Eric Holder, U.S. attorney general, said today the department will finish the... Read More
The banks have met with officials in recent weeks to lay out how they see their liability, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are confidential. Prosecutors have demanded a full accounting of any misconduct by mid-December, the person said.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday the
department will finish the currency-trading investigation “relatively soon” and is moving toward civil and criminal resolutions.
The Justice Department is likely to bring cases against banks early next year, followed by charges against individuals, the person said. Prosecutors had been pushing to bring a case against at least one bank before the end of the year.
Criminal and civil investigations are proceeding after six banks, including Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and UBS AG, agreed to pay $4.3 billion to regulators in Europe and the U.S. Nov. 12 to settle claims that traders colluded with counterparts at other firms in an attempt to manipulate currency rates.
‘A-team’
Regulators released transcripts of chat groups dubbed “the 3 musketeers,” “the A-team” and “1 team, 1 dream,” showing traders sharing client orders and attempting to rig the WM/Reuters currency benchmarks. Traders boasted about “whacking” and “double teaming” the market and congratulating one another when plans paid off.Prosecutors, who are working with the Federal Reserve and Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, have been investigating manipulation of currency benchmarks for more than a year. The December deadline and the talks with the banks were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.
The Justice Department may seek guilty pleas from several firms, including at least one in the U.S., a person familiar with the matter has said. While federal prosecutors have wrested convictions from foreign banks this year, they’ve yet to win a guilty plea from a U.S. lender.
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