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Article: 5 big banks pay $5.4 billion for rigging currencies

Article - Media, Publications

5 big banks pay $5.4 billion for rigging currencies

Virginia Harrison and Mark Thompson, 20 May 2015

Citigroup (C), Barclays (BCS), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBSPF)were fined more than $2.5 billion by the U.S. after pleading guilty to conspiring to manipulate the price of dollars and euros. The four banks, plus UBS (UBS) , have also been fined $1.6 billion by the Federal Reserve, and Barclays will pay regulators another $1.3 billion to settle related claims.

The first four banks operated what they described as “The Cartel” from as early as 2007, using online chatrooms and coded language to influence the twice-daily setting of benchmarks in an effort to increase their profits. The guilty banks “participated in a brazen display of collusion and foreign exchange rate market manipulation,” said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Continue reading “Article: 5 big banks pay $5.4 billion for rigging currencies”

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Article: UBS to Pay Over $500 Million in Fines for Manipulating Currencies and Libor

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UBS to Pay Over $500 Million in Fines for Manipulating Currencies and Libor

Chad Bray, 08 March 2021

The Swiss bank UBS said on Wednesday that it would pay more than $500 million in fines to the authorities in the United States for its role in the manipulation of currency markets and benchmark interest rates.

UBS said it would not face a criminal charge over currency misconduct but would be required to separately plead guilty to a criminal charge for its prior conduct over the manipulation of the interest rates, including the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, after the Justice Department tore up a 2012 nonprosecution agreement. Continue reading “Article: UBS to Pay Over $500 Million in Fines for Manipulating Currencies and Libor”

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Article: BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case

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BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case

Peter Koven, 15 May 2015

Short seller Jon Carnes has been cleared of fraud allegations by a British Columbia Securities Commission panel, which found his attacks on Silvercorp Metals Inc. were not prohibited. The panel did, however, raise serious concerns with his conduct. Continue reading “Article: BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case”

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Article: Fraud allegations against short-seller dismissed in Silvercorp case

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Fraud allegations against short-seller dismissed in Silvercorp case

KEITH BEDFORD, 14 May 2015

A Canadian securities panel has dismissed fraud allegations against short-seller Jon Carnes, who was accused of manipulating Silvercorp Metals Inc.’s stock. The dismissal by the British Columbia Securities Commission panel is the latest twist in a prolonged affair that saw Silvercorp stock drop 90 per cent, landed a Canadian researcher in a Chinese jail and put Mr. Carnes through a lengthy regulatory battle. In 2013, staff at the B.C. securities regulator accused Mr. Carnes of committing fraud when he anonymously wrote negative reports about Silvercorp while building his short position in the Vancouver-based mining company.
Continue reading “Article: Fraud allegations against short-seller dismissed in Silvercorp case”

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Filing: FINRA v Morgan Stanley

Filing

FINRA v Morgan Stanley

13 May 2015

Based on the foregoing reviews, the staff determined that the firm violated FINRA Rule 4560, NASD Rule 3360, NYSE Rule 421, FINRA Rule 2010, NASD Rule 2110, NASD Rule 3010, and SEC Rule 200(1). Specifically, the staff determined the firm failed to submit accurate short interest reports during certain short interest reporting periods and failed to provide a supervisory system reasonably designed to achieve compliance with short interest reporting requirements.

PDF (10 pages): FINRA v Morgan Stanley

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Article: Deutsche Bank Fined $2.5 bln for Interest Rate Benchmarks Manipulation

Article - Media, Publications

Deutsche Bank Fined $2.5 bln for Interest Rate Benchmarks Manipulation

Victor Golovtchenko, 23 April 2015

Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin M. Lawsky, announced today that Deutsche Bank will part with $2.5 billion to settle litigation costs related to manipulation of various interest rate benchmarks.

This is the biggest LIBOR investigations related fine to date, and surpasses Swiss bank’s Credit Suisse record. Besides installing an independent monitor for New York Banking Law violations, the largest German investment bank will also have to terminate and ban certain employees. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank Fined $2.5 bln for Interest Rate Benchmarks Manipulation”

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Article: Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine

Article - Media, Publications

Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine

Jill Treanor, 23 April 2015

Germany’s Deutsche Bank has been fined a record $2.5bn (£1.7bn) for rigging Libor, ordered to fire seven employees and accused of being obstructive towards regulators in their investigations into the global manipulation of the benchmark rate.

The penalties on Germany’s largest bank also involve a guilty plea to the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the US and a deferred prosecution agreement. The regulators released a cache of emails, electronic messages and phone calls showing the attempts to move the rate used to price £3.5tn of financial contracts. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine”

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Article: Financial Conduct Authority Fines Merrill Lynch International $20 Million

Article - Media

Financial Conduct Authority Fines Merrill Lynch International $20 Million

Corporate Crime Reporter, 22 April 2015

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Merrill Lynch International $20 million for incorrectly reporting 35,034,810 transactions and failing to report another 121,387 transactions between November 2007 and November 2014.

The size of the fine – the highest imposed for transaction reporting failures to date – reflects the severity of Merrill Lynch’s misconduct, failure to adequately address the root causes over several years despite substantial FCA guidance to the industry and a poor history of transaction reporting compliance, consisting of a private warning issued in 2002 and a fine of $225,000 in 2006.

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Article: London property used for money laundering

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London property used for money laundering

Compliance Alert, 03 April 2015

London is famed for providing a safe haven for foreign dissidents and refugees. It’s a hard-earned reputation going back to the French revolution and beyond. Then, as now, the super-rich who have fallen foul with their governments were among the influx. And then, as now, their reputations were not always immaculate.

But it has surely not often been the case that a millionaire alleged to have ordered an Englishman’s murder has ended up being exiled to a British mansion less than 60 miles away from the alleged intended victim’s home. Continue reading “Article: London property used for money laundering”

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Book: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis

Book

#1 New York Times Bestseller ― With a new Afterword

“Guaranteed to make blood boil.” ―Janet Maslin, New York Times

In Michael Lewis’s game-changing bestseller, a small group of Wall Street iconoclasts realize that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders. They band together―some of them walking away from seven-figure salaries―to investigate, expose, and reform the insidious new ways that Wall Street generates profits. If you have any contact with the market, even a retirement account, this story is happening to you.

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Article: JP Morgan agrees to pay $100 million to settle a Currency Manipulation Lawsuit in New York

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JP Morgan agrees to pay $100 million to settle a Currency Manipulation Lawsuit in New York

Giambrone, 25 January 2015

Financial service giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reached a $100 million settlement to resolve a U.S. antitrust lawsuit that sought damages for the alleged rigging of foreign currency markets, in which investors accused 12 major banks of rigging prices in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market in the case of In re: Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-07789.

JP Morgan will pay about $100 million and settled the case after mediation with Kenneth Feinberg, an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, RBS and UBS also settled with regulators in November for an additional $3.3 billion. Continue reading “Article: JP Morgan agrees to pay $100 million to settle a Currency Manipulation Lawsuit in New York”

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Article: Arrested RBS forex trader named as Paul Nash: sources

Article - Media, Publications

Arrested RBS forex trader named as Paul Nash: sources

Jamie McGeever, Kirstin Ridley, 08 January 2015

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland currency trader Paul Nash has become the first individual arrested in connection with a global inquiry into alleged manipulation in the foreign exchange market, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Nash, who was suspended by RBS in 2013, was named by the sources as the man arrested in Billericay, southeast England, on Dec. 19. One of the sources said his arrest came only days before he emigrated to Canada.

Nash emigrated to Canada on Christmas Day and has rented out his family home, the source said. His arrest was not by appointment, as is typical in such cases, but was an “arrest and raid”, the source added.

Nash, who has not been charged with any offense, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Dec. 23 over variations to his bail conditions, a court official confirmed. These included that he would reside at a specified address in British Columbia.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said only that a 48-year-old man had appeared at the London court on Dec. 23 in connection with a global investigation into allegations of manipulation in the $5.3 trillion-a-day forex market.

The increasingly aggressive agency, which is preparing for the trials this year of individuals alleged to have manipulated global benchmark interest rates, said last July that it might file the first charges in the high-profile inquiry this year.

About 30 forex traders have been put on leave, suspended or fired as prosecutors and regulators continue to examine allegations of wrongdoing in the world’s largest market.

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Article: JP Morgan Agrees New Settlement for FX Manipulation

Article - Media

JP Morgan Agrees New Settlement for FX Manipulation

Profit & Loss, 7 January 2015

JP Morgan has agreed a settlement, believed to be worth $100 million, in an antitrust litigation lawsuit brought against 12 major banks for alleged manipulation of the FX market.

The bank submitted a letter to judge Lorna Scholfield of the Court of the Southern District of New York, stating that it had reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs in this litigation and that is planning to file a copy of the settlement terms with the court for approval by the end of January.

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Article: Merrill Lynch Fined $7.2M Over Options Reporting Flubs

Article - Media

Merrill Lynch Fined $7.2M Over Options Reporting Flubs

Law360, 2 January 2015

Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. will pay $5.8 million in fines, while Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. agreed to pay $1.45 million to settle the joint enforcement action by FINRA, BOX Options Exchange LLC and Nasdaq’s options markets in Philadelphia and Boston, according to a settlement document dated Dec. 22, 2014.

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