Milan Police Seize UBS, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank Funds
By Elisa Martinuzzi
April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Milan’s financial police seized 476 million euros ($620 million) of assets belonging to UBS AG, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Depfa Bank Plc amid a probe into alleged fraud linked to the sale of derivatives.
The police froze the banks’ stakes in Italian companies, real estate assets and accounts, the financial police said in a statement today. The assets seized yesterday also include those of an ex-municipality official and a consultant, the police said.
The City of Milan is suing the four banks after it lost money on derivatives it bought from the lenders in 2005..."
Full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aOGICeXD8TPw&refer=europe
"Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
What do you think the implication of Milan’s actions would be, if sustained, on the Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet? Not one penny of taxpayer’s funds have been lost by the Fed purchases. Do you really think so? How about the impact on cartoon valuations at the BIS?
Milan is treating this as alleged FRAUD of the instruments themselves. If it sticks, the OTC derivative instrument’s entire tower of babel, spin and fabrications falls on itself.
This is the most severe test these financial OTC derivative WMDs have faced yet."
