Article: Pandemic May Disrupt Discovery In Credit Suisse Forex Case

Article - Media, Publications

Pandemic May Disrupt Discovery In Credit Suisse Forex Case

Dean Seal, 17 April 2020

Counsel for investors and Credit Suisse cited the COVID-19 pandemic Monday when they asked a New York federal judge to push their discovery deadlines in a suit over alleged foreign exchange market manipulation by nine weeks.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, attorneys for both sides in the long-running litigation said that in light of the threat to public health posed by the novel coronavirus, as well as the disruptions it has caused in air travel, continued discovery efforts would be risky and exceedingly difficult. Continue reading “Article: Pandemic May Disrupt Discovery In Credit Suisse Forex Case”

Fined: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC Fined by FINRA

Fined

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $20,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it permitted individuals who were employed by a foreign affiliate of the firm to effect transactions in a firm proprietary account without requiring the individuals to pass the Series 57 examination and become qualified and registered as Securities Traders.

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Article: FINRA sanctions Citi, JPMorgan, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and Merrill Lynch

Article - Media

FINRA 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.

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Article: Morgan Stanley Fined $22 Million for Rigging Bond Markets

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Morgan Stanley Fined $22 Million for Rigging Bond Markets

Gaspard Sebag, Stephanie Bodoni

Bloomberg, 10 December 2019

Morgan Stanley was fined 20 million euros ($22.1 million) by French regulators after the bank’s London desk was accused of using “pump and dump” tactics to manipulate sovereign bond prices.

The Autorite des Marches Financier’s enforcement committee said that the bank manipulated the prices of 14 French government bonds and 8 Belgian bonds in June 2015. The lender also manipulated the price of a French government bond futures contract, the AMF said in a statement Tuesday.

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Article: Morgan Stanley Places Four Traders on Leave in Wake of FX Probe

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Morgan Stanley Places Four Traders on Leave in Wake of FX Probe

Aziz Abdel-Qader

Finance Magnates, 29 November 2019

Morgan Stanley has reportedly dismissed, or placed on leave, four currency traders after being caught out trying to conceal significant trading losses. The move comes amid investigations by the US bank into alleged charges that they exaggerated the performance of the FX options desk.

A Bloomberg report identified two London based traders – Scott Eisner and Rodrigo Jolig – and two senior New York-based colleagues, Thiago Melzer and Mitchell Nadel, who were running emerging-markets desk and macro trading in the Americas.

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Article: These Are the Banks that Own the New York Fed and Its Money Button

Article - Media

These Are the Banks that Own the New York Fed and Its Money Button

Pam Martens, Russ Martens

Wall Street on Parade, 20 November 2019

The New York Fed has now pumped out upwards of $3 trillion in a period of 63 days to unnamed trading houses on Wall Street to ease a liquidity crisis that has yet to be credibly explained. In addition, it has launched a new asset purchase program, buying up $60 billion each month in U.S. Treasury bills. Based on the continuing escalation of its plans, it appears to be testing the limits of what the public will tolerate. We thought it was time to answer the question: who exactly owns the New York Fed and its magical money spigot that can pump trillions of dollars into Wall Street at the press of a button.

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Article: CFTC Settles With Morgan Stanley & Mitsubishi, $1.4 & $0.4 Million Fines For Spoofing Gold & Silver

Article - Media

CFTC Settles With Morgan Stanley & Mitsubishi, $1.4 & $0.4 Million Fines For Spoofing Gold & Silver

Ottawa Bullion, 3 October 2019

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that civil enforcement actions were filed and simultaneously settled against two trading firms and one bank for violating the Commodity Exchange Act’s (CEA) prohibition on spoofing (bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution). These cases were brought in connection with the Division of Enforcement’s Spoofing Task Force.

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Release: CFTC Orders Two Trading Firms, Bank to Pay a Total of $3 Million for Spoofing

Release

CFTC Orders Two Trading Firms, Bank to Pay a Total of $3 Million for Spoofing

CFTC, 1 October 2019

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that civil enforcement actions were filed and simultaneously settled against two trading firms and one bank for violating the Commodity Exchange Act’s (CEA) prohibition on spoofing (bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution). These cases were brought in connection with the Division of Enforcement’s Spoofing Task Force.

“As these cases demonstrate, the CFTC is committed to preserving the integrity of our markets—like the financial and precious metals futures markets at issue here—and to rooting out unlawful practices like spoofing,” said CFTC Enforcement Director James McDonald. “We will continue to vigilantly investigate and prosecute misconduct by entities that spoof in our markets.”

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Filing: CFTC v Morgan Stanley

Filing

CFTC v Morgan Stanley

CFTC, 30 September 2019

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) has reason to believe that during the period from in or about November 2013 to at least November 2014 (“Relevant Period”), Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc., (“Morgan Stanley” or “Respondent”) violated Section 4c(a)(5)(C) of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “Act”), 7 U.S.C. § 6c(a)(5)(C) (2012). Therefore, the Commission deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted to determine whether Respondent engaged in the violations set forth herein and to determine whether any order should be issued imposing remedial sanctions.

PDF (7 pages): CFTC v Morgan Stanley

Filing: Raser Technologies, Inc. v Morgan Stanley & Company, LLC

Article - Media

Raser Technologies, Inc. v Morgan Stanley & Company, LLC

14 August 2019

Plaintiffs allege that Defendants “devised and perpetrated a
naked short selling stock manipulation scheme that targeted and
intentionally destroyed a Utah company, Raser Technologies.” The
merits of this theory are not before us. Instead, we are faced with the
threshold determination of whether a Utah court may assert specific
personal jurisdiction over some or all of Defendants

PDF (32 pages): Raser Technologies, Inc. v Morgan Stanley & Company, LLC

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 - Media

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

Larry 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.

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Article: Bank Of America, Morgan Stanley Again Accused Of Spoofing

Article - Media

Bank 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.

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Article: Part 8: Illegal Naked Shorting Series: Who or What is Cede and What Role Does Cede Play in the Trading of Stocks?

Article - Media

Part 8: Illegal Naked Shorting Series: Who or What is Cede and What Role Does Cede Play in the Trading of Stocks?

Larry Smith

Smith On Stocks, 1 July 2019

ost investors when they buy a publicly traded stock believe that they own a part of some company. They think that somewhere there is a stock certificate or some indication of ownership that has their name on it, but this is not the case. When you buy a “stock” you are actually purchasing a security that affords certain entitlement rights related to registered stock which actual owners hold. The registered shares of a private company are directly owned by shareholders. In contrast, the registered shares of nearly all publicly traded equities are owned by Cede & Co., which is the nominee of the Depository Trust Company (DTC). (A nominee is a company whose name is given as having title to a stock, but does not receive the financial benefits of ownership.) Cede is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust Company (DTC) which is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and the DTCC is a private company owned by elite Wall Street firms and money center banks. If you need background or a refresher on DTC and DTCC, click on this link. Effectively, elite Wall Street firms and money center banks, not institutions and individual investors, own almost all of the registered shares of publicly traded companies in the US.

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Filing: Gamma vs Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley

Filing

Gamma 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

Article: Part 7: Illegal Naked Shorting: DTCC Continuous Net Settlement and Stock Borrowing Programs Have Loopholes That Facilitate Illegal Naked Shorting

Article - Media

Part 7: Illegal Naked Shorting: DTCC Continuous Net Settlement and Stock Borrowing Programs Have Loopholes That Facilitate Illegal Naked Shorting

Larry Smith

Smith On Stocks, 31 May 2019

There is an integral relationship between the DTCC and hedge funds. The DTCC is owned by Prime Brokers; these are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrell Lynch and other household name investment banks. Prime Brokers provide basic services to hedge funds that allow them to trade with multiple brokerage houses while maintaining a centralized master account at their prime broker containing cash and securities. The prime broker offers stock loan services, portfolio reporting, consolidated cash management and other services. Hedge fund support is a very meaningful percentage of the net income of Prime Brokers.

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THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?