Tag: GAO

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Article: How trade-based money laundering works and its impact on world finances

Article - Media

How trade-based money laundering works and its impact on world finances

World Economic Forum , 15 June 2021

Trade-based money laundering and associated tax evasion is big business. Financial losses from these crimes in developing countries totalled $9 trillion between 2008 and 2017. Global trade complexities make tackling this type of money laundering difficult, but not impossible.

Money laundering is big business, so big, that to handle the movement of enormous sums of money, fraudsters are increasingly turning to Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML). In developing countries, TBML and associated tax evasion contributed to almost $9 trillion in losses between 2008 and 2017. Tackling TBML is complicated by cross-jurisdiction trade, multinational companies, and globalized trade pathways. Continue reading “Article: How trade-based money laundering works and its impact on world finances”

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Article: House Hearing: Only Jamie Dimon’s Microphone Mysteriously Malfunctions During Pivotal Questioning

Article - Media, Publications

House Hearing: Only Jamie Dimon’s Microphone Mysteriously Malfunctions During Pivotal Questioning

Pam Martens and Russ Martens, 28 May 2021

CEOs from the six largest banks on Wall Street testified under oath yesterday before the House Financial Services Committee. But only one CEO, Jamie Dimon, had an ear-piercing electronic sound emanate from his microphone, which blocked out the sound of his voice, when he was asked key questions by two separate members of Congress.

The situation was so bizarre that Congressman Juan Vargas, a Democrat from California, said this about the episodes: “It reminded me of the movie ‘Young Frankenstein.’ Every time they said ‘Luther’ the horses would get scared. Every time they said ‘Jamie Dimon,’ the computers would get scared.”

The first episode occurred after Congressman Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, told Dimon that two of the banks previously purchased by JPMorgan Chase had used slaves as loan collateral and at one point, after calling in a loan, the bank actually owned 1,250 slaves. Green asked Dimon: “Will you atone in the form of recompense,” and “what will you do for your banks owning human beings…?” Continue reading “Article: House Hearing: Only Jamie Dimon’s Microphone Mysteriously Malfunctions During Pivotal Questioning”

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Article: Five ways Biden could crack down on dirty money and financial secrecy

Article - Academic, Publications

Five ways Biden could crack down on dirty money and financial secrecy

Brenda Medina, 01 April 2021

Early rhetoric from the Biden administration has encouraged anti-corruption advocates that the new president’s tenure in the White House may mark a turning point in the fight against dirty money and tax haven abuse — two overlapping problems made worse by a veil of secrecy that shields vast sums of money from tax collectors and law enforcement authorities.

“We will crack down on tax havens and illicit financing that contribute to income inequality, fund terrorism, and generate pernicious foreign influence,” the administration’s Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, released last month, says, identifying the fight against global corruption as a top security priority. The strategy mirrors promises Joe Biden made during his candidacy.

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Article: Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. Announces Results of 2021 Extraordinary General Meeting

Article - Media, Publications

Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. Announces Results of 2021 Extraordinary General Meeting

PRNewswire, 09 February 2021

Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. (the “Company”) (Nasdaq: MFH) today announced the results of its 2021 Extraordinary General Meeting, held on February 5, 2021 in Beijing, where it adopted resolutions, effective immediately, to: (i) increase the authorized share capital of the Company from US$50,000 to US$250,000; and (ii) re-elect following nominees as members of the Company’s Board of Directors: Continue reading “Article: Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. Announces Results of 2021 Extraordinary General Meeting”

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Article: Our Watchdogs and the Financial Scandal of the Century

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Our Watchdogs and the Financial Scandal of the Century

Mark Mitchell

Deep Capture, 3 April 2009

“Accountability – Integrity – Reliability”

That’s the motto of the Government Accountability Office, and it almost makes you believe that there really is a functioning watchdog – somebody, aside from us Internet loons, to investigate and report on the incompetence and malfeasance that pervade our public institutions.

Certainly, there were high hopes when the GAO began investigating the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a black box Wall Street outfit that is at the center of one of the great financial scandals of our era.

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Report: SEC IG Practices Related to Naked Short Selling Complaints and Referrals

Report

Editor: bottom line up front: SEC does not “do” complaints and considers naked short selling to be legal and generally contributing to “liquidity,”

Practices Related to Naked Short Selling Complaints and Referrals

Naked short selling has been a controversial practice for several years and, while not illegal per se, abusive or manipulative naked short selling (e.g., intentionally failing to borrow and deliver shares sold short in order to drive down the stock price) violates the federal securities laws.

The prior GAO audit found that Enforcement’s system for receiving and tracking referrals from the Self-Regulatory Organizations (SRO) needed improvements and recommended enhancements that would facilitate the monitoring and analysis of trend information and case activities.

Continue reading “Report: SEC IG Practices Related to Naked Short Selling Complaints and Referrals”

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Article: SEC Will Be Investigated in Probe Sought by Senate’s Grassley

Article - Media

SEC Will Be Investigated in Probe Sought by Senate’s Grassley

Otis Bilodeau

Bloomberg via Wayback, 26 October 2006

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, already under scrutiny for its handling of a trading probe that entangled Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer John Mack, now faces a broad review by government auditors of its management and methods for policing the financial markets.

The Government Accountability Office agreed last week to investigate the SEC’s enforcement division and compliance department after requests by Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who questioned whether the agency gave Mack special treatment. Grassley asked the GAO to examine the SEC’s “planning, oversight, control and other management processes” and gauge whether the agency does enough to oversee regulators at the New York Stock Exchange and NASD.

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