February 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Five Wall Street Banks Hold $223 Trillion in Derivatives -- 83 Percent of All Derivatives at 4,600 Banks
by Gunnar Larson 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/02/five-wall-street-banks-hold-223-tril… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 13, 2024 ~ According to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), derivatives played a major role in the financial crash of 2007 to 2010 in the United States, the worst financial crisis in the U.S. since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The FCIC wrote in its final report: “…the existence of millions of derivatives contracts of all types between systemically important financial institutions — unseen and unknown in this unregulated market — added to uncertainty and escalated panic….” Americans believed that the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 would fulfill its promise of reining in concentrated risks like derivatives. It did not. (See our report from 2015: President Has His Facts Seriously Wrong on Financial Reform.) According to data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the regulator of national banks, as of March 31, 2009, five bank holding companies held $277.57 trillion in derivatives (notional/face amount). At that time, according to the FDIC, there were 8,249 federally-insured commercial banks and savings associations in the U.S. but just five bank holding companies held 95 percent of all derivatives at all U.S. banks. Those financial institutions were: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Five Banks with Largest Derivative Exposure, March 31, 2009 Now flash forward to the most recent report from the OCC for the quarter ending September 30, 2023. According to that report, those same five bank holding companies hold $223 trillion of the $268 trillion in derivatives held by all banks in the U.S., or 83 percent. Equally alarming, those same five bank holding companies control 96 percent of the most dangerous form of derivatives – credit derivatives. The five bank holding companies account for $5.8 trillion in credit derivatives versus $6 trillion in credit derivatives for all banks in the U.S. The Federal Reserve secretly funneled $16 trillion in cumulative loans at below-market interest rates to prop up the Wall Street casino banks from December 2007 through June of 2010, in no small part because of the systemic contagion that spread from their concentrated positions in derivatives. To prevent a replay of the Wall Street mega banks blowing themselves up as they did in 2008, federal banking regulators in July of last year released a proposal that would impose higher capital rules on just 37 banks (out of the 4,600 banks in the U.S.). The proposed new capital rules would impact just those banks significantly engaged in derivatives and other high-risk trading strategies. The backlash has been fierce from Wall Street’s mega banks, with the banks even running television ads painting a bogus and distorted picture of what the capital increases would do. Another major area of concern is who is on the other side of these derivative trades with the mega banks – their so-called “counterparty.” According to federal researchers, there are both mega bank counterparties as well as “non-bank financial counterparties” – which could be insurance companies, brokerage firms, asset managers or hedge funds. There are also “non-financial corporate counterparties” – which could be just about any domestic or foreign corporation. To put it another way, the American people have no idea if they own common stock in a publicly-traded company that could blow up any day from reckless dealings in derivatives with global banks. Wall Street has a history of blowing up things with derivatives. Merrill Lynch blew up Orange County, California with derivatives. Some of the biggest trading houses on Wall Street blew up the giant insurer, AIG, with derivatives in 2008, forcing the U.S. government to take over AIG with a massive bailout. According to documents released by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, at the time of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, it had more than 900,000 derivative contracts outstanding and had used the largest banks on Wall Street as its counterparties to many of these trades. The FCIC data shows that Lehman had more than 53,000 derivative contracts with JPMorgan Chase; more than 40,000 with Morgan Stanley; over 24,000 with Citigroup’s Citibank; over 23,000 with Bank of America; and almost 19,000 with Goldman Sachs. We are asking our readers to do their part to stop Wall Street mega banks and their legions of lobbyists from gutting the proposed capital rules. Please contact your U.S. Senators today via the U.S. Capitol switchboard by dialing (202) 224-3121. Tell your Senators to demand that banking regulators hold firm on the stronger capital rules for the casino banks on Wall Street.

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Fwd: FOIL request Harris' Recusals
by Gunnar Larson 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: dob.sm.foil <foil(a)budget.ny.gov> Date: Fri, Feb 9, 2024, 4:19 PM Subject: FOIL request To: G(a)xny.io <G(a)xny.io> Please see the attached related to your FOIL request.

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NY AG Wins $77M Judgment For Predatory Lending Suit
by Gunnar Larson 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

Subject: NY AG Wins $77M Judgment For Predatory Lending Suit NY AG Wins $77M Judgment For Predatory Lending Suit <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1795952?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Katryna Perera New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured a $77 million judgment against three merchant cash advance companies and their principals accused of harming small businesses through high-interest loans and undisclosed fees. 1 document attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1795952?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1795952?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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New York Teacher Pays $75K For Mock Slave Auction Harm
by Gunnar Larson 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

Subject: New York Teacher Pays $75K For Mock Slave Auction Harm New York Teacher Pays $75K For Mock Slave Auction Harm <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1796368?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Elizabeth Daley A northern New York teacher will pay $75,000 for holding a mock slave auction of Black students in her classroom, settling a federal suit over a lesson a 10-year-old student's mother said emotionally damaged her son. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1796368?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1796368?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Merrill Customer Sues Over Lax WhatsApp Supervision
by Gunnar Larson 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

Subject: Merrill Customer Sues Over Lax WhatsApp Supervision Merrill Customer Sues Over Lax WhatsApp Supervision <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1796380?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Sarah Jarvis A Merrill customer has filed suit against two of the broker-dealer's branch managers for allegedly failing to supervise advisers who used WhatsApp to communicate about risky options strategies that ultimately wiped out his account. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1796380?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1796380?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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Robinhood Inks $9M Deal To End Promotional Text Suit
by Gunnar Larson 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

Subject: Robinhood Inks $9M Deal To End Promotional Text Suit Robinhood Inks $9M Deal To End Promotional Text Suit <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1796392?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> By Lauren Berg Stock-trading app Robinhood has agreed to pay $9 million to resolve proposed class claims that its "Refer a Friend" program caused non-users to receive unsolicited promotional texts, in violation of Washington state law, consumers told a Seattle federal judge Thursday. Motion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1796392?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1796392?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…>

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Self-Destructing USB Tool Heats Your Flash Drive To Over 100C To Lock Your Data Down
by jdb10987＠yahoo.com 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

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Jamie Dimon’s Statement Last Month that Trump “Was Kind of Right About NATO,” Sounds Even More Unhinged Today
by Gunnar Larson 12 Feb '24

12 Feb '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/02/jamie-dimons-statement-last-month-th… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 12, 2024 ~ Jamie Dimon Being Sworn In at House Financial Services Committee Hearing, May 27, 2021 Jamie Dimon Being Sworn In at House Financial Services Committee Hearing, May 27, 2021 On January 17 of this year, during a CNBC interview during the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, made the unhinged remark that Donald Trump “was kind of right about NATO.” A New York Times article from January 14, 2019 outlined Trump’s position on NATO as follows: “There are few things that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia desires more than the weakening of NATO, the military alliance among the United States, Europe and Canada that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for 70 years. “Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States.” This past Saturday, during a campaign stop in South Carolina, Trump recited a prior conversation he said he had had about NATO with a world leader. The video clip of Trump’s remarks was aired yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press: TRUMP: “One of the presidents of a big country stood up, said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’ I said, ‘You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent?’ He said, ‘Yes. Let’s say that happened.’ [Trump says he responded:] ‘No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You’ve got to pay. You’ve got to pay your bills.” Putting aside the fact that Trump is notorious for not paying his bills and taking his businesses into bankruptcy six times, the U.S. and its allies are currently attempting to stop Russia in its invasion of Ukraine and to present a united front to Russian President Vladimir Putin to prevent an invasion of a neighboring NATO country. Former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, who recently dropped out as a Republican candidate for president, was interviewed on Meet the Press yesterday and asked about Trump’s remarks on Saturday about NATO. Christie had this to say: CHRISTIE: “Well, look, this is why I’ve been saying for a long time that he’s unfit to be president of the United States. Now, it’s one thing and I think it’s right for a president to say to a NATO member, ‘Hey, you’ve got to pay the dues you need to pay.’ I think the American people would expect that of a president. But the problem with Donald Trump is he can’t just stop there. He’s got to say, ‘I would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they wanted to you.’ That is absolutely inappropriate for a president of the United States or a candidate for president of the United States to be saying. But it is consistent with his love for dictators.” A current Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, was interviewed yesterday on CBS’ Face the Nation. Haley was asked about the same Trump remarks. Her response was this: HALEY: “NATO has been a success story for the last 75 years. But what bothers me about this is, don’t take the side of a thug who kills his opponents. Don’t take the side of someone who has gone in and invaded a country and half-a-million people have died or been wounded because of Putin. “Don’t take the side of someone who continues to lie. I dealt with Russia every day [as former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations]. The last thing we ever want to do is side with Russia. What we always need to remember is, America needs to have friends. After September 10, we needed a lot of friends. We can never get into the point where we don’t need friends. “Now, we do want NATO allies to pull their weight. But there are ways you can do that without sitting there and telling Russia, have your way with these countries. That’s not what we want. If you notice, Russia has never invaded a NATO country. They’ve invaded Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. “They are actually very intimidated by – by NATO. NATO allows us to prevent war. We need to always focus on preventing war.” White House spokesman, Andrew Bates, had this to say about Trump’s remarks on NATO: “Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.” Trump’s remarks were also quickly rebuked by European leaders. Why Jamie Dimon, who sits at the helm of the largest taxpayer-backstopped bank in the United States (and has presided over a rap sheet that rivals that of an organized crime family) thinks he has a right to undermine NATO in the midst of a brutal Russian invasion and during delicate deliberations in Congress to pass financial aid to Ukraine, should greatly disturb the shareholders of JPMorgan Chase, as well as every clear-thinking American.

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DEA Wrong To Block Psilocybin Therapy, 9th Circ. Told
by Gunnar Larson 12 Feb '24

12 Feb '24

DEA Wrong To Block Psilocybin Therapy, 9th Circ. Told <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1796517?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> By Sam Reisman The Drug Enforcement Administration was wrong to deny a Seattle-based physician's request to treat terminally ill patients with psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, under right-to-try laws, the Ninth Circuit was told recently. Brief attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1796517?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1796517?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…>

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Boy Scouts' Abuse Victims Ask Justices To Halt Ch. 11 Plan
by Gunnar Larson 12 Feb '24

12 Feb '24

Boy Scouts' Abuse Victims Ask Justices To Halt Ch. 11 Plan <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1796424?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> By Hilary Russ Childhood sexual abuse survivors on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the Boy Scouts' bankruptcy plan and its fast-approaching claims deadline because they would be forced to waive liability for third parties, saying the high court is considering the same issue in the Purdue Pharma appeal. 1 document attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1796424?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1796424?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…>

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