|
|
|
|
|
The Morning Risk Report: Justice Department Targets ‘Spoofing’ and ‘Scalping’ in Short-Seller Investigation
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether short-sellers conspired to drive down stock prices by sharing damaging research reports ahead of time and engaging in illegal trading tactics, people familiar with the matter said.
The U.S. Justice Department has seized hardware, trading records and private communications in an effort to prove a wide-ranging conspiracy among investors who bet against corporate shares, the people said. One tactic under investigation is “spoofing,” an illegal ploy that involves flooding the market with fake orders in an effort to push a stock price up or down, they said. Another is “scalping,” where activist short-sellers cash out their positions without disclosing it.
[Continued below...]
|
|
|
Carson Block, the fiery short-seller behind Muddy Waters, was served with a search warrant by an FBI agent in October, said people familiar with the matter, one of whom added that the warrant extended to Mr. Block’s phones. Federal agents took computers belonging to Andrew Left, another prominent short-seller, according to Bloomberg News, which previously reported the existence of an investigation.
Never the most popular camp on Wall Street, short-sellers have had an especially bruising few years. Soaring stock markets, even through the pandemic, undercut their bearish bets. They were cast as villains last year by the meme-stock crowd, who delighted in forcing them into steep losses. Some have thrown in the towel altogether.
|
|
|
|
Labor Shortages, Compliance Concerns Top List of Workplace Challenges
|
|
Recruiting and retaining talent and navigating thorny legal and compliance issues ranked as the top organizational challenges for companies in 2021, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.
The survey, which polled more than 2,000 human resources professionals and U.S. workers, also found that most businesses received high marks for their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Both groups last year rated their organizations’ actions on workplace safety and healthcare as among the most effective out of a list of 24 workplace actions, SHRM said.
HR professionals overall gave their departments a “B” grade, while workers more generally gave their HR departments a score of “C+.”
Looking ahead to 2022, HR professionals said maintaining workforce morale would be a top priority.
—Dylan Tokar
|
|
|
|
|
Tim Leissner, a former Goldman Sachs partner, is the star witness for the prosecution in the trial of former colleague Roger Ng. PHOTO: JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
|
A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner testified Wednesday that he was so driven to win business for the Wall Street bank that he conspired to bribe government officials and launder billions of dollars.
Timothy Leissner told a federal jury in New York that he and former colleague Roger Ng received praise from Goldman executives by securing three deals in 2012 and 2013 to raise $6.5 billion in bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a state-controlled economic development company known as 1MDB. Goldman earned more than $600 million in fees and revenue, at the time an unprecedented amount for the bank’s southeast Asia division, Mr. Leissner said.
|
|
|
Former New York Observer editor Ken Kurson pleaded guilty Wednesday to two misdemeanors, resolving a yearslong legal saga that included being pardoned by former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Kurson, 53 years old, admitted in New York state court to attempted computer trespassing and attempted eavesdropping. Under the terms of the plea, if he completes 100 hours of community service within a year and doesn’t break the law, prosecutors will consent to the current plea being withdrawn and replaced with a violation, which is an offense lower than a misdemeanor.
|
|
|
-
Prince Andrew’s decision to settle allegations of sexual abuse removes the immediate threat of a highly publicized trial, but the aftershocks of the yearslong scandal continue to reverberate in Buckingham Palace.
-
The Biden administration faulted China for failing to meet its commitments to purchase U.S. goods under the 2020 trade deal and said it was prepared to take further action to level the competitive playing field with Beijing.
-
Can bitcoin be a national currency? El Salvador is trying to find out. The country made bitcoin legal tender last September and now is aiming to raise $1 billion to fund expansive economic policies by cashing in on the crypto craze. But the IMF warns bitcoin is too risky, and Salvadorans are mostly sticking to dollars.
-
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is representing the National Football League in the racial-discrimination lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, according to people familiar with the matter.
-
Investors are seeking more information about companies’ struggles to hire and retain staff. Rattled by high turnover rates, stock pickers are pushing employers to share their workforce data.
|
|
|
|
|
A Ukrainian serviceman walks along a trench in the eastern region of Donetsk. PHOTO: ANATOLII STEPANOV/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
|
Pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian authorities on Thursday traded allegations of cease-fire violations along the tense front line separating the two sides, as Western officials said Moscow continued to mass troops along the border of its smaller neighbor.
Representatives of two breakaway Russian-backed and Russian-armed statelets in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, known as the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic, said Ukraine’s armed forces had launched grenades and mortars into their territory.
|
|
|
-
Inflation in the U.K. rose at its fastest annual rate in nearly three decades last month, keeping up the pressure on the Bank of England to raise its benchmark interest rate again.
|
|
|
|
|
If it becomes law, the Kids Online Safety Act would mark a significant step in regulation of children’s online experiences. PHOTO: MARK MAKELA/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
|
Social-media companies would be held responsible for harm they cause to children under bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday, in the latest move to strengthen regulation of internet platforms.
Dubbed the Kids Online Safety Act, the measure by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) would also require tech companies to provide periodic assessments of how their algorithms, design features and targeted advertising systems might contribute to harm to minors. Tech companies would have to give minors the ability to opt out of algorithmic recommendations.
|
|
|
-
Google plans to adopt new privacy restrictions to curtail tracking across apps on Android smartphones, following Apple Inc. in putting restraints on an advertising industry that has covertly collected data across billions of mobile devices.
|
|
|
|
|
Parag Agrawal was named chief executive of Twitter in late November, taking over for co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey. PHOTO: -/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
|
-
Twitter Inc.’s new Chief Executive Parag Agrawal is planning to take a few weeks of paternity leave, a move that comes shortly after he took over the social-media company late last year.
-
Activist investor Daniel Loeb, whose Third Point LLC counts Amazon.com Inc. as one of its biggest holdings, told investors on Wednesday that he sees roughly $1 trillion in untapped value at the e-commerce giant.
-
CNN Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust has resigned from the network, the chief executive of CNN’s parent company said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.
|
|
|
|
|
Some private-equity firms have walked away from investments in companies with high turnover rates or other employee challenges. PHOTO: THOMAS R LECHLEITER/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
|
|
|
|
-
Private-equity firms are looking harder than ever at how well companies are positioned to retain and attract talent when considering new investments, as waves of employee turnover continue to ripple across nearly every industry.
-
Amazon.com Inc. workers at a facility in Staten Island, N.Y., have reached an agreement with the company to hold a union vote in March, according to union organizers and the company.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|