SEC charged Deutsche Bank with misstating financial statements
Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Stanley Fischer in Tel Aviv University
SEC charged Adam S. Gottbetter
Timothy Massad, Chairman of the CFTC, before the Natural Gas Roundtable
In the biggest story for the day, the SEC charged Deutsche Bank with misstating financial statements. The misstatement created a "gap risk" that left the general market exposed to higher levels of systematic risk. Deutsche has agreed to pay $55 million to settle the charges.
Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Stanley Fischer, gave a speech at a conference held in honor of Professor Haim Ben-Shahar, ex-president of Tel Aviv University. He used the speech to discuss the ways in which U.S. monetary policy impacts other countries, and vice versa. Ultimately, the speech is an argument for the
central bank liquidity swap lines extended from the Federal Reserve during the global financial
crisis - the FOMC agreed to extend those lines at the last meeting. Only one committee member dissented on the grounds that this should be a fiscal decision.
The SEC charged Adam S. Gottbetter, a securities lawyer, with orchestrating promotional campaigns for microcap companies, Kentucky USA Energy Inc. (KYUS), Dynastar Holdings Inc. (DYNA), and HBP Energy Corp. (HBPE). He enlisted Mitchell G. Adam and K. David Stevenson to help in the 6 year scheme. According to the announcement, "The three rehearsed stories they would tell if ever questioned by law enforcement." Evidently, according to the announcement, Gottebetter even went so far as to complain about the difficulties of stock manipulation in comparison to robbing a bank. Gottbetter settled charges for $4.6 million and is barred from the penny stock industry. Stevenson also agreed to settle, but the case against Adam will be litigated in federal court in Newark, N.J. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced similar criminal charges against the trio. “As a securities lawyer, Gottbetter should have served as a gatekeeper and protected the capital markets and investors from fraudsters. Instead, he swung the gates wide open and illicitly profited at investors’ expense,” said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Timothy Massad, Chairman of the CFTC, gave a prepared speech before the Natural Gas Roundtable. He used the speech to discuss the CFTC's priorities with respect to the natural gas industry including: the steps taken to address the concerns of commercial end users, an update on the new rules on position limits as required by Congress, and the new rules on benchmarks and price indices.