Financial Institution Fraud

July 20, 2018

Two subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank will pay just under $75M to settle allegations that they improperly handled “pre-releases” of American Depository Receipts (ADRs). ADRs are U.S. securities that represent foreign shares of a foreign company and require a corresponding number of foreign shares to be held in custody at a depository bank. The SEC found that the companies’ practices allowed inappropriate short selling and inappropriate profiting around ADR dividend payments. SEC

July 5, 2018

Credit Suisse will pay a total of $77 million – $47 million as a criminal penalty and $30 million in disgorgement and interest – to resolve charges that it obtained investment banking business in the Asia-Pacific region by corruptly influencing foreign officials in violation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  The government charged that Credit Suisse attempted to secure banking business by offering of employment to family and friends of influential Chinese government officials.  SEC; DOJ; USAO EDNY

July 3, 2018

Illinois announced a $20 million settlement with Royal Bank of Scotland as a result of the bank’s misconduct in its marketing and sale of risky residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) leading up to the 2008 economic collapse. The settlement with Royal Bank of Scotland resolves an investigation by Madigan’s office over the bank’s failure to disclose the true risk of RMBS investments. IL

June 4, 2018

The CFTC issued an order against Société Générale S.A. settling charges of manipulation of Yen LIBOR, attempted manipulation and false reporting of Euribor and U.S. Dollar, Yen and Euro LIBORs, and aiding and abetting traders at another bank in their attempts to manipulate Euribor. The bank engaged in this misconduct to make money on its trading positions and to protect its reputation from speculation that it was having more difficulty borrowing unsecured funds than other banks. Société Générale will pay a civil monetary penalty of $475 million, cease and desist from further violations, and adhere to specific undertakings to ensure the integrity of its LIBOR, Euribor, and other benchmark interest rate submissions in the future. CFTC

June 19, 2018

Luis Diaz and Luis J. Diaz, owners of a Miami-based export business, were convicted of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and running a large, international money laundering scheme. The Diaz brothers avoided the anti-money laundering safeguards required of licensed institutions and moved over $100M through US banks and other financial institutions. Both brothers were sentenced to two years in prison. USAO Southern District of New York

June 15, 2018

New York and over forty other states announced a $100 million dollar settlement with Citibank to resolve allegations that the bank fraudulently manipulated U.S. Dollar LIBOR, a critical interest-rate benchmark that impacts global financial instruments worth trillions of dollars. The New York Attorney General’s Office led the investigation, which found evidence that Citibank made material misrepresentations and omissions regarding the LIBOR benchmark to state and local governments, as well as non-profit, private, and institutional counterparties. The states alleged that Citibank entered numerous LIBOR-referenced transactions without disclosing that it had reason to believe that its own LIBOR submissions did not accurately represent its borrowing rates. NY

June 13, 2018

South Carolina-based Security Group Inc. and two of its subsidiaries will pay a $5 million civil penalty to resolve charges they engaged in improper debt collection practices, including calling consumers at work and physically blocking them from leaving their homes. The settlement also resolves allegations the Security Group entities provided inaccurate and incomplete consumer data to credit reporting agencies. CFPB

June 4, 2018

France-based global financial services institution Société Générale S.A. and a wholly-owned subsidiary agreed to collectively pay penalties and disgorgement in excess of $1 billion to resolve U.S. and French charges related to the bribery of Libyan officials between 2004 and 2009 in exchange for various investments worth more than $3 billion, as well as the manipulation of LIBOR through the issuance of false financial data. USAO EDNY

May 16, 2018

The SEC announced settled charges against broker-dealers Chardan Capital Markets LLC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services LLC (ICBCFS) for failing to report suspicious sales of billions of penny stock shares. Broker-dealers are required to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for transactions suspected to involve fraud or with no apparent lawful purpose. According to the SEC, from October 2013 to June 2014, Chardan, an introducing broker, liquidated more than 12.5 billion penny stock shares for seven of its customers and ICBCFS cleared the transactions. Chardan failed to file any SARs even though the transactions raised red flags, including similar trading patterns and sales in issuers who lacked revenues and products. The SEC found that ICBCFS similarly failed to file any SARs for the transactions despite ultimately prohibiting trading in penny stocks by some of the seven customers. The SEC’s orders found that Chardan and ICBCFS violated the Exchange Act and an SEC financial recordkeeping and reporting rule and that Chardan’s anti-money laundering (AML) officer, Jerard Basmagy, aided and abetted and caused the firm’s violations. The SEC also found that ICBCFS failed to produce documents promptly to SEC staff.  Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, the parties agreed to settlements requiring Chardan to pay a $1 million penalty, ICBCFS to pay $860,000, and Basmagy to pay $15,000.  Both firms consented to censures and, along with Basmagy, to cease and desist from similar violations in the future.  Basmagy also agreed to industry and penny stock bars for a minimum of three years. SEC