Article: The Firm Behind The $30 Billion Firesale Shaking Financial Markets Disclosed Almost Nothing

Article - Media, Publications

The Firm Behind The $30 Billion Firesale Shaking Financial Markets Disclosed Almost Nothing

Antoine Gara,  28 March 2021

Up until recently, the website of Archegos Capital Management, the firm behind a reported $30 billion financial firesale that is battering stocks worldwide, contained a giant image of Central Park. The vista displayed on Archegos’ webpage was a fitting homage to the views of its offices atop a Manhattan skyscraper on 57th street, until the site was taken down as the firm gets liquidated.

Archegos was a giant in U.S. financial markets, apparently holding tens of billions of dollars in securities, including massive exposures to companies like ViacomCBS, Discovery Communications and Baidu. It traded with Wall Street’s largest brokerages, and was headquartered at an expensive address housing many powerhouse investment firms. But when it came to routine financial disclosures, Archegos was virtually non-existent.

Forbes searched for a trace of Archegos on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s repository for securities filings, called EDGAR, short for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval. Amazingly, almost nothing came up. Continue reading “Article: The Firm Behind The $30 Billion Firesale Shaking Financial Markets Disclosed Almost Nothing”

Article: Four Banks Plead Guilty To Foreign Exchange Collusion, UBS Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud

Article - Media, Publications

Four Banks Plead Guilty To Foreign Exchange Collusion, UBS Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud

Antoine Gara, 20 May 2015

U.S. banking giants Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase and U.K.-base conglomerates Barclays and The Royal Bank of Scotland have agreed to plead guilty antitrust violations stemming from their collusion to manipulate prices in the foreign exchange market over the course of five years, the Department of Justice said on Wednesday. Those banks and UBS have agreed to pay a total of $5.8 billion in fines to global regulators as part of their FX market collusion.

Five banks will pay the Department of Justice nearly $3 billion in fines and penalties for their manipulation of U.S. dollar and Euro exchange rates, which the DoJ characterized as occurring “almost every day for five years” through private chat rooms, benefiting their trading positions but harming countless consumers and investors around the world. Separately, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, six banks would pay a total of $1.8 billion in fines for “unsafe and unsound practices” in the FX market. Continue reading “Article: Four Banks Plead Guilty To Foreign Exchange Collusion, UBS Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud”

Article: Swiss Bank UBS To Pay $342 Million Currency Manipulation Fine, Plead Guilty On LIBOR

Article - Media, Publications

Swiss Bank UBS To Pay $342 Million Currency Manipulation Fine, Plead Guilty On LIBOR

Antoine Gara, 20 May 2015

UBS said on Wednesday morning it would pay a $342 million fine for its involvement in manipulating the foreign exchange market, averting criminal prosecution as a result of its cooperation in the multi-year probe. The Swiss banking giant, however, will plead guilty to one count of wire fraud for its role in manipulating interest rate benchmarks such as LIBOR, paying a $202 million fine, and tearing up a previously agreed 2012 deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. regulators.

The collective $545 million in fines and guilty plea will help UBS put to rest some of its largest legal issues in the United States and won’t have a financial impact given the bank’s exiting provisions for litigation. Continue reading “Article: Swiss Bank UBS To Pay $342 Million Currency Manipulation Fine, Plead Guilty On LIBOR”

Article: SAC Capital Pleads Guilty to Decade-Long Insider Trading Conspiracy

Article - Media, Publications

SAC Capital Pleads Guilty to Decade-Long Insider Trading Conspiracy

ANTOINE GARA, 04 November 2013

Steven A. Cohen’s hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors agreed to plead guilty to federal charges that it violated insider trading laws and will pay a record $1.8 billion in fines and restitution.

In July, a grand jury indicted SAC Capital and its affiliates for one count of wire fraud and four counts of securities fraud, in an insider trading conspiracy U.S. prosecutors alleged lasted over a decade and led to hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal profits and avoided losses. Continue reading “Article: SAC Capital Pleads Guilty to Decade-Long Insider Trading Conspiracy”

THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?