BLOOMBERG -- The U.S. government urged
As part of the bailout of GM and Chrysler Group LLC in 2009, the Treasury Department used some money for a so-called top-off of pensions for hourly employees at auto-parts supplier Delphi, which GM spun off in 1999. Salaried Delphi retirees had their pensions cut as part of the agreement.
Demands from the United Auto Workers representing the retirees threatened to stall GMs bankruptcy, according to a
The Treasurys auto team made it clear to GM that they wanted an agreement with the UAW prior to bankruptcy and the auto team actively negotiated and made the overall deal, according to the report. Treasurys auto team and GM did not agree to top up the pensions of other former GM employees at Delphi, which did not have active employees at GM, and therefore had no leverage to hold up GMs bankruptcy.
The TARP special inspector general said in the report that it made no recommendation after a review of the Delphi pension issue.
GM was facing default when the government, concerned about the effects on the automakers supply chain and the U.S. economy, agreed to step in in late 2008.
Compliance Policy
CFPB Releases Update of Exam Procedures for Mortgage Rules
The U.S. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau released its second update of exam procedures for mortgage rules first issued in January, according to a statement by the agency.
The rules cover ability-to-repay/qualified mortgages, high-cost mortgages, appraisals for higher-priced mortgage loans, new amendments related to the escrows rule, and recent changes to credit card rules, the Consumer Bureau said in yesterdays statement.
The release of the exam procedures will help financial institutions and mortgage companies understand and prepare for examinations by the Consumer Bureau, it said in the statement.
Compliance Action
Cohens SAC Reduces U.S. Stock Holdings by $2 Billion Amid Probe
Billionaire Steven A. Cohens SAC Capital Advisors LP, the hedge-fund firm facing federal insider-trading charges and client defections, cut its U.S. stock-listed holdings by about $2 billion in the second quarter.
SAC held $16.2 billion of U.S.-listed stocks as of June 30, according to a filing Aug. 14 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The biggest decreases in its holdings were in
SAC, based in
Cohen, 57, has vowed to keep SAC open for business as investors pulled billions of dollars from its funds this year. Remaining clients have until today to ask to redeem their money for the third quarter. Executives at SAC, which oversaw about $14 billion in net assets at the start of July, expect to end the year with about $9 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said earlier this week.
SAC was granted approval by a judge last week to continue operating until the insider-trading cases are resolved. The approved plan requires that SAC maintain at least 85 percent of the aggregate value of assets owned by the firms entity defendants as of July 1, and in exchange, allows for the fund to continue its lawful operations. If the assets fall below the specified level in a given month, the fund is required to replenish the monies, according to the Aug. 9 order.
Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for SAC at Sard Verbinnen & Co., declined to comment on the filing.
Aluminum Premium Trading Rises as Regulators Focus on Waits
Trading in aluminum premiums is climbing as regulators focus on long lines for metal from warehouses that buyers say boosted their costs.
More over-the-counter swaps changed hands since the London Metal Exchange, or LME, proposed rules last month to cut waiting times for metal at warehouses, according to Credit Suisse Group AG, a provider of the products. CME Group Inc. reported the first trade in aluminum premium futures last week. Premiums are falling at the fastest pace in 20 months and may drop another 25 percent by the end of 2013, according to Barclays Plc.
Consumers led by brewer MillerCoors LLC told a U.S. Senate hearing last month that banks and other warehouse owners are using unfair LME rules to slow deliveries. The LME, which oversees more than 700 warehouses, proposed changes to the rules on July 1. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission subpoenaed Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Glencore Xstrata Plc for documents related to their warehouses, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The LME proposed obliging warehouses where withdrawals take more than 100 days to deliver out more metal than they take in.
Courts
Vitesse Officials Plead Guilty to Backdating After Mistrials
Tomasetta, 64, and Hovanec, 61, earlier this year asked the court to dismiss charges that they conspired to inflate earnings after both trials ended with deadlocked juries. They entered the pleas yesterday before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan.
Each pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to falsify company records in an effort to impede an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorneys Office, they face 12 to 18 months in prison under federal guidelines when they are sentenced Nov. 4, Rakoff said.
The men were set to be retried for a third time on that date.
The case is U.S. v. Tomasetta, 10-mj-01205, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (
FBI Hells Angels Probe Not an Official Proceeding, Court Says
The U.S. appeals court in San Francisco reversed the convictions of two people for obstruction of justice, saying an FBI investigation of a Hells Angels chapter wasnt an official proceeding under the federal statute.
Gary Ermoian and Stephen Johnson were accused of helping pass along confidential information during a 2006 investigation of a local chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club in the Modesto,
At trial, the district court instructed the jury that an official proceeding includes an investigation by the FBI, the court wrote in its decision. That instruction, the court decided Aug. 14, was legally erroneous.
The appellate courts ruling could have implications for white-collar cases because the panel examined the meaning of official proceeding in the federal statute and declined to expand it.
The panel concluded that interference with an investigation alone, as opposed to business conducted by a court or official body, isnt a violation of that phrase in the statute. The panel wrote that the statute elsewhere provides for obstruction of justice charges for actions taken, specifically, during an investigation.
If we were to read the phrase official proceeding to include an FBI investigation, as the government urges us to do, this subsection of the statute would work to criminalize actions taken even before an investigation begins, the court wrote.
Calls to Jerald Brainin, Johnsons lawyer, and John Balazs, Ermoians attorney, werent immediately returned. Mark Cullers, chief assistant U.S. attorney in Fresno, California, didnt immediately respond to a message left at his office.
The case is U.S. vs. Ermoian, 11-10124, and U.S. vs. Johnson, 11-10388, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco).
Interviews
Wheeler Says London Whale Probe Will Haunt JPMorgan
Christopher Wheeler, an analyst at Mediobanca SpA, talked about the reputational damage to
Wheeler spoke with Guy Johnson and Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Televisions The Pulse.
Comings and Goings
SEC Names Eun Ah Choi to Manage Investment Division
Eun Ah Choi was named by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to be the managing executive of its investment management division, according to an e-mailed statement by the agency.
The division works to protect investors, promote informed investment decisions, and facilitate appropriate innovation in investment products and services through regulation of the asset management industry, the SEC said in the statement.
Choi will join the SEC from