The global investment industry currently faces hard times. In 2007, Goldman Sachs CFO David Viniar famously stated that daily market activities in some securities were 25 standard deviations from the norm. It would appear that the bizarre is the new norm within today’s financial markets.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has laid fraud and money laundering charges against Anthony Vassallo, 29, for allegedly duping members of his church via a Ponzi scheme into investing USD40-million in a “hedge fund” returning 3.5% a month. Former NFL star Clyde “Peter” Hall, 70, pleaded guilty to fraud (but not money laundering), as he had peddled phoney banking instruments worth millions of dollars to investors. When the phoney investments went awry, he then charged investors for the service of attempting to recoup the same investor funds he had pilfered. For both news releases, please see attached.
When financial markets turn downwards, incidents of fraud will rise. When financial markets plummet off a cliff, reality takes a back seat. If you can’t trust a Mormon or an NFL star, who can you trust?
“May you live in interesting times.”
- Chinese curse, date unknown
To expand employee knowledge in capital markets financial crime is to bolster the firm’s defences against implication in an expensive and damaging financial crime event. For further information on ManchesterCF’s Financial Crime in Capital Markets course, visit http://www.manchestercf.com/Files/MCF_Financial_Crime_Cap_Mkts.pdf
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