Article: FBI arrests senior HSBC banker accused of rigging multibillion-dollar deal

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FBI arrests senior HSBC banker accused of rigging multibillion-dollar deal

Rupert Neate in New York and Jill Treanor in London, 20 July 2016

Mark Johnson and a colleague allegedly defrauded clients and ‘manipulated the foreign exchange market to benefit themselves and their bank’

A senior HSBC banker has been arrested by the FBI as he attempted to board a transatlantic flight and charged him with fraudulently rigging a multibillion-dollar currency exchange deal.

Mark Johnson, a British citizen and HSBC’s global head of foreign exchange trading, and a colleague are accused of “defrauding clients” and alleged to have “corruptly manipulated the foreign exchange market to benefit themselves and their bank”.

He was arrested on Tuesday night shortly before he was due to fly to London from New York’s JFK airport, and was due to be formally charged by a judge at Brooklyn federal court later on Wednesday. He was later released on bail.

A second Briton, Stuart Scott, who was HSBC’s European head of foreign exchange trading in London until December 2014, is accused of the same crimes. A warrant was issued for Scott’s arrest.

They are the first people to be charged in connection with the US government’s long-running investigation into bankers’ alleged rigging of the $5.3tn (£4tn) per day forex market.

“The defendants allegedly betrayed their client’s confidence, and corruptly manipulated the foreign exchange market to benefit themselves and their bank,” said the US assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell. “This case demonstrates the [US Department of Justice’s] criminal division’s commitment to hold corporate executives, including at the world’s largest and most sophisticated institutions, responsible for their crimes.”

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Article: Asanko fires back after allegations from K2 Investment

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Asanko fires back after allegations from K2 Investment

MATTHEW KEEVIL, 20 July 2016

Asanko Gold (TSX: AKG; NYSE-MKT: AKG) has reported its inaugural production quarter at its Asanko gold mine in Ghana, but it is also busy countering criticism about its technical reporting from Toronto-based hedge fund K2 & Associates Investment Management. Asanko hit commercial production at its namesake operation in early April after completing the US$295-million development ahead of schedule. Asanko’s first phase of mining will focus on the Obotan project, which includes the Nkran pit and four satellite deposits.

This first phase of production is expected to total 2.34 million oz. over a 12.4-year mine life based on reserves of 2.5 million oz. gold hosted within 36.7 million tonnes grading 2.15 grams gold per tonne. Asanko is scheduled to produce 190,000 oz. gold annually.
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Article: Asanko Gold’s (TSE:AKG) Q2 Results Will Be One to Watch

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Asanko Gold’s (TSE:AKG) Q2 Results Will Be One to Watch

SmallCapPower, 19 July 2016

Asanko Gold Inc. (TSE:AKG) is a gold junior that seemed to have been doing everything right. Yet, a Toronto-based hedge fund recently questioned the calculation of the Ghana gold miner’s resource. Asanko has yet to issue any news in response to these claims, so the release of its second-quarter production and conference call on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, should be an event of great interest to its shareholders.

On June 29, 2016, the Financial Post reported that K2 & Associates Investment Management alleged that Asanko’s gold resources “don’t add up” and appear to be over-inflated by a factor of two. It must be noted that K2 has a short position in Asanko and, thus, has much to gain if the Company’s stock price were to fall.
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Article: Short seller Cohodes targets yet another Canadian firm: Exchange Income

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Short seller Cohodes targets yet another Canadian firm: Exchange Income

Jennifer Ablan, 05 July 2016

Short seller Marc Cohodes, who has famously bet against the shares of six Canadian-based companies including Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc and Home Capital Group Inc, said on Wednesday that he is targeting yet another Canadian firm – Exchange Income Corp.

Cohodes told Reuters that Exchange Income – a Winnipeg-based company focused on opportunities in aerospace and aviation services and equipment, and manufacturing – does not generate enough cash to pay the juicy dividend it provides investors. At about C$33 per share, Exchange Income commands a market capitalization of $1 billion.

Cohodes, who worked at a short-selling hedge fund but now raises chickens in California and invests his own money, has targeted Valeant, Intertain Group Ltd, Concordia International Corp, Home Capital, Equitable Group Inc and Badger Daylighting Ltd. Cohodes told Reuters last month that he is keeping his short position on the Canadian lender Home Capital despite a capital infusion from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc .

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Article: Israeli Businessman Nochi Dankner Found Guilty of Stock Manipulation

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Israeli Businessman Nochi Dankner Found Guilty of Stock Manipulation

Jasmin Gueta, 04 July 2016

Nochi Dankner, who was for a decade one of the most powerful business tycoons in Israel, was found guilty on Monday of stock manipulation and other securities-related offenses.

Broke tycoon ejected from Tel Aviv restaurant. In first testimony, Dankner denies role in alleged share manipulation. Nochi Dankner survives South America helicopter crash. The maximum punishment for the offenses is five years’ imprisonment.

In a 280-page decision, Judge Khaled Kabub of the Tel Aviv District Court found Dankner guilty of all the charges that had been brought against him, which centered on his manipulating the share price of his publicly traded IDB Holding Corporation ahead of a secondary offering of its shares in February 2012. Dankner consistently denied any wrongdoing. Continue reading “Article: Israeli Businessman Nochi Dankner Found Guilty of Stock Manipulation”

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