Is forex market controlled by someone? - page 32
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That looks more like flea market - not like enforcing the law of those banks
Justice Department investigating alleged HSBC leak to hedge fund-WSJ
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations that an employee of HSBC Holdings Plc leaked confidential client information to a major hedge fund, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The alleged leak is believed to have taken place in March 2010, when HSBC was advising British insurer Prudential Plc on a major acquisition and was working on a related multibillion-dollar currency transaction, the Journal reported. (on.wsj.com/11WbsBn)
HSBC helped Prudential sell billions of pounds and buy billions of dollars to finance the insurer's planned $35 billion acquisition of American International Group Inc's Asian life-insurance unit, the Journal said.
A senior HSBC trader allegedly alerted a trader at hedge fund Moore Capital Management LLC, a prominent New York hedge fund founded by investor Louis Bacon, about the impending transaction, the Journal said.
HSBC was not available to comment.
The probe is part of a broader investigation into currency market manipulation involving the British bank, as well as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and others.
U.S., Swiss and British civil authorities have already fined six banks, including HSBC, $4.3 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the largely unregulated $5-trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.
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That controls the Forex are the central banks of the countries owner of the currencies that are trading and the economy of some countries also. And I wish success to the rest of the members and for more profit and progress in the Forex much
Scandal and squeeze on fees sharpens funds' focus on forex
A currency-rigging scandal and an intensifying squeeze on their fees are driving fund managers to scrutinise how much they pay for the foreign exchange they need to buy overseas assets.
As they try to eke out returns in a low interest rate, low yield world, money managers are increasingly being asked by their investors to demonstrate they are buying and selling FX as efficiently as possible.
Funds typically conduct their FX transactions through a custodian bank. Most hedge some or all their exposure to currency movements by buying derivatives.
Consultancy New Change FX reckons that in a typical UK pension fund with half its money invested abroad and two-thirds of that FX exposure hedged, currencies worth 3.77 times the value of the fund's assets are bought and sold at an average cost of 13.88 basis points.
That works out at more than half a percent of the original assets invested - not a huge amount when double-digit annual returns from equity funds were the norm, but a hefty chunk of today's meagre growth.
"In the past, equity fund managers would spend an awful lot of time on portfolio construction and on stock selection (but) they were not paying sufficient attention to ways in which money might have been lost on the FX side," said Michael Sparkes, director of analytical products and research at broker ITG.
"That is clearly changing. The people we are talking to are really looking for ways to manage that better, to reduce unnecessary cost, and to trade at the optimal times of day."
ITG specialises in transaction cost analysis (TCA), a way of measuring how effectively trades are executed that was initially used for equities, but now also for foreign exchange. The firm is set to finish 2014 with over 70 percent more FX business than it started the year with, and counts sovereign wealth funds and pension funds among its clients.
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By now not even FED barkers can deny that forex is controled (among other, by the FED itself - their Chicago branch doing the HFT "corrections" - whatever they mean by a correction (which otherwise they call it a fraud when someone else does it))
Bafin says forex probe shows possible criminal acts
German market watchdog Bafin has found isolated cases of possible criminal activity during its investigation into banks' practices in foreign exchange trading, the head of banking supervision was quoted as saying.
Authorities around the world are examining whether traders from different banks worked together to influence currency prices, and also whether they traded ahead of their own customers or failed to accurately represent to customers how they were determining the prices.
"So far we have only found isolated cases but they are anything but reassuring. These are possibly criminal acts that could happen because checks failed," Raimund Roeseler told the Wirtschaftswoche weekly in an advance copy ahead of publication.
He said the investigation would still take some time, adding it was an enormous market.
Earlier this month, U.S., British and Swiss regulators fined six major banks a total of $4.3 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market, following a year-long global investigation.
Roeseler declined to confirm that a separate investigation into Deutsche Bank over possible efforts to manipulate benchmark interest rates would be concluded this year.
Deutsche Bank has said it was cooperating with regulators and industry sources have said the bank is hoping to settle the affair with regulators before the New Year.
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Five ex-Madoff aides face up to 20 years in prison
Five former employees of Bernard Madoff, convicted in March of helping the fund manager bilk investors of billions of dollars in his massive Ponzi scheme, will be sentenced this week, with prosecutors seeking prison terms of up to 20 years.
Like the six-month trial, one of the longest white-collar trials in recent memory, the sentencings will take time, stretching out over a week in four separate hearings.
The sentencings have been delayed for months, as defense lawyers fought the government's demand that the three men and two women should be ordered to pay billions of dollars in forfeiture they say they don't have.
First up on Monday is former back office director Daniel Bonaventure, followed in the coming days by portfolio manager Annette Bongiorno, computer programmers Jerome O'Hara and George Perez and portfolio manager Joann Crupi.
The five aides were convicted on all counts, including conspiracy and fraud charges, by a federal jury in March. Prosecutors said they knowingly propped up Madoff's fraud by creating fake documents and backdating trades.
The government has requested more than 20 years for Bonaventure and Bongiorno, more than 14 for Crupi and more than eight for O'Hara and Perez.
Defense lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain to show leniency. At trial, they argued that Madoff duped their clients into believing his investment advisory business was legitimate.
Attorneys for Bongiorno are seeking eight to 10 years, while lawyers for Bonaventure, Perez and O'Hara asked for home confinement or brief imprisonment. Cru pi's lawyers have also asked for a shorter sentence than the government requested.
Prosecutors also have demanded more than $150 billion in forfeiture. While the aides are unable to pay that amount, the size of the forfeiture could affect whether their relatives must relinquish certain assets stemming from their earnings at the firm.
Fifteen people have been convicted in connection with the fraud, estimated to have cost investors more than $17 billion in principal.
Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2009. His son Andrew Madoff died in September after a long battle with cancer. His other son, Mark, committed suicide in 2010 on the second anniversary of his father's arrest.
Both brothers, who worked at the firm, always maintained they had no knowledge of the fraud.
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When Goldman Writes The New York Fed's Press Releases, Then All Is Lost
Much has been said about Goldman's control over the most important Federal Reserve of all, that of New York, where the all important Markets Group is located, which does as the name implies, "influences" markets (those who may have missed it are encouraged to read "Goldman "Whistleblower" Sues NY Fed For Wrongful Termination", "How Goldman Controls The New York Fed: 47.5 Hours Of "The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes" Explain", "A Quick Look At Goldman's Takeover Of The US Judicial System: NY Fed Edition", and of course "I Am Putting Everything In Goldman Sachs Because These Guys Can Do Whatever The Hell They Want."
And while it is very clear by now that nothing will change under the current corrupt and compromised executive, legislative and judicial system, because at the end of the day, Goldman has indirect control over all three branches of government , here is the one anecdote which, in a non banana republic, would be the straw that finally broke the camel's back.
From the FT:
And while the FT is kind enough to digest that piece of shocking information for the rest of the "stupid voters", the bottom line is simple: the Federal Reserve of Goldman Sachs (in New York and everywhere else), is the bank that not only calls all the shots and makes the rules, but it also writes the words on the Fed's teleprompter (as for Obama's, not even Goldman would bother with that).
Ex-Madoff manager, computer programmer get prison terms
A former manager and a former computer programmer at Bernard Madoff's firm were sentenced to prison on Tuesday for helping the convicted fraudster run a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.
Annette Bongiorno, who began working as Madoff's secretary in the 1960s and had become a manager when the firm collapsed in 2008, was sentenced to six years in prison, although this was below the eight- to 10-year term even her lawyers had requested.
The programmer, Jerome O'Hara, was sentenced a few hours later to 2-1/2 years in prison.
Both defendants were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who presided over the trial in which they and three former colleagues were convicted of securities fraud, conspiracy and other charges in March.
"Dreams and trust were shattered, charitable foundations wiped out, and innumerable victims left to wonder what's next," she said during O'Hara's sentencing.
The judge also ordered Bongiorno and O'Hara to forfeit a symbolic $155 billion and $19.7 billion, respectively, jointly with other defendants who worked at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
The sentences come two days prior to the sixth anniversary of the uncovering of Madoff's fraud, on Dec. 11, 2008.
Madoff is serving a 150-year prison term after pleading guilty in 2009 to running the fraud that cost investors more than an estimated $17 billion in principal.
Prosecutors accused Bongiorno, O'Hara, operations director Daniel Bonventre, manager Joann Crupi and computer programmer George Perez of helping Madoff hide his fraud through fake documents and bogus transactions.
The defendants have said Madoff deceived them into believing his business was legitimate. They are expected to appeal.
Swain said Bongiorno was not a "coldly calculating participant" in her boss's Ponzi scheme, but willfully blinded herself to the "corrupt illogicality" of what was going on.
"She could and should have looked at what was in front of her," the judge said.
Prior to being sentenced, a tearful Bongiorno, 66, apologized to victims of Madoff's fraud, calling her own ignorance "so severe it caused me to become a criminal.
"I didn't know what was happening," she said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
O'Hara, 51, later told Swain he was "terribly sorry my work was used to further those crimes."
Fifteen people have been convicted in connection with Madoff's fraud. Bonventre was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison. Perez is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, followed by Crupi on Monday.
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U.K. Said to Make Arrest in Currency-Rigging Investigation
U.K. police made the first arrest in connection with global probes into allegations that traders at the world’s biggest banks colluded to manipulate currency rates today, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The Serious Fraud Office said in an e-mailed statement that an unidentified man was arrested in Billericay, a town in Essex, east of London. The arrest was in connection with the SFO’s criminal investigation into the currency-rigging allegations, the person said, asking not to be identified because the details of the arrest are private.
U.K. prosecutors opened their criminal investigation in July, joining authorities including markets regulators and antitrust authorities around the world in probing the allegations. Six banks were fined $4.3 billion last month by regulators in the U.K., U.S. and Switzerland and about 30 people have been fired, suspended, put on leave or have resigned in connection with the matter.
The individual is a former Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) trader, the Financial Times said today, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
Rebecca Nelson, an RBS spokeswoman in London, declined to comment.
RBS is reviewing the conduct of more than 50 of its current and former traders, the Edinburgh-based lender said after it was fined about $634 million by regulators in the U.K. and U.S. Six employees have been put into a disciplinary process by the bank, with three suspended, pending further investigation, RBS said in the Nov. 12 statement.
Claw Backs
RBS Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan said the bank is also considering clawing back pay.
Citigroup Inc. (C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) were each fined about $1 billion. UBS Group AG (UBSG) was ordered to pay $800 million in settlements that included disgorging profits tied to currency manipulation to the Swiss financial markets regulator. HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) paid $618 million, and the U.S. Office of Comptroller of the Currency fined Bank of America Corp. $250 million.
In the U.S., prosecutors are seeking to settle criminal currency-rigging cases with multiple banks at the same time, allowing lenders to avoid being singled out for industrywide conduct, people familiar with the matter have said.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who plans to step down next year, said last month the department will announce civil and criminal resolutions in the currency investigation soon. The Justice Department is seeking guilty pleas from some banks, including at least one based in the U.S., a person familiar has said. Holder has signaled charges against individual traders are also coming.
The arrest was reported earlier by The Guardian.
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