This case could have worldwide repercussions.
(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG and Hypo Real Estate Holding AG’s Depfa Bank Plc unit were charged with fraud linked to the sale of derivatives to the City of Milan.
Judge Simone Luerti scheduled the trial of the four firms, 11 bankers and two former city officials for May 6, Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said after a hearing in Milan today. The banks allegedly misled the city over swaps that adjusted interest payments on 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of bonds sold in 2005.
Prosecutors across Italy are investigating banks as local and national government agencies face potential losses of 2.5 billion euros on derivatives, lawyers say. The Milan probe may also affect cases as far away as the U.S., where securities firms have faced charges for price-fixing and bid-rigging in the sale of derivatives to municipalities, though not for fraud, according to former regulator Christopher “Kit” Taylor.
“This case could have repercussions over here if the trial showed deliberate intent,” said Taylor, a former executive director of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the national regulator of the municipal-bond market. “What happened in Europe was the continuation of a pattern in the U.S.”
We all know that the banks misled people. The question is did they break the law?
SIGTARP investigations
In the last SIGTARP report, they had numerous ongoing investigation on criminality, surrounding the entire financial sector. The 100% AIG payout was "implied" and of course no one can disclose or comment on ongoing investigations....I'd like to see criminal charges happen. I'd like to see some of these financial institutions dismantled and the money given back to the people.
I am so pissed, so sick of theft by means of high fallutin' gobbledygook while the entire globe, the U.S. economy and esp. long term employment, is being turned into a globe of serfs...we're getting from the IMF that people should "adjust" to the "new normal" and to be "competitive" one must "reduce wages" and "social safety nets" and "devalue their currency".