Forex Cartel trader, DOJ in talks to resolve lawsuit over access to evidence
About two weeks after Richard Usher, former Head of G10 Spot Trading at JPMorgan Chase Bank, took the Department of Justice (DOJ) to Court over what he labels as a “shell game with evidence”, he has provided an update to the New York Southern District Court.
On March 26, 2021, Usher, known for his involvement in the so-called “Forex Cartel”, filed a letter with the Court. The document contains, inter alia, a brief update on the lawsuit brought by Usher against the DOJ. Usher confirms that he and DOJ’s Civil Division are engaged in discussions designed either to resolve the lawsuit by agreement or to facilitate its adjudication on an expedited basis.
Usher filed a Complaint with the Columbia District Court on March 11, 2021. The complaint alleges that “the DOJ has adopted a purposeful and spiteful strategy” to prevent Usher from using the exculpatory materials that led to his acquittal in his criminal trial to defend himself from the same allegations in a follow-on administrative enforcement action.
Usher seeks relief in Court because “the United States Government is playing a shell game with evidence—evidence that the Government has already admitted in the parallel criminal case is exculpatory—that Usher needs for his defense in the parallel Office of Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) administrative enforcement action that carries severe penalties, including lifetime banishment from his livelihood”.
Let’s recall that Usher was acquitted of charges of manipulating the Forex spot market in a criminal case brought by the DOJ. But he and Rohan Ramchandani are now facing new challenges related to the events that led to the criminal proceedings against them, as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is targeting them in administrative proceedings.
In August 2020, the OCC issued notices against Usher and Ramchandani. The notices said that hearings will commence so as to determine whether Orders should be issued against Ramchandani, the former Head of European Foreign Exchange Spot Trading at Citibank, and Richard Usher, the former Head of EMEA Foreign Exchange Spot Trading at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., prohibiting the respondents from participating in any manner in the conduct of the affairs of any federally insured depository institution or any other institution, credit union, agency or entity referred to in 12 U.S.C. § 1818(e), and requiring respondents to pay a civil money penalty.
Usher claims that, since his acquittal by a New York jury in 2018, the OCC and DOJ have worked seemingly together, but possibly in a consciously parallel manner, to erect procedural barriers and hurdles to deny Usher his constitutional due process rights to a fair administrative proceeding and to a defense that would be based on that proven exculpatory evidence.
Anonymous
April 26, 2021 @ 9:11 pm
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