The Guardian in a lengthy article explains How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs. "During a 22-month investigation by agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and others, it emerged that the cocaine smugglers had bought the plane with money they had laundered through one of the biggest banks in the United States: Wachovia, now part of the giant Wells Fargo.
The authorities uncovered billions of dollars in wire transfers, traveller's cheques and cash shipments through Mexican exchanges into Wachovia accounts. Wachovia was put under immediate investigation for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme. Of special significance was that the period concerned began in 2004, which coincided with the first escalation of violence along the US-Mexico border that ignited the current drugs war.
Criminal proceedings were brought against Wachovia, though not against any individual, but the case never came to court. In March 2010, Wachovia settled the biggest action brought under the US bank secrecy act, through the US district court in Miami. Now that the year's 'deferred prosecution' has expired, the bank is in effect in the clear. It paid federal authorities $110m in forfeiture, for allowing transactions later proved to be connected to drug smuggling, and incurred a $50m fine for failing to monitor cash used to ship 22 tons of cocaine."
Read the whole thing to see how the whistleblower and individuals were dealt with. Nothing good here.
1 comment:
This is an ongoing story that I first heard about a few years ago.
If bank executives are not prosecuted for laundering drug money for Mexican drug cartels, then there is zero chance they will ever be prosecuted for financial fraud, regardless of how large, how obvious, or how destructive that fraud was, and continues to be, to the economy and the citizens of the United States of America.
Money laundering for drug cartels makes the banks criminal accessories, if not legally certainly morally, to the thousands of murders ordered and executed by the Mexican Drug Cartels over the last several years. This is not tax evasion, this is serious violent criminality, and still NOTHING!! happens to the bank executives.
So the banks (as business entities) end up getting fined, wow, now that's really putting the hammer of justice down hard on the guilty.
For Wachovia/Wells Fargo, it is just another cost of doing business. Heck the fines are probably tax deductible.
And the Justice Department's take on all this.....move along people, nothing to see here.
Big Banks simply operate outside and above the law. Is more proof of this fact still neeeded?
The question should be why are the big banks and investment banks completely immune from crimnal prosection, even in cases this extreme - MONEY LAUNDERING FOR MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS - yes, it had to be shouted!
Why are banks allowed to get away with blatant criminal activity, here directly linked to, and on behalf of, the most violent organized criminal groups in the world.
Please....somebody..... explain this to me in rational terms.
TT
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