Citi Exec Denies Wrongdoing in Probe

An ex-Citigroup exec accused in a probe by Japanese regulators of suspected interest- rate manipulation denied wrongdoing and said authorities never questioned him before they issued findings, Bloomberg reports..

Christopher Cecere, who worked for Citigroup in Tokyo as head of G10 trading and sales for Asia until 2010, was identified as “Director A” in a Dec. 16 administrative case by Japan’s Financial Services Agency, according to two people with knowledge of the inquiry. The agency said Director A and another Citigroup trader engaged in “seriously unjust and malicious” conduct by asking bankers to alter data they submitted while setting a benchmark Japanese lending rate. Japan’s FSA penalized the firm and took no action against the employees.

During Citigroup’s internal investigation, the New York- based bank didn’t question Cecere about his conduct or indicate to him that it suspected he had acted improperly, he said in a Feb. 10 phone interview. Regulators also didn’t seek his version of events, he said. When he left the firm, he received the deferred pay he was entitled to as an employee in good standing, he said….

Find out more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/ex-citigroup-trading-chief-cecere-denies-wrongdoing-in-tibor-fixing-case.html