April 2021 – Page 13 – Financial Treason & Crime

04/10/202104/10/2021

Article: Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them

Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them

ARAB NEWS, 10 April 2021

RIYADH: A money laundering gang in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to a total of 106 years in prison and issued a fine of SR1.08 million ($288,000).

Around SR5 million was seized from the gang and nearly SR2 million was confiscated from their bank accounts, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Five citizens obtained seven commercial registers to import foodstuffs, opened bank accounts, and handed them over to 16 residents of Arab nationality with the aim of depositing illegal sums of money and transferring them abroad, the Public Prosecution said. Continue reading “Article: Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them”

04/09/202104/17/2021

Article: Boat-Buying Ponzi Schemer Admits Luring Investors

Article - Media, Publications

Boat-Buying Ponzi Schemer Admits Luring Investors

Brian Dowling, 09 April 2021

A self-professed venture capitalist from Boston admitted Thursday to duping investors with promises of easy, no-risk profits as part of a Ponzi-like fraud scheme that prosecutors say netted him a powerboat.

Tanmaya Kabra pled guilty to four counts of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper under a deal with prosecutors, who have agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the federal guidelines. Judge Casper scheduled Kabra’s sentencing for Aug. 30. Continue reading “Article: Boat-Buying Ponzi Schemer Admits Luring Investors”

04/09/2021

Article: Robinhood Faces 458% Spike in Crypto Customers–Massive Increase from 1.7 Million to 9.5 Million in Q1 of 2021

Article - Media, Publications

Robinhood Faces 458% Spike in Crypto Customers–Massive Increase from 1.7 Million to 9.5 Million in Q1 of 2021

Joen Coronel, 09 April 2021

On Thursday, Apr. 8, Robinhood announced a staggering surge in the number of its customers who engage in cryptocurrency trading. The financial services company which was founded on Apr. 18, 2013, has recorded that 9.5 million people have used the platform during the first quarter of this year.

The said number shoots up to a stupendous 458% increase in users, which only accounts for 1.7 million in 2020’s Q4.

How Robinhood Sudden Became Popular in Crypto Trading Continue reading “Article: Robinhood Faces 458% Spike in Crypto Customers–Massive Increase from 1.7 Million to 9.5 Million in Q1 of 2021”

04/09/2021

Article: Robinhood Says 9.5 Million People Traded Crypto on Its App in Q1

Article - Media, Publications

Robinhood Says 9.5 Million People Traded Crypto on Its App in Q1

Will Gottsegen, 09 April 2021

The online brokerage service Robinhood said on Thursday that 9.5 million of its customers traded cryptocurrency on its platform in Q1 of 2021.

That’s up from just 1.7 million in Q4 of last year, a 458% spike.

In a blog post, the company chalked up the numbers to crypto’s growing “popularity”: the global market cap of all cryptocurrencies has doubled in the past three months to over $2 trillion. Continue reading “Article: Robinhood Says 9.5 Million People Traded Crypto on Its App in Q1”

04/09/202104/12/2021

Article: Financial Tyranny: Footing The Tax Bill For The Government’s Fiscal Insanity

Article - Media, Publications

Financial Tyranny: Footing The Tax Bill For The Government’s Fiscal Insanity

TYLER DURDEN, 09 April 2021

“We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape we will be smashed in inflation.”- Herbert Hoover

We’re not living the American dream. We’re living a financial nightmare.. Continue reading “Article: Financial Tyranny: Footing The Tax Bill For The Government’s Fiscal Insanity”

04/09/202104/10/2021

Article: Rich Coleman’s dismissal of money laundering warning was baseless: Mountie

Article - Media, Publications

Rich Coleman’s dismissal of money laundering warning was baseless: Mountie

Graeme Wood, 09 April 2021

RCMP’s failure to earmark adequate resources against financial crime was compounded by government officials downplaying problem, inquiry hears.

The senior Mountie in charge of a B.C. money laundering unit in January 2011 says he was “taken aback” by then minister of public safety and solicitor general Rich Coleman’s dismissal of his assessment of money laundering activity in government-regulated casinos. Continue reading “Article: Rich Coleman’s dismissal of money laundering warning was baseless: Mountie”

04/09/202104/10/2021

Article: Portugal ex-PM to stand trial for money laundering, forgery

Article - Media, Publications

Portugal ex-PM to stand trial for money laundering, forgery

BARRY HATTON, 09 April 2021

A Lisbon judge ruled Friday to put former Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates on trial for alleged money-laundering and forgery but said the statute of limitations had expired on more than a dozen corruption allegations.

Judge Ivo Rosa said that 1.7 million euros ($2 million), much of it in cash, given to Sócrates by a childhood friend who was working for a Portuguese construction company amounted to an attempt to gain influence over the prime minister and win contracts. Continue reading “Article: Portugal ex-PM to stand trial for money laundering, forgery”

04/09/202104/10/2021

Article: BlackRock, State Street Exploring Takeover Of Credit Suisse Asset Management Arm

Article - Media, Publications

BlackRock, State Street Exploring Takeover Of Credit Suisse Asset Management Arm

TYLER DURDEN, 09 April 2021

Earlier, several financial media outlets reported that Credit Suisse was considering dramatically shrinking or selling off its prime brokerage unit, the hedge-fund-focused business that just lost $4.7 billion for the bank, obliterating 18 months of the bank’s average net profits.

But in the last few hours, the focus has shifted to the bank’s asset management unit, amid reports that several American firms might be interested in making a bid, even as the bank has yet to release the final tally of expected losses from the Greensill debacle. Continue reading “Article: BlackRock, State Street Exploring Takeover Of Credit Suisse Asset Management Arm”

04/09/202104/10/2021

Article: Top Carbon-Credit-Seller Launches Internal Probe After Selling “Worthless” Offsets To JPMorgan, Disney

Article - Media, Publications

Top Carbon-Credit-Seller Launches Internal Probe After Selling “Worthless” Offsets To JPMorgan, Disney

Joen Coronel, 09 April 2021

Back in December, Bloomberg published a sweeping expose that raised serious questions about the ESG investing craze sweeping the world. In the piece, Bloomberg detailed how the Nature Conservancy, the world’s biggest environmental group and a prominent seller of carbon offsets, had sold “worthless” credits to JPMorgan, Disney and BlackRock as the corporations sought to finance the protection of carbon-absorbing forest land to absolve them of their sins tied to fossil fuel usage. Continue reading “Article: Top Carbon-Credit-Seller Launches Internal Probe After Selling “Worthless” Offsets To JPMorgan, Disney”

04/09/202104/12/2021

Article: Japan ensures G20 pledge vs ‘disorderly’ moves as FX language tweaked, sources say

Article - Media, Publications

Japan ensures G20 pledge vs ‘disorderly’ moves as FX language tweaked, sources say

Tetsushi Kajimoto, 09 April 2021

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan made sure that language warning against excess currency market volatility remained in place when G20 finance leaders made a rare tweak to their message on exchange-rate moves, said officials with knowledge of the deliberations.

In the first communique compiled since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, finance leaders of the Group of 20 major economies called for the need for currency moves to reflect “underlying” economic fundamentals. Continue reading “Article: Japan ensures G20 pledge vs ‘disorderly’ moves as FX language tweaked, sources say”

04/09/202104/10/2021

Article: HSBC reportedly blacklists MicroStrategy’s stock for investing in Bitcoin

Article - Media, Publications

HSBC reportedly blacklists MicroStrategy’s stock for investing in Bitcoin

OSATO AVAN-NOMAYO, 09 April 2021

Buying MicroStrategy stock is reportedly no longer possible for HSBC customers on the bank’s online trading platform — HSBC InvestDirect, or HIDC.

According to a supposed message from the bank to its customers, HSBC has directed users that already own MicroStrategy stock not to buy additional shares.

Twitter user Camiam claimed to have received such a message from the banking giant on March 29: Continue reading “Article: HSBC reportedly blacklists MicroStrategy’s stock for investing in Bitcoin”

04/09/202104/09/2021

Article: Half of S&P 500 report more money for foreign taxes than U.S. taxes

Article - Media, Publications

Half of S&P 500 report more money for foreign taxes than U.S. taxes

STEPHEN GANDEL, 09 April 2021

Nearly half of the large U.S. companies that make up the S&P 500-stock index set aside more money to pay foreign taxes in 2020 than they did for payments to the U.S. government — a lot more money.

In all, 241 S&P 500 companies last year earmarked a combined $73 billion for taxes to foreign governments and just $6.7 billion to cover U.S. taxes, according to a CBS MoneyWatch analysis of the companies’ regulatory filings and data from financial information firm FactSet. That’s a foreign-to-domestic tax ratio of more than 10-to-1.

Read Full Article

04/09/202104/09/2021

Article: Hong Kong stock exchange to extend circuit breakers to futures products to temper wild gyrations in equities and derivatives

Article - Media, Publications

Hong Kong stock exchange to extend circuit breakers to futures products to temper wild gyrations in equities and derivatives

Yahoo Finance, 09 April 2021

The move will add to similar controls put in place since August 2016, first on extreme gyrations in equities and a year later on derivative products. They followed a series of events that provoked regulatory probes into market misconduct such as price manipulation and pump-and-dump scandals.

“The volatility control mechanism (VCM) has worked as intended without any negative feedback from the market,” said Tom Chan Pak-lam, chairman of Hong Kong Institute of Securities Dealers, the local brokerage industry body. “In many cases, sharp and sudden price movements were smoothed out as the cooling-off periods allowed participants to react while trading continued.”

Read Full Article

04/09/202104/09/2021

Article: Bitcoin Shows Us That Not All Volatilities Are Created Equal

Article - Media, Publications

Bitcoin Shows Us That Not All Volatilities Are Created Equal

Enrique Dans, 09 April 2021

For many people, the main obstacle to using cryptocurrencies is that they are volatile; their value fluctuates sharply across time depending on, apparently, many different factors. To put the issue in context, the original paper on bitcoin was published in late 2008 and the first transaction in early 2009: since then, its value in dollars or euros has risen by more than 15,000%.

In contrast, over the same period of time, the parity between the dollar and the euro, has varied by a few percentage points up or down. No surprise therefore that bitcoin is seen as highly volatile and unsuitable for transactions, and at best, a store of value, subject to the systemic risk that arises every time the authorities or a government make decisions that could affect it. China talks of banning bitcoin mining and its price falls. Elon Musk uses part of Tesla’s reserves to buy bitcoin? Bitcoin rises.

Read Full Article

04/08/202104/17/2021

Article: Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse

Article - Media, Publications

Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse

Dean Seal, 08 April 2021

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is asking Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street giants that brokered for Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management to explain their involvement in the fund’s high-profile collapse.

In letters released Thursday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told higher-ups at the Swiss bank, Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Nomura that he was “troubled, but not surprised” that risky derivatives transactions between the banks and Hwang’s generally unregulated family office were connected to a shocking multibillion-dollar firesale on stocks in late March. Continue reading “Article: Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse”