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German tennis great Boris Becker was on Friday found guilty of four charges, including failing to disclose, concealing and removing significant assets, under the Insolvency Act 1986 following his bankruptcy trial in London, Reuters reported. The 54-year-old six-times Grand Slam champion, who was on trial at Southwark Crown Court, was facing 24 counts under the act relating to the period from May to October 2017. Becker, a former world number one who won Wimbledon three times, had denied the charges, including nine counts of not handing over trophies and awards and seven of concealing property valued at more than 1.5 million euros ($1.63 million). Becker was made bankrupt on June 21, 2017, at the London High Court in connection with a debt to private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co. Under the terms of the bankruptcy order, he was bound to provide full disclosure of assets. The charges Becker was convicted on included removing property totalling close to 427,000 euros from his bankruptcy estate, failing to disclose ownership of a property in Leiman in Germany, concealing a loan of 825,000 euros from the Bank of Alpinum of Lichtenstein and ownership of 75,000 shares in Breaking Data Corp.

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly backed legislation today that would remove "most favored nation" trade status for Russia and its close ally Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine, allowing for higher tariffs on imports from the two countries, Reuters reported. As voting continued, the tally in the 100-member Senate was 65-0 in favor of the measure removing Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. Russia calls the assault a "special military operation." Senate approval will send the measure to the House of Representatives, where passage was expected later today, sending the legislation to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law. The House passed the legislation last month, but it stalled in the Senate as Democrats and Republicans disagreed over whether to also consider legislation codifying Biden's executive order banning Russian energy imports. The House must reconsider the bill because of changes made in the Senate. Some senators also had disagreed over language in a provision in the trade bill reauthorizing the Magnitsky Act, a law that allows sanctions over human rights violations. Senators announced a compromise late on Wednesday in which they agreed to first consider the trade measure and later the energy bill on Thursday.

Once conduits for hundreds of millions of dollars looted from 1MDB, a group of offshore entities are being repurposed to try to track down the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund’s stolen money, Bloomberg News reported. Three British Virgin Islands-based companies linked to 1MDB on Tuesday filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy in Florida, utilizing the section of the U.S. code that allows foreign debtors to bring proceedings in the states. Their aim is to recover a portion of the $8.5 billion allegedly stolen from 1MDB, some of which may be in the U.S., the companies said. The offshore entities were “part of the fraud perpetrated against 1 Malaysia Development Berhad,” they said in the filing, with some likely created solely to receive stolen funds or transfer them on to other entities. They are now being overseen by administrators appointed by the Malaysian government. The overseers for the funds “have identified various individuals and entities located in the United States who either participated or otherwise possess knowledge” related to the transactions at issue, according to court papers. “Some of the missing funds passed through U.S. entities, including investment managers, fund managers and other U.S. entities who provided services to the participants in the fraud.”

The derivatives market is flashing signals that the tit-for-tat between the U.S. Treasury and the Kremlin is increasing the likelihood of a Russian government default after Russia’s Ministry of Finance announced Wednesday it will restrict the ability of some foreign investors to convert their payments into dollars, the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The cost of buying a five-year derivatives contract for protection against a Russian government default, also called a credit-default swap, jumped on Wednesday to around 75% of the total value of the debt insured, according to data from ICE Data Services. That compares with around 40% around the beginning of March and 5% at the beginning of February, according to Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the main clearinghouse for European credit-default swaps.

A U.S. jury began deliberations on Tuesday in the trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of helping loot billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, Reuters reported. Prosecutors say Roger Ng, Goldman's former top investment banker for Malaysia, helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from 1MDB, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman. The Malaysian fund had been founded to pursue development projects in the Southeast Asian country. Ng has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to launder money and violating an anti-corruption law. His lawyers said Leissner, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, falsely implicated Ng in the hope of receiving a lenient sentence. The charges stemmed from one of the biggest financial scandals in history. According to U.S. prosecutors, Goldman helped 1MDB raise $6.5 billion through three bond sales, but $4.5 billion was diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks.

China Evergrande Group and some of its biggest offshore creditors have reached agreement on moving restructuring talks forward, helping stave off their threats of taking over the company’s offshore businesses after $2 billion in offshore cash was seized by banks, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Evergrande agreed in principle late last week to pay bondholders’ advisory fees, provide additional due diligence on the company’s financial health, and give creditors a formal role in the restructuring process. The fee- and information-sharing agreement is seen as a moderate step in the right direction rather than substantial progress to restructure Evergrande’s debt. Bondholders appear to be changing tack after they threatened to sue Evergrande in January for allegedly stonewalling discussions with them. Tensions simmered again after Evergrande disclosed in March that banks had taken control of more than $2 billion held by one of its key subsidiaries. Evergrande reached out to an organized committee of foreign bondholders soon after the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year to move talks along. The discussions first focused on reaching an agreement over paying creditors’ advisory fees, until Evergrande disclosed the $2 billion cash seizure at its Hong Kong-registered property management arm.

A former Goldman Sachs banker should be convicted of helping loot billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund and causing "immeasurable" harm, a U.S. prosecutor told jurors in her closing argument on Monday, Reuters reported. Roger Ng, Goldman's former top investment banker for Malaysia, faces charges he helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars from the fund, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alixandra Smith said Ng received more than $35 million in kickbacks from the "brazen" bribery and money laundering scheme, and must be held accountable. "The harm to the people of Malaysia is immeasurable," she said. "It is deeply unfair to everyone else who plays by the rules." Ng has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to launder money and violating an anti-corruption law. Leissner pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as their star witness against Ng. Ng's lawyer Marc Agnifilo was expected to begin his closing argument later Monday afternoon. U.S. prosecutors have said Goldman helped 1MDB raise $6.5 billion through three bond sales, but that $4.5 billion was diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks. Ng is the first, and likely only, person to face trial in the United States over the scheme. Goldman in 2020 paid a nearly $3 billion fine and its Malaysian unit agreed to plead guilty.

The United States and its allies plan new sanctions on more sectors of Russia's economy that are critical to sustaining its invasion of Ukraine, including military supply chains, Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said yesterday, Reuters reported. Adeyemo, speaking in London on a European trip to consult with allies on strengthening and enforcing sanctions to punish Russia, said the broadening of those efforts was aimed at undermining "the Kremlin's ability to operate its war machine." The Treasury last Thursday slapped new sanctions on dozens of Russian defense companies, from makers of ammunition, missiles and helicopters used in the Ukraine invasion to radar and imaging systems firms. The sanctions freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit American entities from any transactions with them. "In addition to sanctioning companies in sectors that enable the Kremlin's malign activities, we also plan to take actions to disrupt their critical supply chains," said Adeyemo.