Financial Institution Fraud

December 21, 2018

40 states have entered in to a $68 million settlement with UBS for its fraudulent conduct in the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).  The manipulation resulted in the government entities paying inflated prices for swaps and other financial instruments that were linked to LIBOR. Governmental entities with LIBOR-linked swaps and other LIBOR-linked financial instruments with UBS will be notified if they are eligible to receive a distribution from the settlement fund.  See: CA AG; CT AG; FL AG; NJ AG; NY AG; PA AG

December 18, 2018

The New York Department of Financial Services has imposed a $15 million fine on Barclays Bank PLC based on efforts by the bank and its CEO, Jess Staley, to identify an anonymous whistleblower within the organization, in contravention of the bank's whistleblower policies.  NY

December 17, 2018

UBS Financial Services Inc. has agreed to pay a $5 million penalty to the SEC, and a $10 million penalty to the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), to resolve claims that it failed to file required Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for transactions suspected to involve fraud or with no apparent lawful purpose.

December 17, 2018

Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to pay more than $54 million to settle charges that it improperly handled “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).  ADRs are securities that represent shares in a foreign company, and ordinarily require that a corresponding number of foreign shares be held at a depository bank. However, “pre-release” allows ADRs to be issued without the deposit of foreign shares, provided that brokers have an agreement with a depository bank and the broker or its customer owns the required number of foreign shares. The SEC found that BNY Mellon improperly provided ADRs to brokers when, in fact, neither the broker nor its customer had the foreign shares needed to support those new ADRs, a practice which can result in inappropriate short selling and dividend arbitrage. SEC

November 20, 2018

The owner of Venezuelan news network Globovision, Raul Gorrin Balisario, has been charged in an international money-laundering conspiracy that included the payment of millions of dollars in bribes to two high-level Venezuelan officials to secure the rights to conduct foreign currency exchange transactions at favorable rates for the Venezuelan government.  Two others pleaded guilty to charges arising under the same scheme.  Alejandro Andrade Cedeno, the former Venezuelan national treasurer, admitted to receiving over $1 billion in bribes.  Gabriel Arturo Jimenez Aray, the former owner of Banco Peravia in the Dominican Republic, admitted that he conspired with Gorrin and others to acquire the bank, through which he helped launder bribe money and other proceeds of the scheme.  DOJ; USAO SDFL

November 19, 2018

In a deferred prosecution agreement, Société Générale S.A. will pay penalties of $1.34 billion to federal and state prosecutors and regulators in relation to criminal charges that SG violated sanctions laws by processing billions of dollars in illegal transactions involving Cuban credit facilities through the U.S. financial system on behalf of entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions. According to a stipulated statement of facts, from approximately 2004 through 2010, SG operated 21 credit facilities that provided significant money flow to Cuban banks, entities controlled by Cuba, and Cuban and foreign corporations for business conducted in Cuba, primarily for the finance of oil transactions between a Dutch commodities trading firm and a Cuban corporation with a state monopoly on the production and refining of crude oil in Cuba.  The total penalties include: $717.2 million in civil forfeitures; $81.265 million to the Federal Reserve; $53.9 million to the Office of Foreign Assets Control; $325 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services; and, $162.8 million to the New York County District Attorney.  USAO SDNY

November 7, 2018

Citibank N.A. has agreed to pay $38.7 million to settle charges that it improperly handled “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).  ADRs are securities that represent shares in a foreign company, and ordinarily require that a corresponding number of foreign shares be held at a depository bank. However, "pre-release” allows ADRs to be issued without the deposit of foreign shares, provided that brokers have an agreement with a depository bank and the broker or its customer owns the required number of foreign shares. The SEC found that Citibank improperly provided ADRs to brokers when, in fact, neither the broker nor its customer had the foreign shares needed to support those new ADRs.  SEC

October 24, 2018

A small-dollar lender that operates in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi, has settled with the CFPB for allegedly violating the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). Cash Express, LLC allegedly sent letters to its customers to threaten them with lawsuits, misrepresented that it would report negative information to credit agencies, and withheld funds from cashed checks to satisfy prior loans. It has now been ordered to pay restitution of $32,000 as well as a $200,000 penalty. CFPB