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Article: UBS to Pay Over $500 Million in Fines for Manipulating Currencies and Libor

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UBS to Pay Over $500 Million in Fines for Manipulating Currencies and Libor

Chad Bray, 08 March 2021

The Swiss bank UBS said on Wednesday that it would pay more than $500 million in fines to the authorities in the United States for its role in the manipulation of currency markets and benchmark interest rates.

UBS said it would not face a criminal charge over currency misconduct but would be required to separately plead guilty to a criminal charge for its prior conduct over the manipulation of the interest rates, including the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, after the Justice Department tore up a 2012 nonprosecution agreement. Continue reading “Article: UBS to Pay Over $500 Million in Fines for Manipulating Currencies and Libor”

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Article: BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case

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BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case

Peter Koven, 15 May 2015

Short seller Jon Carnes has been cleared of fraud allegations by a British Columbia Securities Commission panel, which found his attacks on Silvercorp Metals Inc. were not prohibited. The panel did, however, raise serious concerns with his conduct. Continue reading “Article: BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case”

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Article: Deutsche Bank Fined $2.5 bln for Interest Rate Benchmarks Manipulation

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Deutsche Bank Fined $2.5 bln for Interest Rate Benchmarks Manipulation

Victor Golovtchenko, 23 April 2015

Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin M. Lawsky, announced today that Deutsche Bank will part with $2.5 billion to settle litigation costs related to manipulation of various interest rate benchmarks.

This is the biggest LIBOR investigations related fine to date, and surpasses Swiss bank’s Credit Suisse record. Besides installing an independent monitor for New York Banking Law violations, the largest German investment bank will also have to terminate and ban certain employees. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank Fined $2.5 bln for Interest Rate Benchmarks Manipulation”

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Article: Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine

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Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine

Jill Treanor, 23 April 2015

Germany’s Deutsche Bank has been fined a record $2.5bn (£1.7bn) for rigging Libor, ordered to fire seven employees and accused of being obstructive towards regulators in their investigations into the global manipulation of the benchmark rate.

The penalties on Germany’s largest bank also involve a guilty plea to the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the US and a deferred prosecution agreement. The regulators released a cache of emails, electronic messages and phone calls showing the attempts to move the rate used to price £3.5tn of financial contracts. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine”

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Article: London property used for money laundering

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London property used for money laundering

Compliance Alert, 03 April 2015

London is famed for providing a safe haven for foreign dissidents and refugees. It’s a hard-earned reputation going back to the French revolution and beyond. Then, as now, the super-rich who have fallen foul with their governments were among the influx. And then, as now, their reputations were not always immaculate.

But it has surely not often been the case that a millionaire alleged to have ordered an Englishman’s murder has ended up being exiled to a British mansion less than 60 miles away from the alleged intended victim’s home. Continue reading “Article: London property used for money laundering”

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Article: JP Morgan agrees to pay $100 million to settle a Currency Manipulation Lawsuit in New York

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JP Morgan agrees to pay $100 million to settle a Currency Manipulation Lawsuit in New York

Giambrone, 25 January 2015

Financial service giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reached a $100 million settlement to resolve a U.S. antitrust lawsuit that sought damages for the alleged rigging of foreign currency markets, in which investors accused 12 major banks of rigging prices in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market in the case of In re: Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-07789.

JP Morgan will pay about $100 million and settled the case after mediation with Kenneth Feinberg, an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, RBS and UBS also settled with regulators in November for an additional $3.3 billion. Continue reading “Article: JP Morgan agrees to pay $100 million to settle a Currency Manipulation Lawsuit in New York”

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Article: Arrested RBS forex trader named as Paul Nash: sources

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Arrested RBS forex trader named as Paul Nash: sources

Jamie McGeever, Kirstin Ridley, 08 January 2015

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland currency trader Paul Nash has become the first individual arrested in connection with a global inquiry into alleged manipulation in the foreign exchange market, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Nash, who was suspended by RBS in 2013, was named by the sources as the man arrested in Billericay, southeast England, on Dec. 19. One of the sources said his arrest came only days before he emigrated to Canada.

Nash emigrated to Canada on Christmas Day and has rented out his family home, the source said. His arrest was not by appointment, as is typical in such cases, but was an “arrest and raid”, the source added.

Nash, who has not been charged with any offense, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Dec. 23 over variations to his bail conditions, a court official confirmed. These included that he would reside at a specified address in British Columbia.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said only that a 48-year-old man had appeared at the London court on Dec. 23 in connection with a global investigation into allegations of manipulation in the $5.3 trillion-a-day forex market.

The increasingly aggressive agency, which is preparing for the trials this year of individuals alleged to have manipulated global benchmark interest rates, said last July that it might file the first charges in the high-profile inquiry this year.

About 30 forex traders have been put on leave, suspended or fired as prosecutors and regulators continue to examine allegations of wrongdoing in the world’s largest market.

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

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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””

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Article: Common currency: a forex scandal that epitomises the blindness in the banking crisis

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Common currency: a forex scandal that epitomises the blindness in the banking crisis

Andre Spicer, 16 November 2014

The biggest open secret in the financial world has been confirmed. Regulators in the UK, the US and Switzerland have announced massive fines for some of the world’s largest banks for a manipulation of global currency markets that in its callous ubiquity says so much about the banking behaviours that sparked the global financial crisis.

Fines levied by the UK regulator add up to £1.1 billion. The US regulator announced fines of $1.4 billion. Banks hit by these fines include UBS, Citi, JP Morgan, HSBC and RBS. Barclays is yet to come to a settlement on the back of the investigations.

The probe uncovered individuals traders within large banks who were working together in trading clubs which had names you would expect from the “ruthless narcissists” on BBC TV show, The Apprentice. These included “the players”, “the 3 musketeers” and “1 team, 1 dream”.

These clubs worked together to influence the WM Reuters 4pm fix – essentially the official number used to fix currency rates. It shapes everything from how much we pay for currency when we go overseas to how much our pension fund pays when it wants to buy into an offshore investment. This is one of the core numbers in global finance.

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Article: OVERSTOCK COM INC v. GOLDMAN SACHS CO

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OVERSTOCK COM INC v. GOLDMAN SACHS CO

Often, it is the federal courts, applying federal law, that wrestle with claims of cross-state securities fraud involving a nationally-listed stock.   Here, plaintiffs of various states allege defendants, securities firms headquartered on the East Coast, violated California and New Jersey law through their involvement in massive naked short selling of Overstock shares.

The trial court sustained demurrers to plaintiffs’ New Jersey Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) claim without leave to amend and subsequently granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ California market manipulation claims.

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Article: Regulators fine global banks $4.3 billion in currency investigation

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Regulators fine global banks $4.3 billion in currency investigation

Kirstin Ridley, Joshua Franklin, Aruna Viswanatha, 12 November 2014

Regulators fined six major banks a total of $4.3 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market, following a yearlong global investigation.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and Bank of America Corp all faced penalties resulting from the inquiry, which has put the largely unregulated $5-trillion-a-day market on a tighter leash, accelerated the push to automate trading and ensnared the Bank of England.

Authorities accused dealers of sharing confidential information about client orders and coordinating trades to boost their own profits. The foreign exchange benchmark they allegedly manipulated is used by asset managers and corporate treasurers to value their holdings.

Dealers used code names to identify clients without naming them and swapped information in online chatrooms with pseudonyms such as “the players”, “the 3 musketeers” and “1 team, 1 dream.” Those who were not involved were belittled, and traders used obscene language to congratulate themselves on quick profits made from their scams, authorities said.

Wednesday’s fines bring total penalties for benchmark manipulation to more than $10 billion over two years. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority levied the biggest penalty in the history of the City of London, $1.77 billion, against five of the lenders.

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Article: Six banks fined £2.6bn by regulators over forex failings

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Six banks fined £2.6bn by regulators over forex failings

BBC NEws , 12 November 2014

Six banks have been collectively fined £2.6bn by UK and US regulators over their traders’ attempted manipulation of foreign exchange rates. HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss bank UBS and US banks JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America have all been fined.

A separate probe into Barclays is continuing. The fines were issued by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and two US regulators.

The country’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued fines of $1.4bn to five banks, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) added $950m in further fines to three lenders. Separately, the Swiss regulator, FINMA, has penalised UBS 134m Swiss francs.

Barclays, which had been expected to announce a similar deal to the other banks, said it would not be settling at this time.

“After discussions with other regulators and authorities, we have concluded that it is in the interests of the company to seek a more general coordinated settlement,” it said in a statement.

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Article: Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC

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Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC

Rupert Hargreaves, 10 November 2014

The godfather of value investing, Benjamin Graham, made it quite clear that the process of investing is nothing like speculation: “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return.” On the other hand, speculation is more akin to gambling, with no return guaranteed.

With this in mind, it’s easy to arrive at the conclusion that banks, which rely on leverage and trading to make a living, can never be deemed true ‘investments’ due to the speculative nature of their businesses. And this is the reason why I’m staying away from banks like Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS), HSBC (LSE: HSBA) and Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN). Continue reading “Article: Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC”

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Article: ARBUTUS BIOPHARMA (F.K.A TEKMIRA PHARMACEUTICALS) – GLAUCUS RESEARCH

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ARBUTUS BIOPHARMA (F.K.A TEKMIRA PHARMACEUTICALS) – GLAUCUS RESEARCH

Bonitas Research, 10 November 2014

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ: TKMR) (“Tekmira” or the “Company”) is a Vancouver-based biopharmaceutical
company focused on developing RNA-interference (“RNAi”) delivery technology using the Company’s proprietary lipid
nanoparticle (“LNP”) delivery platform. In the last three months, Tekmira’s share price has nearly doubled because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) temporarily lifted a clinical hold on the Company’s anti-Ebola RNAi therapeutic (“TKM Ebola”) to allow the drug’s administration to Ebola infected patients in emergency situations. Continue reading “Article: ARBUTUS BIOPHARMA (F.K.A TEKMIRA PHARMACEUTICALS) – GLAUCUS RESEARCH”

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