Citigroup Was Using Taxpayer Bailout Funds While Committing Its Foreign Currency Felony
While the U.S. taxpayer was involuntarily shoveling over $2 trillionin bailout funds and loans into Citigroup from 2008 to 2010, the bank
was committing at least one admitted felony on its foreign currency
trading desk. And if ongoing testimony in a London court is to be
believed, the U.S. Justice Department could have brought charges against
individuals instead of settling its case for one single felony charge
against the banking unit only.
Citigroup’s banking unit, Citicorp, along with three other global
banks (JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and RBS) admitted to a felony charge of
rigging the foreign currency market brought by the U.S. Justice
Department on May 20. Approximately $5 trillion in foreign currency
trades are made globally each day, with billions of dollars to be made
through advance knowledge of where prices will be fixed.
Last Wednesday, the same day that the U.S. Justice Department unveiled a new plan
to go after individuals in banking fraud cases instead of just settling
with banks for large sums of money and a promise to behave, Perry
Stimpson was telling a London court how foreign currency rigging was
endemic at Citigroup and the culture of cheating was passed down by his
bosses, one of whom pressured him to participate in a chat room and
share information with other banks. Stimpson was also doing something in
the courtroom that the U.S. Justice Department has failed to do – he
was naming names inside the bank.
Front Cover of the New York Post, November 25, 2008
