BUSTED: Deutsche Bank Raided In Carbon Tax Fraud
Blythe Masters, the Queen Bee of Carbon Tax...
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Deutsche Bank Offices Raided in Carbon Tax Fraud
German prosecutors have raided offices belonging to Deutsche Bank as part of an investigation into a tax evasion scheme involving the trading of carbon permits. The Frankfurt prosecutor's office said 25 employees of the bank were suspected of serious tax evasion, money laundering and obstruction of justice. Arrest warrants have been issued for five of those employees.
Green Energy Gets The Blues: Tough Times Ahead
Green energy companies are feeling the backlash from subsidy cuts, austerity measures and economic uncertainties. Bloomberg's James Evans discusses the problems ahead in 2013 for the alternative energy industry.
Rise in renewable energy will require MORE use of fossil fuels
One of the hidden costs of solar and wind power — and a problem the state is not yet prepared to meet — is that wind and solar energy must be backed up by other sources, typically gas-fired generators. As more solar and wind energy generators come online, fulfilling a legal mandate to produce one-third of California's electricity by 2020, the demand will rise for more backup power from fossil fuel plants.
Canwea president says prospect for wind energy in Canada are excellent
Premier Dalton McGuinty has promised municipalities more of a voice on wind turbine projects within their borders. But on Thursday, the province said municipalities won't be able to reject wind projects.
Energy groups to Obama: Change in wind credit would boost investment
A change to the text of a wind-power tax credit would increase investment in several types of renewable energy, industry groups told President Obama. The groups say that while credits for their industries are locked in through 2013, altering the incentive’s language within the Senate Finance Committee’s tax package would boost investment for 2013.
New York State Windpower: Enough Business/Government Cronyism
The sad reality is, however, that with 66 corporate lobbyists for every elected official roaming the halls in Washington, D.C., Big Corporate Big Bucks are working hard to buy the legislation that best suits their bottom lines – taxpayers and sound science be damned.
Update in New York
Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit in Litchfield wind turbine case
LITCHFIELD, N.Y. (WKTV) - The courts have ruled in favor of the Town of Litchfield's ban on industrial wind turbines. There was a lawsuit filed against the town board by leaseholders and their relatives. This ruling means the proposal to building 492 foot industrial turbines in the town- can not move forward.
Supreme court justice Norman Seigel made the ruling on December 6th. The plaintiffs did not challenge any particular provision of the law, which allows wind energy facilities up to 50 kilowatts for personal use, but bans the construction of larger turbines. The law was enacted in March 2012 after two years of deliberations. Judge Seigel ruled in favor of the town's request for dismissal.
Rise in renewable energy will require more use of "fossil" fuels
One of the hidden costs of solar and wind power — and a problem the state is not yet prepared to meet — is that wind and solar energy must be backed up by other sources, typically gas-fired generators. As more solar and wind energy generators come online, fulfilling a legal mandate to produce one-third of California's electricity by 2020, the demand will rise for more backup power from fossil fuel plants.
http://www.caiso.com/docs/2003/09/08/2003090815135425649.pdf
Berman foreign aid reform tackles climate change
The bill doesn't spell out specific amounts or regional programs, but rather creates new requirements and priorities for the disbursement of foreign aid. These include a section on “Sustaining the Global Environment,” which permits activities aimed at addressing climate change, and another on “Advancing Peace” that calls for the creation of a Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations.
Norway Begins Four Year Test Of Thorium Reactor
A Norwegian company is breaking with convention and switching to an alternative energy it hopes will be safer, cleaner and more efficient. But this isn’t about ditching fossil fuels, but rather about making the switch from uranium to thorium. Oslo based Thor Energy is pairing up with the Norwegian government and US-based (butJapanese/Toshiba owned) Westinghouse to begin a four year test that they hope will dispel doubts and make thorium the rule rather than the exception. The thorium will run at a government reactor in Halden.
GOP Solyndra Point Man Says Romney Dropped The Ball
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the lead GOP investigator of the bankrupt solar company Solyndra, said failed presidential hopeful Mitt Romney should have done more to capitalize on the collapse of the White House-backed panel manufacturer.
Italy raids target mafia moves on wind, solar farms
Police said mafia bosses had obtained contracts to build photovoltaic and wind energy systems in Palermo, Agrigento and Trapani. Some of the money they made went to fugitive mafia chief Matteo Messina Danaro, currently one of the world's top wanted criminals. The six people arrested are suspected of mafia association and corruption. The mafia has been heavily involved in renewable energy in Italy for years.
North Carolina ocean waters chosen for offshore wind
...But offshore wind energy remains among the most expensive forms of electricity today, and building a wind farm in the sea has proven an elusive goal in this country. The industry is still distrusted by some as a subsidy-dependent boondoggle, even though advocates depictwind energy as a clean and safe alternative to mining, fracking, energy imports and nuclear waste.
An offshore wind farm long planned in Nantucket Sound off Cape Cod in Massachusetts is tied up in legal challenges, while plans to build one in Delaware waters fell through in recent weeks because of the likely expiration of federal tax incentives for these multibillion dollar projects.
“The biggest challenge is: Who’s going to buy the power?” said Brian O’Hara, president of the N.C. Offshore Wind Coalition. “If you can figure that out, then you’ve got a project.”
One company that expects to file a notice of interest in bidding for leases is Arcadia Offshore, the New Jersey company whose Delaware deal collapsed for lack of subsidies. Arcadia president Peter Mandelstam said the process will be complex and time-consuming, requiring extensive environmental analyses and public hearings; even if everything goes smoothly, construction could take five years to get under way and two years to complete.
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Developing Story in Massachusetts
Flashback: Mary O'Donnell Winds Up In Kingston
Update: Mary O'Donnell Selling 3 Wind Turbines
Background from a trusted source:
"The Patrick Admin launched the Mary O'Donnell wind turbine show in New Bedford at an offshore wind event. They put their eggs in her basket and now she's regretting she ever opened Pandora's Box."
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Read Last Week's Green Corruption Stories...
Photos by William Banzai7...
Dec 14, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Reader Comments (31)
Thanks!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/7563079132/
I have written posted a few blurbs about Angus King, (I- Maine), in the Green Energy Blues Thread. Look at this photo and then research Harry Reid's son's involvement in the renewables sector.
What the hell... I'll do it for you.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/04/Harry-Reid-s-Son-Representing-Chinese-Solar-Panel-Plant-In-5-Billion-Nevada-Deal
And look at this photo and read the article carefully.
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/12/13/opinion/committees-give-angus-king-running-start/
http://www.midwestreliability.org/04_standards/drafting_teams/ufls/BarryFrancisPresentation081024.pdf
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/272999-report-solar-firms-under-federal-probe-regarding-stimulus-program
Top wind industry lobbyist to resign
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/273027-top-wind-industry-lobbyist-to-resign
Report: Solar firms under investigation for stimulus swindle
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/272999-report-solar-firms-under-federal-probe-regarding-stimulus-program
This isn't good.
Cleantech companies look to follow SolarCity to IPO
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22195381/cleantech-companies-look-follow-solarcity-ipo
Nice link on the grid John, many of us who were in the industry know the grid has not been optimal for a very long time.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-02-15/deutsche-bank-monte-paschi-cover-tier-1-capital-and-equity-swap
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-20/deutsche-bank-raises-litigation-reserve-on-u-s-mortgages.html
Move linked to US mortgage lawsuits and other regulatory probes
http://www.interpol.int/en/Internet/News-and-media/News-media-releases/2013/PR090
(36 pages) June 2013: INTERPOL: INTERPOL Guide to Carbon Trading Crime
http://www.interpol.int/Media/files/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Guide-to-Carbon-Trading-Crime
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Climate-change-bus-tour-comes-to-Maine-.html
The “I Will Act on Climate” bus is coming to Bangor and Portland on Monday as part of its tour to more than 20 states to rally support for action that would address climate change…
…The bus tour is organized by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for American Progress, the Environmental Defense Fund, the National Wildlife Federation and other conservation and public-interest groups.
But here is an update ;)
What if you put on a presidentially sponsored climate rally, and nobody showed up?
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/13/what-if-you-put-on-a-presidentially-sponsored-climate-rally-and-nobody-showed-up/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-10/jpm-may-be-parting-ways-blythe-masters
See main DB article for more.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-06/farce-complete-blythe-masters-joining-cftc
We thought today's newsflow and "market action" ranked pretty high on the absurd surrealism scale. And then we saw this.
BLYTHE MASTERS TO JOIN CFTC GLOBAL MARKETS COMMITTEE
JPMORGAN’S BLYTHE MASTERS TO JOIN CFTC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
CFTC SPOKESMAN COMMENTS ON BLYTHE MASTERS JOINING COMMITTEE
That's right - you read it correct: "Blythe Masters, head of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s commodities division, is joining an advisory committee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said Steve Adamske, a spokesman for the regulator. Masters, 44, was invited by acting Chairman Mark Wetjen to sit on a global markets committee at the Washington-based regulator of futures and swaps, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Masters is scheduled to participate in a CFTC meeting on Feb. 12 to discuss cross-border guidance on rules, the person said."
Ok - ignore, if you will, all alegations about Blythe Masters "interventions" in the precious metals markets.
But don't ignore Blythe's CNBC interview in which the soon to be former JPMorganite said, days before the London Whale fiasco was exposed and so were JPM's attempts to corner the bond market, that JPM has "offsetting positions. We have no stake in whether prices rise or decline. Rather we're running a flat or relatively flat matched book" - a statement that was a bold faced lie, and was followed up with "what is commonly out there is that JPMorgan is manipulating the metals market. It's not part of our business model. it would be wrong and we don't do it."
No, Blythe had much greater manipulative ambitions, namely becoming the next Enron, which we learned after than the FERC fined JPMorgan - and the group ran by Blythe Masters - for manipulating electricity prices in California and other states.
Fast forward to today when we learn that this certified commodity market manipulator just got a job with none other than the head commodity regulators in the US?
In other words, you too can get a job at the CFTC if only you can answer yes to the following two questions (h/t Manal):
Has your bank manipulated energy markets under your watch, and
Have you been found guilty of commodity price manipulation
We could ask what Elizabeth Warren would think about this hilarious rotating door out of the most punished for its legal transgressions bank - with about $25 billion in legal fees, expenses and settlement charges - the same Warren who earlier today was parading with pandering populism at the Senate hearing, as a result of which nothing would change…
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Blythe Maters Senate Testimony re: carbon…
http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=7b637e60-0d4d-4982-ae01-6a2f4f304288
http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=7b637e60-0d4d-4982-ae01-6a2f4f304288
Joins the CFTC.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-06/farce-complete-blythe-masters-joining-cftc
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This is where we gave Blythe her new name (Queen Bee of the Carbon Tax).
http://dailybail.com/home/busted-deutsche-bank-raided-in-carbon-tax-fraud.html
Update:
Blythe withdraws name from CFTC after MAJOR backlash
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-07/blythe-masters-withdraws-cftc-furious-twitter-backlash-blamed
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-07/meet-mysterious-firm-about-leave-blythe-masters-without-job
It was about a month ago when it was revealed that the infamous JPMorgan physical commodities group, plagued by both perpetual accusations of precious metal manipulation and legal charges most recently with FERC for $410 million that it had manipulated electricity markets, was in exclusive talks to be sold to Geneva-based Marcuria Group. It was also revealed that Blythe Masters, JPMorgan’s commodities chief, "probably won’t join Mercuria as part of the deal." Of course, we all learned the very next day that Ms. Masters - an affirmed commodities market manipulator - and soon to be out of a job, had shockingly intended to join the CFTC trading commission as an advisor, a decisions which was promptly reversed following an epic outcry on the internet. This is all great news, but one thing remained unclear: just who is this mysterious Swiss-based company that is about to leave Blythe without a job?
Today, courtesy of Bloomberg we have the answer: Mercuria is a massive independent trading behemoth, with revenue surpassing a stunning $100 billion last year, which was started less than ten years ago by Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi, who each own 15% of the firm's equity. And it probably should come as no surprise that the company where the two traders honed their trading skill is, drumroll, Goldman Sachs...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/25/us-deutsche-bank-suicide-idUSK...
(Reuters) - Calogero Gambino, a senior Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) regulatory lawyer, has been found dead in New York in what appears to have been a suicide, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing New York City officials and other sources.
The 41-year-old man was found early on Oct. 20 hanging by the neck from a stairway banister, the newspaper said.
Gambino, an associate general counsel and a managing director who worked for the German bank for 11 years, was found by his wife and pronounced dead by medical practitioners at the scene, according to the paper.
He had been closely involved in negotiating legal issues for Deutsche Bank such as a probe by regulators of banks over allegations they manipulated the Libor benchmark interest rate as well as currency markets, the newspaper said.
He was also an associate at a private law firm and a regulatory enforcement lawyer between 1997 and 1999, the Wall Street Journal said, citing Gambino's LinkedIn profile and conference biographies.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morning_call/2015/02/sunedison-gets-410-million-loan-for-first-wind.html
SunEdison, the Maryland Heights-based solar developer, has received a $410 million loan from Deutsche Bank to help pay for its $2.4 billion acquisition of First Wind, a U.S. developer, owner and operator of wind projects.
The loan carries a 3.75 percent interest rate and matures in January 2020.
The loan will be paired with financing SunEdison secured earlier this month.
The First Wind acquisition, which closed last week, added more than 1.6 gigawatts of pipeline and backlog projects for SunEdison. Those projects will eventually be sold to TerraForm Power, a subsidiary of SunEdison that serves as a yieldco for SunEdison, which owns a majority of the company.
The deal was paid for with an upfront payment of $1 billion, including the assumption of $361 million of debt at closing, and an expected $510 million of earn-out payments over two and a half years.
First Wind CEO Paul Gaynor has been appointed executive vice president of SunEdison's North American Utility and Global Wind business unit.
SunEdison shares were trading at $20.51 per share at market close Tuesday.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/max-kaiser-jp-morgans-blythe-masters-devil-incarnate-1506977
Max Keiser, founder of VC fund Bitcoin Capital, seeding currency startcoin, and the presenter of the Keiser Report, does not mince his words.
Bitcoin completely challenged the banking world leaving banks and card issuers to play catch up, and this has led to a divide in the community: some think that banks are going to basically end up controlling the space and others believe that they will not.
Keiser told IBTimes UK in no uncertain terms that the most prominent force attempting to wrestle back a proprietary fiefdom for banks is the former global head of commodities at JP Morgan, Blythe Masters.
Masters joined blockchain-focussed company Digital Asset Holdings in March of this year. She is by far the biggest fish from Wall Street to enter the space – something which mainstream media sources generally reported as a huge vote of confidence for cryptocurrencies.
Keiser sees it differently: "Yes, I can tell you the evil cult leader is Blythe Masters. Jamie Dimon has moved her running the credit default swap desk in London – something she invented, the credit default swap."
Masters designed an elegant way of providing credit protection bundled into packages and offered to the market. It was a derivative born out of necessity following the Exxon Valdez oil spill (JPM offered Exxon a generous line in credit). Unfortunately, the modern credit default swap which she devised, rotted the financial system from within and caused its total collapse.
Interestingly, her former husband Daniel Masters also moved into bitcoin trading, launching "the first fully regulated bitcoin hedgefund" in the off-shore haven of Jersey, called Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund—or GABI for short….
...Since 2008, Blythe Masters has spoken of her personal commitment to making markets safer. Working in the bitcoin space could be seen as a chance to achieve this goal and alter her legacy.
But Keiser doesn't see it this way: "They are there to try and figure out bitcoin – as Jamie Dimon said, 'it could eat our lunch' – so he put his top lieutenant Blythe Masters in charge of finding out what this is all about, now they are frantically trying to figure out what to do with this challenger.
"Jamie Dimon made a billion dollars because of Blythe Masters skimming the global economy a penny at a time for 20 years. Now she has moved over to the crypto space.
"The woman is the devil incarnate," said Keiser.
Keiser is convinced Digital Asset is trying to come up with a proprietary bitcoin solution that will compete with the open source bitcoin as it exists. JP Morgan is known to have quietly filed patents relating to some form of cryptocurrency-like technology. Keiser believes it's an effort bound to failure.
"The charm of bitcoin is that it is open-sourced; it's not proprietary and so they are going to fail. Blythe Masters is riding a failing horse at this time – she should just retire to the glue factory now and stop harassing people with her psychotic derivatives."..
...Keiser predicts the global economy is heading towards a rejection of the US dollar as world reserve currency and the rejection of fiat currency as a whole. Whatever countries become more crypto-friendly are going to become the winners in this next economic era.
"We've got Isle of Man seeking to become bitcoin Switzerland. Not New York - New York is a protection racket for JP Morgan and its cronies, so we are not going to get much relief there.
"But other countries are opening themselves up - Africa, South America - they realise this is a way for them to leapfrog the competition and to get started in the 21st century, and get people into the banking system. All they need is a mobile phone and so that's exciting to them.
"They are not going to wait around to hear what Janet Yellen or Jack Lew has to say about regulations. Nobody cares ... nobody listens to those people anymore."
IBTimes contacted Digital Asset Holdings and JP Morgan. The calls were not returned.
Unholy Alliance: Blythe Masters Named Chairman Of Subprime Auto Lender
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-15/unholy-alliance-blythe-masters-named-chairman-subprime-auto-lender
Earlier today, on the way to presenting data from the NY Fed which shows that auto loan rejection rates hit an all-time low of just 3.3% in June, we said that if one wanted to understand the circumstances that led to the housing bubble in the US, a good place to start would be the modern day auto loan market where the "originate to sell" model that characterized pre-crisis mortgage lending is alive and well. We also recommended reading a bit about the history of the GSEs, and taking "a hard look at Blythe Masters and the wizards who created the credit default swap."
We’re not exaggerating when we say that just minutes after we penned those words - which drew an explicit link between the dynamics driving the auto loan market, the "originate to sell model" that fed Wall Street’s pre-crisis securitization machine, and the financial weapons of mass destruction that Blythe Masters helped to create - the following headline hit the wires:
BLYTHE MASTERS NAMED CHAIRMAN OF SANTANDER CONSUMER USA HOLDING
That’s right, dear readers. The mother of the credit default swap is now the chairman (err.. chairwoman) of Santander Consumer, the largest subprime auto lender in the country.
You cannot make this stuff up.
For those unfamiliar with Santander Consumer, they are the lender who, as of Q4 2014, accounted for 60% of the subprime auto market. Here’s a peek into the company's recent trials and travails:
Santander Consumer — a unit of one of only two banks to receive the dubious honor of failing the Fed’s stress tests yesterday and the market leader in subprime auto lending — allegedly ignored a law that requires lenders to obtain a court order before repossessing cars from members of the military and will now pay $9.35 million to settle the issue with the government. Apparently, Santander illegally repoed nearly 800 vehicles from active service members over the course of 5 years and then attempted to extract fees from some 350 additional soldiers in connection with repossessions the bank didn’t even execute.
This is the same Santander Consumer that was subpoenaed last year by the Justice Department in connection with its packaging of subprime auto loans into ABS and whose lending practices also got the attention of the New York Dept. of Consumer Affairs.
Don’t think for a second that any of this is slowing down the Santander Consumer subprime auto securitization machine though. The company, which leads all other lenders when it comes to the total amount of subprime auto loan debt outstanding, has already done a deal this year worth $1.2 billion which accounts for nearly 25% of all subprime auto ABS issuance YTD.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-30/former-fdic-head-sheila-bair-resigns-parent-worlds-largest-subprime-auto-lender
Former FDIC Head Sheila Bair Resigns From Parent Of World's Largest Subprime Auto Lender
Just days after Blythe Masters took up her role as Chairman of Santander Consumer - the world's largest subprime auto lenders; former FDIC head Sheila Bair has resigned her position on the board of Banco Santander citing excess "travel" as a reason. One cannot help but wonder if the clash of the titans was too much, if the embrassment of a failed stress test was unbearable, or if Ms. Bair sees the rapidly approach light at the end of the tunnel of subprime lending for what it is... a bigger train that 2008's.
As The FT reports,
Ms Bair wrote in a letter to the Systemic Risk Council, a regulatory advocacy group, whose chairmanship she is also giving up:
Though I have very much enjoyed my service on the board of this historic banking institution, the frequent trips to Spain are time-consuming and, I fear, would interfere with my responsibilities to the college.
The departure is expected to be announced by Santander as soon as Friday and becomes effective at the end of the third quarter, according to people familiar with the matter. Santander declined to comment.
* * *
One wonders why - apart from her travel excuse...
Blythe Masters taking over a sub...?
BLYTHE MASTERS NAMED CHAIRMAN OF SANTANDER CONSUMER USA HOLDING
For those unfamiliar with Santander Consumer, they are the lender who, as of Q4 2014, had $15 billion in oustanding subprime auto loans on the books. Here’s a peek into the company's recent trials and travails:
Santander Consumer — a unit of one of only two banks to receive the dubious honor of failing the Fed’s stress tests yesterday and the market leader in subprime auto lending — allegedly ignored a law that requires lenders to obtain a court order before repossessing cars from members of the military and will now pay $9.35 million to settle the issue with the government. Apparently, Santander illegally repoed nearly 800 vehicles from active service members over the course of 5 years and then attempted to extract fees from some 350 additional soldiers in connection with repossessions the bank didn’t even execute.
This is the same Santander Consumer that was subpoenaed last year by the Justice Department in connection with its packaging of subprime auto loans into ABS and whose lending practices also got the attention of the New York Dept. of Consumer Affairs.
Don’t think for a second that any of this is slowing down the Santander Consumer subprime auto securitization machine though. The company, which leads all other lenders when it comes to the total amount of subprime auto loan debt outstanding, has already done a deal this year worth $1.2 billion which accounts for nearly 25% of all subprime auto ABS issuance YTD….
http://www.ibtimes.com/deutsche-bank-employees-charged-carbon-emissions-trading-scandal-2051788
Former Deutsche banker jailed for carbon trading fraud
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N1951YD
FRANKFURT, June 13 (Reuters) - A former Deutsche Bank employee was sentenced to three years in jail on Monday for his part in a scheme trading carbon emission permits to fraudulently collect 220 million euros ($248 million)in sales tax.
The case stems from an investigation into so-called carousel trades in the European Union's carbon market in 2009 and 2010, in which some buyers imported emissions permits in one EU country without paying value-added tax (VAT).
The buyers then sold them to each other, adding VAT to the price and generating tax refunds when no tax had been paid.
Helmut Hohnholz, formerly a regional sales manager with Deutsche's global markets division, received the toughest penalty of the seven bankers on trial in the German court.
In all, seven former Deutsche Bank employees were on trial in Frankfurt. Five were given suspended jail terms of between one and two years on Monday for assisting in the tax fraud. One received a reprimand only.