Foreign Collusion, Naked Shorting (Counterfeiting) & Money Laundering — All Illicit Wealth
22 May 2019
Pawar Law Group announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of shareholders who purchased shares of American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ARA) from August 10, 2016 through March 27, 2019, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for American Renal investors under the federal securities laws.
Southeast Investments, N.C., Inc. Fined by FINRA
28 May 2019
The firm and Black appealed a National Adjudicatory Council (NAC) decision to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm was fined a total of $146,500, of which $73,500 is joint and several with Black. Black was barred from association with any FINRA® member in any capacity. The NAC affirmed in part and reversed in part the findings and affirmed in part, vacated in part and modified in part the sanctions imposed by the Office of Hearing Officers (OHO).
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”
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”
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”
Larry Smith
Smith On Stock, 22 May 2019
In previous blogs I traced the history of stock trading from the 1960s when stock certificates and cash were physically exchanged to settle trades to the paper free, totally electronic system that exists today. Instead of owning stock certificates, we now own digital entries located somewhere in the vaults of the inscrutable Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC). This electronic system is absolutely critical to the functioning of our capital markets and our strong economic system. However, the DTCC and the prime brokers who own it have made the clearing and settlement system virtually non-transparent. This enables the routine manipulation of primarily but not exclusively, small stocks through illegal naked shorting.
The Banks That Ran Uber’s IPO Feared This Would Happen
Josh Barro
NY Mag, 17 May 2019
Matt Levine, among others, has been writing about the extraordinary measures that the investment banks running Uber’s initial public offering took, in vain, to stop the stock from tumbling in its first few days on the stock market.
Information for Investors Who Lost Money in Village Farms International, Inc. (VFF)
Sonn Law Staff, 17 May 2019
Village Farms International, Inc. (VFF) is a Canadian-based greenhouse company.
Beyond growing common vegetables like tomatoes and peppers — a business that this company has been engaged in for many years — Village Farms International also recently become involved in the recreational marijuana industry. In recent years, the VFF stock price is up considerably — as investors consider the company’s potential to create significant revenue in a new business. However, serious questions have been raised about the company’s business model and its actual financial position. Indeed, in April of 2019, Citron Research released a report on Village Farms International arguing that federal regulators should investigate the firm for possible stock manipulation.
Continue reading “Article: Information for Investors Who Lost Money in Village Farms International, Inc. (VFF)”
Naked Shorting In The Uber IPO: It Couldn’t Happen On A Blockchain
Caitlin Long
Forbes, 16 May 2019
The SEC explicitly gave banks a green-light to naked-short securities that are subject to underwriting commitments, such as IPOs. It revealed this in a Q&A about Regulation SHO (available here, Question 1.5).
Continue reading “Article: Naked Shorting In The Uber IPO: It Couldn’t Happen On A Blockchain”
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.
How Naked Short-Selling Helped Support Uber’s Flailing Stock
Evan Niu
The Motley Fool, 15 May 2019
The public debut of the largest ridesharing company, Uber (NYSE:UBER), has not gone well. Widespread investor pessimism over the sustainability of ridesharing economics helped push shares down after going public last Friday, following the IPO pricing at the low range of expectations. An estimated 81% of the equity capital that Uber raised in the private markets is now sitting in the red, according to Axios.
Uber’s underwriters were apparently so concerned about the debut that they made a rare move: naked short-selling.
As Morgan Stanley’s “Nuclear Option” Failed, Uber Stock Plunged
ZeroHedge, 14 May 2019
Uber’s underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, were so (rightfully) worried that the company’s IPO was going to crater in the days after its public offering, they deployed what CNBC is calling “a nuclear option” and shorted IPO stock naked, even beyond the traditional greenshoe. Of course, anyone in the industry would simply call this “selling to the dumb money ahead of an obviously overpriced IPO,” but we digress.
This naked shorting is utilized as a tactic to “support the stock” in addition to the usual 15% greenshoe that underwriters overallocate just so they can cover into, if the stock is plunging, with hopes of stabilizing the drop (Morgan Stanley was also Uber’s very much ineffective stabilization agent). CNBC referred to the short covering as “a technique that goes above and beyond the traditional help a new offering can get.”
Uber underwriters worried about the IPO deployed unusual ‘naked short’ tactic to support the stock
Leslie Picker, Hugh Son
CNBC, 14 May 2019
Uber’s underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, were so worried the company’s initial public offering had run into trouble, they deployed a nuclear option ahead of the deal last week, so they could provide extra support for the stock, four people with knowledge of the move said.
Thornton Mcenery
Dealbreaker, 14 May 2019
Uber’s appeal as a public company at this stage of its life has always been a mystery to us, yet even we are a little shocked that the bankers taking it to market were so sure it was priced to drop that they went through the trouble of building a naked short into the IPO and then sold that decision to investors as what we can only define as “Dipshit Insurance.”
Woodbury Financial Services, Inc. Fined by FINRA
13 May 2019
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $225,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that its system for supervising additions to existing variable annuities was not reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable securities laws and FINRA rules, including those governing suitability.
THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?
