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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Sun Jul 15, 2012, 08:39 AM Jul 2012

US builds case against bankers over Libor

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/07/20127157320870534.html

The US justice department is preparing a criminal case against major banks and individuals over international interest rate manipulation, the New York Times reported.

The "Libor" scandal so far has been most acute in London, with public outcry that regulation in Britain was lax. But concern has grown about the wider impact on consumers and the involvement of US regulators.

But public and political pressure is also building across the Atlantic. Saturday's report of a likely US criminal actions comes as private US investors prepare suits and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission carries out a far-reaching regulatory inquiry.

Barclays alerted US regulators as far back as 2007 to concerns that banks were rigging benchmark interest rates, according to documents released on Friday, but policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic did not appear to take decisive action, underscoring the chaos of the financial crisis.
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US builds case against bankers over Libor (Original Post) xchrom Jul 2012 OP
NIGHTMARE: New York Times Reports Prosecutors Are Building LIBOR-Related Criminal Charges xchrom Jul 2012 #1
First Rule of Libor Club: Don't Talk About Libor Club FarCenter Jul 2012 #2

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
1. NIGHTMARE: New York Times Reports Prosecutors Are Building LIBOR-Related Criminal Charges
Sun Jul 15, 2012, 08:48 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-prosecuters-are-building-criminal-charges-in-libor-rigging-scandal-2012-7

NIGHTMARE: New York Times Reports Prosecutors Are Building LIBOR-Related Criminal Charges Against Several Banks

A major for Wall Street has been that this whole scandal over rigging LIBOR (a common index of bank borrowing costs that's used to price hundreds of trillions of derivatives), would be seen by regulators and prosecutors as a chance for a "do-over".
And that seems to be happening.
Ben Protess and Mark Scott at the New York Times report:
The department’s criminal division is building cases against several financial institutions and their employees, including traders at Barclays, the British bank, according to government officials close to the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. The authorities expect to file charges against at least one bank later this year, one of the officials said.
It's not clear which banks, specifically, are in the target, but the general belief is that manipulation of the rate went far beyond Barclays (which just paid a massive fine, and saw both its chairman and CEO resign subsequently).
According to Protess and Scott, the CFTC is already preparing civil action against UBS.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-prosecuters-are-building-criminal-charges-in-libor-rigging-scandal-2012-7#ixzz20h9Nu41p
 

FarCenter

(19,429 posts)
2. First Rule of Libor Club: Don't Talk About Libor Club
Sun Jul 15, 2012, 09:58 AM
Jul 2012

But to date the banks aren't talking, leaving investors in these banks entirely in the dark when it comes to their Libor operations.

Indeed, when asked about Libor on an earnings conference call Friday, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon declined to provide any specifics. One analyst on the call pointed out that Libor submissions are made from London, the source of the derivative mismarkings the forced JP Morgan to restate first quarter earnings.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-rule-libor-club-dont-191033084.html

Once LIBOR spiked during the crisis, JPM's submission was generally the lowest, so it was usually not used in the calculation of LIBOR by Thompson/Reuters.

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