A former business owner has pleaded guilty to scamming the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Program to pay his employees.

Timothy Lynn Skinner pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Roanoke to theft of public money.

U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy says the 45-year-old resident submitted reports to the unemployment program falsely stating that his business, Tim's Machine Shop, had laid off employees.

The employees received about $30,000 in unemployment benefits while still working for Skinner's business. Skinner paid the workers the remainder of their regular wages in cash.

Heaphy says Skinner's business saw significant savings as a result of the scam.

Skinner faces up to 10 years in prison.

BP's compensation fund for Gulf oil spill victims has issued a final settlement payment to just one of the thousands of people and businesses waiting for checks, records show, and that $10 million payout went to a company after the oil giant intervened on its behalf.

BP won't identify the business, citing confidentiality, but acknowledges it lobbied for the settlement. The amount far exceeds smaller stopgap payments that some individuals and businesses have received while they wait for their own final settlements.

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility was set up in August to independently administer BP's $20 billion compensation fund in the aftermath of its April 20 oil well blowout off Louisiana.

As of this weekend, roughly 91,000 people and businesses had filed for final settlements, but the fund's administrator, Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, has said those checks won't start rolling out until February at the earliest. Thousands of people have received some money to tide them over until a final settlement amount is offered, but only one business listed as paid on the facility's website has so far received a check.

A BP spokeswoman called it "a unique situation in which an existing BP business partner and BP submitted a view on a specific claim" to the facility.

Verizon says it has filed a court challenge to new federal regulations that prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic flowing over their networks.

A divided Federal Communications Commission adopted the "network neutrality" rules last month. Verizon Communications Inc. filed the challenge Thursday in federal appeals court in the District of Columbia, it says.

The new rules prohibit phone and cable companies from favoring or discriminating against Internet content and services that travel over their networks — including online calling services such as Skype, Internet video services such as Netflix and other applications that compete with their core businesses.

In its court filing, Verizon argues that the FCC overstepped its authority in adopting the regulations.

The new rules are also expected to be challenged by Republicans in Congress.

A U.S. District Court judge said SAP AG owes Oracle Corp. interest on the $1.3 billion it has been ordered to pay Oracle for copyright infringement, Bloomberg reports.

Walldorf, Germany-based SAP said the interest works out to about $16.5 million according to the calculation ordered by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland.

Oracle, which has its headquarters in Redwood City, says it is owed $211.7 million in interest.

A jury in November ruled that SAP should pay Oracle $1.3 billion for allowing a now-defunct subsidiary to steal Oracle-owned software in an effort to lure Oracle customers away.

The verdict was the largest jury award of 2010, the largest ever for copyright infringement and the 23rd largest of all time for any jury verdict, according to Bloomberg data.

Bank of America Corp. has joined several other financial institutions in refusing to handle payments for WikiLeaks, the latest blow to the secret-releasing organization's efforts to continue operating under pressure from governments and the corporate world.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's move adds to similar actions by Mastercard Inc. and PayPal Inc. Though previous moves have prompted reprisals by hackers, Bank of America's site is as well-protected as they come, security experts say.

Its site was problem-free through midafternoon Saturday.

"This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments," the bank said in a statement Saturday. The move was first reported by The Charlotte Observer.

Earlier this month, Internet "hacktivists" operating under the label "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility in a Twitter message for causing technical problems at the MasterCard website after it ended its relationship with WikiLeaks. PayPal saw its website subject to an attack that slowed it down but did not significantly affect payments.

Bank of America's website offers access to customer accounts through its home page, but it could be a tough nut for hackers to crack, security experts say.

Struggling U.S. movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.(MGM) said Thursday its restructuring plan has been approved by a federal bankruptcy court, allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

Under the new plan, the company's lenders will exchange nearly five billion U.S. dollars in outstanding debt, including accrued interest and fees, for most of the equity in MGM. Spyglass Entertainment Partners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum will become the company's new owners.

The approval is expected to end turmoil and uncertainty that have plagued the movie studio for 18 months.