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BANK

Nordea caught up in record US fraud

Sweden’s Nordea bank found itself among the many financial institutions affected by American Bernard Madoff’s multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme, it emerged on Monday.

Nordea caught up in record US fraud

A spokesperson for the bank told the Reuters news agency that the US financier’s fraud had indirectly left Nordea with an exposure worth €48 million ($65 million).

“It is not [an exposure] directly to him, but through a fund called Fairfield Sentry,” Nordea spokesperson Helena Östman told Reuters on Monday.

Östman characterized the exposure as “extremely marginal” for the Nordic region’s largest bank and remained uncertain as to whether or not the entire sum would be lost.

She explained to the TT news agency that the exposure, which is spread across pension savings funds in four countries, amounts to about 0.2 percent of a combined €25 billion in pension assets.

Other European banks found themselves in much worse shape on the heels of revelations that Madoff had defrauded investors of tens of billions of dollars over several years though an elaborate Ponzi scheme in which money from new investors went to pay off earlier investors.

Spain’s largest bank, Banco Santander, lost around €2.3 billion through its Optimal investment fund, which was involved in dealings with Madoff’s investment firm.

In France, officials with BNP Paribas fear the bank may stand to lose up to €350 million through trades and loans to hedge funds.

In addition, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC may also be caught up in the scandal.

Madoff was arrested last Thursday on suspicions of fraud, at which point the 70-year-old Wall Street veteran admitted his losses may top $50 billion.

GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

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