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Laundromat Banks Too Big To Fail
Money laundering is the process by which illegally obtained cash is made to appear as if it has been obtained by legal means. The following snippet is from Robert Mazur’s article ‘How to Halt the Terrorist Money Train’ article that appeared in The New York Times:
According to the U.S. Department of Justice the Sinaloa drug cartel, together with Columbian drug traffickers, the Norte del Valle Cartel, moved $881 million through HSBC between 2006 and 2010.
In violation of the Trading With the Enemy Act HSBC also used various schemes to move hundreds of millions of dollars to nations subject to trade sanctions. The list of nations included Iran, Cuba and the Sudan.
HBUS, the American affiliate of HSBC, repeatedly broke American Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws. HBUS supplied the Saudi bank Al Rajhi with nearly US $1 billion. Al Rajhi used the money to finance terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda.
Since 2006 more than a dozen banks have reached settlements with the Justice Department regarding violations related to money laundering including the following entities:
All these banks admitted guilt and all were handed traffic tickets – please pay your fine on the way out the door. At one time Pablo Escobar’s drug cartel controlled 80 percent of the world’s cocaine trade. His recipe for success was: “You bribe someone here, you bribe someone there, and you pay a friendly banker to help you bring the money back.” On 10 April 2006, a DC-9 jet landed in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen. Inside the jet were 128 cases packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100m. During an almost two year investigation by the DEA and the IRS it emerged that the smugglers had bought the plane with money they had laundered through one of the biggest banks in the United States: Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo. The authorities uncovered billions of dollars in wire transfers, traveler's checks and cash shipments through Mexican exchanges into Wachovia accounts. Criminal proceedings were brought against Wachovia but, even though it was the biggest action ever brought under the US bank secrecy act, the case never made it to court. In March 2010, Wachovia settled through the US district court in Miami and the bank is now in the clear. A Lebanese bank accused of laundering drug money through U.S. banks and routing it to Hezbollah will pay $102 million to settle a 2011 lawsuit brought by the U.S. government. The U.S. accused the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) of using the U.S. banking system to launder proceeds from drug trafficking through West Africa and back to Lebanese financial institutions with ties to Hezbollah. On 4 March 2013 HSBC announced profits of $20.6 billion in 2012 while it paid out a $3 million bonus to its CEO. Late last year several HSBC customers told BBC Radio 4′s MoneyBox program that when they attempted to withdraw certain sums, between £5,000 and £10,000, they were asked to provide proof why they needed the money. How would you feel if a bank teller told you that you couldn’t withdraw the amount of money you wanted from your account? What would your reaction be if he or she said “You can have $2,000.00 but you can’t have $5,000.00.” What would your reaction be if the bank asked you why you needed your money, you were enough of a sheep to tell them, they said “Prove it, then you’ll get your your money.”
These cases are likely only the tip of the iceberg in demonstrating the role the legal banking sector plays in laundering hundreds of billions of drug and terrorist dollars around their global tax payer bailed out operations.
If you’re a big bank moving money for a drug cartel or terrorist organization and get caught you pay a fine (HSBC paid $1.9b in fines and forfeitures - 10 percent of the pretax profits it earned in 2010) and then you up your fees. Of course the perfect irony is the ‘small guy’ taxpayers are then the ones asked to provide proof as to why they need a couple of thousand dollars. Conclusion
‘Too big to fail’ means dealing drugs and funding terrorist groups is acceptable to our dear political leaders and their shadow puppet masters, the banksters. This truth should be on all our radar screens. Is it on yours? If not, it should be. Richard (Rick) Mills Richard lives with his family on a 160 acre ranch in northern British Columbia. He invests in the resource and biotechnology/pharmaceutical sectors and is the owner of Aheadoftheherd.com. His articles have been published on over 400 websites, including: WallStreetJournal, USAToday, NationalPost, Lewrockwell, MontrealGazette, VancouverSun, CBSnews, HuffingtonPost, Beforeitsnews, Londonthenews, Wealthwire, CalgaryHerald, Forbes, Dallasnews, SGTreport, Vantagewire, Indiatimes, Ninemsn, Ibtimes, Businessweek, HongKongHerald, Moneytalks, SeekingAlpha, BusinessInsider, Investing.com and the Association of Mining Analysts. If you are interested in advertising on Richard’s site please contact him for more information, [email protected] Legal Notice / Disclaimer This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified. Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report. |
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