Thursday, February 9, 2012

SEC Charges Former Credit Suisse Investment Bankers in Subprime Bond Pricing Scheme During Credit Crisis

Four former veteran investment bankers and traders have been charged for engaging in a complex scheme to fraudulently overstate the prices of $3 billion in subprime bonds during the height of the subprime credit crisis.Credit Suisse's former global head of structured credit trading and head of hedge trading, joined by two mortgage bond traders, ignored the market's sharp decline in the price of subprime bonds. They continued to price them so that Credit Suisse would achieve fictional profits. It is alleged that the mispricing scheme was driven in part by the investment bankers’ desire for lavish year-end bonuses and, in the case of one, a promotion into the senior-most echelon of Credit Suisse’s investment banking unit.

SEC Charges Former Credit Suisse Investment Bankers in Subprime Bond Pricing Scheme During Credit Crisis