Author: Mia

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Article: EU Watchdog Told To Crack Down After Wirecard Scandal

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EU Watchdog Told To Crack Down After Wirecard Scandal

Najiyya Budaly, 01 March 2021

The European Union’s markets watchdog must improve its supervision of national regulators, a technical advice group said on Monday after it found that Germany’s largest post-war accounting fraud had laid bare deficiencies in the authority’s oversight of market abuse and auditing rules.

The Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group, which provides advice on policy development to the European Securities and Markets Authority, recommended that ESMA should improve protection for investors and ensure integrity in markets after an accounting scandal at Wirecard AG revealed gaps in its supervision. Continue reading “Article: EU Watchdog Told To Crack Down After Wirecard Scandal”

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Article: 77% of people surveyed believe Robinhood’s restriction of meme stocks during the GameStop frenzy was market manipulation, new report finds

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77% of people surveyed believe Robinhood’s restriction of meme stocks during the GameStop frenzy was market manipulation, new report finds

Isabelle Lee, 01 March 2021

A survey by data analytics firm Invisibly found that 77% of people believe Robinhood’s restriction of certain stocks at the peak of the Reddit-fueled frenzy amounts to market manipulation.

Commission-free trading app Robinhood has faced significant backlash and scrutiny in the weeks since January’s Reddit-fueled short squeeze, with CEO Vlad Tenev grilled by legislators at February’s congressional hearing over the company’s decision to restrict buying of many of the “meme stocks” at the heart of the saga.

The move took the wind out of the momentum trade, and marked the end of January’s retail trader phenomenon.
Now, a recent study by data analytics from Invisibly found that a majority of people surveyed believe Robinhood’s restriction of meme stocks was market manipulation.

The study, which surveyed 1,300 people during the first week of February, also revealed that 39% felt the market mania was “exciting and good” for investors, while 17% felt it was “exciting but a bad investment.”

28% said the trading phenomenon was a positive event, and “shaking things up from time to time is a good thing”, while 15% felt it was detrimental to markets. Meanwhile, 40% of respondents believe that Robinhood and other retail trading services restricted some stocks to help hedge funds.

The survey paints a stark picture of the public’s perception of what transpired in late January, despite Robinhood stating that it restricted trading of some stocks due to clearinghouse requirements.

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Article: GameStop: Markets Adjust, Politicians Frown

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GameStop: Markets Adjust, Politicians Frown

The week of February 22: GameStop, again, a poor choice for Interior, China’s rare-earths play, and much, much more, including the latest in our new podcast series, the Capital Record.

A slightly calmer day in the markets yesterday after Thursday’s wild ride, although GameStop — back in the news again after taking off again earlier in the week — stepped up to fill the gap for those who needed a little more volatility in their lives.

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Article: Rule of Law Collapsed in USA – Martin Armstrong

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Rule of Law Collapsed in USA – Martin Armstrong

Greg Hunter,  26 February 2021

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says now that the stolen election is over, get ready for lawlessness to reign. We start with the Supreme Court that refused to hear the Trump case on Pennsylvania voting fraud. There are three more 2020 Election voter fraud cases pending at the nation’s highest court. Armstrong says, “I don’t think they are going to take any of them. Look, the rule of law has absolutely collapsed in the United States. It’s just a joke at this point. . . . You swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. It’s not whenever you feel like it. . . . This is not only a denial of due process but the civil rights of everybody in the country. They effectively said Pennsylvania changed the rules against the (state) legislature in the middle of an election, and we are not going to hear the case. So, they are effectively saying politicians can change the rules of an election at any time, and it doesn’t have to be constitutional. Refusing to take this case is a disaster because next election they can choose to do the same thing at any time.” Continue reading “Article: Rule of Law Collapsed in USA – Martin Armstrong”

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Article: The Elon Musk Effect: The Timeless Power Of Disruption And Brand Authority

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The Elon Musk Effect: The Timeless Power Of Disruption And Brand Authority

Ben Constanty, 25 February 2021

The odds are good that you have been impacted by the network effect, or when a product increases in value when more individuals begin adopting and using said product. A few examples include the telephone and the internet.

Company CEOs such as Elon Musk have recently expedited this process by using their personal brands to create a massive network effect in different industries. To get a better understanding, we need to dive in further. Continue reading “Article: The Elon Musk Effect: The Timeless Power Of Disruption And Brand Authority”

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Article: Banks Can Argue Funds Passed On UK Forex Rigging Losses

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Banks Can Argue Funds Passed On UK Forex Rigging Losses

Christopher Crosby, 25 February 2021

Institutional investors suing some of the world’s largest banks for manipulating the foreign exchange market will have to prove their losses were not passed on to others after a London court ruled on Thursday that the issue has to be determined at trial.

Nigel Teare, sitting as a judge at the High Court, refused to knock down the legal defense raised by Barclays, CitiBank, HSBC and other lenders to fight claims for damages for allegedly manipulating benchmark rates in the forex market.. Continue reading “Article: Banks Can Argue Funds Passed On UK Forex Rigging Losses”

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Article: 180 Life Sciences Corp. Announces Closing of $11.7 Million Private Placement

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180 Life Sciences Corp. Announces Closing of $11.7 Million Private Placement

GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 25 February 2021

180 Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: ATNF) (180 Life Sciences or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company with its lead indication in Phase 2b/3, focused on the development of novel drugs that fulfill unmet needs in inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and pain, today announced the closing of its previously announced private placement of 2,564,000 shares of its common stock and accompanying warrants to purchase an aggregate of up to 2,564,000 shares of common stock at a combined purchase price of $4.55 per share and accompanying warrant. The warrants are exercisable immediately at an exercise price of $5.00 per share and expire five years from the date of issuance. Gross proceeds were approximately $11.7 million, before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses. The Company currently intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, working capital, and for the research and development of the Company’s programs that are not funded by grants.

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Article: The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam

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The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam

LUCY KOMISAR, 25 February 2021

At the House Financial Services Committee hearing last week on the GameStop debacle, there was an elephant in the room: naked short selling.

Short selling, effectively betting that a stock will go down, involves a trader selling shares he does not own, hoping to buy them back at a lower price to make money on the spread. The trader is supposed to locate (or have a “reasonable belief” he can locate) or borrow the shares in brokerage accounts, and then transfer them to the buyer within two days. This accounts for as much as 50 percent of daily trading. Continue reading “Article: The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam”

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Article: Credit Suisse Virtual Financial Services Forum

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Credit Suisse Virtual Financial Services Forum

State Street, 24 February 2021

Risk. Regulation. Complexity. To manage these challenges, and more, we’ve implemented a long-term strategy to support our stakeholders — employees, clients, communities and shareholders. Our strategy focuses on building on our strong core, achieving a digital enterprise, investing in opportunities and optimizing our capital. We maintain close relationships with analysts and investors to make sure they understand our goals, how we plan to get there and our progress along the way. Continue reading “Article: Credit Suisse Virtual Financial Services Forum”

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Article: The LIBOR Scandal

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The LIBOR Scandal

Jason Fernando, 24 February 2021

What Is the LIBOR Scandal?
The LIBOR Scandal was a highly-publicized scheme in which bankers at several major financial institutions colluded with each other to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). The scandal sowed distrust in the financial industry and led to a wave of fines, lawsuits, and regulatory actions. Although the scandal came to light in 2012, there is evidence suggesting that the collusion in question had been ongoing since as early as 2003.

Many leading financial institutions were implicated in the scandal, including Deutsche Bank (DB), Barclays (BCS), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

As a result of the rate fixing scandal, questions around LIBOR’s validity as a credible benchmark rate have arisen and it is now being phased out. According to the Federal Reserve and regulators in the U.K., LIBOR will be phased out by June 30, 2023, and will be replaced by the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). As part of this phase-out, LIBOR one-week and two-month USD LIBOR rates will no longer be published after December 31, 2021. Continue reading “Article: The LIBOR Scandal”

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Article: EU Watchdog Wants Zero-Commission Probe After GameStop

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EU Watchdog Wants Zero-Commission Probe After GameStop

Irene Madongo, 24 February 2021

Commission-free trading should be scrutinized following the extreme volatility of stock in GameStop driven by a surge in trading using social media, according to the head of the European Union’s markets regulator.

Steven Maijoor, chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority, took aim on Tuesday at a move toward allowing investors to trade stocks for free. He told the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee that low-cost or no-cost trading can create less transparency for investors. Continue reading “Article: EU Watchdog Wants Zero-Commission Probe After GameStop”

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Article: Form 8-K 180 Life Sciences Corp.

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Form 8-K 180 Life Sciences Corp.

EDGAR AGENTS LLC, 24 February 2021

On February 19, 2021, 180 Life Sciences Corp. (the “Company”) entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the purchasers identified on the signature pages thereto (the “Purchasers”) pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell to the Purchasers an aggregate of 2,564,000 shares (the “Shares”) of the common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company (“Common Stock”), and warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 2,564,000 shares of Common Stock (the “Warrants”), at a combined purchase price of $4.55 per Share and accompanying Warrant (the “Offering”). Aggregate gross proceeds from the Offering are expected to be approximately $11.7 million, prior to deducting placement agent fees and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. Net proceeds to the Company from the Offering, after deducting the placement agent fees and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, are expected to be approximately $10.8 million. The Offering closed on February 23, 2021. Continue reading “Article: Form 8-K 180 Life Sciences Corp.”

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Article: Recent Swap Manipulation Cases

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Recent Swap Manipulation Cases

Arent Fox, Les Jacobowitz, 24 February 2021

In recent years, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed two actions with facts so shocking the reader is forced to ask, ‘can this be how the industry really functions?’

The Complaints –

The most recent action was filed in February of 2021 in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) against a U.S. dollar swaps trader and managing director of a global investment bank for “engag[ing] in a scheme to deceive and to manipulate the price of U.S. dollar interest rate swap spreads…” 1 The facts of this case are very similar to those of a case filed a little more than a year ago – a bond issuance with a governmental issuer, and the pricing of a related swap through an interdealer broker firm. Both cases illustrate potential flagrant violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and CFTC regulations.

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Article: MyPillow CEO Hit With $1.3B Suit Over Election Fraud ‘Big Lie’

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MyPillow CEO Hit With $1.3B Suit Over Election Fraud ‘Big Lie’

Dorothy Atkins, 23 February 2021

Dominion Voting Systems hit MyPillow Inc. and its CEO Mike Lindell with a $1.3 billion defamation suit in D.C. federal court Monday, accusing Lindell of knowingly perpetuating a “big lie” by falsely claiming that the voting-machine maker rigged the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden.

In a two-count, 115-page complaint, Dominion alleged that Lindell has intentionally marketed his pillows to supporters of former President Donald Trump while publicly accusing the Denver-based Dominion of rigging the election in favor of Biden in order to beef up his pillow company’s sales. Continue reading “Article: MyPillow CEO Hit With $1.3B Suit Over Election Fraud ‘Big Lie’”

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Article: Accountant Ducks Prison For $17M Stock Scheme, Tax Fraud

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Accountant Ducks Prison For $17M Stock Scheme, Tax Fraud

Bill Wichert, 23 February 2021

An accountant avoided a prison sentence Tuesday for his roles in a stock market manipulation scheme that reaped more than $17 million in illicit profits and a related tax fraud scheme, with a New Jersey federal judge citing his extensive cooperation with prosecutors against the securities trader who orchestrated the crimes.

About two months after handing out an 18-month prison term to that mastermind, U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez sentenced the 43-year-old Shaun Greenwald to three years of probation, including eight months of home detention with location monitoring, following his 2018 guilty plea to conspiracy charges. Continue reading “Article: Accountant Ducks Prison For $17M Stock Scheme, Tax Fraud”

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