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Article: A whistleblower just took home $50 million — the biggest award the SEC has ever paid

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A whistleblower just took home $50 million — the biggest award the SEC has ever paid

Jordan Valinsky

CNN, 5 June 2020

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has paid out its largest-ever whistleblower award — nearly $50 million.

The whistleblower tipped off the agency to a currency manipulation scheme at a massive bank, resulting in a “successful enforcement action,” the SEC said Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal, which conducted an investigation about the scheme, reported the whistleblower is a trader from Bank of New York Mellon (BKPRC) who alerted the SEC about the bank’s reported pattern of “overcharging big clients on currency trades.”

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Web: As The Country Burns, Citadel’s Founder Spends $100 Million On A Painting

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As The Country Burns, Citadel’s Founder Spends $100 Million On A Painting

ZeroHedge, 4 June 2020

While the country burns and millions of Americans scramble to figure out how they’re going to survive once supplemental unemployment benefits expire, Citadel founder Ken Griffin has just dropped a $100 million nut – nearly half the amount he dropped on a Central Park penthouse, and roughly equivalent to the cost of his wintertime Palm Beach Mansion – on a contemporary painting by American artist Jean Michel Basquiat, who died of a drug overdose in 1988.

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Article: What To Know About Short-Seller Risks During Pandemic

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What To Know About Short-Seller Risks During Pandemic

Avi Weitzman, Barry Goldsmith and Jonathan Seibald

Law360, 3 June 2020

As the world struggles to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, and volatile markets are rattled by the latest virus and economic news, publicly traded companies are increasingly susceptible to fraudulent short-seller attacks. While legitimate short selling plays an important and well-recognized role in the public markets, there are a few who have abused and misused short selling to manipulate the price of public company stock.

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Article: Merrill Lynch Traders Can’t Avoid Spoofing, Fraud Charges

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Merrill Lynch Traders Can’t Avoid Spoofing, Fraud Charges

Law360, 21 May 2020

The government’s June 2018 indictment says the traders’ scheme between June 2009 and October 2014 created the illusion of market movement by using large orders to inflate the price, with no intention of filling the orders, thus committing wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodities fraud.

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Article: Another U.S Bank Bailout Under Cover of a Virus

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Another U.S Bank Bailout Under Cover of a Virus

Ellen Brown

Global Research, 19 May 2020

When the Dodd Frank Act was passed in 2010, President Obama triumphantly declared, “No more bailouts!” But what the Act actually said was that the next time the banks failed, they would be subject to “bail ins” – the funds of their creditors, including their large depositors, would be tapped to cover their bad loans.

Then bail-ins were tried in Europe. The results were disastrous.

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Article: Denmark Adopts New Dividend Tax Model After Multiple Fraud Cases

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Denmark Adopts New Dividend Tax Model After Multiple Fraud Cases

Morten Buttler

Bloomberg, 18 May 2020

Denmark is adopting broad changes to how foreign investors are refunded dividend taxes as the government hunts down more than $2 billion it says was tricked into turning over.

In a new agreement with the country’s financial industry, banks will play a central role in monitoring payments, and will be held liable for clients’ outstanding taxes. All foreign investors will have to register with the Danish Tax Agency, according to a statement by the tax ministry.

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Article: Researchers say market manipulation is destroying traditional safe havens

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Researchers say market manipulation is destroying traditional safe havens

Valentina Ruiz Leotaud

Mining.com, 17 May 2020

The University of Sussex Business School released an analysis stating that widespread market turmoil caused by the covid-19 pandemic means regulators have so much on their plates right now that large-scale manipulation of the markets remains below their radar.

In the view of the researchers behind the study, this is the reason why prices of safe-haven assets such as gold and bitcoin are not surging.

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Article: Buffett Sells More Stocks, Including Goldman Sachs, With No ‘Elephant-Sized’ Acquisition On The Horizon

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Buffett Sells More Stocks, Including Goldman Sachs, With No ‘Elephant-Sized’ Acquisition On The Horizon

16 May 2020

Forbes, Sergei Klebnikov

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who told investors earlier this month that he had made a “mistake” betting on airlines, is continuing to sell stocks amid the coronavirus pandemic, the latest regulatory filing from Berkshire Hathaway shows.

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Article: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sells majority of stake in Goldman Sachs

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sells majority of stake in Goldman Sachs

Jazmin Goodwin

CNN, 16 May 2020

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) sold off 84% of its stake in Goldman Sachs (GS) during the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

The conglomerate slashed its holdings in the investment bank to 1.9 million shares from 12 million shares, according to SEC filings released Friday. Goldman Sachs’s share price plunged by almost a third during the first quarter as the novel coronavirus swept the nation.

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Article: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway slashed its Goldman Sachs stake by 84% last quarter

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway slashed its Goldman Sachs stake by 84% last quarter

Theron Mohamed

BusinessInsider, 15 May 2020

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway slashed its Goldman Sachs holdings and sold its stakes in energy group Philips 66 and insurer Travelers in the first quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released on Friday.

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Article: Burford Loses Bid For LSE Trader Info In Short-Selling Attack

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Burford Loses Bid For LSE Trader Info In Short-Selling Attack

Richard Crump, Ed Harris

Law360, 15 May 2020

Burford Capital has failed to win a court order to force the London Stock Exchange to hand over the names of traders that dealt in its shares. (iStock)

Judge Andrew Baker has refused to grant an application by Burford Capital Ltd. for a court order to force the exchange to hand over the names of traders that bought and sold the funder’s shares on Aug. 6 and 7, 2019.

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Article: Burford Capital loses fight to force London Stock Exchange to hand over confidential trading data

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Burford Capital loses fight to force London Stock Exchange to hand over confidential trading data

Global Legal Post, 15 May 2020

Litigation funder Burford Capital has conceded defeat in an unprecedented battle with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after the High Court rejected its application for the LSE to hand over confidential trading information.

Burford was seeking the identities of market participants trading in its shares in a bid to prove that its share price had been illegally manipulated during a sell-off that occurred after a heavily critical research report by hedge fund Muddy Waters last August.

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Article: “Selling American” Buffett Dumps Most Of His Goldman Stake, Trims JPMorgan In Turbulent First Quarter

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“Selling American”: Buffett Dumps Most Of His Goldman Stake, Trims JPMorgan In Turbulent First Quarter

ZeroHedge, 15 May 2020

Airlines aren’t the only sector that Warren Buffett notoriously dumped in April, ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

According to the just filed Berkshire 13F, in the first quarter when the conglomerate’s equity holdings took a record hit of $66.5 billion, as the value of Berkshire’s disclosed equity positions tumbled from $242BN as of Dec 31, to $175.5BN on March 31, Buffett also sold the bulk, or 84%, of his Goldman Sachs stake – formerly a top 20 position for Berkshire – selling 10 million shares of what at Dec 31 was a 12 million position, while trimming 3% of his stake in JPMorgan (from 59.5MM to 57.7MM shares).

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