The Putrid Smell Suddenly Emanating From European Banks - Wolf Richter

``A nauseating whiff came from Barclays today, when it leaked out that it has been under investigation by the Financial Services Authority and the Serious Fraud Office in Britain for illegal fundraising in 2008. Allegedly, the bank secretly loaned £5.3 billion ($8.4 billion) to one of Qatar's sovereign wealth funds, which then turned around and with great public fanfare pumped that money back into Barclays--a scheme to raise capital on paper to escape a government takeover during the financial crisis.''