On July 23, 2015, Scott London was officially released from federal custody after serving his prison term for insider trading.
Does it seem like a long time since you read of him being sentenced? Well, that’s what 14 month in prison looks like. How much of your life have you enjoyed since he went away?
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Scott London is officially out of custody Read More »
Bruce Schneier has a series of articles that ponder the risks and rewards of jumping into cloud computing. That is the concept of storing your data and computing power with an on-line service provider.
(This discussion is cross-posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update, because the same issues apply in a CPA firm. You may find this discussion helpful for your clients who are pondering a jump to the cloud for major applications.)
Some things to consider:
6/10 – Schneier on Security – Should Companies Do Most of Their Computing in the Cloud? (Part 1) – The answer is complicated. The efficiencies and cost savings are real and a major advantage.
On the other hand, there may be legal issues, such as your government creates far higher privacy standards than the country where your data will be stored or another country places severe restrictions on data you store there. …
Thoughts on jumping into cloud computing Read More »
Settlements of private lawsuits are continuing. Also, settlements with CFTC underway for another rate manipulation scheme.
6/18 – Wall Street Journal – Banks’ Civil Forex Settlements Near $2 Billion/ Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and HSBC recently signed agreements to settle case – The settlements for private litigation over manipulation of foreign exchange rates are moving forward. Article says HSBC has settled up for $285M, Barclays for $375M, Goldman Sachs is in for $129.5M, and an unknown amount for BNP.
By my calculation that brings the total for seven banks to …
Minor updates on the banking fiascos: Forex settlements and a new fiascoRead More »
Minor updates on the banking fiascos: Forex settlements and a new fiasco Read More »
Just finished watching a 2 hour webcast from CPA Crossings. Gary Zeune interviewed Scott London on what got him into prison on an 14-month sentence for securities law violation.
This interview will be available again on June 18 and June 22. More info here.
The four-hour interview from last June, before Mr. London reported to prison, will be broadcast again on June 15, 25, and 30. More info here.
I heartily recommend the webcast. If you are looking for an ethics course that’s a lot more interesting than the typical “here are the rules” presentation, check out one or both of the above webcasts.
I will have several articles on the interview over the next few days. Will talk about one part of the interview now –
Incarceration timeline
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Post-release interview with Scott London – 1 Read More »
Not much news on the bank fiasco front in the last week or so. Here are two articles pondering what settlements are on the horizon.
5/26 – Alison Frankel at Reuters – Forex class action deals may hint banks braced to lose Libor appeal – Citigroup settled up for $394M with private parties over manipulation of forex.
Article points to one settlement I missed:
1/5 – Reuters – JPMorgan settles currency manipulation lawsuit in U.S. – Morgan will settle up with about $100M.
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Speculation on upcoming bank settlements Read More »
On June 8 you can tune in to a webcast from CPA Crossings for an interview with Scott London. Webcast will be rebroadcast on June 18 and 22.
Interviewer will be Gary Zeune. The session will be good for 2 hours of CPE.
More info and registration at CPA Crossings here.
The Bureau of Prisons website still shows Mr. London is under supervision of the Long Beach Residential Reentry Management office. …
Another webcast interview with Scott London in JuneRead More »
Another webcast interview with Scott London in June Read More »
A few articles of note on the humongous settlements from five banks for manipulating foreign exchange rates. Oh, and a trivial $0.1B settlement from Barclays for manipulating yet another swap rate.
5/20 – Wall Street Journal – Barclays Fined $115 Million by CFTC for Alleged Manipulation of ISDAfix – Barclays tried to manipulate another index which is used to calculate pension payouts. This is an interest rate swap index. Game playing ran from 2007 until 2012.
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Follow up articles on the $5.8B settlement from TBTF banksRead More »
Follow up articles on the $5.8B settlement from TBTF banks Read More »
The banks that settled up for a massive coordinated effort to manipulate foreign exchange rates each agreed to plead guilty to one criminal count of violating anti-trust rules. That makes each of them a felon.
Will describe why that is no longer a big deal and then offer an analogy of what this approach might look like in the life of an individual. …
Big settlement announced today to resolve the Forex manipulation cases. Big surprise for me is the NYDFS only came in at $485M, with all of that going against Barclays. I was guessing a higher amount with DFS wanting a settlement from all the banks.
Here are two articles with the details, then I’ll list the individual settlements: …
$5.6B for 5 banks to settle up on manipulating forex for customer’s accountsRead More »
$5.6B for 5 banks to settle up on manipulating forex for customer’s accounts Read More »
First in what is expected to be a string of settlements announced on Wednesday:
UBS Hit With $545 Million in Fines, from the Wall Street Journal.
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Multiple reports indicate UBS will join previously expected Barclays, JP Morgan, RBS, and Citigroup in settling up on their forex manipulation behavior next week.
A guilty plea to a felony criminal count is expected for all 5 TBTFs.
Biggest rumor is that DoJ may tear up the deferred prosecution agreement with UBS.
My wild guess of the dollar amount of the settlement? Four and a quarter billion. Reports i have seen over the past few weeks leave me wondering if that is just the DoJ settlements and doesn’t include NYDFS. If not, add another billion or three.
A few articles for more details:
http://fraudinfoblog.squarespace.com//fraud-info/2015/5/14/scarlet-letters-and-large-fines?hootPostID=6cd1af78b96858067766436572dd639b
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/business/dealbook/5-big-banks-expected-to-plead-guilty-to-felony-charges-but-punishments-may-be-tempered.html?_r=1&referrer
http://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-to-tear-up-past-ubs-settlement-1431645723
Expect big news of big settlements for big banks next week Read More »
I don’t quite know what to make of this, but have an idea.
4/29 – Wall Street Journal – Wall Street Pushes Back on Foreign Bribery Probe – Here is a situation I don’t understand.
Several big banks have hired children of senior level government officials and managers of state-owned companies. J.P. Morgan is the one in the headlines at the moment. At some point in time said banks got permission for some deal or approval for some in-country activity.
The U.S. Department of Justice is looking at those hiring decisions to consider whether they are violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That law prohibits paying government officials something of value in return for approving a commercial transaction. Bribery, in other words.
At issue is whether hiring children of high level officials is illegal. Until now, that has not been considered a violation of the FCPA.
So….
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Just a few tidbits on the massive settlements for manipulating forex and Libor rates.
4/23 – Zero Hedge – It Just Cost Deutsche Bank $25,000 Per Employee To Keep Its Libor Manipulating Bankers Out Of Jail – …
Minor update on banking settlements Read More »
The Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows that Scott London is currently under supervision of the Long Beach Residential Reentry Management office. His scheduled release date still shows at July 23, 2015.
I don’t know when he was released from the Lompoc United States Penitentiary. My last check on February 20 showed he was still in Lompoc. He reported to prison on July 19, 2014, so he is currently at about the nine-month point of his sentence. He has about three months until his scheduled release date.
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Scott London moved from prison to half way house Read More »
The dubious distinction of drawing the largest fine for manipulating Libor goes to Deutsche Bank. Their total tab is now $3.5B. That leaves UBS in a distant second place at $1.6B.
Check out two articles on April 22:
Deutsche Bank will pay slightly over $2.5 billion to settle up for manipulating Libor, Eurbor, and Tibor (Tokyo interbank). Several specific Directors and VPs will be fired.
A subsidiary company in Britain will plead guilty to violating American criminal laws.
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