Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer, Esq

According to the evidence presented at trial, in November and December 2011, Johnson cheated an HSBC client out of millions of dollars by misusing information provided to him by a client that hired HSBC to execute a foreign exchange transaction related to a planned sale of one of the client's foreign subsidiaries.  HSBC was selected to execute the foreign exchange transaction - which was going to require converting approximately $3.5 billion in sales proceeds into British Pound Sterling - in October 2011.  HSBC's agreement with the client required the bank to keep the details of the client's planned transaction confidential.  Instead, Johnson misused confidential information he received about the client's transaction to cheat the client out of millions of dollars, the evidence showed.  

Shortly before the transaction, which occurred in December 2011, Johnson and other traders acting under his direction purchased Pound Sterling for their own benefit in their HSBC "proprietary" accounts.  Johnson then caused the $3.5 billion foreign exchange transaction to be executed in a manner that was designed to "ramp," or drive up, the price of the Pound Sterling, benefiting their proprietary positions and HSBC at the expense of their client. 

As part of their scheme, Johnson and his co-conspirators made misrepresentations to the client about the transaction that concealed the self-serving nature of their actions.  In total, Johnson and the traders he supervised generated HSBC profits of roughly $7.5 million from the execution of the FX  transaction for the victim company.   

Enid Resident Sentenced to 33 Months for Theft of Treasury Checks and Treats to Federal Agent 

Veronica Lloyd, 46 of Enid, Mississippi, was sentenced Thursday, October 19, 2017, by United States District Judge Glen H. Davidson, in Aberdeen, Mississippi.  Lloyd was sentenced to serve a total of thirty-three (33) months in federal prison following by 3 years supervised release and was ordered to pay $52,341.67 in restitution to her victims.

On June 21, 2017, Lloyd pled guilty to converting to her own use a Treasury Check issued to another person, using threats of force to impede a Department of the Treasury Special Agent, and committing wire fraud.

 

The charges were the result of a joint investigation by the United States Attorney's Office, the Department of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, into allegations that Enid, MS residents had monies from their yearly income tax refunds taken illegally and that subsequently they were contacted by a fictitious "IRS agent" and told not to contact the IRS about the issues.  Lloyd also threatened to strike an agent of the Department of Treasure with a shovel, and later investigation revealed her use of interstate wire communication to commit fraud.

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