The Chosen One

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Wire story from the Associated Press, posted on March 28, 11.45 EDT:

Police in at least four cities across the globe have launched raids against the headquarters of some of the world’s biggest banks, in what appears to be internationally co-ordinated action triggered by outgoing President Stephen Baker’s stunning resignation announcement.

The key target of the arrests is AitkenBruce bank, which posted $12bn in net profits last year. Its premises in London, New York, Frankfurt and Dubai were raided within minutes of each other, as international law enforcement officers immediately impounded computerized records, ordering what a spokesman called a ‘total lockdown’ so that crucial evidence could not be destroyed.

Update posted at 12.01:

Federal agents have arrested Roger Waugh, the Chairman and Chief Executive of AitkenBruce, at his $35m Long Island home. In front of waiting photographers, Mr Waugh was led out in handcuffs and leg-irons – a signal, according to an FBI source who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, that prosecutors plan to level ‘the gravest charges’ against the banking giant and its boss…