Running my PC business allows me to gain information for clients who may require assistance & also knowing all data is safe and secure. Having attended the due diligence course I found the whole day extremely interesting and tutor Colin Tanley, was very good at what he does. I returned the next day and attended the second course which I found was even more intriguing, and showed me a way to use these tools in a more productive way. I would certainly recommend this course, for learners & advanced users.

January OSINT – Due Diligence Course

Iceland’s Supreme Court has upheld convictions of market manipulation for four former executives of the failed Kaupthing bank in a landmark case that the country’s special prosecutor said showed it was possible to crack down on fraudulent bankers.

1. Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson,
2. Kaupthing’s former chief executive,
3. former chairman Sigurdur Einarsson,
4. former CEO of Kaupthing Luxembourg
5. Magnus Gudmundsson, and
6. Olafur Olafsson, the bank’s second largest shareholder at the time,

were all sentenced on Thursday to between four and five and a half years.

The verdict is the heaviest for financial fraud in Iceland’s history, local media said.

Kaupthing collapsed under heavy debts after the 2008 financial crisis and the four former executives now live abroad. Though they sometimes returned to Iceland to collaborate with the court investigation, none were present on Thursday.

Iceland’s government appointed a special prosecutor to investigate its bankers after the world’s financial systems were rocked by the discovery of huge debts and widespread poor corporate governance. He said Thursday’s ruling was a signal to countries slow to pursue similar cases that no individual was too big to be prosecuted.

“This case…sends a strong message that will wake up discussion,” special prosecutor Olafur Hauksson told Reuters. “It shows that these financial cases may be hard, but they can also produce results.”

Not all of Iceland’s prosecutions have succeeded. But the country’s efforts contrast with the United States and particularly Europe, where though some banks have been fined, few executives have been tried and voters suffering post-crisis austerity conditions feel bankers got off lightly.

A recent scandal at the Swiss private bank of Europe’s biggest lender HSBC (HSBA.L) has highlighted the controversy again and sparked a political row about whether the bank did enough to pursue possible tax dodgers..

NO SAFE HAVEN

Iceland struggled initially to appoint a special prosecutor. Hauksson, 50, a policeman from a small fishing village, was encouraged to put in for the job after the initial advertisement drew no applications.

Nor have all of his prosecutions been trouble-free: two former bank executives were acquitted in one case, while sentences imposed on others have been criticised for being too light.

However, Icelandic lower courts have convicted the chief executives of all three of its largest banks for their responsibility in a crisis that prosecutors said highlighted the operations of a club of wealth financiers in a country of just 320,000 people.

They also convicted former chief executives of two other major banks, Glitnir and Landsbanki, for charges ranging from fraud and market manipulation.

Parliament relaxed bank secrecy laws in Iceland to help the prosecutors investigate bank documents without court orders.

“Why should we have a part of our society that is not being policed or without responsibility?” Hauksson said. “It is dangerous that someone is too big to investigate – it gives a sense there is a safe haven.”

Seven criminal cases involving bankers have made it to the Supreme Court, which upheld six of them. Five more, including cases of CEOs – are due to be heard by the top court. Another 14 cases are awaiting possible prosecution, Hauksson said.

Many bankers were seen as symbols of Iceland’s budding economic prowess before the crisis when sector’s assets grew to 10 times the country’s GDP, producing a bubble.

All of the accused have maintained their innocence.

SLOW JUSTICE

Many Icelanders have been frustrated that justice has been slow. The prosecutors’ office has been hit by budget cuts since it was set up, reducing its staff from 100 to around 50 now.

Hordur Torfa, a musician who helped organise anti-government protests after the financial crisis, said: “Due to a lack of funds, not enough staff have been available for investigations of individual cases.”

But Hauksson believes the existing rulings mean there is less chance of similar scandals in the future.

“There is some indication that the banks are more cautious. We have sent a strong signal criminality,” he said.

Asked whether he would take the job again knowing how complex the prosecutions would be, Hauksson replied, laughing: “Yes. And I’d probably be the only applicant again.

http://reut.rs/17o2fVf

SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering company, and two of its units were charged on Thursday with fraud and bribery in relation to their dealings with the regime of Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator.

From the New York Times read more:

http://nyti.ms/1Em8bvn

Kung hei fat choi !

The FCA has published a number of webpages providing information on whistleblowing. The webpages cover the following topics:

• how to be a whistleblower;
• whistleblowing law and rights of whistleblowers; and
• how the FCA uses whistleblowing information.

The FCA has also expanded and updated its main webpage on whistleblowing.

The main

webpage

information on how to be a whistleblower

whistleblowing law and the rights of whistleblowers

how the FCA uses whistleblower information 

Public Statement on Mr Stephen Lee Ross (“Mr Ross”), born 8 February 1962 – Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998, as amended (the “Financial Services Law”)

The Jersey Financial Services Commission issues this public statement under Article 25(a) of the Financial Services Law with respect to directions issued to Mr Ross under Article 23 of the Financial Services Law.

This action supports the Commission’s objectives of reducing the risk to the public of financial loss and protecting and enhancing the reputation and integrity of Jersey in commercial and financial matters.

On 16 September 2014, Mr Ross appeared before Jersey’s Magistrate’s Court, plead guilty and was convicted of eight counts of breaches of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005. Mr Ross was fined £1,000.00.

The eight offences for which Mr Ross was convicted, occurred during the period when he was a Principal Person at a Registered Person.

Following an investigation into the fitness and propriety of Mr Ross, the Commission has found that Mr Ross failed to act with integrity and has therefore concluded that Mr Ross is not fit and proper.

The Commission has deemed it necessary and proportionate in all circumstances of the case, to issue Mr Ross with directions under Article 23(1) of the Financial Services Law.

The directions prevent Mr Ross performing any function at all for, engaging in any employment at all by, and holding any position at all in the business of a Registered Person.

http://bit.ly/1ExV2NL

The FCA has published its findings from its thematic review of how asset management firms control the risk of committing market abuse.

The review considered how firms control the risks of insider dealing, improper disclosure and market manipulation, with a primary focus on equities and insider dealing.

The review examined the key aspects of an effective framework to manage market abuse risk, specifically:

• managing the risk of receiving but not identifying inside information.

• Firms generally had effective policies to identify and control inside information in clear situations.
• Practices to avoid inside information or identify its receipt in unexpected circumstances were often informal or inconsistently applied;

• controlling access to inside information when it has been received.

• All firms had a policy to limit the sharing of inside information to those who needed to know it.
• The effectiveness of such policies was examined by only two firms;

• using pre-trade controls to reduce the risk of market manipulation and insider dealing.

• Most firms contained a segregated dealing function to conduct a review to flag potentially manipulative transactions prior to execution.
• All but two firms had a system to prevent trading restricted due to the possession of inside information;

• conducting post-trade surveillance to monitor and investigate potentially suspicious trades.

• Only two firms demonstrated post-trade surveillance that highlighted and properly investigated potentially suspicious trades.
• Common barriers to surveillance were lack of documentation and poor awareness of front-office activity;

• controlling personal account dealing.

• Each firm had a personal account dealing policy which included procedures to reduce the risk of market abuse, and training of staff.
• All but one firm conducted training on market abuse rules and recent cases.

The FCA will be writing to all the firms involved in the review to provide individual feedback. Firms that did not effectively manage the risk of market abuse will be expected to make improvements to their practices.

The report

TR15/1 A 

website

Cyprus’s former interior minister and his son were jailed in Greece on Wednesday for helping a leading Greek politician take millions of euros in kickbacks from arms deals, according to court officials and documents.

Dinos Michaelides and his son Michalis were found guilty of money laundering and each sentenced to 15 years in prison, court officials told Reuters.

A Greek lawyer who was a former Greek government adviser was jailed for life for bribery, and his wife to 12 years for money laundering, they said.

According to the charge sheet, the actions of the defendants had facilitated payments by a Syrian-born businessman to Akis Tsohatzopoulos, a founding member of Greece’s Socialist PASOK party who served as defense minister from 1996 to 2001.

Those payments were linked to a contract agreed by Tsohatzopoulos during his time in office to supply Greece with Russian made anti-aircraft missiles, the court papers said.

All four had denied the charges and their lawyers said they would appeal.

Tsohatzopoulos was jailed in 2013 for tax fraud and taking kickbacks for the arms deals.

Details of lavish spending that emerged during his trial helped make the corruption case a symbol of the injustice felt by ordinary Greeks, who have seen pensions and wages cut during the economic crisis.

Michaelides, a centrist politician, served as interior minister in two Cypriot governments, the latest in the late 1990s. He was extradited to Greece in 2013.

The Syrian-born businessman, named in court as Fouad Al-Zayat, was tried in absentia and sentenced to life for bribery and 17 years for money laundering.

Under Greek statutes, a life jail term cannot exceed 25 years.

http://reut.rs/1Arb0bA