DOJ does not oppose request for “Cartel” traders deposition in FX benchmark rate fixing case

Maria Nikolova

The Department does not oppose that the plaintiffs in a Forex benchmark rate fixing case depose Gardiner, Usher, Ramchandani, and Ashton.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) says it has no objections to plaintiffs’ request in a Forex benchmark rate fixing case to depose the members of the so-called “Forex Cartel”.

On Monday, November 5, 2018, the DOJ filed a response to the plaintiffs’ request in a case which targets some of the world’s major banks, like HSBC, Citi and JPMorgan. The case, captioned Nypl v. JP Morgan Chase & Co. et al (1:15-cv-09300), was brought on behalf of a putative class of consumers and end-user businesses alleging that they paid inflated Forex rates caused by an alleged conspiracy among some of the US top banks to fix prices of FX benchmark rates in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. sec. 1 et seq.

Let’s recall that, in late October, the plaintiffs in the case filed a request with the New York Southern District Court, asking that to lift and vacate the stay of the Court’s Order of September 25, 2018, which prohibited the Nypl plaintiffs from taking the depositions of the signatories to the Plea Agreements and Deferred Prosecution Agreement (and/or other witnesses competent to testify to the substance of the Pleas at trial).

They also asked to be allowed to take the depositions of the participants in the “Cartel” chatroom; namely, Messers Matthew Gardiner (the Government’s chief witness in the “Cartel” case), Christopher Ashton, Richard Usher, and Rohan Ramchandani.

The request was filed shortly after a Jury cleared Ashton, Usher, and Ramchandani, of Forex market rigging.

On Monday, November 5, 2018, the DOJ made it clear that it “construes the NYPL Plaintiffs’ request to depose Gardiner, Usher, Ramchandani, and Ashton as such, and does not object if Plaintiffs attempt to depose those individuals, who are resident in the United Kingdom”.

However, the Department objects to the NYPL Plaintiffs’ request that it be required to identify witnesses competent to testify about the substance of the bank pleas, and to produce all documents related to the negotiation of those pleas. The DOJ argues that it is not a party to this case and is under no obligation to identify witnesses for the Plaintiffs or to produce plea negotiation documents.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried might see his 25-year sentence halved

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by a Manhattan court on Thursday. This comes after he was convicted of defrauding customers and investors, with Judge Lewis Kaplan highlighting the potential future risks posed by Bankman-Fried.

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

Digital Assets

Masa and LayerZero: Bridging Blockchains for Data Sovereignty

Masa Network is poised to revolutionize the personal data landscape with its upcoming launch as a cross-chain platform, making it accessible on a variety of blockchains right from the start.

<