Since police renewed investigations in 2011, 90 people have been arrested and 16 charged with crimes in conjunction with illegal acquisition of confidential information, many if not most of them employees or agents of News Corp.
[3] On 20 November 2012, it was reported that several individuals were to be charged with conspiring to commit misconduct in public office—former CEO Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Clive Goodman, and Bettina Jordan-Barber.
In addition to any possible illegal activities in the U.S., News Corporation and/or its executives might also face civil and criminal liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Regan claimed that Ailes had previously encouraged her to lie to federal investigators who were vetting Bernard B. Kerik, who had been nominated for Secretary of Homeland Security by President George W. Bush.
[5] According to a former New York City police officer who spoke to The Mirror in 2009, the News of the World also attempted to retrieve private phone records of victims of the 11 September attacks.
[13] News Corp is also being investigated over claims that senior executives misled investors in 2011, causing the company's stock to be traded at an artificially high price.
[19] The shareholders' attorney said that the phone hacking which took place in the UK was "part of a much broader, historic pattern of corruption at News Corp., under the acquiescence of a board that was fully aware of the wrongdoing, if not directly complicit in the actions."
[18] In November 2012, it was reported that agents of News Corp had illegally bribed a member of the US military to obtain a photograph of an imprisoned Saddam Hussein wearing only his underwear.
[21] On 22 July, it was reported that two former Victorian Supreme Court judges, Frank Vincent and Bernard Teague, would act as independent assessors of how the review is run and would also assess its outcome.
"[21] The administration of Prime Minister Julia Gillard stalled a ruling by an independent panel for Sky's bid to run the Australia Network, imposing a "national interest" bar on the process.
Some of the victims of the alleged hacking, such as Austar were later taken over by News Corp. NDS had originally been set up to provide security to News Corp's pay TV interests but emails obtained by Fairfax Media revealed they had also pursued a wider agenda by distributing the keys to rival set top box operators and seeking to obtain phone records of suspected rivals.
"[28][29][30][31][32] The Times of London, also owned by NewsCorp, published an editorial cartoon labeled "Priorities" that depicted three naked Somalians holding empty bowls.