Seven Big Banks Settle for Peanuts

Rigging the LIBOR is not enough for the greedy sociopaths working in the world's financial centers.  Seven of the 'too big to fail' banks settled a private anti-trust lawsuit in Manhattan for pennies on the dollar.  The suit brought by municipalities and pension funds accused fourteen financial institutions of rigging the ISDAfix used to price derivatives.  A federal judge refused to dismiss the suit five weeks ago, and it is one of many pending private suits accusing the banks of fixing various financial benchmark and prices for their own gain. Under the settlement terms the big seven will pay between $52 and $30 million each. Last month, Barclays agreed to pay a $115 million fine to settle a Commodities Futures Trading Commission investigation into ISDAfix rigging. To put the modest private settlement into some perspective, the derivatives market each is accused of fixing is valued at $553 trillion.