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Forum Post: After Laundering $800 Million in Drug Money, How Did HSBC Executives Avoid Jail?

Posted 11 years ago on Dec. 14, 2012, 3:29 a.m. EST by TrevorMnemonic (5827)
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After Laundering $800 Million in Drug Money, How Did HSBC Executives Avoid Jail?

The banking giant HSBC has escaped indictment for laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels and groups linked to al-Qaeda. Despite evidence of wrongdoing, the U.S. Department of Justice has allowed the bank to avoid prosecution and pay a $1.9 billion fine. No top HSBC officials will face charges, either. We’re joined by Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi, author of "Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History." "You can do real time in jail in America for all kinds of ridiculous offenses," Taibbi says. "Here we have a bank that laundered $800 million of drug money, and they can’t find a way to put anybody in jail for that. That sends an incredible message, not just to the financial sector but to everybody. It’s an obvious, clear double standard, where one set of people gets to break the rules as much as they want and another set of people can’t break any rules at all without going to jail."

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/13/matt_taibbi_after_laundering_800_million

26 Comments

26 Comments


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[-] 6 points by Nevada1 (5843) 11 years ago

The way the world really operates, is not how people have been taught to believe.

The British East India Company (Rothschilds), started the world opium trade in the 1690s. Nothing has changed.

[-] 6 points by JesseHeffran (3903) 11 years ago

I was watching The Young Turks yesterday, and they said that the bank actually got a deferred sentencing. The gov't states that if they were to collect on the judgment, it would have a systemic effect on the whole financial system. Bankers are now too big to jail as stated in the news program.

[-] 2 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 11 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1jUFNyZvHQ Keiser Report: Too Big To Jail (E379)

[-] 4 points by gestopomillyy (1695) 11 years ago

The New York Times put it this way:

Federal and state authorities have chosen not to indict HSBC, the London-based bank, on charges of vast and prolonged money laundering, for fear that criminal prosecution would topple the bank and, in the process, endanger the financial system.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213#ixzz2F2XMiZtH Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

wouldnt it be better if those executives where replaced? better for the entire system?

[-] 2 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 11 years ago

the frauds need to topple.

[-] 4 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 11 years ago

And I think that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Its estimated that about one trillion dollars in drug money is laundered through international banking every year. Passing Glass Steagall, however, could bankrupt the operation.

[-] 1 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 11 years ago

They already broke enough laws to get shut down, and have people put in prison. Yet it didn't happen.

[-] 2 points by OTP (-203) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

The banks own the courts, the politicians, the culture and the land.

[-] 2 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

DURBIN: And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.

[-] 2 points by nomdeguerre (1775) from Brooklyn, NY 11 years ago

You shouldn't think of the Justice Dept. as a Justice Dept. and you shouldn't think of Eric Holder as an Attorney General. If Eric Holder were merely the worst AG ever that would be a big step up. He's the criminal lynchpin of the whole rotten system. Eric Holder is the keystone in the edifice of governmental control fraud. His true job is to protect criminals and big time looters, to be their firewall of protection.

[-] 1 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

That's not saying much for Obama then, since Holder is a member of the WH cabinet, and he reports directly to the Prez.

[-] 1 points by nomdeguerre (1775) from Brooklyn, NY 11 years ago

Think criminal syndicates. They all have made men and paid men. Holder is a made man. Obama is a salaried mouth piece. I doubt Obama could fire Holder. He wasn't able to close Guantanamo.

[-] 1 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

Obama is Holder's boss. He certainly has the power to fire him. The question remains whether Holder did this on his own, or was he just following orders. But either way, it's still BS. Your comparison of criminal syndicates and the government reminds me of why I believe we live in a Kleptocracy.

Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, (from Greek: κλέπτης - kleptēs, "thief"[1] and κράτος - kratos, "power, rule",[2] hence "rule by thieves") is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often without pretense of honest service. This type of government corruption is often achieved by the embezzlement of state funds.

[-] 2 points by nomdeguerre (1775) from Brooklyn, NY 11 years ago

Absolutely we have a kleptocracy here, misgovernance by control fraud. The "pretense of honest service" has been dropped.

The three concepts needed to understand American today: control fraud, information warfare, and false flag actions.

[-] 2 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

Great reply! I'm glad you mentioned false flag actions because many don't believe our government will or have gone there. Kudos

[-] 1 points by nomdeguerre (1775) from Brooklyn, NY 11 years ago

Was the CT school shooter a paranoid schizophrenic who obeyed voices, or something else?

[-] 1 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

The news on TV said the shooters brother claimed that the assailant did have mental health issues in the past. The trouble I have is believing anything on the tube on ANY channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCely_XDSDw

[-] 1 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 11 years ago

"We have a Wall Street government." - Inside Job

[-] 2 points by nomdeguerre (1775) from Brooklyn, NY 11 years ago

They seem to be the leading faction (or syndicate).

[-] 2 points by gestopomillyy (1695) 11 years ago

no wonder they dont want it legalized

[-] 1 points by nomdeguerre (1775) from Brooklyn, NY 11 years ago

You got it.

Cross posted:

Our government is controlled by criminal syndicates. The trillions in drug profits goes many places including the money laundering superbanks. The lesson learned from Prohibition is that in order to keep profits up, the substances have to stay illegal. The Drug War is window dressing and a fraud.

That MMJ research is not going full force is a crime against humanity. In 1974, the government proved that marijuana can be effective against certain cancers, so they buried the result.

Decriminalizing marijuana is one of the sleeper issues of our time, OWS needs to get on board. The government's position on marijuana is a great "tell" of its true nature.

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/22-us-government-repressed-marijuana-tumor-research/ https://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/marijuana-cures-cancer-us-government-has-known-since-1974/

http://occupywallst.org/forum/please-sign-my-petition-to-ask-the-white-house-to-/#comment-893489

[-] 1 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

Too big to fail = too big to jail. I guess the people in the justice dept will get a nice bump for their efforts. Meanwhile they continue to spy on us to find people aiding terrorists when this bunch freely admit it. It appears to me that the people aiding terrorists reside in DC.

Good Post Trevor !!

[-] 1 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 11 years ago

Thanks.

We have a Wall Street government. And all the phonies say "giving billions of dollars to Goldman Sachs was the only way to save the economy. "

[-] 1 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

In reality it was the way to extort money from the people. We have to decide if we want to continue our "Wall Street government" because it's not going to change unless we initiate that change. Cheers

[-] 1 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 11 years ago

You are absolutely right.

My favorite thing that the phonies say is

"but most of them paid the money back"

My response is always "yeah after profiting billions and paying CEO bonuses."

It was all one big con. His name is Henry Paulson.

Not to mention they created the crisis in the first place.

[-] 2 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

Don't forget the TARP program. We are purchasing the bad loans that the banks made at 100 cents on the dollar. They loose nothing, yet Americans have to accept all of the risk.

Then there's this too:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/fed-4-times-more-efficient-selling-government-bonds-us-treasury-taxpayer-funded-twist

The con continues today. That's why interest rates are kept are so low.