An enormous precious stone listed on a now bankrupt company's books for the value of 11 million pounds ($17.4 million) is probably not worth more than 100 pounds, British media reported Friday.

Allen Stanford, the alleged mastermind of a $7 billion fraud, is back in his jail cell after suffering a mild concussion, broken nose and two black eyes in a prison brawl last week, his lawyer said on Monday.

Irving H. Picard, the court-appointed trustee hunting down any remaining spoils of Bernard L. Madoff’s giant Ponzi scheme, plans to sue Mr. Madoff’s two sons, his niece and his brother this week, seeking the return of $198 million.

The SEC will discuss rules to improve oversight of the credit rating industry as well as a proposed ban  on flash trades—or buy and sell orders that exchanges send to a specific group of participants before revealing them publicly.

Authorities have ruled out foul play in the death of a financier accused of using millions of dollars from international investors to fund a lavish lifestyle complete with vacations and personal jets.

The largest Madoff feeder fund has agreed to a settlement with the Massachusetts Secretary of State, who told CNBC he hopes it becomes a model for future agreements with Madoff-related funds.

A recent court ruling that forced two ratings companies to defend fraud claims is a "game-changer" for the industry, said David Einhorn, head of Greenlight Capital.

A global crackdown on bank secrecy and offshore tax havens is gaining steam due to  the worldwide financial crisis, the head of the OECD told CNBC.

R. Allen Stanford’s relationship with the chief regulator of his Antigua bank was closer than most. At a meeting in 2003, they became blood brothers, cutting their wrists and mixing their blood in a “brotherhood ceremony” that Mr. Stanford’s chief financial officer said promoted an elaborate scheme to hide a multibillion-dollar fraud from American and other regulators.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is one of hundreds of victims of an identity-fraud ring, according to Newsweek magazine.

The chief financial officer of accused swindler Allen Stanford entered a guilty plea on Thursday in a $7 billion fraud case as Stanford was rushed to the hospital with a rapid heart rate.

Nearly 10 more Swiss and other European banks holding wealthy US citizens accounts were identified using a tax-evasion amnesty program in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Wednesday.

Late Tuesday, a federal appeals court, without explanation, denied Allen Stanford's petition to remove U.S. District Judge David Hittner from his criminal case.

The industry self-regulatory organization that was supposed to police the brokers at the Stanford Financial Group acknowledges it received a tip from an employee in 2003 that the company was running a Ponzi scheme, but did not follow up on it because of the agency's own policy.

Several banks, including two in the U.S., face new scrutiny as investors and regulators try to sort out the alleged Stanford Ponzi scheme, CNBC has learned. At issue: what the banks and regulators knew about massive deposits and withdrawals from Stanford over the years.