Traficantes de drogas entre os melhores clientes do Banco HSBC

POR LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | 18 NOVEMBRO, 2012

O Ministério Britânico das Finanças e Alfândega (HMR) abriu uma investigação sobre contas bancárias no Banco de Hong Kong e Xangai (HSBC) cujos proprietários são cidadãos britânicos da ilha de Jersey, conhecida por seus baixos impostos.

Conforme relatado pelo Daily Telegraph, a investigação começou depois de uma denúncia anônima que daria detalhes de contas de clientes do Reino Unido na ilha e no exterior.

Os membros da lista de 4.388 pessoas incluem celebridades que mantêm em torno de  699 milhões de libras fora do país e bilhões de libras em planos de investimento.

O jornal disse que a lista de pessoas em Jersey inclui Daniel Bayes, um conhecido traficante de drogas conhecido e ex condenado, que se encontra na Venezuela, e Michael Lee, que foi condenado por posse ilegal de centenas de armas. Há, também, três banqueiros que, no passado, foram processados ​​por fraude.

O banco HSBC tem a obrigação legal de informar, em caso de dúvida sobre, a origem dos fundos depositados nas contas. O banco pagará aos Estados Unidos 1,5 bilhões de dólares em penalidades por lavagem de dinheiro.

Jersey, a maior ilha do Canal da Mancha, é uma democracia parlamentar, com sua própria leis judicial, financeira, legal e independente. Seu status de paraíso fiscal irrita, cada vez mais, os britânicos afetados pela recessão e um déficit significativo.

Não é a primeira vez que as autoridades descobrem que o banco HSBC e outros, como Wells Fargo e Wachovia, ajudam a transferir milhões e, às vezes, bilhões de dólares em todo o mundo, embora a origem destas grandes quantidades de dinheiro são desconhecidas. Em maio, o jornal Vancouver Sun informou sobre como o HSBC permite a lavagem de grandes quantidades de dinheiro através das contas pertencentes a alguns de seus clientes mais ricos. No artigo, o jornal relatou que documentos e e-mails do HSBC mostraram que não só o banco não questionava a fonte dos fundos, mas, também, fazia o possível para esconder a transferência de dinheiro de clientes de origem iraniana, libaneses, brasileiros e cubanos. A maioria das transações suspeitas foram realizadas nos escritórios do HSBC em Nova York e Miami.

Bloomberg também informou sobre como o HSBC, Wachovia e Bank of America lavaram bilhões de dólares dos cartéis de drogas mexicanos. Neste caso, os traficantes tinham comprado um avião DC-9 com fundos lavados que foram transferidos através de dois dos maiores bancos nos EUA: Wachovia Corp e Bank of America Corp, relatou a revista Bloomberg Markets em agosto de 2010. O Banco Wachovia lavou $ 378,4 bilhões originados em casas de câmbio no México entre 2004 e 2007. Essa é a maior violação da Lei do Sigilo Bancário na história dos EUA , uma lei contra a lavagem de dinheiro.

Grande parte da lavagem de dinheiro por bancos internacionais geralmente acaba no mercado de ações, o que muitos atribuem por ser a razão pela qual a economia global não colapsou completamente em 2008. Grande parte do dinheiro da droga é utilizada para financiar as operações de inteligência da CIA e o resto vai para a compra de grandes extensões de terra e recursos de todo o planeta.

Para o HSBC, as ações de lavagem de dinheiro  são parte de um esquema que ” movem bilhões de dólares entre os bancos todos os dias. Segundo este sistema, os bancos nos Estados Unidos são usados ​​para mover grandes quantidades de fundos ilícitos “, disse Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Chefe da Seção deLavagem de Dinheiro do Departamento de Justiça dos Estados Unidos, em seu depoimento ao Congresso em fevereiro passado.

De acordo com o artigo do Vancouver Sun, bancos como o HSBC enfraqueceram  o departamento que monitora a lavagem de dinheiro e pessoas incompetentes foram contratadas para supervisionar as operações que normalmente são mantidas sob o radar. “O HSBC não examinou milhares de alertas internos contra a lavagem de dinheiro e não criou os relatórios exigidos por leis, relatórios de atividades suspeitas em transações coletadas pelo sistema de controle interno do banco.” Atividade suspeita deve ser enviada para a polícia para que tal seja estudada e monitorada. Em maio de 2010, o HSBC tinha cerca de 50.000 relatórios de atividades suspeitas que não haviam sido comunicado às autoridades.

Talvez o detalhe mais surpreendente que se evidencia nos documentos relacionados com a investigação contra o HSBC é que a gestão, intencionalmente, decidiu não examinar alguns casos de atividades suspeitas. “Parece que há casos em que os funcionários do banco estão deturpando os dados” que são enviads para o alto escalão da gerência. Em outros casos, os gerentes simplesmente mudaram as classificações de risco para algumas transações para  não alarmar a ninguém que uma fraude estava sendo cometida.

The Real Agenda permite a reprodução do conteúdo original publicado no site APENAS através das ferramentas fornecidas no final de cada artigo. Por favor, NÃO COPIE o conteúdo do nosso site para redistribuir ou para enviar por e-mail.

Advertisement

Traficantes de drogas entre los mejores clientes de HSBC

POR LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | 14 NOVIEMBRE, 2012

El Ministerio británico de Hacienda y Aduanas (HMR) ha abierto una investigación sobre cuentas bancárias en Banco de Hong Kong and Shanghai (HSBC), cuyos propietarios son ciudadanos británicos en la isla de Jersey, conocida por sus bajos impuestos.

Según ha informado el Daily Telegraph, la investigación se inició tras una denuncia anónima que dio detalles de las cuentas de clientes del Reino Unido en la isla y en el extranjero.

Los miembros de la lista de 4.388 personas incluyen a personas famosas que mantienen unos £ 699 millones fuera del país y miles de millones de libras en planes de inversión.

El diario dijo que la lista de personas en Jersey incluye a Daniel Bayes, un famoso traficante de drogas y ex con, quien se encuentra en Venezuela, y Michael Lee, que ha sido declarado culpable de posesión ilegal de cientos de armas. También hay tres banqueros que en el pasado fueron procesados ​​por fraude masivo.

El banco HSBC tiene la obligación legal de informar en caso de duda sobre el origen de los fondos depositados en las cuentas. La compañía de Londres aumentó a 1.500 millones de dólares las sanciones que tendrá que pagar a los EE.UU. por lavado de dinero.

Jersey, la isla más grande del Canal de la Mancha, es una democracia parlamentaria con su propio poder judicial, financiero, legal e independiente. Su condición de paraíso fiscal irrita cada vez más a los británicos, afectados por la recesión y un déficit significativo.

No es la primera vez que las autoridades encuentran que el banco HSBC y otros como Wells Fargo y Wachovia ayudan a transferir millones y, en algunos casos miles de millones de dólares en todo el mundo a pesar de que el origen de esas grandes cantidades de dinero son desconocidos. En mayo, el Vancouver Sun informó sobre cómo HSBC permite el lavado de grandes cantidades de dinero a través de cuentas que pertenecían a algunos de sus clientes más ricos. En su informe, el Sun relató como documentos y correos electrónicos mostraron que HSBC no sólo no preguntaba sobre el origen de los fondos, sino que también hizo todo lo posible para disimular la transferencia del dinero de los clientes de origen Iraniano, Libanés, Brasileño y Cubano. La mayoría de las transacciones sospechosas se realizaron a través de las oficinas de HSBC en Nueva York y Miami.

Bloomberg informó también sobre cómo HSBC, Wachovia, Bank of America lavaron miles de millones de dólares de los cárteles mexicanos de la droga. En ese caso, los traficantes habían comprado un avión DC-9 con fondos lavados que habían transferido a través de dos de los bancos más grandes en los EE.UU.: Wachovia Corp. y Bank of America Corp., informó la revista Bloomberg Markets en agosto de 2010. El Banco Wachovia lavó $ 378,4 mil millones originadas en  casas de cambio de moneda mexicana, entre 2004 y 2007. Esa es la mayor violación de la Ley de Secreto Bancario, una ley contra el blanqueo de dinero, en la historia de EE.UU..

Gran parte del dinero del narcotráfico lavado por los bancos internacionales usualmente termina en lugares como el mercado de valores a lo que muchos atribuyen al hecho de que la economía global no colapsara completamente en 2008. Una gran parte del dinero de la droga sirve para financiar las operaciones de inteligencia de la CIA y el resto va a comprar grandes porciones de tierras y recursos de todo el planeta.

En el caso de HSBC, las acciones de lavado de dinero forman parte de un esquema “encubierto que mueve miles de millones de dólares entre los bancos cada día. Bajo este sistema, los bancos en los Estados Unidos se utilizan para mover grandes cantidades de fondos ilícitos “, dijo Jennifer Shasky Calvery, jefe de Confiscación de Activos y Lavado de Dinero del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos, en su testimonio en una audiencia del Congreso en febrero pasado.

De acuerdo con el informe del Vancouver Sun, bancos como HSBC debilitó su departamento que vigila el blanqueo de capitales y contrató a personas incompetentes para vigilar las operaciones que normalmente se mantenían por debajo del radar. “HSBC no ha examinado miles de alertas internas contra el lavado de dinero y no ha generado los reportes legales requeridos, informes de actividades sospechosas en las transacciones recogidas por el sistema de control interno del banco.” Actividad sospechosa se envía a la policía para ser estudiada y vigilada. En mayo de 2010, HSBC tenía un arsenal de cerca de 50.000 informes de actividades sospechosas que no habían sido transmitidas a las autoridades.

Quizás el detalle más sorprendente que se muestra en los documentos relacionados con la investigación en curso en contra de HSBC es que la gerencia  intencionalmente decidió no mirar en algunos casos de actividad sospechosa. “Parece que hay casos en que los empleados del Banco están tergiversando los datos”, que se envían a los altos directivos. En otros casos, los administradores simplemente cambiaron las calificaciones de riesgo para algunas transacciones, ara no alarmar a nadie del fraude que estaba siendo cometido.

The Real Agenda permite la reproducción del contenido original publicado en el sitio SOLAMENTE a través de las herramientas proporcionadas al final de cada artículo. Por favor NO COPIE contenido de nuestro sitio para redistribuirlo o enviarlo por correo electrónico.

Drug traffickers among HSBC’s best customers

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | NOVEMBER 12, 2012

The British Ministry of Finance and Customs (HMR) has opened an investigation into accounts at HSBC whose owners are British citizens on the island of Jersey, known for its low taxes.

As reported by the Daily Telegraph, the investigation was launched after an anonymous tip that gave details of UK customers with accounts in the island and abroad.

Members of the list of 4388 people include famous people who keep some 699 million pounds out of the country and billions of pounds in investment plans.

The newspaper said the list of people in Jersey includes Daniel Bayes, a famous drug dealer and ex-con who is currently in Venezuela, and Michael Lee, who has been declared guilty of illegal possession of hundreds of weapons. There are also three bankers who in the past were prosecuted for massive fraud.

The bank has the legal obligation to report when in doubt about the origin of the funds deposited in the accounts. The London company increased to $ 1,500 million provision sanctions that it may have to pay the U.S. for money laundering.

Jersey, the largest island of the Channel of La Mancha, is a parliamentary democracy with its own financial, legal and independent judiciary. Its tax haven status increasingly irritated the British, affected by the recession and a significant deficit.

It is not the first time authorities find that HSBC bank and others like Wells Fargo and Wachovia help transfer millions and in some cases billions of dollars across the world even though the origin of such large amounts of money are unknown. Back in May, the Vancouver Sun reported on how HSBC allowed the laundering of large amounts of cash through accounts that belonged to some of its wealthiest customers. In its report, the Sun related how documents and e-mails showed that HSBC not only didn’t inquire about the origin of the funds, but also worked hard to conceal the transfer of the cash from clients of Iranian, Lebanese, Brazilian and Cuban origin. Most suspicious transactions are done through the HSBC’s New York and Miami offices.

Bloomberg also reported on how HSBC, Wachovia, Bank of America laundered billions of dollars from Mexican drug cartels. In that case, smugglers had bought the DC-9 with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.: Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp., Bloomberg Markets magazine reported in its August 2010 issue. Wachovia bank alone laundered $378.4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. That’s the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in U.S. history.

Much of the drug trafficking money laundered by international banks is said to end in places such as the stock market to which many attribute the fact that the global economy did not completely collapse in 2008. A big chunk of drug money goes to finance intelligence operations for the CIA and the rest goes to buy large portions of land and resources around the planet.

In the case of HSBC, money laundering actions are part of a “disguised scheme that moves trillions of dollars between banks each day. Under this system, banks in the United States are used to move massive amounts of illicit funds,” said Jennifer Shasky Calvery, head of the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, while providing her testimony in a congressional hearing last February.

According to the report on the Vancouver Sun, banks such as HSBC understaffs its anti-money laundering compliance division and hires incompetent personnel to watch over the transactions that are normally kept under the radar. “HSBC failed to review thousands of internal anti-money laundering alerts and generate legally required suspicious activity reports, or SARs, on transactions picked up by the bank’s internal monitoring system.” Suspicious activity is sent to law enforcement to be studied and watched over. Back in May of 2010, HSBC had a stockpile of almost 50,000 reports of suspicious activity which had not been passed on to authorities.

Perhaps the most amazing detail shown in the documents related to the ongoing investigation against HSBC is that “management intentionally decided” not to look into some cases of suspicious activity. “There appear to be instances where Bank employees are misrepresenting data” which is sent to senior managers. In other cases managers simply changed risk ratings for some transactions so that they would not set off the fraud alarms.

The Real Agenda encourages the sharing of its original content ONLY through the tools provided at the bottom of every article. Please DON’T copy articles from The Real Agenda and redistribute by email or post to the web.

You know that Money on your Bank Account? Well, it’s not Yours

By SUSANNE POSEL | OCCUPY CORPORATISM | AUGUST 24, 2012

In June of 2012, Eric Bloom, former chief executive, and Charles Mosely, head trader of Sentinel Management Group (SMG) were indicted for stealing $500 million in customer secured funds. Both Mosely and Bloom were accused of “exposing” customer segregated funds “to a portfolio of highly risky derivatives.”

These customer funds were used to “back up personal investments” which were part of “collateral for a loan from Bank of New York Mellon” (BNYM). This loan derived from stolen customer monies was “used to purchase millions of dollars worth of high-risk, illiquid securities, including collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, for a trading portfolio that benefited Sentinel’s officers, including Mosley, Bloom and certain Bloom family members.”

Fast forward to August 9th of 2012, and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (CCA) rules that BNYM can be moved to first in line of creditors over the customers that had their funds stolen by SMG.

When a banking customer deposits their money into their bank account, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SPIC) are in place to protect the customer from fraud or theft. The ruling from the CCA means that these regulatory systems will not insure customer funds, investments, depositors and retirees who hold accounts in banks. In fact, the banking institution is now legally allowed to use those customer funds deposited as collateral, payment on debts for loans made, or free use on the stock market to purchase investments as the bank sees fit.

Fred Grede, SMG trustee, explained that brokers are no longer required to keep customer money separate from their own. “It does not bode well for the protection of customer funds.”

Since the ruling gives banks the right to co-mingle customer funds with their own, no crime can be committed for the use of customer deposited monies.
According to Walker Todd , former lawyer for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Cleveland: “Basically, there is a new 7th Circuit opinion saying that there is no reason to impose a constructive trust on a lender’s takings of customers’ funds from client commodity firms that were used (inappropriately) to secure the firms’ borrowings, as long as the lender can say that it did not know WITH CERTAINTY that customers’ funds were being repledged. Negligence and misappropriation (vs. knowing criminal intent) are now a sufficient excuse for letting the lender keep the money and go to the head of the line for distributions in bankruptcies of the client commodity firms.”

When a customer deposits money into a bank, the bank essentially issues a promise to have those funds available when the customer returns to withdraw the deposited amount. When the same customer withdraws funds from their account (whether checking or savings) the customer assumes that the bank has enough funds to cover their withdrawal; including the presumption that their monies are separate from the bank’s assets.

Now, those funds are up for grabs by the bank at their discretion without explanation to the customer – nor is the bank obligated to recoup the customer should they “lose” those funds due to bad loans, bankruptcy or stock market loss.

In Texas, Pamela Cobb, manager of Bank of America (BoA), stole an estimated $2 million from customer funds for personal use. Cobb had been taking customer segregated funds since 2002.

Customers have complained of fraudulent charges placed on their accounts that BoA cannot explain. When the customer brings these charges to the in-house fraud department, they are given the run-around until they acquiesce.

Other customers have had their private possessions stolen right out of their safety deposit box held at BoA. The safety deposit box was drilled into and the contents shipped to the BoA corporate holding center in South Carolina.

In 1992 to 2003, Citibank called their theft of customer funds “account sweeping” wherein they stole more than $14 million from customers nationally. Using computerized credit card processes to remove positive and negative balances from customers, the scheme included double payments or funds paid out on returned purchases that were then attributed back to the customer.

At Chase bank, an anonymous employee opened an account under a customer name (targeting an Alzheimer’s sufferer), complete with a personal debit card. An estimated $300 per day was withdrawn on the fraudulent account. When family representing the victim alerted Chase, they brushed them off with an internal investigation claim – even as the family sought legal action.

Banking fraud against the elderly has risen of late, since banks realize they can steal massive amounts of cash from their aging customers with little to no repercussions.

The recent ruling on SMG has given the banking industry the legal backing they have been lacking when stealing from their customers.

Our financial institutions have been planning for a financial collapse wherein the US government will not offer assistance. The resolution plans required by the Federal Reserve Bank, described schemes to have the major domestic banks remain afloat by selling off assets, finding alternative sources of funding, reducing risky measures that make a quick buck. These strategies were to be perfected with “no assumption of extraordinary support from the public sector.”

The mega-banks, through Wall Street, are also acquiring firearms, ammunition and control over private mercenary corporations like DynCorp and ‘Blackwater” as authorized by the Department of Defense (DoD) directive 3025.18 .

DynCorp is a military-based private mercenary contractor that provides (among other services) intelligence training and support, international security, contingency plans and operations. Ninety-six percent of their funding is based on annual revenues from the US federal government. The international branch of DynCorp has operated as a “police force” even assisting local law enforcement during Hurricane Katrina.

Named as investors for the amassing of gun and ammunition manufacturers are Citibank, BoA, Barclays and Deutsche Bank who are pouring money into Cerebus and Veritas Equity who have taken over private corporations involved in the controlling riot situations.

The Federal Reserve Bank, one of the heads of banking cartels, has their own police force which operates as a protective security for the Fed against the American public. As part of the Federal Reserve Act signed in 1913, the designation of a Federal Law Enforcement – special police officers that are exclusively regulated by authority of the Fed (whether in uniform or plain clothes. These specialized police officers (who train with Special Response Teams) can work in tandem with local law enforcement or US federal agencies. These officers are heavily armed with semi-automatic pistols, sub machine guns and assault rifles as well as body armor.

Of recent, when withdrawing cash from an ATM, the daily allotted amount has decreased with some banks, thereby forcing the customer to go into the branch and extract the difference with a teller. At this point, according to anonymous informants, the customer is taken into a backroom to be questioned as to why they want the cash, what they are purchasing with the cash, why they are not choosing to use a debit card or another form of digital trade to make the purchase. These questions are not only intrusive, they are illegal.

Some anonymous sources have said that banking representatives who conduct the integrations are directed to keep a record of customer responses on an online application that will be sent to the FBI in conjunction with Patriot Act mandates on tracking banking activity.

Customer funds are no longer secure, no longer backed by the FDIC or other insurance corporations, and banks are legally allowed to co-mingled customer money with other funds of the bank. The only safe place for your money is with you.

Now is the time to close your bank account.

Greece is a victim of money hungry Hedge Funds

by Les Leopold
Alternet
January 19, 2012

Who are the real villains on Wall Street? When it comes to institutionalized greed and corruption, nothing tops the too-big-to-fail banks like JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. But these financial giants form only one part of the financial oligarchy. Lurking in the shadows are aggressive hedge funds that are just as lethal to our economic well being. If Goldman Sachs is a vampire squid, as Matt Taibbi so aptly named it, then hedge funds are like schools of piranhas or sharks, eager to strip the financial carcass to the bone.

The sharks at this very moment are circling Greece, waiting to devour that nation’s resources. To understand this attack we need to enter into the rotting innards of our financial system.

But aren’t the Greeks lazy?

Let’s starts with a closer look at why Greece has accumulated so much debt. The answer is not because they sit around sipping retsina rather than working. Instead it has everything to do with the attempt of Europe to improve the lot of the Greek people so they would embrace democracy. Let’s not forget that from 1967 to 1974 Greece was ruled by a military junta that inflicted enormous pain on its people. Helping the Greek people escape poverty was critically important. Greece’s entry into the European Union and the access to capital it provided, allowed the Greek people to rebuild the foundations of prosperity and democracy.

Of course, our vampire squid banks also played a critical role in exacerbating the debt problem. When Greece hit the debt limits set by the EU, large U.S. banks profited mightily by structuring loans to Greece to skirt those rules.

But the biggest blow came from the 2008 financial crash, which was wholly caused by Wall Street’s reckless gambling spree. When the world economy nearly collapsed into another Great Depression, the weaker economies in the EU took the biggest hit. Ireland, Portugal and Greece suffered enormous job loss and massive declines in tax revenues. These countries became the victims of the vast housing bubble that was pumped up by Wall Street’s fantasy financial schemes. Yes, they had accumulated too much debt, but the problem would have been manageable were it not for the Wall Street-created crash.

Enter the piranha hedge funds

Hedge funds are lightly regulated, privately managed investment funds created and designed for the super-rich, who expect to get much higher rates of return than the rest of us. While you and I are lucky to see a 2 percent increase in our 401ks, hedge funds hope to see gains far in excess of 10 percent. Pension funds and endowments have also followed the super-rich into these funds to gain access to these outsized returns. There are 8,000 or so hedge funds that now manage a total of nearly $2 trillion.

But making these super-profits doesn’t come easy. Hedge funds don’t just get lucky on a few stocks or bonds. They look for an edge, and more than a few go over the edge by engaging in criminal activity like insider trading. Others hope to get to the Promised Land by being tough SOBs who don’t think twice about impoverishing people. Those SOB hedge funds are circling Greece right now, doing all they can to get their hands on the money the European Union wants to lend Greece to reduce its long-term debt problems.

Here’s the play: Greece does not have enough money to pay off the loans that are coming due in the next year. So the EU and the International Monetary Fund have assembled a bailout package to help Greece make those payments. In exchange, the Greek people are being asked to suffer through enormous cuts in government spending – which means cuts in jobs, incomes, healthcare, pensions and public education. Everyday citizens are making enormous sacrifices.