DOJ: Current and Former Precious Metals Traders Charged with Multi-Year Market Manipulation Racketeering Conspiracy

SPOOF!

Buy Gold..... on second thought....

Three J.P. Morgan precious metals traders charged as criminal probe continues

Two current precious metals traders and one former trader in the New York offices of a U.S. bank (Bank A) were charged in an indictment unsealed today for their alleged participation in a racketeering conspiracy and other federal crimes in connection with the manipulation of the markets for precious metals futures contracts, which spanned over eight years and involved thousands of unlawful trading sequences.

Charged in the indictment are:

• Gregg Smith, 55, of Scarsdale, New York.  Smith was an executive director and trader on Bank A’s precious metals desk in New York.  He joined Bank A in May 2008 after it acquired another U.S. bank (Bank B).
• Michael Nowak, 45, of Montclair, New Jersey.  Nowak was a managing director and ran Bank A’s global precious metals desk.  He joined Bank A in July 1996.
• Christopher Jordan, 47, of Mountainside, New Jersey.  Jordan joined Bank A in March 2006 and was an executive director and trader on Bank A’s precious metals desk in New York.  Jordan left Bank A in December 2009 and worked as a precious metals trader at a Swiss bank (Bank C) in New York from March 2010 until August 2010.  From June 2011 until October 2011, Jordan traded precious metals futures contracts as an employee of a financial service company (Company D) in New York.

“The defendants and others allegedly engaged in a massive, multiyear scheme to manipulate the market for precious metals futures contracts and defraud market participants,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski.  “These charges should leave no doubt that the Department is committed to prosecuting those who undermine the investing public’s trust in the integrity of our commodities markets.”

“Smith, Nowak, Jordan, and their co-conspirators allegedly engaged in a complex scheme to trade precious metals in a way that negatively affected the natural balance of supply-and-demand,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office. “Not only did their alleged behavior affect the markets for precious metals, but also correlated markets and the clients of the bank they represented. For as long as we continue to see this type of illegal activity in the marketplace, we’ll remain dedicated to investigating and bringing to justice those who perpetrate these crimes.”  

Each of the three defendants was charged with one count of conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise involved in interstate or foreign commerce through a pattern of racketeering activity (more commonly referred to as RICO conspiracy); one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, bank fraud, commodities fraud, price manipulation and spoofing; one count of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.  In addition, Smith and Nowak were each charged with one count of attempted price manipulation, one count of commodities fraud and one count of spoofing.

Smith is expected to make an initial appearance in the Southern District of New York before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy, and Nowak and Jordan are expected to make their initial appearances in the District of New Jersey before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer.  The case was indicted in the Northern District of Illinois and has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang.

As alleged in the indictment, between approximately May 2008 and August 2016, the defendants and their co-conspirators were members of Bank A’s global precious metals trading desk in New York, London and Singapore with varying degrees of seniority and supervisory responsibility over others on the desk.  As it relates to the RICO conspiracy, the defendants and their co-conspirators were allegedly members of an enterprise—namely, the precious metals desk at Bank A—and conducted the affairs of the desk through a pattern of racketeering activity, specifically, wire fraud affecting a financial institution and bank fraud.

The indictment alleges that the defendants engaged in widespread spoofing, market manipulation and fraud while working on the precious metals desk at Bank A through the placement of orders they intended to cancel before execution (Deceptive Orders) in an effort to create liquidity and drive prices toward orders they wanted to execute on the opposite side of the market.  In thousands of sequences, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly placed Deceptive Orders for gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (NYMEX) and Commodity Exchange Inc. (COMEX), which are commodities exchanges operated by CME Group Inc.  By placing Deceptive Orders, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly intended to inject false and misleading information about the genuine supply and demand for precious metals futures contracts into the markets, and to deceive other participants in those markets into believing something untrue, namely that the visible order book accurately reflected market-based forces of supply and demand.  This false and misleading information was intended to, and at times did, trick other market participants into reacting to the apparent change and imbalance in supply and demand by buying and selling precious metals futures contracts at quantities, prices and times that they otherwise likely would not have traded, the indictment alleges.

As also alleged in the indictment, the defendants and their co-conspirators defrauded Bank A’s clients who had bought or sold “barrier options” by trading precious metals futures contracts in a manner that attempted to push the price towards a price level at which Bank A would make money on the option (barrier-running), or away from a price level at which Bank A would lose money on the option (barrier-defending).  Namely, when barrier-running, the defendants and their co-conspirators would allegedly place orders for precious metals futures contracts in a way that was intended to deliberately trigger the barrier option held by Bank A.  Conversely, when barrier-defending, the defendants and their co-conspirators would allegedly place orders for precious metals futures contracts in a way that was intended to deliberately avoid triggering the barrier option held by clients of Bank A.

The indictment also identifies two former Bank A precious metals traders, John Edmonds and Christian Trunz, as being among the defendant’s co-conspirators.  Edmonds worked at Bank A from 2004 to 2017 and was a trader on Bank A’s precious metals desk, leaving as a vice president.  On Oct. 9, 2018, Edmonds pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to an information charging him with one count of commodities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, commodities fraud, price manipulation and spoofing.  Trunz is a former precious metals trader at Bank A who worked at the bank from 2007 to August 20, 2019, leaving as an executive director.  On Aug. 20, 2019, Trunz pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to engage in spoofing and one count of spoofing.

This case is the result of an ongoing investigation by the FBI’s New York Field Office. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement provided assistance in this case.  Trial Attorneys Avi Perry and Matthew F. Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Individuals who believe that they may be a victim in these cases should visit the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness website for more information at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/victim-witness-program.

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DEFANGO: Layer 2 Unlocked Live Dive - Thedarkoverlord Megaleak - LONG CUT - 911 Insurance Documents

The Twin Towers were overtly, heavily insured as a well orchestrated, legal operation to make money.

By, hey, what do I know?

I know Defango is going through the second layer of unlocked megaleaks from The Dark Overlord.

I also know a similar insurance payout matter is being asked to be addressed in SCOTUS.

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JPMorgan Chase & Detroit - My Personal Notes

I did backgrounders to the organizations which are past benefactors to these funds.

Not good.

I found quiet titles and wiped out mortgages.

Not good.

Just a bit of personal notes.

JPMorgan Chase to Boost Philanthropic Investments By $1.75 Billion

JPMorgan Chase has announced that it will boost its philanthropic investments over the next five years by 40 percent, to $1.75 billion.

Announced as part of the bank's plan to invest $20 billion in support of employees, branch expansion, and local economic growth, the additional investment in its corporate philanthropy activities will support ongoing efforts to drive inclusive economic growth in underserved neighborhoods, including an expansion to other cities of the model it developed for its $150 million Detroit revitalization initiative. The bank also is boosting its support for the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, which it created with the Detroit Development Fund and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and will replicate the fund in San Francisco and the South Bronx.

In addition, the bank will continue to support job training initiatives in dozens of cities, including Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami; will expand its Fellowship Initiative, an academic, leadership, and professional development program for young men of color, to Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York; and will make the JPMorgan Chase Service Corps — a three-week skills-based volunteer program that engages JP Morgan Chase employees in helping nonprofit organizations — available to more nonprofits in Chicago, Detroit, and the South Bronx.

The larger $20 billion investment in the economy announced by the bank includes a hike in wages from between $12/hour and $16.50/hour to between $15/hour and $18/hour for hourly bank employees in more than a hundred cities; the opening of four hundred new branches that together will create three thousand new jobs; a $4 billion increase in small business lending; and a commitment to boost mortgage lending in low- and moderate-income communities by 25 percent over the next five years.

"Our philanthropy continues to be a strategic investment in driving inclusive economic growth," said Peter Scher, head of global corporate responsibility at JPMorgan Chase. "We have established a model to help more people share in the rewards of the economy, and with this investment we will be able to further scale meaningful, long-term growth in more communities."

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JPMorgan Chase, Detroit & Child Welfare

To begin, I am quite sure there are those who are saying to themselves, as they do not have the guts to say it in a public statement, that I am crazy by asking, "What the hell does the Federal Reserve have to do with Detroit and child welfare fraud?"

Everything.

The Detroit Bankruptcy was planned by international investment bankers and "The Elected Ones" were too busy looking at all the pretty shiney pennies these NGOs were showering them with to fund their "grassroots" campaigns.

Is This Our Pilot Model To Get Inside The Silent Money World Of The 501(c)3? 

What I am able to identify is what I call transposable models which have been captured from witnessing child welfare fraud as an original source.

They are here in Detroit.

These are the people taking over the schools, the land and the votes.

(Yes, I am still in the process of publishing the book.)

Stay tuned...

Redacted Tonight On JP Morgan Chase Detroit Foreclosure Fraud

JPMorgan Chase Commits $20 Million to Revitalize Neighborhoods in Five U.S. Cities

That comes out to be $4 million for Detroit and from the looks of the water shutoffs and tax foreclosures, someone stuffed alot of money into an improperly registered charity in Michigan to contribute to a local mayoral election, because it would be considered illegal just to put it in your pocket.

Fed seeks lifetime ban for bankers who ran JP Morgan ‘princeling’ program

The Federal Reserve Board Friday said it will seek fines and permanent bans against two former managing directors at J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited who allegedly led an illegal hiring program.

The Fed said Fang Fang and Timothy Fletcher ran the bank's "sons and daughters" program.

They allegedly won at least $35 million in business for the bank by offering prestigious internships and other jobs to individuals referred by foreign officials, clients, and prospective clients.

The hiring practices violated both firm policies and the FCPA, the Fed said in a statement. 

In addition to lifetime bans from the banking industry, the regulator is seeking a fine against Fang of $1 million and $500,000 against Fletcher.

In November, JPMorgan Chase and the Hong Kong unit where Fang and Fletcher worked -- J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited --  agreed to pay $264.4 million to the DOJ, SEC, and Federal Reserve to resolve FCPA offenses for the illegal hiring practices.

The Fed said the bank didn't have "adequate enterprise-wide controls to ensure that referred candidates were appropriately vetted and hired in accordance with applicable anti-bribery laws and firm policies."

Hiring a family member or friend of a government official isn't always a violation of the FCPA. But a hiring decision intended to reward or induce an official to award work can be an offense.

In August 2015, BNY Mellon paid $14.8 million to settle SEC charges that it violated the FCPA by giving student internships to family members of officials affiliated with a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund.

In March this year, Qualcomm paid the SEC $7.5 million to settle FCPA offenses for hiring relatives of Chinese government officials to win sales.

Broadcom is about to acquire Qualcomm, bringing back to the U.S. from Singapore.

The Fed said Friday in its formal notice (pdf) that Fang managed the referral hiring program from at least 2008 through 2013.

In June 2009, Fang allegedly told colleagues, “[y]ou all know I have always been a big believer of the sons and daughters program -- it almost has a linear relationship with mandates, at least in China. We lost a deal to [a competitor] today because they got chairman’s daughter work for them this summer. I am supportive to have our own program.”

By 2010, Fang was seen within the investment bank as the “gatekeeper” for the referral hiring program and had final sign-off for proposed candidates, the Fed said.

JP Morgan Chase had an anti-corruption policy from at least September 2007. The policy prohibited "offers of anything of value to public officials to secure improper business advantages." Offering internships and training to the relatives of public officials was cited in the policy as a potential bribery risk under U.S. federal law and other anti-corruption statutes.

Fang attended training courses for the anti-corruption policy and received reminders.

He resigned from the bank in June 2014.

Fletcher helped run the hiring program from 2008. Among other things, he "required bankers to present a business case for potential hires," the Fed said in its notice (pdf) against him.

Fletcher's title at the Asia unit was Managing Director and head of the Junior Resources Management Group. In that role he "considered prospective business, the importance of the referring client, and the importance of the referring executive when making hiring decisions," the Fed said.

Fletcher allegedly prioritized referrals from individuals who were in a better position to award the firm business.

Joan Meyer, a Baker McKenzie lawyer representing Fang, told the Wall Street Journal: “Fang Fang was a respected senior banker at JP Morgan and had an outstanding reputation. He should not have been singled out for administrative action by the Federal Reserve in contrast to so many bankers in the same position and he intends to vigorously dispute these allegations.”

Federal Reserve Opinion on Timothy Fletcher of JPMorganChase and Hiring Chinese Elite Children by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Federal Reserve Opinion on Fang Fang Federal of JPMorganChase by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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Redacted Tonight On JP Morgan Chase Detroit Foreclosure Fraud

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JPMorgan Chase Commits $20 Million to Revitalize Neighborhoods in Five U.S. Cities

Collaborative partnerships in Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, and New York to develop solutions for distressed neighborhoods

October 19, 2016 (Detroit, MI) – JPMorgan Chase & Co. today announced $20 million for five community development organizations working to create economic opportunity in disadvantaged neighborhoods. As part of the firm’s $125 million, five-year PRO Neighborhoods initiative, these five collaborative partnerships will revitalize neighborhoods in their respective cities that have been left behind by the recovery.

“The 2016 PRO Neighborhoods winners have come to the table with very exciting partnerships that aim to draw the urban renaissance and prosperity they are experiencing in their cities into the deeply distressed neighborhoods where they are working” said Janis Bowdler, Head of Community Development for Global Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase. “We are proud of the innovative approaches this cohort is taking to delivering capital to entrepreneurs of color, diverse neighborhoods, and urban food deserts.  Each is using a data-driven approach that will create opportunities for more people to share in the prosperity of the local economies of their hometowns of Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami and New York.”

PRO Neighborhoods provides the necessary capital to local community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to address the drivers of economic opportunity in neighborhoods. These CDFIs work together to pool resources and expand lending activities for building health and education facilities, open retail centers and support community services in area neighborhoods. The first grant recipients of this new initiative include:

• Detroit Strategic Neighborhoods Initiative Collaborative (Detroit, MI) - $5 Million.

  This alliance will combine new loan capital and unique programs with existing funding capacity to provide economic development in the three targeted neighborhoods in Detroit. The focus on helping distressed neighborhoods is informed by and builds upon JPMorgan Chase’s $100 million, five-year commitment to the city’s economic recovery.

“This announcement from JPMorgan Chase is another example of its deep commitment to Detroit and revitalizing its neighborhoods,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “Thanks to this funding, we are going to start seeing new small businesses open, existing businesses expand and new residential developments take place in several key areas of the city. This fits in perfectly with our strategy to revitalize our neighborhoods.”

https://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/news/pr/20-million-to-revitalize-five-us-cities.htm

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Rumble In Detroit: Duggan v. Engler

Ladies, Gentlemen, lads and lasses, Let's Get Ready To Rumble!

The main event takes place in the City of Detroit, where we have in one corner, the reigning champion of privatization, the one and only, the former Governor of Michigan, the man who launched the first national model of child welfare privatization which stripped billions of dollars from the welfare of children to generate child poverty and infant mortality levels in Detroit to international heights, allow me the pleasure of introducing John Engler.

via GIPHY

In the other corner, we have a new comer, an up and rising star in the political circles of the privatization game, the man who is known for his Hail May saves of major organizations, by any means necessary, of course, the legendary Mike Duggan!

John Engler has come out of hibernation, well, he was just watching, consulting Snyder, to fight for his money-grubbin'-religious-freedom-from-taxes-and-oversight-fraudulently-billing-to-promote-corporate-America's-future-cheap-and-government-subsidized-workforce model, which just so happens to be children in poverty!

Praise God, for thou shall not audit God nor privately contracted child welfare programs.

Duggan has partnered with Jamie Dimon, the king of banking, JPMorgan Chase.

Banks have oversight through the Federal Reserve and must execute its secondary directive of creating jobs.

"The Elected Ones" will, once again, stand up and attempt to be contenders in the fight against child poverty by giving more theatrically, religiously laced, fire and brimstone, ad hominem monologues, purposefully demonstrating their lack of sophistication on the issues of social finance while swearing allegiance to the status quo of Detroit governance, which is exactly how Detroit got into this mess in the first place.

What is the status quo of Detroit governance?

Greed.  Pure, unadulterated greed while purporting all the wonderful things they do for kids and families.

The worst part is that "The Elected Ones" do greed by conspicuous consumption and do not even have the wherewithal to cover up the money streams going into their re-election campaigns.

I got my money on Duggan and Dimon because I know this is going to be juicy and this is Detroit.

Remember, "Children are our most precious treasures" and everyone wants to get their hands on that Social Security Trust Fund.

Let the battle commence!

JPMorgan Chase Awards $4 Million for Detroit Youth Jobs Initiative

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has announced a three-year, $4 million grant to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to expand young people's access to economic opportunity in Detroit.

Building on the firm's $100 million commitment to Detroit's economic recovery, the grant is designed to boost the number of young people graduating from the city's high schools with opportunities to secure well-paying, high-demand jobs. Chase joins the Skillman and Ford foundations and the Ford Motor Company Fund in the effort to connect ten thousand Detroit high school students to career education and work experiences, enabling them to earn credentials, qualifying them for college and career pathways in several important and growing regional industries, including advanced manufacturing, health care, information technology, digital communications, engineering, and public service.

"We are excited about expanding career-focused educational programs that give Detroit's young people opportunities to access career pathways in the city's expanding sectors," said Chauncy Lennon, head of workforce initiatives at JPMorgan Chase. "Building off a model proven in other communities, the collaborative approach being taken by the city to solve tough issues is reflected in their commitment to work with civic, business, and education leaders to better align education with the skills that growing business sectors need."

Engler: ‘Morally wrong’ to create Detroit school group

Former Michigan Governor John Engler
Founding Emperor of Privatization

Former Gov. John Engler is backing Michigan lawmakers who are rejecting a proposed Detroit Education Commission that could regulate the growth of competing city charter schools he helped create two decades ago.

In an exclusive Thursday interview with The Detroit News, Engler opposed a plan championed by Gov. Rick Snyder, Senate Republicans and Mayor Mike Duggan to create a commission with the power to block some charter school operators from opening additional schools in Detroit.

The state House late Thursday approved a six-bill, $617 million rescue of Detroit Public Schools without the commission, an omission that doesn’t appear to be hurting its chances of Michigan Senate approval as early as this week. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, views it as “a realistic compromise” between prior Senate and House plans, spokeswoman Amber McCann said.

Engler, who marshaled through the mid-1990s laws that created charter schools and a state-centered financing of public schools, said the rapid decline of the Detroit school system since he left office in 2003 is evidence that the city’s parents are seeking schools with better educational achievement than DPS.

“People have chosen to leave, they weren’t forced to leave. So it’s to the great credit of the House of Representatives that they politely turned down the idea of some commission,” said Engler, who is now president of the Business Roundtable, a national advocacy group representating corporate chief executives.

Engler endorsed the House’s plan that would not constrain charter school growth as the lower chamber was preparing for the late Thursday night vote.

The former three-term Republican governor called any constraints on charter schools “morally wrong.”

“This is a school system where the principals see nothing wrong with stealing from the district, and leadership wants to eliminate the competition in order to force children into schools where they won’t be educated,” said Engler, referring to 13 current and former DPS administrators who are facing jail time for their role in a $2.7 million bribery and kickback scheme.

The 46,000-student school district has lost more than 100,000 students during the past 10 years.

“In my mind, it’s inevitable the rest of them will also leave,” Engler said. “Because you cannot morally justify putting your child in a school where 19 of 20 will not be able to read proficiently.”

Engler said if he were still in office, he would move to eliminate the school district’s administration and convert the district into a network of independently operated neighborhood schools.

“The central office of Detroit Public Schools should be closed,” Engler said. “It’s too expensive, too ineffective and too corrupt.”

Engler, who now lives in Virginia, said he has been following the months-long Detroit school district debate for months.

In 1999, then-Gov. Engler said he worried about cronyism and the deterioration of education in Detroit and engineered legislation that grabbed power from the district’s elected school board. The state created a seven-member school reform board with six members appointed by then-Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer who would pick and monitor a powerful chief executive to run the district.

The seventh reform board member represented the state and could veto the board’s CEO choice. The governor’s Detroit board member vetoed the first CEO choice, a Pittsburgh superintendent. The reform board settled on its second choice, Colorado Springs, Colo. Superintendent Kenneth Burnley, who ran the Detroit Public Schools through the end of 2005.

Detroiters voted in November 2005 to dissolve the reform board at the end of 2005, as the state law allowed. The elected school board resumed power in 2006 and oversaw the Detroit district until 2009, when declining finances and mounting debt prompted Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm to send in the first of several emergency financial managers.

Engler argues there still hasn’t been enough focus on improving educational achievement in one of the nation’s worst-performing school systems.

“The crisis in education in Detroit demands everyone’s attention,” he told The Detroit News. “And most of the conversation has been about solutions about what might be good for adults who might be employed by the system. Much too little about what would be good for the kids who need the education if they’re going to compete for jobs in this century.”

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Is This Our Pilot Model To Get Inside The Silent Money World Of The 501(c)3?

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce, the very first privatized socio-economic partnership in

Mike Duggan and Jamie Dimon

child welfare programming.

JPMorgan Chase's $4M grant to give Detroiters jobs

This is, so far, better than any of those RFRA #Time2AuditGod , social welfare, religious-hustlin', social impact bond crap that has been floating around here for a bit.

This is a reanimation of the long neglected function of the Federal Reserve:  create jobs because children are our most precious treasure.

Just my 2 cents and I shall be watching, intensely.

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Five Major Banks Agree to Plead Guilty to Felony Charges

Destruction of an economy is child abuse.  Why?  Because poverty is considered child abuse.

Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Andrew McCabe and Attorney General Loretta Lynch take part in a May 20, 2015 press conference announcing the guilty pleas of and criminal fines against five global financial institutions involved in market manipulation.

Agreements by Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, and UBS AG to plead guilty to felony charges were announced today by the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Four of the banks—Citicorp, JPMorgan, Barclays, and RBS—have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to manipulate the price of U.S. dollars and euros exchanged in the foreign currency exchange spot market and will pay criminal fines totaling $2.5 billion. According to Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer, “The dollar-euro spot market is as big as it gets. Every day, about $500 billion worth of dollars and euros are traded in this market. Trading on the dollar-euro spot market is five times larger than all U.S. stock exchanges combined.”

The fifth bank, UBS, agreed to plead guilty and pay a $203 million criminal penalty for breaching the non-prosecutive agreement it had previously entered regarding manipulation of the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR), a benchmark interest rate used worldwide.

The investigation, conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO), uncovered illegal activity that began as early as December 2007. Currency traders from four of the banks—self-described members of “The Cartel”—used an exclusive electronic chat room and coded language to manipulate exchange rates. The result of their actions inflated the banks’ profits while harming countless consumers, investors, and institutions around the globe. Said WFO’s Assistant Director in Charge Andrew McCabe, “This investigation represents another step in the FBI’s ongoing efforts to find and stop those responsible for complex financial schemes for their own personal benefit.”

In addition to paying large criminal fines, all five banks have agreed to a three-year period of corporate probation which, if approved by the court, will require regular reporting to authorities. The banks will continue cooperating in the ongoing investigation, and the plea agreements don’t preclude the prosecution of individuals for related misconduct.

The case, said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, serves as a reminder that the U.S. government intends to “vigorously prosecute all those who tilt the economic system in their favor, who subvert our marketplaces, and who enrich themselves at the expense of American consumers.”

• Press release
• Remarks by WFO Assistant Director in Charge Andrew McCabe
• Remarks by Attorney General Loretta Lynch
• Remarks by Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer

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