According to Andrew Bailey, the head of the UK Financial Conduct Authority, the London interbank offered rate (Libor) will be scrapped by the end of 2021. The British regulator intends to phase out the key interest benchmark, which is the underlying rate for over $350 trillion dollars of financial products,…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has announced two whistleblower awards this week. The first is almost $2.5M to an employee of a US government agency whose tip helped instigate the regulator’s probe into the alleged misconduct. This individual provided additional help that allowed the SEC to “address” the issue…
In the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Petroforce Energy LLC and its founder William Veasey have consented to pay almost $300K to resolve charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission in an oil-and-gas offering fraud. The Austin-based company and Veasy raised close to $3.9M from…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has brought fraud charges against two men and their company, United Business Alliance, LLC, for allegedly running a prime bank investment scam. The regulator is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. According to the regulator’s complaint, between 10/2013…
Lawyer Barred Over Fraud Allegations The US Securities and Exchange Commission has barred David Lubin, a New York-based lawyer, from practicing or appearing before the regulator and acting as any company’s director or officer. The regulator is accusing him of making misleading and false statements in corporate filings and committing…
In a second superseding indictment to an ongoing Texas securities fraud probe, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas has brought criminal charges again against several people accused in an alleged multimillion dollar pump-and-dump scam. This latest indictment expands on the original criminal charges, which involved Chimera…
Michael Wilson has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. The 30-year-old former New York businessman bilked investors of over $10M in just two years through fake investment companies. Wilson was indicted of 47 criminal counts, including money laundering, conspiracy, and wire fraud, in 2010. He was accused of trying to bilk…
A group of hedge funds, including Oaktree Capital Management LP and Glendon Capital Management LP, has filed a lawsuit against the federal government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The hedge fund group are Puerto Rico bondholders who could suffer losses from bonds that were issued in 2008 to…
Jay Bruce Heimburger, a Dallas man, has pleaded guilty to mail fraud over his involvement in a $6.4M investment scam that allegedly took place from about March 2011 to November 2013. He faces up to more than 20 years in prison, has to pay a $250K fine, and could be…
In the US, former London traders Rohan Ramchandani, Chris Ashton, and Richard Usher have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges accusing them of conspiring to manipulate prices in the foreign exchange market. Ashton previously worked at Barclays (BARC) as the bank’s global head of spot currency trading. Ramchandani used to…