–According to Reuters, HSBC may be in hot water for alleged money-laundering lapses. In April 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and New York state bank regulators cracked the whip on HSBC Bank, ordering it to do a better job, of policing itself for suspicious money flows. Nearly a decade later, the effort has failed to satisfy law-enforcement officials. According to investigation documents, in 2005, the bank violated the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering laws, on a massive scale. HSBC did so, they say, by not adequately reviewing hundreds of billions of dollars, in transactions for links to drug trafficking, terrorist financing and other criminal activity. HSBC’s U.S. anti-money laundering division has experienced high turnover among executives. Since 2005, at least half a dozen overseers have come and gone, with compliance staff also encountering pushback from bankers, eager to maintain relationships with lucrative clients, whose dealings have raised red flags. HSBC’s private-banking and retail operations office even fired a longtime private banker for alleged sexual harassment, after he warned compliance officers that clients were engaged in shady dealings.
–Bloomberg reports that Federal authorities have charged 107 people with Medicare fraud, in a multistate operation, alleging schemes involving about 452 million dollars in false billing. The U.S. charged doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, with submitting bills to Medicare for unnecessary services, and providing and paying kickbacks to acquire patient information for fraudulent bills. Those charged include 59 defendants in Miami, accused of conning the Medicare program of $137 million in false billings and seven individuals in Baton Rouge, who were accused of submitting $225 million in false claims through two community mental health centers. According to prosecutors, the indictments were the result of an investigation by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, in seven U.S. cities, including Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Tampa, and Baton Rouge.
–In local news, The Wall Street Journal reports, Norwegian painter Edvard Munch set a record yesterday when his 1895 pastel, “The Scream,” sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby’s Auction House, the most ever paid for a work of art at auction. The work far exceeded predicted expectation of $80 million and Sotheby’s final commission on the sale was 12.9 million. The sale reflects the trophy-hunting atmosphere in the global art market, as billionaires vie for the few masterpieces that come up for sale at any given season. With bragging rights at stake, the world’s top 1% battle to add these pieces to their collections.
–According to Reuters, HSBC may be in hot water for alleged money-laundering lapses. In April 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and New York state bank regulators cracked the whip on HSBC Bank, ordering it to do a better job, of policing itself for suspicious money flows. Nearly a decade later, the effort has failed to satisfy law-enforcement officials. According to investigation documents, in 2005, the bank violated the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering laws, on a massive scale. HSBC did so, they say, by not adequately reviewing hundreds of billions of dollars, in transactions for links to drug trafficking, terrorist financing and other criminal activity. HSBC’s U.S. anti-money laundering division has experienced high turnover among executives. Since 2005, at least half a dozen overseers have come and gone, with compliance staff also encountering pushback from bankers, eager to maintain relationships with lucrative clients, whose dealings have raised red flags. HSBC’s private-banking and retail operations office even fired a longtime private banker for alleged sexual harassment, after he warned compliance officers that clients were engaged in shady dealings.
–Bloomberg reports that Federal authorities have charged 107 people with Medicare fraud, in a multistate operation, alleging schemes involving about 452 million dollars in false billing. The U.S. charged doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, with submitting bills to Medicare for unnecessary services, and providing and paying kickbacks to acquire patient information for fraudulent bills. Those charged include 59 defendants in Miami, accused of conning the Medicare program of $137 million in false billings and seven individuals in Baton Rouge, who were accused of submitting $225 million in false claims through two community mental health centers. According to prosecutors, the indictments were the result of an investigation by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, in seven U.S. cities, including Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Tampa, and Baton Rouge.
–In local news, The Wall Street Journal reports, Norwegian painter Edvard Munch set a record yesterday when his 1895 pastel, “The Scream,” sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby’s Auction House, the most ever paid for a work of art at auction. The work far exceeded predicted expectation of $80 million and Sotheby’s final commission on the sale was 12.9 million. The sale reflects the trophy-hunting atmosphere in the global art market, as billionaires vie for the few masterpieces that come up for sale at any given season. With bragging rights at stake, the world’s top 1% battle to add these pieces to their collections.