Continue reading “Article: Final Defendant Sentenced in $80 Million Health Care Fraud Conspiracy”
Article: Major players plead guilty in ‘funnel account’ scam at Rio Rico bank
Article - Media, PublicationsMajor players plead guilty in ‘funnel account’ scam at Rio Rico bank
Nogales International, 2 May 2021
Three key members of a scheme to transfer organized crime proceeds from the United States to Mexico through so-called “funnel accounts” opened at the Wells Fargo bank in Rio Rico have now pleaded guilty to federal charges.
The latest guilty plea, which was accepted by a judge during a hearing on Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Tucson, was from Carlos Antonio Vasquez, the former manager of the bank branch. He agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering – a crime that normally carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, but for which Vasquez will receive no more than 34 months (2 years, 10 months) in exchange for his plea.
The conspiracy reportedly lasted from February 2017 until August 2019. Continue reading “Article: Major players plead guilty in ‘funnel account’ scam at Rio Rico bank”
Article: Former Citgo exec pleads guilty in $7 million international bribery, money laundering scheme
Article - Media, PublicationsFormer Citgo exec pleads guilty in $7 million international bribery, money laundering scheme
Alison Medley, 23 March 2021
A federal investigation has revealed an elaborate scheme involving millions in international bribes and Houston-based oil company, Citgo, according to a U.S. Justice Department report.
At the heart of a federal investigation was Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. PDVSA, which owns the Houston-based subsidiary Citgo. Continue reading “Article: Former Citgo exec pleads guilty in $7 million international bribery, money laundering scheme”
Article: The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam
Article - Media, PublicationsThe GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam
LUCY KOMISAR, 25 February 2021
At the House Financial Services Committee hearing last week on the GameStop debacle, there was an elephant in the room: naked short selling.
Short selling, effectively betting that a stock will go down, involves a trader selling shares he does not own, hoping to buy them back at a lower price to make money on the spread. The trader is supposed to locate (or have a “reasonable belief” he can locate) or borrow the shares in brokerage accounts, and then transfer them to the buyer within two days. This accounts for as much as 50 percent of daily trading. Continue reading “Article: The GameStop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam”
Article: JPMorgan Chase Pays nearly $1 Billion in Fines for Market Manipulation of Precious Metals and U.S. Treasuries
Article - Media, PublicationsCarolina Gonzalez, 16 October 2016
JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay over $955 million to settle civil and criminal charges over a scheme involving fake trades in precious metals and U.S. treasuries designed to manipulate the market in an effort to enhance the bank’s profits and cut losses. The multi-agency enforcement action was brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For nearly a decade, JPMorgan Chase & Co’s traders sitting in New York, London, and Singapore used spoofing to manipulate hundreds of thousands of transactions in precious metals futures markets, including gold and silver, as well as U.S. Treasury cash and futures markets.
The CFTC alone imposed a whopping $920 million fine, the largest ever imposed by the agency in a spoofing case, including nearly $312 million in restitution to harmed investors, $172 million in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and over $436 million in civil penalties. This record-setting action signals the CFTC’s resolute commitment to punish those who engage in manipulative and deceptive trading practices. The hefty fine also reflects the bank’s failure to prevent and cease the wrongdoing, as well as its failure to provide adequate cooperation to regulators in the early stages of the investigation. Continue reading “Article: JPMorgan Chase Pays nearly $1 Billion in Fines for Market Manipulation of Precious Metals and U.S. Treasuries”
Subject: Anthony Gonzalez
Subject of Interest
Anthony E. Gonzalez (R-OH) is a committee member of the 116th Congress U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. He is an American politician and former professional football player. A member of the Republican Party, he has been serving as the U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 16th congressional district since 2019. He played college football at Ohio State and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2018 and was sworn in on January 3, 2019. He graduated from Ohio State University (BA), and Stanford University (MBA).
Subject: Vicente Gonzalez
Subject of Interest
Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D-TX) is a committee member of the 116th Congress U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. He is an American attorney and politician serving as the United States Representative for the 15th District of Texas. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Gonzalez won the 2016 general election and took office on January 3, 2017. Gonzalez was re-elected to serve a second term in the 116th Congress, taking his oath of office on January 3, 2019. He graduated from Del Mar College, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (B.A.), and Texas Wesleyan University (J.D.). Gonzalez founded his law firm, V. Gonzalez & Associates, in 1997. He is a member of the bar associations of Texas and New York.
Article: Berkshire Hathaway Bet Big on Dialysis Giant DaVita. Jim Chanos Thinks It’s a Scam
Article - MediaBerkshire Hathaway Bet Big on Dialysis Giant DaVita. Jim Chanos Thinks It’s a Scam.
Christine Idzelis, Institutional Investor, 4 December 2019
DaVita provides life-extending dialysis treatment to more than 200,000 patients. But is it gaming the system through questionable donations to the American Kidney Fund?
Comment: Chanos is calling DVA a fraud. Stock was $59 it fell to $53. Then it went to $115. NICE WORK. Buffet too big to cheat?
Web: Federal Regulators Continue to Deny Scope and Implications of Counterfeiting
WebFederal Regulators Continue to Deny Scope and Implications of Counterfeiting
Bud Burrell
Sanity Check via Wayback, 10 January 2006
Over the past three years, Federal Regulators have continued to systematically deny the evidence of the existence of massive fails to deliver from numerous sources, many of which have gotten credible exposure on numerous levels from highly informed parties that these regulators can not dismiss out of hand. The implications are many, but the most serious are those connected to a massive counterfeiting conspiracy, conducted by a very sophisticated coterie of parties who have been affiliated with one another for literally decades through varying sides of the securities industry, both buy and sell side.
