ty nakers
JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank among firms sued by 1MDB over $23-bn loss
Malaysia’s 1MDB and a former unit have filed suits against firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG as the nation seeks to recover assets worth more than $23 billion linked to the scandal-plagued state-owned investment fund.
1MDB, whose full name is 1Malaysia Development Bhd., and SRC International Sdn. filed a combined 22 civil suits against a slew of entities and individuals for various alleged wrongdoings including fraud and conspiracy to defraud the fund, the Finance Ministry said on Monday. Among those named were JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be identified discussing non-public information. At least two suits were filed in London, according to publicly-available court records. Deutsche Bank’s Singapore branch faces a lawsuit, while 1MDB separately sued Citigroup Inc.’s head of commodities research Ed Morse alleging professional negligence, the filing shows.
JPMorgan declined to comment while Deutsche said it hasn’t been served any papers on 1MDB and isn’t aware of any basis for a legitimate claim. The banks were named earlier on Monday by the Edge newspaper. New York-based Morse didn’t respond to an email seeking comment outside business hours, and Citigroup couldn’t immediately comment. The court proceedings mark Malaysia’s continuing efforts to recover billions of dollars allegedly siphoned from 1MDB by people connected to the country’s former prime minister. Over much of a decade, 1MDB has become shorthand for one of the world’s most daring heists -- a conspiracy that spawned probes in Asia, the U.S. and Europe. Authorities have spent years tracking funds that allegedly flowed from 1MDB into high-end art and real estate, a super yacht and, ironically, the hit Hollywood movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” chronicling an earlier era of financial crimes.
The government has had a string of recent successes, the most high-profile coming last year when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reached a $3.9 billion pact with Malaysian authorities to resolve probes into the Wall Street giant’s role in the scheme. Goldman’s overall tab for additional settlements with authorities in the U.S., U.K. and Hong Kong swelled to more than $5 billion. In March, Deloitte PLT agreed to a 324-million ringgit ($80 million) settlement with the Malaysian government to resolve all claims related to the firm’s audit of 1MDB and SRC between 2011-2014. The deal also came less than a week after Malaysian lender AMMB Holdings Bhd. agreed to a $699 million settlement over its role in dealings linked to 1MDB.
A Malaysian court is currently hearing an appeal by ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak to overturn his conviction and 12-year jail sentence linked to the 1MDB scandal that brought down his government in 2018. Najib, and the fugitive financier Jho Low and his family are among individuals named in the civil suit. Low, whom prosecutors have accused of orchestrating the fraud, has previously professed his innocence. “We have not received the summons,” Najib’s lawyer Farhan Shafee said. “We also found out from the press.” M. Purvalen, a lawyer representing Jho Low’s mother, said he has not been approached to represent the Low family in this suit. “The Government’s recovery efforts are now focused on pursuing other wrongdoers who have caused losses to 1MDB and or SRC during the execution of their duties, as parties directly or indirectly involved in 1MDB and or SRC’s various operations and transactions,” Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said in a statement. The specific allegations against Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan weren’t immediately clear. Deutsche Bank helped 1MDB raise more than $1 billion in 2014. JPMorgan in 2017 was reprimanded by Swiss regulators over its handling of money transfers related to 1MDB in previous years.
Deutsche Bank’s shares reversed gains and were down 1% at 1:22 p.m. in Frankfurt.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/jpmorgan-deutsche-bank-among-firms-sued-by-1mdb-over-23-bn-loss-121051000899_1.html
When dey start eating themselves (like this) you know they are getting close to dumping it.
Bond Traders Lift 5-Year Inflation Outlook to Highest Since 2006
Bond market expectations for the expected pace of consumer price inflation over the coming half decade surged on Monday to the highest level since 2006.
The five-year breakeven rate, a measure based on the yield gap between inflation-linked debt and non-inflation securities, climbed as much as 3.4 basis points to 2.7327%, eclipsing a high from 2008. The rate on five-year nominal securities was around one basis point lower near 0.76%.
Monday’s jump in breakeven rates comes amid a surge in prices for oil products after a cyber attack shut down the largest U.S. fuel pipeline. It adds to a longer-term uptick in inflation expectations that’s been fueled by improving prospects for growth, plans for infrastructure spending and pandemic-related stimulus measures.
Gasoline futures traded at a nearly three-year high, bolstering expected inflation accruals for Treasury securities that are tied to the consumer-price index. Shorter-dated Treasury Inflation Protected Securities also got support from the Federal Reserve’s purchase schedule, which Tuesday targets $2.425 billion of TIPS maturing in 1 to 7.5 years.
Breakevens got a boost Friday in the wake of a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report, with some market observers speculating that the labor-market situation could fuel wage inflation.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/bond-traders-lift-5-year-inflation-outlook-to-highest-since-2006-1.1601667
We DEMAND moar inflation
>>52142 pb
WISER21 USAF E-4B Nightwatch on ground at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH from Robins AFB, GA
@USNavy
Hello Monday
Flexed biceps
#MondayMotivation
#USNavy Sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer #USS PaulIgnatius (DDG 117), haul in line during a sea-and-anchor evolution in
Mayport, Fl.
https://twitter.com/USNavy/status/1391745637641773056
>>52142 pb
SAM350 USAF C-32A on approach for Las Vegas McCarran Int'l from JBA depart earlier
Banks told to 'hit the accelerator' in ditching Libor rate
Britain’s finance watchdog wants banks to speed up a shift to new interest rate benchmarks that replace the Libor rate which is being scrapped after December.
The London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor, once dubbed the world’s most important number, will be replaced at the end of December with “risk free” rates compiled by central banks. Banks were fined for trying to rig Libor, and swathes of the market used for compiling Libor has all but dried up.
But replacing Libor, used in contracts from home loans to credit cards and derivatives worth more than $200 trillion globally, is still the biggest task faced by markets in decades. The FCA is allowing a “synthetic” version of Libor to continue after December, but to avoid markets using it as an excuse to ease up on transition, it will only apply for a limited period and range of sterling and yen Libor contracts.
https://www.reuters.com/article/britain-libor/banks-told-to-hit-the-accelerator-in-ditching-libor-rate-idUSL8N2MX4LP
>>52142 pb
Turkish AF TURAF11 KC-135 tanker on ground at OKC- Will Rogers World Airport from Dover AFB depart
Arrived at Dover yesterday
Revlon Replaces Citi on Revolver Loan and Posts Narrower Loss
Revlon Inc., the makeup giant that’s reworking its business and its borrowings, replaced Citigroup Inc. as agent on part of its finances in the wake of the bank’s $900 million error on a separate loan.
The company tapped MidCap Funding IV Trust as its collateral and administrative agent to work out a one-year extension into 2024 for its revolver, Revlon said in its first-quarter results Monday. The report included a narrower loss and showed some improvement in sales trends coming out of the pandemic, but still missed some estimates, and the shares dropped as much as 10%. The change doesn’t sever ties with Citi, which “remains an important partner for Revlon,” a representative for Revlon said in a statement to Bloomberg, adding the company looks “forward to continuing to work with them in a number of capacities.”
Citi assisted on the amendment to the revolver and earned a fee for its work, and it’s still working on the ill-fated 2016 term loan that’s tied up in ongoing litigation, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The job of an agent involves collecting and distributing interest payments and providing other housekeeping services, which Citigroup handled as recently as last quarter on the revolver. The transaction “will enhance” Revlon’s liquidity and operations, Chief Financial Officer Victoria Dolan said on a call to discuss the results. A Citigroup representative declined to comment.
Citigroup accidentally wired more than $900 million to asset managers for Revlon’s lenders last year even though it wasn’t due, and then asked them to give the money back. The bank was able to recover part of the sum and lost a court fight with creditors over the remaining $500 million, leaving Citigroup to assume the role of a Revlon creditor. The money came from Citi’s accounts, and didn’t affect Revlon’s existing loans, but the blunder forced Citigroup to answer to regulators and tighten its internal controls.
News of the switch in agents came as Revlon reported a narrower loss for the first three months of this year and some sequential improvements. But sales continued to fall 1.8% from a year earlier due to changing consumer habits, rising competition from startups with strong social media presence and the Covid-19 pandemic. Excluding $44 million of estimated impact from Covid-19, the company said net sales would have been positive. Results were helped by e-commerce and the Elizabeth Arden brand, representing a bigger chunk of sales. Total liquidity fell to $129.6 million at the end of the quarter from $249.9 million on Dec. 31. Cash and equivalents dropped to $85.6 million from $97.1 million at year-end. Backed by billionaire Ronald Perelman, Revlon has shuffled its finances to ease its debt burden and buy more time to focus on a business turnaround. It completed a debt exchange in November that eliminated the potential for a bankruptcy filing in the near future.
On Monday, the cosmetics company said it’s expanding on a previously announced restructuring of operations that would boost organic sales growth and provide $75 million to $95 million of annualized savings by the end of 2023.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/revlon-replaces-citi-on-revolver-loan-and-posts-narrower-loss-1.1601696
Fauci urged India to impose a national lockdown as its COVID-19 crisis worsens. So far, Prime Minister Modi has refused.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has said India should impose a national lockdown to address its raging COVID-19 crisis. The step is one the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has so far refused to put in place.
India has seen a surge of COVID-19 cases for weeks. The country on Monday reported 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to Reuters. The surge has caused some hospitals to run out of oxygen, and crematoriums have been overwhelmed with bodies. Fauci told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that a national lockdown could help "break the chain of transmission" of COVID-19. He told the CNN affiliate News18 on Friday that the lockdown would have to be in place for only four weeks or so. "As soon as the cases start coming down and you vaccinate more people, then you can get ahead of the trajectory of the outbreak," he said.
The Indian Medical Association has also called for a national lockdown, Reuters reported. But despite the calls from Fauci and others, Modi has shown no sign of establishing a new national lockdown. There are lockdowns in several of India's 28 states, but they don't compare to last year's strict, two-month national lockdown, which, the Associated Press said caused the country's economy to decline by 23% in the second quarter.
Modi's government has said it's doing all it can in a "once-in-a-lifetime crisis," the AP reported.
https://news.yahoo.com/dr-fauci-urged-india-impose-134735227.html
Gates Foundation N887WM G650 on ground yesterday at Carlsbad, CA Palomar Airport
Still there and what do you want to bet the "melinda" gets this in the settlement since it was purchased "after" the divorce rumblings that began in 2019 -so they said
Colonial Pipeline attack: Clock ticks for gas supply
The ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which moves more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily from the Gulf Coast to Linden, New Jersey, is a major artery in our energy delivery system — if it is down for an extended period of time, it could have major ramifications for gas prices, as well as the availability of supply. While there was an initial price spike in gas futures before pulling back on word of steady supply, the clock is ticking.
East Coast supply is good for about five days. Colonial Pipeline has not at this point offered a restart date. A prolonged shutdown brings us closer to Memorial Day, which marks the start of the key summer driving season. Prices at the pump are currently averaging $2.96 per barrel, according to AAA.
"It's an all-hands-on-deck effort right now," said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Sunday on CBS "Face the Nation," noting President Biden had been briefed on the situation. The White House has created a task force and is considering waiving the Jones Act. That will allow non-U.S. flagged oil and gas tankers to be able to move fuel to the U.S. to help ease supply constraints in New York Harbor.
The Biden administration also lifted oil tanker driver restrictions so they can truck more supply from Texas to the East Coast: it is allowing tanker drivers to drive more hours to move supply to where it is needed. Another issue is that security for supply will incur higher costs for U.S. consumers as companies spend more money on security. The real threat is the fact that this happened and it could very easily happen again.
This goes beyond just gas and diesel prices, it is a threat that puts lives and the country's security at risk. Our enemies are watching and we need to aggressively address this threat.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/colonial-pipeline-attack-clock-ticks-for-gas-supply
>>51958 pb
BOXER41 USAF C-40C departed San Francisco Int'l after an overnight.
>impede people who wish to turn up at polling stations without planning ahead, given about a quarter of voters – often younger voters – do not have either a passport or driving licence, critics say.
Yah tough shit..wanna vote?
Make a fuggen effort