Korean banks sue Southern California computer parts retailer Newegg, alleging 'Ponzi scheme'

Four South Korean banks filed a lawsuit against Newegg, Inc. on Friday alleging that the City of Industry company, which operates the computer parts and accessories retailer Newegg.com, conspired with a South Korean hardware manufacturer to defraud the banks of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that Newegg, along with computer wholesaler ASI Corp., made fraudulent orders for home-theater personal computers from Moneual, a Korean hardware manufacturer. Moneual, accused of masterminding the scheme, used these phony orders to secure financing from banks. read more »

Law firms smell blood over Rio fraud

Rio Tinto class actions have quickly been flagged in Australia and the US in response to this week’s explosive fraud charges levelled at the big miner, and its former chief executive Tom Albanese, over alleged inflation of the value of Mozambique coal assets.

In the US, San Francisco law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro called for US bondholders and shareholders to register for a potential claim.

“We’re focused on the matters identified by the SEC, defendants’ apparent knowledge of fraudulent accounting for Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique, and investors’, including bond investors’, damages,” Hagens Berman partner Reed Kathrein said. read more »

Merrill Lynch Fined $45 Million by U.K. for Failing to Report Transactions

Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch was fined 34.5 million pounds ($45.5 million) for failing to report two years’ worth of exchange traded derivatives transactions, making the bank the first in the U.K. to pay a penalty on that type of trades under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation.

The bank failed to report 68.5 million exchange traded derivative transactions, starting in Feb. 2014, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority said Monday. European transparency rules came into force from 2012 to reduce risks in the derivatives market, and force banks to report the trades. Bank of America cut the fine by settling at an early stage of the probe. read more »

Former Bertling unit employees sentenced in Angola bribery case

Three former employees of a former UK division of German logistics and freight company Bertling were sentenced by a London court for bribing an agent of Sonangol, the Angolan state oil group, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said. read more »