Today Finland’s Neste Oil Oyj, the country’s only refiner, also was asked to provide information to the investigators.

At issue is the manner in which oil prices are reported to Platts and the way Platts then calculates the spot price of crude. The process is very similar to the way that Libor rates were generated: oil traders report price data on physical transactions to Platts, from which the pricing energy whips up a spot price. As with Libor rate setting, reporting is voluntary and it is easy for traders to hide the actual prices paid for crude. Platts could reject a price that it believes is false.

This is a big deal because the crude market trades about $3.4 trillion in oil every year. The companies that already have been asked for information are likely just the tip of the iceberg. Every oil market participant deals with every other participant, and it is very likely to lead to a much wider investigation as the EC trolls through the documents it has gathered already.

The lack of transparency in setting the spot price of crude could be repaired by requiring traders to report actual transaction data in the same way equities traders now do. Oil traders have resisted any such effort in the past, most recently last September.

But this latest probe, because it seeks information from more companies, could stiffen the spines of regulators that have been reluctant to face down the big oil traders.

The incident should result in the dismissal of long-time Bloomberg editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler. In response to the scandal, he wrote, “Our reporters should not have access to any data considered proprietary. I am sorry they did. The error is inexcusable.” That set of errors happened on his watch.

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department are investigating the practice. It is entirely possible that Bloomberg reporters collected sensitive data illegally, which would undermine the reputation of Bloomberg reporters among its terminal customers and financial media consumers in general.

The Commission proposes to establish an air-ground mobile broadband service, using a ground-based network to communicate with planes, by taking advantage of technical innovations to expand sharing of certain spectrum among users. Expanded availability of in-flight Wi-Fi will help meet demand from travelers to connect to a full range of communications services while flying in the contiguous United States.

More options for in-flight broadband are likely to increase competition, improve the quality of service, and lead to lower prices. Improved connectivity benefits business and leisure travelers alike in their desire for ubiquitous broadband access to keep in touch with work, family, and friends while flying. The Commission proposes to establish this air-ground mobile broadband service as a secondary allocation in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, the same band used by satellite companies for Fixed-Satellite Service (FSS) uplinks on a primary basis and by certain Federal services on a secondary basis. The service would be required to protect primary FSS in the band from harmful interference and to coordinate with other users in the band.

Bart Chilton just gave a Bloomberg TV appearance calling for the CFTC and other regulators to look into regulating Bitcoin. Again, this is not a formal regulation as of yet. It is an inquiry into whether (or how) Bitcoin actually should be regulated.

Chilton told the “Bloomberg Surveillance” audience on Bloomberg TV that Bitcoin needs to be given a hard look by the United States and other nations and their regulatory agencies. He called Bitcoin a shadow currency. He has said that he is not 100% certain that Bitcoin needs to be regulated. FoxBusiness also ran a detailed effort about what the CFTC is investigating as well.

We recently said that Bitcoin’s trading crash at Mt. Gox is turning Bitcoin into BS-Coin. If Bitcoin falls under harsh regulation, it will not just BS-Coin. It would like be No-Coin.

As you might imagine, this is not exactly going to drive the value of Bitcoin higher, as you can see from the MtGox.com price graph below. The prices are as follows:

• Last price:$104.60000
• High:$122.00000
• Low:$97.52000
• Volume:150,646 BTC
• Weighted Avg:$108.42015

The officials do agree that the payment should include the $1 billion that the Public Utilities Commission already has ordered the company to pay to overhaul its pipelines. The state wants to allow PG&E to pay the $1.25 billion to improve the safety of the rest of the company’s pipeline system. San Bruno officials want the $1.25 billion to be paid to into the state’s general fund as a fine.

The company, of course, chafes at the size of the payment, regardless of where the money ends up. Perhaps that is because it has set aside only $200 million to pay for possible penalties.

PG&E’s CEO said yesterday that the company already has paid out more than $1.5 billion in pipeline-related costs since the 2010 blast. The company, which has publicly acknowledged blame for the explosion, denies in court filings that it failed to follow regulatory and safety requirements.

The California Public Utilities Commission may follow either the state or the local recommendation, or it may prepare one of its own. No date for a ruling has been set.

Qatar Airways owns five of the planes and Air India owns six. Ethiopian Airways, which owns four Dreamliners, recommenced commercial flight of the aircraft last week. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, which combined own 24 Dreamliners, have estimated their losses due to the grounding at $110 million.

The actual amount of compensation for Air India and Qatar Airways has not been announced. Under the contract terms with Air India, Boeing cannot be held liable for loss of use for a problem with the aircraft, but an Air India official said that grounding the entire fleet was not foreseen and that Boeing had agreed to “compensate Air India for the [losses] it suffered.” Presumably the company has reached a similar deal with Qatar Airways.

Boeing’s shares are inactive in the premarket this morning, having closed Friday at $93.74 in a 52-week range of $66.82 to $93.95. The 52-week high was posted on Friday.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late on Thursday that it filed suit against Chemed and against its hospice subsidiaries. The subsidiaries being sued are Vitas Hospice Services and Vitas Healthcare, with the allegations being over false Medicare billings for hospice services.

Investors need to tread softly here because this could turn into criminal situation if the allegations are proven. The DOJ alleges that Vitas:

…knowingly submitted or caused the submission of false claims to Medicare for crisis care services that were not necessary, not actually provided, or not performed in accordance with Medicare requirements.

Another instance is even worse if it is true. The DOJ said:

In addition, the government’s complaint alleges that Chemed and Vitas knowingly submitted or caused the submission of false claims for hospice care for patients who were not terminally ill.

Shareholders are reacting to claims that Chemed and Vitas violated the False Claims Act and that the companies misspent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. If proven, that goes well beyond just civil penalties for the executives who participated. Shareholders do need to know that the DOJ ended its release by saying, “The claims asserted against Chemed and Vitas are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.”

The DOJ said:

The companies allegedly paid bonuses to staff based on the number of patients enrolled in the program and based on patients who were admitted for longer lengths of stay, and took adverse employment actions against marketing representatives who did not meet monthly hospice admissions goals.”

Vitas is the largest for-profit hospice chain in the United States, with hospice services in 18 states. Chemed acquired Vitas back in 2004. Chemed’s shares are down 18% at $66.60, and the 2 million shares traded before noon are already more than 10 times the 150,000 or so shares traded on an average day. After the drop, Chemed is worth only about $1.23 billion, and its 52-week trading range is $54.06 to $82.00.

Arena made its announcement last night when it reported first-quarter earnings. The company said it is “currently evaluating the best approach for submitting at a later date.”

Belviq is one of three new weight-loss drugs from different makers, and was the first new medicine of its kind to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 13 years. Qsymia, from Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) and Contrave from Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) are the others. Qsymia has also received FDA approval while Orexigen is expected to reapply for Contrave approval later this year or early next.

Arena is likely to have withdrawn its application in order to avoid being rejected by the European regulators. None of the three competing weight-loss drugs has been approved for use in Europe.

Shares of Arena are getting hammered in premarket trading this morning, down about 14.4% to $7.19, in a 52-week range of $2.32 to $13.50.

Shares of Vivus are up 2.7%, at $13.30 in a 52-week range of $9.86 to $31.21.

Qatar Airways owns five of the planes and Air India owns six. Ethiopian Airways, which owns four Dreamliners, recommenced commercial flight of the aircraft last week. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, which combined own 24 Dreamliners, have estimated their losses due to the grounding at $110 million.

Boeing has found a fix for the battery problem that led to the grounding of all its 787s, but the company still does not know the cause. But that does not appear to be slowing down Boeing’s marketing machine. The company yesterday began promoting a new version of its 777 twin-aisle, two-engine passenger/cargo plane.

The new version of the 777, called the 777X, is said to have a flight range of 9,500 nautical miles and would be the longest-range aircraft in the world. Boeing is talking with potential customers about requirements for several versions of the new models. The plane is Boeing’s response to the latest large plane offering from Airbus, the A350-1000, which has a range of up to around 8,400 nautical miles.

Boeing’s shares are up 0.2% in premarket trading this morning, at $92.38 in a 52-week range of $66.82 to $93.38.

A non-prosecution agreement means that there will be no criminal charges filed against the company. The SEC even said here that it has decided not to charge the company under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act because of its prompt reporting of the violations on its own initiative. Other reasons cited were the completeness of the information provided and the real-time cooperation with the SEC’s investigation, which saved the agency substantial time and resources.

The SEC went on to say that this NPA is the first that the SEC has entered involving Foreign Corrupt Practices Act misconduct. In parallel criminal proceedings, the Justice Department entered into an NPA with Ralph Lauren in which the company will pay an $882,000 penalty.

The bribe payments and gifts to Argentine officials were shown by the SEC to come to a total of $593,000 during a four-year period. Ralph Lauren agreed to pay $593,000 in disgorgement and $141,845.79 in prejudgment interest. It is almost surprising that shares are down even 1.7% at $166.25 on the day.

FULL SEC NOTE