Italian Prosecutors Seek Jail for Deutsche Bank, Nomura and Monte dei Paschi Banksters

May 17, 2019 (EIRNS)—Prosecutors have asked for jail sentences of former bank executives in the two-and-a-half-year trial against Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), Deutsche Bank, and Nomura in Milan. Leading officials of the three banks are accused of fraud through derivative schemes. In addition to the jail sentences, prosecutors have asked for almost $1 billion to be seized from the foreign banks involved.

Jail sentences of five years and eight months have been asked should there be convictions for Deutsche Bank’s Michele Faissola, former head of global rates; for Michele Foresti, former head of structured trading; and Dario Schiraldi, former head of European sales. A six-year jail sentence has been asked for Sadeq Sayeed, former CEO of Nomura International.

Prosecutors are also seeking eight-year sentences for former Monte dei Paschi Chairman Giuseppe Mussari and ex-General Manager Antonio Vigni. They also seek the seizure of more than $492 million each from Deutsche Bank and Nomura.

The two foreign banks helped MPS to hide losses incurred through the leveraged purchase of Antonveneta bank from Santander in 2007, by selling MPS derivative schemes. Those contracts should have raised eyebrows by supervisors at the Bank of Italy, but the central bank, then under Mario Draghi, firmly closed both eyes, as it had done when it first authorized MPS to take over Antonveneta by cheating on the takeover costs, as the documentary “Death of a Banker” reveals.