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Greensill: Bank of England releases emails amid Cameron lobbying row
More details have been revealed about David Cameron's attempts to lobby civil servants on behalf of Greensill Capital.
The Bank of England said the former PM contacted its officials multiple times last year as the finance firm sought access to a Covid loan scheme. Earlier, the Treasury's top civil servant told MPs Mr Cameron had called and texted him on his official phone. But Sir Tom Scholar added Greensill's proposals were ultimately rejected. Three MP-led inquiries and a lawyer-led government review are looking at the former Tory leader's work for the company, which collapsed in March. Mr Cameron, who began working for Greensill as an adviser two years after leaving Downing Street, has insisted he broke no lobbying rules.
On Wednesday, the Bank published details of contacts between Mr Cameron and its officials during the early stages of the Covid crisis last spring. They show the ex-PM contacted Bank officials before and after the firm applied to join a government scheme to support lending to businesses. These include email exchanges with Sir Jon Cunliffe, the Bank's deputy governor. The Bank was running the scheme, along with the Treasury. Greensill Capital had wanted the terms of the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) to be changed so it could take part in the programme. The request was ultimately rejected after the Treasury concluded the firm's proposals were not suitable. Earlier on Wednesday, Sir Tom - the Treasury's permanent secretary - said Greensill Capital had "persistently" approached his department about being involved. Giving evidence to MPs on the the Public Accounts Committee, he added: "We listened to what they said. We analysed it, we tested it and in the end, despite them submitting a series of successive proposals, we decided to reject them all."
Sir Tom, who previously worked for the former PM as a Europe adviser, told them Mr Cameron had rung him directly in April 2020, although the call did not include "substantive discussion" of Greensill's proposals. "It was simply a call to draw it to my attention," he said, adding that Mr Cameron had his work phone number "because I used to work with him". Asked if he would have taken a call from a lobbyist if they hadn't been a former prime minister, Sir Tom said: "I've also from time-to-time had calls from other senior people, maybe private sector people who I've previously worked with in another capacity." He added: "I think it's natural when somebody that you know asks to speak to you... it's quite natural to take that."
The second most senior official at the Treasury, Charles Roxburgh, told the committee he had met Mr Cameron and financier Lex Greensill - founder of the firm - at nine meetings spread out over four months from March to June 2020. Mr Roxburgh told the committee civil servants would not have consulted on their proposals "if we didn't think there was some potential - turns out there wasn't". The Treasury is shortly expected to reveal further detail about its contact with Mr Cameron and Greensill in response to a Freedom of Information request. It has already come to light that Mr Cameron contacted Chancellor Rishi Sunak and two other Treasury ministers to talk about Greensill. Mr Cameron has defended his work for Greensill but accepted he should have contacted ministers using more formal channels.
He has said he welcomes the government review and will "respond positively" to any requests from MPs for him to give evidence.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-56843359
SEC Chief Gensler Names Alex Oh to Lead Enforcement Division
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler named Alex Oh, a former federal prosecutor, to lead the regulator’s vaunted enforcement unit that polices Wall Street.
“Our capital markets and the broader economy thrive when there are clear rules of the road and a cop on the beat to enforce them,” Gensler said in a Thursday statement. “Alex brings to the role of director the right combination of values and experience to vigorously root out wrongdoing.” Oh was most recently a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. She previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where she was a member of the office’s securities and commodities fraud task force.
Gensler, who was sworn in last week, is expected to take a much harder line in pursuing misconduct at the SEC than watchdogs did during the Trump administration. He frequently sparred with finance executives when he imposed aggressive new rules on swaps trading while leading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Obama administration.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/sec-chief-gensler-names-alex-oh-to-lead-enforcement-division-1.1593916
Stocks Puke As Biden's Capital Gains Tax Reality Strikes
The reality of the Biden administration's 'soak the rich' plan is finally hitting markets as the details of his new capital gains tax plan are hitting...
As Bloomberg reports, President Joe Biden will propose almost doubling the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals to 39.6%, which, coupled with an existing surtax on investment income, means that federal tax rates for investors could be as high as 43.4%, according to people familiar with the proposal.
The plan would boost the capital gains rate to 39.6% for those earning $1 million or more, an increase from the current base rate of 20%, the people said on the condition of anonymity because the plan is not yet public.
A 3.8% tax on investment income that funds Obamacare would be kept in place, pushing the tax rate on returns on financial assets higher than the top rate on wage and salary income, they said.
The proposal could reverse a long-standing provision of the tax code that taxes returns on investment lower than on labor. Biden campaigned on equalizing the capital gains and income tax rates for wealthy individuals, saying it’s unfair that many of them pay lower rates than middle-class workers.
For $1 million earners in high-tax states, rates on capital gains could be above 50%.
For New Yorkers, the combined state and federal capital gains rate could be as high as 52.22%. For Californians, it could be 56.7%.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-puke-bidens-capital-gains-tax-reality-strikes
'''UN special envoy to meet ASEAN leaders
Myanmar's neighboring countries will hold talks this weekend to discuss the situation there since the coup. The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are scheduled to meet in the Indonesian capital on Saturday. A United Nations spokesperson says its special envoy for Myanmar will be in Jakarta on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting.
UN special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener appears to have left Bangkok for Jakarta on Thursday. The UN spokesperson said the envoy is seeking dialogue with all the parties involved, and revealed that she has been in contact with Myanmar's military by email and phone. A Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that the government will send Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to the meeting. He said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha should stay in the country due to the current coronavirus surge. Meanwhile, Manila said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will also not attend the meeting for similar reasons, and will be represented by his foreign minister.
The UN special envoy is expected to ask that pressure be brought to bear on Myanmar's military to break the impasse in the country. The military has been escalating its crackdown on protesters, reportedly leaving 741 civilians dead.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210422_36/
gimme a minute to get in
@USNavy
Mastering the air and sea…from the shore!
Unmanned aerial, surface and subsurface vehicles participate in @USPacificFleet Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21. #USXIBP21
Read more: https://go.usa.gov/xHXZV
https://twitter.com/USNavy/status/1385307435393503234
Tokyo, Osaka region to come under COVID-19 emergency from Sun. to May 11
The Japanese government is considering placing Tokyo and three western prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo under a state of emergency from Sunday to May 11, covering the country's upcoming string of holidays, in an attempt to curb surging COVID-19 infections, a senior official said Thursday. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is set to finalize the decision at a task force meeting on Friday, as a resurgence of infections puts pressure on the medical system with just three months until the Tokyo Olympics kick off. Suga told reporters Thursday that he will take the necessary measures focusing on the upcoming Golden Week holidays, usually one of the busiest times of the year for travel, to "stop the spread of infections by all means."
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura called on the government not to waste any time, saying the measure should begin this weekend. Osaka, the current epicenter of coronavirus cases in the country, reported a record 1,242 new infections on Wednesday. On Thursday, Osaka logged 1,167 additional cases, putting a serious strain on the western Japan prefecture's medical system amid an increase in its hospital bed occupancy rate for people in serious condition. The nationwide tally surpassed 5,000 for the second day in a row, returning to the level seen in late January when the previous state of emergency was in place in Tokyo, Osaka and other areas.
The government will examine the situation, including the availability of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, and will make a decision after determining the necessary restrictions as well as the appropriate time period and area, its top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, told a press conference. Tokyo, which reported 861 new cases on Thursday, and Osaka plan to ask major commercial facilities such as department stores, shopping malls and amusement parks to temporarily close. The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to request eateries serving alcohol to close temporarily, according to an official with knowledge of the situation. It may also call for events to be held without spectators in principle. Meanwhile, the Osaka governor has said he will ask restaurants and bars to stop serving alcohol and close on weekends, a step further than his current request for eateries to close by 8 p.m. Tokyo's daily infection figures are returning to levels seen in late January, when the second state of emergency was in place. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Thursday, "We cannot suppress (the spread of the virus) in the way we did before. Stronger measures are needed."
The government could make exceptions for certain facilities in order to soften the blow to the economy, which is already reeling from COVID-19 restrictions and the loss of foreign tourists due to the pandemic, people familiar with the matter said. Infections have been back on the rise across the country despite a quasi-state of emergency covering 10 prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka. The daily nationwide total topped 5,000 on Wednesday for the first time in three months. Health experts have warned of the spread of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus, with a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare panel estimating they account for about 80 percent of all cases in Osaka and Hyogo, and a rapidly growing share in Tokyo. Suga has said the declaration of the country's third state of emergency, following those in April last year and January, will not affect the staging of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, reiterating the government will continue efforts to ensure they are "safe and secure."
But public skepticism remains high, with 39.2 percent of respondents in a Kyodo News poll this month saying the games should be canceled and 32.8 percent saying they should be rescheduled.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210422/p2g/00m/0na/118000c
CEO Of Turkish Exchange Thodex Flees Country, Leaves User Funds Irretrievable
The CEO of Thodex, a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange established in 2017, has fled the country and left user funds irretrievable.
The CEO of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, Faruk Fatih Ozer, has fled the country after failing to transfer his shares to another investor, leaving “the remaining assets of about 390,000 active users ‘irretrievable,’” according to a report by Bloomberg.
Thodex’s lawyer, Bedirhan Oguz Basibuyuk, said the CEO fled Turkey because he would have been “either arrested or committed suicide” otherwise. Basibuyuk also explained that there was a liquidity problem with the exchange, explaining by phone that “[there] was a decline in Thodex’s assets. When too many users demanded their money back, the company was unable to meet those,” per the report.
A statement from Ozer on Thodex’s website also indicated that a years-old “hacking incident” has caused the financial problem.
“From today on, my sole aim is to repay my debt to you,” Ozer said in a statement addressed to the exchange’s users, according to Bloomberg. “The day I repay all my debt, I will return to my country and give myself in to justice.” The news comes after the exchange announced on Twitter that it had abruptly halted trading because the transfer of the shares to an outside investor could not be completed, according to a previous report from Bloomberg. Services would be shut for five working days, but users wouldn’t need to worry about their funds, the announcement said.
Thodex’s bitcoin trading volume only represents 1.73% of its total volume, according to CoinMarketCap, which would be about $10,129,386 worth. Dogecoin leads, representing a whopping 52.39% of the total trading volume. In mid-March, Thodex announced a dogecoin campaign, “saying it would distribute millions of Dogecoins to new registrants ... though many people have taken to social media to complain they never received them,” according to Bloomberg.
Although the Turkish central bank banned the use of cryptocurrencies for payments earlier in April, claiming excessive volatility and dangerous lack of regulation, exchanges could still operate. The ban seeks to specifically halt usage of bitcoin for payments, to protect the Turkish lira, and still allows Turks to buy bitcoin as an investment.
After this incident with Thodex, however, the future of bitcoin exchanges in the country is less certain.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/ceo-of-turkish-exchange-thodex-flees-country-leaves-user-funds-irretrievable-2021-04-22
such a load of crap when they used that as his excuse.
here's your incoming Tresaury Sec. who can't pay someone to do his own fuggen taxes and then 'underpaid'
Welcome to the Hussein Administration!