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The article reports that the U.S. Justice Department and New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman have filed civil suits against banking company Bank of New York Mellon Corp., alleging it engaged in fraud by overcharging investors on currency transactions it handled for them. A group led by fraud investigator Harry Markopolos helped instigate the suits.

The article reports that attorneys general in Florida and Virginia have separately sued banking company Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for alleged improper pricing of currency transactions Mellon processed for pension funds in those states. A 2008 internal document at the bank said volatility in currency prices helped Mellon achieve greater profits when trading on behalf of institutional customers.

The article discusses a report to be released by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on the role of the securities industry in the real estate bubble leading to the 2008 global financial crisis. It is reported that the government's report will center on the role of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG in the creation and marketing of derivative securities based on so-called subprime mortgages.

The article reports that some banks are believed to have charged large U.S. investment companies excessive amounts for foreign-currency trades. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is among banks suspected by investment firm BlackRock Inc. of overcharging on trades. Attorneys general in Florida, Virginia, and California have sued custody banks for taking improper profits on currency trades for their clients.

The article discusses litigation filed against several custody banks in the U.S. alleging they overcharged state pension funds on foreign-currency trades. Special attention is paid to charges by Delaware shell company FX Analytics that Bank of New York Mellon Corp. used false trades to cheat Virginia state pension funds out of $20 million or more.

This article reports that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating other failed mortgage investment deals arranged by large Wall Street firms that also misled investors similarly to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The investigations are looking at investment products designed by these firms that allowed key clients to bet that there would be a sharp housing downturn.

The article focuses on the crackdown on UBS AG clients who possibly are concealing income or the existence of foreign bank accounts from the U.S. government. It states UBS client John McCarthy agreed to plead guilty to a count of failure to file an annual report to the U.S. Treasury Department and that documents reveal the tax scheme channeled funds to a Swiss UBS account held by a Hong Kong entity. It mentions the Hong Kong link is used by the Internal Revenue Service as a clue of wrongdoing.

The article reports that the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against the Swiss bank UBS AG to obtain access to the records of 52,000 accounts held by U.S. customers. The suit came one day after UBS agreed to turn over information of 250 accounts as part of a settlement of a criminal complaint the bank had aided tax evasion by its U.S. clients.

The article reports that the Swiss bank UBS AG has agreed to turn over the names of some 250 account holders to U.S. prosecutors as part of a $780 million settlement of a case charging the bank with aiding tax evasion by depositors. This is the first time Swiss regulators have allowed a bank to reveal account holders' identities, which have been kept secret though centuries of tradition.

The article reports that the U.S. Justice Department will subpoena the Swiss bank UBS AG for the names of wealthy American clients who may have used its services to evade income taxes. Bradley Birkenfeld, a former UBS employee, has already been indicted for doing so. The subpoena is a threat to UBS's private banking operation, which is one of its most profitable businesses.

This article looks at the collapse of commodities broker Refco Inc. as billions of dollars worth of assets at the company's Bermuda unit were frozen. As part of bankruptcy court proceedings, it has been revealed that Refco's Bermuda unit was unregulated and client and company money was all placed into a single unsegregated pool. Brokerage firms in the U.S. must keep separate accounts for clients.

Focuses on a lawsuit by Italian Banca Popolare di Intra against the Bank of America Corporation. Claim that the bank improperly sold and managed Intra's investment; Intra's alleged losses; How Intra's resolve to get its money back casts a new light on credit derivatives; Rise of the credit-derivatives market, including collateralized debt obligations; Highlights of the case; Why disputes between issuers and financial institutions that invest in the credit derivatives rarely become public; How credit derivatives have provided an important cushion to the global economy, and to the world's biggest banks that provide much of the corporate lending; Issue of public disclosure.

Reports that attorney for Richard M. Scrushy, the former HealthSouth chairman who is under investigation by a Birmingham (Ala.) grand jury, has charged that the lead federal agent in the investigation of HealthSouth has a special relationship with the government's witness. Details of a meeting Scrushy had with a former friend of the witness, which was taped legally under Alabama law; Allegations made by Amy Crumpton about the relationship between Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Gerry Kelly and the witness, Hope Launius; Comments from Launius, regarding her relationship with Kelly; Reaction from the FBI.

The article reports that Virginia filed a lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for poor prices when its exchanged currencies.

The article reports on the protection of UBS AG employees from the U.S. request of information on the identities of its 52,000 account holders as part of the tax-evasion inquiry of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the Swiss law. UBS said that the U.S. ignores the Swiss law and its sovereignty in response to lawsuit it filed against the bank. It added that the request of IRS would require rewriting of tax treaties between the two countries. U.S. authorities noted that U.S. taxpayers used secretive Swiss bank accounts to evade U.S. taxes.

The article reports that U.S. real-estate fund Luminent Mortgage Capital Inc. is suing HSBC Holdings PLC over valuation of fund's bonds. Luminent claims that the New York-based mortgage-trading office of HSBC placed an improperly low valuation on nine subprime-mortgage bonds, which the fund's subsidiaries had put up as collateral for loans. The Luminent-HSBC dispute highlights a problem that many banks and investors faced this summer of 2007 as troubles in subprime mortgages triggered a broader credit crisis.

The article reports on the lawsuit filed by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and its two partners governing the sale of ABN Amro Holding's LaSalle Bank of Chicago to Bank of America Corp. Levinus Timmerman, a Dutch advocate general, opined that shareholder vote is not required for the U.S. sale. The U.S. sale is part of a merger agreement between ABN Amro Holding and Barclays PLC.

This article reports on a lawsuit filed against a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC by Tzvi Weiss, a U.S. citizen who was injured in Israel by a suicide bomber, alleging that the bank is liable for his wounds.

Focuses on the banking industry in the United States and the impact of Citigroup Inc.'s announced settlement of a class-action lawsuit for their involvement in the accounting scandal related to the former WorldCom Inc. Comments from Guy Moszowski, who follows banks and securities firms at Merrill Lynch & Co., suggesting Citigroup's move to raise its reserves for liability associated with Enron Corp. will put pressure on Morgan Stanley to do the same; Speculation about future investor lawsuits in the banking industry; Comments from John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia Law School, regarding the litigation environment in the U.S.

Reports that Richard M. Scrushy, the indicted former-chief executive officer of HealthSouth Corp., is hosting a television program in Birmingham (Ala.) called "Viewpoint," on which he and guests discuss news stories. Excerpt from the show's Web site, indicating news stories can be discussed accurately and free from media bias; Comments from Scrushy about the show's goal to allow people and organizations to present their viewpoint of a particular news story; Production aspects of the television program; When the show will air on WTTO-TV, the WB affiliate Birmingham; Potential for Scrushy to influence potential jurors related to his alleged role in accounting fraud at HealthSouth; Comments from Donald V. Watkins, Scrushy's lawyer, suggesting the program is not designed for Scrushy to defend himself.

Discusses how the health-care chain HealthSouth Corp. denied the insider-trading allegations of U.S. securities regulators, and hired the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP to investigate the allegations. Claim of HealthSouth that it gave the law firm freedom to investigate the allegations; Observation that Fulbright did not mention that HealthSouth had not given the independent investigation everything it promised after the law firm cleared chief executive officer Richard M. Scrushy of wrongdoing; Discussion of how the law firm did not appear to be acting independently of HealthSouth; Topic of how many corporations have hired so-called independent legal investigators during scandals.

Focuses on allegations of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that chief executive officer Richard M. Scrushy had been instructing employees to inflate earnings at HealthSouth Corp. Lawsuit of the SEC against Scrushy and the company, alleging that since 1999 HealthSouth had overstated profits by at least $1.4 billion; Guilty pleas of finance officials at the company to federal fraud charges; Question of how employees and executives at the company were able to keep the situation quiet for so long.

Reports that Strategic Income Fund of Atlanta, Georgia, has charged hedge-fund manager E. Thomas Jung and LIT Clearing Services Inc. of defrauding the investment fund. Worth of the fund's claims; Details on the allegations.

The article reports on the testimony given by fraud investigator Harry Markopolos at the U.S. Congressional hearing for the case of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC chairman Bernard Madoff. Markopolos repeated his criticism of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, noting that it is both a captive regulator and a failed regulator. The questions about Madoff's money management business were posed to Fairfield Greenwich Group.

Reports on a lawsuit against Gold Club, a strip club in Atlanta, Georgia. Charges of racketeering, obstruction of justice, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit prostitution against club owner Steven Kaplan and six other defendants; Discussion of Atlanta's adult entertainment offerings; Media attention to the trial because of celebrities who are reported to have gone to the club.

The article discusses developments in suits filed by several state attorneys general in the U.S. that allege custody banks overcharged public pension funds on foreign-currency trades. Consultant Neil Record says he warned the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) in 2003 that it was paying too much for currency trades. It is noted that pension funds were lax in their oversight of currency transactions for many years.

This article reports that Thomas Priore of ICP Asset Management LLC, a critic of Wall Street practices and client defender, has been sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors by favoring some clients over others in mortgage-bond trades during the financial crisis. Priore's protection of hedge-fund client Moore Capital helped to contribute to the financial crisis.

Reports that U.S. investigators are focusing on former chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers in their investigation of the accounting scandal of telecommunications company WorldCom. U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission charge of fraud against the company; Questions concerning Ebbers knowledge of overstatements of earnings by WorldCom; Expectation that more accounting irregularities will be discovered.