Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Pierre-Hugues Verdier
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Transnational Networks ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Payment Systems ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Financial Infrastructure ◽  
Global Banks ◽  
The U.S

This chapter provides an overview of U.S. criminal enforcement actions against global banks, including aggregate statistics about their targets and the penalties levied. It then examines the characteristics and motives of the principal actors involved: the global banks themselves, the regulatory agencies that supervise them, and the prosecutors who brought criminal cases against them. The chapter develops the book’s three central arguments, which structure the case studies examined in the following chapters. First, it argues that prosecutors bring to global bank oversight a set of priorities, incentives, and tools that differ fundamentally from those of the specialized agencies and transnational networks that traditionally occupied that field. Second, it contends that the U.S. government’s ability to impose its will on global banks stems from its control over vital hubs of the international financial infrastructure, such as the U.S. dollar and U.S.-based payment systems. Third, it argues that although U.S. enforcement actions have triggered complaints of unilateralism and can in some cases be self-interested, they can also unlock obstacles to international cooperation and lead to widespread benefits.

Global Banks on Trial

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Hugues Verdier
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Financial Infrastructure ◽  
Compliance Officers ◽  
The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Indices ◽  
Fundamental Shift ◽  
Global Banks

In the years since the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. prosecutors have brought dozens of criminal cases against the world’s most powerful banks, charging them with manipulating financial indices, helping their customers evade taxes, evading sanctions, and laundering money. To settle these cases, global banks like UBS, Barclays, HSBC, and BNP Paribas paid tens of billions of dollars in fines. They also agreed to extensive internal reforms, hiring hundreds of compliance officers, spending billions on new systems, and installing independent corporate monitors. In effect, they agreed to become worldwide enforcers of U.S. law and policies. This book examines the U.S. enforcement campaign against global banks across four areas: benchmark manipulation, tax evasion, sanctions violations, and sovereign debt. It shows that U.S. prosecutors have unilaterally carved out a new role as global bank regulators, heralding a fundamental shift in how international finance is overseen. Their ability to do so stems from U.S. control over vital hubs of the international financial system, from which they can threaten global banks with exclusion. In some areas, these unilateral U.S. actions have ushered in important multilateral reforms, such as the rise of automatic tax information exchange and better-regulated financial indices. In other areas, such as financial sanctions, unilateralism has attracted protests from other states and attempts to bypass U.S.-based financial infrastructure, which could undermine the country’s power.

“A Hidden War”

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-146
Author(s):  
Pierre-Hugues Verdier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Payment Systems ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Negative Publicity ◽  
State Prosecutors ◽  
Global Banks ◽  
The U.S

This chapter examines the rise of financial sanctions as a tool of U.S. foreign policy and the role of U.S. prosecutors in enforcing sanctions against global banks. It describes how the United States developed its financial sanctions capabilities against terrorist groups, then turned them against state actors such as North Korea, culminating with elaborate sanctions programs against Iran and Russia. It shows how U.S. federal and state prosecutors uncovered large-scale sanctions evasion efforts at numerous global banks that processed U.S. dollar payments. This enforcement campaign led to some of the largest criminal fines ever levied, and global banks such as HSBC and BNP Paribas agreed to implement U.S. sanctions and anti-money laundering controls in their worldwide operations, thus broadening the reach of U.S. policy. Although U.S. enforcement actions faced strong criticism by U.S. allies, banks facing large fines, negative publicity, and potential loss of access to essential U.S. dollar payment infrastructure complied with U.S. demands. Unlike other cases, U.S. sanctions did not lead to multilateral reforms, instead triggering efforts by sanctioned states and bystanders to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar and U.S. payment systems.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 179-188
Author(s):  
Pierre-Hugues Verdier
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
International Finance ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Structural Power ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Financial Infrastructure ◽  
Foreign Governments ◽  
Global Banks ◽  
Do So

This chapter summarizes the findings of the case studies examined in the previous chapters and discusses their implications. The cases support the conjectures proposed in the introduction. Consistent with the differences in incentives and capabilities between regulators and prosecutors, the latter repeatedly provided robust enforcement against harmful practices by global banks that had not been effectively addressed by the former. Their ability to do so was buttressed by U.S. control over the international financial infrastructure, such as access to U.S. dollar payments, and the country’s leverage over global banks that rely on that infrastructure. Although banks and foreign governments often complained of U.S. unilateralism, in two cases—benchmark manipulation and tax evasion—U.S. enforcement actions led to substantial and widely beneficial international reforms. These conclusions challenge the widespread notion that U.S. enforcement actions against global banks are ineffective due to the “too big to jail” problem. They also qualify arguments to the effect that explicit deployment of U.S. structural power over international finance to achieve policy goals necessarily threatens to erode U.S. centrality in international finance.

“An Extortion and an Act of Piracy”

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-178
Author(s):  
Pierre-Hugues Verdier
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Investment Fund ◽  
Private Debt ◽  
Debt Restructuring ◽  
Financial Infrastructure ◽  
Restructuring Process ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
Debt Holders ◽  
Global Banks ◽  
The U.S

This chapter examines the efforts by Argentine bondholders that refused to consent to the country’s debt restructuring to use U.S. court proceedings to enforce their claims. It shows how, despite the theoretical availability of legal remedies against defaulting sovereigns, debt holders historically faced severe practical limitations of their ability to identify and attach assets to satisfy their claims. The chapter then relates how NML Capital, a U.S.-based investment fund, convinced a U.S. federal judge to accept a controversial interpretation of the bonds’ pari passu clause and to issue an injunction prohibiting Argentina from paying its other bondholders unless it also paid the holdouts. By extending the injunction to global banks and other central elements of the international financial infrastructure, the U.S. court effectively imposed financial sanctions on Argentina to enforce a private debt claim. This strategy proved successful, compelling Argentina to repay the holdout bondholders. The decision threatened to disrupt the sovereign debt restructuring process and led the IMF and other multilateral actors to initiate reforms to strengthen the legal basis for future restructurings.

Theft and Fraud Committed Using Electronic Payment Systems (Regional Judicial and Investigative Practice)

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
S. L. Morozov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Payment Systems ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Electronic Payments ◽  
Judicial Practice ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Russian Federation

The advent of the electronic currency and the effecting of electronic payments has caused new forms of thefts and types of acquisitive crimes. The judicial investigative practice of criminal cases of embezzlement committed using bank cards and other types of electronic payments has encountered problems with the qualification of such acts. The author identifies the most common enforcement problemsand their causesby a retrospective study of judicial practice, the changing norms of the criminal law. At the same time, a ten-year period of work of the judicial investigating authorities was studied. On the basis of traditional general scientific methods of cognition, as a result of a system-legal analysis of the considered set of specific situations, the author gives an author's view of the complex of causes that cause a lack of uniformity in judicial investigative practice. Using the hermeneutic approach, the author paid special attention to the application by the courts of the interpretation of the criminal law by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in different years. In conclusion, ways of resolving contentious issues of qualification of thefts and fraud in the field of electronic means of payment are proposed. It has been ascertained that high-quality and uniform law enforcement can provide additional clarification on the delimitation of related and competing theft from the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. It is concluded that in general, the current concept of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation does not contain contradictions with the novels of the criminal law, but can be improved. The rationale and edition of possible additions to the relevant decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation are given.

Pandemics

2018 ◽  
pp. 646-662
Author(s):  
Kathryn H. Jacobsen
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
Global Action ◽  
History Of ◽  
Strategic Goals

This chapter discusses the history of and responses to global epidemics of serious diseases. Case studies of cholera, influenza, and HIV/AIDS illustrate typical reactions to pandemic events. The initial stages of a pandemic are often characterized by collective anxiety and a desire for isolation. As the pandemic progresses, there are calls for collective global responses to protect human security and contain outbreaks while maintaining international trade and travel. As pandemics enter a recovery phase, there is often a shift toward the use of advocacy to promote international cooperation, secure continued funding for global health activities, and advance other strategic goals. The rhetoric of pandemics is now being used to describe obesity and other emerging noncommunicable diseases because the language of pandemics connotes risk and demands global action. Pandemics are the result of global interactions and globalization processes, and studies of pandemics are, by definition, global studies.

Criminal Litigation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Mountford ◽  
Martin Hannibal
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Realistic Case ◽  
Online Documentation ◽  
The Law

Criminal Litigation offers a guide to the areas of criminal litigation covered in the Legal Practice Course. Making use of realistic case studies backed up by online documentation, the text combines theory with practical considerations and encourages a focus on putting knowledge into a practical context. The volume covers all procedural and evidential issues that arise in criminal cases. The more complex areas of criminal litigation are examined using diagrams, flowcharts, and examples, while potential changes in the law are highlighted. This edition has been fully revised to reflect the most recent law and practice in all aspects of criminal litigation.

scholarly journals APPLICATION OF THE METHOD OF SWOT-ANALYSIS AS A MEANS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING DURING THE INVESTIGATION OF CRIMINAL CASES IN THE FIELD OF ECONOMICS IN BORDERS

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-170
Author(s):  
Vasyl Topchiy ◽  
Maksym Zabarniy ◽  
Nataliya Lugina
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Additional Protocol ◽  
Proceeds Of Crime ◽  
Criminal Matters

A cooperation between states in criminal cases is carried out in order to achieve the goals of justice and may exist at the stage of pre-trial investigation, trial, as well as after the entry into force of a court decision (sentence, ruling). Forms of international cooperation in the investigation of criminal cases are quite diverse. The main ones are: providing legal assistance, which consists in carrying out procedural actions, because during the investigation and trial of criminal cases there is often a need to gather evidence abroad by questioning defendants, victims, witnesses, experts, conducting searches, examinations, court inspections, seizure and transfer of items, delivery, and forwarding of documents, etc.; extradition of persons for criminal prosecution or for the execution of a court sentence; arrest, search and confiscation of proceeds of crime (states undertake to cooperate in the investigation of money laundering; assist in the investigation and take appropriate measures: to freeze bank accounts, seize property to prevent its concealment; confiscate proceeds of crime or property, value of which corresponds to the value of income, etc.). The normative basis for the international cooperation in the investigation of criminal cases is the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters dated April 20, 1959; the Criminal procedural code of Ukraine; Methodical recommendations of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine; Order No. 223 “On the organization of the work of the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine in the field of international legal cooperation” dated September 18, 2015. The legal basis for international cooperation in criminal matters is the current bilateral and multilateral international treaties of Ukraine, the binding nature of which has been approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Among the multilateral international agreements, there should be noted the European conventions on criminal justice: the European Convention on the Extradition with two additional protocols to it, the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters with an additional protocol to it, the European Convention on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters, The Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons with an additional protocol, The European Convention on the Supervision of Conditionally Sentenced or Conditionally Released Offenders, the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure, and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and the European Convention on the International Validity of Criminal Judgements. In addition, the Commonwealth of Independent States has the 1993 Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters and its 1997 Protocol; within the framework of the United Nations, there is the Convention on Transnational Crime of 2000, together with two Protocols thereto. These multilateral international agreements establish a uniform sphere of cooperation between law enforcement and judicial authorities in relation to all European countries. Today, the most effective is the method of “SWOT-analysis”, which is currently recognized in the scientific community as one of the most popular tools in strategic planning of social processes, including in the investigation of criminal cases. Although the type of analysis is still considered by most scientists as Bohomolova Ye., (2004) a method of marketing research of enterprises in the market in the context of business practice, the object of “SWOT-analysis” can be as legislation, the practice of its application and prospects of their improvement, and materials of criminal cases. Methodology. Achieving the purpose of this publication is ensured by the use of cognitive philosophical, general scientific and special methods, among which the main are analysis and synthesis, comparative law method, which allow to identify prospects for the use in criminal cases of the method of “SWOT-analysis”, which is currently recognized in the scientific community as one of the most popular tools in strategic planning of social processes. Methods of grammatical review and interpretation of legal norms have helped to identify gaps in the legislation governing the investigation of criminal cases, in particular in the field of economics, and to develop proposals for its improvement. Practical importance. International cooperation in criminal proceedings is an organizationally complex process, which requires the use of effective and efficient methods to perform the tasks of criminal proceedings, respect for the rights and freedoms of all participants in the process, including not violating a reasonable time in the investigation. To date, science has developed many methods of analyzing the law, the practice of their application, and identifying ways to improve legislation, taking into account the results of forecasting the prospects for society and the state. To ensure a high level of quality of criminal investigations in the framework of international cooperation, it is necessary to choose the one that will give the most effective results and allow to formulate the most optimal proposals in a particular criminal case and the practice of their application. An attempt to solve this problem is presented in this study.

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