, that is already creating demand,” said Marcela Braga Anselmi, a department chief at Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC).

The Export-Import Bank of the United States is interested in “underwriting and closing bankable projects that source renewable feedstocks” for SAF and renewable diesel, particularly in regions like Africa and Latin America, a spokesperson said.

Projects are springing up. Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras plans to produce renewable diesel and SAF, starting in 2028, while Brazilian ethanol producer Raizen will produce SAF for planemaker Embraer. And Vibra Energia is working with Brasil BioFuels (BBF) to produce palm oil-based jet fuel in 2025.

Some companies in neighboring Colombia, the largest palm producer in the Americas according to local industry group Fedepalma, are also looking at making jet fuel from the crop.

But cases of child labor and deforestation in palm oil market countries in southeast Asia have made it hard to win global support for the fuel, said Fedepalma President Nicolas Perez.

Faced with that perception, Colombian biofuels producer BioD is choosing to produce SAF with waste instead of palm oil, which it uses for domestic consumption, said spokesperson Carolina Betancourt. It is looking to raise $700 million to $1 billion in investment to open a SAF refinery by 2027.

Separately, Colombian palm oil producer Daabon is in talks for an estimated $1 billion project to make 500,000 tonnes of SAF a year from palm oil, using green hydrogen. The fuel would need to be eligible for airline use under ICAO’s CORSIA deal, said project consultant Pedro Ruano.

  Colombia, supported by the World Bank, is also undertaking a study to show its palm oil is not linked to deforestation and a suitable option for SAF, said Fedepalma’s Perez.

“We believe that SAF production in Colombia … would mean an opportunity to contribute to the energy transition and cleaner aviation, which has also generated a new pole of development for Colombia.”

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Oliver Griffin in Bogota; Additional reporting by Jake Spring in Sao Paolo and Sabrina Valle in Houston; Editing by Ben Klayman and Lisa Shumaker)

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – Coinbase Global Inc cannot force former customers to use private arbitration rather than the courts to resolve claims over a Dogecoin sweepstakes the cryptocurrency exchange ran, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

Four former Coinbase users had sued Coinbase, claiming the company duped them into paying $100 or more to enter a sweepstakes in June 2021 for a chance to win prizes of up to $1.2 million in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Each of the users had agreed to the company’s user agreement to create an account, which included a provision requiring them to pursue any disputes in arbitration.

Friday’s ruling came a week after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a procedural issue from that and another case that Coinbase unsuccessfully sought to force into arbitration.

Business groups say arbitration is more efficient than suing in court. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say arbitration favors companies and that consumers are better off in court.

But a federal judge declined to compel arbitration, and San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with that decision, citing a provision in the sweepstakes’ official rules requiring disputes to be heard in California courts.

David Harris, the users’ lawyer, said they were pleased with the ruling. Coinbase declined to comment.

The case is one of two that Coinbase is appealing to the Supreme Court after the 9th Circuit decisions declining to put trial court proceedings on hold while it appealed judges’ decisions to not force the cases into arbitration.

The other proposed class action was filed by Abraham Bielski, who said he was tricked into letting a scammer access his Coinbase account, who then stole more than $31,000 from him.

A judge put the proceeding in the sweepstakes case on hold pending appeal, but only after Coinbase asked the Supreme Court to hear the dispute.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Josie Kao)