Allianz Structured Alpha funds lost $7 billion of investor money in March 2020.
Gregoire Tournant, the portfolio manager, has been arrested.
The firm pleads guilty and will pay $5.8 in fines and restitutions.

Follow-up to the Solar panel lending Ponzi: the CFO got his own 6 years in the clink.
Les bénéfices ça se divise, la réclusion ça s’additionne.

Alternatives are complex and opaque. requiring both investment and operational due diligence.
New technologies now permit investment analysis, fraud detection, and operational risk measurement.

Barclays has announced a loss of GBP 450m related to the sale suspension of OIL and VXX two weeks ago. The operational blunder is impressive.

MSCI is removing the Russian stock index at zero, implicitly valuing the entire Russian equity market at nil. And it is correct.
Russian stocks are literally worth nothing.

Credit Suisse is taking advantage of the situation in Ukraine to eliminate evidence related to the Russian oligarchs’ tax evasion (money laundering?).

Why isn’t Bitcoin/Blockchain Russia’s salvation from sanctions?
Many people are posting that Bitcoin and blockchain are somehow a solution for sanctions.
Below are reasons for why that line of thinking is not realistic.

With massive withdrawals and no central bank to come to its rescue, Sberbank Europe is defaulting.
Its London-listed stock is down 70%. The holding is owned in majority by the Russian government.

Putin’s blitzkrieg plans for a regime change have met an efficient defense. He lacks air superiority and his logistics are deficient. His panzers have stopped. Most cities are under Ukrainian control. Meanwhile, international sanctions are swifter and much heavier than expected. He has protesters at home.
Did he get into an expensive quagmire?

A major leak has just revealed the details of 18,000 private accounts and $100 billion held at Credit Suisse.
The owners include the Who’s Who of corrupt politicians, money launderers, and warmongers.
“How many rogue bankers do you need to have before you start having a rogue bank?”

If Putin wanted peace, we would have it by now.
Instead…

$700,000 on decorating, $345,000 on jets and yachts, $136,000 on casinos and nightclubs, $6.9 m in credit card payments…
The licensing rights didn’t exist. It was a movie rights Ponzi scheme. $690 millions of it.
As usual, many victims are middle-class and retirees, who are now in dire need.