Month: June 2021

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Article: Professional soccer player indicted on fraud charges in alleged $215K catfishing scheme

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Professional soccer player indicted on fraud charges in alleged $215K catfishing scheme

Nick Bromberg, 04 June 2021

A United Soccer League player has been indicted on charges that he allegedly catfished two people out of a combined $215,000.

Abdul Osumanu, 24, is a defender for Union Omaha. He was charged last week along with Banabas Ganidekam in a U.S. District Court in West Virginia with two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, a money laundering charge and a charge of receipt of stolen money.

Per the indictment, Osumanu is accused of catfishing people via online and text communications to get them to send him and another man money under the pretext of a romantic relationship. Continue reading “Article: Professional soccer player indicted on fraud charges in alleged $215K catfishing scheme”

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Article: Wall Street Reins In Hedge Funds’ Short Bets on Meme Stocks

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Wall Street Reins In Hedge Funds’ Short Bets on Meme Stocks

Eliza Ronalds-Hannon and Jennifer Surane, 04 June 2021

Wall Street’s top brokers are quietly tightening their rules for who can bet against retail traders’ most-popular meme stocks.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. are among firms that have adjusted their risk controls at prime-brokerage operations, according to people familiar with the moves. The banks are trying to protect themselves against fallout from extreme surges and dips that have characterized trading in companies including AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., MicroVision Inc. and GameStop Corp. Continue reading “Article: Wall Street Reins In Hedge Funds’ Short Bets on Meme Stocks”

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Article: Owner Of Carlisle Area Trucking Business Charged With Covid-Relief Fraud

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Owner Of Carlisle Area Trucking Business Charged With Covid-Relief Fraud

Department of Justice, 04 June 2021

HARRISBURG- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Keith McConnell, age 43, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was charged by criminal information with perpetrating a wire fraud and money laundering scheme that sought $467,200.00 in COVID-19 relief funds guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The PPP was designed to help small businesses facing financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by the March 27, 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, PPP funds were offered in forgivable loans to small businesses for employee job retention and certain other expenses. PPP loan amounts were determined by the number of employees and average monthly payroll costs. Continue reading “Article: Owner Of Carlisle Area Trucking Business Charged With Covid-Relief Fraud”

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Article: The Wheels Are Coming Off Tesla

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The Wheels Are Coming Off Tesla

JIM COLLINS, 04 June 2021

After today’s brutal miss on the jobs number — 559,000 actual vs. a 671,000 estimate was a 16.7% miss — the normal feedback loop commenced. Economy not that hot = interest rates down (the yield on the 10-year UST has ticked down today to 1.58%) = Nasdaq up. This has been the state of affairs in 2021. Is what it is. I don’t fight it, I just use these mindless bounces to reset my short positions.

Without entering into a long-winded diatribe about Elon Musk, Bitcoin, self-driving, etc., let me just note one key point that has become increasingly apparent to those of us who actually analyze fundamentals this week: the wheels are coming off Tesla (TSLA) . That is true both literally – Tesla has announced two separate recalls this week, the first covering 5,974 Models 3/Y in the U.S. and 734 in China over potentially loose brake caliper bolts and the second covering 7,696 3/Ys in the U.S. owing to potentially loose seatbelt fastener connections – and figuratively. Continue reading “Article: The Wheels Are Coming Off Tesla”

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Article: Jefferies Prime Brokerage Suspends Short Sales In AMC, GameStop And MicroVision

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Jefferies Prime Brokerage Suspends Short Sales In AMC, GameStop And MicroVision

TYLER DURDEN, 03 June 2021

Pouring more fuel on what was already today’s dumpster fire of a market, Bloomberg reported that according to a memo it had seen, Jefferies told clients its prime brokerage arm will no longer allow the execution of short sells in meme stocks such as AMC, GameStop and MicroVision.

“Until further notice, Jefferies Prime Brokerage will no longer offer custody on naked options in GME, AMC and MVIS,” the memo noted. The firm will no longer allow the execution of short sells of those securities, the memo continued, noting that other stocks may be added to that list. Continue reading “Article: Jefferies Prime Brokerage Suspends Short Sales In AMC, GameStop And MicroVision”

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Article: What Traders Need To Know About GameStop And Naked Short Selling

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What Traders Need To Know About GameStop And Naked Short Selling

Melanie Schaffer, 03 June 2021

This week and last, AMC was targeted again and its shares skyrocketed 496% between May 24 and June 2 before retracing Thursday.

What Happened: The squeeze in GameStop was caused by retail and institutional traders rushing into the stock, and some hedge funds covering their short positions, which drove the price up to astronomical levels. Robinhood and a number of other brokers then restricted trading and caused an illiquidity event that dropped its stock down almost 90% over the following nine days. Continue reading “Article: What Traders Need To Know About GameStop And Naked Short Selling”

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Article: Jefferies Blocks Short Sells in GameStop, AMC, MicroVision

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Jefferies Blocks Short Sells in GameStop, AMC, MicroVision

Luke McGrath and Gillian Tan, 03 June 2021

Jefferies told clients Wednesday its prime brokerage arm will no longer allow the execution of short sells in GameStop Corp., AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and MicroVision Inc., according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News.

“Until further notice, Jefferies Prime Brokerage will no longer offer custody on naked options in GME, AMC and MVIS,” the memo noted. The firm will no longer allow the execution of short sells of those securities, the memo continued, noting that other stocks may be added to that list. Continue reading “Article: Jefferies Blocks Short Sells in GameStop, AMC, MicroVision”

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Article: Russia’s $186 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund Dumps All Dollar Assets

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Russia’s $186 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund Dumps All Dollar Assets

TYLER DURDEN, 03 June 2021

Following a series of corporate cyberattacks that American intelligence agencies have blamed on Russian actors, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (officially the National Wellbeing Fund) has decided to dump all of its dollars and dollar-denominated assets in favor of those denominated in euros, yuan – or simply buying precious metals like gold, which Russia’s central bank has increasingly favored for its own reserves.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov made the announcement Thursday morning at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Continue reading “Article: Russia’s $186 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund Dumps All Dollar Assets”

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Article: Portugal has questions to answer

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Portugal has questions to answer

Colin Stevens, 03 June 2021

Such calls have gained fresh momentum in recent months following the recent controversial decision to drop serious criminal charges against Portugal’s former Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

On 25 May 2019, EPP’s candidate for new Commission president , German Manfred Weber wanted to apply sanctions against Portugal. Right-wing Paulo Rangel and Nuno Melo do not miss a chance to point out that it was a socialist government – at the time led by José Sócrates – that had asked for the intervention of the “troika”(European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank). Continue reading “Article: Portugal has questions to answer”

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Article: China threatens money launderers with higher fines

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China threatens money launderers with higher fines

PENG QINQIN and LIAO ZHAOLONG, 03 June 2021

China is planning to beef up its law against money laundering with higher fines and a broader scope, according to a draft revision that would be the first update to the law in more than 14 years.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Tuesday released a draft of the revised Anti-Money Laundering Law that aims to adapt to changing financial practices and growing money laundering risks at home and abroad.

The revision would extend the scope of the law, which came into effect in 2007, to improve enforcement against terrorist financing and stipulate nonfinancial parties’ obligations in preventing money laundering. It would also increase fines for violating the law and failing to comply with preventive measures. Continue reading “Article: China threatens money launderers with higher fines”

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Article: Hong Kong justice department says use of US crowdfunding site typical of money laundering

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Hong Kong justice department says use of US crowdfunding site typical of money laundering

Appledaily, 03 June 2021

Ben Chung, one of the 47 democracy advocates charged with subversion, was denied bail for crowdfunding on an American platform, which the prosecution described as a typical pattern for money laundering.

Chung, the convenor of the Neo Democrats and a district councilor, was charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the national security law for participating in an unofficial primary election for the Legislative Council last summer.

According to the written ruling released on Thursday, High Court judge Esther Toh refused his bail application as the 32-year-old set out the link for the public poll’s fundraising campaign on the American site GoGetFunding and was one of three signatories to operate the bank account for Power for Democracy, the organizer of the opposition primaries. Continue reading “Article: Hong Kong justice department says use of US crowdfunding site typical of money laundering”

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Article: Banking Attacks Surge Along with Post-COVID Economy

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Banking Attacks Surge Along with Post-COVID Economy

Becky Bracken, 02 June 2021

FinTech fraud spikes 159 percent in Q1 2021 along with stimulus spending.

For many, COVID-19 has been a crushing catastrophe. But for bank scammers, it’s shaped up to be a nice little money-making opportunity.

As the post-pandemic economy roars back to life, cybercriminals are using a new whirlwind of transactions as cover to launch an extraordinary number of bank fraud attacks. In just the past quarter, the number of attacks on banks ballooned by 159 percent. Continue reading “Article: Banking Attacks Surge Along with Post-COVID Economy”

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Article: Ensuring a Fair Cattle Market

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Ensuring a Fair Cattle Market

Viewpoints / The Zipline, 02 June 2021

For every $1 Americans spend on food, just 14.3 cents go to farmers. As the first link in our food supply chain, farmers and ranchers don’t get to set the price of their products and assume incredible risk with every planting and each herd of animals.

We take great pride in caring for our animals and spend countless hours making sure they are healthy and safe. Our livelihoods depend on it, so when it comes time to sell them, farmers and ranchers deserve a fair deal. Many farmers and ranchers can recall years when they fell short of breaking even because of low prices for their products, but we do our best to push forward hoping the next year is better. However, after years of feeling like the market squeezes small and medium-sized farms out of operation, some cattle producers aren’t optimistic the future will be better unless action is taken. Continue reading “Article: Ensuring a Fair Cattle Market”

THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?