Category: banks

Internal docs new details on Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to JPMorgan Chase, Jes Staley

A new report has revealed details surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banking institutions in the world, and specifically highlighted the financier’s ties to former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley. Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges, and died that same year in jail before he was tried in court over sex trafficking charges….

The BRICS Dollar Debacle

My latest Deeper Dive dug into China’s failing commercial real-estate market, as well as other global commercial real-estate markets that are collapsing, laying out the corporate zombie apocalypse that is building particularly in office real estate, but also still deepening in retail real estate. It’s happening all over the world: Unprofitable companies that survived only because of cheap credit (zombies) — and…

Abramovich Refuses to Transfer $2.9 Bln From Chelsea Sale to Ukraine – Reports

Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is refusing to sign off the release of £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) made from his sale of Chelsea Football Club to Ukraine, as he apparently wants a “substantial” part of the sum transferred to Russians affected by the conflict, a UK newspaper has reported. The newspaper also cited an unnamed source close to the above-mentioned funds…

UBS to impose Credit Suisse ban on new clients from high-risk countries

HONG KONG – UBS will impose strict restrictions on bankers from Credit Suisse, including a ban on new clients from high-risk countries, according to a Financial Times report, with the two banks moving to close the historic takeover as soon as Monday. A list consisting of almost two dozen “red lines” will prohibit Credit Suisse staff from a range of…

European Central Bank eyes next rate hike

FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank (ECB) will almost certainly deliver another interest rate hike on Thursday as the eurozone slides into a recession. Analysts predict that ECB policymakers will copy May’s move and again raise borrowing costs by 25 basis points, taking the closely watched deposit rate to 3.5 per cent. It would be the Frankfurt institution’s eighth consecutive hike…

Air Force official’s musings on rogue drone targeting humans go viral

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force walked back comments reportedly made by a colonel regarding a simulation in which a drone outwitted its artificial intelligence training and killed its handler, after the claims went viral on social media. Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said in a June 2 statement no such testing took place, adding that the service member’s comments…

Epstein continued socializing with A-listers despite conviction – media

Epstein’s calendars show the financier meeting with A-listers including tech billionaires Bill Gates and Peter Thiel, music executive Tommy Mottola, artist Jeff Koons, magician David Blaine, and filmmaker Woody Allen – all after being required to register as a sex offender as part of the sweetheart plea deal that allowed him to serve less than two years under house arrest. …

Investigators find new evidence in Nord Stream sabotage – Der Spiegel

In March, Der Spiegel claimed a yacht called ‘Andromeda’ had allegedly been used by a team of divers to sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines. The publication cited the discovery of traces of explosives in the cabin of the vessel and fake identification documents that were used in the hiring of the boat.  The outlet’s most recent report indicates that metadata…

JPMorgan Faces Reckoning for Long Ties With Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein was many things: a sexual predator, a friend to the rich and powerful and, for many years, a lucrative customer of the nation’s largest bank. Now the bank, JPMorgan Chase, faces a reckoning for its nearly 15-year relationship with the disgraced financier, one that could cost it a big payout in two civil lawsuits that claim the bank…

PwC faces its Enron moment: Confidentiality breaches, possible conspiracy to defraud

When then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called for heads to roll after the 2016 census was pulled offline – amid fears IBM’s data servers hosting the survey had been infiltrated – the American enterprise technology giant made an important decision. IBM ran most of the big mainframe systems that had powered core government functions for several decades, earning it billions of…

Alleged N46.7m Debt: Court Freezes ‘La Campagne Tropicana’s Accounts in 27 Banks

Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court, in Lagos has ordered 27 commercial banks in the country, to placed Post-No-Debit (PND) on the accounts of a tourism company, ‘La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort’ over alleged N46, 798, 095.94 . The judge, made the order of Mareva injunction on May 17, 2023, while granting an Exparte motion marked FHC/L/CS/746/2023, filed…

EU wants to send profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine – FT

European Union officials are considering whether to send Ukraine profits generated from Russian assets frozen within the bloc, the Financial Times has reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. EU member states and European Commission officials convened on Wednesday to examine how they might move funds held at Euroclear, the world’s largest settlement house, over to Ukraine, as Russian-owned assets there…

Silicon Valley Bank: 500 jobs cut by new owner First Citizens

The new owner of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) US operations, First Citizens, is cutting around 500 roles held by former SVB workers, the BBC understands. Two months ago, First Citizens bought the business after SVB’s collapse. The failure of SVB, along with two other US banks, triggered fears of a more widespread banking crisis, which forced authorities to step in….

Judiciary confiscates passports of Lebanon’s central bank chief after French arrest warrant

A Lebanese judge questioned the country’s embattled central bank governor Wednesday and confiscated his Lebanese and French passports following an arrest warrant from France over corruption charges, judicial officials said. Riad Salameh left immediately after questioning by Judge Imad Kabalan in Beirut, the officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The questioning lasted about 80 minutes, they…

Schwarzman Says Blackstone in Talks to Buy Regional Bank Assets

  (Bloomberg) — Blackstone Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman said the investment giant is in talks with several US regional banks to explore purchases of assets and loans they originate. “Pressure on those regional banks won’t just come from the markets,” he said in a video interview Wednesday for the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. “It will come from…

HSBC, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and RBC may have broken competition laws: UK watchdog

LONDON – Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday it had provisionally found five major global banks allegedly broke UK competition law by exchanging sensitive information on government bond trading activities in one-to-one online chats. In a statement, the watchdog alleged Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada each unlawfully shared information by participating…