Money in the Bank
TimeWatch Editorial
December 2, 2015
There are things in this life that we either ignore because we’d rather not know, or we are totally unaware of. The varied news cycles, social media makes the second possibility unlikely. We seem to think that some of these events do not include us, or affect us, or maybe we might be able to avoid the consequences of them while smiling at the problems faced by others. Ultimately, we will discover that we are affected. Very much affected.
On February 14, 2013 Matt Taibbi wrote an article in Rolling Stone Magazine entitled: “Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail. How HSBC hooked up with drug traffickers and terrorists, And got away with it.” In that article, Matt describes the criminal activity that HSBC got involved with regarding money laundering. He then describes what happen when they were caught.
“The U.S. Justice Department granted a total walk to executives of the British-based bank HSBC for the largest drug-and-terrorism money-laundering case ever. Yes, they issued a fine – $1.9 billion, or about five weeks' profit – but they didn't extract so much as one dollar or one day in jail from any individual, despite a decade of stupefying abuses.” Matt Taibbi; February 14, 2013 Rolling Stone Magazine
On Saturday 2 April 2011, Ed Vulliamy wrote in “The Guardian” under the heading: “How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs.” Here is what he said about Wachovia, now part of the giant Wells Fargo.
"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.” Ed Vulliamy , “The Guardian” 2 April 2011.
The reason I that I’m using these articles is because I want you to understand that this criminal activity is not new. We could go even further back, but these examples will suffice. What is perhaps more revealing is the ongoing close relationship banks have to criminal activity. Rajeev Syal writes in “The Guardian” Saturday 12 December 2009, under the topic: “Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor.”
“Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions. Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.”
“Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organized crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year . He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.” Rajeev Syal, “The Guardian” Saturday 12 December 2009.
You understand why I say that we tend to ignore things that we think may not affect us personally. These articles have been here for a while and yet …for the most part they have been ignored. The behavior continues, and we are affected. Fortunately, those who are convinced of their being above the punishments meted out to the little people will ultimately meet the promise of James chapter 5: 1-6:
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon [you]. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned [and] killed the just; [and] he doth not resist you.”
As is clearly stated, this promise includes employers who have cheated their laborers. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Cameron A. Bowen
