DOJ, SEC Launch Probes Into Silicon Valley Bank Collapse: Report

The Department of Justice (DOJ and the Securities and Exchange Commission The (SEC), are said to be investigating the collapse Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), following a run-on deposits that resulted in a bank failure last week.

Separate probes by the DOJ and SEC into the bank’s failure prompted regulators on Friday to take over. The Wall Street Journal. These types of inquiries are commonly initiated after financial institutions suffer unexpected and severe losses. The investigations do not necessarily indicate that criminal charges may be filed.

These investigations often focus on the role of executives during the months and weeks leading up to the collapse. Investigators may also investigate whether SVB adequately characterized its financial health before the collapse and if there were any risks to investors.

SVB was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation last week. This happened after customers attempted to withdraw $42billion, or about a quarter, of the bank’s total deposits in one day. The bank suffered a run of customers who attempted to withdraw $42 billion, or about a quarter of its total deposits, in one day. triggered SVB’s attempts to raise equity capital in order to strengthen its finances prior to a credit downgrade. Customers were shocked and asked for withdrawals.

SVB Financial Group’s shares dropped 60% in value last week. SVB was owned by SVB Financial Group before the FDIC took over the bank. Since then, the shares have been stopped from trading.

SVB Financial Chief Executive Greg Becker, and CFO Daniel Becker exercised stock options. They also sold large amounts of shares during the week that SVB was insolvent according to WSJ. Becker bought 12,451 shares worth $2.3million on February 27, and sold them for approximately $2.3million. Beck sold about one third of his shares that day for approximately $575,000 These sales were part of plans that had been filed 30 days prior.

David Bahnsen founder of The Bahnsen Group, an asset manager, said that SVB’s customer list is quite volatile.

“How did the bank suffer a large amount of depositor withdrawals in just a 24-hour period merely because of a Moody’s downgrade threat and word of valuation trouble on their bond portfolio? Because the bank almost entirely banks start-up tech companies funded by venture capital, the venture capital sponsors started screaming to withdraw funds. It was a classic run on the bank. And this deposit base was, shall we say, not the epitome of stability and sensibility. IPO proceeds from non-profitable tech companies. SPAC money. Crypto companies. This was a walking who’s who of shiny objects,” Bahnsen wrote on Monday blog post.

“From Report: DOJ and SEC Launch Probes into Silicon Valley Bank Collapse“

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