to attack on oil tankers and ponders response …...2019/06/15  · 2017, there were calls around...

VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,359 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2019

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Harvey Weinstein used them.So did R. Kelly, Bill O’Reilly andmany less famous men.

When these men were accusedof sexual abuse or harassment,they would use a legal tool thatwas practically magical in itspower to make their problems dis-appear: a nondisclosure agree-ment. That, along with a substan-tial payment, would be enough toensure that no one outside a hand-ful of people would ever knowwhat they had been accused of.

Such agreements have been arequirement for years in virtually

every out-of-court settlement forsexual misconduct. But after the#MeToo movement took off in late2017, there were calls around thecountry to restrict or ban suchagreements, and thunderous out-rage over their secrecy.

But almost two years on, as thelegislative sessions in manystates draw to a close, this much isclear: The N.D.A. has not goneaway.

“It’s business as usual,” said Su-san E. Loggans, a lawyer in Chi-cago who has negotiated hun-dreds of settlements, including anumber for women who accusedMr. Kelly of victimizing them.“We’re still using them all the

time.”Since the beginning of 2018,

lawmakers in at least 26 statesand Washington have introducedbills to restrict nondisclosureagreements in instances of sexualharassment and assault, accord-ing to the National Conference ofState Legislatures and the Na-tional Women’s Law Center. Therehas also been federal legislationintroduced in Congress and a Par-

liamentary inquiry in the UnitedKingdom.

But of the 12 states that havepassed new laws, only one, NewJersey, has gone so far as to effec-tively negate these N.D.A.’s, bymaking them unenforceable whenvictims break them.

The gears are turning slowlybecause of friction between twocompeting goals: stopping tomor-row’s harassment from happen-ing and giving today’s victims asmuch leverage as possible.

Supporters of a ban on confi-dential settlements say they allowharassers and abusers to prey on

‘Business as Usual’ on Secret Settlements, Even in Era of #MeTooBy ELIZABETH A. HARRIS Nondisclosure Accords

Defy Reform Efforts

Continued on Page A16

WASHINGTON — Two nights,four hours, so, so many candi-dates: The first Democratic presi-dential debates will be like noth-ing we’ve ever seen. A former vicepresident on stage with a self-helpauthor. Three female candidateson one night, three female candi-dates the next — more than haveever been on the debate stage atonce. A 37-year-old squaring offagainst two septuagenarians.

With Friday’s announcement ofthe lineups for the debates, set forJune 26 and 27, the political stakesand intriguing subplots of the2020 Democratic primary racecame into sharper focus. Candi-dates, strategists and party offi-cials quickly began analyzing thelineups: Is it better to debate onthe first night, even if most of thetop-tier candidates are on the sec-ond night? Or is it better to debateon the second night and try todraw blood against one of thosetop candidates?

The first night will be SenatorElizabeth Warren’s to lose, as shefaces off against nine lower-polling candidates desperate forbreakout moments. But the sec-ond night is potentially more con-sequential, a showdown amongfour of the biggest names in the2020 presidential race: Biden,Sanders, Buttigieg, Harris.

Former Vice President JosephR. Biden Jr. and Senator BernieSanders of Vermont will share a

A Lot at StakeFor DemocratsOn Debate List

This article is by Reid J. Epstein,Lisa Lerer and Matt Stevens.

Continued on Page A16 Much work was done on the currency showing Harriet Tubman before it was shelved. Page B1.No Change for a $20

BEIJING — A trip to the sauna.A golf club membership. Luxurywatches. Neatly packed bricks ofred Chinese bills worth $220,000.

The bribes lined the pockets ofhealth care officials across China.Their purpose: to get public hos-pitals to buy millions of dollars’worth of sophisticated medicalequipment made by foreign com-panies like General Electric,Siemens, Philips and Toshiba.

A review of dozens of Chinesecourt cases and internal corporatedocuments as well as interviewswith company insiders showedhow foreign firms have becomedeeply enmeshed in the corrup-tion pervading China’s health careindustry. The New York Times re-viewed more than a dozen cases inwhich employees of G.E., Philips

and Siemens testified to bribingmeagerly paid public hospital offi-cials. In many other cases, West-ern companies signed off on dealsinvolving third-party contractorswho paid bribes and sought kick-backs. Sometimes, the companiescontinued to sign off on deals in-volving contractors who admittedto bribery in court.

In one case filed in 2016, a hospi-tal administrator named Wu Da-gong was offered more than a $1million by two G.E. sales repre-sentatives to secure the sale of aCT scanner for $4 million. Mr. Wualso took a bribe — the $220,000 in

bricks of bills packed in a suitcase— from a G.E. sales contractor,who walked with Mr. Wu to his carand left the suitcase in the trunk.Mr. Wu was sentenced to 15 years.

Siemens, G.E., Philips and oth-ers say hospitals often force themto sell through a series of middle-men, where much of the briberytakes place. They say they complywith Chinese and internationallaws and terminate employeesand contractors who they find outare directly involved with wrong-doing.

“We are committed to integrity,compliance and the rule of law inevery country in which we dobusiness,” said Tara DiJulio, aG.E. spokeswoman.

China’s nearly 1.4 billion peopleultimately bear the cost of the cor-ruption. Salespeople inflatedprices for equipment to fund

Selling CT Scanners With Bricks of Bills in ChinaBy ALEXANDRA STEVENSON

and SUI-LEE WEECulture of Corruption

Enmeshes ForeignDevice Makers

Continued on Page A9

LONDON — European authori-ties blamed Russian groups onFriday for disinformation cam-paigns designed to depress turn-out and sway public opinion in lastmonth’s European Union elec-tions, an official accounting thatunderscored how Russian inter-ference has not abated and thatFacebook and other tech plat-forms remain vulnerable to med-dling.

The preliminary review by theEuropean Commission and thebloc’s foreign policy and securityarm found that Russian-linkedgroups and other nonstate actorshad worked to undermine credi-bility in the European Unionthrough Facebook, Twitter andYouTube. Officials said new regu-lations might be needed to forceinternet platforms to do more tostop the spread of deliberatelyfalse information.

“The evidence collected re-vealed a continued and sustaineddisinformation activity by Rus-sian sources aiming to suppressturnout and influence voter pref-erences,” the report said.

The report was the first official

substantiation by the EuropeanCommission of the role that Rus-sians and other groups played indisinformation in the May elec-tions, which many investigators,academics and advocacy groupshad warned about. It was a re-minder of how active Russiansand others continue to be inspreading divisive content onlineto inflame and stoke electoratesall over the world, a strategy thatthe Kremlin had pioneered in the2016 American presidential elec-tion.

Since then, Facebook, Twitterand others have vowed to clampdown on foreign interference andhave worked on new technologyand other methods to stop outsidemeddling during elections. Butthe report on Friday highlightedhow much work the platforms stillneeded to do to stay a step aheadof disinformation networks. Thereport also has implications forAmerican officials ahead of the2020 presidential election, with anincreasing number of smaller,harder-to-detect domestic groupsadopting Russia-like strategies to

Report Points Finger at RussiaOver E.U. Vote Disinformation

By ADAM SATARIANO

Continued on Page A9

WASHINGTON — The Trumpadministration began an urgentdebate on Friday over how to re-spond to what officials say hasgrown into a shadow war withIran, after attacks on oil tankers inthe Persian Gulf that appearedmeant to assert Iranian controlover one of the world’s most stra-tegic shipping lanes at a time ofheightened tension with theUnited States.

President Trump put Iran onnotice that the United Stateswould push back but offered nodetails and suggested that he wasready to engage with the Iranians,who denied responsibility for theattacks, whenever they are pre-pared to talk.

But tension remained high, witha senior official confirming thatIran had fired a surface-to-air mis-sile on Thursday at an Americandrone flying over the Gulf ofOman, where the attacks on thetankers occurred. The episodetook place early that morning, be-tween the distress calls from thetwo ships crippled by explosionsthat day.

Officials at the Pentagonweighed tactical responses to theattacks, like beefing up the securi-ty around tankers, or more drasticmoves, like deploying as many as6,000 additional Navy, Air Forceand Army personnel to thePersian Gulf.

One of the two tankers hit by theexplosions on Thursday, the Japa-nese-owned Kokuka Courageous,

U.S. Puts Iran on NoticeAnd Ponders ResponseTo Attack on Oil Tankers

Continued on Page A10

An American video of a tanker.AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

President Offers toTalk With Tehran

This article is by Mark Landler,Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt.

WASHINGTON — To Presi-dent Trump, the question ofculpability in the explosions thatcrippled two oil tankers in theGulf of Oman is no question atall. “It’s probably got essentiallyIran written all over it,” he de-clared on Friday.

The question is whether thewriting is clear to everyone else.For any president, accusinganother country of an act of warpresents an enormous challengeto overcome skepticism at homeand abroad. But for a presidentknown for falsehoods and crisis-churning bombast, the test ofcredibility appears far moredaunting.

For two and a half years inoffice, Mr. Trump has spun out somany misleading or untrue state-ments about himself, his ene-mies, his policies, his politics, hisfamily, his personal story, hisfinances and his interactionswith staff that even his ownformer communications directoronce said “he’s a liar” and manyAmericans long ago concludedthat he cannot be trusted.

Fact-checking Mr. Trump is afull-time occupation in Washing-ton, and in no other circumstanceis faith in a president’s word asvital as in matters of war andpeace. The public grew cynicalabout presidents and intelligenceafter George W. Bush’s invasionof Iraq based on false accusa-tions of weapons of mass de-struction, and the doubt spilledover to Barack Obama when heaccused Syria of gassing its ownpeople. As Mr. Trump confrontsIran, he carries the burden oftheir history and his own.

“The problem is twofold forthem,” said John E. McLaughlin,a deputy C.I.A. director duringthe Iraq war. “One is people willalways rightly question intelli-gence because it’s not an exactscience. But the most importantproblem for them is their owncredibility and contradictions.”

The task is all the more formi-dable for Mr. Trump, who himselfhas assailed the reliability of

NEWS ANALYSIS

Trump’s Foggy TruthMeets Fog of War

By PETER BAKER

Continued on Page A10

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief execu-tive, is known for never backing down.Now she’s facing huge protests. PAGE A6

INTERNATIONAL A4-12

‘Good Fighter’ Faces Big FightNo, the workplace still isn’t equal. Weoffer a handbook to help the workingwoman navigate it.

THIS WEEKEND

Special SectionSex, drugs and despair, but also darkhumor and tender romance in a compli-cated teenage drama. A review. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-7

‘Euphoria’ on the Edge

At 14, Alma Deutscher of Vienna ispreparing to perform solos at CarnegieHall that she composed herself. PAGE A8

‘New Mozart’? No, She’s Herself

Eight months before the Iowa caucuses,revelers came to Des Moines to cele-brate Pride and to hear candidates dis-cuss issues that matter to them. PAGE A13

NATIONAL A13-17

Full of Pride, and ListeningThe hiring of a new coach along withsome risky trades, including one thatbrought in Kawhi Leonard, paid off asToronto won its first N.B.A. champi-onship. PAGE B7

SPORTSSATURDAY B7-12

The Raptors’ Right Moves

Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar afteronline threats. But the hate speech hasfollowed them to India. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

No Escape From FacebookBabies fell for his corny humor, and ourcomedy critic stuck with what worked.Then his audience grew up. PAGE C1

Bad Jokes? Well, Dad Jokes

After his one-under-par 70 on Thursday,Tiger Woods faltered in his back nine onFriday but kept himself in play with aneven-par finish at the United StatesOpen. PAGE B7

Woods Stays in the Mix

Pramila Jayapal PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

The chief prosecutor in St. Louis wentafter the establishment. Her adversar-ies have turned the tables. PAGE A17

Enemies in High Places

RONALD KABUUBI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A health worker at the border of Uganda and Congo, where an Ebola outbreak began, screened for symptoms on Friday. Page A4.On Alert in Uganda

Late EditionToday, some sunshine, breezy after-noon, warmer, high 82. Tonight,cloudy, showers late, low 68. Tomor-row, showers or storms, high 81.Weather map appears on Page C8.

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