- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

FTX Seeks Ch. 11 Stay On Competing Asset Claims
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

FTX Seeks Ch. 11 Stay On Competing Asset Claims <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1844055?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…> By Emlyn Cameron Defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX has urged a Delaware bankruptcy judge to put the brakes on multidistrict litigation targeting former company insiders, arguing that those claims rightfully belong to the bankruptcy estate and that any property recovered should instead go to creditors. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1844055?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1844055?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…>

1 0

A Former Exec at Citibank Raises Alarm Bells in Federal Court Over Failed Risk Controls Inside the Bank
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/06/a-former-exec-at-citibank-raises-ala… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 5, 2024 ~ Jane Fraser, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Citigroup CEO Kathleen Martin, a former Managing Director at Citigroup’s federally-insured bank, Citibank N.A., has sued the bank and her former boss, Anand Selva, in federal court in Manhattan. According to Martin’s lawsuit, she was hired for the express purpose of making sure that Citibank complied with a Consent Order from a federal banking regulator. Instead, Martin alleges, she was fired in retaliation for refusing to file false information with that regulator. The first thing you need to know about Citigroup/Citibank is that it is a recidivist megabank – serially charged for wrongdoing by its regulators while also being perpetually bailed out by the Fed. This particular saga of sticking its finger in the eye of its regulator began on October 7, 2020 when the federal regulator of national banks, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), slapped a $400 million fine on the bank. The accompanying Consent Order stated that the OCC had “identified unsafe or unsound practices with respect to the Bank’s internal controls, including, among other things, an absence of clearly defined roles and responsibilities and noncompliance with multiple laws and regulations.” In a sign of just how alarmed the OCC was with the conditions it found at Citibank, the Consent Order indicated that if the OCC did not determine that the bank was making “sufficient and sustainable progress towards achieving compliance with this Order,” the OCC was reserving the right to fire any or all members of the Citi Board of Directors as well as “senior executive officers.” And just exactly what were these alarming conditions the OCC found at Citibank? As is typical of bank regulators, the OCC did not spell out with any granularity what it had found at the bank, but the word “capital” does appear multiple times in the Consent Order. For example, the OCC writes: “The Bank shall improve the Bank’s capital planning processes that shall, at a minimum, ensure: (a) the development of and adherence to effective governance over capital planning and calculations; (b) that capital and risk-weighted assets are appropriately identified and reported; and (c) that periodic assessments of the Bank’s capital calculations and management and regulatory reporting ensure the capital calculations adequately take into account the Bank’s size, complexity, and overall risk profile.” For an idea of what might have been raising alarm bells at the OCC in regard to capital at Citigroup’s Citibank, see our report: Citigroup Has Been Paying Out More than It Earned for Years; Now It Has $102.5 Billion in Debt Maturing within Three Years. (Retaining earnings adds to capital at banks; using those earnings to buy back stock in order to prop up the share price can erode the capital base of a bank.) The OCC’s Consent Order also used the word “liquidity” multiple times. Things do not seem to be moving in the right direction there either. See: Citigroup’s Citibank Took the Largest Amount of Loans from the FHLB of NY in 2022, Reminiscent of FHLB Loans Taken by Silvergate, SVB, Signature, and First Republic Bank; and After Getting the Largest Bailout in U.S. History in 2008, 85.5 Percent of the $1.34 Trillion in Deposits at Citigroup’s Citibank Lack FDIC Insurance Today. If the Kathleen Martin lawsuit has a familiar ring to it, that’s because something quite similar happened in the same courthouse in 2021. A former compliance attorney at JPMorgan Chase, Shaquala Williams, alleged in a lawsuit that she was fired in retaliation for reporting wrongdoing at the bank. That case was also related to alleged attempts to make regulators think the bank was complying with regulatory orders when it was all a sham. Williams charged in her lawsuit that JPMorgan Chase was keeping two sets of books and effectively making a monkey out of the U.S. Department of Justice by brazenly flouting the non-prosecution agreement it had signed with the Justice Department in a previous case. In 2016 the Justice Department had charged that JPMorgan’s Asia subsidiary engaged in quid pro quo agreements with Chinese officials to obtain investment-banking business and had falsified internal documents to cover up the activities. The quid pro quo agreements involved the bank putting the children of high-ranking Chinese government officials on its payroll in order to enhance its business interests in China. In exchange for avoiding prosecution by receiving a non-prosecution agreement, the Justice Department required the bank to put in place compliance controls around third-party payments. Williams alleges, among other serious charges, that the so-called third-party payment controls were a sham and that when she blew the whistle to her superiors at the bank, JPMorgan Chase retaliated against her by firing her in October 2019. It came out in Williams’ deposition testimony, which is part of the court record, that one of the people being paid under her allegation of the bank keeping two sets of books was Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the U.K. (See our report: JPMorgan Whistleblower Names Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair in Court Documents as Receiving “Emergency” Payments from Bank.) The Williams case was quietly settled 10 days before the trial was set to begin. The Judge presiding over the case was Jed Rakoff – the same Judge who presided over multiple cases last year involving JPMorgan Chase’s financial involvement with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. (See our report: Judge Jed Rakoff Has Regularly Dined in the Past with the Chairman of the Law Firm that Just Got a Big Win in His Court in the JPMorgan Sex Trafficking Case.)

1 0

IT Co. Says Blank Space Wrongly Cost It $10B Army Deal
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

IT Co. Says Blank Space Wrongly Cost It $10B Army Deal <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843664?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> By Rae Ann Varona An Ohio information technology company urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to have the U.S. Army reinstate its eligibility for a pending $10 billion U.S. Army procurement, saying it shouldn't have been booted for an empty pricing spreadsheet cell. Motion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843664?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843664?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…>

1 0

Ex-Autonomy CEO 'Had 500M Reasons' For Fraud, Jury Told
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

Ex-Autonomy CEO 'Had 500M Reasons' For Fraud, Jury Told <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843592?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> By Bonnie Eslinger Autonomy's ex-CEO Michael Lynch "had 500 million reasons to defraud HP," since he reaped $500 million by selling his company to the tech giant at an inflated price, a federal prosecutor argued Monday during closings for the businessman's criminal trial, while Lynch's lawyer told jurors, "HP was not a victim." Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843592?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843592?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…>

1 0

Ex-Autonomy CEO 'Had 500M Reasons' For Fraud, Jury Told
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

Ex-Autonomy CEO 'Had 500M Reasons' For Fraud, Jury Told <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843592?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> By Bonnie Eslinger Autonomy's ex-CEO Michael Lynch "had 500 million reasons to defraud HP," since he reaped $500 million by selling his company to the tech giant at an inflated price, a federal prosecutor argued Monday during closings for the businessman's criminal trial, while Lynch's lawyer told jurors, "HP was not a victim." Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843592?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843592?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…>

1 0

New Mexico AG Beats Meta's Bid To Toss Child Abuse Suit
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

New Mexico AG Beats Meta's Bid To Toss Child Abuse Suit <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843216?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> By Jonathan Capriel Social media company Meta can't escape a lawsuit claiming sexual predators were allowed to abuse children on Facebook and Instagram, after a New Mexico state judge rejected Meta's claims for immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843216?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1843216?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…>

1 0

Bank.org | NY-DFS Shelf Charter Strategic Outline
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

As founder at xNY.io and co-founder at Bank.org I am getting death threats and apparently New York State knows. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> To: "Weintraub, Cathy (DFS)" <Cathy.Weintraub(a)dfs.ny.gov> Cc: "Goberdhan, Harry (DFS)" <Harry.Goberdhan(a)dfs.ny.gov>, "Choy, Man-Ying (DFS)" <Man-Ying.Choy(a)dfs.ny.gov>, cypherpunks(a)cpunks.org, letitia.james(a)ag.ny.gov Bcc: Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2024 05:02:43 -0400 Subject: Re: Bank.org | NY-DFS Shelf Charter Strategic Outline Dear Ms. Weintraub: How are you? Can we organize a call with your esteemed office as xNY.io - Bank.org has several relevant updates to share with your esteemed office. Best regards, Gunnar On Thu, Apr 22, 2021, 2:01 PM Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> wrote: > Dear Ms. Weintraub: > > *Bank.org wishes you and the NY-DFS Bank Applications team a very happy > Earth Day. * > > 1. Thank you for our recent conversation concerning Bank.org's Shelf > Charter review process > 2. From our conversation, and following the Shelf Charter review > checklist, please find Bank.org's outline attached and also available at > the link below: > - > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fwSKlEm07eY90Wh_SIujF-8C_Ixmxiuo0wkN7-L… > 3. Bank.org's Shelf Charter outlines the rationale for organizing > our proposed New York Bank Charter, the market segment Bank.org expects to > serve, the names and occupations of the incorporators, the name and > experience of the candidate for the position of Chief Executive Officer and > the proposed capitalization. > > The outline covers 30 pages with intent to clearly detail Bank.org's > desire of seeking expedited Shelf Charter review and other conditional > approval(s). Furthermore, the outline notes Bank.org is seeking certain > NY-DFS waivers considering the agile innovation circumstance. We would like > to schedule a tele-conference with you and the Bank Applications team next > week to discuss this more. > > Ms. Weintraub, we are sincerely grateful for your time and review of the > Bank.org Shelf Charter outline. And consideration of an expedited journey > to approval. We are at your disposal and eagerly await your feedback. > > Warm regards, > > Gunnar > -- > *Gunnar Larson - xNY.io <http://www.xNY.io> | Bank.org <http://Bank.org>* > MSc > <https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/msc-digital-currency/?utm_source=Google&u…> > - Digital Currency > MBA > <https://www.unic.ac.cy/business-administration-entrepreneurship-and-innovat…> > - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) > > G(a)xNY.io > +1-646-454-9107 > New York, New York 10001 >

1 0

Jury Still Deadlocked Over Carhartt Atty's Embezzlement Trial
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

Jury Still Deadlocked Over Carhartt Atty's Embezzlement Trial <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1844205?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> By Danielle Ferguson A Detroit-area jury remained deadlocked Tuesday as it deliberated for the second day on embezzlement charges against a Michigan attorney who is accused of stealing millions from Carhartt heiress Gretchen Valade when he was trustee of her irrevocable trust. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1844205?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1844205?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…>

1 0

Russian Bank Threatens Ukraine With Expropriation Claim
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

Russian Bank Threatens Ukraine With Expropriation Claim <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1844041?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> By Caroline Simson A Russian bank that operates mainly on the Crimean Peninsula on Monday began the process of filing an arbitration claim against Ukraine, accusing the smaller country of sending it into financial ruin by allegedly nationalizing its assets. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1844041?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1844041?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…>

1 0

CFPB Cautions Firms Against Contractual 'Fine Print Tactic'
by Gunnar Larson 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

CFPB Cautions Firms Against Contractual 'Fine Print Tactic' <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1843969?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> By Jon Hill The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday warned banks and other financial services firms against trying to "trick" consumers with unenforceable waivers in their customer contracts, saying their use of certain contractual terms and conditions can open them up to supervisory or enforcement action. 1 document attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1843969?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1843969?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…>

1 0