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Watchdog faults Swiss bank Julius Baer for money laundering lapses
Swiss bank Julius Baer has been reprimanded by the country’s financial watchdog for ignoring money laundering risks in handling millions of francs of payments linked to corruption in Venezuela and world soccer body FIFA.
In a highly critical report, FINMA said there had been scores of failings at Switzerland’s third-largest listed bank, such as its acceptance of a 70 million Swiss franc ($71 million) transfer for a Venezuelan customer in 2014 despite knowing he was accused of corruption.
The regulator’s announcement, which outlined serious lapses as recently as 2018, comes as Switzerland seeks to change its image as one of the world’s most opaque and secretive financial centers. Under pressure from tax authorities abroad, the Alpine nation pared back banking secrecy, though some experts say its concessions apply to rich countries rather than poor ones and recent scandals show money laundering remains a major risk.
FINMA told Julius Baer to improve its controls and appointed an auditor to oversee the group. Nonetheless, it did not make use of its power to demand the return of profits linked to wrongdoing, meaning the bank faces no financial penalty.
So it's a public slap on the wrist and nothing moar- faggots
In a similar case in 2016, FINMA confiscated 95 million Swiss francs from Swiss bank BSI only to have its decision overruled by a Swiss court in December.
The watchdog on Thursday said it had uncovered systematic failings and management inaction on money-laundering risks, with the vast majority of the 150-plus sample transactions it had examined showing irregularities between 2009 and early 2018.
Julius Baer acknowledged the lapses.
“We accept FINMA’s findings and regret the shortcomings identified in our business with Latin American clients,” said Chairman Romeo Lacher. “This is not compatible with the risk culture that we are striving to achieve.”
The failings were connected to cases of corruption linked to Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and global soccer governing body FIFA, the regulator said.
FIFA has been embroiled in a bribery scandal that led to former president Joseph Blatter and former vice-president Michel Platini being banned from soccer in 2015 over illicit payments.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) said on Thursday that it had filed an indictment against former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke, who it has charged with accepting bribes.
Venezuela’s PDVSA, where military officials took over management in late 2017, is subject to sanctions from Washington, imposed in an effort to oust the South American country’s President, Nicolas Maduro.
FINMA appointed an agent to investigate Julius Baer in 2017, broadening its inquiries in 2018 after the arrest of a Baer banker in the United States. The watchdog said Julius Baer had to take steps to identify bankers whose clients are a high money-laundering risk and adjust its pay and disciplinary policy to avoid risk.
Baer said it had since improved and would take action demanded by FINMA.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-julius-baer-finma/watchdog-faults-swiss-bank-julius-baer-for-money-laundering-lapses-idUSKBN20E1K7
'Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. Sold by CAPITAL G (Alphabet): $98.83m- Feb 14, 18-19
CrowdStrike co-founder Alperovitch steps down as tech chief to start non-profit
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. CRWD, -6.24% co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch said late Wednesday he has left the cybersecurity company to launch a non-profit policy accelerator to deal with national security and foreign policy challenges. Alperovitch, who served as chief technology officer, announced his post-CrowdStrike plans in a tweet after the close of markets, and CrowdStrike said Michael Sentonas is the company's new CTO effective immediately. CrowdStrrike shares declined 0.3% after hours, following a less than 0.1% decline to close at $66.03.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/crowdstrike-co-founder-alperovitch-steps-down-as-tech-chief-to-start-non-profit-2020-02-19
CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) is a private equity firm under Alphabet Inc. Founded in 2013, it focuses on larger, growth stage technology companies, and invests for profit rather than strategically for Google. In addition to capital investment, CapitalG's approach includes giving portfolio companies access to Google's people, knowledge, and culture to support the companies' growth and offer them guidance. Since 2013, CapitalG has invested in over 25 companies, in areas such as big data, financial technology, security, and e-learning.
https://www.finviz.com/insidertrading.ashx?oc=1678225&tc=7&b=2
>>8194926 FBI Knew of Central Epstein Victim 11 Years before She Testified: ‘They Could Have Unravelled the Entire Network’
notable
you want the latest capital G sale of crowdstrike?
o7
need money for payoffs. just like the stock sales.