tyb/s
Two Barclays Traders Handed Jail Sentences For Euribor Manipulation
(one trial starts-for the flash crash one-and another ends)
Two former traders from Barclays were sentenced to as much as five years in prison by a London judge for manipulating a benchmark interest-rate in favor of their bank's trading positions. As Bloomberg reports, with today's sentencing the judge meant to put those still working in the industry on notice that similar transgressions would lead to extended time spent being Bubba's bunk mate.
Former swaps trader Carlo Palombo received a four year sentence and his colleague, Colin Bermingham, got a five year sentence. They’ll both be eligible for parole after serving half of their prison time. Another Barclays trader, Sisse Bohart, was acquitted last week.
The traders were charged with manipulating the Euro interbank offered rate, which is tied to trillions of dollars of loans and derivatives. The rate is calculated with submissions by major banks and is supposed to reflect the cost of borrowing between them. The convicts were accused of rigging the rate between 2005 and 2009.
The judge, Michael Gledhill, said in his remarks that he wanted to send a message to others in the industry. “Those convicted of manipulating interest rates will face substantial custodial sentences,” he said.
The verdicts were a victory for the UK Serious Fraud Office, which is frequently criticized for mishandling high profile cases. However, that hasn’t stopped the agency from accumulating other convictions against prominent bankers. For example, UBS LIBOR trader Tom Hayes was found guilty in 2015 and Deutsche Bank's Christian Bittar was found guilty last year.
Palombo and Bermingham's prosecutions hit road bumps early on when multiple defendants refused to come to the UK for trial.
Lisa Osofsky, director of the SFO said: “These men deliberately undermined the integrity of the financial system to line their pockets and to advantage the banks they worked for. We are committed to tracking down and bringing to justice those who defraud others and abuse the system.”
Palombo’s lawyer John Hartley said: “This is a very disappointing end to a very hard fought case. He and his family are of course devastated by the outcome and he will need some time to come to terms with this decision while we consider the issue of any appeal.”
hroughout the trial, both defendants maintained there was nothing wrong with taking a trader's positions into account while setting the rate, as long as the bank still submitted a legitimate rate from within a range. And even in the Judge's remarks, he noted that there was no code or definition that gave guidance or assistance as to how the panel banks should determine the rates they submit.
Despite this, the judge said the traders' actions were contrary to the spirit of the code and that senior managers should have been aware of it.
Judge Gledhill said: "That failure might be thought by an interested observer to be at best foolhardy, if not utterly negligent. It was an open door for those involved in the conspiracy to manipulate, or attempt to manipulate, the Euribor rate for the advantage of their own bank’s trading positions."
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-01/two-barclays-traders-handed-jail-sentences-euribor-manipulation
There is no way that in any of these cases that the mgmt. did not know this was going on. You cannot take on that large of a position in any firm and not have the internal risk manager be unaware of it. See the start of the movie 'Margin Call'-where that person is being let go right in front of the biggest dump any firm has ever done-at least in such a public way. It's about Lehman Bros. They decided to be 'first'. Was it no wonder that they were ceremoniously taken down right as the '08 crash began to pick up speed?-not at all. Follow the wives in this case as well. Fuld's wife had all of his asset's placed in her name shortly before that picked up steam.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/puerto-rico-default-more-severe-than-past-partial-payments-kbw-1467727044
and they just let it go on and on. Unaware of the beto connection. These politicians are quite the piece of work.
they all knew. This whole charade of pinning it on the people that execute it is so pious. Like Madoff-JPM (among other's) did not know who they were funding? Then the excuse trotted out for that one:split-strike strategy? Sure it was.
Odd set of bewbs on tha tone.
Trade slowed in fourth quarter, WTO says; auto tariffs, Brexit are 2019 risks
GENEVA (Reuters) - World trade shrank by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 and is likely to grow by 2.6 percent this year, slower than 3.0 percent growth in 2018 and below a previous forecast of 3.7 percent, the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday.
In its annual forecast, the WTO said trade had been weighed down by new tariffs and retaliatory measures, weaker economic growth, volatility in financial markets and tighter monetary conditions in developed countries. It forecast in September that 2018 growth would be 3.9 percent, down from 4.6 percent in 2017.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told a news conference that the lower forecast was no surprise, given the trade tensions between the United States and China.
WTO chief economist Robert Koopman said worse may be to come, with an even bigger impact if U.S. President Donald Trump goes ahead with a plan to impose high tariffs on global imports of cars later this year.
“U.S.-China trade is about 3 percent of global trade. Automobile trade globally is about 8 percent of global trade. So you can imagine that the impact of automobile tariffs is going to be bigger than the impact of the U.S.-China trade conflict.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-wto/trade-slowed-in-fourth-quarter-wto-says-auto-tariffs-brexit-are-2019-risks-idUSKCN1RE0YE
and then the entire crypto angle thrown in.
Rebuilding the dish in Arecebo-extended family lives close to it-sort of finished it for me as far as taking anything done seriously-as to say that anything would have been done about the serious piles of debt thrown at it. Got so comical
recall that. actually gave it some serious thought-regarding participating however it was never going to work even if the spot was secured. They have always found a way to keep the voice from being heard