Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Economy
In reply to the discussion: Weekend Economists Repent! The End Is Here! July 20-22, 2012 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)30. Titanic Banks Hit LIBOR Iceberg: Will Lawsuits Sink the Ship? By Ellen Brown IF YOU ONLY READ 1
http://truth-out.org/news/item/10442-titanic-banks-hit-libor-iceberg-will-lawsuits-sink-the-ship
At one time, calling the large multinational banks a "cartel" branded you as a conspiracy theorist. Today, the banking giants are being called that and worse, not just in the major media but in court documents intended to prove the allegations as facts. Charges include racketeering (organized crime under the US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO), antitrust violations, wire fraud, bid rigging and price fixing. Damning charges have already been proven and major damages and penalties assessed. Conspiracy theory has become conspiracy fact.
In an article in the July 3 Guardian UK titled "Private Banks Have Failed - We Need a Public Solution," Seumas Milne writes of the LIBOR rate-rigging scandal admitted to by Barclays Bank:
Bid Rigging and Rate Rigging
Bid rigging was the subject of US v. Carollo, Goldberg and Grimm, a ten-year suit in which the US Department of Justice obtained a judgment on May 11 against three GE Capital employees. Billions of dollars were skimmed from cities all across America by colluding to rig the public bids on municipal bonds, a business worth $3.7 trillion. Other banks involved in the bidding scheme included Bank of America (BOA), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo and UBS. These banks have already paid a total of $673 million in restitution after agreeing to cooperate in the government's case...Hot on the heels of the Carollo decision came the LIBOR scandal, involving collusion to rig the interbank interest rate that affects $500 trillion worth of contracts, financial instruments, mortgages and loans. Barclays Bank admitted to regulators in June that it tried to manipulate LIBOR before and during the financial crisis in 2008. It said that other banks were doing the same. Barclays paid $450 million to settle the charges.
The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said in a press release that Barclays Bank "pervasively" reported fictitious rates rather than actual rates; that it asked other big banks to assist and helped them to assist; and that Barclays did so "to benefit the Bank's derivatives trading positions" and "to protect Barclays' reputation from negative market and media perceptions concerning Barclays' financial condition."
After resigning, top executives at Barclays promptly implicated both the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve...
THIS IS A MAJOR SUMMARY OF THE CRIMES AND THE PUNISHMENTS AND THE CURES
At one time, calling the large multinational banks a "cartel" branded you as a conspiracy theorist. Today, the banking giants are being called that and worse, not just in the major media but in court documents intended to prove the allegations as facts. Charges include racketeering (organized crime under the US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO), antitrust violations, wire fraud, bid rigging and price fixing. Damning charges have already been proven and major damages and penalties assessed. Conspiracy theory has become conspiracy fact.
In an article in the July 3 Guardian UK titled "Private Banks Have Failed - We Need a Public Solution," Seumas Milne writes of the LIBOR rate-rigging scandal admitted to by Barclays Bank:
It's already clear that the rate rigging, which depends on collusion, goes far beyond Barclays and indeed the City of London. This is one of multiple scams that have become endemic in a disastrously deregulated system with inbuilt incentives for cartels to manipulate the core price of finance.
... It could of course have happened only in a private-dominated financial sector and makes a nonsense of the bankrupt free-market ideology that still holds sway in public life.
... A crucial part of the explanation is the unmuzzled political and economic power of the City.... Finance has usurped democracy.
... It could of course have happened only in a private-dominated financial sector and makes a nonsense of the bankrupt free-market ideology that still holds sway in public life.
... A crucial part of the explanation is the unmuzzled political and economic power of the City.... Finance has usurped democracy.
Bid Rigging and Rate Rigging
Bid rigging was the subject of US v. Carollo, Goldberg and Grimm, a ten-year suit in which the US Department of Justice obtained a judgment on May 11 against three GE Capital employees. Billions of dollars were skimmed from cities all across America by colluding to rig the public bids on municipal bonds, a business worth $3.7 trillion. Other banks involved in the bidding scheme included Bank of America (BOA), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo and UBS. These banks have already paid a total of $673 million in restitution after agreeing to cooperate in the government's case...Hot on the heels of the Carollo decision came the LIBOR scandal, involving collusion to rig the interbank interest rate that affects $500 trillion worth of contracts, financial instruments, mortgages and loans. Barclays Bank admitted to regulators in June that it tried to manipulate LIBOR before and during the financial crisis in 2008. It said that other banks were doing the same. Barclays paid $450 million to settle the charges.
The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said in a press release that Barclays Bank "pervasively" reported fictitious rates rather than actual rates; that it asked other big banks to assist and helped them to assist; and that Barclays did so "to benefit the Bank's derivatives trading positions" and "to protect Barclays' reputation from negative market and media perceptions concerning Barclays' financial condition."
After resigning, top executives at Barclays promptly implicated both the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve...
THIS IS A MAJOR SUMMARY OF THE CRIMES AND THE PUNISHMENTS AND THE CURES
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
81 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
The Biggest Banking Scandal this Summer (Hint: It’s not LIBOR) By Christopher Petrella
Demeter
Jul 2012
#6
Slick “No Labels” Plan to Duck Debate, Cut Social Security & Coddle 1% By Richard (RJ) Eskow
Demeter
Jul 2012
#19
Six Ways the Federal Reserve Could Boost the Economy By Adam S. Hersh and Cameron DeHart
Demeter
Jul 2012
#21
Libor fraud exposes Wall Street’s rotten core By Elizabeth Warren YES, THAT ELIZABETH WARREN
Demeter
Jul 2012
#28
Titanic Banks Hit LIBOR Iceberg: Will Lawsuits Sink the Ship? By Ellen Brown IF YOU ONLY READ 1
Demeter
Jul 2012
#30
Krugmenistan vs. Estonia THE DISH ON KRUGMAN, MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE
Demeter
Jul 2012
#41
This could be a great opportunity for a retirement community...for the prematurely unemployed
Demeter
Jul 2012
#63
Bill Moyers and Chris Hedges: How Whole Regions of America Have Been Destroyed in the Name of profit
xchrom
Jul 2012
#60
(Mid- 70's) "would be the closest America ever came to Utopia for many a generation"
bread_and_roses
Jul 2012
#71