Feds open criminal investigation into Alcoa

In documents filed in U.S. District Court, federal prosecutors asked a judge to halt a federal civil lawsuit that accused Pittsburgh-based Alcoa of bribing officials through overseas shell companies to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments.

Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C., also known as Alba, in which the Bahrain government holds a 77 percent stake, is seeking more than $1 billion in damages from Alcoa and other affiliated defendants, according to a federal lawsuit filed last month.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

NEW YORK (AP) ‘ AT&T says it will pay an initial down payment of $1.3 billion to the Federal Communications Commission for its portion of wireless spectrum licenses it won in a government airwaves auction.

AT&T says it will pay the down payment, of which $500 million was paid prior to the start of the auction, within the next 10 business days, according to a regulatory filing Friday.