Article – Media – Page 46 – Financial Treason & Crime

TRAFFIC, 12 April 2021

Cambridge, UK – 14 April 2021: Chinese banks must take action to prevent illegal wildlife traffickers from exploiting their networks to launder money says TRAFFIC. The non-governmental organisation, which works globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, is today releasing resources that indicate how Chinese banks are at risk of greater scrutiny and pressure from governments and institutional investors if they fail to act on the illegal trade of wildlife. Continue reading “Article: The Illegal Wildlife Trade and the Banking Sector in China”

04/12/2021

Article: US cautions China-backed Port City could turn into money-laundering haven

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US cautions China-backed Port City could turn into money-laundering haven

The Island Online, 12 April 2021

(ANI) US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Alaina Teplitz on Saturday warned Sri Lanka of unintended consequences of ‘nefarious actors’ who may try to misuse a China-backed Colombo Port City’s easy business rules as a permissive money laundering haven amid concerns of tax leaks.

Sri Lanka has unveiled draft legislation for a Colombo Port City Commission which allows for sweeping tax breaks, tax-free salaries and to be an offshore financial centre. Continue reading “Article: US cautions China-backed Port City could turn into money-laundering haven”

04/12/202104/15/2021

Article: Ex-Trader Sues RBS For £1.1M In Unpaid Bonuses

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Ex-Trader Sues RBS For £1.1M In Unpaid Bonuses

Joanne Faulkner, 12 April 2021

A former Royal Bank of Scotland trader is suing the lender for more than £1.1 million ($1.5 million), claiming he is being denied promised bonuses after being unlawfully dismissed during a regulatory investigation into the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

Arif Hussein, former managing director of a trading division, argues in a High Court claim that has recently been made public that RBS has wrongfully classified his firing from the lender in 2014 as “for cause.” This came despite an employment tribunal determining he had been unlawfully dismissed a year later, the claim added. Continue reading “Article: Ex-Trader Sues RBS For £1.1M In Unpaid Bonuses”

04/12/202104/13/2021

Article: ‘Scheming’ former Portage official gets year of probation; sentenced for felony conflict of interest

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‘Scheming’ former Portage official gets year of probation; sentenced for felony conflict of interest

AMY LAVALLEY, 12 April 2021

Former Portage Clerk-Treasurer Christopher Stidham will have to give up his law license and the chance of future work in the public sector, much less a run for office, after being sentenced Monday on a Level 6 felony count of conflict of interest.

“A white-collar crime is still a crime,” Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer said, later noting Stidham’s “scheming” in the case. Continue reading “Article: ‘Scheming’ former Portage official gets year of probation; sentenced for felony conflict of interest”

04/12/202104/13/2021

Article: Yellen Plans to Spare China From Currency Manipulator Label

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Yellen Plans to Spare China From Currency Manipulator Label

Saleha Mohsin, 12 April 2021

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will decline to name China as a currency manipulator in her first semiannual foreign-exchange report, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that allows the U.S. to sidestep a fresh clash with Beijing.

The report, which is not yet finalized, is due on Thursday, although it is unclear when the department will release it. During the Trump era, the Treasury Department was accused of politicizing the report after it abruptly designated China a manipulator in mid-2019 outside its usual release schedule, only to lift the label five months later to win concessions in a trade deal. Continue reading “Article: Yellen Plans to Spare China From Currency Manipulator Label”

04/11/202104/12/2021

Article: Could The U.K. Secretly Strip Encryption From WhatsApp?

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Could The U.K. Secretly Strip Encryption From WhatsApp?

Barry Collins, 11 April 2021

The U.K. government could secretly force Facebook to strip end-to-end encryption from apps such as WhatsApp, a civil liberties organization has claimed.

The U.K. government has waged a long campaign against end-to-end encryption in consumer apps because it makes interception of communications more difficult. End-to-end encryption thus facilitates crimes such as child abuse, politicians such as the U.K.’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, have argued. Continue reading “Article: Could The U.K. Secretly Strip Encryption From WhatsApp?”

04/11/2021

Article: Being ‘tough on China’ can’t mean harming our own interests

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Being ‘tough on China’ can’t mean harming our own interests

DANIEL L DAVIS, 11 April 2021

Being “tough on China” is politically popular in Washington these days, and Biden has come out of the gate swinging against Beijing. But “being tough” isn’t a policy and reflexively applying it to China doesn’t serve U.S. interests. A logical and realistic approach to Beijing, however, can.

Obama’s “pivot to Asia” in 2011 opened a new chapter in Sino-American relations and turned an always challenging relationship even more tense. From the beginning of his administration, Trump characterized China in starkly adversarial terms, calculating domestic political advantage in starting a trade war. In the early months of the Biden term, it appears the new president has chosen to accelerate this deterioration in relations. Continue reading “Article: Being ‘tough on China’ can’t mean harming our own interests”

04/10/202104/11/2021

Article: JPMORGAN EYEING BITCOIN’S CONTANGO, RELEASES BULLISH REPORT

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JPMORGAN EYEING BITCOIN’S CONTANGO, RELEASES BULLISH REPORT

DYLAN LECLAIR, 10 April 2021

In a report titled “Why Is The Bitcoin Futures Curve So Steep?” JPMorgan Chase analysts examined the growing futures and derivatives market surrounding bitcoin, provided insights as to why the contango is so steep and explored what the future holds for the monetary asset as it becomes increasingly financialized.

Here are some of the highlights from the report. Continue reading “Article: JPMORGAN EYEING BITCOIN’S CONTANGO, RELEASES BULLISH REPORT”

04/10/202104/11/2021

Article: Corruption series sparked calls for change at SC Statehouse, but progress has been slow

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Corruption series sparked calls for change at SC Statehouse, but progress has been slow

Avery G. Wilks, 10 April 2021

COLUMBIA — With time running out on their 2021 calendar, South Carolina lawmakers have made little progress toward closing ethics loopholes for big-spending special government district leaders. Nor have they given the state’s top law enforcement agency the money it says it needs to better investigate public corruption.

But influential legislators say they remain committed to tackling those concerns, which were highlighted earlier this year in The Post and Courier’s Uncovered series, a yearlong project with community newspapers aimed at unearthing corruption and abuses of power in small-town South Carolina. Continue reading “Article: Corruption series sparked calls for change at SC Statehouse, but progress has been slow”

04/10/2021

Article: China Hits Alibaba With Huge $2.78 Billion Fine For Market Abuse: Report

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China Hits Alibaba With Huge $2.78 Billion Fine For Market Abuse: Report

Agence France-Presse, 10 April 2021

Shanghai, China: Chinese regulators have hit e-commerce giant Alibaba with a massive 18.2 billion yuan ($2.78 billion) fine over practices deemed to be an abuse of the company’s dominant market position, state-run media reported on Saturday.

Xinhua news agency said the State Administration for Market Regulation had assessed the fine after concluding an investigation into Alibaba that began in December. Continue reading “Article: China Hits Alibaba With Huge $2.78 Billion Fine For Market Abuse: Report”

04/10/2021

Article: Archegos Exposes SEC Blind Spots, Dithering on Market Oversight

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Archegos Exposes SEC Blind Spots, Dithering on Market Oversight

Robert Schmidt and Benjamin Bainx, 10 April 2021

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was supposed to be able to spot a whale like Bill Hwang by now. As the financial world knows, it didn’t. Will the agency be able to catch the next one?

The collapse of Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management represents one of the most spectacular failures of risk-management and oversight in recent memory. For the SEC, it caps a decade of foot-dragging on protections that were meant to avert, or at least minimize, just such a blowup. Continue reading “Article: Archegos Exposes SEC Blind Spots, Dithering on Market Oversight”

04/10/2021

Article: South Korean Government Announces Crackdown on Illicit Crypto-Related Transactions in an ‘Overheated Market’

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South Korean Government Announces Crackdown on Illicit Crypto-Related Transactions in an ‘Overheated Market’

Felipe Erazo, 10 April 2021

According to Chosun, the South Korean Government met with politicians, law enforcement, and financial watchdog authorities to take down illicit transactions from what they named an “overheated market.”

The meeting was led by the Second Deputy Secretary of State Moon Seung-wook, who called authorities from the Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Police Agency. Continue reading “Article: South Korean Government Announces Crackdown on Illicit Crypto-Related Transactions in an ‘Overheated Market’”

04/10/2021

Article: U.S. Spy Agencies Warn of Threats From Digital Currency to AI

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U.S. Spy Agencies Warn of Threats From Digital Currency to AI

Joen Coronel, 10 April 2021

The U.S. intelligence community predicts an increasingly leaderless and unstable world in the coming decades as trends such as artificial intelligence, digital currencies and climate change reshape the global arena, according to the National Intelligence Council.

The coming decades will be characterized by a mismatch between global challenges and “the ability of institutions and system to respond,” according to “Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World.” The result will be “greater contestation at every level” — especially between the U.S. and China. Continue reading “Article: U.S. Spy Agencies Warn of Threats From Digital Currency to AI”

04/10/2021

Article: Can the US compete?

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Can the US compete?

Rod Kapunan, 10 April 2021

Many are speculating whether the US has the budget to sustain the cost for the long-delayed rehabilitation of America’s infrastructure. It was announced it will cost the Biden administration a whopping $2 trillion to undertake the repairs of the country’s mostly aging infrastructure.

As observed, the US economy is saddled with great contradictions. It is deeply mired in debt that it cannot just do all things at the same time. Some say the problem is for the US economy to undergo some kind of economic metamorphoses, similar to what China did to overcome the obstacle inherent in the US system.

One must remember that the greatest enemy of the US is the contradiction from within its own system. The US is hampered in what Marx says “internal contradictions” – that the interest of the various pressure groups could stymie most of its objectives. Continue reading “Article: Can the US compete?”

04/10/202104/10/2021

Article: Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them

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Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them

ARAB NEWS, 10 April 2021

RIYADH: A money laundering gang in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to a total of 106 years in prison and issued a fine of SR1.08 million ($288,000).

Around SR5 million was seized from the gang and nearly SR2 million was confiscated from their bank accounts, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Five citizens obtained seven commercial registers to import foodstuffs, opened bank accounts, and handed them over to 16 residents of Arab nationality with the aim of depositing illegal sums of money and transferring them abroad, the Public Prosecution said. Continue reading “Article: Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them”