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Former Barclays boss Jes Staley has been accused of sexually abusing a woman at Jeffrey Epstein’s Virgin Islands retreat, according to a new court ruling. Staley, a former private banking chief at JP Morgan, is alleged to have ‘used aggressive force in his sexual assault of [anonymous victim ‘JPM Jane Doe’] and informed [her] that he had Epstein’s permission to do what he wanted to her,’ the ruling, filed on Monday, states. The explosive revelation – the first direct accusation of sexual assault against Staley at the behest of Epstein – is part of a ruling issued by US District...

Welcome to the CoinDesk Weekly Review 14th February 2014 – a regular look at the hottest, most controversial and thought-provoking events in the world of digital currency through the eyes of skepticism and wonder. Your host … John Law.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, copy 'em, and then beat 'em. While everyone's attention has been glued to Bitcoin (and its various smaller and less viable for now alternative digital currencies), JPMorgan has submitted a patent which appears to set the scene for a competing centralized network to Bitcoin. As LetsTalkBitcoin noted first, the "Method and system for processing internet payments using the electronic funds transfer network," states that Chase's technology is a "new paradigm." Moreover that it permits the creation of "virtual cash" (also referred to as "web cash") with a "real-time digital exchange of value."

On July 18th, 2012, the German government sold US$5.13 billion worth of 2-year bonds at an average yield of -0.06%. Please note the negative symbol in front of that yield number. What this means is that the German government was able to borrow money for less than nothing. When those specific bonds expire in two years’ time, the German government will pay back the original $5.13 billion minus 0.06%. Expressed another way, investors knowingly and willingly bid the German government $5.13 billion in exchange for bonds that will pay no interest and are guaranteed to lose them money on expiration.1...

Libor rates are calculated for different currencies each day under the auspices of the British Bankers' Association, using quotes that are submitted by banks on a panel, based on the banks' estimated borrowing costs. More than $800 trillion in securities and loans are linked to Libor, including $350 trillion in swaps and $10 trillion in loans, including auto and home loans, according to the CFTC. No other banks or individuals have been charged with wrongdoing. Banks that have disclosed they are being investigated include Citigroup Inc., C +3.72% Deutsche Bank AG, DBK.XE +2.02% HSBC Holdings HBC +1.00% PLC, J.P. Morgan...

So it starts. "Taking down the US growth projection has almost become a summertime ritual, and in keeping with tradition we are shaving our 2012 GDP outlook (Q4/Q4) from 2.3% to 2.1%. Over the first five months of the year the labor market has steadily lost momentum and we are now confronted with a global growth slowdown which will provide a further headwind to the economy. As such, we are taking Q3 growth from 3.0% to 2.0%, with much of the downward revision accounted for by an expectation that the pace of export growth will slow. We are leaving our...

JPMorgan's trading debacle: why $2 billion is just the start By Stephen Gandel, senior editor May 11, 2012: 2:02 PM ET The bank's bad bet could curtail profits for years to come. FORTUNE -- For years, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), perhaps the riskiest bank in the world, got a pass. Sure there were minor hiccups along the way. But basically investors had the attitude with the bank run by Jamie Dimon that they were going to be hands off. Sub-prime mortgage loans: You've proved you can handle them. Foreclosure problems: We're sure you've got your best people on it. A derivative...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Elizabeth Warren, the Obama administration's defender of financial consumers, will venture into the corporate lion's den this week, along with Jamie Dimon, CEO of banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. The two will be speakers at an event set for Wednesday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country's largest business lobbying group, in its Corinthian-columned headquarters situated within view of the White House. Warren, 61, is an earnest Harvard Law School professor brought up in Oklahoma, while Dimon, 55, is a consummate New York City insider and one of Wall Street's richest CEOs. He was once...

Our group was detemined to stand for delivery going into Monday because we were not going to take a 30 percent premium on a price of $33.50. It was reported that Blythe offered 50 percent premium. That was not even close in our case. We got over 80 percent premium. That's right. Over $50 per contract on the condition that our group sell all our contracts. Our counterparty even threatened us with the ghost of Herstatt. They openly admitted that they could not deliver even 20 million ounces to us but that if we stood for delivery they would be...

It is widely known that J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) holds a giant short position in silver. Furthermore, some observers are accusing the bank of acting as an agent for the Federal Reserve in the market - every tick higher in the price of silver undermines confidence in the U.S. Dollar. A lower silver price helps keep the relative appeal of the U.S. dollar and other fiat currencies high. By selling massive amounts of paper silver in the futures market, JPM has been able to suppress the price of the precious metal. It is believed that these short positions are naked...

JP Morgan Chase quickly became known as the scrooge of the banking industry when it ordered a Christmas tree removed from the lobby of the Chase bank in Southlake, TX (see article: JPMorgan Chase says Christmas tree offensive) but it appears that someone in corporate has had a change of heart regarding the removal of this holiday icon. The Christmas tree was a gift from local businessman Antonio Morales because, as he told CBS 11 news: "I want the bank that I bank at to always have a beautiful tree." After corporate caught wind of the structure, and claimed people...

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether JPMorgan Chase allowed a hedge fund to improperly select assets for a $1.1 billion deal backed by subprime mortgages, according to people familiar with the probe. Called "Squared" and completed in May 2007, the deal was a collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, made up of pieces of other CDOs. The hedge fund, Magnetar Capital, based in Evanston, Ill., purchased the riskiest slice of Squared as part of a strategy to bet against the mortgage market. As we reported in April, together with Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life and NPR's Planet Money,...

"Ballet among the Carcasses" There are many who see the large banks (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase) and quasi-government agencies (FDIC, OTS, Federal Reserve Bank of New York) as an operating cartel within our country.  There has always been a wary eye towards the relationship between these institutions and their secrecy but the events of 2008 shed light on not only the nepotistic course that creates a network of insiders (creating obvious conflicts of interest), the light revealed favoritism and what some would say was outright collusion between the organizations to ensure that selected bankers remained in business. That introductory...

The Story the New York Times Won't Touch By James Ledbetter Posted Saturday, February 20, 2010 - 12:09pm A little more than a year ago, when the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim increased his stake in the New York Times Company (NYT), I wrote "I pity the Times Mexico bureau chief who has to tiptoe through who is and isn't out of favor with the paper's new sugar daddy." Now we have a very clear example of how the Times treats Slim within its pages; it's not pretty, and the journalistic compromise can be seen well beyond Mexico. For the last...

Wall Street bankers once again are the target of populist outrage, this time over the news that Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and others are receiving limited doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine

Recently, Zero Hedge presented a snapshot analysis of the various securities that made up the triparty repo agreement involving JPM, Lehman and the Fed. We uncovered numerous bankrupt companies' equities that were being pledged as collateral for what ultimately was taxpayer exposure. To our surprise, this discovery is not an exception... (snip) On two occasions last year: on March 16, 2008, and subsequently on September 14, 2008, the Federal Reserve first established what is known as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), and subsequently amended it, so that the Fed, in becoming the lender of last resort, would allow any...

What Isn't JP Morgan Telling Us About Its Exposure To GE? (GE, JPM) John Carney|Mar. 4, 2009, 4:57 PM|12 Tags: Wall Street, GE, Stocks, Debt, Jeff Immelt, JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon Traders today were talking about rumors that JP Morgan Chase might have some outsized exposure to General Electric, which has been in a free fall all week. Citigroup analysts are the first to come out and publicly raise the question of JP Morgan's exposure. According to StreetInsider, Citi's analyst said, "While JPM management would not comment on its exposure to GE or GE Capital, JPM did say that a...

How did the U.S. financial crisis happen? A review of the road to ruin reveals a course littered with more villains than heroes. No, it’s not the Great Depression, but the United States is facing a nasty economy-wide retrenchment following the excesses of the 2000s, with no easy way to dance through it. Think 1979 to 1982, when then U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker exorcised consumer price inflation from the economy. The difference today is that the inflationary explosion has been absorbed by prices of assets—houses, stocks and bonds, office buildings—rather than by the prices of things you buy...

"Oh, no! Two dollars!" So cried investors three weeks ago. The Federal Reserve had just announced that it was lowering the discount rate by a quarter of a point and had arranged for the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase. Stock futures jumped on news of the discount rate cut and Bear sale until investors heard the price. The market's anxiety was justified. If a legendary Wall Street investment bank that investors valued at over $100 per share just last December was suddenly worth next to nothing, what were the other Wall Street firms, such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill,...

Hundreds Storm Office of JP Morgan Chase Lobbyist, Demand Commitment to Communities 3/29/2004 10:49:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Emily Severson, 708-466-4433; http://www.npa-us.org WASHINGTON, March 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Hundreds of grassroots neighborhood leaders from National People's Action (NPA) are paying a visit to the office of the head of Federal Governmental Affairs for JP Morgan Chase, Stephen S. Ruhlen, on Monday, March 29, to demand that JP Morgan sign a written agreement to commit to communities. The leaders plan to arrive at Ruhlen's office, located at 300 Connecticut Ave., NW, around 11 a.m. EST. NPA spearheaded efforts...