Ashcroft's name as being in the DEA's files, although it later emerged that Ashcroft was one of five million people they routinely had files on. Randel claimed that the DEA was ignoring Ashcroft in its investigation of money laundering, allegations which The Times newspaper later printed on its front page. However, later investigation by various British media sources from information released under the US Freedom of Information Act showed that at no point did the DEA personally investigate Ashcroft. After his second successful nomination to the Lords and his ascent to the house, Ashcroft sued The Times in the High Court. The two parties eventually reached an out of court agreement which resulted in Rupert Murdoch agreeing to The Times printing a full front page retraction of its allegations. Ashcroft later recounted his own side of the story in his book, Dirty Politics, Dirty Times. Business style In 2003, Ashcroft was criticised by the High Court judge, Mr Justice Peter Smith in Rock (Nominees) Ltd v RCO (Holdings) Plc. Smith condemned Ashcroft's tactics in relation to the takeover of cleaning company RCO by the Danish firm ISS. Smith said, Smith went on to say that Ashcroft "was not content with a small £250,000 profit earned in a matter of weeks. He now seeks to extract millions." Ashcroft responded by telling journalists that "being accused of blackmail by a man who states that speculation has no part to play in the City is rather like finding that you are sharing a railway carriage with a drunk. It's best not to take too much notice." In 2008, The Economist ran an article on the web of loans and court cases surrounding Belize Bank (owned by Ashcroft), a private hospital company called Universal Health Services and the government of Belize. It was alleged that Belize Bank had wrongly appropriated monies sent from the government of Venezuela for housing purposes to settle debts relating to loans to UHS and illegally guaranteed in secret by the Belizean premier. The Guardian said that sources claimed the bills were paid by a company owned by Ashcroft in Belize, meaning that he did not pay VAT. The newspaper estimated that the total VAT bill could have totalled more than £40,000; however, paying the bill in this way removed the legal obligation to pay VAT. In 2012, BBC's Panorama programme alleged that Lord Ashcroft continued to control the Caribbean