#UNRIG Video (8:20) Stop Naked Short Selling — the $100 Trillion Wall Street Crime Against the 99%
VideoSubject: Thomas Joyce
Subject of Interest
Thomas M. Joyce was chairman and CEO of Knight Capital Group from May 2002 until he resigned in July 2013. Joyce served as president of Knight Trading Group until January 2005 after being appointed chairman in December 2004, and has also served as head of brokerage operations since June 2005. Prior to joining Knight, he was briefly global head of trading with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. after a 15-year stint with Merrill Lynch, where he last served as global head of equity e-commerce from 1999 until 2001. Joyce previously served on the board of directors of NASDAQ. Joyce also serves as a director of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Joyce received his A.B. in Economics from Harvard College in 1977.
Article: Bank of America Eroded U.S. Spoof Case, Laying Path for JPMorgan
Article - MediaBank of America Eroded U.S. Spoof Case, Laying Path for JPMorgan
Tom Schoenberg
Bloomberg, 20 February 2020
Bank of America Corp.’s lawyers came through big for their client last year when they whittled down a U.S. case over precious metals spoofing.
Justice Department prosecutors wanted to bring criminal charges, but bank lawyers asked for none and prevailed. Prosecutors named Bank of America throughout the draft settlement document but not in the final version.
Paper: Market Manipulation and Directors Fiduciary Duty of Care
PaperMarket Manipulation and Directors Fiduciary Duty of Care
Market manipulation of emerging or small cap companies is pervaasive on Wall Street and according to the SEC has increased over 37% in the last decade. The nature and scope of market manipulation schemes is limited only by the creativity and audacity of their perpetrators. While the substance and mechanics of market manipulation schemes may differ, the objective is the same – to inject false information into the marketplace that artificially affects the price of the target companies securities by “interfering with the natural interplay of the forces of supply and demand.” The proliferation of market manipulation scshemes has created challenging risk-management and best practice issues for the directors of targeted companies, which require directors to continuously assess the nature and scope of their fiduciary duty of care.
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Article: JPMorgan Facing Suit Over Spoofing Metals
Article - MediaJPMorgan Likely to Face Lawsuit for Precious Metal Spoofing
Zacks Equity Research, February 6, 2020
Per a Bloomberg’s article, JPMorgan Chase JPM is likely to face a criminal lawsuit over rigging precious-metals futures. The authorities that had previously accused six of the bank’s employees of the same misconduct are now planning to charge the company.
The Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have been investigating the company’s precious metals desk’s trading practices for the past two years.
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Fined: Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated Fined by FINRA
FinedMerrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $150,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it executed municipal securities transactions with customers in an amount below an issue’s minimum denomination without an exception.
Article: FINRA sanctions Citi, JPMorgan, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and Merrill Lynch
Article - MediaFINRA sanctions Citi, JPMorgan, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and Merrill Lynch
Mario Nikolova
Finance Feeds, 26 December 2019
The United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announces that it has sanctioned Citigroup Global Markets Inc.; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC; LPL Financial LLC; Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC; and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, over the firms’ failure to reasonably supervise compliance with FINRA’s “Know Your Customer” rule.
In settling this matter, the five firms paid combined fines totaling $1.4 million, and agreed to review their policies, systems, and procedures to ensure that they are reasonably designed to supervise custodial accounts and to achieve compliance with FINRA Rule 2090. The firms neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings.
Article: Lawyers Line Up to Sue Merrill Lynch for Alleged Deceptive Trading Practices in Commodities
Article - MediaLawyers Line Up to Sue Merrill Lynch for Alleged Deceptive Trading Practices in Commodities
Miriam Rozen
29 July 2019
Join the queue if you are a plaintiff lawyer considering filing a proposed class action lawsuit against Merrill Lynch’s parent company, Bank of America, related to allegations of deceptive trading practices in the commodities markets.
Multiple plaintiff lawyers filed at least three such lawsuits in recent weeks after federal prosecutors secured a June 25 deal with another BofA unit, Merrill Lynch Commodities, to pay $25 million to resolve their investigation into alleged deceptive trading practices.
Article: Part 10 of Illegal Naked Shorting Series: Legal Shorting of Stocks is a Loser’s Game but Illegal Naked Shorting Transforms It into a Winner’s Game
Article - MediaLarry Smith
Smith On Stocks, 24 July 2019
When I launched my research on stock manipulation and the prominent role played by illegal naked shorting, I believed that I had a fair understanding of the subject and could knock out comprehensive research in just a few blogs. However, as I dug in I was taken aback at how complex and widespread this subject is. I think that a team of hundreds of experts with unlimited resources would have difficulty ferreting out all of the details on a scam that Wall Street has been perpetrating and perfecting for over 40 years.
Article: BofA Merrill Lynch Branch in Seoul Fined for High-frequency Trading
Article - MediaBofA Merrill Lynch Branch in Seoul Fined for High-frequency Trading
Yoon Young-sil
Business Korea, 17 July 2019
Korea Exchange (KRX) has decided to impose a 175 million won (US$148,495) fine on Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s South Korean unit for violating its trading rules. Merrill Lynch’s Seoul branch reportedly served as a trading channel for U.S.-based Citadel Securities and has been suspected of disrupting the market through high-frequency algorithm trading on the KOSDAQ market.
Article: Merrill Lynch fined by Seoul authority for profiteering from spoofing
Article - MediaMerrill Lynch fined by Seoul authority for profiteering from spoofing
Chung Seung-hwan, Choi Mira
Pulse, 17 July 2019
South Korea’s stock exchange authority Korea Exchange (KRX) slapped a fine of 175 million won ($148,242) on U.S. brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch for violating domestic rules and distorting market through algorithmic high-frequency spoofing.
Merrill Lynch has been accused of abetting 6,200 spoofing activities while handling 80 trillion won worth deals commissioned by American hedge fund Citadel Securities from October 2017 to May 2018. Over the period, Citadel was found to have profiteered about 220 billion won, according to KRX.
Article: Chat room messages are ‘smoking gun’ in $25 million Merrill CFTC spoofing penalty
Article - MediaChat room messages are ‘smoking gun’ in $25 million Merrill CFTC spoofing penalty
Todd Ehret
Reuters, 17 July 2019
The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last month chalked up another impressive settlement over the market manipulation tactic known as “spoofing.” The $25 million penalty for Merrill Lynch Commodities in the case is the second largest related to spoofing.
Like many of the prior cases, where the firms cooperated with the investigations and were given credit for doing so, the proverbial “smoking gun” in the case was the record of online chat rooms where traders discussed markets, prices, and their strategies and actions.
Article: Merrill Lynch Commodities receives $25m fine for spoofing and market manipulation (15 July 2019)
Article - MediaMerrill Lynch Commodities receives $25m fine for spoofing and market manipulation (15 July 2019)
Jennie Clarke
Behavox, 15 July 2019
Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc has received a $25m charge from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for spoofing, manipulation and attempted manipulation, with respect to certain precious metals futures.
The CFTC found that Merrill Lynch Commodities traders placed orders to buy and sell precious metals futures contracts with the intent to cancel their orders before execution. The traders employed a specific spoofing strategy in which they would place a small bid or offer with the intent to execute that order. Prior to the execution of that order, they would place a larger order on the opposite side of the same market with the intent to cancel that order before execution. This manipulated market prices and created artificial and fluctuating prices.
Article: Bank Of America, Morgan Stanley Again Accused Of Spoofing
Article - MediaBank Of America, Morgan Stanley Again Accused Of Spoofing
Rachel Graf
Law360, 12 July 2019
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Bank of America Corp. and its subsidiary Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. engaged in spoofing in an effort to manipulate precious metals futures, according to a proposed class action filed Friday in New York federal court.
Three New York investors claim the banks, two former Merrill Lynch traders and 18 unnamed individual defendants manipulated gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures through a spoofing scheme in which they placed buy or sell orders that they intended to cancel. The practice simulates supply or demand, allegedly allowing the banks to profit from the swings in prices.
Filing: Gamma vs Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley
FilingGamma vs Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley
CourtListener, 27 June 2019
This action arises from Defendants’ unlawful and intentional manipulation of COMEX Gold Futures, COMEX Silver Futures, NYMEX Platinum Futures, and NYMEX Palladium Futures contracts, and options on those futures contracts (collectively, “precious metals futures contracts”) traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (“NYMEX”) and the Commodity Exchange, Inc. (“COMEX”) from approximately January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2014 (the “Class Period”) in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 1, et seq. (the “CEA”) and the common law.
PDF (29 pages): Gamma vs Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley
