Legal | Certain Risk

Financial trader sitting in front of a bank of monitors. — Trafigura Images, Trafigura Trading Floor Geneva, Flickr, taken May 16, 2014, https://www.flickr.com/photos/trafigura_images/15045924404, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic)

Trafigura Staff Flagged Gupta’s Nickel Deals Years Before Alleged Fraud

Trafigura Group’s own trade-finance staff raised red flags about its nickel deals with businessman Prateek Gupta more than two years before the trading house revealed it was facing millions of dollars in losses.

Exterior shot of Standard Chartered headquarters in London. — Adapted from: Shkuru Afshar, Standard Chartered headquarters in London – Front view, via Wikimedia Commons, 9 May 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made.

Singapore Court Okays $2.7-Billion Lawsuit Against Standard Chartered for 1MDB Role

A Singapore court has allowed a $2.7-billion lawsuit against Standard Chartered Bank to proceed over its alleged role in the looting of Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign fund, according to Reuters.

TD Bank branch. — Image: “TD Bank, Chinatown, DC” by Matthew Bisanz, via Wikimedia Commons (original: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TD_Bank,_Chinatown,_DC_by_Matthew_Bisanz.JPG), licensed under a Creative Commons license as specified on the original file page. Image has been edited from the original.

Chinese American Ex-Employees Sue TD Bank Over Money Laundering Fallout

A group of former Chinese American employees has filed a class-action lawsuit against Toronto-Dominion Bank in the United States, alleging they were unjustly fired after being linked to a major money laundering scandal involving Chinese money brokers and Mexican drug cartels, the Financial Post reported.

HSBC Sets Aside $1.1 Billion for Madoff Litigation

HSBC Holdings Plc will take a $1.1 billion provision in its third-quarter results to cover potential liabilities tied to investor lawsuits linked to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg reported.

“Westpac House, Adelaide” by DaDogeDude, edited (crop/contrast) by Certain Risk, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Westpac Hit with A$20-Million Fine over Home‑Loan Violations

Australia’s Federal Court has ordered Westpac’s mortgage brand RAMS Financial Group to pay A$20 million (about US$13 million) after finding widespread breaches in the way it arranged home loans, including approvals supported by falsified pay slips, Reuters said.

Melania Trump holding a tote back with her program's name "Be Best" printed on it.

Fraudsters Used Melania Trump as ‘Window Dressing’ in Memecoin Scam: Lawsuit

A new legal filing alleges that a cryptocurrency promoted in January by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump was part of a sophisticated scheme that used celebrity association to lend legitimacy to token launches, according to Wired.

BNP Paribas bank branch — “Paris-BNP Paribas1625.JPG” by Reinhardhauke, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Edited. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paris-BNP_Paribas1625.JPG License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

BNP Paribas Found Liable for Enabling Sudan Atrocities

A Manhattan federal jury found BNP Paribas liable for enabling genocide in Sudan under the Omar al-Bashir regime, raising speculation it could face a multibillion-dollar settlement, Bloomberg reported.

Bank of America, BNY Mellon Sued for Alleged Compliance Failures Linked to Epstein

New class-action lawsuits allege that Bank of America and BNY Mellon enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls, in part by failing to report suspicious activity linked to the financier until after his death in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported.