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Following the dragging of a doctor from a plane – after he refused to leave when a computer selected him for removal when the airline overbooked the flight – United CEO Oscar Munoz has (finally) responded…
United CEO response to United Express Flight 3411. http://pic.twitter.com/rF5gNIvVd0
— United (@united) April 10, 2017
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The government isn’t quite ready to force microchip injections on citizens. But if you want to do it on your own, it just makes tracking you and your data that much easier!
You can be just like the cool kids who are having microchips injected in their hands in order to open locked doors and store payment information. A wave of the hand is all it will take to start your car, buy a latte, or share all your data with governments and corporations.
“I’m turning the internet of things into the internet of us,” said Jowan Osterlund in an interview with Recode. Osterlund is the founder of Biohax, a Swedish company that specializes in injecting small microchips, about the size of a grain of rice, under people’s skin.
The microchips, says Osterlund, can be programmed to speak to other networked devices, like coffee makers, speakers or doors with electronic locks. The idea is that it’s more convenient to wave your hand in front of the door than use a key card.
Inserted by a syringe into the skin between the thumb and the index finger, the chips communicate with other devices using Near Field Communication. It’s a wireless way of linking devices in close proximity to each other, similar to the way Bluetooth works. Contactless payment systems, like Apple Pay, also use NFC.
Last year, Microsoft invited Biohax to its TechDays conference in Sweden to implant some of the speakers at the conference, as well as a few Microsoft executives in attendance, according to Osterlund.
See it’s not scary or weird! Even hip Microsoft executives have it done. And they are on the front lines of technology! If they are doing it, maybe we all should.
The CIA Likes This Plan
And how could becoming a part of the internet of things ever pose any risks? When he was the Director of the CIA, General Petraeus was pretty excited about spying on you “through your dishwasher.”
Earlier this month, Petraeus mused about the emergence of an “Internet of Things” — that is, wired devices — at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital firm. “‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”
All those new online devices are a treasure trove of data if you’re a “person of interest” to the spy community. Once upon a time, spies had to place a bug in your chandelier to hear your conversation. With the rise of the “smart home,” you’d be sending tagged, geolocated data that a spy agency can intercept in real time when you use the lighting app on your phone to adjust your living room’s ambiance.
“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing,” Petraeus said
Now the CIA might just get the opportunity to spy on you through the microchip embedded in the fleshy part of the hand between the thumb and index finger.
Right now, the chips going into employees only work in one direction, to send information, not receive it. And they do have to be scanned just inches away in order to give off any information, meaning they aren’t quite GPS chips just yet.
But while all RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips may look similar, they are not created equal. The CIA has actually invested in multiple companies which make RFID microchips, some significantly more advanced than the ones used to buy snacks and get into the building.
[The CIA] also likes companies that are working on making smaller batteries, like Qynergy, a New Mexico-based company working on radioisotope batteries, and Infinite Power Solutions, a Colorado developer of thin-film batteries that can power RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tracking chips.
Speaking of RFID, In-Q-Tel seems to see potential there. In 2008 it invested in Massachusetts-based ThingMagic, a company that makes RFID chips that can “track anything.” The Florida State Attorney’s Office for West Palm Beach uses them to track felony case files, and Ford offered them up as an additional feature for pickup trucks. A contractor can put the tags on all of his tools, so that a quick scan of the truck bed with an RFID scanner will reveal everything in there. ThingMagic was acquired last month by GPS device maker Trimble Navigation for an undisclosed amount. In-Q-Tel has also invested in GainSpan, a company finding ways to make everything wi-fi-enabled, from refrigerators to health monitoring devices, for richer information on something than just its location.
And now we start seeing stories pop up in the media touting the benefits, convenience, and coolness factor of becoming micro-chipped. Dystopian images of the government forcing citizens to become implanted with microchips may, in fact, be overblown. People will do it to themselves, without coercion, just with a little mainstream media promotion.
But Micro-chipping is Convenient So…
A company in Sweden promotes the trend because it makes opening doors and buying smoothies so easy and convenient, and your coworkers will even throw a party for you once you take the plunge to become a cyborg.
The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted.
“The biggest benefit I think is convenience,” said Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and CEO of Epicenter. As a demonstration, he unlocks a door by merely waving near it. “It basically replaces a lot of things you have, other communication devices, whether it be credit cards or keys.”
And that is all great, but your company will also be able to see when you get to work when you leave, how often you use the bathroom, what types of snacks you buy and at what time; basically any location or use data involved with the chip. And of course there are other corporations to think about; mining data is a huge industry.
Since most people are attached to their phones anyway, cell phone data can give a pretty good play by play of what people are doing. Microchips take that one step further so that literally every move you make could be tracked by your employer, other companies, and government agencies. They can map out your movements and activities with such precision and accuracy that they will know more about your habits than you do.
It is actually too bad that we don’t get to enjoy any cool technology because we know the government is just going to exploit it to spy on us. There are clearly benefits to RFID microchips, such as the ease of unlocking doors, starting cars, paying for things and so on.
But while the CIA has its hands in the venture, we, unfortunately, cannot trust that the data gathered from the use of embedded chips won’t be put to nefarious use.
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Sporting a sweet new “Resist” picture on Twitter, Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress and author of numerous embarrassing email exchanges with John Podesta, called on Hawaiians to oust their Representative, Tulsi Gabbard, for having the audacity to question whether Assad was responsible for the recent chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
People of Hawaii’s 2nd district – was it not enough for you that your rep met with a murderous dictator? Will this move you?1 https://t.co/jbwGuZIJ6R
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) April 7, 2017
Of course, we’re almost certain that Neera’s comments had nothing to do with the fact that Gabbard was one of the few House democrats to throw her support behind Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election rather than Tanden’s chosen candidate, Hillary.
Nevertheless, here is Gabbard speaking with Wolf Blitzer of CNN who, like many of his colleagues in the MSM, seems to suddenly be very trusting of the Trump administration.
Rep. Gabbard: “Yes, I’m skeptical” of claim Assad regime is behind chemical weapons attack https://t.co/fETssThsLF https://t.co/fpYdUNR2t4
— CNN (@CNN) April 7, 2017
Gabbard, who sits on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, drew criticism earlier this year when she took a somewhat mysterious trip alone to meet with Assad in Syria without alerting House Speaker Paul Ryan. The liberal Democrat subsequently explained she simply wanted to engage in dialogue with Assad though it clearly burned some bridges within her own party. Per CNN:
Gabbard told CNN on Friday that she wants to achieve peace in Syria, “Why should we just blindly follow this escalation of a counterproductive regime-change war?”
“There’s responsibility that goes around,” Gabbard said.“Standing here pointing fingers does not accomplish peace for the Syrian people. It will not bring about an end to this war.”
Meanwhile, former DNC chair Howard Dean also decided to join in on ganging up on Gabbard, but he immediately got shut down by a follower who asked the obvious question of why engaging in dialogue was disqualifying for Gabbard but violating federal record retention laws and a Congressional subpoena was perfectly fine for Hillary.
This is a disgrace. Gabbard should not be in Congress. https://t.co/yDTh43GZam
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 9, 2017
@CarlNyberg312 @TulsiGabbard Engaging in dialogue isn’t the problem. It’s claiming there is doubt Assad uses chemical warfare. She sounds like Trump making excuses
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 9, 2017
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Gabbard is just another Putin puppet who likely assisted Russian hackers in their efforts to take down Hillary…we sincerely hope the Congress launches an immediate investigation.
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To paraphrase that great scene from Airplane, it looks like I picked the wrong week to unplug from the Internet.
Aside from a few hours when we docked in Honduras last week, I was on a self-imposed Internet exile and went several days devoid of any communication with the outside world.
I missed a major scandal at the Fed, another terror attack in Europe, the start of a US military campaign in Syria, political chaos in South Africa, and more.
But it was totally worth it.
I was on a cruise ship for most of the week speaking at a high-end investment conference, and it was as fantastic experience.
Most conferences are pathetic money grabs and giant wastes of time, so I turn down just about every request that my office receives to speak at other people’s events.
But this one was organized by my friends Robert Helms and Russell Gray, two very classy and knowledgeable investors who always put on great events.
What I enjoyed the most is that, in addition to speaking and having the opportunity to teach hundreds of people, I also had the opportunity to learn.
Learning is our great gift as a species… one of the things that separates us from animals.
Humanity rose from nothing because of our ability to learn, and our ability to pass on what we learned to the next generation.
As the infinitely quotable historian Will Durant wrote,
“Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again. So our finest contemporary achievement is our unprecedented expenditure of wealth and toil in the provision of higher education for all.”
‘Education’ doesn’t mean ‘university’. It means learning from other intelligent, talented people.
This is especially true in our modern Digital Age where wealth is derived from knowledge and information, not land and capital.
Hundreds of years ago aristocratic landowners dominated the economy.
Decades ago it was the business elite who controlled the capital and manufacturing capacity.
Today it’s knowledge and ideas that win.
Google (okay, ‘Alphabet’) started as nothing more than an algorithm to improve Internet search.
19-years later it’s one of the largest, most powerful companies in the world.
Ditto for Facebook, whose simple idea of connecting users propelled it to become worth more than $400 billion in just 13-years.
In fact Facebook is 20% more valuable than Johnson & Johnson, the largest manufacturing conglomerate in the world.
(Bear in mind that JNJ has been in business for more than a century longer than Facebook; it was founded in 1886 when Grover Cleveland was President of the United States.)
Or consider Blockchain, the financial technology that virtually eliminates the need for consumers to hold their savings in the banking system.
The simplest Blockchain is a mere 200 lines of code. That’s it.
So in other words, the centuries-old, multi-trillion dollar banking industry is at risk of being disrupted by just 200 lines of code.
It’s extraordinary.
Knowledge and ideas are real wealth today, and that’s why I always welcome the opportunity to share my own and learn from others.
One of the most impressive things I saw last week was Robert Kiyosaki, author of the life-changing book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, sitting in each session as a student.
Robert’s books have sold 50+ million copies. He owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high quality, cash-producing real estate.
He’s incredibly wealthy, and he just turned 70-years old.
Yet Robert remains a student and freely acknowledges that he still has so much to learn.
He strolled into the classroom each morning with stacks of books that he’s been reading and piles of notes that he’s been taking.
It was amazing.
The general theme of the event was that Winter is Coming; there are clear signs of trouble ahead.
Hearing from the Chief Economist of Fannie Mae (the quasi-government agency that dominates the housing market) was sobering.
His presentation was packed with data indicating that US housing is “overpriced” and “very late in the cycle”.
Other presenters discussed the looming stock market correction, coming bank failures in Europe, etc.
My own remarks focused on the current or projected insolvency of the US government, Federal Reserve, and major trust funds like Social Security.
But as I told the audience, it’s time for optimism.
Yes, the real estate market is overpriced and the stock market is due for a gigantic correction.
Yes, nearly every major western government and pension fund is hopelessly insolvent, and central banks are nearly insolvent–
— and these circumstances will likely give rise to tactics like dramatically higher taxes, capital controls, and the chaotic pain that comes from default.
In short, there are serious, serious problems in the system.
But that doesn’t mean the world is coming to an end. Our species has seen much worse.
There’s bound to be a major reset in the financial system, just as there have been so many others in the past, from the adoption of the gold florin in 1252 to the establishment of the Bretton Woods system in 1944.
And as with previous resets, there will be winners and losers.
Even during the episode of hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s (and the consequent reset) there were winners and losers.
While most people got wiped out financially, a few people became fantastically wealthy because they saw what was coming, protected themselves, and positioned their investments to gain.
Losers become victims.
They put their entire livelihoods at risk due to a misguided faith that the system is rock solid and will never fail.
Winners protect their downside risk and go after the abundance of opportunity that comes from rapid change.
The difference between the two comes down to education… and the will to take action.
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While the catalyst is unclear, it appears the market dropped as headlines of further sanctions against Russia appeared and reports of China deploiying 150,000 troops to its North Korea border.
According to Korean news agency Chosun, the "Chinese army has deployed about 150,000 troops to the North Korean border in two groups to prepare for unforeseen circumstances." The reason: the prospect of "military options", such as preemptive attacks on North Korea, like the one the United States launched on Syria.
More Google translated:
As the United States announced its independent North Korean behavior and moved the United States Navy's nuclear-powered Calvinus (CVN-70) carrier class to Singapore, the Chinese army has deployed about 150,000 troops in two groups to prepare for unforeseen circumstances.
"The report said. It is because of the prospect of taking "military options", such as preemptive attacks on North Korea, just as the United States has launched an air raid on Syria.
Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported on the 9th that the Syrian missile strike in the United States shocked China, suggesting that the People's Liberation Army forces are moving toward the Yalu River, .
The newspaper said the video was also broadcast on the Internet, but the authorities removed the relevant information, saying the move was a medical and aft support unit for the Shenyang bulb (the northern light bulb)
Another possible catalyst is a report by Russia's interfax that Moscow is preparing for more sanctions, and has warned local air companies about a possible suspension of charter flights with Tu
Whatever the catalyst, the reaction is clear:
Dropping stocks below the levels right before Syrian airstrikes began…
Taking everything but Trannies back into the red for the day.
Gold is bid back over $1250 as USDJPY suddenly plunges.
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In Virginia, it’s law and order conservatives versus small government conseratives when it comes to pot.
A. Barton Hinkle writes:
Virginia has grown less ideologically conservative in recent years, if election results are anything to go by. But it still exhibits the temperamental conservatism summarized by the traditionalist’s credo: When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change. That might partly account for the state’s hidebound policies on pot.
More residents these days think the state’s approach to marijuana needs changing, however. Eighty percent of Virginians in a recent survey favor civil fines rather than criminal conviction for minor possession offenses, and more than three out of five Virginians support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.
More ideological conservatives are modulating their views on pot as well. The commonwealth’s crime commission will study decriminalization of pot this year, thanks to a proposal by Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, a Republican who recently provoked liberal wrath with his proposal on felon voting rights, which progressives viewed as a step backward. Such a Nixon-goes-to-China move might have provided the catalyst without which Virginia would have remained stuck in Prohibition mode for the foreseeable future.
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In previewing today’s newsflows, Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid this morning said that “perhaps the most interesting stat today will be the ECB CSPP number which will include 3 days worth (out of 5) of settled secondary purchases under the new tapering regime. A big debate has been as to whether they taper CSPP in line with the PSPP or leave it running at a similar pace. Obviously the latter would be very good for credit technicals.”
Reid said that “for choice I think they do taper CSPP” and added that “we won’t know for sure today but we’ll perhaps get some clues in the size of the purchases. The last two weeks have seen daily numbers of EU335m and 308m respectively down from the average of 365m since the program started so there’s a little clue here that they have been scaling back a touch. We also have to adjust for the slightly below 20% of primary in the number which due to longer settlement periods won’t be under the new regime in today’s number. So an interesting release to follow this afternoon.”
Moments ago the ECB disclosed its “anticipated” first stub week of bond purchases under the tapered regime, when it disclosed that it as of April 7 it held €77.87BN in corporate bonds.
So it may come as a surprise to Jim, and other ECB watchers, that contrary to expectations, not only did the ECB not trim its corporate purchases for the week, but appears to have ramped bond buys, as its holdings rose from €75.46 to €77.87, a €2.41BN increase, or about €482MM per day, roughly a 40% increase from the recent “scaled back” run-rate of €308MM, and also above the daily CSPP program average of €365MM. To be sure, as Reid also noted, the number has to be adjusted for the slightly below 20% of primary in the number which due to longer settlement periods won’t be under the new regime in today’s number, although even revising for that, it appears that the ECB has aggressively ramped up its purchases in the first week of the tapered program.
As a reminder, the ECB has provided a strong bid for Euro credit since its announcement of CSPP in Mar-16. iBoxx EUR IG and HY corporate credit spreads have tightened by 40bps and 197bps respectively since announcement. Corporate purchases began on 08- Jun-16, with a weekly average purchase of ~€1.8bn and total corporate bond holdings to date of €75.45bn (as of 31-Mar-17), or roughly €7.8bn a month. The ECB purchases aggregated a total return of -0.46% in Mar’17 vs 1.06% in Feb’17. Bonds purchased under CSPP have performed worse than the broad index (iBoxx EUR IG Non-fin Senior index) which returned -0.30% in March. Utilities sector with highest exposure by amount outstanding returned -0.06%.
So what did the ECB buy in the latest week? According to a Bloomberg the ECB purchased at least 11 corporate bonds under the CSPP program, which lifts the number of securities held to 894.
Finally, since the first week of the month may have some “noise” in the ECB’s purchases, we suggest waiting until next Monday for the definitive answer if the ECB has ignored tapering when it comes to corporate bonds, before rushing to buy even more Euopean corporates in hopes of frontrunning the ECB.
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Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,
Thursday’s US missile attack on Syria must represent the quickest foreign policy U-turn in history. Less than a week after the White House gave Assad permission to stay on as president of his own country, President Trump decided that the US had to attack Syria and demand Assad’s ouster after a chemical attack earlier in the week. Trump blamed Assad for the attack, stated that “something’s going to happen” in retaliation, and less than two days later he launched a volley of 59 Tomahawk missiles (at a cost of $1.5 million each) onto a military airfield near where the chemical attack took place.
President Trump said it is in the “vital national security interest of the United States” to attack Syria over the use of poison gas. That is nonsense. Even if what Trump claims about the gas attack is true – and we’ve seen no evidence that it is – there is nothing about an isolated incident of inhuman cruelty thousands of miles from our borders that is in our “vital national security interest.” Even if Assad gassed his own people last week it hardly means he will launch chemical attacks on the United States even if he had the ability, which he does not.
From the moment the chemical attack was blamed on Assad, however, I expressed my doubts about the claims. It simply makes no sense for Assad to attack civilians with a chemical weapon just as he is winning his war against ISIS and al-Qaeda and has been told by the US that it no longer seeks regime change. On the verge of victory, he commits a suicidal act to no strategic or tactical military advantage? More likely the gas attack was a false flag by the rebels — or perhaps even by our CIA — as a last ditch effort to forestall a rebel defeat in the six year war.
Would the neocons and the mainstream media lie to us about what happened last week in Syria? Of course they would. They lied us into attacking Iraq, they lied us into attacking Gaddafi, they lied us into seeking regime change in Syria in the first place. We should always assume they are lying.
Who benefits from the US attack on Syria? ISIS, which immediately after the attack began a ground offensive. Does President Trump really want the US to act as ISIS’s air force?
The gas attack, which took some 70 civilian lives, was horrible and must be condemned. But we must also remember that US bombs in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians. Just recently, US bombs killed 300 Iraqi civilians in one strike! Does it really make a difference if you are killed by poison gas or by a US missile?
What’s next for President Trump in Syria? Russia has not backed down from its claim that the poison gas leaked as a result of a conventional Syrian bomb on an ISIS chemical weapons factory. Moscow claims it is determined to defend its ally, Syria. Will Trump unilaterally declare a no fly zone in parts of Syria and attempt to prevent Russian air traffic? Some suggest this is his next move. It is one that carries a great danger of igniting World War Three.
Donald Trump’s attack on Syria was clearly illegal. However, Congress shows no interest in reining in this out-of-control president. We should fear any US escalation and must demand that our Representatives prohibit it. If there ever was a time to flood the Capitol Hill switchboard demanding an end to US military action in Syria, it is now!
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A man was violently dragged off of a United Airlines flight Sunday evening after it was apparently overbooked, according to passengers who were on the plane.
As The Courier Journal reports, a United spokesperson confirmed in an email Sunday night that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago.
“Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked,” the spokesperson said. “After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.
“We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities.”
Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m. Monday. Passengers were allowed to board the flight, Bridges said, and once the flight was filled those on the plane were told that four people needed to give up their seats to stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight. Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer was increased to $800, but no one volunteered.
Then, she said, a manager came aboard the plane and said a computer would select four people to be taken off the flight. One couple was selected first and left the airplane, she said, before the man in the video was confronted.
Classic @United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here’s how they did it: http://pic.twitter.com/UaiSKz2bHD
— Stephen (@stephenlaca) April 10, 2017
Bridges said the man became “very upset” and said that he was a doctor who needed to see patients at a hospital in the morning. The manager told him that security would be called if he did not leave willingly, Bridges said, and the man said he was calling his lawyer. One security official came and spoke with him, and then another security officer came when he still refused. Then, she said, a third security official came on the plane and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane.
“Everyone was shocked and appalled,” Bridges said. “There were several children on the flight as well that were very upset.”
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While it may seem like yesterday, it was nearly five years ago that the Libor scandal first broke, and with it brought scandalous suggestions that none other than the Bank of England was implicated.
As we first reported in July 2012, according to Barclays then CEO Bob Diamond, it was high level individuals at the BOE who may (or may not) have been aware that Libor had been “manipulated” and were (or were not) also active in the setting process:
And yet, concerned about how deep the rabbit hole would go if a central banker was implicated, Diamond tried to cover it up:
Even as:
The note in question was represented below:
Needless to say, when it comes to the central bank nothing happened: a few BOE personnel were reassigned, some quietly lost their jobs, and nobody was prosecuted or charged. Certainly, nobody went to prison.
* * *
Fast forward nearly five years later, when the Libor scandal may have reemerged after a secret recording that implicates the Bank of England in Libor rigging has been uncovered by BBC Panorama.
According to the BBC, the 2008 recording adds to evidence the central bank repeatedly pressured commercial banks during the financial crisis to push their Libor rates down, just as suggested by Bob Diamond in 2012.
The recording calls into question evidence given in 2012 to the Treasury select committee by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond and Paul Tucker, the man who went on to become the deputy governor of the Bank of England. In the recording, a senior Barclays manager, Mark Dearlove, instructs Libor submitter Peter Johnson, to lower his Libor rates.
Dearlove tells him: “The bottom line is you’re going to absolutely hate this… but we’ve had some very serious pressure from the UK government and the Bank of England about pushing our Libors lower.” To which Johnson objects, saying that this would mean breaking the rules for setting Libor, which required him to put in rates based only on the cost of borrowing cash.
Mr Johnson says: “So I’ll push them below a realistic level of where I think I can get money?”
His boss Mr Dearlove replies: “The fact of the matter is we’ve got the Bank of England, all sorts of people involved in the whole thing… I am as reluctant as you are… these guys have just turned around and said just do it.”
The phone call between Mr Dearlove and Mr Johnson took place on 29 October 2008 the BBC notes, the same day that Tucker, who was at that time an executive director of the Bank of England, phoned Barclays boss Diamond. Barclays’ Libor rate was discussed.
Diamond and Tucker were called to give evidence before the Treasury select committee in 2012. Both said that they had only recently become aware of lowballing, despite Diamond’s abovementioned tacit admission, which he then tried to cover up.
In its report, Panorama says it played the October 2008 recording to Chris Philp MP, who sits on the Treasury committee.
He told the programme: “It sounds to me like those people giving evidence, particularly Bob Diamond and Paul Tucker were misleading parliament, that is a contempt of parliament, it’s a very serious matter and I think we need to urgently summon those individuals back before parliament to explain why it is they appear to have misled MPs. It’s extremely serious.“
Responding to the recording, Diamond told the BBC: “I never misled parliament and… I stand by everything I have said previously.” Tucker did not respond to our questions. Peter Johnson, the Barclays Libor submitter, was jailed last summer after pleading guilty to accepting trader requests to manipulate Libor.
Two traders who made requests for Mr Johnson to move Libor up or down, Jay Merchant and Alex Pabon, were found guilty last June of conspiracy to defraud along with another submitter, Jonathan Mathew.
However, the jury could not reach a verdict on two other traders then on trial, Ryan Reich and Stelios Contogoulas. The Serious Fraud Office requested a retrial which concluded last week. Both Mr Reich and Mr Contogoulas were unanimously acquitted. Panorama also played Contogoulas the October 2008 recording. He said he believed that if it had been played during the criminal trials it might have affected the outcomes.
He said: “That’s the thing, you know in these trials that we went through they separated everything, separated trading requests and lowballing. So anything that has to do with this they don’t go in. So you’re asking me do I think that if all this was in would it make a difference? Probably, is the answer.”
* * *
Another notable “criminal” to emerge from the Libor scandal was Tom Hayes, the UBS and Citi-based Libor manipulating protagonist of the recent book “The Spider Network“, and who was arguably at the center of the prosection’s LIbor case. He has repeatedly claimed that the real culprits are not those – like him – who executed the Libor rigging, but the ones at the very top who have the instructions to do so.
Like, as the case may be, the Bank of England.
Yet while some junior people went to prison, nobody in the corner office, and certainly nobody at the BOE has faced any criminal consequences from their actions.
The BBC adds that the Serious Fraud Office, which brought the Barclays prosecutions told Panorama that evidence of lowballing, was provided to the recording. They also say they are still investigating lowballing and that they follow the evidence “as high as it goes and aim to charge the most senior people wherever there is a realistic prospect of conviction”.
The Bank of England said: “Libor and other global benchmarks were not regulated in the UK or elsewhere during the period in question…. Nonetheless, the Bank of England has been assisting the SFO’s criminal investigations into Libor manipulation by employees at commercial banks and brokers by providing, on a voluntary basis, documents and records requested by the SFO.”
Ironically, it is precisely that it was unregulated that may have given the Bank of England the green light to assume it can manipulate it with impunity.
It remains to be seen if, nearly a decade after the Libor manipulation took place, any central banker will go to prison over it.
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