French follow U.S., Germany in fines for UBS on tax evasion
20 February, 2019
National Finance Prosecutor’s Office (Parquet National Financier or PNF) has found UBS AG is guilty of illegally soliciting clients in France and laundering the proceeds of tax evasion, and ordered it to pay 4.5 billion euros ($5.1 billion) in penalties. The combined penalties are a record for France and more than double the $2.46 billion the bank has set aside to cover potential losses from litigation and regulatory requirements.
The French trial follows a similar case in the United States, where UBS accepted a $780 million settlement in 2009, and in Germany, where it agreed to a 300 million euro fine in 2014. UBS last month reported a 2018 net profit of $4.9 billion.
The National Public Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) is a French judicial institution created in December 2013 to track down economic and financial crime. Since its installation, on March 1, 2014, the public finance attorney deals with the highly complex cases for which it has jurisdiction over the entire French territory.
[November 18 2018 DOJ sues UBS on subprime and other risky mortgage loans ]
The U.S. government on 11/9/2018 filed a civil fraud lawsuit accusing UBS Group AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, of defrauding investors in its sale of residential mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008-09 global financial crisis. The lawsuit came after UBS rejected a government proposal that it pay nearly $2 billion to settle.
UBS was accused of misleading investors about the quality of more than $41 billion of subprime and other risky mortgage loans backing 40 securities offerings in 2006 and 2007, the Department of Justice said in a complaint filed with the federal court in Brooklyn.
[ Verdict in Libor case: Matthew Connolly and Gavin Black guilty ]
Matthew Connolly
Matthew Connolly, 48, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and Gavin Black, 53, of London, were convicted of conspiring to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, which is used to value trillions of dollars of financial products, from 2004 to 2011, after a monthlong trial in Manhattan federal court,
[Mau 10 2018 Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc to pay $4.9 billion for 2008 bubble ]
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said it reached a tentative agreement to pay a $4.9 billion penalty to resolve a long-running U.S. probe into its packaging and sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis. Analysts had estimated the firm would pay more to resolve U.S. scrutiny of its mortgage business. Analysts at Deutsche Bank AG projected $9 billion, while Bloomberg Intelligence foresaw more than $11 billion. The deal in principle with the DOJ comes after Barclays Plc agreed to pay $2 billion to settle its U.S. probe in March, securing a penalty less than half of what U.S. authorities originally demanded. Rivals also charged by the DoJ include Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. The DOJ penalty comes after RBS’s $5.5bn settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency last year, and its $500m settlement with New York state last month.
[ January 12 Trump waives Libor for Deutsche Bank, Barclays, UBS (UBS), The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Rabobank and Lloyds Banking Group]
The Applicant requests that the description of the charged conduct—the clause beginning “for engaging in a conspiracy”—be omitted. The Applicant states that this description is inaccurate and incomplete, will lead to disputes with counterparties to the detriment of plans, and will make it unlikely that plans will benefit from or be protected by this exemption.
After consideration of the Applicant’s comment, the Department has revised the exemption in the manner requested by the Applicant.
The Trump administration has waived part of the punishment for Deutsche Bank and five megabanks , Barclays, UBS (UBS), The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Rabobank and Lloyds Banking Group,whose affiliates were convicted and fined for manipulating global interest rates. One of the Trump administration waivers was granted to Deutsche Bank — which is owed at least $130 million by President Donald Trump and his business empire, and has also been fined for its role in a Russian money laundering scheme.
The waivers were issued in a little-noticed announcement published in the Federal Register during the Christmas holiday week. They come less than two years after then-candidate Trump promised “I’m not going to let Wall Street get away with murder.”
December 27 2016 Euribor fixing: Swiss franc Libor rate rigging— Lloyd’s traders]
U.K. prosecutors have called in a number of former Lloyds Banking Group PlcLibor traders for questioning over manipulation of the benchmark rate, more than two years after the bank was fined nearly $400 million over the scandal.
The Serious Fraud Office asked the traders to come in for interviews under caution in recent months,
[December 27]
Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays are among banks hit with SFr99m (£78m) of fines by the Swiss competition regulator for operating four separate cartels over Swiss franc Libor rate rigging, as the international fallout from the Libor rate-rigging scandal spreads.Deutsche Bank received immunity for blowing the whistle on the cartel.
The two British lenders were hit with a combined £37m in fines, while HSBC, Lloyds and City of London brokers Icap, Tullett Prebon and RP Martin all remain under investigation by Switzerland’s competition commission, Comco.The probe also saw France’s Société Générale fined £2.6m, while proceedings remain open against JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Rabobank.
RBS was granted immunity in a separate probe into collusion with JP Morgan to influence the Swiss franc version of the Libor interest rate, after it told regulators of the activity.The scale of the Swiss regulator’s penalties pale in comparison to those dished out by European competition authorities.
[December 12 fines for late-settlers ]
European antitrust regulators on December 7 fined Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase a total of just over 485 million euros for colluding to fix benchmark interest rates tied to the euro, euribor.
The penalties, equivalent to about $520 million, came more than two years after the European authorities issued a statement of objections — a formal step in antitrust investigations — against the three banks. The inquiry began in 2011.
In December 2013, the European Union fined a group of global financial institutions a combined €1.7 billion to settle charges that they had colluded to fix benchmark interest rates, including the euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor. It was the largest combined penalty ever levied by European competition authorities.
The three banks fined on December 7 did not settle in 2013. The potential fines against those that did settle were reduced 10 percent.
[October 14 Flash trader Sarao to be extradited ]
Navinder Singh Sarao
Britain’s High Court denied a renewed application to appeal against extradition by Navinder Singh Sarao, who did not attend the High Court hearing, and he is due to be sent to the US within 28 days. Theresa May, the Home Secretary at the time, signed off his extradition in May, but the process was delayed when Mr Sarao appealed.
The High Court judges will set out their reasons for rejecting his appeal “in due course”. Navinder Sarao, a 37-year-old from Hounslow, has been fighting the US authorities’ bid to extradite him since he was arrested at his home in April 2015.
He has been charged with 22 offences that come with a maximum sentence of 380 years in total. His trading strategies, run from his bedroom in his parents’ home, generated $40m (£32m) in profits, prosecutors allege
[August 19 Manipulating BBSW-based derivatives prices, Bank bill swap rate, the Australian equivalent of Libor, by a posse of banks? Big Short Guy ]
Richard Dennis
PMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley ,BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Macquarie Group Ltd., Royal Bank of Canada and Credit Suisse Group AG. Brokers ICAP Plc and Tullett Prebon Plc are also defendants. Sonterra Capital Master Fund Ltd., various FrontPoint Financial funds and Florida-based derivatives trader Richard Dennis are complainants.
The case, filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York by attorney Vincent Briganti,
Dennis et al v. JPMorgan Chase & Co. et al
New York Southern District Court
Judge: Lewis A Kaplan
Case #: 1:16-cv-06496
Nature of Suit 410 Other Statutes – Antitrust
Cause 15:1 Antitrust Litigation (Monopolizing Trade)
Case Filed: Aug 16, 2016
Derivatives trader Richard Dennis , legendary American commodity speculator and a hedge fund firm depicted in the The Big Short movie for earning billions betting against US subprime mortgages are plaintiffs suing Australian banks in New York for allegedly manipulating market interest rates.
Dennis made his name taking huge bets on commodity futures such as grain, soybeans and pork belly in the 1970s and 80s and went on to help pioneer the renowned Turtle quantitative trading strategy.
“He was the most famous person in the [trading] pits in Chicago back then,” Brian Procter, a floor operations manager for Mr Dennis in the 1980s and now a managing director at US investment firm EMC Partners, told The Australian Financial Review on Thursday in the US.
“He would take gigantic positions, as big as the exchange would allow him.”
Mr Dennis, 67, is a class action plaintiff suing 17 international banks, including the big four Australian banks and Macquarie Group, for allegedly artificially fixing local Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW)-based derivative prices from 2003 onwards, according to a claim submitted in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York this week.
Florida-based Mr Dennis traded hundreds of Australian dollar futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
[August 10 Block release of HSBC money laundering report
DOJ asked 2d USCA on July 21 to block release of an HSBC money laundering report, HSBC Holdings Plc is working to improve its money laundering controls after the British bank was fined $1.92 billion.In the 2012 settlement, HSBC admitted to violating U.S. sanctions laws and failing to stop Mexican and Colombian cartels from laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds through the bank.
HSBC agreed to monitoring by former New York prosecutor Michael Cherkasky, now the executive chairman of the compliance company Exiger. One of the bank’s mortgage customers filed a motion to unseal Cherkasky’s report to find out whether the bank continued to engage in what the customer claimed were unsafe business practices.
“Public disclosure of the monitor’s report, even in redacted form, would hinder the monitor’s ability to supervise HSBC,” the government’s court filing said, adding that bank employees would be less likely to cooperate with the monitor if they knew their interactions could be released. n an earlier court filing, the government said that while HSBC has made significant progress since the agreement, it is still not doing enough to thwart money laundering.
The case is U.S. v. HSBC Bank USA NA et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 16-308
[June 1 Deaths of Martin Senn and Paul Wauthier
The cantonal police confirmed an application May 27 to run the investigation.
Martin Senn is said to have shot himself. The cantonal police confirmed an application May 27 to run the investigation. He had quit as chief executive of Zurich Insurance Group in December following a series of profit warnings and a botched takeover of British rival RSA. His death follows the suicide of Zurich’s finance chief Pierre Wauthier in August 2013.
Pierre Wauthier, the 53-year-old chief financial officer of one of the world’s biggest underwriters, Zurich Insurance Group ZURVY, was found hanging in the Wauthier family home, in the small upscale Zurich exurb of Walchwil, Two suicide notes, one to his family, the other to the company. At first glance, the second looked like a business communiqué, typewritten under the heading, “To Whom It May Concern.”
[April 5 2016 FCA fine prompts U.S. charges ]
Ross McLellan
McLellan, Pennings and others conspired from February 2010 to September 2011 to add secret commissions to fixed income and equity trades performed for the six clients of a unit of the bank to overcharge their clients by millions of dollars through secret commissions on trades worth billions of dollars.
Ross McLellan former State Street executive vice president, McLellan was released and is due in court again on May 19.
Edward Pennings, a former senior managing director at State Street who is believed to be living overseas and was not arrested,
The case followed a 2014 settlement between State Street and the UK Financial Conduct Authority in which the bank paid a fine of £22.9 million (about $37.8 million) for charging the six clients “substantial mark-ups” on certain transitions. The case is U.S. v. McLellan, 16-cr-10094, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).
[December 21 2015 Tom Hayes conviction upheld ]
[November 23 Spoofing Forex]
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office is investigating the posting of false bids and offers in the foreign exchange options market for emerging market currencies, a person familiar with the matter said on November 23.
Subpoenas were issued last week to four brokerages: BGC Partners (BGCP.O), GFI Group, TFS-ICAP (IAP.L) and Tullett Prebon Financial Services (TLPR.L). U.S. authorities have increased their scrutiny of so-called ‘ghosting’ or ‘spoofing,’
This month, a jury in Chicago convicted a high-frequency trader of commodities fraud and spoofing in the U.S. government’s first criminal prosecution of the trading practice.The trader, Michael Coscia, was convicted under a relatively new statute that was part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulatory overhaul, although as a state official Schneiderman operates under different legal authority.
[November 13 SFO: like Libor, so Euribor
Christian Bittar, eblink
Euribor is the average rate at which large banks lend to each other in euros. It is a daily reference rate and is published by the European Banking Federation. 10 people are charged by the SFO on November 13 for manipulating Euribor:
Christian Bittar (Deutsche Bank)
Achim Kraemer (Deutsche Bank)
Andreas Hauschild (Deutsche Bank)
Joerg Vogt (Deutsche Bank)
Ardalan Gharagozlou (Deutsche Bank)
Kai-Uwe Kappauf (Deutsche Bank)
Colin Bermingham (Barclays Bank)
Carlo Palombo (Barclays Bank)
Philippe Moryoussef (Barclays Bank)
Sisse Bohart (Barclays Bank)
[November 10 LIBOR RBS Rabobank]
caption width=”413″ align=”aligncenter”] Anthony Conti, 46, senior trader[/caption]
A Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc executive told a client at Brevan Howard Asset Management as early as August 2007 that banks were setting Libor rates to support their own trading. Property Alliance Group, which is suing RBS over losses from interest-rate derivatives pegged to the benchmark, cited the evidence as it asked a London judge for permission to add allegations of fraud Thursday. Ex-RBS head of corporate Johnny Cameron sent an e-mail to other executives after meeting with the Bank of England in April 2008 that officials “wanted banks to play U.S. Libor very straight,” according to Lord.
The message was sent around by another RBS employee who said it was “Best not to forward this please. Just verbally update the troops please,”
Rabobank traders guilty
Anthony Allen and Anthony Conti, both UK citizens, participated in a five-year conspiracy at Rabobank to rig Libor rates in dollar and yen at the Dutch Rabobank They will be sentenced next March and were not remanded in custody. Of 13 people charged by the Justice Department with offences related to Libor rigging, seven are former Rabobank traders, including Allen and Conti, who earlier this year waived their right to extradition to fight the charges. Lawyers for Allen and Conti argued that while others at the bank may have been trying to rig Libor, their clients had submitted honest rate estimates. Rabobank was fined £662m by regulators in October 2013 over the Libor scandal, sparking a move by the bank’s chairman, Piet Moerland, to step aside earlier than he had planned.
[October 13 LIBOR trial assigned to Judge Jed S. Rakoff USDC SDNY begins]
The trial of Anthony Allen, 44, and Anthony Conti, 46, in federal court in Manhattan marks the first in a case by the U.S. Justice Department spilling out of a global investigation into whether various banks sought to manipulate Libor.
U.S. v. Allen, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-cr-00272.
Allen, Rabobank’s former global head of liquidity and finance, and Conti, a senior trader, were indicted in the United States in October 2014, a year after the bank reached a $1 billion deal resolving related U.S. and European probes.
Their trial follows an earlier one in London involving alleged yen Libor manipulation that led to the conviction of Tom Hayes, a former UBS AG (UBSG.VX) and Citigroup Inc (C.N) trader who was sentenced in August to 14 years in prison.
This case is assigned to Judge Jed S. Rakoff, United States Southern District Court of New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl St., New York, NY 10007-1312.
The indicted defendants include:
[1] Paul Robson
[2] Paul Thompson
[3] Tetsuya Motomura
[4] Takayuki Yagami
[5] Anthony Allen
[6] Anthony Conti
[7] Lee Stewart
Sentencing has been set for Paul Robson on June 9, 2017, at 4:00 PM before Judge Jed S. Rakoff.
On March 23, 2015, Lee Stewart, of London pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2017.
On March 20, 2015, Anthony Allen, the Global Head of Liquidity and Finance at Rabobank’s London desk, made his initial appearance and was arraigned. He pleaded not guilty to a superseding indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud and eighteen substantive counts of wire fraud filed in an October 2014 superseding indictment. Allen is the first defendant charged in the LIBOR cases to waive extradition and be arraigned with the intention of contesting the charges. The court released Allen on a $500,000 bond and set a trial date for Oct. 5, 2015.
On October 16, 2014, Anthony Allen, the global head of liquidity and finance at Rabobank’s London desk; Paul Thompson, Rabobank’s head of money market and derivatives trading for Northeast Asia; Tetsuya Motomura, a senior trader and head of global financial markets trading-Tokyo at Rabobank’s Tokyo desk; and Anthony Conti, a senior trader on Rabobank’s money markets trading desk in London, were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud and various substantive counts of wire fraud. Two co-defendants have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme. The charges stem from a scheme to manipulate and attempt to manipulate LIBOR.
On August 18, 2014, Paul Robson, a former rate setter and senior trader at Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank) pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud charged in an April 2014 indictment. The charge stems from a conspiracy to manipulate Rabobank’s Yen LIBOR submissions to benefit trading positions.
On April 24, 2014, three former senior traders at Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank), Paul Robson of the United Kingdom, who was also a rate setter; Paul Thompson of Australia; and Tetsuya Motomura of Japan, were indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and various substantive counts of wire fraud relating to a conspiracy to manipulate LIBOR. The defendants initially were charged by complaint in January 2014.
According to the superseding indictment, at the time relevant to the charges, LIBOR was an average interest rate, calculated based on submissions from leading banks around the world, reflecting the rates those banks believed they would be charged if borrowing from other banks. LIBOR was published by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), a trade association based in London. LIBOR was calculated for 10 currencies at 15 borrowing periods, known as maturities, ranging from overnight to one year. The published LIBOR “fix” for U.S. Dollar and Yen currency for a specific maturity was the result of a calculation based upon submissions from a panel of 16 banks, including Rabobank.
LIBOR serves as the primary benchmark for short-term interest rates globally and is used as a reference rate for many interest rate contracts, mortgages, credit cards, student loans and other consumer lending products.
Rabobank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice on Oct. 29, 2013, and agreed to pay a $325 million penalty to resolve violations arising from Rabobank’s LIBOR submissions.
According to allegations in the superseding indictment, Allen, who was Rabobank’s Global Head of Liquidity & Finance and the manager of the company’s money market desk in London, put in place a system in which Rabobank employees who traded in derivative products linked to USD and Yen LIBOR regularly communicated their trading positions to Rabobank’s LIBOR submitters, who submitted Rabobank’s LIBOR contributions to the BBA. Motomura, Thompson, Yagami and other traders entered into derivative contracts containing USD or Yen LIBOR as a price component and they asked Conti, Robson, Allen and others to submit LIBOR contributions consistent with the traders’ or the bank’s financial interests, to benefit the traders’ or the banks’ trading positions. Conti, who was based in London and Utrecht, Netherlands, served as Rabobank’s primary USD LIBOR submitter and at times acted as Rabobank’s back-up Yen LIBOR submitter. Robson, who was based in London, served as Rabobank’s primary submitter of Yen LIBOR. Allen, in addition to supervising the desk in London and money market trading worldwide, occasionally acted as Rabobank’s backup USD and Yen LIBOR submitter. Allen also served on a BBA Steering Committee that provided the BBA with advice on the calculation of LIBOR as well as recommendations concerning which financial institutions should sit on the LIBOR contributor panel.
The charges in the superseding indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[September 2 Tom Hayes appeal: the Libor benchmark rigging allegations are novel.]
Far from London in Tokyo trading yen
Sir Jeremy Lionel Cooke (born 28 April 1949), styled The Hon Mr Justice Cooke at the Queen’s Bench in the High Court, ,sentenced Tom Hayes to 14 years of imprisonment on eight counts of conspiracy to defraud, separating Hayes’ conduct at each of the banks where he worked, making the sentences in respect of each consecutive rather than concurrent After the judge finished his remarks, the guard took Mr. Hayes, toting a blue-green duffel bag packed with his clothes and other belongings, into custody. He began serving his sentence immediately. Hayes will no doubt appeal the sentence, and the Court of Appeal will need to consider whether the sentence is wrong in principle or manifestly excessive in its totality. The Libor benchmark rigging allegations are novel.
The 14-year sentence eclipses those handed out in some other high-profile financial-crime cases. In 2012, Kweku Adoboli, who was convicted of fraud in causing a $2.3 billion trading loss at UBS, was sentenced by a British court to seven years in jail. Hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, convicted in the U.S. for insider trading, received an 11-year sentence.The 35-year-old Briton argued that his behavior while at UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc. was in line with industry standards, that his bosses knew about and condoned what he was doing and that he never realized his behavior was improper.
His case was closely followed—the riverside Southwark Crown Court, anticipating capacity crowds, issued tickets in advance—as the first instance of a trader being put on trial for manipulating Libor.
Replay of the LIBOR fraud. The first detail is that after LIBOR became well-established as a basis for interest rates on loans, the finance industry began to use LIBOR as the basis for lots of more complex financial transactions: for example, “exchange-traded eurodollar futures and options available from Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, and over-the-counter derivatives including caps, floors, and swaptions (that is, an option to engage in a swap contract).” I won’t plow through an explanation of those terms here. The key takeaway is that the benchmark LIBOR interest rate wasn’t just linked to about $17 trillion in US dollar loans. It was also linked to $106 trillion in interest rate swap agreements, and tens of trillions more in interest rate options and futures, as well as cross-currency swaps. As a result, if you had some information on how LIBOR was likely to change on a day-to-day basis–even if the change was a seemingly tiny amount that didn’t much matter to borrowers or lenders–you could make a substantial amount of money in these more complex financial markets.
The second detail involves how LIBOR was actually calculated. Banks did not actually submit data on the costs of borrowing; indeed, someone at a bank responded to a survey each day with an estimate of what it would cost that bank to borrow–even though on a given day many of these banks weren’t actually borrowing from other banks. In addition, during the financial crisis as it erupted in 2007 and 2008, no bank wanted to admit that it would have been charged a higher interest rate if it wanted to borrow, because financial market would be quick to infer that such bank might be in a shaky financial position.
So on one side, LIBOR is a key financial benchmark that affects literally tens of trillions of dollars of continuously traded and complicated financial instruments. On the other side, you have this key benchmark being determined by a survey of the opinions of fairly junior bank officers who have some incentive to shade the numbers. The British court found that Tom Hayes led a group of traders who sent messages to the bankers who responded to the LIBOR survey, requesting that the LIBOR rate be jerked a little higher one day, or pushed a little lower another day. Again, those who were just using the LIBOR rate as a benchmark for loans probably wouldn’t even notice these fluctuations. But traders who knew in advance how the LIBOR was going to twitch up and down could make big money in the options and futures markets.
In a similar scandal from earlier this year, Citicorp, JPMorgan, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS pled guilty to felony charges for their actions in foreign exchange markets. Again, these are very large markets, and so small acts of dishonesty can add up to large amounts. As the US. Department of Justice described it:
“According to plea agreements to be filed in the District of Connecticut, between December 2007 and January 2013, euro-dollar traders at Citicorp, JPMorgan, Barclays and RBS – self-described members of “The Cartel” – used an exclusive electronic chat room and coded language to manipulate benchmark exchange rates. Those rates are set through, among other ways, two major daily “fixes,” the 1:15 p.m. European Central Bank fix and the 4:00 p.m. World Markets/Reuters fix. Third parties collect trading data at these times to calculate and publish a daily “fix rate,” which in turn is used to price orders for many large customers. “The Cartel” traders coordinated their trading of U.S. dollars and euros to manipulate the benchmark rates set at the 1:15 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. fixes in an effort to increase their profits.
As detailed in the plea agreements, these traders also used their exclusive electronic chats to manipulate the euro-dollar exchange rate in other ways. Members of “The Cartel” manipulated the euro-dollar exchange rate by agreeing to withhold bids or offers for euros or dollars to avoid moving the exchange rate in a direction adverse to open positions held by co-conspirators. By agreeing not to buy or sell at certain times, the traders protected each other’s trading positions by withholding supply of or demand for currency and suppressing competition in the FX market.”
A trader at Barclay’s reportedly wrote in the group’s electronic chat room: “If you aint cheating, you aint trying,”
[August 5 Tom Hayes faces 9½ plus 4½ years]
Justice Jeremy Cooke sentenced Tom Hayes, a 35-year-old who worked for UBS in Tokyo trading yen, to serve nine and a half years in prison on four counts of conspiracy to manipulate a global benchmark interest rate known as Libor, to be followed by another four and a half years in prison on the remaining four counts for 14 years in total. Mr. Hayes faced as much as 10 years in prison on each count.
During his four years at UBS he was paid £1.3million/$ 2, 028, 390 in total. But ‘dissatisfied’ he quit for Citigroup in 2009, where he earned £3.5million/$ 5, 461, 400 before being sacked after nine months when his methods were discovered.
British authorities have been criticized in the United States for not being as aggressive as the Justice Department when it comes to pursuing financial crime.
[May 26 First Libor criminal trial begins]
Tom Hayes, trial starts nine years after first accused
Tom Hayes, 35, pleaded not guilty in December 2013 to four counts related to UBS, between 2006 and 2009, and four related to Citigroup, between 2009 and 2010 in relation to Libor, the benchmark rate at which banks lend to each other. Trial began in a London court on May 26. Conspiracy to defraud carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
His trial, which is expected to take more than two months, comes nine years after he is first accused of rigging the rate.
[April 26 Spoofing is good because it prevents front running?]
HFT is now reckoned to account for three-quarters of trading on US stock markets. More trading in more places, some think creates more activity, which leads to enhanced pricing that benefits everybody. But HFT firms whose goal is to “profit from regular investors by “front running” their orders – use computers to spot trading patterns and get in ahead of them. This can be reduiced by allowing spoofing. “Nav” Sarao used a system called “layering” – for example sending out a series of “sell” orders he intended to cancel but
I am the target text.
which created the illusion of downward pressure on the market. As other computers reacted to that artificial pressure, Navinder Singh Sarao, proprietor of Nav Sarao Milking Markets Ltd. [Nevis] would profit by buying at a lower price and then selling when prices returned. He figured out that the machines that execute the stock market trades of others might be gamed — and he gamed them.
Hounslow.
[April 22 Spoofing Brit out on bai]l
British trader Navinder Singh Sarao has been given conditional bail until May 26, must remain at his home in Hounslow, London, and provide £5.05 million security.
[August 28 Sarao delay request denied]
District judge Quentin Purdy ruled the expert evidence was of “no assistance to this court” as he had to decide whether the US charges would also be offences under British law, not the facts of the case. The date for the extradition hearing has been set for 25 September.
[April 21 Dynamic Layering yielded $40 m and an arrest – the Hounslow connection]
Hounslow home
Navinder Singh Sarao, 37, faces US extradition after allegedly ‘spoofing’ global financial markets by placing £134m of false trades from his Hounslow home. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said that Sarao and his company profited by more than $40m (£27m). The DOJ detailed a series of supposed coups, including episodes where Sarao is said to have made profits of more than $820,000 during a day’s trading.
Sarao allegedly employed a “dynamic layering” scheme to affect the price of E-Minis. By allegedly placing multiple, simultaneous, large-volume sell orders at different price points—a technique known as “layering”—Sarao created the appearance of substantial supply in the market. As part of the scheme, Sarao allegedly modified these orders frequently so that they remained close to the market price, and typically canceled the orders without executing them. When prices fell as a result of this activity, Sarao allegedly sold futures contracts only to buy them back at a lower price. Conversely, when the market moved back upward as the market activity ceased, Sarao allegedly bought contracts only to sell them at a higher price. Also. one count of “spoofing,” a practice of bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution.to have made profits of more than $820,000 during a day’s trading.
Sarao allegedly employed a “dynamic layering” scheme to affect the price of E-Minis. By allegedly placing multiple, simultaneous, large-volume sell orders at different price points—a technique known as “layering”—Sarao created the appearance of substantial supply in the market. As part of the scheme, Sarao allegedly modified these orders frequently so that they remained close to the market price, and typically canceled the orders without executing them. When prices fell as a result of this activity, Sarao allegedly sold futures contracts only to buy them back at a lower price. Conversely, when the market moved back upward as the market activity ceased, Sarao allegedly bought contracts only to sell them at a higher price. Also. one count of “spoofing,” a practice of bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution.
one Alex (Oleksandr) Milrud
Aleksandr Milrud has been accused by U.S. officials of recruiting stock traders in China and Korea to place high-speed buy or sell orders and then quickly cancel them, known as layering or spoofing, Aleksandr Milrud is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud for manipulating stock prices through a process called “layering,” according to federal prosecutors. Layering, also known as “spoofing,” is a form of manipulative, high-speed stock trading in which a trader places non-bona fide orders to buy or sell securities and then quickly cancels them before they are executed. The case is the first of its kind to be brought against a trader in the stock market. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a separate civil case against him. Critics have warned that high-speed trading could make it easier to engage in practices such as “layering” or “spoofing,” both of which involve placing fake orders to create the appearance of increased activity in a stock or other asset in order to move its price.
Milrud used a network of overseas traders and brokerage accounts to place fake orders for individual stocks to move their prices in a particular direction. The fake orders would be canceled before they could be filled, but traders working for Milrud would also make real trades in the stocks to take advantage of their temporarily inflated or depressed prices.
According to prosecutors, Milrud hired a software company to program “hotkeys” so orders could be made and canceled using just a few keyboard strokes. Milrud allegedly believed his fake orders would be untraceable, but U.S. authorities convinced the owner of an offshore broker-dealer he was using to cooperate with their investigation.
[December 9 2014 Spoofing, canceled bids and offers, and Icap]
Michael Spencer and Sarah Milford Haven formerly married to to Prince Philip’s cousin, the Marquess of Milford Haven, termed Sarah, Marchioness of Milford Haven, is seeing moneybroker Michael Spencer, 53, Spencer stood down as treasurer and member of the board of the Conservative Party in October 2010 , formerly considered to be the most powerful man in the City of London.(2008) ICAP’s chief executive, Michael Spencer has cut hundreds of jobs once held by voice brokers—who take orders and execute trades manually by phone or computer—while expanding electronic-trading services.
Executives from three of the biggest market-making firms say an electronic bait-and-switch tactic known as spoofing, which is already the focus of a manipulation allegation at a futures exchange, needs to be investigated in cash Treasuries.. Spoofing in Treasury bonds and related futures contracts has cost traders $500,000 to $1 million a day, an executive at one of the market makers said. Spoofers try to make money by feigning interest in buying or selling at a certain price, creating the illusion of demand in an attempt to get other traders to move the market. The spoofer cancels the original trade and buys or sells at the new price to make a profit. It’s sometimes called “pull and hit.”
The market for trading cash Treasuries by institutional investors is dominated by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.’s ESpeed system and BrokerTec, owned by ICAP Plc. (IAP) Earlier this year, ESpeed touted shaving 100 millionths of a second from data delivery to lure traders to its service.Committee members, who weren’t named in the minutes of the meeting, told the group that like stocks and currencies, “fixed income markets had begun to see a noticeable increase to volumes traded electronically.” They added: “Some committee members also suggested that the liquidity provided in the market through electronic trading was small.”
That’s not what brokers say. Two years before the meeting, Michael Spencer, the CEO of ICAP, said that slightly less than 55 percent of the volume on BrokerTec is conducted via high-frequency trading, which is also known as HFT.
In the CME complaint, a Chicago trading firm called HTG Capital Partners LLC filed an arbitration claim asserting damages from a pattern of canceled bids and offers allegedly meant to mislead traders in Treasury futures, according to people familiar with the matter. Allston Trading LLC, a Chicago-based proprietary trading firm, was identified by CME in that arbitration as a counterparty to the HTG transactions, according to people familiar with the matter. The arbitration is ongoing.
[December 5 3 from ICAP plead not guilty to LIBOR manipulation]
Three former brokers at ICAP, the brokerage run by Michael Spencer, pleaded not guilty on December 5 to criminal charges that they attempted to manipulate the Libor interbank benchmark rate.
Colin Goodman, Darrell Read and Danny Wilkinson all entered their not-guilty pleas to a packed courtroom at Southwark Crown Court on December 5 to charges of conspiracy to defraud brought by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.
Mr Read, a Briton who lives in New Zealand, entered his plea via video link. The others appeared in the dock, together with three brokers from RP Martin and Tullett Prebon, with whom they are all set to face a 12-week jury trial scheduled for September 2015. All six are on conditional bail.
All six brokers are accused of conspiring to manipulate the yen-denominated Libor rate to benefit a trader who worked at UBS and then at Citibank.
That trader, who has pleaded not guilty in a parallel case brought by the SFO, faces his own jury trial that is due to begin in May. It will be the first in the world of a defendant charged with Libor-related offences.
The US Department of Justice has also charged 10 people, including seven Britons. That number includes the three ICAP brokers and the former UBS trader. They have not had the opportunity to enter pleas to the DoJ’s charges. Typically if British defendants face similar charges over the same alleged wrongdoing in the UK as well as in another country, they will be safe from extradition.
In the SFO’s case, the former Tullett broker, Noel Cryan, has not yet had a formal opportunity to enter a plea to the charge against him, although he appeared in the dock on Friday. He only had his first magistrates appearance in October.
Gillian Jones, prosecuting for the SFO, confirmed that Mr Cryan would be joined with the other five defendants to face trial in September.The US Department of Justice announced plans to prosecute the three brokers at Icap, the brokerage run by Michael Spencer,(the world’s biggest money brokers he founded in 1986, of which he owns 22 per cent) for colluding to manipulate Libor to benefit a client at UBS who generated lucrative business for Icap
[Novemberr 19 Swiss FINMA: criminal investigations over alleged manipulation in the foreign exchange market]
2008
On November 19, FINMA said it had started enforcement proceedings against 11 former and current UBS employees as part of its forex investigation.Switzerland’s public prosecutor has opened criminal investigations into several individuals over alleged manipulation in the foreign exchange market, becoming the third country to do so after the United States and Britain, but said on November 20 that the investigations did not involve any banks.
The investigations were based on suspicion of “unfaithful financial management”, punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine, and “violation of professional secrecy”, which carries a penalty of up to three years in jail or a fine. The public prosecutor is exchanging information with Switzerland’s financial watchdog, FINMA in its investigations and is also in contact with Switzerland’s competition commission, WEKO, which is investigating possible collusion in the forex market by several banks.
[September 13 LIBOR investigation: A fat rising balloon]
Trial balloon: In the year since the scandal surfaced, regulatory authorities have yet to show proof of criminal activity or manipulation of benchmark exchange rates so maybe a settlement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on the basis of banks acknowledging lax internal compliance, oversight failures and market conduct breaches by individual employees, but not deliberate manipulation of the $5 trillion-a-day market.
[August 23 Robson pleads to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud
A Rabobank trader became the second to plead guilty in a criminal plot to manipulate a global financial benchmark used to set rates on trillions of dollars in loans.
United Kingdom citizen Paul Robson, pleaded guilty, admitting he helped manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate for Japanese yen between May 2006 and January 2011 in a plot to boost trading profits for himself and others.
Rabobank agreed in October to pay $1.07 billion to international regulators to settle a Libor probe. Mr. Robson, along with former Rabobank yen Libor derivatives traders Paul Thompson and Tetsuya Motomura, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud as well as substantive counts of wire fraud, according to the DOJ. Robson pleaded guilty August 18 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud
[August 6 Deutsche Bank AG, Europe’s largest investment bank. denies unreasonable involvement]
Anshu Jain
“According to the current status of the investigation, no member of the Executive Board was unreasonable in any way an acting or earlier involvement in reference to interest rates,” the bank spokesman said, reiterateing earlier statements.
Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin, is extending investigations into alleged interest-rate manipulation at Deutsche Bank AG, Europe’s largest investment bank.
BaFin mandated audit company Ernst & Young LLP to discover more about when Anshu Jain, the company’s co-chief executive officer, learned first about a potential manipulation of benchmark interest rates in the industry and at Deutsche Bank, according to information from the mandate description. The regulator defined 10 areas at which the auditors are supposed to take a closer look, with Jain being listed as a key person in six of them.
[August 1 Lloyds fine cost of banking? Profits up 32%]
Lord Blackwell, a former Downing Street adviser to Margaret Thatcher and John Major, is chairman of the state-backed Lloyds Banking Group.
Lloyds posted a 32 percent gain in first-half earnings today after bad loans fell, and said it’s setting aside 1.1 billion pounds for legal redress. Lloyds reported an underlying profit for the six months to the end of June of 3.8 billion pounds ($6.4 billion), up 32 percent from a year ago.
The U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender suspended traders Clive Jones, John Argent and Udit Dewan in London, said the person, asking not to be identified as the details are private. Jones, who joined Lloyds Bank in 1977, was appointed global director of money markets following the merger with HBOS Plc in 2008, according to the lender’s website. Argent returned to work in mid-2012 after being suspended that year amid a probe of potential manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, Jones rejoined Lloyds in mid-2012 as global director of money markets after being suspended for presumably manipulating Libor.
“In the end, the traders win. They always win, because higher-ups don’t get their fat paychecks and bonuses unless the traders make a killing.” Shah Gilani
[July 29 Lloyd’s axed 22 people over $370 million fine]
Lloyds Banking Group has suspended seven employees after it was hit with a £226m bill from regulators on both sides of the Atlantic for rigging LIBOR -crucial interest rates. Among those suspended by Lloyds on July 28 were three of the four unnamed individuals cited by the FCA who may have been involved in depriving the Bank of England of emergency funding fees of almost £8m.
A total of 22 people are understood to be bound up in the latest regulatory crackdown on benchmark manipulation; six had already been suspended before Monday and the rest have already left the bank.
July 28 Libor, the benchmark interest rate: Lloyds fined $105 million by the CFTC, $86 million by the DOJ]
Lloyds Banking Group Plc’s penalty is less than the 290 million pounds Barclays Plc (BARC) paid in June 2012 when the London-based lender became the first to settle Libor-manipulation claims. Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond was forced to resign in the aftermath of the settlement. UBS AG (UBSN), Switzerland’s biggest bank, has paid the most, settling with U.S., U.K. and Swiss regulators in 2012 at the cost of $1.5 billion.
Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY), bailed out by British taxpayers during the financial crisis, will pay 218 million pounds ($370 million) in fines to U.K. and U.S. regulators after manipulating benchmark interest rates.
The lender will pay $105 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $86 million to the Department of Justice and 105 million pounds to Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority, according to a statement today. Lloyds has also paid a further 7.8 million pounds in compensation to the Bank of England after the actions of its traders reduced the fees the central bank received from one of its emergency-rescue packages. At least nine financial firms have been fined about $6 billion for manipulating Libor, the benchmark interest rate for more than $300 trillion of securities worldwide.
[March 14 Libor manipulated in 2008: FDIC joins the action, sues 16 banks
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued 16 of the world’s largest banks on March 14, accusing them of collusively suppressing interest rates. Named as defendants were Bank of America Corp, Barclays PLC, Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings PLC, JPMorgan Chase & Co, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and UBS AG. Other defendants in the lawsuit include Rabobank, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Societe Generale, Norinchukin Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and WestLB AG.
The case is Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, et al, v. Bank of America Corp, et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-1757.
The lawsuit also named as a defendant the British Banks’ Association, the U.K. trade organization which during the period at issue administered Libor. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States federal agency created in 1933 in response to widespread bank failures in the 1920s and early 1930s. The FDIC’s mission is to maintain stability and consumer confidence in the United States banking system by insuring deposits, monitoring the health of financial institutions and managing receiverships.
[January 21]
The trial of Hayes, who last December was also charged with fraud-related offences by U.S. prosecutors
Three former Rabobank bankers were charged by US authorities on January 13 with allegedly manipulating Libor and other key benchmark interest rates as the criminal investigation widened to include another wave of individuals.
The US Department of Justice announced criminal conspiracy and fraud charges against Paul Robson, a former senior rate trader and submitter in the UK who left the Rabobank in 2008, Paul Thompson, an Australian who headed the bank’s derivatives desk in Singapore, and Tetsuya Motomura, a senior trader and supervisor in Japan. They are accused of conspiring to manipulate the yen Libor rate.
The charges announced January 13 follow Rabobank’s settlement in October 2013 with US, UK and Dutch authorities in which it paid $1bn and admitted that 30 employees around the globe manipulated several different interest rates, Euribor and Libor for the US dollar, yen, and pound sterling.
Previously the US charged Tom Hayes and Roger Darin, his former colleague at UBS, for allegedly manipulating Libor. Mr Darin, a Swiss citizen, has not entered a plea to the charges. His lawyer has previously declined to comment.
Tom Hayes has pleaded not guilty to the UK charges and has not entered a plea to the US case.
Three former employees of inter-dealer broker ICAP have also been charged: Darrell Read, Daniel Wilkinson and Colin Goodman. They have not entered pleas.
None of the former Rabobank traders charged are based in the US, which could set up another turf battle with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, which is also investigating the bank and, specifically, Mr Robson’s role.
The SFO indicated last year that it would identify Mr Robson and 21 others as co-conspirators within an indictment that was to be filed against Mr Hayes. The SFO later narrowed the charges and did not include the names.
US authorities allege Rabobank submitters manipulated rates to help their own positions, at times it is alleged that they helped other banks, including UBS, attempt to manipulate rates.
Mr Robson, Mr Thompson and Mr Motomura allegedly entered “ridiculously” high and “silly” low Libor submissions to benefit their own positions, DoJ said.
In May 2006, according to DoJ, Mr Thompson emailed Mr Robson asking him to “sneak your 3m libor down a cheeky 1 or 2 bp” because “it will make a bit of diff for me” on a large position he held.
[December 13 2013]The first three men to face trial in connection with a global investigation into a rate-rigging scandal that has rocked the financial industry pleaded not guilty in court on December 10, being prosecuted by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office.
Tom Hayes, a former UBS and Citigroup trader has been charged with eight counts of conspiring with staff from at least 10 major banks and brokerages to manipulate Libor benchmark interest rates between 2006 and 2010.
Farr and Gilmour, former RP Martin brokers who were arrested alongside Hayes in Britain last December and later also charged with two and one count of conspiracy to defraud respectively by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, also pleaded not guilty. All three are on bail.
The pleas pose a challenge to SFO head David Green, who has staked his reputation on the success of high-profile investigations such as the sprawling investigation into the manipulation of benchmarks such as Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate).
U.S. and European authorities have fined 10 banks and brokerages around $6 billion to date and charged seven men with criminal offences in connection with the rate-rigging scam. Regulators are also now investigating how other benchmarks are set, such as in foreign exchange and swaps markets.
Libor rates, designed to reflect the wholesale cost of loans, are used to help to price hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of financial products worldwide, ranging from derivatives to mortgages.
Prosecutors allege Hayes conspired to defraud with staff of UBS, Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBS, ICAP, Tullet Prebon, at least one employee of Deutsche Bank,
Rabobank and HSBC, Farr and Gilmour and another employee of RP Martin while he worked in Japan.
“They dishonestly agreed to procure or make submissions of rates … which were false or misleading in that they were intended to create an advantage to the trading position of Tom Hayes and others and deliberately disregarded the proper basis for the submission of those rates, thereby intending to prejudice the economic interests of others,” the indictment alleges.
Judge Jeremy Cooke set a London trial date for Hayes for January 2015. The trial of Hayes, who last December was also charged with fraud-related offences by U.S. prosecutors, could take 12 weeks, lawyers said.
The provisional trial date of Farr and Gilmour, which is expected to take around 6 weeks, has been set for September 2015, in part to allow the SFO time to bring a case against further alleged co-conspirators.
The SFO’s head Green had been hoping to charge more individuals in connection with the Libor investigation around this autumn.
UBS, which paid $1.5 billion to U.S. and European regulators last year to settle Libor-rigging charges – the biggest Libor-related fine to date – declined to comment as did Citigroup and ICAP.
RP Martin, Deutsche Bank, Rabobank and JPMorgan also declined to comment. Tullett Prebon and HSBC did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.
Hayes joined Swiss bank UBS in Tokyo in 2006, becoming a senior trader of interest-rate derivatives indexed to yen-denominated Libor. In late 2009, he left UBS to join Citigroup in Tokyo. He left the U.S. bank less than a year later.
While Hayes was at UBS, Farr and Gilmour are alleged to have conspired with him and other UBS employees, another RP Martin employee, an employee of Rabobank and one at HSBC, among others, by trying to influence yen-denominated Libor.
Farr is also charged with conspiring with Hayes and others while Hayes worked at Citibank.
[January 11 2013]
The Deutsche Bank documents, handed to investigators by a former employee of the bank and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, show for the first time the scope and manner in which a bank painstakingly constructed a string of trades in hopes of profiting from small changes in various rates.
Deutsche Bank AG DBK.XE -0.34% made at least €500 million ($654 million) in profit in 2008 from trades pegged to the interest rates under investigation by regulators world-wide, internal bank documents show.
The German bank’s trading profits resulted from billions of euros in bets related to the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and other global benchmark rates.
Regulators have been investigating allegations that more than a dozen banks, including Deutsche Bank, rigged Libor and other interest rates underpinning trillions of dollars in loans and other financial contracts. The probe has already produced settlements totaling nearly $2 billion with BarclaysBARC.LN +1.51% PLC and UBSUBSN.VX +0.83% AG.
[December 27]
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank said it is investigating possible misconduct by UBS over its submission of interbank rates, raising the possibility that the bank could face more fines a day after it agreed to pay $1.5 billion (922.3 million pounds) for its role in the Libor scandal.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said in a statement on December 28 that it had received information from overseas regulatory authorities about possible misconduct by UBS involving submissions for the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (Hibor) and other reference rates in the region.
On December 25 [HK], the Swiss bank admitted to fraud and bribery in connection with efforts to rig Libor and other benchmark interest rates and agreed to pay $1.5 billion in fines to regulators in the United States, Britain and Switzerland.
While the bank will hope that settlement will draw a line under its role in Libor manipulation, it remains at risk of action from regulators elsewhere for possible rate rigging.
Besides Hong Kong, an investigation is still ongoing in Singapore into possible manipulation of benchmark interest and foreign exchange rates.
A spokesman for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on December 27 that banks on rate-setting panels in the city-state, including UBS, are still conducting reviews into their rate-setting processes.
“The reviews are ongoing, and it is premature to speculate on the outcome of these reviews at this stage”.
[December 20]
—UBS Securities Japan Co. Ltd. (UBS Japan), an investment bank, financial advisory securities firm, and wholly owned subsidiary of UBS AG, has agreed to plead guilty to felony wire fraud and admit its role in manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), a leading benchmark used in financial products and transactions around the world, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today. The criminal information, filed today in U.S. District Court in the District of Connecticut, charges UBS Japan with one count of engaging in a scheme to defraud counterparties to interest rate derivatives trades by secretly manipulating LIBOR benchmark interest rates.
As part of the ongoing criminal investigation by the Criminal and Antitrust Divisions of the Justice Department and the FBI into LIBOR manipulation, two former senior UBS traders also are charged. Tom Alexander William Hayes, 33, of England, and Roger Darin, 41, of Switzerland, were both charged with conspiracy in a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court earlier today. Hayes is also charged with wire fraud, based on the same scheme, and a price fixing violation arising from his collusive activity with another bank to manipulate LIBOR benchmark rates.
UBS Japan has signed a plea agreement with the government admitting its criminal conduct and has agreed to pay a $100 million fine. In addition, UBS AG, the parent company of UBS Japan headquartered in Zurich, has entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the government requiring UBS AG to pay an additional $400 million penalty to admit and accept responsibility for its misconduct as set forth in an extensive statement of facts and to continue cooperating with the Justice Department in its ongoing investigation. The NPA reflects UBS AG’s substantial cooperation in discovering and disclosing LIBOR misconduct within the financial institution and recognizes the significant remedial measures undertaken by new management to enhance internal controls.
Together with approximately $1 billion in regulatory penalties and disgorgement—$700 million as a result of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) action; $259.2 million as a result of the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA) action; and $64.3 million as a result of the Swiss Financial Markets Authority (FINMA) action—the Justice Department’s criminal penalties bring the total amount of the resolution to more than $1.5 billion.
[December 19]
UBS AG (UBSN)’s $1.5 billion fine for rigging global interest rates expands the scandal to include bribery and highlights the influence of a trader in Tokyo who colluded with other banks to align their submissions.
The employee led efforts to influence Japanese Yen Libor submissions by paying brokers as much as 15,000 pounds ($24,400) a quarter and offering a payment to another for helping him keep that day’s rate low. The banker, identified by regulators as Trader A, worked at UBS in Tokyo from 2006 to 2009 and directly contacted employees at other banks to influence their submissions at least 80 times.
Trader A wrote to the broker on Sept. 18, 2008, referring to six-month yen Libor. “If you do that … I’ll pay you, you know, $50,000, $100,000… whatever you want … I’m a man of my word,” according to transcripts released by the U.K. Financial Services Authority today.
[December 13]
Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) said on December 13 it wanted to play a role administrating overhauled interbank lending rates. In September, Martin Wheatley, FSA managing director, recommended changes to how Libor was set, governed and supervised. A replacement for the BBA as Libor administrator is now being selected by an independent panel.
[December 11]
Three British men were arrested on December 11 as part of the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the manipulation of Libor. The three are understood to be Thomas Hayes, who has worked at several institutions including UBS and Citigroup, along with Terry Farr and Jim Gilmour. The latter pair are understood to work for RP Martin, a broker which facilitates trading between banks and other financial firms.
The SFO would only say that three men, aged 33, 41 and 47, were taken to a London police station in the early morning after the three properties were searched.
The SFO and City of London police arrested three men aged 33, 41 and 47 after searching a house in Surrey and two properties in Essex.
The three were taken to a London police station to be interviewed “in connection with the investigation into the manipulation of Libor”.
The SFO’s investigation into Libor rigging was sparked by the $450m fine levied on Barclays in June, which led to the departures of the bank’s chairman Marcus Agius, chief executive Bob Diamond and newly promoted chief operating officer Jerry del Missier for allowing traders to rig it and Euribor and for low-balling rates during the 2007/08 credit crunch.
[November 9]
UBS and RBS are next in line to settle with the regulators, people familiar with the case have said.. “Obviously when we first received it there was anxiety that execution of the request could mop up SFO resources,” he said.
“We are anxious to execute it” and will “certainly” assist, he said. Green said the agency, while working closely with the DOJ, is also competing to bring charges first in order to handle the prosecution of any British citizens in the U.K., reducing the chance of extradition.
U.K. prosecutors are poised to arrest former traders and rate setters at UBS AG (UBSN), Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) and Barclays Plc within a month for questioning over their role in the Libor scandal, a person with knowledge of the probe said.
The arrests will be made by police under the direction of prosecutors at the Serious Fraud Office within the next month, said the person, who declined to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Arrests in the U.K. are made at an early stage of the investigation, allowing police and prosecutors to question people under caution and may not lead to charges.
The SFO has 40 people working on the probe into manipulation of the London interbank bank offered rate, a benchmark for financial products valued at $360 trillion worldwide, and has involved the City of London Police, said David Green, the agency’s director.
[August 13] Jay Merchant, the former Barclays employee who has come under federal scrutiny in the Libor manipulation scandal, has left his position as head of swaps trading at UBS, a spokeswoman at the bank confirmed.
(August 12)Former UBS traders and other employees who had relatively junior-level jobs have been offered deals in return for their cooperation with the escalating investigation of suspected interest-rate manipulation, according to a person close to the probe.
No more than a few of the UBS employees under investigation for alleged interest-rate manipulation still work there, and the company has fired or suspended about 20 traders and managers as a result of the four-year inquiry.
[July 25]Appearing before the House financial services committee,US treasury secretary Tim Geithner told the committee that press reports and the New York Fed’s own investigations had convinced him that there was a risk that Libor was designed to give “not just the incentive to under report but also the opportunity”.
“I personally raised this with the governor of the Bank of England,” said Geithner. “We felt, and I still believe this, that it was really going to be on them to fix this.”
[july 18]Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England , has written a letter sent July 18 to members of the Economic Consultative Committee, which he heads, suggesting a dinner on Sept. 9 in Basel, Switzerland, as the forum for exchanging ideas on how to deal with Libor’s shortcomings,
[July 16] When Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in 2008, as head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, advised the British about improvements in LIBOR setting, he was acting on messages from U.S. ‘market participants’ –banks.
[July 15]The NY Fed knew that banks were lying about their Libor rates back in 2008, according to transcripts of phone calls released today.
[July 10]Whether the BoE instructed Barclays to lower its submissions or not, regulators had a pretty clear motive for wanting lower LIBOR: British banks, in effect, were being shut out of the markets.
[July 9]Bank of England Deputy Governor Paul Tucker said no government minister or official pressured him to instruct Barclays Plc (BARC) or any other U.K. commercial bank to lowball its Libor submissions during the financial crisis.
“Absolutely not,”
[July 6]The U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has confirmed that it has formally launched an investigation into the rigging of inter-bank lending rates. Regulators are continuing to look into possible rate manipulation at other banks, while the US Department of Justice is carrying out its own criminal investigations.
[July 5]U.K. lawmakers grilled former Barclays CEO Robert Diamond for three hours July 4 about what he knew about the rating-fixing scandal that led to his resignation earlier this week. In late 2008 Barclay’s – and, Diamond alleges, other banks – apparently low-balled the rates they reported for LIBOR averaging so as to make the banks’ finances look more stable than they were. The idea was to put out a false image of stability to prevent market panic and stave off calls for additional regulation or even nationalization, a solution that looked increasingly likely during the height of the financial crisis. The direct effect for consumers here was to make loans cheaper, but the indirect effect, or the intended one at least, was to lessen chances of government action against the banks. So the banks manipulating LIBOR weren’t just messing with peoples’ finances – they were trying to mess with the peoples’ laws.
[July 3]Two big implications: One is the obvious accusation that the BoE pressured Barclays Plc to lower its stated borrowing rate. The other the implication that EVERY other bank was doing the same thing, since the gist of the call between Diamond and Tucker was that Barclays needed to get into line with the other banks. more
[earlier July 3]Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond resigns with immediate effect. Barclays’ newly appointed Chief Operating Officer, Jerry del Missier, resigns from the bank.
Barclays Bank chairman Marcus Agius, who on July 1 had also quit, was to return to the lender in the position of executive chairman until a new CEO is appointed, Agius faces increasing pressure over the Libor rate-fixing scandal.
[June 27]
Marcus Agius
Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond , Chief Operating Officer Jerry del Missier, and corporate and investment banking chief Rich Ricci
Holger Seger, global head of short-term interest rates trading,
Chris Lucas
Libor May 2008
Barclays Plc (BARC) was fined 290 million pounds ($453.2 million), the largest penalties ever imposed by regulators in the U.S. and U.K., to settle U.S. and U.K. probes into whether it sought to rig the London and euro interbank offered rates. . Derivatives traders requested the false submissions in the Libor and Euribor setting process, as they were “motivated by profit and sought to benefit Barclays’ trading positions,” Britain’s Financial Services Authority said.
As well as Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond , Chief Operating Officer Jerry del Missier, Finance Director Chris Lucas and corporate and investment banking chief Rich Ricci are also forgoing bonuses this year.
[March 7]The Feb. 27 letter to U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan was made public yesterday and is the first public acknowledgment by the Justice Department of the criminal investigation of benchmark lending rates such as the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor.
Buchwald cited the letter at a March 1 hearing in which she denied a request for documents related to the investigation by investors suing Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), Bank of America Corp. and other companies over claims they artificially suppressed Libor.
“The Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into alleged manipulation of certain benchmark interest rates,” including those for “several currencies” on the Libor exchange, according to the letter signed by lawyers from the fraud section of the Justice Department’s criminal division and its antitrust division.
UBS traders and cash brokers conspired to influence the Yen London interbank offered rate from 2007 to 2010 to profit on interest-rate derivatives linked to the benchmark. Regulators worldwide are investigating whether banks attempted to manipulate the London, Tokyo and euro interbank offered rates, known as Libor, Tibor and Euribor. The lender is the cooperating party referred to by Canada’s Competition Bureau in court papers filed by the regulator with the Ontario Superior Court in May. UBS has also suspended a number of employees including Yvan Ducrot, co-head of rates, and Holger Seger, global head of short-term interest rates trading,ubs
[February 9]Japan’s regulators said Citigroup traders engaged in “seriously unjust and malicious” conduct in the first findings as authorities in Asia, Europe and the U.S. conduct widening inquiries into whether employees at some of the world’s biggest banks sought to manipulate the London, Tokyo and euro interbank offered rates, known as Libor, Tibor and Euribor, respectively. The rates were used by investors to gauge the ability of firms to borrow money at the height of the 2008 credit crisis and can play a key role in derivatives trades. Regulators are investigating whether rate bids were low- balled during the financial crisis, if traders at banks and hedge funds sought to influence rate-setters to profit on interest-rate derivatives and whether traders received advanced word about which direction rates would move, the FT reported, without saying how it got the information.
[10 February]Traders at different banks appeared to be trying to influence the movement of Libor and similar benchmarks to profit from derivatives tied to the rates, citing information submitted to regulators. According to people familiar with the probe, the CFTC is examining whether traders placed bets on future yen and dollar rates and colluded with bank treasury departments, who help set the Libor index, to move the rates in their direction. It is also looking at whether some banks lowballed their Libor submissions to make themselves appear stronger.
All 16 banks on the London panel in 2007 and 2008 have received information requests. The investigation is being handled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, Japan’s Financial Supervisory Agency and the U.K. Financial Services Authority. European Union antitrust regulators and the Swiss Competition Commission are also examining Libor rates. Credit Suisse Group AG, Bank of America Corporation, J.P. Morgan Chase andamp; Co., HSBC Holdings plc, Barclays Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc, WestLB AG, UBS AG, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Deutsche Bank AG, The Norinchukin Bank, and Citibank, N.A., have been named in two separate class actions alleging fraud and the manipulation of LIBOR Rates and Exchange Traded LIBOR Based Derivatives.
Danske: Russian Laundromat
20 February, 2019
Allegations are linking Swedbank to suspicious transactions in the country involving Danske Bank, Estonia’s state prosecutor said: at least 40 billion Swedish crowns ($4.30 billion) had been transferred between accounts at Swedbank and Danske in the Baltics between 2007 and 2015. “This does not automatically mean (or exclude) that a bank receiving payments in a possible money laundering operation has committed a crime or has breached the bank’s requirement to know its client and identify suspicious circumstances,”
50 of Swedbank’s customers that show several risk indicators of suspected money laundering have funneled a total of USD 5.8 billion through the bank.
[January 7 2019]
In the case of Danske Bank, the names of the original individuals and organizations believed to have engineered the illicit flows of cash from Russia and Azerbaijan are still unknown. So, too, are the beneficial owners of the UK-based companies registered in various Caribbean islands that accepted the funds. Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs), were created under the British Criminal Act of 2017 and have been effective since the start of 2018.
We are currently looking for a Transformation Consultant who can help us enable the agile transformation of Danske Bank and realize our ambitious strategic targets.
Agile Transformation supports and facilitates the adoption of agile ways of working in Danske Bank across all business units. We are a group of engaged colleagues working with customer experience, organizational capability building, agile coaching and agile execution as well as high performing teams. We work cross-functionally and liaise and collaborate closely with the global development organizations of 2,600 employees who handle our customers end-to-end in our endeavour to adopt agile ways of working.
. What is clear is that the Danske Bank scandal has underscored that Russia’s economic revival and gradual integration into the global economy hang in the balance. Two hundred billion euros is a substantial sum of money, but only a fraction of the estimated $800 billion held offshore by rich Russians. To put this number in perspective, it is equal to the current wealth of all Russian households
[ October 17 2018]
Jacob Aarup-Andersen, 40, the Danske board’s choice to take over the helm of Denmark’s biggest bank, was rejected by the country’s financial regulator on the grounds that he wasn’t experienced enough.“This can’t be interpreted as anything other than a slap in the face,” said Per Hansen, economist at investment firm Nordnet.
The Danske Bank Scandal Is the Tip of the Iceberg According to the report, two of the main perpetrators were the Russian and Azerbaijani “Laundromat” operations.
The Russian and Azerbaijani Laundromats were central to the fraud taking place at Danske Bank’s Estonian branch. The Laundromats were criminal financial vehicles that helped to launder money worldwide through shell companies by using fraud, the rigging of state contracts, and customs and tax evasion. The Russian Laundromat worked between 2011 and 2014 by creating 21 “core” companies in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and New Zealand.
These companies generated fake debt, then obtained a Moldovan court order that required 19 Russian companies pay these debts to Moldova-based Moldindconbank and Latvia-based Trasta Komercbanka. Once out of Russia, the money was transferred all around the world, accounting for 26,746 payments totaling $20.8 billion to 5,140 companies with accounts at 732 banks in 96 countries. At Danske Bank, 177 customers received payments from these core companies.
Similarly, the Azerbaijani Laundromat used a series of shell companies to disguise the origin of $2.9 billion that is suspected to come from the family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. This Laundromat worked as a slush fund to pay off politicians, siphon off private funding, and launder money. While much of this scheme is still under investigation, 75 customers of Danske Bank are implicated, and the Estonian branch handled the accounts of all four major companies involved in the Azerbaijani Laundromat.
[October 11 2018 Andrei Kozlov murdered for informing to Danes ? ]
Andrei Kozlov, the first deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank traveled to Estonia in the summer of 2006 to warn the authorities that a money-laundering scheme had been established in the tiny Baltic financial sector: the $200 billion Danske Bank scandal. Sept. 13, 2006, three strangers approached Kozlov at the Spartak Moscow sports complex in northeast Moscow. They fired a volley of shots that struck Kozlov and his driver.
Kozlov became the third dead Russian who can be linked to the Danske scandal after Alexander Perepilichnyy, whose company used the bank’s Estonia branch, died in suspicious circumstances in Britain, and Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who was investigating the theft of $230 million when he died in Russian custody. It is claimed that the vast majority of the proceeds of that theft were laundered through Danske Bank.
[ October 6 2018 Lantana Trade had Putin family as beneficial owners ]
Howard Wilkinson laid out how a UK-based limited liability partnership (LLP) called Lantana Trade “apparently” had beneficial owners that included “the Putin family and the FSB”, the Russian intelligence services.
Danske Bank (DANSKE.CO) said in a statement it had “received requests for information from the US Department of Justice in connection with a criminal investigation relating to the bank’s Estonian branch conducted by the DoJ,” and was cooperating. News of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation has caused panic. The bank’s shares were dumped and some bondholders are even wondering whether Danske might start having trouble making interest payments on its riskiest debt.The scale of the bank’s Estonian money laundering scandal has shocked the world. Over a nine-year period, about $235 billion flowed through a tiny unit in the Baltic country, much of it suspicious, Danske said last month. Besides the U.S. probe, Danske is being investigated in Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland and the U.K. Separate investigations will examine the extent to which the bank’s regulators and auditors acted appropriately.
It said of the approximately 6,200 accounts it had examined so far that most were linked to clients registered in Russia, Britain and the British Virgin Islands and “the vast majority of these customers have been deemed suspicious”.
[September 20 2018 Russians warned Danes about laundered billions in 2007 ]
Thomas F Borgen
Danske Bank’s (DANSKE.CO) chief executive Thomas Borgen quit on Wednesday, September 19, following an investigation into payments totaling some 200 billion euros ($234 billion) through its Estonian branch, many of which the Danish bank said were suspicious. Denmark wanted to avoid a scenario like the one in Latvia where ABLV was accused by U.S. authorities of covering up money laundering, leading to the bank being denied U.S. dollar funding and collapsing.
– I’m sorry for that. Although the external attorney’s opinion concludes that I have lived up to my legal obligations, I think the right thing for all parties is that I retire, Thomas F. Borgen writes in the announcement. In 2017 Thomas Borgen received a total salary of NOK 17.4 million. 11.5 million were pay, pension amounted to 2.2 million kroner, while bonuses in the form of cash and shares amounted to 3.7 million kroner.
According to the details of the contract, Thomas Borgen can leave the bank with at least NOK 13.7 million, which is the basic salary.
At the same time, Thomas Borgen will be able to keep his shares and the shares he has received as part of his incentive program.
At the end of 2017, Thomas Borgen had 18,121 shares in his incentive program and owned 40,902 shares. At Wednesday’s rate, it is worth a total of NOK 9.6 million.
Born: March 27, 1964, Sarpsborg, Norway
Thomas Borgen is a Bachelor of Business Organization from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh and holds an MBA from Syracuse University in New York.
The bank is being investigated by the Danish bakers’ police, Estonia and allegedly also the US authorities.
In June 2007, Danish Financial Supervisory Authority received a letter in which the Russian Central Bank expressed concern about so-called non-resident customers in Sampo Bank Estonia, purchased by Danske Bank in the same year. The letter states that customers in Sampo Bank participated in ‘financial transactions of dubious origin’ for ‘billions of rubles monthly’.
“The transactions mentioned may be aimed at tax and customs evasion when importing goods,” the Russian Central Bank wrote in the warning and continued:
“Or they can be associated with criminal activity in their purest form, including money laundering.”
Thus, Danske Bank missed “this first clear opportunity” to respond, concludes law firm Bruun Hjejle, who has prepared the survey.
Dershowitz in for TWC & Weinstein
18 February, 2019
Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan M. Dershowitz has joined Harvey Weinstein’s legal defense team to consult on constitutional issues, according to a Feb. 15 court filing. The suit Dershowitz is involved in is a class action lawsuit against Weinstein’s former production companies the Weinstein Company and Miramax; the Walt Disney Company; and Weinstein himself, among others. The lawsuit alleges that Weinstein violated federal sex trafficking laws.
Justice James Burke and prosecutors agreed to the new Manhattan Supreme Court trial date of June 3. Baez and Sullivan are slated to start a 10-week trial Feb. 19 in Brooklyn federal court.
[February 15 2019 Weinstein NYC: Ronald Sullivan Out? ]
Judge approved his request for a new defense team: Jose Baez (center) and Ronald Sullivan (left) with Weinstein, 66, [and retiring Ben Brafman] during the hearing January 25 2019
A growing chorus of Harvard students are demanding that Ronald Sullivan, Jr., — the university’s criminal justice institute director and faculty dean at Harvard’s Winthrop House residence — resign from Harvey Weinstein’s New York defense team ASAP. Protests and petitions have started popping up questioning his association with Weinstein. The office of Cyrus Vance, jr., Manhattan D.A., declined comment on anything to do with a possible delay in the Weinstein case.
[January 26 2019 why was the switch made? ]
Weinstein has tapped Jose Baez and Ronald Sullivan Jr. of the Orlando, Florida-based Baez Law Firm and Pamela Mackey of Denver-based Haddon, Morgan and Foreman for his new defense team. “I think it’s bizarre given who he is replacing and given how well the defense appeared to be doing,” Mark A. Bederow said. “But ultimately it’s his choice to proceed how he wants and none of us know the reason why the switch was made.” https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2019/01/23/harvey-weinstein-assembles-high-profile-non-ny-lawyers-for-new-defense-team/
[January 22 2019 New York Weinstein pretrial conference March 7 ]
Benjamin Brafman “withdrawing” from the Harvey Weinstein case.
Sources close to Weinstein said he wants an “older woman” on his defense team and has made overtures to lawyers Susan Necheles and Isabelle Kirshner.
He also wants to hire former Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein as a trial consultant,
[January 14 2019]
A pretrial conference has been scheduled for March 7, Weinstein stands accused of two counts of predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, as well as counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree rape and third-degree rape.
[January 12 2019 trial on May 6 ]
Spokesman Juda Engelmayer did not flat out deny that Harvey Weinstein was looking to hire new lawyers, but disputed that Ben Brafman was being replaced as the lead attorney. Brafman’s bid to dismiss the other five criminal charges was denied in December, and Weinstein is set to go on trial on May 6 in New York State Court, where he’ll be accused of sexually assaulting one woman and raping another. “There is nothing rock solid about that. If Harvey’s going to do anything, he’d augment it not reduce it,as it currently stands that’s not the case.”
[December 20 2018 Weinstein’s motion to dismiss Manhattan DA case denied ]
After a brief discussion with the lawyers, the judge denied a motion to dismiss the case.
https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/12-12-18-letter-to-judge-burke-wm.pdf
[November 30 2018 Weinstein moves to dismiss remaining 5 counts ]
Harvey Weinstein by his attorney Benjamin Brafman has moved a Manhattan judge to dismiss the five remaining criminal charges against him, providing additional details to support his claim that police misconduct tainted grand jury proceedings and that prosecutors failed to turn over evidence that he had a consensual relationship with one of his alleged victims. “Simply put, because of the unprecedented and outrageous misconduct already documented in this case, this court should properly give serious consideration to dismissal of this deeply flawed indictment, either for the legal reasons we have provided or so that the integrity of the criminal justice system can be restored,” Brafman wrote in the 51-page document.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office dropped one of six charges in the case earlier, amid revelations that New York City Police Detective Nicholas DiGaudio, who led the investigation against Weinstein, did not tell prosecutors that a witness had provided him with an account that contradicted that of Lucia Evans, who claimed that Weinstein forced her to give him oral sex in 2004.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/20/entertainment/weinstein-case-unraveling-questions/index.html
[October 23 2018 Harvey Weinstein to make “important, brilliant films” ]
Benjamin Brafman, the lawyer representing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, claims the 66-year-old could return to the entertainment industry and make “important, brilliant films”.
[ September 3 Weinstein removed condom and continued to rape – LA complaint ]
Luciano Silighini Garagnani, a Conservative D-list Italian casting director turned filmmaker, proudly paraded a t-shirt which read “Weinstein is Innocent”
The 42-year-old’s latest film, which was released in Italy earlier this year, provided a positive angle on Mr Berlusconi’s notorious “bunga-bunga” sex parties.
Emma Loman is suing for violation of human trafficking laws, assault, battery and false imprisonment and seeking compensatory damages of no less than $75,000 as well as punitive damages.During the alleged rape, the suit claims Weinstein “bragged that he had recently received a negative result from an HIV test. Then, over Loman’s continued protests, he removed the condom he had been wearing and continued to rape Loman.”
[August 2 Harvey Weinstein’s indictment, Brady rule, naughty emails ]
“They are endearing, intimate, present, friendly, flattering, emails between her and Mr. Weinstein,” the lawyer said to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath. The defendant must prove that there is a “reasonable probability” that the outcome of the trial would have been different, had the evidence been disclosed by the prosecutor. See Kyles, 514 U.S. at 433 (1955).
[ Harvey Weinstein NOT under house arrest in light of new charges ]
Harvey Weinstein living in his oceanfront estate
A judge denied a request from prosecutors July 9 to place Harvey Weinstein under house arrest in light of new charges against the movie producer that carry a penalty of life in prison if he is convicted.
Brought into the courtroom in handcuffs, Weinstein, 66, was released on bail after pleading not guilty in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on charges that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2006.
Three women have now accused him of forcing them to have sex against their will over the last 14 years, and the new indictment includes two counts of predatory sexual assault, opening him up to a life sentence.
Russia’s dubious arrest of American investor
15 February, 2019
Michael Calvey, a senior partner at Baring Vostok private equity group in Moscow , set up in 1994, has been detained on suspicion of fraud in connection with a dispute over Russia’s Vostochny Bank, in which the fund, with over $3.7 billion of committed capital, is a controlling shareholder. Baring Vostok executive Phillipe Delpal, a French national, is in custody on suspicion of embezzlement. The firm’s funds have investments in 80 projects, focusing on oil and gas, consumer products, media and technology, telecommunications and financial services. Investors are drawn primarily from pension and sovereign wealth funds from around the world.
Fully Autonomous Weapons
14 February, 2019
[December 31 2018 Gen. David Petraeus says not in for Mattis ]
Spotted at the White House Hanukkah party: Jill Kelley.
“I think there does have to be policy alignment [with Trump,] and I’m not sure that exists, I’m afraid,” Petraus said on BBC Four when asked if he’d be willing to replace Jim Mattis as Defense Secretary, as first reported by Time Magazine.
[March 20 2018 for H.R. McMaster at NSC? ]
Former CIA director and retired Gen. David Petraeus is among those mentioned to succeed Gen. H.R. McMaster in his position as national security adviser to the president. John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
[January 30 Jill Kelley at Executive Mansion ]
Friends in high places:Jill Kelley was at the inauguration January 20, and posted a photo of herself with billionaire Republican donor Sheldon Adelson
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4147900/Sorkin-Clooney-want-rights-David-Petraeus-story.html
[March 19 2016 Lawyers dump Jill Kelley ]
Petraeus confirmed he has spoken with the Trump administration about being secretary of state [December12 2017]
The withdrawal request followed a proposal from the Kelleys’ side that the U.S. government pay $4.35 million to settle the suit reported arch 18. The feds apparently rejected the offer.
[March 4 2015 John Allen says the United States has not ruled out a no-fly zone or protected corridor in Syria ]
a man with four stars on his collar leading U.S. forces in Afghanistan just one year ago
The retired Marine general in charge of mobilizing an international coalition against the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) says that the United States has not ruled out a no-fly zone or protected corridor in Syria to safeguard the thousands of fighters it intends to train to help defeat the militant group.
“All those things are under consideration,” John Allen told an audience the evening of March 2 at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. On 13 September 2014, The United States appointed General Allen as Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
One would think a man with four stars on his collar leading U.S. forces in Afghanistan just one year ago would have no problem working with military leadership in the fight against militants of the so-called Islamic State at present.
One derides Allen as “a boy scout.” Another, noting his new role as a quasi-diplomat though he’s never been one, said “I don’t know how that’s going to work.”
For many of the military’s top leaders it seems, having a retired general like Allen outside of the military chain-of-command reporting to Obama is a sign of White House “micromanagement.” It also offers the possibility of conflicting messages between State and the Pentagon in the fight against ISIL. more below
[March 3]
He also serves as a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College, and as a Judge Widney Professor at the Univ of Southern California
“The criminal Information charges the defendant with one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1924,” Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said in a statement. “The plea agreement and corresponding statement of facts, both signed by the defendant, indicate that he will plead guilty to the one-count criminal Information.” General David Petraeus is arguably the most consequential U.S. military leader since World War II.
[January 10 Feds recommend arresting David Petraeus, no final decision]
Holder said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The determination has yet to be made. And we will just see how things play out before any final decision is made.”
Federal prosecutors are recommending felony charges against retired Gen. David Petraeus over classified information they say he provided to his biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell
55 Author follows General through Afghanistan
He also serves as a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College, and as a Judge Widney Professor at the Univ of Southern California
[September 26 2014 General David Petraeus advises on Iraq fight, 773 days until 2016 Presidential race, Iowa caucus Feb.1,2016]
The U.S.-led fight against Islamic State will take years and will need ground forces to succeed, retired General David Petraeus said. Petraeus, 61, served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011 to 2012 and is now chairman of KKR Global Institute, an investment management firm. Under General (Ret.) David Petraeus as Chairman and Vance Serchuk as Executive Director, KGI integrates the macroeconomic analyses of KKR’s Global Macro and Asset Allocation Team led by Henry McVey and the Public Policy & Public Affairs, stakeholder engagement, and environmental, social, and governance work of KKR’s Global Public Affairs Team led by Ken Mehlman. KKR Co-Chairman and Co-CEO Henry Kravis, KKR Co-Chairman and Co-CEO George Roberts. In 1987, Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. resigned from KKR over differences in strategy, and Henry Kravis and George Roberts assumed full leadership of the firm.
[Earlier buzz] Roger Ailes suggested that Petraeus run for President. .. General David Petraeus was seen as a real future presidential candidate until he was hidden at the CIA until the day after the election when it was leaked he was having an affair and unceremoniously fired.
below
[September 16 Jill Kelley can go to trial against FBI and Defense Department]
Gen. John R. Allen, who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was in line to become supreme allied commander in Europe
U..S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied the Motion to Dismiss and Kelley can press her claim that the FBI and Defense Department violated her privacy when officials allegedly leaked information about her to the news media.According to court filings by Kelley’s attorneys, the government falsely told one news outlet the emails between Allen and Kelley were the equivalent of phone sex. The lawyers argued that given the prurient nature of the investigation and the “other woman” narrative propounded by the leakers, it was likely that Kelley’s treatment was motivated by sexual discrimination. The Pentagon’s inspector general exonerated Allen, who subsequently retired.
[January 6 Jill Kelley’s suit gains support]
Mrs. Petraeus and Kelleys
Kelley was banned from the Tampa Air Force base and stripped of her honorary title as consul to South Korea.
“Just because you’re stalked by a mistress doesn’t mean you are one,” Kelley told the New York Times. “It’s not contagious.”
Kelley and her attorneys said the lawsuit touched on an array of issues: what the government can access, how it disseminates information about private citizens, whether it protects people who report crimes, what constitutes leaking and the laws governing public records.
“Here, the government did not adhere to its own standards for avoiding electronic intrusion into innocent citizens’ lives,” said Alan Charles Raul, an attorney for the Kelleys. “Instead, they turned around and blamed the victim.”
In a lawsuit that is half legal document and half news release, Kelley seeks damages and a formal apology from the government for revealing her identity after she reported to the FBI what she assumed was a crime: threatening emails sent by a woman with whom Petraeus, then director of the CIA, was having an affair. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is also an attempt by Kelley to tell her side of a story she says was distorted, leaving her family as collateral damage.
A spokesman for the FBI, Michael P. Kortan, declined to comment on specifics of the case, citing the continuing litigation. But the government has asked the court to toss the suit.
[September 25]
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration September 24 sought dismissal of a privacy lawsuit by Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, whose complaint to the FBI unwittingly led to Gen. David Petraeus’ ouster as CIA director.
If a federal judge eventually allows Kelley’s lawsuit to proceed, the case could delve into the roles played in the scandal by the FBI, the Pentagon and other parts of the administration.
Kelley had hosted military officials from MacDill Air Force Base — including Petraeus while he led Central Command — at her Bayshore Boulevard mansion.
The Justice Department said that Kelley has failed to present any facts suggesting that the FBI and the Pentagon flagrantly disregarded her privacy rights.
“A bare allegation” that information was retrieved from government files is insufficient, the Justice Department saidThe FBI and the Pentagon have exempted several of their record systems from the Privacy Act. Kelley and her husband, Scott, also a plaintiff in the case, fail to say whether the leaked information was in a system subject to the Privacy Act, the government said.
TAMPA — Attorneys had gathered in a conference room to question the Tampa socialite who had unwittingly triggered the scandal that ended the career of CIA director David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley’s house is in foreclosure, and Kelley appeared at a June 26 deposition in the case.
But Kelley refused to be sworn in, a Regions Bank attorney said. Then she refused to testify, departing with her attorney.
“They’re actually leaving the room now and not even listening to me on the record,” said Regions attorney Peter Hargitai at the deposition, according to a transcript.
Kelley and her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, have refused to testify in the foreclosure case on their posh Bayshore Boulevard home. The couple say a Regions lawyer is threatening to question them about the Petraeus scandal and then release a transcript to the media.
Jill Kelley said in court papers that Hargitai told her, “This deposition is going to be all over the news.” The lawyer denied making any threats.
“Plaintiff appears determined to try this matter in the media,” a motion by the Kelleys’ attorney said.
The couple have demanded that opposing counsel agree to keep any transcript of their testimony sealed, providing no copies to the media or any third party.
Hargitai has refused, though he told the court he has no intention of giving it to the media. But if the deposition is filed in court, it would become available to anyone who wants a copy.
“A deposition is a public record,” Hargitai told the Tampa Bay Times in a brief interview.
The attorney said a Hillsborough Circuit Court judge is soon expected to file an order compelling the Kelleys to sit down for a deposition by Sept. 15. Neither the Kelleys nor their attorney, Benjamin Hillard, returned messages seeking comment.
An order has not yet been issued, according to the online docket of the case. The next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Kelley inadvertently ended Petraeus’ career as CIA director.
A $2.1 million foreclosure case involving an office building formerly owned by Tampa socialite Jill Kelley and her husband, Scott, was settled Monday, according to the judge overseeing it.
The case had been scheduled to go to trial Aug. 12 before Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher Sabella. Settlement terms were not disclosed, which is typical in civil cases, and attorneys for the parties could not be reached for comment.
A pretrial hearing had been scheduled Monday, but the Kelleys and attorneys did not appear as settlement talks concluded.
The Kelleys bought the property using their corporation, Kelley Land Holdings. Jill Kelley is currently listed as the corporation’s managing partner.
The bank said the fair market value of the property is about $1.4 million. Once that is applied to the loan, the Kelleys owed the bank more than $700,000 with interest adding $109 per day, according to a September 2011 court filing. The balance due currently was not immediately clear Monday.
That figure also did not include attorney fees.
[September 12]
Retired Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, former CIA director under President Barack Obama, called strongly Saturday for Congress to back the White House on Syria, declaring that military action against the regime is “necessary” to deter “Iran, North Korea and other would-be aggressors.”
Jill Kelley Complaint v. FBI et al
Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite entangled in the scandal that toppled former CIA director David Petraeus.
The Justice Department has asked for a 30-day extension, until Sept. 4, to respond to her lawsuit against the government for violating her family’s privacy, rifling through her e-mails and leaking confidential information about her.
And Kelley is fine with the extension, says her lawyer, Alan Raul.
[May 20]
Petraeus will serve in a consultant’s role
Retired army general David Petraeus will take a new job with investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. KKR did not detail terms of its agreement with Petraeus, but a spokeswoman said he will serve in a consultant’s role
[November 27 2012]
Former Prime Minister of South Korea Han Duk Soo
The state Department of Motor Vehicles has been informed by the U.S. Department of State that Jill Kelley no longer qualifies for an honorary consul license plate, according to a spokesman.
“We received word from the U.S. Department of State that her status” as an honorary consul for South Korea “has been terminated,”
The South Korean official who made it possible for Jill Kelley to be appointed honorary consul was Han Duk-soo, currently head of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and South Korean ambassador to the United States until February.
The official categorically denied that there was any inappropriate relationship between Han, a former Prime Minister and Jill Kelley. He said Kelley showed Han in their meetings a strong willingness to work for the improvement of U.S.-South Korean economic relations. He didn’t elaborate.
Han Duk-Soo was the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) from 2007 until February 2008. He is currently serving as Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association.
Just before leaving the United States, he asked the South Korean consulate office in Atlanta to consider appointing Kelley honorary consul, citing her active role in organizing public events promoting an ambitious, hard-fought free trade agreement between Seoul and Washington and in arranging meetings between the ambassador and influential politicians and businessmen in Tampa.
[November 21]
[Nov 17]
Jill Kelley, “honorary ambassador” to the coalition in Tampa Florida
Talya Khawam and host
In emails with her ex-husband, Khawam wrote that Senator Kerry asked about the son and whether he would be coming to Martha’s Vineyard in the summer of 2012.
She also wrote that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island invited the son to a summer clambake in the state, and that the son “would greatly appreciate attending this family clambake.”
Included in the court file is what appears to be a handwritten note from Whitehouse, writing, “I am excited to hear that you, Natalie and (the son) may be coming to the family clambake. That would be terrific!”
The Whitehouse note was addressed to Gerald Harrington.
Harrington served as national vice chairman of finance for Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, according to a biography posted on the website of Harrington’s lobbying firm, Capitol City Group.
A spokeswoman for Kerry said Kerry was introduced to Khawam by Harrington, whom the spokeswoman described as Khawam’s boyfriend.
A spokesman for Whitehouse also said Whitehouse knew Khawam through her relationship with Harrington, whom Whitehouse has known since college. “Ms. Khawam attended the Senator’s clambake fundraiser this summer as Mr. Harrington’s guest, and he was glad to see them there,” the spokesman said.
[November 16]
Jill Kelly offered to broker a deal with the South Korean government for
Adam Victor, president and CEO of TransGas Development Systems, “that they were essentially doing a favor for General Petraeus, and that she had access solely because of her relationship with General Petraeus.”
Victor said he thought it made sense that Petraeus would want to put a trusted aide in charge of promoting free trade. When Kelley named her fee for brokering the deal, however, Victor balked. The coal gasification plants under discussion were worth $4 billion, said Victor — and Kelley wanted a two percent cut. “That’s an $80 million fee,” he said. “And I mean that is problematic . . . No broker gets $80 million. I mean that’s two whole orders of magnitude higher than what they would get.”
Victor said he “terminated the relationship” after Kelley asked for $80 million
[November 15]
it turns out the FBI agent who started the investigation sent topless photos of himself to Jill Kelley, the alleged other woman. The agent in question was apparently a friend of Kelley’s.
General John Allen has been in Afghanistan as the top American commander since July 2011, although before that he lived in Tampa as the deputy commander for Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East.
The defense official said that the Pentagon had received the 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents from the F.B.I. and was currently reviewing them. Some of the e-mails may have prompted suspicions among FBI investigators because Allen sometimes used words such as “sweetheart” to refer to her, the senior official said.
An official said the coalition countries represented aty Central Command gave Kelley an appreciation certificate on which she was referred to as an “honorary ambassador” to the coalition, but she has no official status and is not employed by the U.S. government. Kelley, 37, hails from a Lebanese family that emigrated to Philadelphia in the mid-1970s.
Her parents, John and Marcelle Khawam, had businesses in the area, including a restaurant in Voorhees. The couple still live in Washington Crossing, Bucks County, according to public records, and Kelley’s older brother, David, is a lawyer in South Jersey. His office also lists lawyer Jill M Tribulas, in practice 11 years
Jill Khawam and her twin sister, Natalie, were the youngest of four children. Born in Lebanon, Jill is of Maronite Christian descent and speaks Arabic. Maronite Christians were allies of Israel in the Lebanese Civil War/Lebanon invasion.)
About a decade ago, both women moved to Tampa, where Jill’s husband, Scott Kelley, works as a surgeon.
Natalie Khawam, a lawyer and single mother, lives with them, according to a bankruptcy petition she filed earlier this year.
Just three months after they posed with David and Holly Petraeus, strands of Gasparilla beads hanging from their necks, the Kelleys were hit with a foreclosure lawsuit.
The suit, brought by Central Bank against Maronite Christians were allies of Israel in the Lebanese Civil War/Lebanon invasion.) Kelleys and Kelly Land Holdings, centered on a three-story office building at 300 E Madison St. in downtown Tampa. Court records show they owed the bank nearly $2.2 million, including attorney fees
Since the Kelleys have been in Tampa, records show, one or both have been subjects of lawsuits nine times — including an $11,000 judgment against them that originated in Pennsylvania.
Ongoing cases, the court records show, include an indebtedness case from Chase Bank; a foreclosure case from Regions Bank; and a credit card case from FIA Card Services.
The Kelleys have hired Abbe Lowell, a Washington lawyer who has represented clients such as former presidential candidate John Edwards and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. And the couple are employing crisis PR person Judy Smith, who has represented big names like Monica Lewinsky, Michael Vick and Kobe Bryant.
[November 10]
Author follows General through Afghanistan
General David Petraeus is arguably the most consequential U.S. military leader since World War II. Broadwell’s excellent biography portrays him as a modern exemplar of the soldier-scholar-statesman and one who has exerted a profound influence on the American military establishment
Petraeus emerges from Broadwell’s book as an educated, committed, competitive, driven, and inspiring figure.
Foreign Affairs
“This is the best book yet on General David Petraeus, written by a remarkable former Army officer who spent months on the ground in Afghanistan herself. Paula Broadwell captures his basic tenets of counterinsurgency and basic approach to leadership-as well as Petraeus’s personal qualities and character-in a highly readable and pithy fashion. No one gives a truer picture of the war, or of the finest general of this era and one of the greatest in modern American history.”
(-Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution )
“All In vividly demonstrates the influence General David Petraeus has had on a whole generation of military officers-showing by the force of his personal example what it means to be tough, loyal, committed, and smart. Paula Broadwell takes readers into the briefing rooms and onto the battlefields to better understand the lessons and sacrifices of America’s wars.”
(-Nathaniel Fick, New York Times bestselling author of One Bullet Away )
1MDB scandal may cost Blankfein his bonus
11 February, 2019
On February 11, 2019, Najib Razak’s team of eight lawyers filed an application for the trial to be delayed, pending an appeal on a technical matter, and the court of appeal agreed unanimously to postpone. No new date for the trial has been set. There are 1MDB investigations taking place in 12 countries. “His behaviour fits with that broad pattern where you consolidate power at the expense of the ruling elite,” said Lee Morgenbesser, an expert on authoritarian governments at Australia’s Griffith University.
[February 2 2019]
The board of Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on February 2 it is withholding a bonus worth at least $7 million from former chief executive Lloyd Blankfein until investigations into the bank’s involvement in the 1MDB[1Malaysia Development Berhad] scandal are resolved. Blankfein received $20.5 million in annual compensation in 2018, down $3.5 million from 2017. It paid Chief Executive David Solomon $23 million in total compensation in 2018, a 9.5 percent jump from his 2017 compensation.
[ Mahathir Mohamad seeking to arrest financier Low Taek Jho ]
U.S. investigators have accelerated their probe into the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund set up by former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and are exchanging more evidence with Malaysian authorities since Najib lost last month’s election, While U.S. prosecutors have considered the possibility of charging Najib or his associates, they would prefer Malaysia be the one to file criminal charges against any Malaysian official. Najib’s successor, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said Malaysia was also seeking to arrest financier Low Taek Jho, a central figure in the scandal who advised on investments and negotiated deals for 1MDB
[May 18 Many Malaysian economic figures are false – new Prime Minister ]
Najib Razak’s coalition [former Malaysian prime minister] secured only 79 of Malaysia’s 222 parliamentary seats while Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Justice Party (PKR) won 50 seats. An alliance between the two could have secured Najib’s return to power. “From my discussion with the PM (92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad) this morning, that seems to be the sentiment … we will have to deliver,” he said.
“I have given that message. We don’t want UMNO 2.0.” United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) used race-based politics and patronage system.
In response to a request for a fresh forecast on Malaysia’s economic growth, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday, May 17, “Regarding the numbers indicating our financial position, I realize many of these figures are false.” Leave aside …some hundred billion of missing ringgit on his watch.
Malaysia’s economy continues to perform strongly, with higher than anticipated growth at 5.8 percent in 2017, and projected growth of 5.3 percent for 2018, according to the IMF.
Malaysia ranks 25th in oil ptoduction; the first quarter of 2018 witnessed the strongest year-over-year increase in global oil demand in seven years.
Police entered the house of Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak late on Wednesday, May 16, an extraordinary scene that thousands watched unfold as it was streamed live.
Najib tried to leave the country Saturday, May 12, apparently for Indonesia. The search covered the prime minister’s office and a residence he had used, as well as two apartments owned by his family. The government’s immigration department said they were blacklisted from leaving Malaysia.
Najib may soon face increased government scrutiny over he created a state fund called 1MDB, 1Malaysia Development Berhad. The fund sent hundreds of billions of dollars in Najib’s personal accounts, prompting investigations in the U.S., Switzerland and Singapore. The country’s attorney general tried to issue an arrest warrant for Najib three years ago, the prime minister fired him.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that about US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB, which was founded by Mr Najib
Lindsey Vonn bronze star in SG at Are
10 February, 2019
[February 9 2019 Lindsey Vonn will do SG at Are ]
ragged edge between speed and madness – Nathaniel Vinton
Lindsey Vonn received medical attention after crashing on February 5 2019 at the world championships. She ultimately went down the hill on her own and said she was looking forward to Sunday’s downhill competition, which will be her final race.
[February 1 2019 , Tiger ties for 20th ]
Sam Alexis Woods, born June 18, 2007
“I will compete at the World Championships in Downhill and SG (super-G) next week in Are, Sweden and they will be the final races of my career.”
Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines finished with a 67 to tie for 20th
[January 26 2019 Lindsey Vonn, 34, dnf at Cortina; Tiger, 43, at Torrey Pines ]
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy After failing to finish a World Cup super-G, Vonn said leaving the sport immediately “is a possibility.” “I’ve had four surgeries on my right knee. I’ve got no LCL (lateral collateral ligament) on my left knee. I’ve got two braces on. There’s only so much I can handle and I might have reached my maximum,” Vonn said. “I’m not sure. I’ve got to take a couple days’ time and really think about things.” Vonn wasn’t the only top skier who failed to finish. More than a third of the 61 starters also DNF’d on a course set by Vonn’s longtime coach Alex Hoedlmoser. Mikaela Shiffrin, Vonn’s American teammate, won Sunday’s race.
Tiger Woods’ ex-wife Elin Nordegren was born on Jan. 1, 1980. [39]
[January 26 2019] He will still enter Sunday out of contention. But it’s nice to get on the board. The golf star was one-over-par through four holes in the first round of the tournament on January 24 2019.
Tiger Woods will make his 2019 US PGA debut on January 24 at Torrey Pines. Tiger Woods won this U.S. Open over Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole Monday playoff in 2008. Torrey Pines Golf Course is a 36-hole municipal public golf facility on the west coast of the United States, owned by the city of San Diego, California.
[December 29 2018 Tiger Woods skips Maui TOC ]
Tiger Woods will skip the January Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Woods qualified to play in the TOC by virtue of his win at the Tour Championship in September. It was his first PGA Tour victory since 2013. This would have been his first start in the TOC since 2005.
The deadline to commit for the event that begins Jan. 3 is the close of business on December 28. The decision means Woods will likely begin his 2019 PGA Tour season at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines starting Jan. 24.
[April 9 2018: Never threatening to win, but finishing with a 69 ]
The real Tiger Woods is back. Never threatening to win, but finishing with a 69 to suggest that he may yet – at the age of 42 and after much surgery – add to his 14 major titles.
Kristen Smith
[April 5 Tiger Woods tees off at 10:42 a.m. Eastern ]
Even now that he’s 42, and after he’s been through many unexpected career twists and turns, it’s tough to make a talent like Tiger’s go away quietly
For Vonn, who has four World Cup championships and raced in more World Cup events than any other American in addition to her Olympic medals, monetary success came in the form of lucrative endorsements.
Lindsey Vonn remains the most human of champions, going about her trade with an emotional transparency almost unheard of among athletes of her caliber.”Getting paid through ski racing is very, very difficult, if you are not in the top five or 10 in the world, you are struggling to not have to get a second job,”The superstar athlete has signed on with Red Bull, Rolex, Head and Under Armour among others. (Vonn also earned more than $200,000 in prize money in the 2018 season, according to the International Ski Federation’s website.)
Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods’ ex-wife, was cited for doing 95 in a 65 on the freeway in her 2015 Cadillac on Super Bowl February 4 around 3 PM and fined $356.
[ Tiger fifth, Lindsey wins downhill ]
Erica Herman
At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tiger Woods tied for fifth, “I hit the ball better than I did last week.” Lindsey Vonn closed out her alpine skiing season with another world cup podium finish when she took third in the women’s super-G on March 14 in Are, Sweden. Vonn won her 82nd career world cup in the downhill on March 13.
[March 12 a true favorite in the Masters? Elin asking 49.5M]
Tiger Woods shot a final-round one-under 70 on Sunday, March 11 to finish tied for second, one stroke behind the Englishman Paul Casey.
Elin Nordegren, the ex-wife of golfer Tiger Woods, is listing her North Palm Beach. Fla., home for $49.5 million.
[March 9 Tiger has Friday lead, Lindsey at Oscars ]
Friday Tiger Woods took the lead at the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. As Woods, who began the day three shots off the lead, played his round and surged to the lead, the crowds following him swelled to a huge gallery, making it look like a major championship.
Lindsey Vonn Oscars March 4 2018
[February 22 Tiger Woods misses cut, Lindsey Vonn gets bronze in women’s downhill ]
Woods exited PGA National with chants from young fans ringing in his ears
“I’ve been injured so many times that the fact I’m even here is a victory in itself,’’ Vonn, 33
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Lindsey Vonn won bronze behind Italy’s Sofia Goggia and Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel.
“I skied a great race today,” she said. “Sofia just skied better than I did.
Tiger Woods shot a 5-over 76 in Friday’s second round of the Genesis Open to miss the cut. Lindsey Vonn, skidding near the end of her Super-G, run finished tied for sixth.
[ February 4 Tiger Woods to Genesis Open; Lindsey Vonn wins two more ]
Lindsey Vonn won her second World Cup downhill of the weekend on Sunday in a perfect dress rehearsal for the Pyeongchang Olympics.
It was the American’s third straight triumph in the discipline after also winning in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, two weeks ago.
Tiger Woods will play in the 2018 Genesis Open at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles from Feb. 15-18.
[ January 30 Tiger Woods tie for 23rd, Lindsey Super Bowl ad ]
Tiger Woods finished inside the top 25, an even-par 72 to finish at 3 under in the Farmers Insurance Open and in a tie for 23rd. For the Super Bowl, NBC created five cinematic 60-second ads showcasing Olympic athletes to drum up excitement for the Winter Olympics. The ads showcase Americans athletes such as skier Lindsey Vonn and figure skater Nathan Chen.
[ January 27 Tiger makes cut, Lindsey takes second ]
January 26: “It’s nice to get out there and compete and play,” said Woods, who had spinal fusion surgery last April and said he’s as healthy as he’s been in years. He will start Saturday’s third round — the tournament moves to the South Course for the final two days — 10 shots behind of the pace-setting lead of Ryan Palmer. And it was the first cut he’s made on the PGA Tour since the Wyndham Championships in August 2015.
Lindsey Vonn clocked 1 minute, 36.48 seconds on the sun-drenched Cortina d’Ampezzo – Olympia delle Tofane World Cup downhill course for a massive 0.92-second win over Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, January 20.
[January 14 Vonn at Kleinkirchheim qualifies for Olympics ]
Avoiding the risk of getting injured a month before the Olympics, Lindsey Vonn held back throughout in a cautious run and was more than three seconds off the lead in 27th, and placed ninth in Saturday’s super-G in women’s World Cup races in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria, but which ensured she will be competing next month at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
[December 3 2017 Tiger & Lindsey Vonn both competed on December 3 2017 ]
In the lead by five hundredths of a second, Lindsey Vonn Uninjured After Crash
Lindsey Vonn less than 20 seconds into the race fell again in the women’s World Cup super-G December 3 but was able to ski to the bottom – failed to finish. Woods posted three under-par rounds for the week, including a final-round 4-under 68 that featured his eagle on No. 7 and a half-dozen birdies. His likely schedule is yet to be confirmed.
Lindsey Vonn was 12th in the women’s World Cup downhill December 2 in Lake Louise, Alta. a day after crashing in the downhill opener. A 3-over 75 dropped Tiger Woods to 10 shots from Charley Hoffman’s lead in a tie for 10th in the 18-man field of the Hero World Challenge December 2, Albany, Bahamas.
Wed,, Nov. 29 A Thomas smile followed. “I’m also looking forward to trying to kick his ass, to be perfectly honest.”
Tues., Nov. 28, 2017 “People are going to be shocked at how good his game looks,” PGA champion Justin Thomas said.
The 2010 Olympic downhill champion will not race earlier World Cup giant slaloms in Killington, Vt., on Thanksgiving weekend.
Instead, Lindsey Vonn will wait to enter the first speed races (downhill, super-G) at Lake Louise, where she has won 18 times in 41 World Cup starts. — dubbed “Lake Lindsey” because of her dominance at the Canadian resort — LADIES DOWNHILL December 1 – 2 and LADIES SUPER-G December 3 2017.
[October 30 Tiger Woods in his own Hero World Challenge ]
The Hero World Challenge runs from 30 November to 3 December.
[October 29 Lindsey Vonn no second run in the opening race of the World Cup season ]
Lindsey Vonn failed to qualify for the second run in the opening race of the World Cup season in Austria, but was just pleased to be back on skis in as she gears up for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Vonn’s first run in the giant slalom, which is not her strongest discipline, was not quick enough to ensure a second descent as Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg won from Tessa Worley of France and Italy’s Manuela Moelgg, with American Mikaela Shiffrin fifth.
[August 23 Lindsey Vonn phone pics hacked “outrageous and despicable” ]
Lindsey Vonn, who won a gold medal at Vancouver 2010, issued a statement blasting the “outrageous and despicable invasion of privacy” of having “private intimate photos” stolen from her mobile phone.
Her spokesman said: “Lindsey will take all necessary and appropriate legal action to protect and enforce her rights and interests. She believes the individuals responsible for hacking her private photos as well as the websites that encourage this detestable conduct should be prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.” Mike Francesa, WFAN, voiced some heavy Vonn shaming — the images were hacked from her phone — and implications that she may have leaked the pictures,
[April 20 Wood`s new book, Cline`s inaugural ]
Contribution records from President Trump’s inaugural committee, released by the Federal Election Commission, show Christopher Cline, a billionaire coal magnate who owns Foresight Energy Partners, gave $1 million. Trump has vowed to bring back coal jobs.
[March 18 Vonn: No Squaw Valley]
https://mobile.twitter.com/lindseyvonn/status/840038661672521729
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (March 4, 2017) – Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CqO) finished second to lead four American women into the top 11 in Saturday’s downhill at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup test event for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Vonn , who is still progressing on her comeback after breaking her arm last November, has not won a Super-G at a World Cup event since January last year. World Cup overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin skipped the South Korean speed races to prepare for next week’s giant slalom and slalom in Squaw Valley, Calif.
[January 28]
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn avoided more serious injury when she fell and crashed into the safety netting during a World Cup downhill training session Friday.
Italian veteran Elena Fanchini fell in the same spot, also without serious consequences.
♦Vonn lost control and slammed into the safety netting in the same spot where she crashed in Friday’s training run. in the final downhill before the world championships in St. Moritz.. After collecting herself, Vonn skied down to the finish area. She had already had a small bobble earlier in her run but was 0.18 seconds ahead of winner Lara Gut at the first checkpoint just before her crash. Vonn had asked the International Ski Federation’s race director to smooth out a small lip that gave her trouble in training. “They changed it, but I still caught air,” Vonn said. “I just caught my edge and did the splits. It happens, unfortunately.”
[November 12 2016 humerus bone in my right arm compound fracture ]
Lindsey Vonn arm fracture
Unfortunately, [November 10] I crashed while training in Copper and severely fractured the humerus bone in my right arm. I had successful surgery last night in Vail and everyone took great care of me.
While I am beyond frustrated by this latest setback, at least my knees are ok and I will return to the slopes as soon as possible, as I always do!
[October 11 Tiger Woods abandons Safeway: “my game is vulnerable” ]
Game vulnerable
“After a lot of soul-searching and honest reflection I know that I am not yet ready to play on the PGA Tour or compete in Turkey,” Woods said. “My health is good, and I feel strong, but my game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be.
Sir Nick Faldo. “Tiger has been having problems getting out of his golf cart this week,” Faldo said at the conclusion of the 2016 Ryder Cup. “So I don’t know how he’s going to go out and play 72 holes.”
[October 8 Tiger Woods officially commits to Safeway ]
Vonn has new video
Tiger Woods confirms participation in Safeway Open
[October 2 Tiger Woods in 2016 Safeway Open, Oct. 13-16? ]
47-year-old Tiger Woods battling a 30-year-old Jordan Spieth for major championships? Cal Berkeley sophomore Collin Morikawa, 19, has received a sponsor’s invitation to play in the Safeway Open, The Safeway Open will be Morikawa’s second PGA Tour-sanctioned event of 2016, as he lost in a playoff at the Web.com Tour’s Air Capital Classic.
[October 2]
Lindsey Vonn buys 4,000 sq ft home near Hollywood
Woods, 40, announced on Wednesday that he hopes to make his long-awaited return to golf at the 2016 Safeway Open, Oct. 13-16, at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif.
“My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do,” Woods said on tigerwoods.com. “Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.” Woods’ long absence from the game – which will have reached nearly 14 months by the time the Safeway Open comes around.
I’m hoping we can get paired together,” Mickelson remarked. “That would be really fun. I would love it. It’s great to have him back, and hopefully he’s physically able to practice the way he needs.”
Olympic alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn has dropped $3.55 million on a contemporary-style home for sale in Los Angeles, CA. Vonn’s new home, built in 2016, is a four-bed, five-bath custom home Measuring 4,018 square feet,
September 12 Woods and Nordegren have a solid relationship ]
Elin Nordegren brought her ex-boyfriend Chris Cliner reunited about a month ago after the 57-year-old coal tycoon’s split from Kelly Crosby Heyniger. Kelly Crosby Heyniger is the CEO of Age Reverser LLC . The duo dated for a year before calling it quits in August 2014. It was Nordegren’s first serious relationship since her 2010 divorce from Woods, 39, in the wake of his cheating scandal.
In a recent interview with Time, Woods gushed over Nordegren, his ex-wife, revealing they currently have a solid relationship. The parents of daughter Sam, 8, and son Charlie, 6, are “best friends” now, Woods revealed. “Having the relationship that I have now with her is fantastic,” he added. “We’re able to pick up the phone, and we talk to each other all the time. We both know that the most important things in our lives are our kids. I wish I would have known that back then.”
[May 11 Elin Nordegren’s Cline needs $23.6 million before May 17 ]
Both of Tiger Woods’ exes, Elin Nordegren and former girlfriend Lindsey Vonn, were making the rounds over Kentucky Derby weekend — and party organizers were ordered to keep the two blondes apart.
A rep for Vonn insisted that she didn’t ask to be seated away from Nordegren, adding the two women are on “great terms” and spoke at different events over the weekend.
Chris Cline’s St. Louis-based coal miner Foresight Energy LP said it lost $41.7 million in the first quarter, or about 32 cents per common unit. That compared to profit of $42.3 million, or 33 cents per common unit, in the same quarter last year. It announced a tentative plan last month to restructure its debt but last week extended the deadline to finalize the agreement to May 17.
[May 2]
10 March Elin Nordegren back with Cline. Wall Street will be paying particular attention when Foresight Energy LP (NYSE:FELP) issues their next quarterly report which is anticipated to go out on or about 2016-05-05 for the period ending on 2016-03-31.
Tiger Woods has registered for the U.S. Open, which is to be played at Oakmont Country Club June 13-19, 2016. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he will tee it up at the Pennsylvania course where he tied for second in 2007. Woods was required to register by Wednesday’s deadline if he wants to play. According to the United States Golf Association, he registered at 4:33 p.m. on April 4 — three weeks ago. All 51 players who are fully exempt for the 116th U.S. Open have registered, including defending champion Jordan Spieth and Jason Dufner.
[April 13
Foresight Energy Lp Extended term of forbearance agreement that was entered into on Dec 18 with certain holders of issuers’ 7.875 pct senior notes due 2021 . As a result of extension, forbearance period runs through April 15, 2016, unless further extended – SEC filing. FELP and bondholders are near a deal in which billionaire founder Chris Cline would inject cash to repay the creditors. FELP, which is attempting to resolve the dispute with bondholders who claim they are owed more than $600M, needs an agreement to help stave off bankruptcy.
Champion’s Dinner April 5
[March 14] Billionaire Christopher Cline, 57, hailed as the savior of the Illinois coal industry, is the founder of Foresight Energy LP, which has until March 15 to pay $23.6 million of overdue bond interest.
[February 29 Vonn injury ]
Lindsey Vonn being carried off
[February 16 Lindsey Vonn perfect weekend is the first after her return to racing ]
[April 21 2015 Tiger wins $155,000 for Masters 2015]
Tiger Woods 17th place finish at the Masters 2015 Apr 9 The Masters T17 $155,000
Amanda Boyd Dufner purchased a Jupiter, Florida, three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 3,000 sq.-ft. home for $675,000 in May 2015 nine miles from Tiger Woods estate.
Woods, who won only $610,775 in an injury-plagued 2014 season, topped the list with $55.1 million in earnings.
[December 10 2015]
The indisputable speed queen, Lindsey Vonn scored World Cup career wins 68, 69 and 70 at the FIS World Cup speed season opening at Lake Louise, her perfect weekend is the first after her return to racing from a long series of injuries. Only in October, she opted out of the season kick-off on the Austrian glacier to give her ankle – injured in a training crash at a snow camp – more time to heal. With her three wins, Vonn now leads the overall World Cup rankings after six races so far this season.
Friday, Dec. 4 – Audi FIS Ski World Cup ladies’ downhill 1
Saturday, Dec. 5 – Audi FIS Ski World Cup ladies’ downhill 2
Sunday, Dec. 6 – Audi FIS Ski World Cup ladies’ Super G
[October 27 2015 Tiger Woods had back surgery on Sept. 16 and is hopeful to return to competitive golf early in 2016.]
Last night 🙂 @Audi #Emmy party wearing @aliceandolivia hair by @CharlesBStrahan pic.twitter.com/R5AQJmr1of
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) September 18, 2015
[August 24 Tiger Woods 10th-place finish — his first since 2013 at Wyndham]
Jason Dufner and Tiger Woods playing a practice round July 13
The 10th-place finish — his first since 2013 …a triple bogey at the 11th and a bogey at the 12th [earlier]For the first time in more than two years, Tiger Woods is in the lead at a golf tournament, Wyndham Championship. He shares the top spot — with a rookie pro, Tom Hoge
[August 20 Lindsey Vonn breaks ankle, back home]
#nofilter #sohotrightnow http://t.co/ThP1To8idr—
lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) August 17, 2015
[August 17 returning from practice in New Zealand]
” crashed today and have a small fracture in my ankle. Headed home”
[July 20 Tiger Woods:Exits british open]
76,75
http://www.cbssports.com/golf/eye-on-golf/25244893/british-open-tiger-woods-exit-at-st-andrews-was-really-sad
Woods.more‘ odds on Bovada were moved from 40-1 after the US Open to 20-1 after the Greenbrier. That’s what a 7-under score of 273 will do for you.
[Juiy 4 Greenbrier Classic July 4. Tiger in the mix – Lindsey in makeup]
Tiger Woods will play the weekend at the Greenbrier. Tiger Woods followed up his 66 in the first round with a 69 in the second at the Greenbrier Classic in round two. He’s now had as many rounds in the 60s this week as he had all season up to this point.
Lindsey Vonn nominated for two ESPY awards, July 15
Amanda Boyd (left) and Lindsey Vonn (right) watch their other halves in The Presidents Cup in 2013.
July 3
Tiger Woods dropped a 4-under 66, his lowest round of tournament golf since March 2014 at the Greenbrier Classic July 2.
[July 2 Tiger to take another endorsement slide?]
” They are not even acquaintances.” -Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg
Amanda Boyd of Millbrook, Ala. and groom
Woods, 39, is said to be dating Amanda Boyd, 27, Jason Dufner’s ex-wife
They began seeing each other after they ‘flirted’ on the tour circuit
Pair have now developed a ‘serious relationship’ according to one source
He reportedly flew her to Seattle as he prepared for last month’s US Open
But Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg says the allegations are a ‘complete lie’
In May DailyMail.com revealed Vonn dumped Woods because he cheated
Boyd and Dufner divorced in April after ‘irretrievable marriage breakdown’
Woods allegedly cheated in February, Dufner and Boyd split same month
Tiger Woods still made the most money in golf in 2014, according to the Golf Digest 50, an annual ranking of those making the most in the game.
Woods earned $55,110,775 in 2014, according to the magazine, with endorsements making up an astounding 98.8 percent of his take.
It’s the least money Woods has earned in a single year since 2000, when the magazine says he made $49 million.
Woods, who has been at the top of the list for all 12 years it has been published, had three years — from 2007 to 2009 — where he made more than double what he made last year. He pulled in $121.9 million in 2009 but took a huge slide after his extramarital affairs were revealed late that year.
here
May 3 Woods splits with Vonn, Elin Nordegren gets Florida award]
Place of Hope welcomed more than 600 guests to its 2015 Hope Bash, which honored local philanthropist and child advocate Elin Nordegren with the inaugural Harris L. Weinstein Hero of Hope award.
Elin Nordegren and Chris Cline May 2015
Place of Hope is a faith-based, state-licensed child welfare organization.
The Lindsey Vonn-Tiger Woods relationship that began about three years ago has ended, with each athlete citing their hectic schedules as a contributing factor. Woods’ 2010 split with Elin Nordegren cost him handsomely
[April 21 Tiger wins $155,000 for Masters 2015]
Tiger Woods 17th place finish at the Masters 2015 Apr 9 The Masters T17 $155,000
[March 16 Nordegren’s Chris Cline sells out for $1.4 Billion]
In exchange for $1.4 billion cash, billionaire Chris Cline, 57, is selling 50% of publicly traded Foresight Energy LP and an 80% interest in Foresight’s general partner. The buyer is Murray Energy, the largest privately held coal miner in the country, controlled by cantankerous, 75-year-old Robert Murray. “This is a great day for American coal,” said Cline, in a statement.
Elin Nordegren
February 24 Vonn crashes at Marbor, her surgically repaired right knee wasn’t hurt]
MARIBOR, SLOVENIA (Feb. 21, 2015)— In Vonn’s first giant slalom back on the World Cup circuit, she ran 18th and was leading in the first split by nearly six tenths before going down on her right hip and crashing back-first into the b-net. Vonn, the most successful woman skier of all-time, lay on the snow for a while, raising fears that she might be in trouble but the U.S. Ski Team later said she was alright. “She hit her back on the B-net poles pretty hard but should be all good,” Riml said after Vonn had a medical checkup, adding her surgically repaired right knee wasn’t hurt either.
[February 5 Elin’s Swedish island from Woods on the block]
Tiger Woods never completed the purchase of a Swedish island that was being developed for him and Elin Nordegren.
62-acre island has six private tees for golf practice and ultimate privacy, about an hour by boat from Stockholm.
The property in Lake Malaren features a 2,500 square-foot main house, a 900 square-foot hunting lodge, and a landing strip for a propeller plane
The Florida Woods family home near Orlando was sold to golfer Bubba Watson in 2012.
[January 25 Lindsey Vonn gets 64th World Cup victory in super-G at St. Moritz]
Lindsey Vonn won the Super-G in St. Moritz with 0.24 seconds ahead of Austrian Anna Fenninger, her 64th World Cup victory.
Lindsey Vonn won the super-G on January 19 to stand alone atop the list with win No. 63.
[ January 18 ]
Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. is airborne as she clears a gate to win the women’s World Cup Downhill skiing race in Cortina D’Ampezzo January 18, 2015..
[January 15 Lindsey Vonn 10th in Cortina d’Ampezzo]
Lindsey Vonn struggled with the thick fog and finished 10th in the World Cup downhill event in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
[December 22 2014 Lindsey Vonn lands on elbow in a World Cup Super-G]
Lindsey Vonn of the USA after her crash during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s Super-G on December 21, 2014 in Val d’Isere, France
The four-time World Cup champion crashed out of December 21’s super-G race after entering a gate slightly too wide in Val d’Isere, France.
Although Vonn did no damage to her troublesome right knee, she landed heavily on her right elbow.
December 7
Lindsey Vonn finished second in a World Cup super-G in Lake Louise, Alberta, on Sunday, completing her first weekend of races this year with two podium results.
Vonn was .37 of a second slower than Swiss winner Lara Gut on Sunday, one day after Vonn won her first race in nearly two years in a downhill.
Slovenia’s Tina Maze finished third, increasing her World Cup overall lead. Tiger Woods shot 72, finished at even par in first tournament back.
[December 6 Lindsey Vonn won the downhill at Lake Louise in one minute 50.48 seconds]
American skier Lindsey Vonn claimed victory in just her second race back after almost a year out through injury.
The four-time overall World Cup champion won the downhill at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, in a time of one minute 50.48 seconds.
The 30-year-old’s time was nearly half a second quicker than USA team-mate Stacey Cook, with another American, Julia Mancuso, in third.
[December 6 Tina Maze wins Lake Louise Ladies Downhill December 5 -Lindsey Vonn finishes 8th]
Lindsey Vonn finished eighth in her first race in nearly one year, a World Cup downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta, on December 5.“I skied really well in the technical parts,” Vonn said. “I definitely can clean up some turns for tomorrow (another downhill in Lake Louise), but I think it was a really solid start. I’m happy with it.”
Alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn of US restarts to ski during a training session on the Oetztal glacier in Solden, Austria on Oct 4, 2014. US speed queen Lindsey Vonn makes her return to the World Cup circuit this season
Vonn is skipping a World Cup giant slalom race in Aspen November 29,30 to focus on training for the speed events, two downhill races and one super-G,
next week.
~2014~
LADIES DOWNHILL/DAMES DESCENTRE
December 5 – 6 Decembre
LADIES/DAMES SUPER-G December 7 Decembre
[November 14]
For months, the four-time overall World Cup champion had planned to return around the races in Lake Louise, Alberta, during the first week of December. After some solid training days, Vonn said she is considering coming back for the events in Aspen, Colo., over Thanksgiving weekend. “I’m a little more tentative still on the more difficult terrain,” said Vonn, who will wear a knee brace this season. “That just comes with time. With more training and more confidence, I’ll be good.”
FIS Alpine World Cup Ski Racing: Women’s World Cup ski racing returns to its regular spot on the Aspen events calendar this year. The giant slalom is on November 29 and the slalom is on November 30, with both events held at Aspen’s historic ski racing venue on the Lift 1A side of the mountain. The top female ski racers in the world, including Mikaela Shiffrin and Anna Fenninger, are expected to make starts over the weekend.[September 15 Coal in doldrums, Elin splits]
Speculation of Elin-Woods get riposte:Elin
Elin Nordegren 34, and 54-year-old coal tycoon Chris Cline have split after one year of dating,
Chris Cline, owner of The Cline Group, is the majority owner of Foresight Reserves, which is part of the Carlyle Group, a global assent management firm.
Foresight Energy Partners,is a subsidiary of Foresight ReservesMurray Energy Corp. sued a Foresight Energy LP (FELP) unit, claiming it used confidential information to acquire property and mineral rights directly in the path of Murray’s operations in southern Illinois.The tracts “provide no mining potential to Williamson,” Murray said. “The only economic value of these purchases to Williamson is to frustrate MEC’s ability to execute its mining plans.”In 2008, Murray disclosed its longwall strategies to Williamson as it considered selling off operations in three Illinois counties, according to the complaint. Williamson was allowed to see the information only after agreeing to not disclose it or otherwise use it to acquire mineral or property rights related to Murray’s operations for eight years, according to the complaint.
When the companies failed to reach a deal, Williamson and its affiliates allegedly started overpaying for mineral rights in Murray’s planned longwall path in 2009 and continued to do so as recently as 2013. Murray said in the complaint that the tracts aren’t sufficient to support independent mining.
Murray said those purchases have forced it to pay more for its own acquisitions, caused it to relocate equipment and threaten its ability to meet production contract requirements.
[April 25 Tiger Woods with Elin Nordegren and Lindsey Vonn]
Tiger Woods (in blue) with Elin Nordegren and Lindsey Vonn (in pink)
[January 15]
first day recovering from knee surgery
Florida for Vonn
Vonn, the reigning Olympic and World Cup downhill skiing champ, will not compete in next month’s Winter Olympics, according to a post Tuesday on her official Facebook page.
January 07, 2014
I am devastated to announce that I will not be able to compete in Sochi. I did everything I possibly could to somehow get strong enough to overcome having no ACL but the reality has sunk in that my knee is just too unstable to compete at this level. I’m having surgery soon so that I can be ready for the World Championships at home in Vail next February. On a positive note, this means there will be an additional spot so that one of my teammates can go for gold. Thank you all so much for all of the love and support. I will be cheering for all of the Olympians and especially team USA! XO Lindsey[January 5]
For the moment, there’s no question of thinking about skiing,” US women’s team head coach Alexander Hoedlmoser told the Austrian APA news agency.
[Earlier]
Vonn had another scary run during the World Cup downhill in Val d’Isere, clutching her knee in pain after losing her balance and missing a gate on December 21. But shortly afterward, she said no new damage had been done to the surgically repaired knee and her plans for the Sochi Olympics were still intact.“I didn’t hurt myself more than I’m already hurt,” said Vonn, the reigning Olympic downhill champion. “It was a small compression, and it was fully loaded on the right ski and my knee just completely gave out. I tried to pressure the ski again and it gave out again. I had no chance of making that gate, unfortunately.”
With boyfriend Tiger Woods watching from the bottom of the slope, Vonn skied out after her left ski came up in the air, putting all her weight on the troublesome right leg. There are three downhill races on the World Cup circuit in January. Her appearance in at least one of those would seem essential to Vonn the competitor. Vonn the brand, however, may be impervious.
[December 12]Lindsey Vonn will skip December 14 World Cup stop at St. Moritz, Switzerland, and is planning to return to the circuit in a downhill at Val d’Isere, France, Dec. 21.
The 29-year-old American returned to competition at Lake Louise, Alberta, December 6, ten months after tearing two ligaments in her right knee and breaking a bone in that leg during a crash at the world championships. She also had a setback when she partially re-tore one of those surgically reconstructed ligaments in a fall during practice Nov. 19.Vonn finished 40th in a downhill December 6 in her World Cup season debut, then 11th in another downhill December 7, and fifth in a super-G on December 8.
Asked after that last event what those 72 hours of racing told her, Vonn replied: ‘‘It tells me that I do need a couple more starts. I want to make sure that I get on the podium at least once, if not win, before . . . Sochi. For me, mentally, I really want to have that in my back pocket.’
[ December 4]LAKE LOUISE, Canada – The U.S. Ski Team says Lindsey Vonn has been cleared to begin World Cup downhill training. Olympic gold medalist
[Earlier]
Lindsey Vonn is skipping the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Austria this weekend, giving herself some extra time to get back into competing form ahead of the Sochi games.
[earlier]
2010 Olympic downhill gold medalist, coming off a knee injury suffered in a crash at the World Championships last season, on September 16, Lindsay Vonn said she felt good training on snow in South America recently, is ahead of schedule with her rehab and may be able to race later this month at the World Cup opener Oct. 26-27 in Soelden, Austria.
In Chile, she eased her way back with two gentle and relaxed training runs. The next day, she revved it up a little more, taking a few gradual turns along the course in Portillo, Chile.[May 20]
Skier takes Golfer’s kids to school
Vonn married fellow 2002 Olympian, and former U.S. Ski Team athlete, Thomas Vonn on September 29, 2007, at the Silver Lake Lodge in Deer Valley, Utah.[43] In November 2011, it was announced that the couple had begun divorce proceedings after four years of marriage.[44] Their divorce was finalized on January 9, 2013.
[May 12]
Lindsay Vonn attends Players
Lindsay Vonn is following Tiger Woods’ group at the Players Championship on May 12 as she watches him try to pick up win No. 4 on the season.
Vonn and Woods, who have confirmed they are dating, made an appearance at the Met Ball earlier this week, and Vonn was spotted every day at the Masters earlier this year.
[April 11]
Lindsay Vonn gets the Enquirer spotlight [April 22]hereLindsay Vonn at Masters 2013
[March 24]
Meanwhile, Lindsay vows to return to ski team by Sochi
Soccer Mom Elin Nordegren
Meanwhile, Tiger is back Number 1
Elin Nordegren, now a soccer mom
Parents Elin & Tiger
Miners Games, 164 feet, owned by Chris Cline, Elin’s beau, Privacy, 155 feet, Tiger’s similar motor yacht
Elin Nordegren, billionare’s wife never thought he might be cheating
Tiger’s wife never had a clue, never hit him.Tiger Woods’ 33-year-old ex-wife has been dating 53-year-old billionaire Chris Cline since the holidays.
Age: 55
Source of Wealth: coal, self-made
Residence: North Palm Beach, FL
Country of Citizenship: United States
Education: Drop Out, Marshall University
Marital Status: Divorced
Children: 4Both Nordegren and Cline — a coal magnate worth a reported $1.2 billion dollars — own homes in a North Palm Beach, Fla. oceanfront community called Seminole Landing.
The reports of Nordegren’s new romance come nearly two months after The National Enquirer claimed that Woods was trying to win back his ex by offering her a $200 million pre-nup. Woods refused to comment on the reports.
In February, the ex-couple was photographed together for the first time in years at a local youth sporting event with their two young children.
Nordegren and Woods — who were married for nearly six years — divorced in August 2010 in the wake of the golfer’s heavily publicized cheating scandal.
Tiger Woods, 33, was unconscious after he struck a fire hydrant and a neighbor’s tree about 2:30 Friday morning,November 29, 2009.
The wife of the world’s No.1 golfer Tiger Woods used one of his tools — a golf club — to smash open a window of his crashed SUV and then pulled him out of the damaged vehicle after an early-morning accident Friday outside their Isleworth mansion.By the time a Windermere police officer arrived about 2:25 a.m., Elin Nordegren Woods had dragged her husband out of his 2009 Cadillac Escalade. He was lying on the ground, dazed and bleeding from his lips and with blood in his mouth.
Elin Nordegren, the Swedish former nanny, purchased a $12.2 million beachfront mansion in North Palm Beach’s Seminole Landing enclave. Coal mogul Christopher Cline owns the property next door to Nordegren’s new digs.
Nordegren took a job in a Stockholm clothing store called Champagne, where she met Mia Parnevik, wife of Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who hired Nordegren as the nanny to their children, a job that required her to move to the U.S.[5] He introduced her to Woods during the 2001 Open Championship. After Woods’s subsequent infidelity was revealed, Parnevik was quoted as having said, “I’m kind of filled with sorrow for Elin since me and my wife are at fault for hooking her up with him, and we probably thought he was a better guy than he is.” [People Magazine] Previously, Woods had asked for a year to be introduced to Nordegren, who was seeing someone else at the time In November 2003, Woods and became officially engaged.The happy couple
Lindsay Vonn’s injured knee
SURGERY WENT WELL
Lindsay Vonn had surgery on her right knee on February 10 after she shredded two ligaments during a crash last week at the world championships.
The U.S. Ski Team said Dr. William Sterett, a physician for the squad, operated on the four-time overall World Cup champion in Vail, Colo., on Sunday morning.
Sterett was optimistic at a full recovery and said of Vonn: “She will do everything in her power to return as quickly as possible to competitive skiing.”
[February 9]
Lindsay Vonn may be changing her plans for knee surgery to repair the damage caused by her crash at the world alpine championships.
U.S. Ski Team physician Bill Sterett would do her surgery February 10 in Vail. Sterett has treated her since she was 13 years old.
But it was looking like she would seek a second opinion.
“I think there’s a real possibility that she’s going to have it done someplace else,” Vonn had never had a serious knee injury, which is rare for ski racers.
Lindsay Vonn’s father says she may get second opinion before surgery
Vonn tore her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee. The broken bone was described as a lateral tibial plateau fracture.“The fracture is called an impaction fracture,” Sterett said. “It should not require any surgery. It just needs to be non-weight on crutches.”
The accident happened after Vonn landed a jump in the opening super-G race at the championships. As she hit the ground, her right leg gave way and she spun forward, throwing an arm out to protect herself. She ended up on her back as she smashed through a gate.
Tiger Woods owns a Gulfstream G550. It is a perfect business jet aircraft. Its unique feature is that it is capable of carrying up to 16 people in standard seating configurations and can fly up to 6,500 nmi (12,000 km). It is the longest range business jet ever made. Chris Cline owns one too,
[December 3, 2009]
General Motors Corp., 24 November, agreed to discontinue a marketing accord with Tiger Woods, the world’s top-ranked golfer, at year’s end as plummeting sales spur cost cuts at the automaker. The golfer was driving a Cadillac Escalade, made by General Motors, when he crashed into a fire hydrant and then a tree at 2am 27 November. A spokesman for GM said that Woods received the car as a prize for winning the Buick Open golf tournament, which was sponsored by GM.
