Scamming Continues Without End, But Some Are Caught

Global banks admit guilt in forex probe, fined nearly $6 billion

By Karen Freifeld, David Henry and Steve Slater

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Four major banks pleaded guilty on Wednesday to trying to manipulate foreign exchange rates and, with two others, were fined nearly $6 billion in another settlement in a global probe into the $5 trillion-a-day market.

Citigroup Inc , JPMorgan Chase & Co , Barclays Plc , UBS AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Plc were accused by U.S. and UK officials of brazenly cheating clients to boost their own profits using invitation-only chat rooms and coded language to coordinate their trades.

All but UBS pleaded guilty to conspiring to manipulate the price of U.S. dollars and euros exchanged in the FX spot market. UBS pleaded guilty to a different charge. Bank of America Corp was fined but avoided a guilty plea over the actions of its traders in chatrooms.

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