Banks laundering terrorist and drug gang money

[PrettyVacant]

It’s just business, right:

A report compiled for the committee detailed how HSBC’s subsidiaries transported billions of dollars of cash in armoured vehicles, cleared suspicious travellers’ cheques worth billions, and allowed Mexican drug lords buy to planes with money laundered through Cayman Islands accounts.

Other subsidiaries moved money from Iran, Syria and other countries on US sanctions lists, and helped a Saudi bank linked to al-Qaida to shift money to the US.

HSBC 'sorry' for aiding Mexican drugs lords, rogue states and terrorists

Words really do fail me on this one. On the one hand we have people giving their lives in a decades long war against drugs - no matter how absurd that whole (WAD) notion is, it’s still Gov policy. And on the other we have banks basically too big to worry about failing, too big to worry about fixing LIBOR, and now to big to worry about the criminal law.

But wait, if I laundered money for a terrorist group I’m going to be behind bars for pretty much the rest of my life - is what HSBC did actually illegal?

The bank has been under investigation for nearly a decade, and faces a massive fine from the US justice department for lapses in its safeguards.

A fione? A FINE? For laundering $ billions for terrorists and drug gangs… What the hell is going on in the world?

[John_Mace]

I guess where I would start is to look at whatever statute was violated and ask if the punishment specified is for more than a “fione”. I mean, maybe it is. But that’s where I would start. It’s possible that is all the justice department has as an enforcement mechanism. Not claiming that I have any knowledge of this particular statute… just sayin’

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@PrettyVacant

A fione? A FINE? For laundering $ billions for terrorists and drug gangs… What the hell is going on in the world?

Peter King laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars for terrorists and he’s in Congress.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Peter King laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars for terrorists and he’s in Congress.

Shit, he raised money for the terrorists, he didn’t just launder it.

[Happy_Fun_Ball]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Peter King laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars for terrorists and he’s in Congress.

Got a cite? I know nothing about this but would love to learn.

[Robot_Arm]

There have been a few cases of banks foreclosing on houses they did not actually own the mortgages to. If they can’t be bothered to keep track of which houses they own, how could you expect them to know which cartel’s money they were taking?

[Esox_Lucius]

In this case, they knew exactly what they were doing.

[Voyager]

The Times article mentioned that the Justice Department was looking at criminal penalties. HSBC has branches in the US, so they would definitely fall under our jurisdiction. It is well past time that some bankers go to jail. Gitmo would be too much to ask for, I suppose.

[Robot_Arm]

@Esox_Lucius

In this case, they knew exactly what they were doing.

Why would they bother? A guy comes into the HSBC branch in Mexico City with a suitcase full of cash. Why ask him where he got it if you’re going to open the account for him anyway. There’s no point in seeking information that you’re not going to act on. It’s not like they were accepting only Mexican drug money, is it?

[ExcitedIdiot]

@L. G. Butts

Got a cite? I know nothing about this but would love to learn.

I know nothing about it either, but a Wikipedia article states he supported the IRA for a number of years.

[Esox_Lucius]

@Robot_Arm

Why would they bother? A guy comes into the HSBC branch in Mexico City with a suitcase full of cash. Why ask him where he got it if you’re going to open the account for him anyway. There’s no point in seeking information that you’re not going to act on. It’s not like they were accepting only Mexican drug money, is it?

However it happened, they knew what they were doing. Can’t find a cite online, but a news story quoted an HSBC exec’s email from several years ago that outright admitted what they were doing, something like, “We are laundering Mexican drug money.” It was as blatant as that.

[Voyager]

@Esox_Lucius

However it happened, they knew what they were doing. Can’t find a cite online, but a news story quoted an HSBC exec’s email from several years ago that outright admitted what they were doing, something like, “We are laundering Mexican drug money.” It was as blatant as that.

The Times article says that HSBC employees worked with Iranians to explicitly circumvent the sanctions. I get the dead tree version, but it was in the article published yesterday.

[Untoward_Parable]

You thought banks were run by good people? This makes me laugh.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Peter King laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars for terrorists and he’s in Congress.

Here’s a good overview.

[Esox_Lucius]

@Voyager

The Times article says that HSBC employees worked with Iranians to explicitly circumvent the sanctions. I get the dead tree version, but it was in the article published yesterday.

Here’s the part from nytimes.com that pertains to that:

In some cases, HSBC executives counseled Iranian financial institutions on how to evade the filters of American regulators, the report says.

The quote I saw was from a TV news story, probably one of the Big 3 broadcasters but I don’t remember which one.

[Kozmik]

@PrettyVacant

But wait, if I laundered money for a terrorist group I’m going to be behind bars for pretty much the rest of my life

Depends on who can vouch for you.

Lord James of Blackheath: I have had one of the biggest experiences in the laundering of terrorist money and funny money that anyone has had in the City. I have handled billions of pounds of terrorist money.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham: Where did it go to?

Lord James of Blackheath: Not into my pocket. My biggest terrorist client was the IRA and I am pleased to say that I managed to write off more than £1 billion of its money. I have also had extensive connections with north African terrorists, but that was of a far nastier nature, and I do not want to talk about that because it is still a security issue. I hasten to add that it is no good getting the police in, because I shall immediately call the Bank of England as my defence witness, given that it put me in to deal with these problems.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Here’s a good overview.

Erm… that was supposed to be a response to the post below. Not my own. :smack:

@L. G. Butts

Got a cite? I know nothing about this but would love to learn.

[AuntiePam]

And the result is no criminal charges and a $1.5 billion fine. What the fuck!

And HSBC stock actually rose slightly when the fine was announced.

What’s $1.5 billion to them? A few months’ profit?

I smell a rat.

[Evil_Captor]

This is what you got when you voted for the Democrats, this is what you get when you vote for Obama, and believe their lies. Obama and the Democrats are OWNED by the One Percent, just like the Republicans. The total failure of the US government to criminally prosecute people who laundered money for Iran, Mexican drug cartels and Al Qaeda says it all: they do their master’s bidding. The only way out is progressive politics. They are ineffectual now but that’s going to change. Check out this post from Glen Greenwaldif you don’t believe me.

[Evil_Captor]

HSBC missed out on 60 trillion in suspicious activity, including billions from Mexican drug cartels, and billion from Iran, and billions from Al Qaeda. But you know, they were able to track $10,000 in “suspicious activity” by former attorney general Elliot Spitzer back when he was investigating HSBC’s money laundering activities. Imagine that.

Link.