December 2014 – Financial Treason & Crime

Russian activist Alexei Navalny faces 10 years for “fraud”

Deutsche Welle, 19 December 2014

A Russian activist is facing a total of 10 years in prison on fraud charges. Prosecutors asked a Moscow court to convict Alexei Navalny who had already been handed a suspended sentence on embezzlement charges. Wrapping up their closing arguments in a Moscow courthouse on Friday, prosecutors called on the presiding judge to convict Alexei Navalny, and his brother, Oleg, (photo) for fraud.

“The guilt of the defendant has been fully proven,” prosecutor Nadezhda Ignatova told the court.

She called on the judge to sentence Alexei Navalny to 10 years in prison for stealing 30 million rubles (414,000 euros, $500,000) from an affiliate of French cosmetics company Yves Rocher and another firm between 2008 and 2012. Continue reading “Article: Russian activist Alexei Navalny faces 10 years for “fraud””

Fails-to-deliver, short selling, and market quality

Veljko Fotak, Vikas Raman, Pradeep K. Yadav

Journal of Financial Economics, 1 December 2014

We investigate the aggregate market quality impact of equity shares that fail to deliver (hereafter “FTDs”). For a sample of 1,492 NYSE stocks over a 42-month period from 2005 to 2008, greater FTDs lead to higher liquidity and pricing efficiency, and their impact is similar to our estimate of delivered short sales. Furthermore, during the operative period of a Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) order mandating stock borrowing prior to short sales, the securities affected display relatively lower liquidity and higher pricing errors. Finally, we do not find any evidence that FTDs caused price distortions or the failure of financial firms during the 2008 financial crisis.

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Month: December 2014

Article: Russian activist Alexei Navalny faces 10 years for “fraud”

Article: Fails-to-deliver, short selling, and market quality