A Ferrari-loving British bond trader is being sued in London court after his $2.6 billion bet against US Treasuries at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic backfired — costing Wall Street giants an estimated $250 million in losses, according to a report.
Singapore-based Jan Ralph, convinced the coronavirus threat was overblown, enlisted firms including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo to help him short Uncle Sam’s debt, Bloomberg reported.
Ralph’s tiny firm Blackbrook Asset Management Ltd., which held net assets of just $235,000, amassed trades more than 11,000 times that amount, the financial news outlet said.
The firm folded on March 10, 2020, after oil prices cratered and investors flocked to safe-haven bonds. It has no ties to Blackbrook Capital, a real estate investment firm bought by Cain International last year.
The 48-year-old Ralph denies any wrongdoing in the case, which opens on Tuesday, being brought by Blackbrook’s liquidators who accuse him of wrongful trading and breaking UK company law.
If found guilty, Ralph could be on the hook for all of the debts. Bloomberg reported that his lawyers will argue that his strategy failed due to a “wholly unforeseeable” slide in oil prices on March 5, 2020.
Blackbrook’s collapse foreshadowed the 2021 Archegos Capital Management implosion, which inflicted over $10 billion in losses on lenders.
The report cited legal documents that show Citigroup led with nearly $1 billion in trades, losing $49 million. --->READ MORE HERE
A judge sentenced a Gaithersburg man to three years in federal prison on Tuesday for fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the District of Maryland announced that 54-year-old Harold Dotson was sentenced.
Dotson will also have to pay over $24.5 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.
The USAO said that in the scheme, Dotson submitted over $24 million in fraudulent Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — also known as the CARES Act — application. The act was passed in 2020 to help provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Court documents said that between April 2020 and January 2022, Dotson submitted several falsified loan applications for different COVID-19 relief loans.
At the time of these schemes, Dotson worked as the owner of H&M Tax Service LLC. The USAO said that he “used his accountant expertise to assist with preparing numerous false and fraudulent EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loan] and PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] applications for purported businesses that did not exist in any legitimate capacity.” --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
CDC recommends coronavirus vaccine with a new caveat. Here’s what to know.
CDC Updates Guidance On COVID Vaccine: What To Know In RI
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
If you like what you see, please "Like" and/or Follow us on FACEBOOK here, GETTR here, and TWITTER here.
No comments:
Post a Comment