Bankrupt Banker

Big banks held large Libyan funds

HSBC Holdings Plc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are among banks that held funds for Muammar Gaddafi's government investment fund, according to UK advocacy group Global Witness. HSBC held $292.7 million (Dh1.07 million) across ten accounts and Goldman Sachs had almost $44 million in four accounts as of June 30, 2010, according to a document on the Libyan Investment Authority posted on London-based Global Witness's website. The banks refused to confirm if they hold the funds, the group said. The Libyan state fund lost 4.5 per cent in market value from the previous quarter, with total assets dropping to $53.3 billion, according to the report. Gaddafi has retained control of the fund as he resists US-supported attempts to unseat him. Advocate "These are the Libyan people's assets and they have a right to share in them," Gavin Hayman, a director at Global Witness, said from Hong Kong today. The advocacy group is confident about the authenticity of the document and has independently verified it, he said. Governments should force banks and investment managers to disclose the state-owned funds they manage, Global Witness said. The group, founded in 1993, campaigns against natural resource-related corruption and environmental and human rights abuses in countries from Cambodia to Angola. It has more than 60 employees in London and Washington, according to its website. Investments in equity derivatives with a book cost of almost $1.25 billion plunged 98 per cent in market value to $19.9 million as of June 30, according to the report on the state fund. The Libyan Investment Authority's deposits amounted to $19.8 billion, and it held $5.23 billion in shares and $3.39 billion in bonds. About $3.9 billion was invested in structured products with hedge funds and investment banks, including more than $1 billion at Societe Generale SA and $171.5 million at JP Morgan Chase & Co, the document shows.

Big banks held large Libyan funds

HSBC Holdings Plc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are among banks that held funds for Muammar Gaddafi's government investment fund, accordi...

More than 8,600 Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers will be entitled to a share of £17m compensation for poor complaints handling

. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined the bank £3.5m following an investigation that showed the central office had mishandled compl...

Richard Branson’s Virgin Money plans to make a bid for 600 Lloyds branches as he attempts to grow his company’s presence on the high street

. According to the Financial Times, Branson met Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio earlier this week and plans to make a formal bid for the branches in July. ‘This can happen quickly and smoothly,’ Branson told the paper. ‘We are a serious bidder and can give the government what it wants through competition.’ The purchase of the branches would turn Virgin Money into the UK’s sixth largest bank but the Independent Commission on Banking has recommended forcing Lloyds to dispose of more branches under state aid rules. ‘We appreciate what the commission is saying but we don’t want to delay the process,’ said Branson. ‘We think we can build a formidable competitor with 600 and would almost rather they didn’t muddy the water.’ MPs on the Treasury Select Committee are pushing for greater competition in the banking sector. TSC member Andrea Leadsom told the paper: ‘There should be dozens of banks, not just four or five.’ It is thought Virgin Money has approached financial institutions and private equity companies about raising capital of up to £3 billion to fund the purchase of the branches.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Money plans to make a bid for 600 Lloyds branches as he attempts to grow his company’s presence on the high street

. According to the Financial Times, Branson met Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio earlier this week and plans to make a formal bid...

LLOYDS has been criticised for demoralising staff after the banking group said it was slashing 360 jobs.

The posts will be lost across its wholesale and insurance divisions and human resources. A spokeswoman for Lloyds said 60 to 80 employees in...

Vince Cable warns of 'economic H-bombs’ that threaten Britain

<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390979/Vince-Cable-warns-economic-H-bombs-threaten-Britain.html"> </a>The Business Secretary has angered MPs with his comments about the economy Vince Cable warned  yesterday that ‘hydrogen bombs’ in the economy are set to plunge Britain into new economic disaster. The Business Secretary was accused of talking down the recovery after telling the New Statesman magazine that governments had not ‘got to grips’ with  problems in the economy. The comments put Mr Cable on a collision course with Chancellor George Osborne, who has repeatedly insisted that Britain was out of the ‘danger zone’. Mr Cable said: ‘I think the thing that worries me more than anything else [is that] we really haven’t engaged with the real depths and seriousness of the financial crash.’ He quoted financier Warren Buffett, saying he was ‘very impressed’ by the billionaire’s warning ‘that asset-backed mortgage lending was the atomic bomb, and that there are hydrogen bombs out there’. He added: ‘I just don’t think that collectively governments have got to grips with this at all.’ Asked if one of the ‘bombs’ could go off, Mr Cable said: ‘It’s not imminent. But you can see this happening.’ He also warned that the banks’ failure to lend more to small businesses was storing up problems. It is the second time in the space of a week that Mr Cable has been in hot water for making inflammatory comments about the financial system. He was reprimanded by Mr Osborne on Tuesday after he said Greece will have to reschedule its debt. In a rare admission of his weaknesses, Mr Cable admitted yesterday that he and his Liberal Democrat colleagues were no good at politics.

Vince Cable warns of 'economic H-bombs’ that threaten Britain

The Business Secretary has angered MPs with his comments about the economy Vince Cable warned yesterday that ‘hydrogen bombs’ in the econom...

Ex-International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was back in court Thursday pleading to be released on bail

Ex-International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was back in court Thursday pleading to be released on bail from a gritty New York jail, just hours after quitting as head of the world body to fight sex charges. Strauss-Kahn vowed in his letter of resignation as head of the International Monetary Fund that he would battle to clear his name after being charged with seven counts of sexual assault, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. "I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me," said Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested on Saturday shortly after the alleged assault of a chambermaid in a luxury Manhattan hotel. Paying tribute to his American-born wife, top journalist Anne Sinclair, who he said he loved more than anything, the veteran French politician said it was with "infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present... my resignation." "I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence," said Strauss-Kahn, who before the scandal broke was considered a top contender to be the next president of France. A police official confirmed to AFP that he had arrived at the New York supreme court complex Thursday and was awaiting to appear at the bail hearing due at 2:15 pm (1915 GMT) on the 13th floor of the courthouse. Defence lawyers said Strauss-Kahn would put up $1 million in bail, surrender all his travel documents and submit to 24 hour electronic monitoring. He would also agree to be confined round-the-clock in a New York apartment, most likely the home of his daughter who lives in the city. His lawyers were also expected to tout his wife's American credentials before judge Michael Obus, hoping to free him from Rikers Island jail. The New York jail is a chaotic maze of holding cells filled with thousands of defendants who either can't afford bail or who, like Strauss-Kahn, are deemed a flight risk and have had their bail application denied. The complex, which sits on a 400-acre (1,650 kilometre) island on the East River near LaGuardia airport between Queens and the Bronx, can house more than 20,000 detainees and staff at a time. Strauss-Kahn was refused bail in his first court hearing Monday, after a different judge deemed him a flight risk, and he has now spent three nights in the notorious jail in isolation and on suicide watch. "These additional bail conditions eliminate any concern that Mr Strauss-Kahn would or could leave this court's jurisdiction," attorney Shawn Naunton wrote in the bail application. Strauss-Kahn is behind bars awaiting a grand jury decision on whether to indict him on the charges brought by the 32-year-old chambermaid, who is originally from Guinea. Her lawyer, Jeff Shapiro, said his client, who has so far not been identified, was "alarmed" at the prospect of her alleged attacker leaving jail. "The idea that this man would somehow or another be on the streets and free, I'm sure it would cause her a great deal of concern," he told CNN Wednesday. "She's very concerned about her security." The chambermaid, who has a 15-year-old daughter, on Wednesday appeared before the grand jury that must decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial. She alleges that Strauss-Kahn groped and mauled her in his room in the posh Sofitel hotel in Times Square and forcibly tried to have oral sex with her. Police have taken away a section of a rug from the luxury suite which reportedly contains evidence of bodily fluids hoping to gain DNA evidence from the scene. But Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Benjamin Brafman has said the evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter," and New York media reports quoted a source close to the defence as saying "there may well have been consent." Strauss-Kahn's resignation paves the way for the IMF to elect a new managing director as it steers delicate negotiations on the eurozone debt crisis. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is the front-runner to succeed him and become the first woman to head the IMF, but emerging economic powers have called for an end to Europe's virtual monopoly on the world lender's top post. Lagarde on Thursday said Europe should unite behind a single candidate. "Any candidacy, whoever's it may be, should come from the Europeans, who unite, all together," she told reporters in Paris. China however has said that "newly emerging markets and developing countries should be represented in the top leadership," echoing similar calls from South Africa and Brazil.

Ex-International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was back in court Thursday pleading to be released on bail

Ex-International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was back in court Thursday pleading to be released on bail from a gritty N...

Sir Fred Goodwin's injunction has been partially lifted by the high court.

The high court has partially lifted a gagging order brought by Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, just hours after details of his alleged extra-marital affair were made public in the House of Lords. Mr Justice Tugendhat varied the injunction to allow publication of Goodwin's name, but not details of the alleged relationship and the name of the woman said to be involved. Goodwin, who obtained the wide-ranging injunction in March, did not oppose the high court's decision. The injunction – which even prevented Goodwin from being identified as a banker – was raised by Lord Stoneham, a Liberal Democrat peer, earlier on Thursday during a debate in the upper house. Stoneham's comments are protected by parliamentary privilege. Stoneham, speaking on behalf of fellow Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott, said during the debate: "Would [the speaker] accept that every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland? "So how can it be right for a injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague? If true it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority would know about it."

Sir Fred Goodwin's injunction has been partially lifted by the high court.

The high court has partially lifted a gagging order brought by Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, j...

A Lord has broken the superinjuction in place surrounding former RBS boss Fred Goodwin in the House of Lords.

<a href="http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/VideoSuperinjunction-Fred-Goodwin-Lord-Oakshott-Breaks-Superinjunction-Surrounding-Former-RBS-Boss/Article/201105315995106?lpos=Politics_Second_UK_News_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15995106_Video%3ASuperinjunction_Fred_Goodwin%3A_Lord_Oakshott_Breaks_Superinjunction_Surrounding_Former_RBS_Boss"> </a>Lord Stoneham, asking a question in the House of Lords on behalf of Lord Oakeshott, said: "To ask HMG what steps they will take to ensure that the public interest is taken into account in the granting of superinjuctions?" In a supplementary question he said: "Would he accept that every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland? "So how can it be right for a superinjunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague? "If true, it would be a serious failure of corporate governance and not even the FSA would be allowed to know about it." Justice minister Lord McNally replied: "I do not think it is proper for me, from this dispatch box, to comment on individual cases, some of which are before the courts." Former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin Lord Oakeshott told Sky News: "What could be of greater public interest than the worst corporate crash in British history which cost the taxpayers billions?" MPs and peers are exempt from prosecution when the speak in the House of Commons and House of Lords. Sky's Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones said: "We have already had superinjunctions when the alleged facts are being trawled all over the internet, in particularly on Twitter, and making a mockery of superinjunctions. "Now what we are seeing is individual parliamentarians successively chipping away at this specific superinjunction that was imposed by Sir Fred Goodwin. "Originally it was Lib Dem MP John Hemming who revealed the existence of the superinjuction, which we would not have been able to talk about - and the fact it even prohibited us from saying he was a banker. "Now you have this Lib Dem peer going further and revealing further details of it, suggesting it is regarding an alleged affair with a colleague and obviously this will infuriate Fred Goodwin. "But he [Lord Oakeshott] does have absolute privilege to stand up in Parliament and say these things." Fred Goodwin was the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland from 2000 until October 2008. He stood down in January 2009, just a month before the bank announced its total losses for 2008 were £24.1bn - the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.

A Lord has broken the superinjuction in place surrounding former RBS boss Fred Goodwin in the House of Lords.

Lord Stoneham, asking a question in the House of Lords on behalf of Lord Oakeshott, said: "To ask HMG what steps they will take to ensu...

Leading voices in Europe say another European should head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Leading voices in Europe say another European should head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Germany's Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso's comments come amid debate over whether the next IMF chief should come from the developing world. Ms Merkel said a European was needed in light of the eurozone's problems. Mr Strauss-Kahn is in jail in the US, accused of trying to rape a hotel maid. He denies the charges and will make a second application for bail later on Thursday. Mr Strauss-Kahn had been coming under mounting international pressure to leave his post amid the furore over his arrest. In a statement posted on the IMF website late on Wednesday, he said he resigned with "infinite sadness", but wanted to "devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence". Mr Strauss-Kahn's deputy, John Lipsky, has been placed in interim control of the organisation, and the IMF says it will release information "in the near future" about the appointment of a permanent successor.

Leading voices in Europe say another European should head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Leading voices in Europe say another European should head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the resignation of Dominique Strau...

Sir Fred Goodwin, the controversial former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, obtained a superinjunction to prevent details of his alleged extra-marital affair with a senior colleague being made public,

Sir Fred Goodwin, the controversial former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, obtained a superinjunction to prevent details of his alleged extra-marital affair with a senior colleague being made public, it has been claimed in the House of Lords. The wide-ranging gagging order – which prevented Goodwin from being identified as a banker – was brought up by Lord Stoneham, a Liberal Democrat peer, during a debate in the Lords. Stoneham's comments are protected by parliamentary privilege. Goodwin's superinjunction was first made public during a House of Commons debate in March. However, there have been no claims about the subject matter of the injunction until now. Stoneham, speaking on behalf of fellow Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott, said during the debate: "Would [the speaker] accept that every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland? "So how can it be right for a superinjunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague? If true it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority would know about it." Lord McNally, the deputy leader of the Lords, responded: "I do not think that it is appropriate from this despatch box to comment on individual cases, some of which are before the courts." In the ensuing debate on gagging orders, McNally said the Ministry of Justice did not know how many superinjunctions were currently in place. "I have to confess that the Ministry of Justice do not have a figure on the number of superinjunctions," he added. "I do understand that the Ministry of Justice chief statistician is looking into the matter and we do hope to be able to give those figures shortly." The ability of MPs and peers to undermine gagging orders issued against the media is likely to feature in a report on superinjunctions by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Nueberger, on Friday. McNally said that he hoped Neuberger would address growing calls for the press to be allowed in to court when injunctions and superinjunctions are granted. "The very fact that there is so much discussion and public debate means that it has been sensible to get the Master of the Rolls to look at these issues. When we have the full knowledge of his deliberations, we will be making statements on steps forward," he added.

Sir Fred Goodwin, the controversial former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, obtained a superinjunction to prevent details of his alleged extra-marital affair with a senior colleague being made public,

Sir Fred Goodwin, the controversial former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, obtained a superinjunction to prevent details of h...

The chief of the International Monetary Fund - a Frenchman nicknamed "the great seducer" - was dragged off a flight at Kennedy Airport Saturday

The chief of the International Monetary Fund - a Frenchman nicknamed "the great seducer" - was dragged off a flight at Kennedy Airport Saturday after a Manhattan hotel maid accused him of sexual assault. Port Authority cops hauled Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, from the first-class cabin of Paris-bound Air France Flight 23 moments before its 4:40 p.m. takeoff, cops said. Strauss-Kahn, a top presidential contender in France who is married to a New York-born journalist, is "being arrested for a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment," top NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. The 32-year-old Sofitel hotel maid provided a terrifying account of the attack to cops. At about 1 p.m., she walked into Strauss-Kahn's $3,000-a-night-suite - Room 2806 - at the posh W. 44th St. hotel, thinking it was empty. Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down the hallway in his suite and yanked her into a bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her, the maid told police. She fought him off, but he dragged her into the bathroom, forced her to perform oral sex and tried to peel off her panties. At one point, he tried to lock the suite's door. The woman escaped, scampered out of the room and alerted a hotel staffer, who called 911, according to cops. The frisky Frenchie high-tailed it out of the hotel to the airport before cops arrived, leaving his cell phone and other personal items behind, police said. "It looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said. The maid was taken by ambulance to Roosevelt Hospital and treated for minor injuries and released, police said. An army of cops and detectives were seen milling about on the hotel's 28th floor last night. Strauss-Kahn, who had been running well ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in opinion polls, has reportedly hired prominent New York lawyer Benjamin Brafman and was not speaking to investigators. This is not the first time the playboy pol has been embroiled in a sex scandal. Three years ago, Strauss-Kahn was accused of having a fling with a former underling at the Davos international forum. The affair emerged after the woman's furious husband, a senior Argentine economist named Mario Blejer, claimed Strauss-Kahn had seduced his Hungarian wife, Piroska Nagy, an IMF staffer at the time. The embarrassing claims prompted Strauss-Kahn to issue an apology saying, "I accept that this incident represents a serious error of judgment." Even before the incident, Strauss-Kahn had been dubbed "un grand seducteur" because of his reputation as a free-wheeling ladies man. Twice divorced, Strauss-Kahn is married to French TV journalist Anne Sinclair and has four children. No one answered the door at Strauss-Kahn's two-story, red brick mansion in Washington, D.C.'s posh Georgetown neighborhood last night. A black BMW SUV with diplomatic plates sat in the driveway. A spokesman for the IMF said the organization had no immediate comment on reports of Strauss-Kahn's arrest. He is not protected by diplomatic immunity, sources said. Hours before he was pulled from the flight, a close Socialist Party ally claimed Strauss-Kahn was the target of a smear campaign by Sarkozy. The ex-French finance minister is reportedly preparing legal action over media reports saying he enjoys a lavish lifestyle. According to one report, Strauss-Kahn spends huge sums of cash on expensive suits from a luxury tailor in Washington known to serve President Obama. Strauss-Kahn, who has yet to say if he will run for French president, would have to quit his IMF post to do so. His arrest was seen as a devastating blow to his presidential aspirations.

The chief of the International Monetary Fund - a Frenchman nicknamed "the great seducer" - was dragged off a flight at Kennedy Airport Saturday

The chief of the International Monetary Fund - a Frenchman nicknamed "the great seducer" - was dragged off a flight at Kennedy Air...

More than three million people are in line for compensation after the banking industry dropped its legal battle over the widely mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance.

<a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/millions-face-ppi-redress-as-banks-drop-legal-battle"> </a>Britain's banks have abandoned a legal battle over the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), leaving millions of people in line for compensation. In what has been described as the biggest mis-selling scandal in British history, the move is expected to cost the banks up to £9bn. The sheer volume of complaints means consumers will have to wait some time before receiving their compensation that the banks and other groups which sold the cover must handle. PPI policies are supposed to cover loan repayments if someone falls ill, loses his or her job or has an accident. Martin Lewis, creator of the website MoneySavingExpert.com, which has long campaigned on the issue, said: "This is a wonderful day for consumers. For once the banks have done the right thing and backed down. "As much as £9bn that was wrongly taken could now be paid back." I think I was mis-sold a policy, what should I do? A: If you have already complained you do not need to do anything, your bank will contact you. If you have not yet complained but think you may have been mis-sold a policy, you should lodge a complaint with the firm that sold it to you. Some banks have dedicated areas on their websites and special phone numbers for people to do this. Monday's move affects only those policies sold after 2005, but people who think they were mis-sold a policy before that date can still complain to the firm which sold it to them. On Monday the British Bankers' Association announced it would not be appealing against a High Court challenge it lost over new rules on PPI mis-selling being applied retrospectively. Lloyds Banking Group said last week that it was pulling out of any further legal action and setting aside £3.2bn to compensate customers. It was joined today by Barclays, which expects claims to cost £1bn, while HSBC, which stopped selling the policies in 2007, has made a provision of £269m. Taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland also confirmed that it would not be pursuing further legal action, although it has yet to put a figure on how much compensation it is likely to have to pay out. Unofficial estimates based on the group's market share put the figure at around £1bn. A number of other banks are also likely to face significant bills, as will stand-alone credit card and loan providers and some insurers. Firms must now start processing claims for people who think they were mis-sold PPI, which had been put on hold while the legal action was ongoing. Groups must also pro-actively contact customers and alert them to the fact that they may be entitled to compensation if they identify a pattern of mis-selling.

More than three million people are in line for compensation after the banking industry dropped its legal battle over the widely mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance.

Britain's banks have abandoned a legal battle over the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), leaving millions of people in ...

Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into suspected money-laundering after a U.S. investor claimed that Russian tax officials used Swiss bank accounts to engage in fraud.

Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into suspected money-laundering after a U.S. investor claimed that Russian tax officials used Swiss bank accounts to engage in fraud. The probe was launched March 7 after Switzerland's Money Laundering Reporting Office received a complaint from a law firm on behalf of the London-based Hermitage Capital Management, the federal prosecutors' office said Friday. Hermitage claims the husband of a former Moscow tax official used bank accounts at Credit Suisse to make million-dollar property purchases after she approved a fraudulent $230 million tax return for three of Hermitage's subsidiaries. Their ownership documents had earlier been seized by officials at Russia's Interior Ministry, who used them to register their own people as owners and directors before filing the fraudulent tax claim, according to William Browder, the CEO of Hermitage, an investment company. A spokeswoman for the prosecutors' office declined Friday to confirm whether any Swiss accounts had been frozen or provide further details on the case, citing the investigation. Officials at Russia's embassy in the Swiss capital of Bern couldn't be reached for comment Friday, but the Kremlin has previously claimed that the Interior Ministry officials were tricked by outsiders. Browder, who was barred from Russia in 2005 for unspecified reasons, has been waging a campaign against corruption in Russia for years. He accuses Russian authorities of being responsible for the death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison in 2009 after being charged with tax evasion linked to the Hermitage fraud. The American-born investor says Hermitage has compiled extensive evidence linking expensive property purchases via Swiss bank accounts to Olga Stepanova, who headed Moscow's district tax office No. 28 until this January. "We've done a very detailed forensic investigation where we learned that Olga Stepanova, her husband, had a number of accounts at Credit Suisse in Zurich," Browder said. Copies of bank account statements and property registration papers provided to The Associated Press show Stepanova's husband, an employee of a small construction firm, wired money through Credit Suisse accounts to build an $8 million luxury house west of Moscow, and buy a vacation home in Montenegro and multi-million dollar properties on the Palm Jumeriah in Dubai in the name of his 85-year-old mother. Credit Suisse said it couldn't comment "on any potential client relationships." But a spokesman said the bank would take any allegations of possible wrongdoing very seriously. "Credit Suisse complies with all applicable laws and regulations including those relating to anti-money laundering," said Alex Biscaro. "We are confident that we have a sound control framework with the necessary internal policies." Magnitsky died of pancreatitis that was left untreated in Russian custody. The case is being scrutinized as a barometer of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's commitment to the rule of law.

Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into suspected money-laundering after a U.S. investor claimed that Russian tax officials used Swiss bank accounts to engage in fraud.

Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into suspected money-laundering after a U.S. investor claimed that Russian tax offici...

UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, agreed Wednesday to pay $160.2 million US to settle charges it rigged bids on at least 100 U.S. municipal-bond transactions that generated "millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains."

UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, agreed Wednesday to pay $160.2 million US to settle charges it rigged bids on at least 100 U.S. municipal-bond transactions that generated "millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains." UBS will pay $47.2 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges and $113 million to end cases brought by other federal and state authorities, the SEC said. Some of the money will be returned to municipalities, the SEC said. The settlement agreements, which involved 25 states, are part of criminal and civil investigations into a conspiracy by financial firms and municipal advisers to overcharge state and local governments for investment products. UBS's activity threatened the tax-exempt status of $16.5 billion of municipal bonds, the SEC said. "Our complaint against UBS reads like a 'how-to' primer for bid-rigging and securities fraud," Elaine Greenberg, chief of the SEC's Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit, said in a statement. "They used secret arrangements and multiple roles to win business and defraud municipalities through the repeated use of illegal courtesy bids, last looks for favored bidders, and money to bidding agents disguised as swap payments." The bank is the second to settle charges in the government's more-than-four-year antitrust investigation into bid rigging for investments states and cities make with proceeds from the $400 billion of bonds they sell yearly. Last year, Bank of America agreed to pay $137 million in restitution. Localities routinely hire advisers to invest bond proceeds at the highest returns offered by banks and insurers until the money is needed for public works. The U.S. Justice Department alleges financial companies paid kickbacks to advisers to run sham auctions so they could win the public money to invest at below-market rates. Prosecutors say bankers covered their activity by submitting phony bids in auctions won by their rivals and using separate derivative contracts to funnel payments to advisers. The SEC's complaint said UBS illicitly won bids as a provider of municipal-bond investment contracts and also rigged bids for the benefit of other banks. In some cases, UBS gave favored banks information on competing bids when it acted as a broker, the SEC alleged, while in other cases it won bids after receiving inside information. "UBS is pleased to have resolved this matter with its regulators," the Zurich-based company said in a statement. "The underlying transactions were entered into in a business that no longer exists at UBS and involved employees who are no longer with the firm." UBS said the settlement costs were accounted for in previous quarters and won't affect future results. Since October 2009, nine advisers to local governments and bankers working for financial firms including UBS, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, pleaded guilty in the case. Nine others have pleaded not guilty and are fighting charges in court. Last year, former UBS banker Mark Zaino pleaded guilty to fixing prices when brokering municipal-investment deals by submitting intentionally losing bids at auctions run by Los Angeles-broker CDR Financial Products. UBS allegedly entered into separate trades with another bank that were used to funnel kickbacks to CDR. Zaino agreed to cooperate in the investigation.<a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/Swiss+bank+pays+million+settle+municipal+bond+scandal/4735252/story.html"> The Justice Department also indicted the former co-head of UBS's municipal derivatives group and two colleagues. The government has identified more than a dozen firms, including JPMorgan Chase, units of General Electric, and Societe Generale of France, as unindicted co-conspirators in the case against CDR, according to court records. While competitive bidding is meant to ensure local governments get market rates on their investments, prosecutors say bankers and brokers carved up the market among themselves. The U.S. says that inflated their earnings at the expense of taxpayers and the Treasury, which is entitled to some investment earnings from tax-exempt bond proceeds.</a>

UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, agreed Wednesday to pay $160.2 million US to settle charges it rigged bids on at least 100 U.S. municipal-bond transactions that generated "millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains."

UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, agreed Wednesday to pay $160.2 million US to settle charges it rigged bids on at least 100 U.S. municip...

AIG, Banks Accused in Lawsuit of Lying to U.S. Over Bailout

American International Group Inc. (AIG) engaged in widespread fraud in connection with its U.S. bailout and should be forced to repay “treble damages” to taxpayers, two people said in a civil lawsuit in California. AIG, four banks and 100 unnamed “John Doe” defendants repeatedly lied to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Treasury in connection with an $85 billion loan rescuing the insurer in 2008, according to a complaint filed in September and unsealed April 28 in San Diego federal court. “Each time AIG was caught engaging in fraud it promised to reform its ways,” the complaint alleges, citing financial reporting failures at the company in the years before the bailout. “Each time, AIG reverted to its unlawful and fraudulent way of doing business.” AIG Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche is attempting to resolve legal disputes as the Treasury prepares to sell its 92 percent stake in the New York-based company. AIG, once the world’s largest insurer, has settled lawsuits with investors and former CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg since the 2008 rescue. The lenders, Bank of America Corp. (BAC)’s Merrill Lynch unit, Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Societe Generale, allegedly lied about how AIG’s bailout money was used, according to the complaint. The suit was filed by Derek and Nancy Casady, who say they uncovered evidence through an examination of data using “established investigative methods used by certified fraud examiners.” The lawsuit was reported by the New York Times earlier today. The newspaper described the Casadys as veteran political activists who live La Jolla, California. ‘Devoid of Merit’ AIG said in a statement that the Casadys only had standing to sue because the Department of Justice declined to intervene in the action or pursue its own lawsuit. “This was a sensible decision since the claims are devoid of merit,” New York-based AIG said in the e-mailed statement. “We would have hoped that the individuals’ counsel, whose previous California state court case against AIG was dismissed at the pleading stage for failure to state a claim, would not have brought another case in federal court relying on many of the same allegations made in the first, discredited case.” Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Sophie Bullock, Societe Generale (GLE) spokeswoman Laetitia Maurel and Deutsche Bank spokesman Christian Streckert declined to comment. A call to Merrill Lynch’s London press office wasn’t immediately returned. The companies are referred to in the complaint as “the five major players” in the market for over-the-counter collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, used to repackage individual loans and resell them on a secondary market. Insuring such securities with AIG-issued credit default swaps was AIG’s “most ambitious fraudulent conduct,” according to the complaint.

AIG, Banks Accused in Lawsuit of Lying to U.S. Over Bailout

American International Group Inc. (AIG) engaged in widespread fraud in connection with its U.S. bailout and should be forced to repay “trebl...

US federal prosecutors have dropped seven of the 21 charges against the Texas financier Allen Stanford.

But Mr Stanford could still face up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of any of 10 remaining fraud counts. Mr Stanford - who rose to ...