47 charged in raids on alleged illegal currency trading firms
U.S. Attorney James Comey, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, said losses related to the alleged illegal foreign currency trades, “were in the millions.”
Federal authorities announced charges Wednesday against 47 people in a broad crackdown on fraud in the foreign currency exchange market that officials said bilked millions from big-name banks and small investors alike.
Most of the bankers, stockbrokers and traders were picked up in raids late Tuesday and early Wednesday in what law-enforcement officials called their most sweeping infiltration ever into the foreign currency markets.
The principal charges accused currency traders at some banks of making rigged trades designed to lose money — then taking cash kickbacks from co-conspirators who made money on the deals.
An undercover FBI agent discovered 123 rigged trades totaling $650,000 in just a few months, authorities said — but they cautioned similar fraud has likely been carried out for decades in the decentralized, loosely regulated foreign currency market.
Currency traders at J.P. Morgan Chase and UBS Warburg, two of the nation’s most prominent investment banks, were among those arrested.
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