Monday, February 20, 2012

Bank Settles Some Charges in Defrauding Patrons Case

Bank Settles Some Charges in Defrauding Patrons Case
The American Lawyer by Scott Graham  -  January 20, 2012

Bank of New York Mellon has reached a partial settlement of federal charges that it defrauded some of its customers by giving them lower rates on foreign currency conversions than they had been promised. The bank has agreed that it will no longer tell customers they are getting the "best execution" of their conversions. Southern District Judge Lewis Kaplan approved the settlement on Jan. 17.  The office of Southern District U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara indicated separately that it hopes to resolve the issue of civil penalties next month. Mr. Bharara demanded "hundreds of million" in penalties when he filed the lawsuit in October. BNY Mellon has previously said the suit represents "prosecutorial overreach" and is based on a misunderstanding of the global foreign exchange market.  Partners Reid Figel, Derek Ho, David Schwarz, Gregory Rapawy, and Rebecca Benyon from Washington, D.C.'s Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel are representing the bank. Mr. Figel did not reply to a request for comment.  "Pursuant to the partial settlement, BNYM must disclose how transactions executed through its standing instruction foreign exchange service are priced, and must make certain pricing data available to its custodial clients on a periodic basis," Mr. Bharara's office said in a statement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Pierre Armand, Lawrence Fogelman and James Nicholas Boeving are handling the case for Mr. Bharara.
See Related Stories:

Bank of NY Upset US Court Corruption Doesn't Work in Russia
at

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2012 at 5:37 AM

    Hey, Preet, why aren't you putting these bankers in prison?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kris SergentakisFebruary 21, 2012 at 6:54 AM

    You have money you buy your way out of the federal courts here in NYC.

    If this was an average citizen off to prison with you.

    Something has to change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2012 at 9:03 AM

    There was an interesting story yesterday about how Romney was so vocal about having the automakers go bankrupt when they got into trouble, but was completely silent when the banks and financial institutions were in the same mess.

    This speaks volumes as to what is really going on and who is really being protected.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2012 at 12:43 AM

    Does the Bank have a Parole Officer (PO) assigned?

    ReplyDelete