Article: JP Morgan agrees to pay $100 million to settle a Currency Manipulation Lawsuit in New York
Article - Media, PublicationsJP 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”
Article: Arrested RBS forex trader named as Paul Nash: sources
Article - Media, PublicationsArrested 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.
Article: JP Morgan Agrees New Settlement for FX Manipulation
Article - MediaJP 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.
Article: Merrill Lynch Fined $7.2M Over Options Reporting Flubs
Article - MediaMerrill 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.
Article: Russian activist Alexei Navalny faces 10 years for “fraud”
Article - Media, PublicationsRussian activist Alexei Navalny faces 10 years for “fraud”
Deutsche Welle, 19 December 2014
A Russian activist is facing a total of 10 years in prison on fraud charges. Prosecutors asked a Moscow court to convict Alexei Navalny who had already been handed a suspended sentence on embezzlement charges. Wrapping up their closing arguments in a Moscow courthouse on Friday, prosecutors called on the presiding judge to convict Alexei Navalny, and his brother, Oleg, (photo) for fraud.
“The guilt of the defendant has been fully proven,” prosecutor Nadezhda Ignatova told the court.
She called on the judge to sentence Alexei Navalny to 10 years in prison for stealing 30 million rubles (414,000 euros, $500,000) from an affiliate of French cosmetics company Yves Rocher and another firm between 2008 and 2012. Continue reading “Article: Russian activist Alexei Navalny faces 10 years for “fraud””
Article: Fails-to-deliver, short selling, and market quality
Article - AcademicFails-to-deliver, short selling, and market quality
Veljko Fotak, Vikas Raman, Pradeep K. Yadav
Journal of Financial Economics, 1 December 2014
We investigate the aggregate market quality impact of equity shares that fail to deliver (hereafter “FTDs”). For a sample of 1,492 NYSE stocks over a 42-month period from 2005 to 2008, greater FTDs lead to higher liquidity and pricing efficiency, and their impact is similar to our estimate of delivered short sales. Furthermore, during the operative period of a Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) order mandating stock borrowing prior to short sales, the securities affected display relatively lower liquidity and higher pricing errors. Finally, we do not find any evidence that FTDs caused price distortions or the failure of financial firms during the 2008 financial crisis.
Article: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation and Paul Averback by Law Offices Bernard M. Gross, P.C. — NYMX
Article - Media, PublicationsGLOBE NEWSWIRE, 25 November 2014
The lawsuit filed against the Company and Paul Averback, the president, director and chairman of the Company, alleges violations of the federal securities laws based on their failure to disclose material information affecting the Phase 3 clinical trials for NYMOX’s proprietary drug NX-1207 for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). NYMOX is engaged in the research and development of therapeutics and diagnostics, with an emphasis on the products for the unmet needs of the aging population. NX-1207 showed positive results for the treatment of BPH in Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in the U.S. The Company regularly provided positive updates on the Phase 3 clinical trials. However, in a surprise to the market, and contrary to the positive statement concerning the NX02-0017 and NX02-0018 trials, defendants disclosed on November 2, 2014 that the Company’s two Phase 3 U.S. studies of NX-1207 had to be halted because the drug failed to meets its primary endpoints for efficacy. On November 3, 2014, defendants held a conference call with analysts to explain the failure and on that conference call disclosed to the market for the first time, among other things, the difficulties they faced in enrolling men for the trials and the subjective nature of the measurement of the drug’s success. The market’s reaction was immediate and dramatic as the price of NYMOX common stock fell 82% to close at $.93 on unprecedented trading volume of 19.6 million shares. The Company’s U.S. BPH program is currently on hold, pending further evaluation of data.
Continue reading “Article: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation and Paul Averback by Law Offices Bernard M. Gross, P.C. — NYMX”
Article: Goldman, Morgan Stanley And JP Morgan Named In Commodity Manipulation Investigation
Article - MediaGoldman, Morgan Stanley And JP Morgan Named In Commodity Manipulation Investigation
Maggie McGrath
Forbes, 19 November 2014
A two-year investigation conducted by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has accused Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan of manipulating commodity prices. In a nearly-400 page report released Wednesday evening, the subcommittee says that these banks have become “heavily involved with” the commodities markets and increasing risks to financial stability, industry and consumers.
Article: Common currency: a forex scandal that epitomises the blindness in the banking crisis
Article - Media, PublicationsCommon currency: a forex scandal that epitomises the blindness in the banking crisis
Andre Spicer, 16 November 2014
The biggest open secret in the financial world has been confirmed. Regulators in the UK, the US and Switzerland have announced massive fines for some of the world’s largest banks for a manipulation of global currency markets that in its callous ubiquity says so much about the banking behaviours that sparked the global financial crisis.
Fines levied by the UK regulator add up to £1.1 billion. The US regulator announced fines of $1.4 billion. Banks hit by these fines include UBS, Citi, JP Morgan, HSBC and RBS. Barclays is yet to come to a settlement on the back of the investigations.
The probe uncovered individuals traders within large banks who were working together in trading clubs which had names you would expect from the “ruthless narcissists” on BBC TV show, The Apprentice. These included “the players”, “the 3 musketeers” and “1 team, 1 dream”.
These clubs worked together to influence the WM Reuters 4pm fix – essentially the official number used to fix currency rates. It shapes everything from how much we pay for currency when we go overseas to how much our pension fund pays when it wants to buy into an offshore investment. This is one of the core numbers in global finance.
Filing: Overstock.com v Goldman Sachs & Co
FilingOverstock.com v Goldman Sachs & Co
13 November 2014
Often, it is the federal courts, applying federal law, that wrestle with claims of cross-state securities fraud involving a nationally-listed stock. Here, plaintiffs of various states allege defendants, securities firms headquartered on the East Coast, violated California and New Jersey law through their involvement in massive naked short selling of Overstock shares. The trial court sustained demurrers to plaintiffs’ New Jersey Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) claim without leave to amend and subsequently granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ California market manipulation claims.
PDF (61 pages): Overstock.com v Goldman Sachs & Co
Article: OVERSTOCK COM INC v. GOLDMAN SACHS CO
Article - Media, PublicationsOVERSTOCK COM INC v. GOLDMAN SACHS CO
Often, it is the federal courts, applying federal law, that wrestle with claims of cross-state securities fraud involving a nationally-listed stock. Here, plaintiffs of various states allege defendants, securities firms headquartered on the East Coast, violated California and New Jersey law through their involvement in massive naked short selling of Overstock shares.
The trial court sustained demurrers to plaintiffs’ New Jersey Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) claim without leave to amend and subsequently granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ California market manipulation claims.
Article: Regulators fine global banks $4.3 billion in currency investigation
Article - Media, PublicationsRegulators fine global banks $4.3 billion in currency investigation
Kirstin Ridley, Joshua Franklin, Aruna Viswanatha, 12 November 2014
Regulators fined six major banks a total of $4.3 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market, following a yearlong global investigation.
HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and Bank of America Corp all faced penalties resulting from the inquiry, which has put the largely unregulated $5-trillion-a-day market on a tighter leash, accelerated the push to automate trading and ensnared the Bank of England.
Authorities accused dealers of sharing confidential information about client orders and coordinating trades to boost their own profits. The foreign exchange benchmark they allegedly manipulated is used by asset managers and corporate treasurers to value their holdings.
Dealers used code names to identify clients without naming them and swapped information in online chatrooms with pseudonyms such as “the players”, “the 3 musketeers” and “1 team, 1 dream.” Those who were not involved were belittled, and traders used obscene language to congratulate themselves on quick profits made from their scams, authorities said.
Wednesday’s fines bring total penalties for benchmark manipulation to more than $10 billion over two years. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority levied the biggest penalty in the history of the City of London, $1.77 billion, against five of the lenders.
Article: Six banks fined £2.6bn by regulators over forex failings
Article - Media, PublicationsSix banks fined £2.6bn by regulators over forex failings
BBC NEws , 12 November 2014
Six banks have been collectively fined £2.6bn by UK and US regulators over their traders’ attempted manipulation of foreign exchange rates. HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss bank UBS and US banks JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America have all been fined.
A separate probe into Barclays is continuing. The fines were issued by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and two US regulators.
The country’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued fines of $1.4bn to five banks, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) added $950m in further fines to three lenders. Separately, the Swiss regulator, FINMA, has penalised UBS 134m Swiss francs.
Barclays, which had been expected to announce a similar deal to the other banks, said it would not be settling at this time.
“After discussions with other regulators and authorities, we have concluded that it is in the interests of the company to seek a more general coordinated settlement,” it said in a statement.
Article: Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC
Article - Media, PublicationsWhy I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC
Rupert Hargreaves, 10 November 2014
The godfather of value investing, Benjamin Graham, made it quite clear that the process of investing is nothing like speculation: “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return.” On the other hand, speculation is more akin to gambling, with no return guaranteed.
With this in mind, it’s easy to arrive at the conclusion that banks, which rely on leverage and trading to make a living, can never be deemed true ‘investments’ due to the speculative nature of their businesses. And this is the reason why I’m staying away from banks like Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS), HSBC (LSE: HSBA) and Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN). Continue reading “Article: Why I Will Never Buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings plc And Standard Chartered PLC”
