Category: Article – Media

Posted on

Article: Credit Suisse Rapped for U.S. Lapses

Article - Media, Publications

Credit Suisse Rapped for U.S. Lapses

finews asia, 24 December 2011

Credit Suisse was hit with a $6.5 million fine for doing too little to prevent potential market manipulation by U.S. clients.

The Swiss bank was slammed by U.S. industry officials for and fined $6.5 million for failing to keep an eye on major U.S. institutional clients, Finra, or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, said in a statement. Credit Suisse said it is «pleased to have resolved these matters with FINRA and these exchanges,» according to a brokerage industry publication

Specifically, the Zurich-based lender granted clients – brokers and other institutional-sized clients – direct access to exchanges without proper oversight. Credit Suisse won more than $300 million in revenue from trading more than 300 billion securities – a move that sparked more than 50,000 alerts at Finra, which is a U.S. broker self-regulatory body. Continue reading “Article: Credit Suisse Rapped for U.S. Lapses”

Posted on

Article: SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says

Article - Media, Publications

SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says

jgoff, 08 December 2011

Auction-rate securities holders seeking to win back part of the $330 billion they’ve invested, may get help from a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission legal brief supporting claims that Merrill Lynch & Co. rigged the moribund market, a lawyer involved in the case said. Continue reading “Article: SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says”

Posted on

Article: Merrill Lynch fined for violating cotton-speculation limits

Article - Media

Merrill Lynch fined for violating cotton-speculation limits

Kevin G. Hall

McClatchy Newspapers, 7 December  2011

A key financial regulator said Wednesday that it had fined Wall Street powerhouse Merrill Lynch $350,000 for violating rules that limit how many speculative contracts it can hold in markets where bets are made on the price of cotton for future delivery.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said that Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc., a subsidiary of Bank of America, repeatedly had violated limits on how many Cotton No. 2 futures contracts it was allowed to hold. Futures are bets on where the price of a given commodity will be for future delivery.

Read full article.

Posted on

Article: Financial Finger-Pointing Turns to Regulators

Article - Media

Financial Finger-Pointing Turns to Regulators

Louise Story, Gretchen Morgenson

New York Times, 22 November 2011

In the whodunit of the financial crisis, Wall Street executives have pointed the blame at all kinds of parties — consumers who lied on their mortgage applications, investors who demanded access to risky mortgage bonds, and policy makers who kept interest rates low and failed to predict a housing market collapse.

But a new defense has been mounted by a bank executive: my regulator told me to do it.

Read full article.

Posted on

Article: European Bailout Fund For Greek Money Laundering And Fraud

Article - Media, Publications

European Bailout Fund For Greek Money Laundering And Fraud

Wolf Richter, 18 November 2011

The ink wasn’t even dry yet on the European bailout fund, the EFSF when it paid $1.3 billion to bail out Proton Bank in Greece. Turns out, Proton had siphoned off $1 billion in a scheme of fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, and offshore front companies, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. And then a bomb exploded.

The bomb, fabricated of dynamite, demolished four cars in front of a building in Halandri, a suburb of Athens. Not a coincidence: in the building lived a senior employee of the Bank of Greece, whose meticulous investigation of Proton Bank had exposed the massive criminal scheme. According to the police, the bomb was intended as a warning to those who attempt to shed light on these kinds of machinations. Continue reading “Article: European Bailout Fund For Greek Money Laundering And Fraud”

Posted on

Article: Overstock.com CEO Dr. Patrick M. Byrne Named Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year® 2011 Retail and Consumer Products Award Winner

Article - Media, Publications

Overstock.com CEO Dr. Patrick M. Byrne Named Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year® 2011 Retail and Consumer Products Award Winner

PRNewswire, 16 November 2011

Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK), today announced that its CEO and Chairman Dr. Patrick M. Byrne, was named the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2011 Retail and Consumer Products Award winner. He was honored at the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards gala, the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum® held in Palm Springs, California on November 12, 2011. Continue reading “Article: Overstock.com CEO Dr. Patrick M. Byrne Named Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year® 2011 Retail and Consumer Products Award Winner”

Posted on

Article: UBS will pay $12M over naked shorts

Article - Media, Publications

UBS will pay $12M over naked shorts

dcubberley, 27 October 2011

UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, will pay $12 million to resolve Financial Industry Regulatory Authority claims that a brokerage unit allowed millions of short-sale orders to be placed without reasonable grounds to believe that the securities could be delivered. Continue reading “Article: UBS will pay $12M over naked shorts”

Posted on

Article: UBS comes up short; fined $12 million by Finra for ‘systemic supervisory failure’

Article - Media, Publications

UBS comes up short; fined $12 million by Finra for ‘systemic supervisory failure’

Finextra, 26 October 2011

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) has fined UBS Securities $12 million for failing to properly supervise short sales of securities.

The Swiss bank’s US brokerage unit violated Regulation SHO, which requires a broker-dealer to have reasonable grounds to believe that the security could be borrowed and available for delivery before accepting or effecting a short sale order, says Finra.

The rules require firms to obtain and document this “locate” information before the short sale occurs to help cut the number of potential failures to deliver.
Continue reading “Article: UBS comes up short; fined $12 million by Finra for ‘systemic supervisory failure’”

Posted on

Article: UBS fined in U.S. over improper short sales

Article - Media, Publications

UBS fined in U.S. over improper short sales

Jonathan Stempel, 25 October 2011

In the largest penalty of its type, Swiss bank UBS AG was fined $12 million by a U.S. brokerage regulator over its “systemic” failure to properly handle millions of short-sale orders.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said violations by the bank’s UBS Securities LLC broker-dealer unit caused the orders to be mismarked or filled without reasonable grounds to believe the underlying securities could be located.

In short sales, investors sell securities they do not own, hoping the prices will fall so they can repurchase the securities later at the lower price, repay the lender and pocket the difference as profit. Regulators fear that abuses can distort markets, and accelerate declines in share prices. Continue reading “Article: UBS fined in U.S. over improper short sales”

Posted on

Article: Why I Respectfully Disagree With David Einhorn About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

Article - Media

Why I Respectfully Disagree With David Einhorn About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

Bill Maurer

SeekingAlpha, 19 October 2011

Shares of coffee giant Green Mountain (NASDAQ:GMCR) were slammed on Monday after hedge fund investor David Einhorn said that the stock should be shorted. I respectfully disagree with Mr. Einhorn and others that are against the stock.

Paywall Access to Full Article

Posted on

Article: SEC under Schapiro struggles to turn around amid political, financial head winds

Article - Media

SEC under Schapiro struggles to turn around amid political, financial head winds

David S. Hilzenrath

Washington Post, 7 October 2011

Mary L. Schapiro took over a discredited SEC in early 2009 and vowed to rebuild it.

She promised tougher enforcement — “war without quarter” on financial fraud. Modernized rules to keep up with Wall Street. And a new, more effective organization.

Her tenure at the federal agency responsible for protecting investors and policing markets offers a Washington lesson: Even when epic crises create a sense of urgency, it is tough to tighten the reins on powerful industries. Dramatic results can prove elusive.

Read full article.

Posted on

Article: United States: Open-Market Manipulation Under SEC Rule 10b-5 And Its Analogues: Inappropriate Distinctions, Judicial Disagreement And Case Study: FERC’s Anti- Manipulation Rule

Article - Media, Publications

United States: Open-Market Manipulation Under SEC Rule 10b-5 And Its Analogues: Inappropriate Distinctions, Judicial Disagreement And Case Study: FERC’s Anti- Manipulation Rule

Maxwell K. Multer,  01 September 2011

Regulators have addressed market manipulation with Rule 10b-5 since its promulgation under the Securities Exchange Act in 1942. While Section 9 of the Securities Exchange Act addresses manipulation of securities prices, it requires the specific intent “for the purpose of inducing the purchase or sale of such security by others”1 or “for the purpose of creating a false or misleading appearance [of market activity] . . ..”2 It is likely for that reason that prosecutors rarely use Section 9, choosing instead to bring manipulation proceedings under Rule 10b-5.3 But as the tools available for accomplishing market manipulation have evolved, the judicially narrowed contours of Rule 10b-5 may be such that certain new schemes escape liability. With modern advances in trade execution, market platforms and derivatives, it is now possible to accomplish a profitable market manipulation without engaging in any overtly fraudulent or illegal behavior.

Several courts have elected to distinguish between these alleged schemes and schemes which do include illegal behavior, employing a higher level of scrutiny and requiring proof of additional elements in the former situation. Manipulative schemes are referred to as “open market manipulations” when the alleged scheme is accomplished solely through the use of facially legitimate open market transactions. That is, where the manipulator has not engaged in any conduct that is inherently or otherwise illegal, such as fictitious transactions, wash sales or by disseminating false reporting. The transactions are seemingly legitimate, but for their manipulative intent and effect in combination. Continue reading “Article: United States: Open-Market Manipulation Under SEC Rule 10b-5 And Its Analogues: Inappropriate Distinctions, Judicial Disagreement And Case Study: FERC’s Anti- Manipulation Rule”

Posted on

Article: Deutsche Bank charged in South Korea over stock rout

Article - Media, Publications

Deutsche Bank charged in South Korea over stock rout

BBC News, 22 August 2011

Deutsche Bank’s South Korean brokerage and four of its employees have been charged with illegally manipulating Seoul’s stock market last year.

Korean prosecutors allege the firm earned more than 45bn won ($41.5m; £25m) in unfair trading on 11 November. In a statement, Deutsche Bank denied the charges and said it would defend itself in court.

Seoul’s benchmark share index fell by 48 points, or 2.7%, in the last 10 minutes of trading on 11 November.

Korea’s Financial Services Commission confirmed that about 2.4tn won in sell orders from foreign investors were processed on that day, most of them through Deutsche Bank’s local securities unit. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank charged in South Korea over stock rout”

Posted on

Article: 4 at Deutsche Bank indicted over stock manipulation

Article - Media, Publications

4 at Deutsche Bank indicted over stock manipulation

Choi He-suk, 21 August 2011

Four employees of Deutsche Bank AG and Deutsche Securities Korea have been indicted on charges of gaining unlawful profits by manipulating stock prices, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Sunday.

Of the four, three work at Deutsche Bank’s Hong Kong branch including one executive. The other is an executive of Deutsche Securities Korea.

The Hong Kong-based individuals have so far refused to comply with the prosecution’s summons. The prosecutors said that if they do not attend the hearing, it plans to request their extradition and to request Interpol’s cooperation if necessary. Continue reading “Article: 4 at Deutsche Bank indicted over stock manipulation”

THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?