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Li(e)borgate Set To Become "Next Big Litigation Thing" As Lawsuits Against Libor Banks Avalanche
Last week we discussed the gradual unraveling of a topic we had been following for the past 3 years, namely the brazen and criminal manipulation in the Libor market, which directly and indirectly impacts a stunning $350 trillion worth of securities (and thus, their implied risk, and hence, prices). Today we are delighted to learn that the retribution against these banks who have been artificially representing to the market that they are in better condition than in reality (courtesy of Libor's "strict" self-reporting approach), are beginning to see lawsuits filed against them, with Schwab merely the latest out of the gate. And just as fraudclosure was the litigation topic of 2010 and 2011, sit down and watch as Li(E)borgate explodes into the biggest litigation pain for banks, with litigation expenses that could easily surpass both the robosigning scandal (and its robo-settlement) and the escalating banks Reps and Warranties scandal. Because as recent evidence confirms, there are likely emails proving manipulation exists black on white, as discussed last week. Which means that the case of Schwab, noted last summer by Reuters, is about to become a pandemic.
From Reuters:
Charles Schwab Corp, the discount brokerage and money manager, has filed two lawsuits accusing 11 major banks of conspiring to manipulate Libor, which is used to set interest rates on hundreds of trillions of dollars of securities.
According to complaints filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where Schwab is based, the banks violated antitrust, racketeering and securities laws by teaming up to depress the London Interbank Offered Rate, a floating benchmark for what banks charge each other on short-term loans.
Schwab's lawsuits said the collusion deprived it of returns on tens of billions of dollars of Libor-based investments that the company and eight of its money market and ultra-short term bond mutual funds made from 2007 to early 2011.
"Surreptitiously bilking investors of their rightful rates of returns on their investments, defendants reaped hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in ill-gotten gains," Schwab said. Its lawsuits seek unspecified actual and punitive damages, which Schwab said can be tripled under federal law.
Who is being sued? Why everyone's favorite bailed out (alleged) criminals of course:
Defendants include the three largest U.S. banks -- Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc. Others include Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, UBS AG and WestLB AG. Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Grayson declined to comment, but Citigroup spokeswoman Danielle Romero-Apsilos said: "We believe the lawsuits are without merit." JPMorgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
We wonder as a result of all these lawsuits how long until the BBA (allegedly) criminal syndicate will indicate USD Libor continues to decline even as the ECB's borrowings under the FX swap facility are back at two and a half year highs. At the end of the day, is it too much to ask to have at least one market metric that is not manipulated or otherwise the subject to outright fraud?
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As if the WSJ Prime Rate is any better.
its bullish - there will be another fine settlement!!
buy buy buy
Banks trying to manipulate markets: What is new about this story? Aren't they always attempting to manipulate markets? Aren't the central bankers constantly trying to manipulate markets? I'm lost.
@ Thomas... What the hell do you mean trying.
"I'm lost".
It's the death of a thousand cuts, these keep coming and coming and it seems not to end. The govt. along with the banks have helped each other to stay off a massive depression, but what I believe they did was to stay it off temporarily and it will still come. The problem with manipulating everything is that it destroys forcasting for the future and the past indicators can't work because those don't take into account the manipulation of many of the variables to an outragous point.
Will anyone actually go to gaol for this scam ? These bankers seem to avoid the Jeff Skilling Penalty
All roads lead to the Fed, so no.
Them cross currency swaps will not be impacted.
"......is it too much to ask to have at least market metric that is not manipulated or otherwise the subject of outright fraud?"
Given that lies and manipulation are the only things preventing outright panic and systemic collapse, I would say Yes, it probably is too much to ask.
The BTFDness of this market is unbelievable!
Quintus, you beat me to it!
love it, "Lieborgate". :)
Libortion - cutting the ties between big banks and my capital.
There are 7,000 U.S. banks and only five are really bad. Those are the five least likely to be dealt with.
fraud is a government sanctioned business tool and the only tool in the bag left... to really make banks money !
Regurgitating an August 25th 2011 headline or is there a new development?
Back then there was no incremental proof of TIBOR, LIBOR and other explicit "fixings" such as the emails presented in last week's post. This is merely a hint to other "victims" to enjoin Schwab.
How long has the alleged manipulation to have been going on? I see it
2007
Didn't N.M. Redshield pull out of liebor a while back maybe 2007 ish
Hit the scammers where it hurts-in the pocketbooks & buy and hold physical precious metals to protect your wealth.
"Avalanche" is proof positive that anything can be verbed.
Bah, verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.
it would be nice to think that lawsuits would burgeon forth as greenshoots on a newly qeed turf, but if you witnessed the fake settlement of the robosigning crimes, and still think that these lawsuits are going anywhere, you have had one too many rides on a skittle shitting unicorn....
Schwab owns a bank itself, so it has an insider view of the shenanigans committed by its TBTF peers.
Go Schwab -- may LIEborgate be the asteroid that kills the TBTF dinosaurs dead!
Prove all you want.
Different laws for these criminals at the top.
You would need a Department of Justice for that.
Not gonna happen.
Agree with you this time, Oblieblie wants a green market for his campaign, and market manipulation will not stand in his way.
Banks are proven to be packing every one's fudge once again. Meh. Old news. What's Snookie up to ? Are those tits real ? 'Cause nothing else on the show is. Just sayin'.
This is going to be good stuff. Stay tuned!!
That HSBC monicker just keeps popping up in the news...
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/banking-giant-accused-of-laundering-billions/
if Libor is tarnished, what happens to the Eurodollar market? -anyone?
There were mortgages issued with Libor as the controlling factor on the interest rate
This could get really interesting if the "investors " pick up on this
Damn - student loans are tied to LIBOR too - It'll be interesting to see whose army can muster the most support.
Inter-Alpha bukkake time.
Suing the bank cartel, ROFL.
Better commit suicide now, that is less painful.
Seriously, this will get nowhere fast.
If Hillary Clinton gets to be head of the World Bank it will be be awesome. She can do things that Ben Franklin used to do. Like invent countries n' stuff. Plus she's gay so nobody could blackmail her. The future is going to be so cool.
I fucking love it. Could the MF Global scandal have woken up the broker dealers to start taking action in order to prevent their own demise at the hands of thes Too Big To Jail banks? This lawsuit will obviously be the first of many.
Hopefully, everyone, every victim, will start or join a lawsuit. I would like to see class actions everywhere- all Americans have been victims of this widescale financial fraud.
This may get nowhere, but the corruption will be well documented and the more it's documented, the more the world becomes aware of how deep it runs. The more the mainstream media fails to report the corruption, the more the world becomes aware of the media's complicity. This awareness among the citizenry is the beginning of something much bigger, the rest will follow, it always does.
Too Big To Jail - I like that.
So basically, LIBOR should have been set higher. This was a boon to anyone with an adjustable mortgage and a drain to whom? Large investors in Floating Rate Notes?
So, beyond the gnashing of teeth about TBTF banks and blah blah blah, why exactly do we want higher LIBOR fixings....anyone?
The BBA panel banks are asked where they could borrow unsecured funds if they needed to. The answers are tallied, highs and lows dropped, and an average rate is calculated. Banks don't set rates higher because if they did the world would view them as sh1t credits. Given the status of your average american, we need lower LIBORS not higher.
I financed commercial property using Libor. When it went in my favor, Wachovia AKA Wells fargo, wouldn't cash out to give me my money. Then they claimed it went against me, I had to pay approx 150K to get out of the loan. Think I'll be filling my own lawsuit soon. Should get my 150K back plus some since I would have made 200K plus on the investment.
Arm all the old people who were totally wiped out. Give them the good stuff. Do it now.