Legal issues and news

President Biden says his administration is focused on policing cryptocurrency crimes to combat corruption globally and is taking advantage of a newly formed Department of Justice task force, according to an anti-graft report released Monday.

U.K. authorities expect to recover as much as 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) of fraudulent COVID loans over the next year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday.

The regulator has a policy that allows it to convert public enforcement actions into informal, nonpublic ones in cases where banks haven't fully met their obligations. Its inspector general says that the practice may give a false impression to customers and investors.

Research shows the number of fraudulent transactions and dollar amounts involved are soaring as merchants increasingly go digital. Credit card and other companies are expected to more than double what they invest in AI and other tech to fortify their systems.

HSBC Holdings, Credit Suisse Group,  Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland Group were fined 344 million euros ($390 million) by the European Commission for their involvement in a foreign-exchange price fixing cartel. 

The agreement resolves a lawsuit over consumer loans that had annual percentage rates as high as 198%. Chicago-based OppFi denied allegations that it engaged in unfair lending practices.

Lawmakers are seeking documents from two companies — Blueacorn and Womply — over concerns about the suspected scale of fraud in Paycheck Protection Program loans they processed.

American Express said it discontinued a service known as Premium Wire and terminated some employees after workers inappropriately positioned the product to customers.