Article: British Police Seize $250 Million Of Cryptocurrency In International Money Laundering Crackdown

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British Police Seize $250 Million Of Cryptocurrency In International Money Laundering Crackdown

Robert Hart, 13 July 2021

British police have confiscated around $250 million worth of cryptocurrency as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation, London’s Metropolitan Police announced Tuesday, marking one of the largest crypto seizures in the world and breaking a record the force set last month.

The seizure, which follows a $160 million crypto haul the force made three weeks ago, is part of an ongoing investigation into international money laundering by the force’s Economic Crime Command. Continue reading “Article: British Police Seize $250 Million Of Cryptocurrency In International Money Laundering Crackdown”

Article: Dead Banker’s Aides Guilty Over Secret Credit Suisse Stash

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Dead Banker’s Aides Guilty Over Secret Credit Suisse Stash

Gaspard Sebag, 24 June 2021

Late M&A banker Jean-Marc Forneri’s Swiss lawyer and wealth manager were found guilty of helping him conceal assets and dodge taxes in a French crackdown on those who facilitate financial crime.

The Swiss lawyer, John Metzger, was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of 300,000 euros ($359,000) by the Paris criminal court on Thursday and the wealth manager, Michel Glas, got a one-year suspended term and a 150,000 euro penalty. Continue reading “Article: Dead Banker’s Aides Guilty Over Secret Credit Suisse Stash”

Article: Morgan Stanley gives Nasdaq bullish rating on tailwinds strategy shift

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Morgan Stanley gives Nasdaq bullish rating on tailwinds strategy shift/strong>

Liz Kiesche, 11 June 2021

Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys, favoring U.S. exchange operators that are shifting toward recurring revenue and benefiting from secular tailwinds, initiates coverage of Nasdaq (NDAQ +2.3%) at Overweight, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE +0.5%) and CME Global (CME +0.5%) at Equal-Weight, and Cboe Global (CBOE -0.2%) at Underweight.

Sees upside from NDAQ’s move to catch tailwinds from data and analytics, ESG and anti-financial crime, and index segments. Continue reading “Article: Morgan Stanley gives Nasdaq bullish rating on tailwinds strategy shift”

Article: SFO launches money laundering probe into Gupta family over ties to Greensill Capital

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SFO launches money laundering probe into Gupta family over ties to Greensill Capital

HMichiel Willems, 14 May 2021

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said this morning it is launching an investigation into the Gupta Family Group Alliance.

“The SFO is investigating suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering in relation to the financing and conduct of the business of companies within the Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG), including its financing arrangements with Greensill Capital UK Ltd.,” the watchdog said in a statement shared with City A.M.

“As this is a live investigation, the SFO can provide no further comment,” it added. Continue reading “Article: SFO launches money laundering probe into Gupta family over ties to Greensill Capital”

Article: UBS Joins Morgan Stanley With Surprise $861 Million Archegos Hit

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UBS Joins Morgan Stanley With Surprise $861 Million Archegos Hit

Marion Halftermeyer, 27 April 2021

UBS Group AG disclosed an $861 million hit from the implosion of Archegos Capital Management and vowed to improve risk management, joining Morgan Stanley in blindsiding investors who’d been kept in the dark for weeks about the size of the losses.

The loss, mostly booked in the first quarter, overshadowed a better-than-expected profit, with strong performance in the key wealth management business. Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers said while the bank will require more transparency from clients to prevent such losses in the future, he defended the business with hedge funds as “strategic” and said he had no plans to follow rival Credit Suisse Group AG in cutting back lending.

“Clearly, we are very disappointed at this situation,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “We are reviewing the different prime brokerage relationships, as well as the GFO — the family office relationships.” Continue reading “Article: UBS Joins Morgan Stanley With Surprise $861 Million Archegos Hit”

Article: Credit Suisse Prime Brokerage Heads Fired Over Archegos Blowup

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Gary Gensler is now head of the SEC. What comes next?

TYLER DURDEN, 19 April 2021

Apparently, firing half a dozen executives including its head of risk management (Lara Warner, also one of the most high-ranking women in the global financial services industry) hasn’t done enough to quiet shareholders’ demands for change atop Credit Suisse, the Swiss banking giant that reported a $4.7 billion loss from the collapse of Archegos Capital Management, with billions of losses likely to follow from the collapse for Greensill.

As CEO Thomas Gottstein clings to his position, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that John Dabbs and Ryan Nelson will immediately step down as co-heads of prime services, the prime-brokerage unit responsible for extending all that credit to Archegos (as a reminder, for an explainer on how Archegos built its $100 billion massively leveraged position. Continue reading “Article: Credit Suisse Prime Brokerage Heads Fired Over Archegos Blowup”

Article: Morgan Stanley Burned by $911 Million of Losses on Archegos

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Morgan Stanley Burned by $911 Million of Losses on Archegos

Sridhar Natarajan, 16 April 2021

(Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley became the latest bank to get swept up in the implosion of Archegos Capital Management, reporting $911 million in total losses related to the debacle.

“The current quarter includes a loss of $644 million related to a credit event for a single prime brokerage client, and $267 million of subsequent trading losses through the end of the quarter related to the same event,” Morgan Stanley said Friday in announcing first-quarter earnings.

The loss was tied to Archegos, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

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Article: Pension Fund Drops Suit Against Tesla Over $1.8B Bond Offer

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Pension Fund Drops Suit Against Tesla Over $1.8B Bond Offer

Rachel Stone, 16 April 2021

A pension fund voluntarily ended its proposed class action against Tesla and its multibillionaire founder, Elon Musk, which claimed the automaker and a group of big banks acting as underwriters misled investors on a $1.8 billion bond offering.

Inter-Local Pension Fund GCC/IBT has bowed out of its securities fraud suit in California federal court following a decision in the Ninth Circuit in March not to rehear a related case, according to a notice filed Thursday. Continue reading “Article: Pension Fund Drops Suit Against Tesla Over $1.8B Bond Offer”

Article: Morgan Stanley reveals nearly $1B loss from Archegos implosion

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Morgan Stanley reveals nearly $1B loss from Archegos implosion

Reuters, 16 April 2021

Morgan Stanley lost nearly $1 billion from the collapse of family office Archegos Capital Management, the bank said Friday, muddying its 150 percent jump in first-quarter profit that was powered by a boom in trading and deal-making.

Morgan Stanley was one of several banks that had exposure to Archegos, which defaulted on margin calls late last month and triggered a fire sale of stocks across Wall Street. Continue reading “Article: Morgan Stanley reveals nearly $1B loss from Archegos implosion”

Article: Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse

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Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse

Dean Seal, 08 April 2021

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is asking Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street giants that brokered for Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management to explain their involvement in the fund’s high-profile collapse.

In letters released Thursday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told higher-ups at the Swiss bank, Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Nomura that he was “troubled, but not surprised” that risky derivatives transactions between the banks and Hwang’s generally unregulated family office were connected to a shocking multibillion-dollar firesale on stocks in late March. Continue reading “Article: Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse”

Article: Can Credit Suisse Avoid Becoming The ‘Deutsche Bank’ Of Switzerland?

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Can Credit Suisse Avoid Becoming The ‘Deutsche Bank’ Of Switzerland?

TYLER DURDEN, 08 April 2021

Markets were shaken but unstirred by the collapse of Greensill and the Archegos unwind trades. Credit Suisse is the ultimate loser of the two scandals – reputationally damaged and holed below the water line. The bank is paying the price of years of flawed management, poor risk awareness. and its self-belief it was still a Tier 1 global player. Its’ challenge is to avoid becoming the Deutsche Bank of Switzerland – which it will struggle to do without a radical and unlikely shakeout. Continue reading “Article: Can Credit Suisse Avoid Becoming The ‘Deutsche Bank’ Of Switzerland?”

Article: “A Gigantic Clusterf**k”: How Morgan Stanley Avoided $10BN In Archegos Losses By Selling First

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“A Gigantic Clusterf**k”: How Morgan Stanley Avoided $10BN In Archegos Losses By Selling First

TYLER DURDEN, 07 April 2021

One week ago, in our initial take on the biggest hedge fund collapse since LTCM, we explained that – in our view – the catalyst for the failure of the Archegos hedge fund, which had as much as 10x leverage allowing it to hold some $100BN in positions, was Morgan Stanley and Goldman breaking ranks with their fellow prime brokers, and sparking the biggest margin call since Lehman and AIG.

Turns out we were right. Continue reading “Article: “A Gigantic Clusterf**k”: How Morgan Stanley Avoided $10BN In Archegos Losses By Selling First”

Article: Morgan Stanley backs Bitcoin for 12 mutual funds

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Morgan Stanley backs Bitcoin for 12 mutual funds

EXPLICA .CO, 02 April 2021

US investment bank Morgan Stanley has filed an update to its prospectus related to bitcoin (BTC) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institution applied for 12 of its funds to have exposure with the first cryptocurrency.

According to the bank, the funds would have indirect exposure to bitcoin in two ways: through cash-settled futures and through the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), one of the world’s largest trusts focused on digital assets.

On the type of futures that funds can invest in, Morgan Stanley noted: “The only bitcoin futures that a fund can invest in are cash-settled bitcoin futures that are traded on listed futures exchanges. CFTC ‘.

In the document, the bank explains that the Selected funds will be able to invest up to 25% of their assets in bitcoin. The institution also stressed that this type of operation implies a risk of illiquidity since bitcoin futures are not traded so “intensely” because they are relatively new. Continue reading “Article: Morgan Stanley backs Bitcoin for 12 mutual funds”

Article: In Archegos fire sale, Credit Suisse, Nomura burned by slow exit

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In Archegos fire sale, Credit Suisse, Nomura burned by slow exit

Matt Scuffham, Elizabeth Dilts Marshall, Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi, 31 March 2021

NEW YORK/ZURICH (Reuters) -While banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank were able to exit their trades with Archegos Capital relatively unscathed, Credit Suisse and Nomura have been burned in the fire sale.

The blowup of the Archegos fund, a family office run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang, is still reverberating across the financial system, with global banks so far standing to lose more than $6 billion.

Switzerland’s Credit Suisse and Japan’s Nomura are expected to bear the brunt of that. Continue reading “Article: In Archegos fire sale, Credit Suisse, Nomura burned by slow exit”

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