Petrobras ignored warnings about fuel broker implicated in graft probe

Brazil’s Petrobras found suspicious activity in its oil trading business - and failed to stop it - six years before an alleged bribery scandal erupted in that unit in 2018, according to three people with knowledge of the situation and documents seen by Reuters. read more »

Investors Pumped Billions Into Suburbs That Never Got Built

Deals involved ‘rare approach to investment in real estate’

Some Walton Group backers say they’ve lost 80% of value

Investors from Singapore to Toronto are wondering why North America’s vaunted urban sprawl ebbed before the billions they pumped into a giant "land banking" firm could pay off.

Walton Group of Companies, a Calgary-based real estate firm that had delivered 12 percent annual returns in the past, sold them on the idea of investing roughly $10,000 or more apiece in rural properties outside of fast-growing cities such as Phoenix, Toronto and Atlanta.

But $3.8 billion in land assets, 92,000 investors and 106,000 acres later, the expected sprawl and the hoped-for fat returns have mostly not yet happened. Some backers say their shares were worth only 20% of what they put in based on the most recent 2017 appraisal. And about 90 Canadian investors have hired a private investigations firm, U.S. Justice Coalition, to track the proceeds of Walton’s land syndication. read more »

Ex-Deutsche Bank Official Talks Expense Padding in Bribe Lawsuit

His comments came on the latest day of a London trial in which Vestia -- which nearly collapsed as a result of 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in derivatives losses, much of which came from trades handled by Deutsche Bank -- claims the bank is responsible for bribery, which it says invalidates the loss-making trades. read more »

Ex-Goldman Banker Gets Three Months for Insider Trading

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker was sentenced to three months in prison for using a secret account to reap thousands of dollars in illegal profits by trading on inside information about company clients.

Woojae "Steve" Jung, 38, a South Korean citizen from San Francisco who once worked as a vice president at Goldman Sachs, pleaded guilty in December to helping a friend trade by pointing him to stocks Jung had illicit tips on. read more »