Month: November 2014

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Article: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation and Paul Averback by Law Offices Bernard M. Gross, P.C. — NYMX

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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation and Paul Averback by Law Offices Bernard M. Gross, P.C. — NYMX

GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 25 November 2014

The lawsuit filed against the Company and Paul Averback, the president, director and chairman of the Company, alleges violations of the federal securities laws based on their failure to disclose material information affecting the Phase 3 clinical trials for NYMOX’s proprietary drug NX-1207 for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). NYMOX is engaged in the research and development of therapeutics and diagnostics, with an emphasis on the products for the unmet needs of the aging population. NX-1207 showed positive results for the treatment of BPH in Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in the U.S. The Company regularly provided positive updates on the Phase 3 clinical trials. However, in a surprise to the market, and contrary to the positive statement concerning the NX02-0017 and NX02-0018 trials, defendants disclosed on November 2, 2014 that the Company’s two Phase 3 U.S. studies of NX-1207 had to be halted because the drug failed to meets its primary endpoints for efficacy. On November 3, 2014, defendants held a conference call with analysts to explain the failure and on that conference call disclosed to the market for the first time, among other things, the difficulties they faced in enrolling men for the trials and the subjective nature of the measurement of the drug’s success. The market’s reaction was immediate and dramatic as the price of NYMOX common stock fell 82% to close at $.93 on unprecedented trading volume of 19.6 million shares. The Company’s U.S. BPH program is currently on hold, pending further evaluation of data.
Continue reading “Article: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation and Paul Averback by Law Offices Bernard M. Gross, P.C. — NYMX”

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Article: Goldman, Morgan Stanley And JP Morgan Named In Commodity Manipulation Investigation

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Goldman, Morgan Stanley And JP Morgan Named In Commodity Manipulation Investigation

Maggie McGrath

Forbes, 19 November 2014

A two-year investigation conducted by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has accused Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan of manipulating commodity prices. In a nearly-400 page report released Wednesday evening, the subcommittee says that these banks have become “heavily involved with” the commodities markets and increasing risks to financial stability, industry and consumers.

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Article: Common currency: a forex scandal that epitomises the blindness in the banking crisis

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Common currency: a forex scandal that epitomises the blindness in the banking crisis

Andre Spicer, 16 November 2014

The biggest open secret in the financial world has been confirmed. Regulators in the UK, the US and Switzerland have announced massive fines for some of the world’s largest banks for a manipulation of global currency markets that in its callous ubiquity says so much about the banking behaviours that sparked the global financial crisis.

Fines levied by the UK regulator add up to £1.1 billion. The US regulator announced fines of $1.4 billion. Banks hit by these fines include UBS, Citi, JP Morgan, HSBC and RBS. Barclays is yet to come to a settlement on the back of the investigations.

The probe uncovered individuals traders within large banks who were working together in trading clubs which had names you would expect from the “ruthless narcissists” on BBC TV show, The Apprentice. These included “the players”, “the 3 musketeers” and “1 team, 1 dream”.

These clubs worked together to influence the WM Reuters 4pm fix – essentially the official number used to fix currency rates. It shapes everything from how much we pay for currency when we go overseas to how much our pension fund pays when it wants to buy into an offshore investment. This is one of the core numbers in global finance.

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Filing: Overstock.com v Goldman Sachs & Co

Filing

Overstock.com v Goldman Sachs & Co

13 November 2014

Often, it is the federal courts, applying federal law, that wrestle with claims of cross-state securities fraud involving a nationally-listed stock. Here, plaintiffs of various states allege defendants, securities firms headquartered on the East Coast, violated California and New Jersey law through their involvement in massive naked short selling of Overstock shares. The trial court sustained demurrers to plaintiffs’ New Jersey Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) claim without leave to amend and subsequently granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ California market manipulation claims.

PDF (61 pages): Overstock.com v Goldman Sachs & Co

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Article: OVERSTOCK COM INC v. GOLDMAN SACHS CO

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OVERSTOCK COM INC v. GOLDMAN SACHS CO

Often, it is the federal courts, applying federal law, that wrestle with claims of cross-state securities fraud involving a nationally-listed stock.   Here, plaintiffs of various states allege defendants, securities firms headquartered on the East Coast, violated California and New Jersey law through their involvement in massive naked short selling of Overstock shares.

The trial court sustained demurrers to plaintiffs’ New Jersey Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) claim without leave to amend and subsequently granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ California market manipulation claims.

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Article: Regulators fine global banks $4.3 billion in currency investigation

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Regulators fine global banks $4.3 billion in currency investigation

Kirstin Ridley, Joshua Franklin, Aruna Viswanatha, 12 November 2014

Regulators fined six major banks a total of $4.3 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market, following a yearlong global investigation.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and Bank of America Corp all faced penalties resulting from the inquiry, which has put the largely unregulated $5-trillion-a-day market on a tighter leash, accelerated the push to automate trading and ensnared the Bank of England.

Authorities accused dealers of sharing confidential information about client orders and coordinating trades to boost their own profits. The foreign exchange benchmark they allegedly manipulated is used by asset managers and corporate treasurers to value their holdings.

Dealers used code names to identify clients without naming them and swapped information in online chatrooms with pseudonyms such as “the players”, “the 3 musketeers” and “1 team, 1 dream.” Those who were not involved were belittled, and traders used obscene language to congratulate themselves on quick profits made from their scams, authorities said.

Wednesday’s fines bring total penalties for benchmark manipulation to more than $10 billion over two years. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority levied the biggest penalty in the history of the City of London, $1.77 billion, against five of the lenders.

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Article: Six banks fined £2.6bn by regulators over forex failings

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Six banks fined £2.6bn by regulators over forex failings

BBC NEws , 12 November 2014

Six banks have been collectively fined £2.6bn by UK and US regulators over their traders’ attempted manipulation of foreign exchange rates. HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss bank UBS and US banks JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America have all been fined.

A separate probe into Barclays is continuing. The fines were issued by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and two US regulators.

The country’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued fines of $1.4bn to five banks, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) added $950m in further fines to three lenders. Separately, the Swiss regulator, FINMA, has penalised UBS 134m Swiss francs.

Barclays, which had been expected to announce a similar deal to the other banks, said it would not be settling at this time.

“After discussions with other regulators and authorities, we have concluded that it is in the interests of the company to seek a more general coordinated settlement,” it said in a statement.

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Article: Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC

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Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC

Rupert Hargreaves, 10 November 2014

The godfather of value investing, Benjamin Graham, made it quite clear that the process of investing is nothing like speculation: “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return.” On the other hand, speculation is more akin to gambling, with no return guaranteed.

With this in mind, it’s easy to arrive at the conclusion that banks, which rely on leverage and trading to make a living, can never be deemed true ‘investments’ due to the speculative nature of their businesses. And this is the reason why I’m staying away from banks like Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS), HSBC (LSE: HSBA) and Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN). Continue reading “Article: Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC”

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Article: ARBUTUS BIOPHARMA (F.K.A TEKMIRA PHARMACEUTICALS) – GLAUCUS RESEARCH

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ARBUTUS BIOPHARMA (F.K.A TEKMIRA PHARMACEUTICALS) – GLAUCUS RESEARCH

Bonitas Research, 10 November 2014

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ: TKMR) (“Tekmira” or the “Company”) is a Vancouver-based biopharmaceutical
company focused on developing RNA-interference (“RNAi”) delivery technology using the Company’s proprietary lipid
nanoparticle (“LNP”) delivery platform. In the last three months, Tekmira’s share price has nearly doubled because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) temporarily lifted a clinical hold on the Company’s anti-Ebola RNAi therapeutic (“TKM Ebola”) to allow the drug’s administration to Ebola infected patients in emergency situations. Continue reading “Article: ARBUTUS BIOPHARMA (F.K.A TEKMIRA PHARMACEUTICALS) – GLAUCUS RESEARCH”

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Article: $50K wrapped in newspaper, computer with 2 hard drives, diamonds hidden in toothpaste tube: Trial of former UBS executive dredges up Swiss banks’ shady past

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$50K wrapped in newspaper, computer with 2 hard drives, diamonds hidden in toothpaste tube: Trial of former UBS executive dredges up Swiss banks’ shady past

Reuters, 3 November 2014

From bundles of cash inside scraps of newspaper to setting up shell companies, the trial in Florida of a former UBS executive is a reminder of the extreme methods some Swiss bankers used to hide clients’ cash.

Raoul Weil, 54, is the highest ranking Swiss banker to be arrested in the United States and prosecutors are seeking to paint him as a facilitator of efforts that helped conceal up to US$20 billion in taxpayers’ assets in secret offshore accounts.

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