
Westpac to likely pay $81 million for allegedly charging dead people, among other breaches
CNN
Westpac said on Tuesday it will likely be fined 113 million Australian dollars ($80.8 million) for alleged compliance failures across its business over many years, including charging financial advice fees to thousands of dead customers.
Australia's No. 3 lender admitted to six civil penalty proceedings filed by the country's securities regulator, including allegations against its banking, superannuation, wealth management and now divested general insurance units.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission had alleged Westpac charged over 10 million Australian dollars ($7.2 million) in advice fees to more than 11,000 deceased people and distributed duplicate insurance policies to over 7,000 clients.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.











