Classic Financial and Corporate Scandals
Part 2
Continued from Part
1
[The "Nigerian 419" Advance Fee Scam | Lottery / Sweepstake Offers
| Orange County |
| Metallgesellschaft |
|Morgan
Grenfell | NASDAQ Stock Market | NatWest Markets |
| Lloyd's of London and the Insurance Industry in
general |
Operation Wooden Nickel |
|
Parmalat |
| Maritime Fraud | Salomon Brothers & Treasury
Bonds |
| The Savings and
Loan or Thrifts Crisis | Smith Barney | Robert Maxwell |
|Pension Funds, Mortgages, Sub-Prime Crisis, Split Capital Investment Trusts, Precipice Bonds ... |
| Yasuo Hamanaka and Sumitomo Corp. |WorldCom | Miscellaneous ]
Go to Part 1
The Nigerian 419 Scam
- Nigeria-Related Financial Crime: links with Britain by Michael Peel
- This type of financial crime has become a large and pressing problem for the UK authorities. This 65 page report, by the independent research body Chatham House, looks at how it is currently tackled and makes recommendations as what further actions authorities might take. November 2006.
-
- Technology
giant Microsoft to help trace Nigerian email scammers
- Microsoft will provide technical support and training to Nigeria’s
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who will in turn trace and
prosecute those found guilty of e-mail scams. ABC Money, 16 October 2005.
-
- Huge
Nigeria scam trial collapses
- Nigeria's biggest fraud case has been dismissed after the judge said
he had no jurisdiction to hear it. Three people had denied stealing more than
$242m from a bank in Brazil. BBC, 20 July, 2004.
-
-
$242m 419 scam trial collapses
- A Nigerian judge dismissed to case against two people who, posing as the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, defrauded Banco Noroeste in Brazil of $242 million. The judge claimed he had no jurisdiction to hear the case. 20 July 2004.
-
- Nigerian email conmen fall into their targets' net
- An article from the Observer about scam-baiting websites set up for
the purpose of stringing fraudsters along and wasting their time.
The Observer, November 16, 2003.
-
- Nigeria - The 419 Coalition
Website
- A website created to fight the A Five Billion US$ (to date) worldwide Scam
which has run since the early 1980's under Successive Governments of Nigeria.
-
- Game Over
- More information about the Nigerian 419 Scam from Brian Wizard who has written
a book based on his investigations. More recently he has published a book with the title . Both are available as e-books from his website.
-
- Advance Fee Nigerian (419)
Frauds
- Information from the Freeman Institute about the scams that are damaging to the
reputations of legitimate African business people.
-
-
Unsolicited letters / faxes / emails from West and South Africa
- Advice from Shropshire County Council Trading Standards Service on how
to deal with the messages.
-
- A Warning - the
Nigerian Scam
- A detailed explanation of how to recognise fraudulent e-mail messages
offering financial rewards. It also includes some information about the
role of Internet service providers (ISPs) and suggestions for reporting
the senders of fraudulent messages.
-
- Nigerian Business
Offer
- An explanation of the scam, including a copy of a typical e-mail message from
the fraudsters, provided by About.com.
-
- Nigerian
Scam
- More information about how the scam works.
-
-
Working the web: Scams
- How to use the web to find information about the "Nigerian 419" scam, by Lucy Farmer, the Guardian, November 21, 2002.
-
Lottery / Sweepstake Offers
This is a variation of the "Nigerian" advance fee scam, above. Typically it starts
with an unsolicited e-mail message telling you that you have won a large sum in a
lottery you did not take part in.
- International
Lottery Scams
- A warning from the US Federal Trade Commission for the Consumer of fraudulent
messages about lottery winnings.
-
- Lottery
Scams
- A directory of articles from different countries.
-
- Lotter and Competition Scams
- The New Zealand Ministry of Consumer Affairs maintains a long list of many of
the known lottery scams.
-
Orange County
- Philippe Jorion's Orange
County Case
- The author of the book Big Bets Gone Bad: Derivatives and Bankruptcy in
Orange County, maintains this page which describes that bankruptcy and the role
that value at risk could have played in preventing the calamity.
-
Metallgesellschaft
- Re-examining the Metallgesellschaft affair and its implication for oil traders
- The Metallgesellschaft AG (MG) affair of 1993-94 conveyed three central messages to the petroleum industry: one
pertaining to the relationship between hedging and speculating, one pertaining to corporate governance, and one pertaining
to commodity market dynamics. Ed Krapels, Oil & Gas Journal
March 26, 2001
-
Morgan Grenfell
- The Solv-ex
Scam?
- Solv-ex proposed to extract bitumen from oily sand. Peter Young, a money
manager at Morgan Grenfell Asset Management, is said to have violated British
securities laws by using several shell companies to purchase essentially all the
shares offered by Solv-Ex.
-
- Sold
Short: Uncovering Deception in the Markets
- A review of a book by Manny Asensio, a short seller, which contains information
about connections between Morgan Grenfell and Solv-Ex.
-
- City
high flyer who heard voices urging him to change sex
- A jury unanimously declared Peter Young unfit to stand trial and he was
dismissed under the 1964 Insanity Act. The Guardian, January 25, 2002.
-
- UK Fund manager faces fraud
trial
- Peter Young, aged 40, who sacked from Morgan Grenfell two years ago, was sent
for trial by City of London magistrates on charges of conspiracy to defraud and
alleged breaches of the Financial Services Act. BBC, April 30, 1999.
-
NASDAQ Stock Market
- How the Journal of
Finance broke the NASDAQ Scandal
- In 1994 the Journal accepted for publication a study of Nasdaq spreads by two
assistant professors. Then the fireworks began.
NatWest Markets
This affair involved the use of mispriced options to conceal losses. For a novel with a plot based on mispriced derivatives read Into the Fire by Linda
Davies.
- SFA
Disciplines Natwest and 2 Individuals
- The Securities and Futures Authority has concluded disciplinary proceedings
against NatWest Capital Markets Ltd ("NWCM"), National Westminster Bank Plc,
Kyriacos Papouis and Neil Dodgson. 18 May 2000. NatWest Capital Markets failed to spot losses totalling
£90.5m that were concealed by overvaluing options.
-
-
Case Study: NatWest Markets
- A detailed analysis by Eric Wolfe of how NWM's troubles started with a systematic mispricing of various options and swaptions
by traders in its rate risk management group.
-
Lloyd's of London and the Insurance Industry in General
Lloyd's
-
European Parliament Report on the Lloyd's Petitions
- 10 July 2003. The rapporteur was Roy Perry MEP.
-
- EU probes Lloyd's
regulation
- The European Commission (EC) has begun legal action against the UK government
by askingfor more information about its regulation of the Lloyd's of London
insurance market. BBC, 20 December 2001.
-
-
Fresh Allegations Surround Quackenbush, Lloyd's Payment
- A new round of controversy over actions taken by former California Insurance
Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush has been triggered by articles recently published in
the Los Angeles Times. June 2001.
-
- Lloyd's wins Names
battle
- Insurance market Lloyd's of London has won its multi-million pound legal battle
with 200 'Names' - the individuals who pledged their wealth to support it. BBC, 3
November 2000.
-
- The
Decline and Fall of Lloyd's of London
- A legendary institution has barely escaped bankruptcy and is now accused of
perpetrating the greatest swindle ever. Time Magazine (Europe) 21 February,
2000.
-
- The Truth about
Lloyds
- A web site produced by disgruntled Names or investors in Lloyd's of
London claiming to tell the truth about the loss of approximately $20 billion in
investors' funds since 1988.
-
Other Insurance Scandals
- Michael Bright gets maximum seven years for Independent Insurance fraud
- Michael Bright, the founder and former chief executive of Independent Insurance, has been sentenced to seven years in jail for committing fraud that helped to cause the company’s downfall with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs and costing the Financial Services Authority £357 million in compensation. The Times, October 25, 2007.
-
- Marsh
& McLennan to pay $850 million
- The giant insurance broker has agreed to pay $850 million in
restitution to policyholders harmed by its actions and adopt a new
business model that avoids similar conflicts of interest. January 31,
2005.
-
- Aon
Agrees to Pay $190 million to Settle Spitzer Allegations
- Aon Corporation, America's second largest insurance brokerage, has
entered into an agreement to resolve allegations of fraud and
anti-competitive practices. March 9, 2005.
Operation Wooden Nickel
-
Wooden Nickel Announcement
- The United States Attorney,
Southern District of New York, announced the filing of criminal charges against 47 defendants. The arrests of many of the suspects were made after an 18-month undercover investigation, dubbed “Operation Wooden Nickel,” and principally involve a variety of alleged criminal conduct in the foreign
exchange markets. November 19, 2003.
-
- NYC traders
face criminal charges
- Authorities have announced charges against 47 people, including traders
from some of Wall Street's best-known firms, in a foreign currency trading scandal
allegedly involving bogus transactions that officials say defrauded investors of
millions of dollars. CNN, November 20 2003.
Parmalat
- Financial Times Reports on
Parmalat
- An archive of articles on all aspects of the scandal.
-
- Guardian
Reports on Parmalat
- Follow the development of the crisis as it was reported.
-
- Q&A: Parmalat's
troubles
- Questions and Answers from the BBC.
-
- How it went sour
- The inside story of Parmalat, the biggest, most brazen corporate fraud in European history. Time Magazine, 7 December 2004.
-
Maritime Fraud
- Global trade in
phantom cargoes swindles banks of £500 million
- The metals trader Madhav Patel and Solo Industries are accused of the biggest
fraud in maritime history. From the Guardian October 31, 1999.
-
Salomon Brothers and the Treasury Bonds Scandal
-
Department of Justice and SEC enter $290 million settlement with Salomon Brothers in Treasury Securities Case
- Salomon Inc. will pay $290 million to settle fraud charges stemming
from its role in the US Treasury bond auction scandal in 1991. The
settlement is one of the largest ever paid for wrongdoing in the
securities industry. Department of Justice, May 20, 1992.
-
-
Wall Street: Swaggering into Trouble
- Financial powerhouse Salomon Brothers digs a huge hole for itself by
cheating in the most sacrosanct of markets. Time Magazine, August 26,
1991.
-
The Savings and Loan or Thrifts Crisis
- The Greatest Stedilnica Crisis in History
- An article about the Savings and Loan crisis by the Israeli economist Shmuel
Vaknin.
-
- The Looting of U.S. Saving
and Loans
- A series of articles by Franklin Mancusco.
-
- Prudential-Bache
Securities Scandal
- An extract from the book Serpent on the Rock: The Shocking Truth Behind the
Prudential-Bache Securities Scandal by Kurt Eichenwald, Harper Business. ISBN
0-88730-720-5. Kurt Eichenwald, an award-winning financial reporter for the New
York Times, tells the explosive story behind Wall Street's most destructive scandal
of the 1980s - the massive securities fraud perpetrated by Prudential Bache. Half a
million people lost enormous sums and names like Onassis and Bush numbered among
the victims.
-
- The
Savings and Loan Crisis
- a select bibliography by Elaine Hopkins.
-
Smith Barney
-
Feds charge broker in $40 million Euroscheme
- A federal grand jury in Houston has charged Harold Deavours, a former Smith
Barney financial consultant with defrauding foreign investors of more than $40
million. An article from the Houston Business Journal, December 8, 1997.
-
Robert Maxwell
-
Israels Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul
- The British media tycoon was murdered by the Israeli secret services according
to a book by Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon which also alleges that Maxwell was an
Israeli spy and had links to organized crime in Eastern Europe.
-
- Layers of guilt
peel off to reveal vipers in the Square Mile
- The Maxwell report tars the City with the dirtiest of brushes. Anybody reading
its damning conclusions could be forgiven for thinking the Square Mile is a nest of
vipers ready to collude with any crook, facilitate any fraud, and pillage any
pension fund. The Guardian, April 1, 2001.
-
- Maxwell sons
under fire in Mirror deal report
- DTI inspectors appointed in 1992, following the tycoon's death, to investigate
what happened to the £500 million raised by the Mirror Group from the
flotation will finally report this week. The Guardian March 25, 2001.
-
- Maxwell auditors and
self-regulation: the verdict
- By Prem Sikka, Professor of Accounting, University of Essex. The Maxwell story
is the story of fraud and the watchdogs that routinely aped the three unwise
monkeys.
-
Pension Funds, Mortgages, Sub-Prime Crisis, Split Capital Investment Trusts, Precipice
Bonds
Pension Fund Scandals
In addition to the Maxwell case (see the previous section, above) there have been
many other pension fund scandals.
-
Daily Telegraph articles on the Credit Crisis
- The latest information on the crisis that started in the US subprime mortgage market.
-
-
UK Pensions Selling Scandals
- Accounts of a range of cases from a website providing information about UK pensions.
-
-
High Court victory for pensioners
- The court ruled that the government was wrong to completely reject the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report into collapsed pension schemes. BBC, 21 February 2007.
-
-
Q&A: High court pensions ruling
- A summary of the conclusions and an outline of their implications. Guardian, February 21, 2007.
-
-
Trusting in the pensions promise: government bodies and the security of final salary occupational pensions
- A report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman accusing the British government of maladministration. 15 March 2006.
-
-
Clamour for end to Equitable row
- The government has come under pressure to respond to a report that called for a compensation fund for policyholders in Equitable Life. BBC, 31 October 2008.
-
-
Equitable Life Members Support Group
- This website has been set up by a group of Equitable Life members as a non profit making, non commercial enterprise for the good of all those associated with the Equitable Life Assurance Society.
-
-
Tribunal slams Equitable Life trio
- A former director for the insurance group was expelled from The Institute of Actuaries while two other senior figures were reprimanded after a tribunal found them in breach of its rules. 2 March 2007.
-
-
The Penrose Report
- The report of the Equitable life inquiry, by Lord Penrose, published on 8 March 2004.
-
-
Equitable Life: the issue explained
- A review of what went wrong. The Guardian, March 8, 2004.
-
-
The Prudential Regulation of Equitable Life
- A report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration or
ombudsman.
-
- Equitable Life:
Timeline of the scandal
- What was the sequence of events that saw the world's oldest insurer end in such
dire disrepute? BBC, 8 February 2002.
-
- Royal &
Sun Alliance fined £1.35 million
- The Financial Services Authority imposed on on Royal & Sun Alliance the
largest fine yet in connection with the pensions mis-selling scandal of the 1980s.
Abigail Townsend, The Independent, 27 August 2002.
-
Sub-Prime and other Mortgage Scandals
-
Financial Times / In depth / Subprime
- Articles from the Financial Times on the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis.
-
-
FT In Depth: Subprime
- Reports from the Financial Times about the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States and its international effects.
-
-
Subprime mortgage crisis
- An article from the Wikipedia.
-
-
The US sub-prime crisis in graphics
- The downturn in facts and figures, from the BBC.
-
-
The Feds Pile On
Freddie Mac
- The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, the U.S. House of Representatives and a U.S. district attorney
are all investigating a possible accounting scandal at Freddie Mac. Forbes, June
12, 2003.
-
- Mis-sold endowments
- A web page with advice for for people in the UK who may have been been mis-sold an endowment mortgage.
-
- The £48bn mortgages scandal
- British homeowners will be forced to find £48 billion from their own pockets over the next 15 years to make good the mortgage shortfalls caused by poorly performing endowments, a Financial Mail survey revealed. 22 June 2003.
-
Split Capital Investment Trust Scandals
- Split
Capital Investment Trusts
- A series of special reports from the Guardian newspaper.
-
Precipice Bond Scandals
-
FSA fines Capita Trust Company Ltd £300,000 for mis-selling precipice bonds
- An account of the case from the FSA website, 20 October 2004.
-
-
Precipice bonds
- Another series of special reports from the Guardian.
-
Sumitomo Corp.
-
UK
metal brokers accused of rogue trade complicity
- Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo is accusing a handful of senior UK
metals brokers of dishonestly assisting one of the largest rogue traders
ever to operate through the London markets - convicted copper dealer Yasuo
Hamanaka. Guardian, October 4, 2004.
-
- Sumitomo sues
Chase and UBS
- The Sumitomo Corp. filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Japanese
bank seeks $760M for alleged copper-trade abuses; UBS rejects claim. 3 June
1999.
-
- Merrill Settles
Copper Suit
- The Sumitomo Corp. filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Merrill
Lynch & Co. agreed on Wednesday 30 June 1999 to pay $25 million to the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the London Metal Exchange to settle
allegations of involvement in Sumitomo Corp.'s efforts to fix copper prices more
than three years ago.
-
- How Copper Came a
Cropper
- Sumitomo's robber-baron tactics make the case for regulation. By Paul Krugman.
-
WorldCom
-
Tearful Ebbers gets 25 years
- Ebbers is the highest-ranking of six WorldCom executives and
accountants who were charged by federal prosecutors in the fraud.
Seattle Times, July 14, 2005.
-
-
Fall guy Ebbers
- A leader on the conviction of Bernard Ebbers, the former chief executive of WorldCom, was found guilty by a US federal jury of fraud charges related to the $11bn
accounting scandal at the telecommunications company. Silicon.com, March
16, 2005.
-
- Trial
hears of books cooked at WorldCom
- WorldCom's former boss Bernie Ebbers ordered adjustments to the
company's books, the telecoms firm's ex-financial chief has testified at a
fraud trial in the United States. The Scotsman, 9 February 2005.
-
- WorldCom files
for bankruptcy
- Telecoms firm takes title of America's biggest corporate failure from Enron as
it seeks protection from creditors. The Guardian, July 22, 2002.
-
- The WorldCom
trial
- An Accountancy Age special report.
-
- WorldCom's
woes
- A Forbes special report.
-
- Guardian
Special Reports: WorldCom
- A series of articles from about the WorldCom crisis.
-
Miscellaneous
-
Nick Leeson: Wall Street 'flash crash' trader may just be scapegoat
- The original rogue trader says it is hard to believe Navinder Singh Sarao was solely responsible for market crash which saw the Dow Jones lose almost 1,000 points within minutes. Telegraph, 3 April 2015.
-
-
-
UK 'flash crash' trader had links to establishment figures
- Navinder Singh Sarao, who operated from his parents’ home, invested in a company connected to a former judge, a City grandee and private equity tycoons. Guardian, 24 April 2015.
-
-
-
The next Hound of Hounslow could do far worse damage: If a man working in the suburbs can wipe billions off the markets, what does the future hold?
- The biggest question of all is how can a guy working from his parents’ house in suburban England whose only actionable orders were to buy stock market futures cause such a sensational collapse in US stocks? Independent, 24 April 2015.
-
-
Harpooning a (London) Whale
- Nigel Cannings on the implications of the affair. Huffington Post, 20 September 2013.
-
-
-
JP Morgan's $6.2bn loss caused by 'deceptive conduct'
- “Deceptive conduct” by JP Morgan‘s London staff was to blame for the $6.2bn (£4.1bn) trading loss racked up last year, the former head of the division responsible told Congress. The Telegraph, 16 March 2013.
-
-
Bruno Michel Iksil a London Based Trader behind JP Morgan's $2bn loss?
- Speculation is mounting that a British-based trader dubbed 'Voldemort' is behind a $2billion loss for America's largest bank. The man, also nicknamed the 'London Whale' and the 'White Whale', is suspected by financial analysts of making massive and hugely risky trades for JPMorgan Chase when he should have been mitigating risk.
-
-
London Whale Harpooned: Iksil On His Way Out At JPMorgan
- The London-based trader at the center of JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion trading loss will be leaving the bank, according to reporting by The New York Times, although he still remains employed there. Forbes, 16 May 2012.
-
-
SFO offered to do £50m deal over Tchenguiz arrests
- The SFO investigation into the Tchenguiz brothers centres on their dealings with Icelandic bank Kaupthing in the lead up to its collapse in four years ago. It is alleged the SFO offered to announce it had dropped its investigation if Robert Tchenguiz donated £50m to charity. Telegraph, 18 May 2012.
-
-
US hedge fund pays SEC $600m to settle insider trading allegations
- Hedge fund titan Steven A Cohen's firm, long the focus of a federal investigation into insider trading, is paying more than $600m to US securities regulators to settle allegations arising from improper trading in two stocks. Guardian, 15 March 2013.
-
-
Prepared Remarks of Assistant Director in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk on Insider Trading Arrests
- An account of developments in “Operation Perfect Hedge,” the FBI’s systematic targeting of insider trading in the hedge fund industry.
FBI New York, January 18, 2012.
-
-
Raj Rajaratnam: stunning downfall for 'king of kings'
- Raj Rajaratnam who has been convicted of insider trading had amassed a fortune of just over $1bn (£611m) by creating one of the biggest hedge funds in the world – Galleon. Guardian, 11 May 2011.
-
-
Kabul Bank fraud: consultants ignored warning signs, report says
- US government watchdog says action by consultants could have reduced losses. Guardian, 11 May 2011.
-
-
The Afghan Bank heist
- A secret investigation may implicate dozens of high-ranking government officials, by Dexter Filkins, the New Yorker, February 14, 2011.
-
-
Ex-Dresdner financier given longest ever jail term for insider trading
- Former Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein corporate financier Christian Littlewood has been jailed for three years and four months for his role at the centre of an eight-year insider dealing ring involving his wife and her best friend. His sentence is the longest term handed down in the UK for insider trading since the Financial Services Authorities took over responsibility for prosecuting the offence. Guardian, 3 February 2011.
-
-
Windle Stops Swindle by Permanent TSB - £339 Million Fraud
- TSB Dublin and Cork & Limerick Savings Bank defrauded most depositors from 1958 to 1993 by paying less than the advertised interest on the savings and investment accounts. This website gives a very detailed account of the case, including the long period in which various regulatory authorities and judges failed to put an end to the scandal, the convictions of some of the people involved, and the eventual outcome.
-
-
FSA is 'losing' war on insider dealing
- A string of successful convictions, three live court cases and a series of high-profile raids has made little impact on insider trading in the City, according to one of the finance industry's biggest trade organisations. Daily Telegraph, 22 April 2010.
-
-
FSA charges seven over '£2.5m insider-trading ring'
- Seven men, including two former print room workers of JP Morgan Cazenove and UBS, have been accused of making £2.5m from trading on inside information. Daily Telegraph, 31 March 2010.
-
-
MG Rover: how the Phoenix Four hit the jackpot
- The report into demise of the British car manufacturer reveals that the owners bought software to wipe clean hard drives and ran tax avoidance schemes. Guardian, 11 September 2009.
-
-
Merrill Lynch trader is suspended over £120m rogue currency deals
- Alexis Stenfors, a currency investor working for Merrill Lynch in London, has been suspended in an inquiry into “trading irregularities” with losses that could reach several hundred million dollars. The Times, 7 March 2009.
-
-
Allen Stanford jailed for 110 years for $7bn Ponzi
- Disgraced tycoon Allen Stanford has been sentenced to 110 years in jail for operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more than $7bn (£4.5bn).BBC, 14 June 2012.
-
-
Stanford Accused in $8 Billion Fraud
- Sir Allen Stanford, the Antigua based American billionaire, philanthropist and cricket promoter and enthusiast, has been accused of a massive, $8 billion fraud by the U S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 19 February 2009.
-
-
Bagger: Seven years for vast fraud
- The former CEO of the now defunct IT Factory, Stein Bagger, has been found guilty as charged on 61 counts of fraud and forgery of almost one billion kroner and sentenced to seven years in prison, had DKK 50 million confiscated, was ordered to pay court costs and is not permitted to run a company again. Politiken, 12 June 2009.
-
-
Executive Bagger Pleads Guilty in Denmark’s Biggest Fraud Case
- Stein Bagger, the chief executive officer of bankrupt Danish computer firm IT Factory A/S, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in what local media are describing as the country’s biggest ever white-collar criminal case. Bloomberg, December 16, 2008.
-
-
Hedge funds lose billions as VW share price dives
- Hedge funds nursing multi-billion-dollar losses from a wrong-way bet on Volkswagen shares have launched a furious attack on the German financial authorities, branding their handling of Porsche’s move to control its rival as a "fiasco" and "criminally irresponsible".
Daily Telegraph 30 October 2008.
-
-
Watchdog on alert after Volkswagen shares plunge
- Germany's financial services authority, BaFin, launched a formal investigation yesterday into alleged market manipulation in Volkswagen shares after the carmaker's stock lost almost half its value. VW shares slumped 45% to €517 after Porsche, a suspected villain behind frenzied trading in recent days, said it would offer up to 5% of the Volkswagen options it held. Guardian, October 30 2008.
-
-
Rogue trader Matthew Piper lost Morgan Stanley £60m suspended
- Matthew Piper, a rogue trader who lost Morgan Stanley, one of the City's biggest banks around £60 million, has been suspended after over-estimating the profits he had earned from his investments at the end of each trading session. Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2008.
-
-
Rogue traders in £1.4bn bonus scandal
- Credit Suisse, a leading City of London investment bank has uncovered a £1.4bn scam by rogue traders desperately trying to protect their bonuses. Evening Standard, 20 March 2008.
-
-
France investigates EADS ex-boss
- French judges have placed Noel Forgeard, the former co-head of Airbus owner EADS, under formal investigation over allegations of insider trading. BBC 30 May 2008.
-
-
Robert Vesco
- A biographical article about the fugitive American financier who was responsible for one of the biggest frauds in history. Guardian, May 21 2008.
-
-
Police probe £70 million fraud at HSBC
- Police are investigating an alleged attempted fraud at Britain's biggest bank, HSBC Holdings. Jagmeet Channa, 25, was charged with conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and abusing a position of trust. Reuters 1 May 2008.
-
-
Infirmed seniors, elder abuse, estate fraud and legal reform
- A directory of resources on the problem of exploitation of the elderly in the United States. (The problem is obviously not unique to America and therefore some of the resources may be of interest to people around the world).
-
-
National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse
- A blog on the subject of exploitation of the elderly.
-
-
US music mogul admits $300m fraud
- Pop music mogul Lou "Big Poppa" Pearlman admitted in a Florida court that he had defrauded thousands of people – and 10 or so banks - out of hundreds of millions of dollars over about 20 years. As part of his scam, Pearlman created his own accounting firm, independent auditors and even a German bank to fool investors. Guardian, March 7 2008.
-
-
The 20 biggest trading disasters
- Information from Bloomberg, Daily Telegraph, 24 January 2008.
-
-
Rising scandal threatens to engulf Siemens' chairman
- The corruption scandal engulfing Siemens grew when angry shareholder groups' demanded the resignation of the German group's supervisory board chairman and investors said they had lost confidence in the firm's chief executive. The Guardian, December 14, 2006.
-
-
Siemens Scandal May Involve Top Executives
- Investors demand action after a testimony that high-level Siemens management and members of the company's anti-corruption division knew about illegal funds for kickbacks. Deutsche Welle, 27 November 2006.
-
-
Online bank fraud up by 55%
- Losses from online banking fraud have risen sharply following a surge of nearly 1,500% in the number of bogus bank websites used by criminals to plunder people's accounts, new figures from APACS in the UK show. The Guardian, November 7 2006.
-
-
Fairfax suit takes another twist
- The normally media-shy Fairfax created a stir by filing a $6-billion (U.S.) lawsuit against several powerful U.S. hedge funds and a pair of their “shadowy operatives" but one of them, Spyro Contogouris, claims he was working on a special assignment for the FBI. Globe and Mail, 3 October 2006.
-
-
World's hedge funds face crisis as Refco suspends trading
- A crisis in the world's hedge fund industry is in prospect after one
of the world's largest derivatives brokers is forced to freeze trades
potentially worth billions of pounds. Guardian, October 14, 2005.
-
-
Can Refco Get Off the Ropes?
- With Phillip Bennett its former CEO charged in a securities fraud
scheme and its stock price in free fall the future of the the derivatives
broker is in doubt. Business Week, October 12, 2005.
-
-
City firm faces £100m rogue trader action
- Man Group, the hedge fund manager regarded as the heart of London's
new financial establishment, has been accused of trying to conceal a "rogue
trader" style scandal involving one of its senior employees. Guardian,
October 1, 2005.
-
-
Perelman wins Morgan Stanley case
- Billionaire financier Ron Perelman won $604.3 million in compensatory
damages yesterday in a lawsuit accusing the investment bank Morgan Stanley
of duping him about a takeover deal. Seattle Times, May 17, 2005.
-
-
UK police foil massive
bank theft
- Police in London foiled a plan to steal £220m ($423m) from the London
offices of the Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui. Computer experts are
believed to have tried to transfer the money electronically after hacking
into the bank's systems. BBC, 17 March 2005.
-
-
Fraud trial for
Spanish bank boss
- A judge has ordered Spain's top banker, Emilio Botin, chairman of
Santander Central Hispano, to stand trial on charges of tax fraud. Mr
Botin, has been leading the Spanish bank's recent bid for the UK's Abbey.
BBC, 6 October 2004.
-
-
Former CA
software chief charged
- The former chief executive of US software firm Computer Associates has
been charged with securities fraud over a $2.2bn (£1.2bn) accounting
scandal. BBC, 22 September 2004.
-
-
Fraud-finder general rides in by taxi
- According to Howard Palmer, an expert witness in fraud cases and a
former banker, there is a wave of insider crime engulfing London's banks.
Daily Telegraph, 4 September 2004.
-
-
Shell's shame: FSA spells out abuse
- Regulator confirms £17m fine and accuses group of 'unprecedented
misconduct' in oil and gas reserves scandal. Guardian, August 25, 2004.
-
-
FSA fines Citigroup £13.9 million (€20.9 million) for Eurobond trades
- The fine was imposed because of Citigroup's controversial trades the
previous year. 28 June 2005.
-
-
Criminal probe
on Citigroup deals
- Traders at US banking giant Citigroup are facing a criminal
investigation in Germany over the controversial government bond deal. BBC
25 January 2005.
-
-
Citigroup faces
regulatory probe
- The UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) has launched a formal
investigation into "unusual trading activity" by Citigroup. The FSA's
focus will be on trades in the European government bond and derivatives
markets. BBC, 18 August 2004.
-
-
Marks & Spencer share trading
- Mark Tran explains all the background to allegations of illegal
insider dealing at M&S. Guardian, June 28, 2004.
-
-
Versailles Group's founder jailed for swindling millions
- Carl Cushnie has been jailed for six years for swindling millions of
pounds out of investors at the finance company which he founded. BBC, 9
June 2004.
-
-
Fall from grace of Labour favourite whose fortune was built on fraud
- Founder of failed Versailles group convicted of defrauding backers of
£23 million. Guardian, May 26 2004.
-
-
Securities
and Exchange Commission v. Roys Poyiadjis, Lycourgos Kyprianou and
AremisSoft Corp.
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission accuse two officers of
AremisSoft of engaging in massive insider trading.
-
- Justice for all means copier
dealers too
- Details of a allegations against Savin (Ricoh-USA) involving stolen
purchase orders and fraudulent invoices.
-
-
Trader jailed over £152m NAB rogue deals
- Luke Edward Duffy, former head of currency trading at National
Australia Bank, the country's largest was has been jailed for 29 months
for his part in a rogue-trading scandal that cost the lender A$360m
(£152m). Evening Standard, 16 June 2005.
-
-
Scandal-hit NAB drops takeover
- National Australia Bank yesterday revealed that its "rogue trader"
scandal will cost it A$360m (£154m), as it gives up its chance to take
over Australian financial services firm AMP. Guardian, January 28, 2004.
-
- Like the Natwest case the rogue trades at the National Australia Bank
involved the use of mispriced options to conceal losses. For a treatment of mispriced derivates in fiction read Into the Fire by Linda
Davies.
-
- Wall Street Follies:
Diagrams to help you make sense of it all
- ImClone, Martha Stewart, Merrill Lynch, Enron, Arthur Anderson, Global
Crossing, Tyco, WorldCom, Adelphia, et. al.
-
- Pensioner guilty
of $2.5 trillion fraud plot
- A British pensioner was yesterday convicted of trying to pull off one of the
biggest frauds in history, using $2.5 trillion worth of faked US government bonds.
Guardian, 19 September 2003.
-
- Keeping tainted money from corrupt Polly Peck tycoon shames the Tories, says ex-Treasurer
- Lord McAlpine, the man who was Tory Treasurer when the party accepted almost £500,000 from corrupt Polly Peck tycoon Asil Nadir, said last night that David Cameron was under a ‘moral duty’ to give the money back. Daily Mail, 24 August 2012.
-
- Former Polly Peck tycoon Asil Nadir jailed for 10 years
- Former fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir has been jailed for 10 years today after a judge said he stole millions out of “pure greed”. The Independent, 23 August 2012.
-
- Lonely
and marooned, tycoon risks a long stretch in prison
- Asil Nadir built a business fortune, was feted by the government - and fled to
Cyprus when his Polly Peck empire crumbled. Guardian, September 3, 2003.
-
- Polly
Peck auditors fined
- Three accountants involved in auditing parts of Polly Peck, the conglomerate
run by Asil Nadir which collapsed more than a decade ago, have been reprimanded and fined by their regulatory body. Guardian, May 1, 2003.
-
- Dutch authorities
probe Ahold
- Dutch prosecutors have started a probe into the accounting irregularities at
embattled Dutch retail giant. BBC, 16 April 2003.
-
-
Ahold shaken but not toppled by accounting scandal
- After revealing Europe's worst accounting scandal, the future of Dutch food
giant Ahold looks shaky. 2 March 2003.
-
- SEC
investigates €500m Ahold scandal
- Ahold, one of the world's biggest retailers, was last night facing a series of
regulatory investigations and lawsuits following the discovery of a
multimillion-euro accountancy scandal at its US operations. Guardian, February 27,
2003.
-
- Soros found guilty of
insider trading
- Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros has been fined 2.2m euros
(£1.4m; $2.3m) for insider trading. BBC 20 December, 2002.
-
- HIH Royal Commission
- Links to stories about the Royal Commission investigating the $2.8 billion
collapse of HIH Insurance, the largest corporate failure in Australian
history.
-
- Martha Talks
- A website set up to defend Martha Stewart and support her appeal
against conviction. It contains a lot of material on why her trial was
unfair.
-
- Martha Pal
Gets 7-Year Jail Term
- ImClone Systems Inc. founder Samuel Waksal has been sentenced to more than
seven years in prison and ordered to pay almost $4.3 million because of his role in
the insider trading scandal that engulfed members of his family and led to the
indictment of his friend Martha Stewart. CBS News, 10 June 2003.
-
-
Five months jail for Stewart
- Martha Stewart was sentenced for lying to police over an alleged
insider-dealing scam. Guardian, July 16, 2004.
-
- Cooking
Martha's goose
- The Martha Stewart scandal may cripple a media empire built on an image of
perfection. The Economist, September 12, 2002.
-
- The Corporate
Scandal Sheet
- With the avalanche of corporate accounting scandals that have rocked the
markets recently, it's getting hard to keep track of all the transgressions. The
Corporate Scandal Sheet does the job.
-
- WorldCom
scandal one of many
- It may be involved in the biggest accounting debacle ever, but financial
scandals are nothing new. CNN, June 27, 2002.
-
- Wall Street scandals
at a glance
- A brief review of each of the main scandals from Enron onwards. BBC, 26 June
2002.
-
- Schemers And
Scams: A Brief History Of Bad Business
- A brief outline of notable cases from Charles Ponzi in 1920 to price fixing by
Sotheby's and Christie's in 2000. Fortune, March 2002.
-
-
Former Tyco CEO gets up to 25 years for theft
- Former Tyco International CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski and finance chief
Mark Swartz have been sentenced to eight and one-third to 25 years for
stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the company. Seattle Times,
September 19, 2005.
-
- Tyco finds new
accounting hole
- The huge industrial group Tyco has discovered a new black hole to add to its
accounting scandals. BBC, 30 April 2003.
-
- Tyco ex-bosses hit by
more charges
- Three former executives of Tyco, including its ex-chief executive, Dennis
Kozlowski, have been indicted for running a "criminal enterprise" that stole
millions from the firm. BBC, 12 September, 2002.
-
- The Secret World of
Mike Milken
- by Edward Jay Epstein.
-
- Merrill settles in
share tipping row
- Investment bank Merrill Lynch has said it is to pay $100m to settle an
investigation by the New York attorney general into allegations its analysts misled
tech stock investors. BBC, 21 May 2001.
-
- PM slams
central bank over Trade Bank collapse
- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon criticised the Bank of Israel at a government
meeting, in which the ministers discussed the collapse of Trade Bank. 27 May
2002.
-
- Kim's Fall from
Grace at Daewoo
- Prosecutors allege that Kim and his associates organized what they believe is
Asia's biggest single financial fraud - false accounting between 1997 and 1998 that
inflated the value of the Korean company's equity by $32 billion. Business Week,
February 19, 2001.
-
- Credit Suisse
unit found guilty in Japan
- A Japanese court found Credit Suisse Financial Products guilty of obstructing a
government inspection. The Tokyo District Court also ordered the defunct unit's
parent to pay a fine of $333,490, or ¥40 million. March 8, 2001
-
- The Woes of
Martin Armstrong
- The feds say the former offshore hedge fund manager scammed investors out of $1
billion. But the imprisoned armstrong says he’s only guilty of knowing the
whereabouts of too many financial skeletons.
-
- The Martin Armstrong Defense
Fund
- A web site was started by friends and clients of Marty Armstrong who feel that
he is being sacrificed on the "regulatory altar" by those much more influential and
powerful than he
-
- Republic
Ducked Red Flags?
- According to the Wall Street Journal, Republic New York Corp. took on
investment advisor Martin A. Armstrong who is accused of defrauding Japanese
investors of about $1 billion, even though red flags prompted a competitor to stop
doing business with him.
-
- "Princeton Note"
Securities/Rico Litigation
- In December 2001, the claims of the Princeton Note investors against the
company owned by Martin A. Armstrong were settled.
-
- The Pullman Group files
Multibillion Dollar Lawsuit
- The inventor of Bowie bonds claims that other firms have stolen his ideas.
-
For background information about Bowie bonds, in fact and in
fiction, see Something Wild.
-
- A West Virginia
Coal Town's Boom Turns to Bust
- An article about J. Knox McConnell and the rise and fall of the First National
Bank of Keystone which may rank among the 10 biggest American bank failures of the
past 20 years.
-
- Keystone Hearing Draws
Media from Near and Far
- A hearing for two former officials of the failed First Bank of Keystone was
held on 23 November 1999.
-
-
Silver Speculators
- A brief account of the attempt by Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt to
corner the world market for silver in the 1970s.
-
- Death in Monaco
- The mysterious death of the multi-billionaire banker Edmond Safra. Vanity Fair 1 December 2000.
-
- Microsoft Financial
Fraud
- According to Bill Parish: Microsoft is a great company with terrific
employees. Sadly, many of these brilliant people ... [are] .. unable to see that
Microsoft is also the key architect of the greatest financial fraud/pyramid scheme
this century.
-
- Citigroup Merger
Scheme
- Another article by Bill Parish who argues that the scheme will disable
Microsoft and Cisco Systems, destroy consumer privacy and unplug the New
Economy.
-
- A Century of
Greed
- Scams, scandals and swindles: a look at the seamy side of 20th century wealth
by Martha Slud, CNN, December 29, 1999.
-
Go to Part 1 of Classic Financial
Scandals
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Roy Davies - last updated 21 October 2018.