Javier Martin-Artajo, a former investment banker at JP Morgan Chase, handed himself in to police in Madrid. He is wanted in the United States on charges that he and a former colleague fixed bank records on a portfolio of investments to high losses amounting to more than six billion dollars. After his arrest, Javier Martin-Artajo was released on bail and his case is now being considered by Spain's High Court which will decide whether he should be extradited to the United States.
A former bank executive in the United States has admitted using nearly 400,000 dollars of government bailout money to buy a luxury holiday home in Florida. Darryl Layne Woods who was chairman of a bank in Missouri has pleaded guilty to misleading investigators over the use of the funds. Andrew Walker reports.
In late 2008, the global financial system was reeling from the collapse of the American investment bank Lehman’s and the US government set up a program using taxpayers' money to restore stability. The owners of Mainstreet Bank in Ashton of Missouri sought help, but the bank's chairman Darryl Woods now admits that he used 380,000 dollars of the funds to buy a luxury waterside home in Florida. The US prosecutor described him as a disgraced business leader who took advantage of the situation to benefit himself and other executives. He has not been sentenced yet, but could face up to a year in prison.
World News from the BBC
Colombia's second largest rebel group, the ELN has freed a Canadian hostage seized seven months ago. The Vice President of a Toronto-based mining company Gernot Wober was handed over to the international committee of the Red Cross at an undisclosed location in the north of the country. Mr. Wober was taken hostage by the left-wing rebels in January alongside five other workers who were released shortly after. The Colombian government has said that the ELN would only be allowed to take part in peace talks if they release all their hostages.