Banking Law

US Tax Probe ‘May Spread Like Wildfire’ After UBS Settlement

As a Sept. 23 deadline looms for tax-evaders to obtain lesser penalties by disclosing offshore accounts to the Internal Revenue Service, one observer predicts that a federal probe of foreign banks may expand exponentially following a $780 million settlement by UBS AG. After the Swiss bank’s agreement to disclose information…

Sep 18, 2009 5:23 PM CDT

Where Are They Now? Lehman’s Former CLO Teaches Class, Joins Patton Boggs

The former chief legal officer at collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers jumped to a new law firm and taught a class this summer at Columbia Business School. Thomas Russo is a senior counsel at law firm Patton Boggs, the Wall Street Journal reports. His Columbia class was called “Credit Crisis:…

Sep 18, 2009 2:11 PM CDT

As New Panel Probes Financial Crisis, Why Is Perp Walk Seldom Seen?

As the chairman of a new congressional committee today promised a no-holds-barred investigation into the causes of last year’s sudden financial crisis, some observers are saying it’s about time. Despite announcements of amped-up investigations of the widespread mortgage fraud and dubious investment products that are blamed for precipitating a global…

Sep 17, 2009 8:35 PM CDT

Law Prof to Head New SEC Division Regulating Risky Financial Products

A banking law expert at the University of Texas School of Law will head a new division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that will assess and address risks posed by innovative financial products. The SEC announced today that professor Henry Hu will oversee the new Risk, Strategy and…

Sep 16, 2009 10:32 PM CDT

Harvard Law Donor Faced $100M Tax Probe at Time of Suicide, Source Says

Some 800 people attended the funeral of Finn Caspersen in Morristown, N.J., yesterday, alternately laughing and crying as the 67-year-old philanthropist and heir to the Beneficial Corp. fortune was remembered for his many good works. Among them, the Harvard Law School graduate pledged $30 million to his alma mater last…

Sep 16, 2009 7:13 PM CDT

Experts See Only Slight Risk for Law Firms in BofA Case, Despite Judge’s Ire

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff’s refusal to approve a $33 million settlement between Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission has put two law firms into the spotlight. The firms are Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which represented Bank of America, and Shearman & Sterling, representing takeover target…

Sep 16, 2009 1:34 PM CDT

Judge Appoints Public Defender for Billionaire R. Allen Stanford

A federal judge today appointed a public defender to represent a Texas billionaire who is accused of bilking $7 billion or so from investors in a scheme that allegedly revolved around an offshore bank’s certificates of deposit. Because R. Allen Stanford’s assets were frozen in a civil suit brought by…

Sep 15, 2009 7:45 PM CDT

Greedy Gordon Gekko to Make a Comeback in ‘Wall Street 2’

Remember Gordon Gekko? Famous for his philosophy that greed is good, the once-mighty corporate raider played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 movie Wall Street has been released from prison just in time to appear in a new Oliver Stone movie that has just begun filming. How Gekko continues to…

Sep 15, 2009 5:25 PM CDT

Bank Exec Accused of Just Moving Into $12M Beach Home Loses Her Job

A senior vice president responsible for commercial foreclosures at Wells Fargo & Co. has lost her job after being accused of making personal use of a $12 million bank-owned beachfront California home over the summer. The owners of the Malibu Colony home had to turn it over to the bank…

Sep 14, 2009 9:42 PM CDT

Calif. State Bar Prez Blasts Lawyers for Taking Advantage of Foreclosure Clients

The new president of the State Bar of California has a message for unscrupulous lawyers who took money from vulnerable clients facing foreclosure without doing anything to help: Your misdeeds will be a priority of disciplinary officials. New state bar president Howard Miller, a partner with the Los Angeles plaintiffs…

Sep 14, 2009 12:27 PM CDT

After Owners Lost $12M Beach Home, Bank Exec Just Moved In, Neighbors Say

A top commercial foreclosure executive at Wells Fargo Bank may be on the hot seat, after a claim by neighbors of a California couple who lost a lavish $12 million beach home to Wells Fargo. They say that she and her family used it as a weekend retreat over the…

Sep 11, 2009 7:46 PM CDT

Why Did the Bank of America Fire Its GC After Merrill Merger Vote?

Four days after the Bank of America’s shareholders approved a merger with Merrill Lynch, the bank’s general counsel, Timothy Mayopoulos, was suddenly fired and escorted from the building without being permitted to return to his desk, reports the New York Times. His firing came on the same day that the…

Sep 9, 2009 6:22 PM CDT

New Wall Street Idea: Buy and Securitize Life Insurance Policies of Elderly

Wall Street investment banks are planning to buy and securitize life insurance policies of older Americans. A $1 million policy might be sold for $400,000, then bundled with other policies and sold to investors, the New York Times reports. Duke law professor James Cox calls the development “bittersweet.” “The sweet…

Sep 8, 2009 11:48 AM CDT

SIPC Covers Some Losses for Madoff Investors, But Not Stanford CDs

When retired accountant Peter Kaltman bought $550,000 in certificates of deposit from Stanford International Bank, the brokerage that sold them to him had the Securities Investor Protection Corp. logo on its stationery. But the SIPC isn’t reimbursing him or other brokerage investors for what allegedly are now virtually worthless CDs…

Sep 4, 2009 11:21 PM CDT

Accused of $74M Loan Fraud, Nemazee Did it Again—Twice, Prosecutors Say

Accused of duping Citibank into giving him a $74 million loan based on fraudulent documents misrepresenting his assets, a prominent Democratic political fundraiser reportedly had paid the money back by the time he was criminally charged with bank fraud last week. But now prosecutors say Hassan Nemazee, 59, got the…

Sep 3, 2009 9:51 PM CDT