July 21, 2016
HSBC conducted its own investigation three years ago into a $3.5bn currency trade that US prosecutors now believe was criminally fraudulent but found nothing wrong with the transaction, according to people briefed on the internal HSBC probe. The HSBC review, conducted in the wake of the global foreign exchange rigging scandal that erupted in 2013, was led by an external lawyer and found no breach of its code of conduct. HSBC declined to comment.
The bank was on Thursday reviewing its own investigation of the $3.5bn forex trade to decide whether to support Mark Johnson, its global head of forex cash trading, who was arrested on Tuesday evening at John F. Kennedy airport in New York. Mr Johnson was later released on $1m bond secured by $300,000 in cash and his house in the UK. A warrant has also been issued for the arrest of Stuart Scott, who was head of forex cash trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa until he was fired by HSBC for separate conduct issues in 2014.
