Ubs

Help wealthy people dodge taxes. Go to prison. And cap it off by getting $104 million for ratting out your former clients to the IRS. In one of the largest whistle-blower cases in U.S. history, the federal government is paying that amount to a globe-trotting banker who once smuggled a client's diamonds in a toothpaste tube to avoid detection by tax authorities. The financier, Bradley Birkenfeld, later confessed his transgressions and helped the Internal Revenue Service nab thousands of Americans who had stashed money overseas to avoid paying taxes.

NEW YORK - The legal fallout from Facebook Inc.'s botched initial public offering last year isn't over, although regulators approved the $62-million plan by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. to repay brokerages that lost money in the debacle. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval Monday does not stop the government or other parties from taking further legal action against Nasdaq for losses suffered in the Facebook IPO fiasco in May. Swiss banking giant UBS, for one, tallied its losses at $357 million and wants more money back than the settlement could offer.

Kweku Adoboli, the UBS trader charged with fraud and false accounting that may have resulted in a $2.3-billion loss, said through his lawyer that he was "sorry beyond words" after facing an additional fraud charge at a court hearing Thursday. Adoboli, who holds a Ghanaian passport, didn't apply for bail when he appeared at a magistrates court in London. Prosecutor David Levy said the alleged loss could exceed $2.3 billion. Adoboli wasn't required to enter a plea, and another hearing was scheduled for Oct. 20. The trader is "sorry beyond words for what happened here," said Patrick Gibbs, Adoboli's lawyer.

UBS has agreed to pay a fine of $1.5 billion to authorities and plead guilty to a felony count of wire fraud, the most recent developments in a far-reaching probe into how banks manipulated interest rates leading up to the financial crisis. Two former traders were also charged with conspiracy in a complaint unsealed Wednesday, the first people charged criminally in the Libor scandal. "We cannot and we will not tolerate misconduct on Wall Street of the kind admitted to by UBS today and by Barclays last June," said Assistant Atty.

It pays to rat out your tax-dodging clients. A former banker who helped wealthy Americans illegally evade taxes, and later confessed his transgressions and cooperated with the government, has been awarded $104 million in what appears to be the largest-ever whistleblower case. Bradley Birkenfeld, a globe-trotting financier at Swiss banking giant UBS, helped rich Americans set up phony companies to conceal secret Swiss bank accounts. He gave them credit cards to access their hidden cash.

The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has sued UBS, accusing the Swiss bank of misleading the housing agencies into buying risky mortgage debt, resulting in more than $900 million in losses. The lawsuit by the Federal Housing Finance Agency is the latest effort by Washington to prop up the government-sponsored enterprises, whose September 2008 federal seizure has so far cost taxpayers more than $135 billion. The regulator said Wednesday that more lawsuits are planned to recover losses by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in private-label debt.

Citigroup has lined up against Nasdaq's plan to compensate brokerages that lost money in the Facebook IPO. In a letter filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opposing Nasdaq's plan to pay $62 million to brokerages that lost money in the botched initial public offering, Citi criticized Nasdaq's "grossly negligent conduct. " Facebook's May 18 IPO was fraught with technical problems that saddled brokerages with millions in losses. Nasdaq delayed the highly hyped offering, but decided to go through with it despite technical difficulties in its systems.

Another major bank is reportedly nearing a huge payout to settle government investigations into rigging of key interest rates. Swiss banking giant UBS is set to fork over more than $450 million to settle claims it manipulated the London Inter-bank Offered Rate, or Libor, according to the Wall Street Journal. The British bank Barclays agreed to pay $453 million to American and British authorities to settle similar charges earlier this year. The fallout included a major shakeup that saw the departures of the bank's chairman and chief executive.

Swiss bank UBS will cut 10,000 jobs as it exits from its fixed-income trading business and tries to cut costs and concentrate on wealth management. The Zurich, Switzerland-based institution, which stated that it is “significantly reshaping its investment bank,” said it will bring its head count to 54,000 by 2015 from 64,000 employees currently. Some 2,000 cuts will come from UBS front-office workers who deal directly with clients. In total, that's a 16% slice off the overall workforce.

The cost of Nasdaq's bungling of the Facebook IPO has shot up $357 million. Swiss banking giant UBS says it lost that much from the stock exchange's "gross mishandling" of the May 18 initial public offering, the largest ever for a U.S. technology company. In a sharply worded statement, UBS said it ultimately purchased "far more shares than our clients had ordered" because Nasdaq's trading system failed to confirm UBS traders' orders. "UBS's loss resulted from Nasdaq's multiple failures to carry out its obligations, including both opening the Facebook stock for trading and not halting trading in the stock during the day," UBS said.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials said Wednesday that banking giant UBS was motivated by "sheer greed" in rigging a key global interest rate and that the $1.5 billion in penalties the firm agreed to pay sends a strong message to the financial industry. The UBS settlement, which includes the company pleading guilty to felony wire fraud charges, follows a $450-million fine against British bank Barclays in the scandal over manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor. The settlement involved U.S., British and Swiss authorities.

Swiss banking giant UBS may pay more than $1 billion to settle investigations into allegations that it conspired to rig key interest rates, according to published reports. The $1 billion in fines would more than double the $450 million British banking giant Barclays agreed to pay in June to settle charges that it manipulated key rates, including the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Trillions of dollars' worth of consumer and financial products are pegged to Libor, including mortgages and swaps.

Another major bank is reportedly nearing a huge payout to settle government investigations into rigging of key interest rates. Swiss banking giant UBS is set to fork over more than $450 million to settle claims it manipulated the London Inter-bank Offered Rate, or Libor, according to the Wall Street Journal. The British bank Barclays agreed to pay $453 million to American and British authorities to settle similar charges earlier this year. The fallout included a major shakeup that saw the departures of the bank's chairman and chief executive.

Swiss bank UBS will cut 10,000 jobs as it exits from its fixed-income trading business and tries to cut costs and concentrate on wealth management. The Zurich, Switzerland-based institution, which stated that it is “significantly reshaping its investment bank,” said it will bring its head count to 54,000 by 2015 from 64,000 employees currently. Some 2,000 cuts will come from UBS front-office workers who deal directly with clients. In total, that's a 16% slice off the overall workforce.

Help wealthy people dodge taxes. Go to prison. And cap it off by getting $104 million for ratting out your former clients to the IRS. In one of the largest whistle-blower cases in U.S. history, the federal government is paying that amount to a globe-trotting banker who once smuggled a client's diamonds in a toothpaste tube to avoid detection by tax authorities. The financier, Bradley Birkenfeld, later confessed his transgressions and helped the Internal Revenue Service nab thousands of Americans who had stashed money overseas to avoid paying taxes.

It pays to rat out your tax-dodging clients. A former banker who helped wealthy Americans illegally evade taxes, and later confessed his transgressions and cooperated with the government, has been awarded $104 million in what appears to be the largest-ever whistleblower case. Bradley Birkenfeld, a globe-trotting financier at Swiss banking giant UBS, helped rich Americans set up phony companies to conceal secret Swiss bank accounts. He gave them credit cards to access their hidden cash.

Swiss banking giant UBS may pay more than $1 billion to settle investigations into allegations that it conspired to rig key interest rates, according to published reports. The $1 billion in fines would more than double the $450 million British banking giant Barclays agreed to pay in June to settle charges that it manipulated key rates, including the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Trillions of dollars' worth of consumer and financial products are pegged to Libor, including mortgages and swaps.

What a difference a day has made for Facebook. Shares of the social networking giant perked up Wednesday, rising 4.4% in heavy trading to $18.51 as they crawled back from the record low of $17.73 they set Tuesday. Facebook can, at least in part, thank its new friends: Jefferies analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald, who initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating and a $30 price target late Tuesday and said “we think Facebook is must-buy media for marketers as they follow users online.” Their price target is still below the Wall Street average of $32.63, but not as high as the high price target, which remains at $41. The well-timed injection of optimism came as the Menlo Park, Calif., company made its move to buck up confidence on Wall Street.