Decline and Fall of the Banking Empire

[zorgon]

Decline and Fall of the Banking Empire

It started here....

Iceland's Economy Growing After Arresting Corrupt Bankers

celand didn't follow the rest of the world by bailing out bankers. Surprisingly, they arrested them instead. Now their economy is recovering faster than the EU and the United States.

Remember when the United States government told the American people that action was required to save the banks? Action in the form of Billions of dollars of debt. Hard to forget that. Hundreds of Billions of dollars in National debt later were still digging our way out of the hole.

At the start of the world wide 2008 economic collapse, Iceland was in worse shape than almost any other country in the world.

Imagine what America would be like today if we bailed out the victims of poor banking practices, while punishing the bankers who were responsible instead of bailing them out.

After watching this video tell us what you think? Is Iceland merely being a rebel desperate for revenge against a powerful industry, or on to something that America should have done as well?

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/13778-icelands-economy-growing-after-arresting-corrupt-bankers

[zorgon]

Iceland Prosecutor Investigates, Convicts Bankers for Financial Crimes

Feb. 17, 2012: Iceland's special prosecutor gets his first conviction

Ólafur Hauksson didn't even apply for his job the first time it was offered. It was late 2008, and Iceland was in the early throes of financial meltdown. The island nation's three largest banks had gone under, pulling in their wake an economy that had floated high on the back of a swollen financial sector. The króna was spiraling downward, kept from plummeting to the bottom only by emergency capital controls. Unemployment was surging. The population was riotous, pelting the parliament building in downtown Reykjavik with eggs, tomatoes, and yogurt.

The country's panicked politicians responded by promising investigations. In December 2008, two months into the meltdown, Parliament appointed a three-member committee to study the cause of the crash and created a new legal body to look into suspicions of criminal activity related to the banks' collapse. When a call for applications came for a leader of the new body, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the government didn't receive a single résumé.

"There were questions that had to be looked into"
On paper, Hauksson hardly seemed the ideal candidate. As police chief of Akranes, a bedroom community of 6,500 across the bay from Reykjavik, his duties mostly involved handling traffic violations, arresting drunk drivers, and collaring the occasional drug or sex offender. He had next to no experience with financial investigations. But he did have one critical qualification: He was willing to take the job. "If I had refused, I wouldn't have been comfortable," he says. "I thought there were questions that had to be looked into." When the government opened a second round of recruitment, Hauksson was the only qualified applicant. "We were only two, and I think the other one wasn't even a lawyer," he says.

Hauksson's expansive downtown headquarters is the third space he's occupied in the four-and-a-half years since his appointment, and he looks out a picture window onto the bay and volcanic butte beyond as he recounts his office's growth. His caseload has increased, his mandate has expanded, and the number of people working for him has multiplied. In February 2009, when Hauksson started the job, the prosecutor's office had no telephones, no computers, no furniture—no office. "We actually got this table here from a garage somewhere," Hauksson says. He had a staff of four. Today, the prosecutor's office has 109 employees: police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, auditors, and former employees of the banks under investigation.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-12/iceland-prosecutor-investigates-convicts-bankers-for-financial-crimes

[zorgon]

A few years ago JP Morgan was fines $70-80 million.. still looking for that article... but in the meantime..

Regulators to fine JPMorgan $80 million over consumer dealings: NYT

Wed Aug 28, 2013 2:14am EDT
(Reuters) - U.S. federal regulators are preparing to impose a fine of $80 million on JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) relating to its dealings with retail customers during the recession, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/28/us-jpmorgan-fines-idUSBRE97R07020130828

[zorgon]

Chase Manhattan Plaza Sale Sets Record for Chinese Buyers

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s deal to sell 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza to Fosun International Ltd. would be the largest purchase of a New York building by a Chinese buyer, showing Asian investors' growing appetite for U.S. real estate.
Shanghai-based Fosun, run by billionaire Guo Guangchang, agreed to buy the 60-story lower Manhattan tower for $725 million, according to a statement filed to Hong Kong's stock exchange. The 2.2 million-square-foot (204,000-square-meter) steel skyscraper was completed in 1961.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-18/jpmorgan-tower-sale-sets-record-for-chinese-in-new-york.html

[zorgon]

J.P. Morgan 'Whale' Fine Put at Over $900 Million

WASHINGTON—Regulators in the U.S. and U.K. are expected to fine J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +0.17%  & Co. more than $900 million for actions tied to its 2012 "London " trading debacle, according to a person familiar with the settlement talks.

Earlier
J.P. Morgan 'Whale' Hunt Isn't Over
The Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve and the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority are expected to charge the company with poor controls surrounding the giant bet, which ultimately cost the company more than $6 billion.

The announcement of the settlements is expected to come early Thursday, according to people briefed on the plans.

The bank is still wrestling with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the trading matter, and criminal prosecutors are still pursuing their own investigations.

The CFTC is investigating whether the bank's London traders manipulated the market through its heavy trading in derivatives last year, according to people familiar with the agency. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Manhattan prosecutors are also gathering evidence for what could result in criminal charges against J.P. Morgan over the London whale trades, people familiar with the situation said.

The OCC, J.P. Morgan's front-line regulator, is expected to get the biggest slice of the settlement, about $300 million, said the person familiar with the matter.

A Senate investigative panel last year found that J.P. Morgan officials misled OCC examiners about the risks posed by the whale trades.

The other three agencies are expected get about $200 million each, the person said.

The final amount is likely to top $900 million because of currency conversions.

J.P. Morgan is expected to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, acknowledging poor internal controls, according to people familiar with the settlement.

A J.P. Morgan spokesman declined to comment.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323308504579083981560096194

[zorgon]

JP Morgan Chase denies new capital controls on accounts

JP Morgan Chase says news reports circulating on the Internet that the bank is exerting new capital controls on certain bank accounts are an overreaction to a "streamlining" and "derisking" process Chase says has been underway for several months.
The bank has sent letters to certain customers saying they will be unable to send and receive domestic and international wire transfers, and "cash activity" will be limited to $50,000 per statement cycle, including cash deposits, night drops, and ATM and cash withdrawals.
"These changes will help us more efficiently manage the risks involved with these types of transactions," one letter reads.

The fear is small and medium-sized businesses could be hurt by the restrictions. But the bank says these were typically mass accounts opened on the Internet, with no bank representative managing them, where domestic or international wire transfers could be sent without bank oversight.
The bank says it is "derisking" these accounts by streamlining the number of customer accounts from, say, six accounts with no bank contact or representative to three accounts with a bank rep managing them. Also the bank said some of the accounts customers had signed up for did not have wire transfer services that customers had wanted, or had limited withdrawal services, but that the bank is instead transferring these customers into new accounts that do provide these services.
Chase said it is not exerting new capital controls on customer accounts.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_18/JP-Morgan-Chase-denies-new-capital-controls-on-accounts-3765/

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_18/JP-Morgan-Chase-denies-new-capital-controls-on-accounts-3765/

[zorgon]

HSBC $2.46 Billion Judgment May Not Be Total Liability
By Andrew Harris - Oct 18, 2013

As HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), the biggest European bank by market value, appeals the U.S. jury verdict that produced a $2.46 billion judgment, additional liabilities from the securities fraud case remain unresolved.

The money judgment, rendered Oct. 17 by U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman in Chicago, doesn't account for more than 25,000 still-pending claims exceeding $650 million, according to a statement issued by trial-winning lawyers Michael Dowd and Spencer Burkholz at San Diego-based Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.

"Judge Guzman also ordered the defendants to pay post-judgment interest which will accrue during the defendant's appeal," the lawyers said.

A Chicago federal jury in 2009 found executives at Household International, now part of HSBC Finance Corp., misled investors about its business practices.

The case was filed in 2002. That year the lender agreed to pay $484 million in fines to settle claims lodged by more than a dozen states that it deceived borrowers about their mortgages.
"We plan to appeal, and we believe we have a strong argument," HSBC spokesman Patrick Humphris said in an e-mailed statement.

While the trial court jury had determined stockholder losses from March 23, 2001, to Oct. 11, 2002, could be as much as $23.94 a share, it made no lump-sum award, and the lender's liability remained open pending review of loss claims.

Dowd reported to Guzman in June that a claims examiner had reviewed and approved claims worth almost $1.5 billion.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-18/hsbc-2-46-billion-judgment-may-not-be-total-liability.html

[zorgon]

Swiss private bank closes over US tax dispute
Published time: October 18, 2013

Swiss lender Frey & Co will shut up shop, as increased US regulation over alleged tax evasion boosted the costs to an unsustainable level for a small private bank.

It's the second case in Switzerland, after the country's oldest bank Weigelin, closed following a tax evasion prosecution in January.

"As a result of developments in recent years, circumstances and challenges have presented themselves, especially in Switzerland, which means it no longer makes sense for a small bank to continue its cross-border services. Bank Frey will therefore cease its operative business activities as a bank," Chairman Markus A. Frey said in a statement.

The dispute between Switzerland and the US has been going on since 2010 following the US campaign to get Switzerland's banking secrecy laws opened up so it can identify possible U.S. tax evaders.

The Frey Bank accumulated 1.9 billion Swiss francs of assets. Being under investigation by US authorities it faced "increasingly difficult market conditions, ever-growing regulations and the unsustainable requirements", which small Bank couldn't resist.

However the bank that remains is financially healthy, "The decision to cease banking activities was taken voluntarily and as a result of an analysis of the overall circumstances," the Bank website said.

Switzerland, the world's largest offshore wealth center, worth an estimated $2.2 trillion in assets, has been seeking to become more transparent and earlier this week signed an agreement with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreeing to exchange data with 60 member countries.

http://rt.com/business/switzerland-usa-tax-evasion-358/

[zorgon]

JPMorgan Said to Have $4 Billion Tentative FHFA Accord

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) reached a tenative settlement for about $4 billion with the Federal Housing Finance Agency over the bank's sale of mortgage-backed securities, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The possible accord with the agency, which originally asked for $6 billion from the firm, could be included in a broader deal the bank is seeking with federal and state authorities, according to a different person briefed on the settlement talks. If JPMorgan can't reach a global settlement on pending mortgage bond matters, it may instead seek to settle claims such as the FHFA's individually, said the person. Both people asked not to be named because the talks are private.

JPMorgan is grappling with investigations in the U.S. and abroad, including probes into a trading loss last year of more than $6.2 billion and its hiring practices in Asia. The bank has tapped $8 billion of $28 billion in reserves set aside since 2010 to cover its legal costs.

The New York-based bank has been discussing a potential $11 billion deal with state and federal authorities that would settle mortgage-related claims and investigations, including a criminal probe by U.S. prosecutors in California, a person with knowledge of the talks said last month. The FHFA's lawsuit was the farthest along in negotiations, the person familiar with the settlement talks said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-18/jpmorgan-said-to-have-4-billion-tentative-fhfa-accord.html

[zorgon]

JPMorgan Chase May Have To Pay $6 Billion To Settle Financial Crisis Lawsuit: Report

U.S. officials may want to extract a London Whale-size legal settlement from JPMorgan Chase.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, to pay more than $6 billion to settle claims that it knowingly sold bad mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ahead of the financial crisis, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Such a settlement would be the biggest single penalty paid by any bank for actions ahead of the crisis. It would also roughly match the $6.2 billion JPMorgan lost in the "London Whale" trading debacle in early 2012.

The FHFA, which regulates Fannie and Freddie, claims that JPMorgan misled the government-backed mortgage agencies about the value of $33 billion in mortgage-backed securities it sold to them ahead of the crisis. Those securities eventually went bad, costing Fannie and Freddie billions.

JPMorgan expects to pay billions to settle the case, but is balking at the $6 billion price tag, according to the FT. The bank's case could be bolstered by the fact that a lot of the bad securities were sold by Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, banks that JPMorgan bought during the crisis. JPMorgan could argue that it shouldn't be quite so heavily penalized for mortgage sales that happened long before it bought those banks.

The FHFA lawsuit and the London Whale mess are just two of JPMorgan's many legal and regulatory headaches. The bank is being investigated by eight different federal agencies and recently said its legal costs could top its reserves by $6.8 billion. The bank has already paid an estimated $7 billion in total fines and settlements in just the past two years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/27/jpmorgan-chase-6-billion_n_3824665.html

[robomont]

they restricted my visa debit last year when i tried to buy products in gb.now they are restricting it on florida and georgia purchases supposedly because of scammers in those states.

[deuem]

I think we should let Iceland run the states, they got my vote...

I guess it can be done. They showed the world how to do it, just gotta have the big chesnuts.....

Deuem

[zorgon]

Well my "PLAN B" if things got really bad was to head back to Canada....


But my mother in law just sent THIS. Current news like 5 hours ago...

Scotiabank manager's death probe reveals multimillion-dollar fraud
Agents uncovered $14 million missing from Scotiabank accounts in Mexico


Maru Oropesa, a Scotiabank branch manager in Mexico, was found dead in Mexico City in 2001. (Family photo)

Investigations into the murder of a Scotiabank branch manager in Mexico led to the discovery of frauds totaling millions of dollars that implicated numerous Mexican bank employees and executives, CBC's the fifth estate has learned.

Though this story has been reported in Mexico, there has been virtually no media coverage of the murder or fraud investigations in Canada.

The Fifth Estate: The Murder and the Money Trail
After the body of branch manager Maru Oropesa was found in a roadside ditch outside Mexico City in 2001, Scotiabank executives in Toronto sent bank investigators to Mexico.

They soon discovered that Oropesa was involved in a $5-million fraud with her former boss, Scotiabank executive Jaime Ross.

As the investigation expanded, agents uncovered about $14 million missing from Scotiabank accounts in Mexico and a total of 16 employees involved at almost all levels of the bank – including a cashier, a manager and a vice-president.

Executive sentenced to 15 years in prison

The $5-million taken by Ross and Oropesa was eventually traced to the United States, where the money had been used to purchase three planes. Ross was charged with fraud and money laundering, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

But the fifth estate has uncovered new evidence linking Ross to the murder of Oropesa, his former colleague. Mexican cell phone records show that Ross's phone made or received 38 calls between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2001 in an area near where Oropesa's body was found the following morning.

Mexican police did not investigate Ross' involvement in her death, but he remains behind bars for fraud.

The 16 other Scotiabank employees found to be involved in fraud were never prosecuted – instead, they were fired.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/scotiabank-manager-s-death-probe-reveals-multimillion-dollar-fraud-1.2125652

[zorgon]

Well there goes PLAN B....

Maybe I should create PLAN C and apply to Switzerland.  Since I have three passports (legally by a weird set of circumstances ) I could apply as German born... but those guys have their banks in order

Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult

(Reuters) - Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis.

A grassroots committee is calling for all adults in Switzerland to receive an unconditional income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800) per month from the state, with the aim of providing a financial safety net for the population.

Organizers submitted more than the 100,000 signatures needed to call a referendum on Friday and tipped a truckload of 8 million five-rappen coins outside the parliament building in Berne, one for each person living in Switzerland.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/04/us-swiss-pay-idUSBRE9930O620131004

[rdunk]

I just received this and watched it. This is not something we were taught in school, nor anywhere else. If this is actually the way the United States of America's "money system" works, then SHAME ON US if we the people allow this "sham of thievery" against us to continue ~~~~~a system where the more debt we pile up, the more money that always goes into just a few peoples pockets!!

As this is HD, it is better watched in full screen!