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☆ In praise of American finance’s regulatory mess
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - There are many issues on which China and the United States are far apart. The People’s Republic this week proposed combining financial regulatory functions into a new super watchdog to govern its financial sector more effectively. China’s proposed new National Financial Regulatory Administration is roughly in this mold. Since 2008, officials in Beijing have criticized the United States’ financial excesses and its “warped conception” of financial discipline. The new National Financial Regulatory Administration would sit directly under the State Council, which serves as China’s cabinet.

LATEST DATAThe week ended Feb. 7, the last available week of CoT data, featured mild declines across most-active CBOT corn, wheat, soybean and soy product futures. In the four weeks ended March 7, most-active CBOT corn is down 6% and CBOT wheat has fallen 7%. Daily fund estimates collected by Reuters suggest that between Feb. 8 and March 7, commodity funds were net sellers of 42,500 CBOT corn futures and 38,000 CBOT wheat futures. Funds’ net long in soybean meal would be record-large per the trade estimates. CBOT corn and wheat have recently traded as if the Ukraine grain export deal will be extended before its March 18 expiration despite Russia’s resistance.

☆ Crypto firm BKCoin hit by emergency asset freeze over alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme that paid for co-founder's rent and vacations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The SEC Monday took emergency action against crypto firm BKCoin and its co-founder for allegedly running a fraud scheme. The company allegedly ran a $100 million Ponzi scheme that paid for its co-founder's rent and vacations. The asset freeze marks US regulators' intense crackdown on the crypto sector following FTX's collapse. BKCoin and Kang assured investors their money would be used to trade crypto, and that the company would generate returns for investors through separately managed accounts. "This action highlights our continued commitment to protecting investors and uprooting fraud in all securities sectors, including the crypto asset arena," said Eric Bustillo, director of the SEC's Miami office.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermidORLANDO, Fla., March 5 (Reuters) - Hedge funds entered February holding their biggest ever short position in two-year U.S. Treasuries futures. As of Feb. 7, funds' net short position in two-year Treasury futures stood at a record 658,802 contracts, up by more than 80,000 contracts from the week before. chartA short position is essentially a wager that an asset's price will fall, and a long position is a bet it will rise. FLIP-FLOP ON FEDThe two-year yield last week reached 4.95%, the highest since July 2007. They see the two-year yield falling to 3.55% in the third quarter and 3.15% by the end of this year.

☆ 3 Must-Know Truths to Remain a Profitable Stock Trader
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Jason Shapiro trades the opposite side of overcrowded positions. "I believe that going against mass participation of the crowd is what's going to give you good risk-reward trades," Shapiro said. The disciplined traderThe biggest tip Shapiro wants new traders to understand is that the stock market isn't an ATM machine. There are already thousands of analysts and millions of traders working off the same information. There are also trades that may have worked at one point that eventually stop working, he noted.

☆ CFTC Picks Former Cybercrime Prosecutor as Enforcement Chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The CFTC has played a less conspicuous role than the SEC in policing the crypto market but has brought enforcement cases against BitMEX and Coinbase. WASHINGTON—The Commodity Futures Trading Commission hired a former cybercrime prosecutor who oversaw some early federal cases involving cryptocurrencies as its enforcement chief, the latest example of regulators adapting to the risks posed by digital assets and other financial innovations. In his new post, Ian McGinley oversees a team of 120 civil-enforcement attorneys who investigate fraud and misconduct in futures markets tied to energy and agricultural commodities, as well as the newer world of digital assets that qualify as commodities, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam said Monday in an interview.

Bankman-Fried, FTX's founder, pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges filed against him in December. Bankman-Fried now faces 12 criminal charges after prosecutors unsealed a new indictment against him last week. Singh is the third Bankman-Fried close associate to plead guilty and agree to cooperate with prosecutors. Caroline Ellison, who was Alameda's chief executive, and Gary Wang, who was FTX's chief technology officer, pleaded guilty in December to seven and four criminal charges, respectively. Singh was a close friend of Bankman-Fried's younger brother in high school, Bankman-Fried wrote in a deleted blog post.

Law firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP FollowNEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has hired a former New York prosecutor with expertise in cryptocurrency and cyber crimes to lead its enforcement unit, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam in the statement described McGinley as a "leader in combatting modern financial fraud". "His background as a prosecutor with unique experience in commodities, crypto, and cyber-crimes and frauds makes him an ideal person to lead the CFTC’s enforcement team," Behnam said. McGinley, whose appointment is effective immediately, replaces the CFTC's acting director of enforcement and veteran CFTC official Gretchen Lowe. Reporting by Chris Prentice Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

As of Jan. 31, money managers held a net long of 219,924 CBOT corn futures and options contracts, a net long of 175,504 contracts in CBOT soybeans, a net long of 140,943 contracts in CBOT soymeal, a net long of 31,224 contracts in CBOT soyoil, and a net short of 63,628 contracts in CBOT wheat. That included 18,127 contracts of corn, soybeans 29,242 contracts, soymeal 5,440 contracts and CBOT wheat 10,305 contracts. Funds’ Jan. 31 net long in corn was the highest since November, and their net short in CBOT wheat as of Jan. 24 had been the strongest since May 2019. Daily fund estimates collected by Reuters suggest that between Feb. 1 and Feb. 24, commodity funds were net sellers of 26,500 CBOT corn futures and 34,500 CBOT wheat futures. Money managers have not been net sellers of more than 25,000 CBOT wheat futures and options combined over a four-week span since late 2021.

☆ BlackRock cooperating with SEC probe of investment advisers' communications
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 24 (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) said it was cooperating with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into record keeping of electronic communications of its investment advisers, according to a filing on Friday. The asset manager is the latest in a list of financial firms under the regulator's scrutiny. Earlier this week, Wells Fargo (WFC.N) said U.S. regulators were investigating the bank's retention of employee communications over "unapproved" messaging tools. The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined 16 financial firms last year, a combined $1.8 billion after it was found that their employees had discussed deals on personal devices and apps. Reporting by Anirban Chakroborti in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Crypto Company CoinEx Sued by New York Over Failure to Register
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

The New York attorney general’s office has sued cryptocurrency platform CoinEx, alleging it failed to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer and misrepresented itself as a crypto exchange. But New York prosecutors said CoinEx isn’t registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or designated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as an exchange, as required by New York state law. The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James said its prosecutors also were able to buy and sell crypto on CoinEx in New York, despite the fact the company isn’t registered in the state. New York law requires securities and commodities brokers to register with the state to do business there. The suit, announced Wednesday, is the latest action by the New York attorney general in policing the crypto sector and using the state’s laws to protect investors.

☆ Amazon, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Nvidia are in the headlines. Here's our take on the news
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Club holdings Amazon (AMZN), Wells Fargo (WFC) as well as Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) are in the news Wednesday. In buying tech-focused One Medical, Amazon has said the companies together can make visiting the doctor an easier and more convenient experience. The news: A pair of banking regulators are investigating record-keeping failures at Wells Fargo, according to the company's annual filing. Specifically, Wells Fargo said the probes from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are focused on "business communications sent over unapproved electronic messaging channels." The Club's take: This is new disclosure from Wells Fargo is not cause for concern.

☆ U.S. probes Wells Fargo's retention of employee communications
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 21 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are investigating Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N) retention of employee communications over "unapproved" messaging tools, the bank said on Tuesday, the latest in a crackdown that has already sparked billions of dollars in fines. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission have undertaken the probes, the fourth-largest U.S. bank disclosed in a filing. The scrutiny highlights the challenges Wall Street institutions have faced in tracking staff communications in the work-from-home pandemic era, particularly over personal devices and apps like WhatsApp. In September, the SEC fined 16 financial firms, including major global banks, a combined $1.8 billion after staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps. Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Lack of Crypto Audit Regulation Raises Questions About PCAOB Authority
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Additionally, there isn’t a regulatory framework for audits for many crypto companies. The SEC, which oversees the PCAOB, is reviewing how crypto companies portray reports from audit firms in the aftermath of the FTX collapse. The PCAOB—which sets audit standards, inspects audits and disciplines audit firms—has said it can only oversee audits of public companies and SEC-registered broker-dealers. In a letter last month to PCAOB Chair Erica Williams, they said the watchdog ignored what they called questionable practices by auditors of crypto companies. Even potential improvements to crypto audit regulation might not prevent fraud in the crypto industry, said Andrew Kitto, an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a former PCAOB economic research fellow.

As of late January, large speculators held moderate to large net long positions across CBOT corn, soybeans and soybean products, and those collectively outweighed their sizable net short in CBOT wheat. CBOT futures have mostly strengthened since then. Black Sea concerns and worsening crops in Argentina also helped CBOT corn drift 0.5% higher in the last 13 days, ending at $6.80-1/2 per bushel Friday. Corn has been the most mild-mannered of CBOT contracts since Jan. 25, trading up or down by less than 2% since then. ESTIMATESAs of Jan. 24, money managers’ net long position in CBOT corn futures and options hit an 11-week high of 201,797 contracts.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan granted a Justice Department motion to stay the lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Prosecutors said it made sense to delay those lawsuits because the cases substantially overlapped, and the outcome of the criminal case would likely affect what issues remained in the civil cases. They also cited the risk that Bankman-Fried could gather evidence in the civil cases to improperly impeach government witnesses, circumvent discovery rules in criminal cases, and tailor his criminal defense. Bankman-Fried consented to putting the civil cases on hold. Stays of SEC and CFTC lawsuits are common when the Justice Department files parallel criminal cases.

☆ Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is sounding the alarm on a potential 'staking' crackdown. Here's what it says about crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"We're hearing rumors that the SEC would like to get rid of crypto staking in the U.S. for retail customers," he said in his tweet . Staking is not just a yield-generating opportunity for crypto investors, it's also essential to the way proof-of-stake protocols like Ethereum operate. If there was some kind of chokehold on staking or staking services, the outcome for Ethereum could be "disastrous," according to Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer. That opportunity is widely seen as a catalyst for mainstream adoption of crypto and a revenue opportunity for exchanges like Coinbase. Armstrong's latest comments came a day before Kraken, one of Coinbase's main exchange competitors, agreed to shutter its crypto staking operations to settle charges with the SEC, according to CoinDesk.

Companies Ledgerx LLC FollowNEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a proposal to modify Sam Bankman-Fried's bail conditions, despite an agreement between the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder and prosecutors to address potential witness tampering concerns. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan did not provide reasons for the denial, and said a hearing on bail remains scheduled for Feb. 9. Prosecutors had asked last month to tighten bail, citing Bankman-Fried's efforts to contact both the general counsel of the FTX U.S. affiliate and new FTX Chief Executive John Ray, ostensibly to provide assistance. Bankman-Fried would have also withdrawn his objection to a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency assets. They cited the cases' substantial overlap, and the risk Bankman-Fried could gather evidence in the civil cases to help his criminal defense.

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to postpone civil cases brought against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried by federal regulators until a parallel criminal case against the former billionaire concludes. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have each filed civil fraud cases against Bankman-Fried over the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to criminal fraud charges in Manhattan federal court. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. CFTC traders report delayed by ransomware attack on data firm ION
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ION Group, the financial data firm's parent company, said in a statement on its website the attack began on Tuesday. read more"The ongoing issue is impacting some clearing members’ ability to provide the CFTC with timely and accurate data," the CFTC said in a statement. It said the Commitments of Traders report that is produced by CFTC staff will be delayed until all trades can be reported. "A report will be published upon receipt and validation of data from those firms," the CFTC said. CFTC reports provide a snapshot of investor positioning on various assets.

☆ Trader Is Charged in Alleged $110 Million Crypto Manipulation Scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

He faces charges of commodities fraud, commodities market manipulation and wire fraud in connection with what prosecutors said was manipulation of Mango Markets. Mr. Eisenberg remained in police custody on Thursday and will be arraigned Feb. 14, when he would be asked to enter a plea. PREVIEWThe Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed parallel civil charges against Mr. Eisenberg last month. The CFTC, which regulates derivatives markets, said the enforcement action against Mr. Eisenberg was the first of its kind against an alleged manipulation scheme involving a decentralized exchange. He allegedly artificially pumped up the price of MNGO on three different digital asset exchanges that Mango Markets used to determine the value of the derivative contracts.

☆ SEC asks big hedge funds for employee phone review - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 2 - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked some major hedge funds to review certain employees' personal mobile phones for evidence of business dealings on unapproved channels, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The hedge funds include Steve Cohen's Point72 Asset Management and Ken Griffin's Citadel, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The SEC and Point72 and did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment, while Citadel said it had no immediate comment. Reuters reported in October that the SEC's probe had expanded to investment funds and advisers. Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fraud Economy: How Current Economic Trends Lead to More Corporate Scams
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Get ready for what will feel like an inescapable wave of corporate fraud. And as interest rates have risen, the stock market has fallen off — which makes it harder to get dollars by whipping up new investors or offering stock. Despite Scheck's assertion that the risk of a wave of corporate fraud has heightened, he didn't want to speak in historical analogies. There be icebergsOf course, there's also fraud that goes undetected in times of easy money — companies where the very act of existing means stretching the truth. Kreuger had managed to hide that he had stretched the company's finances beyond solvency by raising money on the US stock market while it was raging.

☆ Great Fraud Reckoning Will Expose Scam Companies, Cause Stock Market Chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Get ready for what will feel like an inescapable wave of corporate fraud. And as interest rates have risen, the stock market has fallen off — which makes it harder to get dollars by whipping up new investors or offering stock. Despite Scheck's assertion that the risk of a wave of corporate fraud has heightened, he didn't want to speak in historical analogies. Kreuger had managed to hide that he had stretched the company's finances beyond solvency by raising money on the US stock market while it was raging. That may have been enough when the stock market was on a heater and investors were winning, but it's not enough when the stock market is falling, the economy is slowing, and everyone from regulators to lawmakers to kids on TikTok want answers.

BOSTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The founder of a defunct cryptocurrency business was sentenced on Tuesday to more than eight years in prison for defrauding investors and customers out of millions of dollars by marketing a virtual currency called My Big Coin with lies and half-truths. Federal prosecutors had urged U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston to impose a 13-year prison term on Randall Crater to send a message to others in the first sentencing of a cryptocurrency company founder for a marketing fraud. While Casper concluded that that request went too far, she rejected Crater's contention that a 30-month prison term was sufficient to punish him for his false claims, including that My Big Coin was a real cryptocurrency backed by gold. Prosecutors subsequently secured Crater's indictment in 2019 and accused him of causing investors and customers to lose $7.5 million from 2014 to 2017 with lies about My Big Coin, whose name sounded similar to the popular virtual currency bitcoin. Prosecutors said those false claims included that My Big Coin was a real virtual currency, was backed by gold and had a partnership with MasterCard (MA.N).

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