UBS to Pay $1.5B in Rate-Rigging Settlement: Hot Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet include UBS (UBS) as the Swiss bank agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle rate-rigging charges.

Switzerland's largest bank will pay the fine to U.S., British and Swiss authorities. UBS said as a result of the fines and litigation, it expects to record a fourth-quarter loss of between 2 billion to 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion to $2.7 billion). Despite the fines, UBS said it would not need to raise new capital.

At least 45 people at UBS were said to be involved in the rate-rigging scandal, which according to the Financial Services Authority was considered "normal business practice" by many people within the bank.

UBS said some of its employees tried to manipulate the benchmark Libor interest rate, or London interbank offered rate, but it was UBS's unit in Japan that pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in connection to the allegations.

UBS' fine is far greater than the $450 million fine imposed on Barclays (BCS) in June -- also for rigging the Libor.

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Book publisher Penguin is trending as it has settled with the U.S. Department of Justice over charges of e-book price-fixing.

Federal prosecutors in April alleged that five book publishers -- along with Apple (AAPL) -- worked together on artificially hiking prices. Now, Penguin has joined Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers and Simon & Schuster in agreeing to settle.

As part of its settlement, Penguin will terminate its existing contracts with Apple and not enter into any new agreements that would prevent retailers from offering discounted Penguin e-books for two years.

According to a statement it released, Penguin confirmed it is settling the claims, but maintains that it has done nothing wrong. The settlement still needs court approval.

The Department of Justice said consumers are benefiting from the settlements by paying lower prices for e-books from those publishers.

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Google (GOOG) Maps is another popular search. Since the new app became available last week, millions have downloaded it and still others have upgraded their iPhones to the new iOS 6 software -- reinforcing the theory that many iPhone users waited to upgrade their phones until a new Google Maps became available for download.

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