Tag: JPMorgan

Looting the Pension Funds

All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers

Matt Taibbi

Rolling Stone, 10 October 2013

Raimondo’s strategy for saving money involved handing more than $1 billion – 14 percent of the state fund – to hedge funds, including a trio of well-known New York-based funds: Dan Loeb’s Third Point Capital was given $66 million, Ken Garschina’s Mason Capital got $64 million and $70 million went to Paul Singer’s Elliott Management.

The state’s workers, in other words, were being forced to subsidize their own political disenfranchisement, coughing up at least $200 million to members of a group that had supported anti-labor laws.

This is the third act in an improbable triple-fucking of ordinary people that Wall Street is seeking to pull off as a shocker epilogue to the crisis era.

Baker reported that, had public pension funds not been invested in the stock market and exposed to mortgage-backed securities, there would be no shortfall at all.

It’s a scam of almost unmatchable balls and cruelty, accomplished with the aid of some singularly spineless politicians. And it hasn’t happened overnight. This has been in the works for decades, and the fighting has been dirty all the way.

Union leaders all over the country have started to figure out the perils of hiring a bunch of overpriced Wall Street wizards to manage the public’s money.

08/07/201303/21/2021

Article: JPMorgan Agrees to $410 Million Fine for Electricity Market Manipulation

JPMorgan Agrees to $410 Million Fine for Electricity Market Manipulation

ENERGY SOLUTIONS FORUM, 13 August 2013

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has accepted a $410 million penalty to settle accusations of electricity market manipulations in California and the Midwest.

On July 30, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order approving stipulation and consent agreement that requires JPMorgan Ventures Energy Corporation (JPMVEC) to settle allegations of electricity market manipulation in California and the Midwest between September 2010 and November 2012. The $410M fine includes $285M in civil penalty (to be paid to the U.S. Treasury) and $125M of disgorged profits ($124M to California ratepayers, and $1M to Midwest ratepayers). The agreement also requires JPMVEC to waive claims for additional payments from California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO) and adopt additional compliance measures. JPMVEC, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., accepted the settlement facts without admittance or denial of violations.

FERC initiated investigations in response to multiple referrals by CAISO and Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. (MISO) market monitors of manipulative bidding practices during 2011 and 2012. It approved four emergency tariff filings from both independent system operators (ISOs) to make tariff changes effective from the filing date rather than the order date. In November 2012, FERC suspended JPMVEC’s electric market-based rate authority for six months with effect from April 1, 2013 for submitting false information.

Read Full Article

07/29/201305/18/2020

Article: JP Morgan Chase’s alleged manipulation of electricity markets detailed

JP Morgan Chase’s alleged manipulation of electricity markets detailed

Kevin G. Hall

McClatchyDC, 29 July 2013

The federal regulator of electricity markets on Monday accused Wall Street powerhouse JP Morgan Chase & Co. of using multiple trading strategies to manipulate electricity markets in California and the Midwest for profit.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission already had alleged in March that JP Morgan Chase was guilty of manipulating energy markets in California and the Midwest. But late Monday, after the close of financial markets, the agency made public the details in a Staff Notice of Alleged Violations.

04/30/201304/08/2021

Article: “No evidence” bank CDS used as sovereign shorting proxy

“No evidence” bank CDS used as sovereign shorting proxy

Christopher Whittall, 30 April 2013

LONDON, April 30 (IFR) – The European Union’s ban on short selling government debt using credit default swaps is pushing hedging or speculative activity into the bank CDS market, according to some market participants, but analysis from JP Morgan has poured cold water on these claims.

Sovereign CDS trading volumes have fallen off a cliff since the EU’s ban on naked or outright short positions came into force last November, with some arguing that trading is migrating to financial CDS, which are not covered by the rules. Continue reading “Article: “No evidence” bank CDS used as sovereign shorting proxy”

12/28/201205/25/2020

Article: The Federal Reserve Bank is Naked: QE 10T Dollar ‘Loans’ Swaps and Naked Mortgage Bonds of Quantitative Easing 1

The Federal Reserve Bank is Naked: QE 10T Dollar ‘Loans’ Swaps and Naked Mortgage Bonds of Quantitative Easing 1

Lan Pham

Economics Voodoo, 28 December 2012

The banking and financial crisis emerging in September 2008 is often called a global financial crisis, but to be more precise the data point to a crisis of the Western central banks. I referenced euros previously, so this is the euros companion to Quantitative Easing 0-1-2-3∞ & The Federal Reserve’s Love Affair with its Banks and Mortgage Bonds: Levitating The Black Hole. QE 0-1-2-3 is incomplete as concurrently the Federal Reserve Bank also entered into $10.06 Trillion in dollar ‘loans’ liquidity swaps with foreign central banks that we examine in Section I. Why QE $10T as we look at a few of Europe’s largest banks in Section II, which leads us to the $1.25 Trillion naked reasons behind the Federal Reserve Bank’s Quantitative Easing I purchase of phantom agency mortgage bonds that we revisit more closely in Section III.

12/11/201205/25/2020

Article: The Bare, Naked Truth About The Federal Reserve’s Socialist Agenda

The Bare, Naked Truth About The Federal Reserve’s Socialist Agenda

Shah Gilani

Money Morning, 11 December 2012

The top line story, according to the FDIC’s latest Quarterly Banking Review, is that the majority of U.S. banks are in better shape today than they have been in years.

The untold story is that when the Federal Reserve is done transitioning the United States from capitalism to socialism, the few dozen banks that remain in America will all be profitable until they need bailing out again, but will never die and live on in infamy.

10/23/201204/08/2021

Article: EU ban on naked CDS short worries Asian investors

EU ban on naked CDS short worries Asian investors

Christopher Langner, Christopher Whittall, IFR, 23 October 2012

Some Asian fixed-income investors are grappling with how to hedge high-beta portfolios on the eve of the implementation of a ban on naked shorting of European sovereign CDS.

Until March this year, using European CDS bets to offset potential losses from a drop in prices of Asian high-yield bonds had become a fairly popular strategy. However, since regulators in Europe said they were banning the practice from November 1, many of those bets were unwound. Continue reading “Article: EU ban on naked CDS short worries Asian investors”

07/03/201205/18/2020

Article: FERC probes JPMorgan over electricity charges

FERC probes JPMorgan over electricity charges

Katarzyna Klimasinska

SF Gate, 3 July 2012

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is being investigated over potential power-market manipulation that inflated payments for electricity, according to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FERC, which has pledged to combat manipulation of prices, began its probe after reports last year of bidding practices by JPMorgan that were deemed abusive by California and Midwest grid operators, according to documents provided by the agency.

05/20/201203/13/2021

Article: Heist of the century: Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis

Heist of the century: Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis

Charles Ferguson, 20 May 2012

Bernard L Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, operating it for 30 years and causing cash losses of $19.5bn. Shortly after the scheme collapsed and Madoff confessed in 2008, evidence began to surface that for years, major banks had suspected he was a fraud. None of them reported their suspicions to the authorities, and several banks decided to make money from him without, of course, risking any of their own funds. Theories about his fraud varied. Some thought he might have access to insider information. But quite a few thought he was running a Ponzi scheme. Goldman Sachs executives paid a visit to Madoff to see if they should recommend him to clients. A partner later recalled: “Madoff refused to let them do any due diligence on the funds and when asked about the firm’s investment strategy they couldn’t understand it. Goldman not only blacklisted Madoff in the asset management division but banned its brokerage from trading with the firm too.” Continue reading “Article: Heist of the century: Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis”

10/19/201104/27/2020

Testimony: Kauffman Foundation on ETFs Danger to Capital Formation

Testimony

ETFs and the Present Danger to Capital Formation

Prepared Testimony by Harold Bradley and Robert E. Litan

Before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investments

ETFs have increasingly distorted the role of equities
markets in capital formation, while posing systemic risks from potential
settlement failures.

Continue reading “Testimony: Kauffman Foundation on ETFs Danger to Capital Formation”

12/14/201005/18/2020

Article: JP Morgan Covering Silver Short Position, Says NIA

JP Morgan Covering Silver Short Position, Says NIA

National Inflation Association, 14 December 2010

There were reports out today that JP Morgan has now admitted to having their massive naked short position in silver and is taking steps to reduce it. According to the Financial Times in London, “JPMorgan has quietly reduced a large position in the US silver futures market which had been at the centre of a controversy about its impact on global prices for the precious metal.” According to a person familiar with the matter, “The decision by JPMorgan was an attempt to deflect public criticism of the bank’s dealings in silver.” JP Morgan said in a statement, “It is absolutely incorrect to say or imply that the Nymex, CFTC or any other exchange or regulator has instructed or asked us to reduce our position.”

12/10/201005/12/2020

Article: JP Morgan and the Massive Silver Short: The Greatest Story Ever Told

JP Morgan and the Massive Silver Short: The Greatest Story Ever Told

Kid Dynamite

SeekingAlpha, 10 December 2010

Let’s take a step back and start with some facts, and perhaps we can then figure out where the facts morphed into Internet Folklore Legend. First of all, JP Morgan is being investigated by the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) for alleged manipulation of the silver market. Second, JP Morgan is a large player in the precious metals derivatives markets. Third, many experts in the field estimate that the outstanding open interest in silver futures is very large relative to the actual supply of physical silver in the world. Depending on estimates, the outstanding interest in paper silver (futures and options) may be larger than the outstanding existing physical silver stocks. Finally, the CFTC has been debating instituting position limits in precious metals contracts, and is still working on that issue.

08/04/201005/20/2020

Article: Wall Street’s Big Win

Wall Street’s Big Win

Matt Taibbi

Rolling Stone, 4 August 2010

Cue the credits: the era of financial thuggery is officially over. Three hellish years of panic, all done and gone – the mass bankruptcies, midnight bailouts, shotgun mergers of dying megabanks, high-stakes SEC investigations, all capped by a legislative orgy in which industry lobbyists hurled more than $600 million at Congress. It all supposedly came to an end one Wednesday morning a few weeks back, when President Obama, flanked by hundreds of party flacks and congressional bigwigs, stepped up to the lectern at an extravagant ceremony to sign into law his sweeping new bill to clean up Wall Street.

04/05/201005/16/2020

Article: Wall Street’s Naked Swindle

Wall Street’s Naked Swindle

Matt Taibbi

Rolling Stone, 5 April 2010

On Tuesday, March 11th, 2008, somebody — nobody knows who —made one of the craziest bets Wall Street has ever seen. The mystery figure spent $1.7 million on a series of options, gambling that shares in the venerable investment bank Bear Stearns would lose more than half their value in nine days or less. It was madness — “like buying 1.7 million lottery tickets,” according to one financial analyst.

But what’s even crazier is that the bet paid.