U.S. probes Citi over compliance with money laundering laws
(Reuters) – A federal grand jury is probing Citigroup Inc, including its Banamex USA affiliate, over compliance with the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and regulations on money laundering, the company said. In an annual filing on Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the probe includes subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, also said Banamex USA had received a subpoena from the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a civil agency. The criminal probe follows other problems that have surfaced with Banamex, which operates Citigroup’s largest single consumer bank outside of the United States and has been portrayed by the company as a model of its global strategy. [Read More…]U.S. Judge Hands Win to Chevron, Slams Lawyer
A federal judge ruled that a record $9.5 billion environmental-damage award against Chevron Corp. CVX -0.64% was tainted by the misdeeds of a lawyer leading the lawsuit, giving the oil giant a boost in its battle against a global effort to seize its assets. In the latest twist in one of the longest-running legal battles in corporate history, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan found that New York lawyer Steven Donziger and his litigation team engaged in coercion, bribery, money laundering and other misconduct aimed at securing a 2011 verdict against the company in Ecuador. The judge’s decision bars Mr. Donziger and his two Ecuadorean co-defendants from profiting from the award and excoriates the plaintiffs’ attorney, who has spent the bulk of his legal career pursuing the case. [Read More…]Bitcoin boosters’ faith unshaken by scandals
Neither the recent implosion of the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange nor the collapse of a much-smaller Edmonton-based “bitcoin bank” this week seems to be worrying Canadian promoters of the virtual currency. The bad press is clearly fuelling skepticism in some quarters about money that exists only digitally, as computer code. But not among the subculture of entrepreneurs and enthusiasts devoted to the concept, who are busy starting bitcoin businesses or their own new virtual currencies. [Read More…]Japan Says Bitcoin Not Currency Amid Calls for Regulation
Japan’s government said Bitcoin isn’t a currency amid calls for its regulation a week after the bankruptcy of Mt. Gox, the Tokyo-based exchange that was once the world’s biggest. There is no law to define Bitcoin and relevant ministries are gathering information on it, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet said in a statement in response to questions from an opposition party lawmaker. Bitcoin transactions can be taxed, according to the statement obtained by Bloomberg News. [Read More…]Industry News
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