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UBS, Barclays Reach Immunity Deals for Cooperation in LIBOR Rate-Fixing investigation
13 July 2012
According an article entitled "This May Send Wall Streeters to Prison," New York Post reporter Charles Gasparino writes that the Obama administration policy of not prosecuting bankers may be about to end: "UBS AG has reached a deal with the Justice Department for immunity from prosecution in exchange for its help in the probe. And Barclays has its own immunity deal in exchange for cooperating with US and UK authorities. This is how prosecutors get cooperation on big white-collar cases. The Feds may still charge individuals at Barclays, but they told the bank and its new management that the firm itself can avoid criminal charges ... if they help finger others." The fact that the New York Fed under Timothy Geithner was aware of the fixing of the LIBOR rate prior to the bailout, also makes individuals such as Geithner vulnerable to scrutiny and potential criminal charges. Richard Eskow of Campaign for America’s Future writes: "Reports say that the Fed knew about Barclay’s deception back in 2007 and did nothing. No. scratch that. It rescued Barclays and its executives with nearly a trillion dollars in publicly-backed loans. Thanks to the GAO audit of the Fed — an audit which it vigorously resisted — we know that Barclays was the fifth largest recipient of emergency loans. Bailout loans for Barclays came to $868 billion. That means that Barclays probably made billions off the reduced interest rate alone, courtesy of the American people. Those loans were granted between December of 2007 and July 2010. That means the Fed was doling out billions to Barclays after it learned that the bank was lying about its LIBOR rates." |