Barclays, JP Morgan,Chase, Citigroup, others guilty of criminal activity, DOJ agrees to plea deal
Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland will collectively pay several billion dollars and plead guilty to criminal antitrust violations with the Justice Department for rigging the price of foreign currencies, according to a report by the NY Times.
Noting sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Times says the pleas will come from the banks’ holding companies – “…a first for Wall Street giants that until now have had only subsidiaries or their biggest banking units plead guilty.”
“If you aint cheating, you aint trying,” one trader at Barclays wrote in an online chat room where prosecutors say the price-fixing scheme was hatched.
The DOJ also has a plea deal with UBS A.G., who will allegedly pay a $500 million fine instead of going to trail over “accusations of foreign currency” – also described as “the manipulation of benchmark interest rates.”
photo donkey hotey
“Behind the scenes in Washington, the banks’ lawyers are also seeking assurances from federal regulators — including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Labor Department — that the banks will not be barred from certain business practices after the guilty pleas…” the article noted.
Moreover, the Times unearthed shocking dollar figures, “fines” paid to the government/federal reserve, which is being called a “Bribe” by hardcore critics.
photo: TaxRebate.org.uk
“The five banks — which also struck civil settlements with the Federal Reserve, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a British regulator and Mr. Lawsky — agreed to pay about $5.6 billion in penalties. That comes in addition to the $4.25 billion that some of these banks agreed to pay in November to many regulators….As part of its plea deal, Citigroup will pay a record $925 million antitrust penalty, the largest single fine ever imposed for a violation of the Sherman Act.”
“The behavior that resulted in the settlements was an embarrassment to our firm,” Citigroup’s chief executive, Michael L. Corbat, said in a memo to employees on Wednesday.
“There is very little that is more damaging to the public’s faith in the integrity of our markets than a cabal of international banks working together to manipulate a widely used benchmark in furtherance of their own narrow interests,” said Aitan Goelman, the trading commission’s head of enforcement.
Embarrassment? Loss of integrity? Better than prison time.
