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5 Banks To Plead Guilty To Criminal Rigging Charges, Pay $5.6 Billion For Manipulating Markets
As the live webcast from US AG Loretta Lynch indicates, moments ago the DOJ announced five global banks including Citi, J.P. Morgan, Barclays, RBS would plead guilty to criminal charges to conspiring to manipulate FX Prices, and would pay some $5.6 billion in combined penalties to resolve a long running U.S. investigation into whether traders at the banks colluded to move foreign currency rates in directions to benefit their own positions.
More from the WSJ:
Four of the banks, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, and Citigroup Inc., will plead guilty to conspiring to manipulate the price of U.S. dollars and euros, authorities said.
The fifth bank, UBS AG , received immunity in the antitrust case, but will plead guilty to manipulating the Libor benchmark after prosecutors said the bank violated an earlier accord meant to resolve those allegations of misconduct. UBS will also pay an additional Libor-related fine.
Bank of America Corp. will also pay a $205 million penalty to the Fed to resolve the regulator’s foreign exchange probe. Bank of America didn’t face similar action from the Justice Department.
Authorities said euro dollar traders at the banks, who were self-described members of “The Cartel” communicated through coded language in an online chat room to coordinate attempts to move rates set at 1:15 and 4 p.m.
Turns out ratting our criminal peers out does pay after all:
One UBS trader also engaged in the same collusive behavior in the euro and dollar market, but the bank wasn’t charged over that conduct because it had obtained immunity by being the first bank to report the possible antitrust violations.
Live DOJ webcast below.
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
And yet:
No traders have yet been criminally charged over the conduct, but New York’s financial regulator said it required Barclays to fire eight employees in connection with the resolution. Investigations into individuals are continuing, according to government officials.
Don't be surprised if despite the guilty criminal pleas, nobody goes to prison yet again.
In any event, we now know that aside from Libor, FX, gold, stocks and treasuries, nothing else is manipulated.
Our final question: did the DOJ accidentally forget to charge the Bank of England and its former employee Martin Mallett who was fired for FX rigging? Recall:
Martin Mallett was dismissed by the Bank of England yesterday for “serious misconduct relating to failure to adhere to the Bank’s internal policies,” according to a statement by the central bank today.
Mallett, who worked at the bank for almost 30 years, had concerns from as early as November 2012 that conversations between traders right before benchmarks were set could lead to the rigging of those rates, according a report today by Anthony Grabiner, who was commissioned by the central bank to look into what its officials knew about practices under investigation around the world. Mallett was “uncomfortable” with the traders’ practices, yet he didn’t escalate these concerns, Grabiner said.
“We’re disappointed because we hold ourselves to the highest standards -- we have an outstanding markets division,” BOE Governor Mark Carney said at a briefing in London today. “What Lord Grabiner found was that our chief dealer was aware of circumstances in the market that could facilitate or lead to improper behavior by market participants.”
Eagerly awaiting for the answer.
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Those 5B seems more like a commision
And not a single executive going to prison ... unbelievable.
Am I wrong?
I thought Fred Flintstone only wore orange?
Central banks have printed $25 trillion since 2009 and 20 million jobs lost in the US alone.
Wait till the famine hits.
Too big to jail has turned into windfall profits for the gubbamint... I would still like to see the CEO's of these banks roasted on a spit...
Let’s take this logic a step further. Banks fix a benchmark, make money off it and call themselves a cartel then get into trouble (which they should; unfair competition). When is it the Federal Reserve's time to be brought to justice! Replace all the names of these banks with The Fed and the American People will have ultimate Liberty!
Who gets that money?
I should get about 20k.
Where is Jon Corzine?
Fines will only work if they are paid in blood. Monopoly money that Mr. Yellen prints at will dont mean shit.
<- Posturing, Hand Slapping, bonuses, bribes, and the collusion goes on....
<- Pretext to Bankocalypse...
The system works!/s
Our banks have admitted to crimes
And sentenced to pay a few dimes
While profits they see
Front-running QE
We're living in interesting times
"We'll make them an offer they can't refuse"
Jamie "Legs" Dimon
Not only the banks remain unpunished they'll continue to be the leading banks in the same markets flooding the world with 'influential financial advices' and 'analyses' even further. Compared to it all the Greek problems are just a negligible episode.
US democracy and justice unleashed.
The owners of the Fed via the IRS.
wonder if all these fines
are considered GDP growth...
As long as they have a profit after fine, they are quite happy. If DOJ and the courts were serious about punishing them they should cut them off from all market trades for a couple of years......
These fines, when not accompanied by personal punishment, are simply a tax, and like all taxes are just another cost of doing business that will be passed on to their customers, or in the case of no customers, back to the taxpayer. No crime syndicate could come up with as good a scam.
Audit the heads.
They never thought they would get away with it forever... but "No One Ever Says Anything to Them".
It is a game. They just keep playing the game.
They game is to Complain, Protest any real Regulation or increase in Capital Controls, look 'em in the Eyes and say you don't understand how this works it is very complicated, "We are doing God's work, just as surely as if we were Soldiers".
A Game. A Lawyers Lair Game. Bankers & Lawyers = Incestuous Offspring.
Come on guys, this is victimless crime. Bankers, drug dealers and prostitutes. Just add their activity to the GDP and move along.
As with illegal immigrants they only wanted a better life, so what are a few laws and the destruction of innocent bystanders? Their are no markets, there is no capitalism. There is only theft, by force or by fraud. We had better wise up or we will be what's being served for supper.
And where does the $5B go to?
The TBTF banks! TADAAAAA!
Out one pocket and into the other, kind of like 3 card monty...
The 5B is a down payment to the corrupt gov cronies that will set up the next set of bankster crimes.
Pompous asses take down the system and what happens?
- They get bigger & Stronger
- They get legal 'breaks' at every turn to allow them to systematically ignore rules and regulations
- they get $700 Billion Bailout, they toxic paper gets socialized by the FED, they get Credit Stimulus in LIRP to put 'em back on Steroids
- We lose out on Fixed income, Safe Investments, Systemic Credit Bubble continues for 6 more years at least after a Decade of loose credit and regulations, and longest running credit bubble from 2002-2015
- We get higher bank fees, higher home insurance, higher property taxes, tighter municipal & university budgets, we get inflation, our corporations get higher administrative costs which are passed on to consumers, investors lose dividends as admin costs go up
- We get Systemic Overseas Wars
- We get Systemic Growth of Federal Budget as it is looted
- We get open borders as a fix to demographic problems
aren't DOJ fines tax-deductable?
Actually, no they are not.
The beauty of fractional reserve banking...the banks will simply loan out a bit more money and the fiat created will more than cover the fines.
$5.6 billion to steal $560 billion = good deal.
I want in on that deal!
Well, honestly, the Gubmint doesn't WANT to see those crimes END - I mean, they get to pocket $5.6 billion in fun money. It's not like the theives in the District of Criminals are going to give the money back to the poor schlubs that the parasite banksters stole it from in the first place.
I think they look at the "fines" as more of "their cut".... They get their payoff and get to look like their doing something at the same time - it's win-win for the regulatory douchebags AND the banksters.
You know, like many others, I am sick of hearing the DOJ crooked jackholes notify the public that these banksters conspired to commit financial fraud and those bankster conspired to commit financial fraud, and oh yes, these four phony cancer charities bilked the highly gullible public of $187 million, and nobody has ever gone to jail for all this financial fraud.
Lynch is the chief crooked spokesperson replacing the previous chief crooked spokesperson who replaced the previous . . . .
Time to do a final audit of the chief "white shoe firm" the DOJ, then shut it down!
Arrest warrants issued for James Dimon, Antony Jenkins, Ross McEwan, and Michael Corbat.
Sick of this shit
Consider it a tithe.
The decimal place on that fine has to move at least one place to the right, else this is just a sad joke!
How much money did they make with the market manipulation? And what has it cost third parties?
Without these number, billions in fines is meaningless! Just more "inside" dealing masquerading as justice.
Third party injuries (to most everyone on the planet) far exceed the net worth of these corporations.
Dissolve these criminal institutions and use only honest money, or there will be no recovery.
http://www.Justice4Humanity.org
How much of our current measure of GDP is actually theft? Given that the government does not bother to distinguish any difference, should be all the lesson we need. As with any corrupt organized crime syndicate, it should be apparent that there is only one path to wealth and that is through the purchase of influence. For the corrupt assholes to leave you be without a demand for tithing only means you are already in their service or are just too damned small to bother with.
Get rich...buy a congressman!
Actually, that's the skim off the top you have to pay Pauli.
Das ein Deutche 'Junker'. "Royal or Noble Blood Line".
Bonus time at the DOJ & Fed will be substantial this quarter.
Hi 5's all around and no one is "punished" or resume tainted 'cause the "Bank" did it.
Utter bullshit.
Will anyone, who was in charge of these banks actually go bankrupt and to PRISON?
If there are no real consequences, nothing will change.
get long sharecropping and guillotine manufacturers, beat the rush!!!
Justice Roberts says that corporations ARE people. Send the corporations to jail!
likewise, as a "limited liability person" I cannot be held accountable for anything!
"full faith and credit"
Das Limited Liability Corporation sind als "Royalty" und mit "sovereign immunity"
Das Richtig. Correct.
no - simply because as usual, the banksters own the rulemakers & rule book - and like you say, it will take yet another war (ie, revolution, insert your favorite fight word, etc) to get rid of these pests
Nope no jail time - greed is good, remember?
Theft is legal.....if your better than everyone else.
Think of the message to young bankers and those bankers already 'at risk'.
Without real and substantial consequences for 'Royalty' and their politicians & Bankers... this behavior will, spread, and grow in the future generations of our 'young leaders'.
Like your leadership today, well it is festering, rotting, and spoiling the other fruit in the universities and in finance.
"Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil." - Ecclesiastices 8:11
And if they actually give any jail time, here's what happens:
The 'GE Three' Go Free
"Then came a surprise last week, right before Thanksgiving. A federal judge ordered the men released from prison. An appeals court had reversed their convictions the day before, without explanation"
"Carollo, Goldberg and Grimm each had been convicted on multiple counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors accused them of paying kickbacks to brokers hired by cities and towns to oversee the bidding on municipal-investment contracts, which local governments use to invest the proceeds from bond sales. Goldberg was sentenced to four years in prison. Carollo and Grimm got three years each."
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2013-12-05/the-ge-three-go-free
Insider trading convictions overturned for Newman and Chiasson"In a closely watched case, a federal appeals court on Wednesday vacated the insider trading convictions of two former hedge fund managers stemming from trades in Dell and Nvidia"
"Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson were convicted in 2012 of trading on insider information."
"A district court sentenced Newman to 4½ years in prison and Chiasson to 6½ years."
"The ruling could also benefit Michael Steinberg, a SAC Capital portfolio manager convicted in December 2013 and later sentenced to more than three years in prison. He was indicted in the same conspiracy as Newman and Chiasson and has raised similar arguments on appeal."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102249787
...but New York’s financial regulator said it required Barclays to fire eight employees...
So, where did the fired employees end up going to work: at the SEC, NYFED, or US Treasury department?
I thought is was all Waddell and Reed's fault.
Neither of those two names sound Indian Doc.
pods
That's some serious lunch tip money there, a billion a bank? I hope they don't go under. I wonder what 25 year old mastermind will be charged in this?
These 5 banks are laughing their asses off... Pure chump change!
Now get back to the big screw over, bonuses await!
This is a pitance.
The bonus pools paid out to the top criminals in the last few years alone were larger.
Not a cent in restitution to the wronged. We are suffering a complete abdication of legal and moral responsiblity and regulation. We'd be better off disanbing the regulators and settling these issues with swords and guns in the streets in front of the headquarters of the banks.
it's actually worse than a complete abdication - it's selective enforcement! no crime in this country (us anyway) is prosecuted as long as it's done on a sufficient scale but agressively if below it! if you don't have economy of scale to commit your crimes beyond the "event horizon" (or just have that quaint old-fashioned notion that all parties should obey the law) you aren't just a high school team playing the patriots, you're a high school team that's going to get flagged for holding, clipping, etc playing the patriots who are allowed to have a player in your huddle/on your sideline knowing the refs won't flag them for horse collaring, roughing kickers, chop blocks, etc...
Actually, we can destroy these criminals with our pocket book.
Stop using their fiat instruments of theft. Use only honest money.
RBS and Barclays paid a notional £1 fine to UK Authorities which loaned them £1,000,000,000 in return
Call me when they fire up the gas chambers. Until then, shut up.
What were the profits ? 100s of billions ?
Paying 1% from the profits of their crimes is the new/old banking business model.
Agreed, much more lucrative than old fashioned spread lending.
Just part of the skim you have to pay the mob bosses.
I wonder how much goes to paying for Obama's post-Presidential retirement home in Hawaii?
Q2 GDP just rose by 5.6B.
that's not a "penalty" - that's just a "cost of doing business" - which they even probably write off on their taxes
Another joke.
The interest alone from this scheme is more than enough to cover the fine.
If a person performed any of these allegations all of their assets would be seized and they would spend the rest of their life in jail.
A corporation gets to continue in perpetuity.
This is the fundamental problem with our society.
Corporations persist as literal Super-humans.
Never sleeping. Invincible. Able to summon all their powers for a direct purpose. Able to morph into any shape or place effortlessly. Able to live beyond the natural lifespan of people.
Kill the Fed. Seize the banks. Cancel the debts.
A Corporation IS NOT a human being.
It's amazing how some peon running a convenience store in Ohio can have his life savings confiscated because they believed he was guilty of structuring, but CEO's of banks accused of actual crimes forfeit no personal assets.
The only one in jail right now is Nav, and he hasn't even had a trial yet.
Where is Grandma Yellen?
Sehr Gut Wilhelm. Zigaretten? Rauchen sie bitte. Setzen sie hier bitte.
Wier mussen sprachen uber das bild.
Looks like Robbie the Rat is sniffin' his finger after scratchin' his scrotum with it.
I wish a few MSM outlets would pick up that image, then maybe hope and change will come to pass
It is off-message for the corporate advertizing media. They're selling an entirely different product.
How much coverage did the gyrocopter landing on the WH lawn get . . . and was his message ever mentioned at all, by anyone in the corporate media?
They're selling a product, pure and simple. It ain't the truth.
It's what pays.
All that's left of America is denominated in $.
I'm guessing $5.6 billion is the small cost of doing "business" in the USA.
Inexcusable corruption and cronyism. Crimes on top of crimes from both sides of the cesspool. But why would today be any fucking different from the usual.
And so what if they did jail some of them. Will it be Dimon or Corbat? Or every single fucking slug on the board of each of these mafia cartels? Because if not, then there's no point even trying.
Much cheaper than lobbying. Hookers in Manhattan apartments are expensive these days.
No Goldman Sachs.....LOL!!!!! Its embarrassing being an american these days.
" did the DOJ accidentally forget to charge the Bank of England and its former employee Martin Mallett who was fired for FX rigging?"
BOE is their Central Banks, so Carte Blanche.
Uber-Menchen and Unter-Menchen... each has to learn their place. TBTF sind Uber-Menchen.
Now that these corporations have been proved guilty, I would assume all employees and officers of said corporations are all convicted felons, which will restrict their ability to travel to other countries, purchase firearms and what not.
After all, why do business with a criminal organization, wouldn't that be akin to subsidizing a cartel?
If I were depositers in these banks, I would withdraw my money asap as you know who will end up paying these fines.
The laughably low "fines" in comparison to the profits generated make the crimes a worthwhile, and from the scumbag banksters perspective, a wise investment. It's like a fucking free for all, and we're fitting the bill.
What happened to 3 strikes and you're out?
While it is criminal that the criminals are never jailed, it is equally criminal that none of the regulators or Congress ever look at these actions and change the regulations and laws to actually stop the criminals from practicing their craft. Even though every big bank has been charged with some kind of manipulation, we continue to exempt them from common sense controls and instead we feed them even more free money that can be used for future manipulation!
Why does the Usurper surround himself with all these dykes and "marry" Michael?
Hope the skin on their wrist wasn't broken.
It wasn't even red.
To Bad we don't have Honest Brokers in DOJ, FBI, SEC, FINRA, FTC, GAO, CBO, FED, Treasury, OCC, FSOC, BCFP, CFTC, FDIC, FHFA, SIPC.
oops, I guess we have to add in the Courts & Lawyers.
- Normally it would have been courts in Schumer's District or Deals with DOJ or Federal Judges.
Oh US AG Loretta Lynch. They had to switch out the chief of DOJ Since the last puke gave away so much. Now she is playing with the Big Boys, she has to take a few for the Team or get removed in disgrace... I'm sure she has gotten some veiled threats by now.
- WHO's Got Tape and Emails of Lynch's Conversations??
- I'm sure the NSA has cleared Lynch's Apartments and Offices of Bugs and put in place the NSA's latest stuff.
Guillotines must be used in every town square across the land!
Ok, so at least it's officially announced that the banks engage in criminal activity, at least there's some "progress".. of course $5bn between these is peanuts and most likely nobody will be actually "responsible"... same as it ever was.
"In any event, we now know that aside from Libor, FX, gold, stocks and treasuries, nothing else is manipulated."
Oh yeah? What about the index?
...Libor, FX, gold, stocks and treasuries...you forgot possibly the biggest, IR swaps!
White collar crime FTMFW!
Goods exchange between countries is only barter.
Schacht proved that conclusively during 33-38 time frame, when Germany was excluded from international Gold trading system.
Churchill later said that the West had stuck the wrong pig, and the main reason for attacking Germany was Germany going outside of international credit, so Western bankers and markets could no longer take their usury.
Keynes also said that Goods exchange between countries is only barter.
FX exchange is a mind job. It is hypnosis. A sovereign country should only allow its money to circulate within its borders. We humans are stupid hairless monkeys that cannot learn.
Foreign GOODS exchange can be marked with a BANCOR. We don't need FX trading, BEAR raids, shorting, libor, and all the other parasitic RENT schemes invented by international credit money masters.
The money system needs to be shit canned. It was fraud from the very beginning, with its animating idea to harvest and yoke humanity to money power.
Why the hell do we give human defectives the money power? Most laboring people trade their life energy for money, and hence money system should be law based.
sovereignmoney.eu
Children of Migrants and Migrants will always send cash back home to Cuba or Latin America, but it is only a few dollars.
It is Economic Leakage, but too small to be a concern in this particular case.
Then you have Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Philippines where they use the US Dollar as a primary or secondary currency. I would guess Guam & Porto Rico also use as Primary currency.
I've been thinking and writing about Economic or Monetary Leakage and how is related to Velocity of Money lately.
I think you would agree that US Current Account Balance is horrendous. And foreign investor can extract wealth from the USA through investments and purchase of property and businesses.
FX exchange is a mind job. It is hypnosis. A sovereign country should only allow its money to circulate within its borders.
Absolutely true!
The Dangers of Internationalism by Arthur Kitson first printed in 1932
The plea for world-wide or an international currency is of modern conception and has originated with the group of international money dealers who, to a large extent, control the money and credit of the world. This group have a settled policy, and all that is happening, and has happened for the last few years throughout the world, is according to a definite plan, viz., the world's conquest.
Until the beginning of the present century, the only known method of conquering the world was by military invasion ** a very dangerous, expensive, and cruel system. But during the last half century it was realized that a far simpler, more effective and less dangerous method was possible by the control of money. By this method no armies or navies or munitions of war are required, no blood need be shed, and the public need know nothing of their danger until they are safely enslaved in the form of Debt. All that is necessary is to secure the control of the press and other channels of publicity, such as the radio and leading publicists.
Well since JP Morgan either owns or controls $270 trillion, $5 billion is REALLY going to change their behavior.
It must be great to be a "regulator" - all you have to do is slap penalties and take bribes if those penalties are actually going to hurt these institutions.
The Government gets their cut of the action. This is tribute, mind you.
what if bank robbers could plead guilty and pay a fine of 10% of their profit from the crime
what if drug dealers could plead guilty and pay a fine of 10% of their profit from the crime
what if muggers could plead guilty and pay a fine of 10% of their profit from the crime
the banking mafia are organised crime and nothing will get better until they start going to jail
Wall St should be RICOed
Looks like bankster and senior pedophile Lord Grabiner had his hands full again this week.
The people need to see CEO "Perp-Walks".
Or they could simply be executed like they might be in China. However, I personally feel that they can be rehabilitated if given sufficient incentive, such as seeing their fellow CEO have a very personal cell-block encounter with Bubba and Bruno.
Yeah, Chinese Justice!
Ain't ever gonna happen. As long as "Polite Society" accepts these Criminals, it's just a minor business expense...
Its kind of an ironic joke when the government prosecutes for market manipulation.
But aside from that, Maybe its true. Maybe it isn't. Corporations essentially have no defense when going up against the government in this regard.
Worse than anyone thinks is that there is no stipulated “pay to” in the settlement. That means it is “paid” to the US Treasury.
Where does the bank get its free money from?
It is a circle of imaginary delusion in a hall of mirrors.
Local news story this morning on KTLA, Los Angeles.
A helicopter view of a house in Studio City. A bomb squad robot moving toward the house. On the roof, in white block letters:
WF-BANK-FRAUD.BLOGSPOT.COM
https://tribktla.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/studio-city-home.jpg
http://ktla.com/2015/05/20/gas-leak-prompts-evacuations-in-studio-city/
Moments ago, the police arrested a "suspect" who ran out of the house.
Crime pays.
The FEDS get the money the whole system is rigged and crooket.
I say JUMP you Fuckers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TYezSrzUUs
Steal 5 trillion. Pay $5.6 billion in combined penalties with no time in the slammer. Such a deal.
Correct me if I wrong:
I understand these fines are tax deductible. So it isn't a penalty. You just amortize the cost of doing business. $5.6 billion on 5 trillion stolen?
By my liberal arts math that is a 1% penalty. Quite a return on investement since Obama made it perfectly clear from day one of his Presidency that none of these captains of industry would have to wory about wearing an orange jumpsuit any time soon.
Truly only vigilante violence will see that justice is done.It won't be coming from Loretta "I'm a whore for big banks" Lynch. She is saving her heavy manners for legal weed. The SEC wimps all want to make sure their resumes' are at the top of Jamie and Lloyd's desk when they cash out of "gov't service."
Obama will be a billionaire by Cankles' second term.
Lloyd Blankfein like this
from one pocket to the other
So, I'm confused --- who exactly is going to jail for this huge crime?! Millions Billions of dollars stolen and nobody spends time in the clinker? Even the richest folks are limited with regards to the time spent alive. Threaten to take some/all of that away and I guarantee they will toe the line better going forward. God forbid if the rich folks ever figure out how to steal time from the rest of us (ala the movie In Time), then the sh*t will truly hit the fan.
On a positive note, I am really impressed with the new AG, Loretta Lynch. Finally someone I've listened to who I actually (so far) believe is there to make a positive impact and is very smart and capable at that. What a difference from departing Eric Holder who I never quite trusted and felt he was protecting too many administration cronies (e.g., Jon Corzine)....
I sure have a lot more respect for George HW. Even a big bull like Charles Keating did time for penny ante SAvings and Loans 3 card monte. Wow, the Dems are really going for the Wall Street gold with their "Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil." enforcement.
I would think the TBTF/Too Big to Jail bankers should be 100% behind Canikles. B/c if Obama has accomplished anything it is acting as a Neolib/Neocon Republican while the left still claps for his Negritude.
Imagine if McCain had prevailed. We would have the same monetary and foreign policy but at least the left would be complaining. Instead of the muted quislings they are b/c a Donkey is in the White House. "To complain against Obama from within the Democratic Party would be racist." Bernie always reminds us how much he supports the President when he "critques" him
Come summer of 2016, all this Warren tripe will fade into the rear view while Lesser of Two Evils takes over as it did in 2008 and 2012 in the United State of Oligarchy
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/2779/forex-bill-singer/
And noCabalBankster was hurt, in making up this episode.
(because they own the American govt)