"Five of the world's largest banks have plead guilty to federal charges including manipulating the global foreign exchange market and rigging a benchmark interest rate that affects the cost of credit card, vehicle and other loans.
The settlements capped a multi-year probe by federal and state prosecutors into Wall Street firms' currency trading practices. Some of the evidence presented by the government highlights how banks colluded to rig financial markets. Traders, referring to themselves as members of "The Cartel," talked about their positions just ahead of setting rates, the government said.
"Almost every day for five years, they used a private electronic chat room to manipulate the exchange rate between euros and dollars using coded language to conceal their collusion," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference to announce the settlements. "They acted as partners rather than competitors to push the exchange rate in directions favorable to their banks, but detrimental to many others.""