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Article: Merrill Lynch fined by DOJ, CFTC for ‘spoofing’ in precious metals futures

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Merrill Lynch fined by DOJ, CFTC for ‘spoofing’ in precious metals futures

Francine McKenna, 25 June 2019

Merrill Lynch’s global commodities trading business agreed to pay $25 million and enter into a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice on Tuesday to settle charges regarding a multi-year scheme by its precious metals traders to mislead the market for precious metals futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange Inc. Merrill Lynch admitted to the allegations that beginning by at least 2008 and continuing through 2014, its precious metals traders schemed to deceive other market participants by injecting materially false and misleading information into the precious metals futures market by placing fraudulent “spoof” orders for precious metals futures contracts that, at the time the traders placed thousands of fraudulent orders, they intended to cancel before execution. Continue reading “Article: Merrill Lynch fined by DOJ, CFTC for ‘spoofing’ in precious metals futures”

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Article: CFTC Orders Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. to Pay Approximately $25 Million for Spoofing, Manipulation, and Attempted Manipulation in Precious Metals Futures

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CFTC Orders Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. to Pay Approximately $25 Million for Spoofing, Manipulation, and Attempted Manipulation in Precious Metals Futures

CFTC , 25 June 2019

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. (MLCI), a provisionally registered swap dealer, for spoofing, manipulation, and attempted manipulation over a six-year period with respect to certain precious metals futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX).

The CFTC Order imposes monetary sanctions totaling approximately $25 million, which includes a civil monetary penalty of $11.5 million dollars, over $2.3 million in restitution, and disgorgement of $11.1 million. The Order also requires MLCI to cooperate with the CFTC in matters related to this action and the underlying conduct, and to comply with certain obligations in connection with its corporate compliance program and reporting requirements. Continue reading “Article: CFTC Orders Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. to Pay Approximately $25 Million for Spoofing, Manipulation, and Attempted Manipulation in Precious Metals Futures”

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Article: U.S. judge tosses former SAC Capital trader’s insider trading guilty plea

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U.S. judge tosses former SAC Capital trader’s insider trading guilty plea

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge in Manhattan on Friday threw out the 2013 insider trading guilty plea of a former trader at SAC Capital Advisors LP, the hedge fund once run by billionaire Steven A. Cohen, saying recent changes in the law meant there were not enough facts to support the plea.

The trader, Richard Choo-Beng Lee, 62, had been a major cooperating witness and one of the first to plead guilty in former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s insider trading crackdown, which began in 2009 and led to more than 80 guilty pleas and convictions.

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Article: ECB’s Draghi brushes off Trump charge of currency manipulation

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ECB’s Draghi brushes off Trump charge of currency manipulation

News Desk, 19 June 2019

June 19: European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said Tuesday that the institution “doesn’t target the exchange rate”, shrugging off an allegation of currency manipulation from US President Donald Trump.

“We have our remit. We have our mandate. Our mandate is price stability” or inflation just below two percent, Draghi told a central banking conference in Sintra, Portugal.

“We are ready to use all the instruments that are necessary to fulfil this mandate, and we don’t target the exchange rate,” he added.

Draghi’s statement that weak economic growth and sluggish inflation could prompt the ECB to slash further rates already at historic lows had earlier sparked Trump’s ire.

“Mario Draghi just announced more stimulus could come, which immediately dropped the Euro against the Dollar, making it unfairly easier for them to compete against the USA,” Trump said on Twitter.

“They have been getting away with this for years, along with China and others,” he added.

Draghi said in a speech that “further cuts in policy interest rates… remain part of our tools” as the bank looks to juice growth and inflation.

Eurozone policymakers had already discussed potential rate cuts in early June, but Draghi’s latest remarks were the first to catch markets’ full attention.

That was in part because he said the central bank was ready to move “in the absence of improvement” rather than if economic conditions worsen, lowering the threshold for action.

But Trump later in the day continued to imply that the ECB was somehow looking to gain an advantage, rather than responding to economic conditions in the euro area.

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Article: Draghi brushes off Trump accusation of currency manipulation

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Draghi brushes off Trump accusation of currency manipulation

EURACTIV, 19 June 2019

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said Tuesday (18 June) that the institution “doesn’t target the exchange rate”, shrugging off an allegation of currency manipulation from US President Donald Trump.

“We have our remit. We have our mandate. Our mandate is price stability” or inflation just below two percent, Draghi told a central banking conference in Sintra, Portugal.

“We are ready to use all the instruments that are necessary to fulfil this mandate, and we don’t target the exchange rate,” he added.

Draghi’s statement that weak economic growth and sluggish inflation could prompt the ECB to slash further rates already at historic lows had earlier sparked Trump’s ire.

“Mario Draghi just announced more stimulus could come, which immediately dropped the Euro against the Dollar, making it unfairly easier for them to compete against the USA,” Trump said on Twitter.

“They have been getting away with this for years, along with China and others,” he added.
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Article: Europol highlights Russian money as biggest laundering threat

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Europol highlights Russian money as biggest laundering threat

John O’Donnell, 13 July 2019

Europe’s Baltic states are at risk from further Russian money laundering, a top European police official said after several big banks were hit by scandals centered on the region.

Pedro Felicio, who is responsible for fighting money laundering at European police agency Europol, told Reuters that “huge inflows of criminal money” are mainly coming into Europe from Russia and China.

Russian money is alleged to be at the heart of multi-billion dollar laundering rackets that engulfed Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest lender and Sweden’s Swedbank. Continue reading “Article: Europol highlights Russian money as biggest laundering threat”

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Article: Swiss regulator to fine banks €80m over foreign exchange cartel

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Swiss regulator to fine banks €80m over foreign exchange cartel

The Irish Times, 06 June 2019

Four British and US banks will be fined about 90 million Swiss francs (€80m) this week by Switzerland’s competition authority for colluding to rig foreign exchange markets, weeks after the European Union handed out €1 billion of penalties for similar misconduct.

Weko, as the Swiss regulator is known, found that traders at Barclays, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland worked together in a cartel-style arrangement to manipulate currency prices for their own gain, according to people briefed on the decision. Continue reading “Article: Swiss regulator to fine banks €80m over foreign exchange cartel”

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Article: THE FALLOUT FROM RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERING CONTINUES TO GROW FOR EUROPEAN BANKS

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THE FALLOUT FROM RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERING CONTINUES TO GROW FOR EUROPEAN BANKS

Nicholas Larsen, International Banker, 20 May 2019

On April 5, Lars Idermark resigned from his position as the chairman of Swedbank, headquartered in Sweden. Idermark stepped down from his position only a week after the chief executive officer, and previously the supervisor of Swedbank operations in the Baltic states, Birgitte Bonnesen, was fired. The moves come amid sweeping allegations that Sweden’s oldest bank was involved in laundering billions of dollars’ worth of Russian money. In particular, the lender’s Baltic units have been named as being complicit in handling illegal funds from Russia as well as other smaller former Soviet countries. Continue reading “Article: THE FALLOUT FROM RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERING CONTINUES TO GROW FOR EUROPEAN BANKS”

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Article: ReWalk Robotics Completes One-for-Twenty-Five Reverse Share Split

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ReWalk Robotics Completes One-for-Twenty-Five Reverse Share Split

GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 29 May 2019

YOKNEAM ILIT, Israel and MARLBOROUGH, Mass., March 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ReWalk Robotics Ltd. (RWLK) (“ReWalk” or the “Company”) reported today that it has completed the reverse share split of ReWalk ordinary share at a ratio of one-for-twenty-five shares, which will take effect on April 1, 2019. The Company also increased its authorized and registered share capital and amended its Articles of Association to reflect the reverse share split and the increase in share capital. Following the reverse share split and increase in authorized share capital, the total number of ordinary shares that the Company is authorized to issue will be 60 million shares, the par value per share of the ordinary shares will be NIS 0.25 and the authorized share capital of the Company will be NIS 15 million.

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Article: The implementation of the UK Anti-Bribery Act (ABC)

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The implementation of the UK Anti-Bribery Act (ABC)

Compliance Alert, 29 May 2019

The implementation of the UK Anti-Bribery Act (ABC) 2010 on July 1, 2011 saw the long-awaited updating of the UK’s somewhat antiquated laws on bribery. For many years the UK’s anti-corruption common law and statutory offences were considered to be unsatisfactory and insufficiently robust. High-profile failures, such as the stalled investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of allegations of corruption at BAE Systems, did little to improve the perception that UK anti-corruption laws were inadequate and lagged far behind the recommendations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Anti-Bribery Convention. That convention was the first international agreement to outlaw foreign bribery and was ratified by the UK in 1998. Continue reading “Article: The implementation of the UK Anti-Bribery Act (ABC)”

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Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS face forex class action over ‘Mafia’ chat rooms

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Citi, JPMorgan, UBS face forex class action over ‘Mafia’ chat rooms

Peter Vercoe, 28 May 2019

Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and JPMorgan Chase are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia seeking damages for colluding on foreign-exchange trading strategies.

UBS Group and Barclays were also named in the suit lodged on Monday in the Federal Court by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. The action says the banks colluded to rig foreign exchange rates, boosting profits at the expense of Australian businesses and investors, the law firm said in a statement. Continue reading “Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS face forex class action over ‘Mafia’ chat rooms”

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Article: Five Banks Face Lawsuit In Australia for FX Collusion

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Five Banks Face Lawsuit In Australia for FX Collusion

finews asia, 27 May 2019

UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia relating to collusion on foreign-exchange strategies.

Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn on Monday filed a class-action lawsuit against the five international investment banks, accusing them of colluding to rig foreign exchange rates during 2008-2013 so they can profit. They are UBS, Barclays Bank, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and J.P. Morgan. Continue reading “Article: Five Banks Face Lawsuit In Australia for FX Collusion”

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Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS Face Forex Cartel Class Action in Australia

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Citi, JPMorgan, UBS Face Forex Cartel Class Action in Australia

Peter Vercoe, 27 May 2019

Citigroup Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia seeking damages for colluding on foreign-exchange trading strategies. UBS Group AG and Barclays Plc were also named in the suit lodged Monday in the Federal Court by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. The action claims the banks colluded to rig foreign exchange rates boosting profits at the expense of Australian businesses and investors, the law firm said in a statement. Continue reading “Article: Citi, JPMorgan, UBS Face Forex Cartel Class Action in Australia”

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Article: A $2M Scam by a Former Vanguard Supervisor

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A $2M Scam by a Former Vanguard Supervisor

tomd37, 25 May 2019

A very interesting article in the June/July Issue (page 28) of Money Magazine. In part it reads “In March, a former Vanguard supervisor pleaded guilty to stealing more than $2 million from the accounts of deceased customers or those with inactive accounts before getting found out, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.” More details are in the article as well as ways to help protect yourself. Continue reading “Article: A $2M Scam by a Former Vanguard Supervisor”

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Article: UK banks fined €1bn by EU for rigging foreign exchange market

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UK banks fined €1bn by EU for rigging foreign exchange market

Kalyeena Makortoff, 16 May 2019

Five banks including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have been fined more than €1bn (£875m) by the European Union for rigging the multitrillion-dollar foreign exchange market.

The European commission said the banks, which also include Citigroup, JP Morgan and MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group), formed two cartels to manipulate the spot foreign exchange market for 11 currencies, including the US dollar, the euro and the pound.

The commission’s penalty adds to the £1.3bn in fines imposed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority in 2014 over the same case. While the FCA’s penalty focused on the lender’s breach of regulations, the EU’s fine deals with how their behaviour dampened competition.

“These cartel decisions send a clear message that the commission will not tolerate collusive behaviour in any sector of the financial markets,” the European competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said in a statement.

The banking industry has been hit with billions in fines worldwide over the last decade for rigging benchmarks used in many day-to-day financial transactions, and are now at risk of private lawsuits.

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THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?