Wed 2010-06-09 18:45 EDT

London business figures embroiled in Kaupthing fraud investigation: Serious Fraud Office team thought to be to be scrutinising Deutsche Bank's role in alleged suspect trades| Business | The Guardian

Simon Bowers| The Guardian

A Serious Fraud Office investigation into Kaupthing, the failed Icelandic bank, is understood to be pursuing a number of allegations of market manipulation involving investment vehicles controlled by some of the bank's largest clients, including several high profile UK business leaders. It is alleged that in the weeks and months before Iceland's financial system went into meltdown, certain trades improperly used at least €500m (£413m) of Kaupthing funds in an effort to manipulate credit derivatives. Bank bosses hoped this would restore crumbling confidence in Kaupthing's solvency in the months before the bank collapsed in October 2008...The effect was for investment vehicles -- financed by Kaupthing loans, and at least nominally controlled by some of the bank's largest clients -- to take on risk associated with the bank going bust. Kaupthing loans were being use to write insurance against Kaupthing bonds defaulting...Iceland's Truth Commission obtained details of emails sent by Deutsche Bank staff to Kaupthing which, according to its report, demonstrated that the German bank had been offering advice on how to influence the CDS price on Kaupthing bonds from early 2008...

alleged suspect trades; business; Guardian; Kaupthing fraud investigation; London business figures embroiled; scrutinising Deutsche Bank's role; Serious Fraud Office team thought.

The Wall Street Examiner Sun 2010-05-09 10:02 EDT

The Minsky Cruise (part 3, Business)

...While non-financial domestic corporate profits have shrunk from a Korean War inspired 11% of GDP to average around 5% of GDP since 1970, the financial sector's profits have been growing...The love affair with finance and disdain for what, during the tech boom, we called the "bricks and mortar" industry- and admittedly a failure, by some in those industries, to accept the transition to maturity- has inspired, for want of a better word, envy in the non-financial sector. While financial sector stocks seem to levitate on their own, non-financial sector stocks, if intent can be inferred from behavior, are believed to require a boost. I suspect the use of options as payment has something to do with this as well...Additionally, the non-financial sector, since the mid-80s has- a true sign of envy- opted to copy finance, by breaking into that field. GE Capital and GMAC Financial are two prominent examples...To paraphrase Nixon, "we're all Ponzis, now."

business; Minsky Cruise; Part 3; Wall Street Examiner.

The Guardian World News Mon 2009-10-12 10:04 EDT

Kaupthing chief named as suspect

Iceland's most controversial banker, Sigurdur Einarsson, the former executive chairman of failed bank Kaupthing, has been made an official suspect by fraud prosecutors examining alleged market manipulation relating to an investment in the bank by Qatari royal Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa al-Thani weeks before its collapse a year ago.

Guardian World News; Kaupthing chief named; Suspected.

Sat 2009-10-10 14:19 EDT

A financial revolution with profound political implications

Robert Fisk

The plan to de-dollarise the oil market, discussed both in public and in secret for at least two years and widely denied yesterday by the usual suspects -- Saudi Arabia being, as expected, the first among them -- reflects a growing resentment in the Middle East, Europe and in China at America's decades-long political as well as economic world dominance. [dollar losing reserve status]

financial revolution; profound political implications.

Wed 2009-09-16 19:21 EDT

Corrosive, stinking Chinese drywall may be radioactive - Los Angeles Times

The final years of the U.S. housing boom and a disastrous series of Gulf Coast hurricanes created a golden opportunity for Chinese drywall manufacturers. With domestic suppliers unable to keep up with demand, imports of Chinese drywall to the U.S. jumped 17-fold in 2006 from the year before. That imported drywall is now at the center of complaints of foul odors seeping from walls. Hundreds of homeowners, most in Florida, have also reported corrosion to their air conditioners, mirrors, electrical outlets and even jewelry. State and federal authorities have traced the problems to Chinese-made drywall but haven't yet fully determined the causes. Some Chinese experts, however, suspect that the culprit is a radioactive phosphorus substance -- phosphogypsum -- that is banned for construction use in the U.S. but has been used by Chinese manufacturers for almost a decade.(china, building materials, defective products, health hazards)

corrosive; Los Angeles Times; Radioactive; stinking Chinese drywall.