Lloyd Blankfein Was the Unidentified Goldman Executive Present at 2009 1MDB Meeting

Years before Goldman Sachs Group Inc. arranged bond deals now at the heart of globe-spanning corruption probes, the firm’s then-CEO Lloyd Blankfein personally helped forge ties with Malaysia and its new sovereign wealth fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Blankfein was the unidentified high-ranking Goldman Sachs executive referenced in U.S. court documents who attended a 2009 meeting with the former Malaysian prime minister, the people said. The meeting was arranged with the help of men who are now tied to the subsequent plundering of the 1MDB fund, according to U.S. court documents unsealed last week. read more »

Friends In Low Places

The world’s top two commodity traders Vitol and Glencore used middlemen notorious for their role in Brazil’s mammoth ‘Car Wash’ bribery scandal

Corporate behemoths Glencore, Vitol and Trafigura have a combined turnover of more than half a trillion dollars - greater than the GDP of Austria - and exercise enormous power over the world’s raw materials trade. Whether it is the grain in your bread, the fuel in your car or the copper wiring in your electric toaster, there is a fair chance it was handled by these commodity traders. But all three have courted controversy over corruption allegations, links to unsavoury regimes and environmental abuses. read more »

French prosecutors call for 3.7 billion euro fine against UBS

French prosecutors argued in a Paris court on Thursday for Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSG.S) to be fined 3.7 billion euros for helping wealthy French people evade taxes.

After a seven-year investigation and aborted settlement negotiations, UBS faces accusations of laundering the proceeds of tax fraud and illegally soliciting clients in France. read more »