COKE OFFERS BURGER KING CASH: Coca-Cola Co. has offered to pay up to $21.1-million to Burger King Corp. and its restaurants to repair damage caused by allegations that the soft drink company's employees rigged a marketing test of Frozen Coke at the fast-food outlets. Coca-Cola will pay $1,000 to each restaurant that had a Frozen Coke machine installed as of May 2000, part of any repair costs for the machines and any losses that Burger King franchisees had with the equipment through June, Burger King CEO Brad Blum said in a letter to restaurant owners. Coca-Cola's also would pay $6.4-million to Burger King Corp.
AMERICAN ENDS CHEAP WALK-UPS: American Airlines has quietly raised the price on last-minute tickets from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to 11 cities by as much as 65 percent, effectively ending an experiment with cheaper business fares. American unveiled the slate of discounted fares in November, hoping it would draw business travelers back to unrestricted tickets. In December, the airline expanded the test to 400 routes. But by April, the project had been scaled back, and Friday, the cheap business fares vanished, said Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares, which monitors airfares.
WORKERS COMP CUT 14 PERCENT: Insurance companies that sell workers compensation policies to Florida businesses must drop their premiums an average of 14 percent beginning Oct. 1, according to state insurance regulation director Kevin McCarty. The premium reductions are based on a law the Legislature passed three months ago. The law, intended to reduce soaring insurance costs, limits attorney fees and makes it more difficult for injured workers to obtain permanent total disability benefits.
HEALTHSOUTH MAKES PAYMENT: HealthSouth Corp. said Tuesday it had paid its overdue interest debt of $117-million. Trying to avoid bankruptcy amid a $2.5-billion fraud scandal, HealthSouth also said it plans to make an upcoming interest payment on time and was negotiating to wipe out a $344-million debt. HealthSouth shares increased 60 cents to $2.25 a share in over-the-counter trading.
600 INDICTED IN FRAUD RING: Hundreds of people - including doctors, lawyers, chiropractors and psychologists - have been indicted on insurance fraud and other charges involving millions of dollars in claims on staged auto accidents that prosecutors say was part of an organized crime ring with links to Russia. Nearly 600 indictments have been filed in connection with the Brooklyn fraud ring, Suffolk County's district attorney said Tuesday. In all the accidents the insurance company was State Farm, which allegedly was defrauded out of $48-million.
5 INDICTED IN LOOTING OF TRUST CO.: Five executives were charged Tuesday with looting $80-million from a trust company and a real estate title company in what officials described as one of Chicago's largest financial fraud cases. Thousands of trust accounts at the Independent Trust Corp., known as "Intrust," were skimmed and the money used to keep the floundering title insurance company afloat, the 17-count indictment said. Indicted were Jack L. Hargrove of Fort Lauderdale and four Illinoisans: Laurence W. Capriotti, Michel D. Thyfault, James R. Wallwin and George J. Stimac.
SCHICK 4-BLADER UNVEILED, SUED: Schick-Wilkinson Sword introduced the first four-blade razor Tuesday, and Gillette sued its rival for patent infringement. Schick, a division of Energizer Holdings, has said it plans to sell Quattro starting next month. But Gillette filed suit in Boston federal court alleging the new razor infringes on patents Gillette developed for its Mach3 system. Gillette has claimed it spent $750-million to develop Mach3.
IRS AUDITS AMSOUTH: AmSouth Bancorporation, a banking group in Alabama with a strong presence in Florida, said it's tax returns for 1998 and 1999 are being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is challenging the treatment of lease transactions the company entered into during those periods, AmSouth said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
TYCO CHARGES STAND: New York State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus refused Tuesday to throw out criminal charges against former Tyco International Ltd. general counsel Mark Belnick, who is accused of falsifying business records and taking an illegal $12-million bonus. Obus thus cleared the way for a trial in Manhattan as early as this year. Obus said he needed more time to consider dropping other charges.
MERRILL GETS McCANN BACK: Robert J. McCann is returning to Merrill Lynch as an executive vice president overseeing brokerage, research and money-management operations, Merrill said Tuesday. McCann, who became vice chairman of Axa Financial in June after leading Merrill's stock research department, returns to Merrill following an upheaval that saw the ouster of the firm's No. 2 executive, Thomas Patrick, after a clash with CEO E. Stanley O'Neal, as well as the retirement of Arshad Zakaria, whom Patrick had backed as the firm's next president.
FBI SEEKS HELP WITH MCI: The FBI issued a plea Tuesday for anyone with knowledge of improper call routing by MCI to contact the agency, which is taking part in a federal investigation of the long-distance carrier. In a brief statement, the FBI said it had conducted "numerous interviews" already on allegations that MCI - formerly WorldCom Inc. - had redirected calls to avoid paying high access fees. Competing phone companies have accused MCI of improperly shifting calls onto their lines and even into Canada.
