Legal spat between US govt and FX “Cartel” over case materials continues
Two meetings held by the parties last month were insufficient to reach agreement on Forex manipulation case materials.
The disagreement between the United States government and Richard Usher, Rohan Ramchandani, and Christopher Ashton of the so-called “Cartel” or “Mafia”, over case materials in a Forex manipulation lawsuit continues.
As FinanceFeeds has reported earlier, the parties in the case have clashed over the so-called “bill of particulars”, which is usually a list of written questions from one party to another asking for details (particulars) about a claim or defense.
Early in August, the defendants sent a letter for such a bill of particulars, asking for a “a list of the trades, bids, and offers (and corresponding communications, e.g., call or chatroom passage on that day) that the government intends to rely upon at trial.” But the US government refused to provide such a document, arguing that a bill of particulars will allow the defendants to “get a preview of the Government’s trial evidence or legal theories”. Instead, the government has committed to provide an early trial exhibit list, which will also specify the particular instances of alleged collusive trading and means of communication. The government has said it was ready to provide this 60 to 90 days prior to trial.
This timing is seen as unacceptable by the defendants who note the huge volume of discovery produced thus far: 1,400 hours of untranscribed audio recordings; 375,000 chats, emails, and attachments; and trading data from several banks comprising many millions (and likely several tens of millions) of transactions. The defendants claim it would be impossible to work within such a short period of time.
As per a Letter sent by the Defendants to Judge Richard M. Berman at the New York Southern District Court today, the parties have met to discuss the matter. Two meetings were held – on August 25th and on August 30th but no agreement was reached. The next attempt to resolve the problem will be made on September 6, 2017, during a Conference scheduled by the Court.
The indictment from January charges Richard Usher (former Head of G11 FX Trading-UK at an affiliate of The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, as well as former Managing Director at an affiliate of JPMorgan Chase & Co.), Rohan Ramchandani (former Managing Director and head of G10 FX spot trading at an affiliate of Citicorp) and Christopher Ashton (former Head of Spot FX at an affiliate of Barclays PLC) with conspiring to fix prices and rig bids for US Dollars and Euros in the FX spot market.
The defendants plead not guilty.
