{"entity":{"id":386,"slug":"moody-s-investors-service","name":"Moody's Investors Service","type":"company","role":"Credit rating agency involved with Liquid Funding Ltd.","description":null,"imageUrl":null,"createdAt":"2026-04-08T17:42:41.287Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-19T09:19:33.980Z"},"electedOffice":null,"significance":{"score":6.8,"components":{"totalFindings":0,"connectionDegree":2.8,"recentFindings90d":0,"activeResearchJobs":0,"goblinAttributions":4,"recentSyntheses90d":0,"moneyFlowChainsTotal":0,"closedLoopMemberships":0,"moneyFlowHopsRecent90d":0},"computedAt":"2026-10-17T01:36:44.127Z"},"facts":[{"id":32779,"text":"In April 2026, Moody's gave up the regulatory licence of its South African subsidiary to focus on cross-border investors and African issuers, though it will continue to rate South African issuers from other locations.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"2026-04-30","source":null},{"id":32778,"text":"Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is Moody's largest institutional shareholder, holding approximately 13.83% (24.67 million shares) worth approximately $12.60 billion as of Q4 2025, having first invested in the company around 2000.","confidence":"secondary","dateOccurred":"2026-04-23","source":null},{"id":32768,"text":"Moody's Investors Service generated record revenue of $1.15 billion in a single quarter (Q1 2026), with Moody's Analytics contributing an additional $926 million.","confidence":"secondary","dateOccurred":"2026-04-22","source":null},{"id":32767,"text":"Moody's controls approximately 40% of the global credit ratings market and together with S&P Global is responsible for rating over 80% of the world's public and private debt.","confidence":"secondary","dateOccurred":"2025-06-15","source":null},{"id":32774,"text":"In September 2024, Moody's Investors Service agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty to the SEC for significant failures to maintain and preserve electronic communications, part of a $49 million collective fine against six NRSROs.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"2024-09-03","source":{"title":"SEC Charges Six Credit Rating Agencies with Significant Recordkeeping Failures","url":"https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-114","publication":"U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission"}},{"id":32775,"text":"In March 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) fined Moody's €3.7 million across five European entities for breaching conflict of interest rules, including inadequate policies to manage shareholder conflicts of interest. The breaches occurred between 2013 and 2017.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"2021-03-30","source":{"title":"EU fines Moody's for failing to disclose conflicts of interests","url":"https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-fines-moodys-failing-disclose-conflicts-interests-2021-03-30/","publication":"Reuters"}},{"id":12800,"text":"Moody's Investors Service filed filing with the SEC on 2020-02-24. Accession number: N/A.","confidence":"secondary","dateOccurred":"2020-02-24","source":{"title":"SEC EDGAR: filing — Moody's Investors Service (2020-02-24)","url":"https://efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index?q=%22Moody's%20Investors%20Service%22&dateRange=custom&forms=4,SC%2013D,SC%2013G,DEF%2014A,10-K,10-Q","publication":"SEC EDGAR"}},{"id":32776,"text":"In June 2017, ESMA fined Moody's €1.24 million for two negligent breaches of the Credit Rating Agencies Regulation relating to ratings on major institutions including the European Union itself.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"2017-06-01","source":{"title":"ESMA Fines Moody's €1.24 Million For Credit Ratings Breaches","url":"https://mondovisione.com/media-and-resources/news/esma-fines-moodys-124-million-for-credit-ratings-breaches/","publication":"MondoVisione"}},{"id":32772,"text":"The settlement required Moody's to pay $437.5 million to the U.S. Department of Justice and $426.3 million to 21 states and the District of Columbia, and required reforms including separating analytical employees from commercial fee discussions and annual CEO certification of compliance for at least five years.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"2017-01-14","source":{"title":"Moody's pays $864 million to U.S., states over pre-crisis ratings","url":"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-moody-s-credit-idUSKBN14X2LP/","publication":"Reuters"}},{"id":32773,"text":"The New York Times reported that Moody's 'acknowledged that it did not follow its own standards in rating the risk of securities backed by home mortgages and the collateralized debt obligations that relied on their health.'","confidence":"secondary","dateOccurred":"2017-01-13","source":{"title":"Moody's to Pay $864 Million to Settle Inquiry Into Inflated Ratings","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/business/moodys-inflated-ratings-inquiry.html","publication":"The New York Times"}},{"id":32771,"text":"In January 2017, Moody's agreed to pay $863.8 million to settle U.S. federal and state allegations that it misrepresented its independence and objectivity by assigning inflated credit ratings to toxic residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"2017-01-13","source":{"title":"Attorney General Porrino: N.J. to Receive $15.2 Million from Moody's Corp.","url":"https://www.njoag.gov/attorney-general-porrino-n-j-to-receive-15-2-million-from-moodys-corp-to-resolve-allegations-of-misrepresentation-conflict-of-interest/","publication":"New Jersey Office of the Attorney General"}},{"id":32770,"text":"Moody's operates under an 'issuer-pays' business model, as acknowledged to the House of Commons Treasury Committee in 2008, where debt issuers pay Moody's for credit ratings, creating an inherent conflict of interest.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"2008-01-24","source":{"title":"House of Commons - Treasury - Written Evidence: Memorandum submitted by Moody's Investors Service","url":"https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmtreasy/55/55we24.htm","publication":"UK Parliament"}},{"id":32769,"text":"In 1975, the SEC identified Moody's as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO), a designation that allows its ratings to be used for regulatory purposes by banks, money market funds, and other institutions.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"1975-06-15","source":null},{"id":32777,"text":"Moody's Corporation was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet in 1962 and remained under its ownership until being spun off as a separate publicly traded company (NYSE: MCO) in 2000. The company was originally incorporated as The New Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in 1998 and renamed Moody's Corporation upon the spin-off.","confidence":"secondary","dateOccurred":"1962-2000","source":null},{"id":32766,"text":"Moody's Investors Service was founded in 1909 by John Moody and is the credit ratings division of Moody's Corporation. It was rebranded as Moody's Ratings in March 2024.","confidence":"primary","dateOccurred":"1909-06-15","source":null},{"id":21390,"text":"Search scope note: No parliamentary records found for \"Moody's Investors Service\" in automated database search as of 2026-04-23. This reflects search coverage limits, not confirmed absence from public record.","confidence":"inferential","dateOccurred":null,"source":null},{"id":21389,"text":"Search scope note: No court records found for \"Moody's Investors Service\" in automated database search as of 2026-04-23. This reflects search coverage limits, not confirmed absence from public record.","confidence":"inferential","dateOccurred":null,"source":null},{"id":21388,"text":"Search scope note: No lobbying disclosures found for \"Moody's Investors Service\" in automated database search as of 2026-04-23. This reflects search coverage limits, not confirmed absence from public record.","confidence":"inferential","dateOccurred":null,"source":null},{"id":21387,"text":"Search scope note: No corporate registrations found for \"Moody's Investors Service\" in automated database search as of 2026-04-23. This reflects search coverage limits, not confirmed absence from public record.","confidence":"inferential","dateOccurred":null,"source":null},{"id":21386,"text":"Search scope note: No usaspending contracts found for \"Moody's Investors Service\" in automated database search as of 2026-04-23. This reflects search coverage limits, not confirmed absence from public record.","confidence":"inferential","dateOccurred":null,"source":null}],"connections":[{"id":13826,"relationshipType":"legal_context","description":"Moody's Investors Service appears as a related entity in investigative records alongside Epstein-related entities including J. Epstein & Company, but no direct documented connection is found in the provided facts.","confidence":"inferential","firstDocumented":"N/A","lastDocumented":null,"other":{"id":8,"name":"Jeffrey Epstein","slug":"jeffrey-epstein","type":"person"}},{"id":11344,"relationshipType":"indirect_shareholder_relationship","description":"Moody's rates corporate debt in the technology sector and its ratings influence institutional investment decisions, including those of pension funds like NYCERS that held $457 million in Palantir stock as of December 2025.","confidence":"inferential","firstDocumented":null,"lastDocumented":null,"other":{"id":17,"name":"Palantir Technologies","slug":"palantir-technologies","type":"company"}},{"id":11343,"relationshipType":"rated_entity_or_potential_rated_entity","description":"While no direct rating relationship has been publicly documented, Moody's role as a credit rating agency for structured finance securities and collateralized debt obligations places it within the same financial ecosystem as Liquid Funding Ltd, a Bermuda-domiciled structured finance and derivatives trading vehicle whose chairman and director was Jeffrey Epstein. Liquid Funding was dissolved in 2015. The OffshoreAlert filings include a private placement memorandum and derivatives trading agreements of the type Moody's would typically rate.","confidence":"inferential","firstDocumented":null,"lastDocumented":null,"other":{"id":378,"name":"Liquid Funding Ltd.","slug":"liquid-funding-ltd","type":"company"}},{"id":13824,"relationshipType":"competitor","description":"Moody's controls approximately 40% of the global credit ratings market and together with S&P Global is responsible for rating over 80% of the world's public and private debt.","confidence":"primary","firstDocumented":"1975","lastDocumented":null,"other":{"id":388,"name":"Standard & Poor's","slug":"standard-poor-s","type":"company"}},{"id":11342,"relationshipType":"oversight","description":"Moody's is registered with the SEC as an NRSRO and files annual reports, 8-K filings, and other disclosures. The SEC fined Moody's $20 million in 2024 for recordkeeping failures.","confidence":"primary","firstDocumented":null,"lastDocumented":null,"other":{"id":391,"name":"Securities and Exchange Commission","slug":"securities-and-exchange-commission","type":"government_agency"}},{"id":13825,"relationshipType":"oversight","description":"Fitch Ratings is listed alongside Moody's and Standard & Poor's as related entities in investigative mapping context, with all three being major credit rating agencies.","confidence":"secondary","firstDocumented":"1975","lastDocumented":null,"other":{"id":387,"name":"Fitch Ratings","slug":"fitch-ratings","type":"company"}},{"id":11339,"relationshipType":"credit_rating_agency_relationship","description":"Moody's rates NYC general obligation bonds Aa2; in March 2026 it lowered the outlook from stable to negative, prompting a statement from Comptroller Levine warning of looming financial challenges.","confidence":"secondary","firstDocumented":null,"lastDocumented":null,"other":{"id":793,"name":"New York City Comptroller","slug":"new-york-city-comptroller","type":"government_agency"}}],"contradictions":[],"permalink":"https://www.goblinhouse.net/entity/moody-s-investors-service","timelineUrl":"https://www.goblinhouse.net/entity/moody-s-investors-service/timeline"}