# Saw this on Twitter re: the FIFA scandal **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 28, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012 "2015-05-28T03:22:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/1 "2015-05-28T03:22:04Z")
“Imagine if the Justice Department had applied as heavy a fist to JP Morgan or Goldman as it has to FIFA?” :o I’ll tell you who wrote that tweet if you PM me. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/2 "2015-05-28T03:37:16Z")
As was pointed out in other online discussions, they were able to come down so heavily because there’d be so little effect on American interests of any kind. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/3 "2015-05-28T21:36:54Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ll tell you who wrote that tweet if you PM me. Or, you know, just google it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/4 "2015-05-28T23:58:16Z")
Making a bad business decision is not the same as bribery, money laundering ,or tax evasion. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/5 "2015-05-29T03:10:20Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Making a bad business decision is not the same as bribery, money laundering ,or tax evasion. Are you really claiming that the banks don’t use bribery, money laundering, or tax evasion? Or are you claiming that FIFA doesn’t? Because from where I’m sitting, I don’t see much difference between the two groups on those fronts. Just ask the foreign currency markets. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/6 "2015-05-29T16:44:45Z")
Although the game room isn’t the proper forum, yes, I am claiming that banks don’t often engage in bribery , money laundering, or tax evasion. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/7 "2015-05-31T21:49:32Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Although the game room isn’t the proper forum, yes, I am claiming that banks don’t often engage in bribery , money laundering, or tax evasion. Except when they do. Like a week-and-a-half ago when four of the largest banks in the World (Chase, Citi, Barclay’s, and The Royal Bank of Scotland) agreed to pay fines (both criminal and civil) in total of $5,000,000,000 for manipulating markets. Along with that, the USB bank of Switzerland is paying a separate fine of $203,000,000 for manipulating interest rates. And they did this for 7 years from 2007-2013. And they probably didn’t magically stop in 2013; it’s probably just as far as the U.K. and U.S. were able to arrange the evidence and make the case for. And the $5 billion is still just a fraction of the ill-gotten profits they made off of their manipulations in this case. And it’s not like this is isolated. It doesn’t take much Google-Fu to find all the dirty dealings banks have done over the years. It seems that as long as their “too big to fail” they’ll just keep doing what they’re doing, because there’s always another bailout in the pipeline. And the best part is they get to pay fines with pre-tax dollars frequently, so they effectively write-off their fines. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/8 "2015-06-01T10:17:45Z")
"Manipulating’ markets has nothing to do with bribery , tax evasion, or money laundering. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/9 "2015-06-01T12:28:43Z")
Earlier this year there was a leak showing that[HSBC is involved with money laundering and tax evasion](http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/08/hsbc-files-expose-swiss-bank-clients-dodge-taxes-hide-millions?CMP=share_btn_tw) on a huge scale. I suppose I should say allegedly, since any legal actions are ongoing and sure to result in a settlement where HSBC just pays a fine but doesn’t have to admit any wrongdoing :rolleyes:. > [@](#): > > HSBC’s Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets, doling out bundles of untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank account files. > > The files – obtained through an international collaboration of news outlets, including the Guardian, the French daily Le Monde, BBC Panorama and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – reveal that HSBC’s Swiss private bank: > > • Routinely allowed clients to withdraw bricks of cash, often in foreign currencies of little use in Switzerland. > > • Aggressively marketed schemes likely to enable wealthy clients to avoid European taxes. > > • Colluded with some clients to conceal undeclared “black” accounts from their domestic tax authorities. > > • Provided accounts to international criminals, corrupt businessmen and other high-risk individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/10 "2015-06-02T16:42:37Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > "Manipulating’ markets has nothing to do with bribery , tax evasion, or money laundering. Sure, because no palms have to be greased for you to get away with market manipulations for at least 7 years. No one is ever paid to look the other way. Everyone was just completely oblivious, right? And paying a fine and being able to deduct that fine as non-taxable income seems pretty much like evading taxes to me. Maybe the governments allow it, but since these companies know this, it just provides less of a reason for them not to risk it. And of course, these banks clearly just stop at manipulating markets. They’ve never done anything else, right? I mentioned the market scandal because it was the most recent example of the banks thinking they’re above the law. I even said a google search would give you a considerable list of other sins, which includes examples of bribery and tax evasion. Of course, they really don’t need to launder money since they control the flow of it anyway. The king can’t break his own laws. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/11 "2015-06-02T17:09:14Z")
Did FIFA launder billions of dollars for drug cartels, human traffickers, terrorists, and rogue states? If not, they’re pikers. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-this-on-twitter-re-the-fifa-scandal/721012/12 "2015-06-02T17:47:41Z")
OTOH, the US hasn’t been this popular since the end of World War II, so maybe money well spent ;).