Bank Takes Drug Money, Gets Handslap
The Market Ticker ® - Commentary on The Capital Markets
Posted 2012-12-12 09:33
by Karl Denninger
in Bank Reform
Ignore this thread
Bank Takes Drug Money, Gets Handslap
 

The "surprises "just keep coming, don't they?

HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA)’s Mexican branches had become so well-known to drug traffickers as the place to launder proceeds from illicit sales that cartels began using special boxes to speed transactions, U.S. prosecutors said.

From 2006 to 2010, the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico and the Norte del Valle Cartel in Columbia moved more than $881 million in proceeds through HSBC’s U.S. unit, said Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal division. Breuer, along with U.S. Attorney Lorretta Lynch in Brooklyn, New York, announced yesterday the bank had agreed to pay at least $1.9 billion to settle money laundering probes.

Number of banksters in prison?  Zero.

Who will "pay" this fine?  HSBC's customers and shareholders, neither of whom did anything wrong.

“We accept responsibility for our past mistakes,”Gulliver said in a statement. “We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again. The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes.”

I'm sure they are profoundly sorry -- that they got caught.

Treasury called this "(an) egregious breakdown in anti-money laundering compliance."

I'd say so, when the dopers are sizing the packages they deposit so as to insure they fit through the deposit windows.

That's not suspicious, is it?

The bank engaged in payment practices that violated U.S. law and interfered with economic sanctions, such as forwarding messages to U.S. banks that said that an HSBC affiliate was the ordering institution and not individuals or entities subject to U.S. sanctions, Cohen said.

At least once, HSBC told a bank in Iran how to format payment messages so the U.S. wouldn’t block or reject the transactions, Breuer said.

Oh, it's better.  The government alleges that the bank intentionally circumvented the law.  Not that it looked the other way, but that it actively participated in the formatting of messages so as to evade surveilance.

The decision not to prosecute HSBC was a decision of the Justice Department and was influenced by factors including the impact of the probe on the company’s employees and the potential economic effect, Breuer said.

In other words if you get big enough and can threaten the government, you can do whatever the hell you want and at worst, if you get caught, you might pay a fine.

That's a nice business arrangement if you can manage to be one of the few able to abuse it.

We will have exactly no progress on repairing what's wrong with our financial system until this sort of behavior leads to handcuffs and revoked charters.

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User Info Bank Takes Drug Money, Gets Handslap in forum [Market-Ticker]
Pcaldallas
Posts: 1343
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Unicorn Ranch
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What else would you expect from a bank founded to service the opium trade?

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"The appearance of law must be upheld, especially when it's being broken." - Boss Tweed, Gangs of New York
Nomennescio
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The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization than the one that made those mistakes (way way back in 2010.) It's hard to even remember back that far.
Oldno7
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Gold
RECALL STATE USA
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I saw this last night on ABC news and blew my stack (the wife crawled into a corner). Karl you are right on this one we need these people in jail. Too big to fail and too big to go to jail BULL****. But what do these crooks get yes a free pass and business as usual. Maybe one day they will get what they deserve.

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IT'S THE SPENDING STUPID The US must become less a government of men, and more a government of LAW.
When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose they lose it -Gerald Celente
Jonesapple10
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Green
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I find it hard to believe that the Just us department uncovered ALL of their money laundering schemes. The 881 mill probably represented a drop in the bucket. And how much under the table money went to these execs to look the other way. My guess is with a 1.9 billion fine they still made off just fine. I'm sure the execs could care less, its not their money that's being touched.
Crzymorse
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Maryland
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$881M in fee increases on the way to HSBC customers. Remember, there are no lawyer fees of any substance in criminal prosecution. But the corporate settlements garner huge legal bills. We should insist on criminal prosecutions because we collectively take it in the ass everytime some banker or pharma company does something illegal.
Steelhead23
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Portland OR
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too big to indict. Not to change the subject, but the DOJ should watch where it steps. One wonders who it is that launders drug money for the CIA?

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"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" —Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild Benjamin Bernanke
For-profit commercial banks are a menace and should be eradicated
Jubber
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Bastards just made my wife redundant...

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“The problem with socialism is that, sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money.” Thatcher
Digitalcolony
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When your an addict, you don't mess with your dealer.

http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/pridea....

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Without wage inflation this bubble is gonna burst. - Cgbgjr
Geschrei
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Gold
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Oh, c'mon, guys, we're talking a $1,900,000,000 fine. That's a lot of money!!!

In fact, it represents almost .07% (more precisely, .00069827 of $2.7 trillion) of their total assets!!!

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“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.”

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Mezzmor
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Off the grid
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I was suprised that this didnt get any traction yesterday here, considering that the USA Todays actual paper article laid a basis that said roughly quoting here that the fine came because the bank was (exact quote now) "too big to indict".

Perfect, we have too big to fail, and too big to indict. Whats next?

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Once the "Progressive" and the "educated" have completely destroyed the country, the logical, the wise, and the experienced will rebuild it.
Pika-steph
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Live Free Or Die; US Army Est. 1775
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Gen - Not to be too picky, but typo: circuvented.

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Stop the Looting; Start Prosecuting - http://www.FedUpUSA.org/
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"The only regulation that really works is failure."--Rick Santelli
Bagbalm
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And my incentive to follow their laws and regulations is what? Same as making the mob happy. They won't bust my legs. Moral imperative? ZERO. Government has lost any claim to morals over any other thugs. Time to run and show Obama consulting with Billy Graham while he is still breathing. A nice earnest look on his face leaning forward like he's learning something at the holy man's knee. People are STILL impressed when the priests ***** for the state.
Lumpeninvestor
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The book "World Banking, World Fraud" by John Cruz hints that HSBC held a $2B fund just to pay fines, so this was "priced in".


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Distributing insolvency only destroys the last remaining islands of solvency in a bankrupt world. - Charles Hugh Smith 8/23/2012
Ladyliberty
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Even Bush prosecuted these people but Obama = ZERO prosecutions

Financial Fraud Conviction Scorecard:

Bush: 1300+, Clinton: 1000+, Obama: 0.0 (+/-)

http://dailybail.com/home/convicted-bush....

Report: Cronyism, political donations likely behind Obama, Holder failure to charge any bankers after 2008 financial meltdown

http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/07/report....

Is The Federal Reserve Using Money-Laundering Techniques To Cleanse Banks' Balance Sheets?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrencehunt....

The Bare, Naked Truth About The Federal Reserve's Socialist Agenda

http://moneymorning.com/2012/12/11/the-b....

HSBC Report Should Result in Prosecutions, Not Just Fines, Say Critics

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20....

Noodleman
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There ya go, Karl. Another great Ticker. The hat comes off. Obviously HSBC saw what happened to Wachovia and the others. Did that deter them? **** no. It wetted their lips and basically brought up the question "How could we get a piece of that action?" I bet the CEO's from the Mexican cartels get cold calls from bankster reps all the time. I wish one cartel CEO would do an interview with 60 minutes and honestly tell the world how the system really operates in terms of financial crime. But then by doing so he would be cutting off his nose in spite of his face too - although there must be loads of competition asking for his businss. But then why bite the hand that helps feed ya?

All of this is so blatantly wrong and reprehensible on it's face with the big phony 'war on drugs' to save the children. Apparently the banks are one of the biggest enemies of the children that we have on American soil. Get caught. Aw, pay a fine that is less than the profit you make off the laundering operations and no one goes is prosecuted or goes to the Federal slammer. Yet if J6P ran a nickle and dime laundering operation from his home - the Feds would literally take everything he owned - and he would have to PROVE that whatever was confiscated was purchased with clean money - AND upon conviction (he would get prosecuted, btw) it would be a MINIMUM MANDATORY of 10 years.

So there ya go.....

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"Ammunition beats persuasion when you are looking for freedom." Will Rogers, 4 Nov 1879 - 15 Aug 1935

Noodleman
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Oh, and as for the $1.9B government fine? - that will likely be used for future bailouts for other TBTF banks. And account holder will get their interest rates raised or credit card or checking account fees hiked - all approved by the US government beforehand, of course!!! :^)

So it's really not even the cost of doing business.

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"Ammunition beats persuasion when you are looking for freedom." Will Rogers, 4 Nov 1879 - 15 Aug 1935

Matt_bear
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a week early on spy puts
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HSBC issued an email yesterday cutting their internet savings interest rate in half.

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In terms of real-world fundamentals, I expect that most of the people around me, whom I work with day to day, and whom I pass on the street ... will be dead within five years.
Duc888
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TBTP

Too Big To Prosecute.

Ya make the money...ya make the rules.

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...burp
Noodleman
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And all the while the schools continue to teach our children that we have 'equality under the law' in America - and no one is above it. That the most powerful men running our most powerful institutions are held to the same standards as a homeless man. And they will end the lesson by telling our children that is the beauty of living in America. heh. And "Gott ist mit uns" too. I almost forgot! :^)

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"Ammunition beats persuasion when you are looking for freedom." Will Rogers, 4 Nov 1879 - 15 Aug 1935

Azusgm
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My daughter in southern Mexico called me last week and told me that she needed me to look into some other banking arrangements for transferring her money from her US account. She is paid by electronic transfers from client organizations into her Wells Fargo checking account. From there, her money would be transferred to their affiliate in Mexico which was an HSBC. Wells Fargo notified her a week or two ago that they would no longer be working with HSBC because of HSBC's money laundering activities. And yes, she does have to use a TBTF for international banking.

Here's an interview with a professor who agrees with Karl that somebody needs to go to prison.

http://www.theworld.org/2012/12/british-....
Tz
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varies
Banned
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/....

and "mov[ing] tainted money for Saudi banks tied to terrorist groups". Those investigations uncovered substantial evidence "that senior bank officials were complicit in the illegal activity." As but one example, "an HSBC executive at one point argued that the bank should continue working with the Saudi Al Rajhi bank, which has supported Al Qaeda."

Where's the waterboarding and assassination drones?

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"I am become debt, destroyer of worlds"
Ponzi_unit
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Incept: 2007-09-05
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BANKER A: DRUG MONEY!

Employee B: You said a customer dug money up? Cool!

Employee C: I was told these were the 'express' documents, already cleared and just needed entry. (***thinking, yeah it's probably drug money but I'm in the clear just following orders)

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Taxpayers witnessed a crime and stayed around long enough to get charged with it.
Killben
Posts: 205
Incept: 2009-12-07

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"We will have exactly no progress on repairing what's wrong with our financial system until this sort of behavior leads to handcuffs and revoked charters."

Amen! I wonder when if ever this will happen.
Azusgm
Posts: 2396
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Green
East Texas
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HSBC really pulled some nasty tricks on customers in India, including Ravi Shankar. Truly evil.

Quote:
HSBC issued Ravi Shankar a credit card he neither applied for nor received,” he explained to WND. “This did not stop HSBC from asking Shankar to pay fees for the card and, when Shankar refused to pay, from selling his name to debt collectors who destroyed Shankar’s credit and blocked him from getting a home loan, even though Shankar objected he knew nothing about the HSBC credit card.


Quote:
Whistleblowers in India and London are joining Cruz in charging the HSBC settlement amounts to a massive “cover up.” Avoiding criminal investigation and prosecution, they say, allows not only HSBC bank officers and directors to avoid further public scrutiny but also any government officials who may have turned a blind eye to HSBC improprieties.

Cruz has insisted to WND that it is impossible to believe HSBC laundered billions of dollars in Mexican drug cartel money, worked with terrorists through affiliate banking operations in Saudi Arabia and circumvented Obama administration banking sanctions against Iran – all activities specifically charged by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations – without the knowledge and perhaps complicity of U.S. government officials in the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the CIA and the NSA in an era in which government officials are capable of reading the emails of ordinary citizens.

With the HSBC settlement announced this week, any criminal investigations under way are officially brought to a halt.


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/calls-from-3-....
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