Catch of the Week: RBS Agrees to Pay $4.9 Billion
Posted 08/17/18
Archive
What the Panama and Paradise Papers Tell Us
Posted 06/15/18
At this spring’s OffshoreAlert Conference in Miami, journalists involved in two of the biggest document leaks in history, the Panama and Paradise Papers, spoke on panels about secrecy jurisdictions and discussed the tax avoidance, corruption, and money-laundering they permit. Their fascinating presentations provided a chance to reflect on the magnitude of the information released to the public and on how far the...
The Catch of the Week -- Société Générale S.A.
Posted 06/8/18
In a joint effort by the DOJ, CFTC, and French authorities, Société Générale agreed on June 4th to pay penalties and disgorgement in excess of $1 billion arising out of two separate wrongful schemes, making them our Catch of the Week.
First, in connection with alleged violations arising from manipulation of the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR), Société Générale agreed to pay $275 million in a...
Question of the Week -- Can Authorities Stop the Mob from Laundering Money Through Online Gambling Sites?
Posted 05/30/18
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
The Italian mafia has entered the 21st century. According to multiple news accounts and criminal investigations, many of the major Italian mafia families are using online gambling websites-both real and fake-to launder their ill-gotten proceeds. Favoring online sites set up in Malta hidden behind layers of shell companies, Mafiosos have been running betting websites that allow...
Barclays CEO fined over whistleblower retaliation; Constantine Cannon partner weighs in
Posted 05/14/18
Jes Staley, the CEO of the world’s 15th largest bank, has been fined over £640k by Britain’s financial regulators for trying to uncover the identity of an anonymous whistleblower. The fine represents under 15% of Staley’s 2016 compensation. The bank also retroactively decreased Staley’s 2016 bonus by £500k. The total £1.14M represents about a quarter of Staley’s 2016 compensation. Additionally, regulators...
Constantine Cannon Partner Mary Inman Discusses UK Enforcement Action Against Barclays CEO Jes Staley
Posted 04/20/18
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Two UK regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority, have concluded their investigation into Barclays CEO Jes Staley's actions and have told him to pay a "financial penalty" as punishment. Staley reportedly tried to hunt down an internal whistleblower that raised concerns about the recruitment of Tim Main as head of the bank’s...
Barclays Agrees to Pay $2 Billion in Civil Penalties
Posted 03/30/18
By <the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Barclays will pay the United States two billion dollars to settle a civil action filed in December 2016 in which the United States sought civil penalties for alleged conduct related to Barclays’ underwriting and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) between 2005 and 2007. Agreement has also been reached with two former Barclays executives who were named as...
The Former Khmer Rouge Slave Who Became a Whistleblower Against Wells Fargo
Posted 03/26/18
The New York Times reports on former Wells Fargo employee Duke Tran who blew the whistle on the company for allegedly being ordered to lie to customers who were facing foreclosure in 2014. Mr. Tran was fired from his job at Wells Fargo and since then has been locked in a four-year legal battle with the company alleging he was fired as retaliation for blowing the whistle on the bank’s alleged deceptive practices. Mr....
HSBC Holdings Agrees to Pay More Than $100 Million to Resolve Fraud Charges
Posted 01/19/18
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team/em
United Kingdom-based global financial services company HSBC Holdings plc entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $63.1 million criminal penalty and $38.4 million in disgorgement and restitution to resolve charges that it engaged in a scheme to defraud two bank clients through a multi-million dollar scheme commonly referred to as “front-running.”...
Judge Determines that PricewaterhouseCoopers was Negligent in Colonial Bank Auditing Case
Posted 01/3/18
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Late last week, a federal judge determined that accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was negligent in its auditing of Colonial Bank, the Alabama institution that failed in 2009 in the midst of the financial crisis. Colonial failed as a result of a $2 billion fraud orchestrated by Florida-based mortgage lender Taylor Bean & Whitaker, a major Colonial customer, which was...