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Jan
24
Luckily It’s Isolated
Filed Under corruption, crime, economy | Comments Off
A French trader loses $7.1 billion of Société Générale’s money in what could be the largest trading fraud case in history, but don’t worry because it’s an isolated incident.
What’s happening to our financial system?
Reports David Jolly for the New York Times.
The French bank Société Générale said Thursday that it had uncovered “an exceptional fraud” by a trader that would cost it 4.9 billion euros, or $7.1 billion, and that it was raising about 5.5 billion euros in fresh capital to shore up its finances.
The company, one of the biggest banks in France, said in a statement that the fraud had been committed by a trader in charge of “plain vanilla” hedging on European index futures.
The trader “had taken massive fraudulent directional positions in 2007 and 2008 far beyond his limited authority,” the bank said. “Aided by his in-depth knowledge of the control procedures resulting from his former employment in the middle office, he managed to conceal these positions through a scheme of elaborate fictitious transactions.” …
The trader’s actions were found to be a case of “isolated fraud,” the bank said, and officials said they were convinced the trader had acted alone.
Jan
5
Feds Ask Mayor Clay To Step Down As GSD Admin & Taxes Could Still Rise
Filed Under COIT, corruption, federal investigations, Gary, Gary Indiana, Gary Sanitary District, government waste, Income Tax, Lake County Council, political machines, property tax crisis, tax revolt, taxes | 5 Comments
Higher fees might be the result of mismanagement of funds at the Gary Sanitary District and the Lake County Council is still talking about the premature declaration of death of the proposed Lake County income tax needed to continue business as usual.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay refuses to quit his job as special administrator at the Gary Sanitary District, despite requests from the U.S. Attorney’s office that the mayor do so because of allegations of mismanagement of funds, reports the Post-Tribune.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has asked Mayor Rudy Clay to resign as special administrator of the Gary Sanitary District alleging mismanagement of funds, a city attorney said Friday.
Hamilton Carmouche, the attorney for the Gary Sanitary District and corporation counsel for the city of Gary, said Clay has refused the request from Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Ault.
Meanwhile, Carmouche said the district is likely to raise its rates for the first time in about five years. He said it probably should have happened sooner, but he said Ault put additional pressure on the commissioners.
The Post-Tribune reports “the city borrowed about $11 million from the sanitary district to cover operating expenses” in 2006.
The news of the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation another case of mismanagement of funds within a Lake County governmental unit comes right at the time that the Lake County Council is talking about the need to “regroup” because a proposal to raise taxes was defeated by voter opposition. Councilman Will Smith’s departure — he was a key tax proponent despite his own personal opposition to taxes which resulted in a conviction — also hurt the proponents of higher Lake County taxes.
Writes Bill Dolan in the Northwest Indiana Times:
Former Councilman Will Smith Jr. worked behind the scenes last fall to pass the tax following his conviction on a federal tax fraud charge. Smith resigned last week after the tax failed. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday, although Smith is asking for a delay.
It’s just too bad that people didn’t see the need to sacrifice some of their hard earned money in the form of higher property taxes and a brand new income tax so that government officials and their kids can have several lucrative government jobs and money to spread around to their cronies.
It’s selfishness!
Shame on you, anti-tax protesters asking local government to cut back at a time when it is obvious that the only people who think there is waste and abuse of taxpayers’ funds are those folks at the U.S. Attorney’s Office with all of their investigations and such.
