11:14 AM
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Greece remains in the front line of the turmoil in the world economy. US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner spoke to Martin Wolf for a forthcoming Radio 4 series, sharing his opinion on the crisis in the eurozone.
And the Greek minister in charge international economic relations, Constantine Papadopolos, assesses the situation in his country.
Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook or text us on 84844.
10:11 PM
gtventic
Greece remains in the front line of the turmoil in the world economy. US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner spoke to Martin Wolf for a forthcoming Radio 4 series, sharing his opinion on the crisis in the eurozone.
And the Greek minister in charge international economic relations, Constantine Papadopolos, assesses the situation in his country.
Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook or text us on 84844.
5:09 PM
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It was the second rating agency to warn of a default after euro zone leaders and banks agreed last week that the private sector would shoulder part of the burden of a rescue deal that offers Greece more cash and easier loan terms to keep it afloat and avoid further contagion.
"The announced EU program along with the Institute of International Finance's statement implies that the probability of a distressed exchange, and hence a default, on Greek government bonds is virtually 100 percent," Moody's said in a statement.
Bank lobby IIF, which led private sector negotiations, aims to attract 90 percent investor participation in the bond exchange plan which comes on top of the EU's new 109 billion euro bailout.
Moody's cut Greece's rating by three notches to Ca, just one notch above default, to reflect the expected loss implied by the proposed debt exchanges.
Greece now has the lowest rating of any country in the world covered by Moody's, which, like Fitch last week, said it would review Greece's rating after the debt swap is completed.
"Once the distressed exchange has been completed, Moody's will reassess Greece's rating to ensure that it reflects the risk associated with the country's new credit profile, including the potential for further debt restructurings," it said.
However, whereas Fitch pledged to quickly give Greece a higher, "low speculative grade" after its bonds had been exchanged, Moody's said it could not forecast when the rating would change or how.
"It all depends how quickly the debt exchange takes place," said Alastair Wilson, Moody's Managing Director for EMEA Credit Policy. "Once we have greater visibility over that, we will reassess the credit profile quite quickly. Whether the rating will change, that's a different question," he told Reuters.
A senior EU official said on Saturday that the aim was to start a voluntary swap of privately-held Greek bonds in late August and conclude it in early September.
Greek bank shares and the broader stock market were unfazed by Moody's action. Analysts said the downgrade and the default warning were priced in and less worrying following assurances provided by the EU deal.
"The EU Council last week effectively secured Greek banks' continued access to ECB liquidity, even in the case that PSI (private sector involvement) triggers a selective default," said Platon Monokroussos, an economist at EFG Eurobank.
The government has repeatedly criticized ratings firms for their downgrades and its spokesman threatened on Monday to end its subscriptions to these agencies as the new rescue package means Greece will not issue new bonds for years.
"All governments pay a subscription to these agencies. We, I think, do not need the reviews anymore. They have no practical value," Elias Mosialos told Radio 9. "Perhaps the finance ministry should end its subscription."
CONTAGION CONTAINED ... FOR NOW
Moody's said it would take into account the possibility of a second default while reassessing Greece's rating.
"Our experience is that relatively small restructurings have often been followed by deeper defaults," Wilson said, adding that he could not say if this would be the case for Greece.
The rescue package for Greece benefits other euro zone countries by containing near-term contagion risks but it was not necessarily positive in the longer run as it set a precedent for private sector involvement in rescue deals, Moody's said.
"The support package sets a precedent for future restructurings should the finances of another euro area sovereign become as problematic as those of Greece. The impact of Thursday's announcement for creditors of Ireland and Portugal is therefore likely to be credit-neutral," it said.
The cost of insuring most peripheral euro zone government debt against default rose on Monday on market doubts that the fresh aid package for Greece agreed last week will protect bigger economies from contagion.
Standard & Poor's and Fitch rate Greece CCC, broadly in line with Moody's rating. S&P has not yet said how the EU summit deal will affect Greece's rating.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
9:24 AM
gtventic
Andrew Crossley told the BBC that e-mails sent out in the name of ACS:Law were a scam and nothing to do with him.
The messages accuse their recipients of file sharing and demand payments of £1,665.
Mr Crossley's firm was wound-up and he is the subject of disciplinary action for sending similar letters in the UK.
The Greek letters were brought to light by Ralli Solicitors, which represented some of those accused by ACS:Law. It is now advising a client based in Greece.
"They have received e-mails purporting to be from the law firm," said Ralli solicitor Michael Forrester.
The letters have been sent to overseas addresses.
"The IP addresses quoted do not appear conventional, making reference to country codes outside of the UK," said Mr Forrester.
"Despite this, the letters of claim refer to UK law under the Copyrights, Design and Patents Act," he added.
CompensationOne of the letters seen by the BBC read: "We act as solicitors for DigiProtect Ltd, the owners of copyright of various films and music rights.
"Our client has retained forensic computer analysts to search for and identify internet addresses from which their copyright works are being made available on so-called peer-to-peer programs."
The letter asks that cheques are made payable to ACS:Law and supplies a central London address, which is in an adjacent building to where the law firm used to trade from.
However, Andrew Crossley contacted the BBC to say he was not involved.
"It is not my email, not my address - the address is old and post code is misstated, there is no client or company of that name, it is not a demand made by me and it is quite clear from the way it was written that it was not," he wrote in an e-mail.
Mr Crossley said he plans to contact the police in relation to the messages.
UK casesPrior to its closure, ACS:Law was accused of taking advantage of new UK laws on piracy in order to make money.
Its sole proprietor, Mr Crossley teamed up with companies DigiProtect and MediaCAT, which purported to represent copyright owners.
Together they sent letters to around 10,000 people in the UK, alleging that the IP addresses of their computers had been linked to illegal file sharing.
Individuals were given the option of paying £500 or facing court action.
Many of those contacted said they had never engaged in such activity. Consumer watchdog Which accused the firm of speculative invoicing and claimed that none of the evidence would stand up in court.
BankruptMr Crossley eventually brought 26 cases to court, but soon after hearings began he tried to have them dismissed.
Judge Colin Birss QC refused to allow proceedings to stop and accused Mr Crossley of trying to "to avoid judicial scrutiny".
He, in turn, left the court mid-way through the case and had his barrister read out a statement in which he said that he no longer wanted to pursue net pirates because he had received death threats.
The case was dismissed and Mr Crossley faced a large bill for wasted costs. The accused have since settled out of court.
Soon after, ACS:Law was wound up and declared bankrupt.
Mr Crossley is currently the subject of an investigation by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority.
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