Elizabeth Warren Confronts the Atrocity of Drug Money Laundering by Big Banks

[TruthOut10]

Heavens to Betsy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren leapt from the gate of her first term pummeling Ben Bernanke on too-big-to-fail financial institutions. Then she demanded to know why American banks were never brought to trial. Finally, last Thursday, looking for all the world like a school principal called to sort out teenage hooligans, she queried regulators as to why HSBC bankers who launder money for drug lords and terrorists should go free. Quoth the senator:


"If you're caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you're going to jail. If it happens repeatedly, you may go to jail for the rest of your life. But evidently, if you launder nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night.”

Game on! Naturally, the left is swooning. Elizabeth Warren says what we all wish we could say to the besuited jerks who defend a crooked industry. Except, instead of snatching them by the lapels and screaming obscenities as we might do, Warren sits calmly and repeats her inimitably direct questions like a blond Terminator. The big banks and their lackeys can’t stand her, and it looks as if the feeling is mutual.

Americans love her because we have serious unfinished business with the banking industry. We remember how the White House chose to protect the bankers from the pitchforks in the wake of the financial crisis. We’ve gritted our teeth as bankers have charted a course to record-breaking profits as the rest of us slogged through a shitty economy.

Elizabeth Warren Confronts the Atrocity of Drug Money Laundering by Big Banks | Alternet

 

[waltky]

Website closed down over money laundering charges...

US Accuses Cyber Exchange Of Laundering $6 Billion
Tue May 28, 2013 - U.S. prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks.

The indictment unsealed on Tuesday said Liberty Reserve had more than a million users worldwide, including at least 200,000 in the United States, and virtually all of its business was related to suspected criminal activity. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the case perhaps "the largest international money laundering case ever brought by the United States." "Liberty Reserve has emerged as one of the principal means by which cyber-criminals around the world distribute, store and launder the proceeds of their illegal activity," according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Officials said authorities in Spain, Costa Rica and New York arrested five people on Friday, including the company's founder, Arthur Budovsky, and seized bank accounts and Internet domains associated with Liberty Reserve. The indictment detailed a system of payments that allowed users to open accounts under false names with blatant monikers like "Russia Hackers" and "Hacker Account." The use of digital currency has expanded over the past decade, attracting users ranging from video gamers looking to buy and sell virtual goods to those who lack faith in the traditional banking system.

Touted by some as the future of money, these virtual currencies have attracted the attention of U.S. regulators looking to bring them under anti-money laundering rules. The U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday it named Liberty Reserve under the USA Patriot Act as a company "specifically designed and frequently used to facilitate money laundering in cyber space." That designation, a first against a virtual currency exchange, prohibits banks or other payment processors from doing business with Liberty Reserve, even under a new name.

Liberty Reserve's virtual currency was also used to anonymously buy and sell software designed to steal personal information, according to a statement from the U.S. Treasury. Users could buy malware programs designed to assault financial institutions, as well as lists of information from thousands of compromised personal accounts, the Treasury said. A ring of hackers who recently stole $45 million from two Middle Eastern banks after hacking prepaid debit cards used Liberty Reserve to distribute their take, according to court papers.

WEBSITE DOWN, ARRESTS MADE

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Americans love her because we have serious unfinished business with the banking industry.

yes we want to protect the industry from further liberal government interference(Fed,Fanny,Freddie,FDIC,CRA FHA, etc) that caused the current financial crisis

We remember how the White House chose to protect the bankers from the pitchforks in the wake of the financial crisis.

what pitchforks?? Most agree banks were victims of liberal interference?? Do you doubt it???

We’ve gritted our teeth as bankers have charted a course to record-breaking profits as the rest of us slogged through a shitty economy.

dear, banks are publicially owned so you can start one or buy shares in one or work for one if you think profits are so good among those banks that survived rather than complain that someone else is making too much money!

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Most agree banks were victims of liberal interference?? Do you doubt it???

I do. Where is your evidence most people agree with that statement?

 

[The Infidel]

Maybe the bitch should investigate idiots pretending to be Native American.

Just a thought...

 

[Stephanie]

Maybe the bitch should investigate idiots pretending to be Native American.

Just a thought...

Maybe the people who voted for her should of too
good grief, what experience does this woman have to be investigating anything

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Most agree banks were victims of liberal interference?? Do you doubt it???

I do. Where is your evidence most people agree with that statement?

our great newspapers and economists on left and right agree it was liberal government that caused the current depression.

"First consider the once controversial view that the crisis was largely caused by the Fed's holding interest rates too low for too long after the 2001 recession. This view is now so widely held that the editorial pages of both the NYTimes and the Wall Street Journal agree on its validity!"...John B. Taylor


" The Federal reserve having done so much to create the problems in which the economy is now mired, having mistakenly thought that even after the housing bubble burst the problems were contained, and having underestimated the severity of the crisis, now wants to make a contribution to preventing the economy from sinking into a Japanese Style malaise....... - "Joseph Stiglitz"( uber left economist)

You may not have heard of the Federal Reserve system but it exists to inflate and deflate the currency supply through the housing market. They inflated too much for too long. This caused what they call a housing bubble. While the bubble was inflating all the big banks and many insurance companies bought bubble mortgages thinking they were sound rather than merely purchased or made possible by newly printed funny money. When the bubble deflated they all lost money on the mortgages. It would be analogous to the government making cars and giving them to GM so everyone could have a car. If GM got them by the ton and for very little money of course they would find a way to move them . This is essentially what the Banks did with the free money. In addition to the Federal Reserve System you had Fanny and Freddie which bought and guaranteed many of the mortgages so no one had to worry about them failing. Then you had CRA, FHA, Federal Home Loan Bank Board( 3% down payment loans) and several others that were designed to get everybody in their own home.

When the states tried to move against predatory lending by national banks they were blocked by the bank's federal regulator, the office of the comptroller of the currency, That empowered money lenders say Lynn Turner.

Just as significantly you had very badly conceived accounting rules that hid the problems from everyone until it was too late. Accounting rules are supposed to do the opposite, not move billions in potential liabilities off the balance sheet onto tiny footnote on the bottom of a page as happened at Citibank, or onto on sentence at the end of a 10-Q report as happened at AIG, or as generally happened with SIVs (structured investment vehicles). Then you had gov't rules from the last crisis, the Enron Crisis, the created mark-to- market accounting rules for this crisis that many believe greatly exacerbated this crisis.

Then you had the problem with the government backed ratings agencies that simply failed to rate the mortgage backed and related securities, properly. Sorry, it had little to do with Bush, but had everything to do with inane attempts by the liberal to regulate the free market!


Warren Buffett: "There are significant limits to what regulation can accomplish. As a dramatic illustration, take two of the biggest accounting disasters in the past ten years: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. We're talking billions and billions of dollars of misstatements at both places".

Now, these are two incredibly important institutions. I mean, they accounted for over 40% of the mortgage flow a few years back. Right now I think they're up to 70%. They're quasi-governmental in nature. So the government set up an organization called OFHEO. I'm not sure what all the letters stand for. [Note to Warren: They stand for Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.] But if you go to OFHEO's website, you'll find that its purpose was to just watch over these two companies. OFHEO had 200 employees. Their job was simply to look at two companies and say, "Are these guys behaving like they're supposed to?" And of course what happened were two of the greatest accounting misstatements in history while these 200 people had their jobs. It's incredible. I mean, two for two!

“Whatever regulatory changes are made, they will pale in comparison to the change already evident in today’s markets,” he said. “Those markets for an indefinite future will be far more restrained than would any currently contemplated new regulatory regime.”-Alan Greenspan

Courtesy A. Smith:FDR created Fannie.
LBJ Privatized Fannie - creating an "enron" like environment:
Greg Mankiw's Blog: Thanks, LBJ

Carter's Community Reinvestment Act - accelerated by Clinton - pushed risky loans:
Community Reinvestment Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clinton pushed Fannie into Subprime - the most critical mistake:
Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie - Page 1 - News - New York - Village Voice

Even the NY Times figured this out: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - NYTimes.com

Bush and McCain attempted to reform Fannie on 17 occasions
Bush Called For Reform of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac 17 Times in 2008 Alone Only To Have Dems Ignored His Warnings :: Political News and commentaries :: Hyscience

The risky subprime loans fueled another layer of risk - derivatives
https://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/2947518

The LA Times reported on Clinton's "subprime" success in 1999:
Minorities' Home Ownership Booms Under Clinton but Still Lags Whites' - Los Angeles Times

 

[Stephanie]

some 12 year old wrote that article

heavens to betsy..Saint lizzy the fake Indian leapt from her pedestal..

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Maybe the bitch should investigate idiots pretending to be Native American.

Just a thought...

Maybe the people who voted for her should of too
good grief, what experience does this woman have to be investigating anything

Yes, at her first big outing she asked Bernanke to punish the banks who, a study showed, were getting an $80 billion subsidy thanks to
their too big to fail status. Bernanke laughed at her saying," you don't know that number is correct," and then Warren shut up scared to say another word.

She's a typical liberal parroting the party line!!

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

Americans love her because we have serious unfinished business with the banking industry.

yes we want to protect the industry from further liberal government interference(Fed,Fanny,Freddie,FDIC,CRA FHA, etc) that caused the current financial crisis

We remember how the White House chose to protect the bankers from the pitchforks in the wake of the financial crisis.

what pitchforks?? Most agree banks were victims of liberal interference?? Do you doubt it???

We’ve gritted our teeth as bankers have charted a course to record-breaking profits as the rest of us slogged through a shitty economy.

dear, banks are publicially owned so you can start one or buy shares in one or work for one if you think profits are so good among those banks that survived rather than complain that someone else is making too much money!

Voices back again are they, Edmund?

What liberal interference are you talking about?
Heavy traffic while Paulsen carried the blank checks to AIG, GS and MS?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

What liberal interference are you talking about?
Heavy traffic while Paulsen carried the blank checks to AIG, GS and MS?

interference: Fanny Freddie Fed FDIC CRA FHA, SEC etc etc.

Surprise, Paulsen's loans were paid back while trillions in personal welfare bailouts are never paid back!!

See why we are positive a liberal will be slow?

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

What liberal interference are you talking about?
Heavy traffic while Paulsen carried the blank checks to AIG, GS and MS?

interference: Fanny Freddie Fed FDIC CRA FHA, SEC etc etc.

Surprise, Paulsen's loans were paid back while trillions in personal welfare bailouts are never paid back!!

See why we are positive a liberal will be slow?

Ed... Ed... Ed... Fanny and Freddie were DE-regulated, none of the others had enough going on to figure out the ratings agencies were gaming the system... more...

But I digress...

Do you seriously believe what Bush/Paulsen Obama/Geithner reported to taxpayers is more than the TIP OF THE ICEBERG? I am laughing out loud clicking this out that the superior mind of the nutball buys that crap.

The FED, the nutball dream bank, owns something like TWO TRILLION in rotgut PRIVATELY ISSUED securities. Where do you believe that money went, Eduoard? Take a walk around the upper east side. Chances are if you feel piss on your head the business end of the operation is connected to the FED somehow.

Peddle your bike out to the Hamptons one weekend and ride around. Your tax money and the tax money of millions of Lost Tribers like yourself can be seen all along the beach. No one a block back has the horsepower to get a nickel of it.

Seriously, Ed, you might want to at least consider getting back to the medicine cabinet. Modern science can make those voices be quiet.

 

[kiwiman127]

Why are the banking apologist totally ignoring the issue of money laundering by banks of drug and terrorist money? Let alone all the fraud and misrepresentation by the banks during the housing and economic meltdown.
Nice showing of morals. Kissing Big Banks ass is an addiction for some very weak-minded folks.

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

Why are the banking apologist totally ignoring the issue of money laundering by banks of drug and terrorist money? Let alone all the fraud and misrepresentation by the banks during the housing and economic meltdown.
Nice showing of morals. Kissing Big Banks ass is an addiction for some very weak-minded folks.

The idea seems to be if a high profile liberal is agin' it - no matter what "it" is, then their corporate masters stampede the nutball herd in favor of it. Seriously, after the initial surprise all rational people feel, is it really a surprise that nutballs are falling all over themselves to support massive theft and other crimes against the United States?

These people are simply not rational. They've escaped the surly bounds of reason.

Taking a look forward, don't be surprised if "credible sources who won't be quoted because they are not authorized to speak for the Obama administration" leak to the media that Obama is "examing the case for supporting pedophilia." Imagine the look on Sean Hannity's face when he figures it out while interviewing representatives from LAMBDA.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Ed... Ed... Ed... Fanny and Freddie were DE-regulated, [/quote]

dear Fanny exists to regulate the free market so you can't
deregulate it????????????????????? Slow?????????????

none of the others had enough going on to figure out the ratings agencies were gaming the system... more...

dear, agencies were gaming system because of liberal interference. The others, like Fed, were printing the money so everyone could buy and bid up prices of homes. It was all 100% impossible without Fed printing the money. Get it now???????

Do you seriously believe what Bush/Paulsen Obama/Geithner reported to taxpayers is more than the TIP OF THE ICEBERG? I am laughing out loud clicking this out that the superior mind of the nutball buys that crap.

so why be so afraid to tell us what there was if more than what they reported??????

The FED, the nutball dream bank, owns something like TWO TRILLION in rotgut PRIVATELY ISSUED securities. Where do you believe that money went, Eduoard?

yes they bought those securities, which have gone way up in value, to help stabilize banks, inject money into the economy, and finance the federal deficit.

Take a walk around the upper east side. Chances are if you feel piss on your head the business end of the operation is connected to the FED somehow.

what on earth are you talking about, you idiot conspiracy ass!!!


Peddle your bike out to the Hamptons one weekend and ride around. Your tax money and the tax money of millions of Lost Tribers like yourself can be seen all along the beach. No one a block back has the horsepower to get a nickel of it.

Seriously, Ed, you might want to at least consider getting back to the medicine cabinet. Modern science can make those voices be quiet.[/QUOTE]

 

[Stephanie]

Why are the banking apologist totally ignoring the issue of money laundering by banks of drug and terrorist money? Let alone all the fraud and misrepresentation by the banks during the housing and economic meltdown.
Nice showing of morals. Kissing Big Banks ass is an addiction for some very weak-minded folks.

How the hell are you going to take drug money out of the banks...and what makes you think EVERY BANK is laundering money..you people talk about witch hunts..

this administration is famous for that

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Why are the banking apologist totally ignoring the issue of money laundering by banks of drug and terrorist money? Let alone all the fraud and misrepresentation by the banks during the housing and economic meltdown.
Nice showing of morals. Kissing Big Banks ass is an addiction for some very weak-minded folks.

How the hell are you going to take drug money out of the banks...and what makes you think EVERY BANK is laundering money..you people talk about witch hunts..

this administration is famous for that

most liberals think all corporate money is, in effect, laundered money so all we need is to allow them to decide what money ought to pass through banks.