A federal jury recently found a former Goldman Sachs managing director guilty of bribing government officials to get lucrative deals via the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) investment and development fund and guilty for laundering the proceeds on a massive scale. Following an eight-week trial, the jury in the Eastern District of New York convicted Ng… Read More >>
Congress Mulls Banning Itself from Trading Stocks
Remember that time in 2020, when the pandemic was just beginning and its dangers were not yet widely appreciated? That was when a group of United States Senators received closed-door briefings on the imminent crisis presented by COVID-19. What did these senators do right after their secret briefings? Alert the mostly unsuspecting public? Nope. They… Read More >>
NatWest Pleads Guilty via Fraud Case & Pays $35M
NatWest Markets Plc, a London, U.K.-based banking and financial services firm, has entered guilty pleas to charges of perpetrating frauds in the markets for U.S. Treasury securities and futures contracts, the United States Department of Justice reports. The NatWest guilty pleas, tendered in the District of Connecticut, were, specifically, to one count of wire fraud… Read More >>
Credit Suisse Reaches $475M Settlement of Bond Scandal
Mozambique may seem far from Wall Street, but of course it’s not. Not in this interconnected world. And that means that a bond scandal in far-away Mozambique has attracted the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Department of Justice, and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority. The SEC, the DoJ, and… Read More >>
Justice Department, SEC Focus on Stopping Crypto Crime
Two powerful extensions of the U.S. federal government – the Department of Justice and the SEC – are gearing up to counter the fraud, scams, and abuse that are the dark side of cryptocurrencies and emerging digital assets. Lisa O. Monaco, deputy Attorney General for Justice, launched the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) this week… Read More >>
DoJ Begins 7th Fund Distribution for Madoff Victims
A former pillar of Wall Street, once celebrated for his financial acumen, died in prison six months ago. Meanwhile, restitution to victims of his epic fraud continues on. Savvy FTF News readers will know that Bernard L. Madoff’s fall is a cautionary tale, still eminently relevant. In June 2009, the infamous Ponzi schemer, and the… Read More >>
Julius Baer Laundered Money to Support Bribery Scheme
As expected, private Swiss firm Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. (BJB) is resolving a criminal case with the U.S. Justice Department by paying a fine and penalties that are more than double what the bank admits to laundering. The full amount BJB will pay is $79.7 million. The bank has also admitted its role… Read More >>
State Street Fraud Case Resolved via Fine & DPA
State Street will be paying a criminal penalty of $115 million and entering into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in a resolution of a federal case involving charges of fraud against custody customers, according to the U.S. Justice Department and the firm. The settlement with the Justice Department is an acknowledgment from State Street that… Read More >>
Swiss Bank Fined $22M via Tax Evasion Case
Zurich, Switzerland’s oldest private bank has admitted that it helped United States taxpayers hide offshore accounts from the Internal Revenue Service. The bank, Rahn+Bodmer, will pay $22 million in fines and penalties. It also has reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Of the entire $22 million in penalties, $4.9 million,… Read More >>
Firms May Need to Revamp AML Policies: Report
U.S. banks may need to update their anti-money-laundering (AML) policies as a result of key provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 (NDAA), which primarily covers appropriations for the U.S. Department of Defense programs, activities, and military personnel. However, the NDAA also covers many “matters relating to foreign nations,” according to the overview… Read More >>
