Per the Sydney Morning Herald, "US wheat farmers are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from AWB as part of a class action accusing the wheat exporter of engaging in racketeering, money laundering, fraud and bribery. A Kansas wheat farmer, Veryl Switzer, 78, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit -- filed in Washington [in July] -- claims AWB's conduct in Iraq and other countries breached US laws and damaged the interests of up to 20,000 US farmers." Investigations have indicated that the AWB abused the U.N.'s oil-for-food program and funneled kickbacks to the Saddam Hussein regime -- reprehensible conduct, no doubt, but it should be interesting to watch lawyers make the case for pulling it into a U.S. court, under U.S. law, for purposes of securing damages for U.S. farmers who presumably weren't entitled to go after the Iraqi business themselves anyway.
Australian wheat board sued
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Rafael Mangual Project Manager, Legal Policy rmangual@manhattan-institute.org |
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Katherine Lazarski Manhattan Institute klazarski@manhattan-institute.org |