How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs

www.guardian.co.uk

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 coc aine

(visit the link for the full news article)

Pay to play. Too much money to be ignored is being made here. Prohibition is very lucrative and all sides of the game can cash-in on a bundle.

At the height of the 2008 banking crisis, Antonio Maria Costa, then head of the United Nations office on drugs and crime, said he had evidence to suggest the proceeds from drugs and crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to banks on the brink of collapse. "Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade," he said. "There were signs that some banks were rescued that way."

Sure, why not? A cash cow is to be milked not slaughtered. Prohibition policies corrupt everyone that gets close to it, citizens, police, lawmakers, authorities, everyone involved. And sure, there are anti-corruption laws in place, but they can be by-passed, for the right price.

But Mazur warns: "If you look at the career ladders of law enforcement, there's no incentive to go after the big money. People move every two to three years. The DEA is focused on drug trafficking rather than money laundering. You get a quicker result that way – they want to get the traffickers and seize their assets. But this is like treating a sick plant by cutting off a few branches – it just grows new ones. Going after the big money is cutting down the plant – it's a harder door to knock on, it's a longer haul, and it won't get you the short-term riches."

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Every Wachovia executive should face charges and prison time for this. There is no way this was confined to a branch level.

read 'Barry and the Boys' - Daniel Hopsicker
and 'the Committe of 300' - John D. Coleman - he is also on youtube.

the war of drugs is a false front to keep the little guy out.
legalize drugs and force the drug runners to seek legit employment.

I live in Charlotte and have many friends that work for Wachovia at their headquarters. A few of them had made mention of somethin drug related a while ago but wouldnt go into detail. This brings it back full circle now. Thanks for the thread!

Hi glad you found the follow up and posted....Started this thread on the subject a long while back, and was wondering when the trials would start....hehehe Money anables money hey?
Looks like all conerned are willing to let this all slip by for a price.
This is all just too blatantly disgusting.
Meanwhile people get felonized for smoking pot. The wrong criminals being persecuted IMHO//////

www.abovetopsecret.com...

These ass&^%les laundered a third of a TRILLION dollars and they walk away???????

Wow. Important news. Thanks for getting it out there.

My cynical side compels me to remind everyone....

This is a story about one bank..... shall we honestly allow ourselves to think that this practice is limited to one bank, in one country?

The narcotics black market pushes billion (upon billions) in revenue each year. Entire governments are propped up by the trade... do we really think that one bank (that sort of didn't even get in real trouble for it) is the be-all-end-all of the money laundering scheme?

Again... the corporate sovereignty of the supranational banking cartel makes it impossible to know for sure. And the desperation of the political celebrities to maintain their glamor renders it unlikely that this news will be elevated beyond what we've seen thus far.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Last month, Wachovia Bank entered into an agreement with the government, admitting that the bank was responsible for moving $420 billion for account holders thought likely to be involved in the laundering of drug proceeds. - source

They admitted they moved $420 billion in drug money, but not a peep out of mainstream news. This is probably the closest proof you'll find that the government doesn't want to stop the drug trade, but just profit from it!

Wachovia has a history of scandal, no sooner do they bribe their way out of one than they land right in another;

Wachovia to Be Charged in Mortgage CDO Scandal (newser.com)

Wachovia (WB), JP Morgan (JPM), Morgan (MS) To Settle ARS Scandal; Merrill (MER) Refuses (businessinsider.com)

Wachovia accused of aiding telemarketing fraud (Reuters.com)

2003 mutual fund scandal (wikipedia)

It's like every single year there's some new scandal involving this bank. Seriously, these guys are CROOKS!

It reminds me of George Bush Sr./Jr s Father/Grandfather using his bank to launder money for the Nazi Party during WW2. He was caught as well. When are they going to learn.

reply to post by Agarta
They will never learn until there are consequences for their actions.

reply to post by Agarta


Or the Bush family and the Savings and Loan scandal, probably the single biggest rip-off of American taxpayers to the tune of 1.4 trillion, yet because it involves some of the politically connected, very little was said in the MSM.

The Bush family and the S&L Scandal
In the 80's - Savings and Loan Scandal
Savings and loan crisis

"You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don't know where the [insert expletive] it's gonna take you."

Det. Lester Freamon from The Wire

That quote sums up were this alleged money laundering scheme by Wachovia has not received the media attention it deserves. They are are afraid if there is a serious audit, who knows how far it will go an who will be racked with scandal? We are talking about billions of dollars, and I would not be surprised if some well regarded individuals may have had their hands in that cookie jar?

We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars changing hands at an exceptional rate crisscrossing the globe for years without so much of a peep by the Justice Department or any regulatory agency. There offices in Charlotte should have been raided by the FBI, and along with the necessary authorities in the UK at their London offices! So, they pay off the Feds in what appears to be a heck of a lot like a bribe, the cartels get to maim, murder, and make their money hand over fist, and any big fish who may have had a taste of this sweet candy gets to remain anonymous.

This should have gone to trial, and some heads should have rolled over this. About 30,000 people have been killed during Mexico's drug war, and this bank seemed to have knowingly aided and abetted the illicit enterprise of narcotics trafficking and mass murder. They pay a fine and get a slap on the wrist? Moreover, a whistle-blower who followed the money for years, and tried to stop it is railroaded by his employers without the opportunity to have his reputation restored at trial? What, no interest by Congress? This whole situation stinks to high heaven, and the circumstance for which this case was discontinued is rotten to the core.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Exactly. And Exactly my point. Why was this family running the country instead of rotting in jail. I know, I know cover up, but that I think is changing with the wikkileaks papers implicating them in other things as well. This needs to be brought out in the open and charges filed.

"You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning."

- Andrew Jackson, 1836

This from when Jackson was embroiled in a "bank war", (Wikipedia), probably the last time any US politician stood up to the banking cartels - with the exception of the good doctor Paul (and with any luck 2012 presidential candidate)

Seems that they will just sweep this under the rug. If this had been a private financier aka drug dealer, they would be facing a long prison sentence, loss of their home, vehicles and family.
Youre right, it hasnt gotten the media attention it deserves, hasnt gotten a lot of attention here either.

Alex Jones was just talking about it a few minutes ago.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Actually, several other prominent personalities have openly clashed with what I call the Supranational Banking Cartel.

For example, Tsar Nicolas (who was slaughtered along with his entire family by the "people's" rebellion), Chancellor Bismark (of World War One fame), Abraham Lincoln (who dared to issue "Greenback" currency backed with silver rather than incur more debt with the banks), Senator Lindbergh (who's child was kidnapped after he railed against the bankers), John F. Kennedy (Who dared to issue legal tender "Silver Certificates" outside the monopoly of the central bank.) The list goes on.

Frankly, this particular 'den of vipers' was recognized by many people over the ages.... it's just that most of them chose to become vassals of their power... they are the sovereign economic royalty in our world now.

Perhaps the first multi-national bankers were the Knights Templar. They were forced to disband or go underground after the last Grand Master Jacques DeMoray was burned at the stake in Paris in 1314. Knights Templar is one of the organizations associated in people's minds with the illuminati and such.

It is not a far stretch to speculate that arms of the original Knights Templar continue to influence world monetary systems today.

Knights Templar, btw, is also the name a new outlaw organization in Michoacán has adopted, Los Caballeros Templarios. After their announcement and a week later their first strike about two weeks ago they have been relatively quiet. Caballeros Templarios first strike

Big Banks are like the New White Man on the block and We are like the Indians who want our land and rights back. We can yell and scream about these unfair and unjust acts all we want to but they are the ones with all the power and guns to back them up.

With that said.......we are the majority and we must not forget examples left in our history of how the majority can in fact win when we work together such that was set at the Battle of Custards Last Stand.

We gotta starve these guys out, and since they won't give up and just start a new company we need to track them so we keep starving them out.

We are the consumers so we ultimately have the control AS THE MAJORITY RULES!

There is no doubt that the Drug Problem is getting worse and worse everytime.
I know someone who is a Polititian in Mexico but a while ago they had to back down because the Narcos had chosen the Governor of their State. So besides being threaten by the Hitmen they were pretty much scared of being part of the whole scandal.
Now they have a whole bunch of Military Everywhere, Security Checkpoints, "Undercovers" and all that stuff.
Its certainly not a good sign when you see people getting beheaded.