Sanctions in 72 hours: How the U.S. pulled off a major freeze of Libyan assets

[Kber]

Source: Washington Post

The Treasury Department team had been working nonstop on a plan to freeze Libyan assets in U.S. banks, hoping they might snare $100 million or more and prevent Moammar Gaddafi from tapping it in the deadly attacks against protesters who wanted him gone.

Now, at 2:22 Friday afternoon, Feb. 25, an e-mail arrived from a Treasury official with startling news. Their $100 million estimate was off — orders of magnitude off.

The e-mail said there was in “excess of $29.7 Billion — yes, that’s a B.”

And most of the money was at one bank.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/sanctions-in-72-hours-how-the-us-pulled-off-a-major-freeze-of-libyan-assets/2011/03/11/ABBckxJB_story.html

[no limit]

1. So who does that money go to? That's quite a bit of spare change

[Kber]

3. Good question to which I don't have an answer

probably to the government (whatever government is in charge after all of this is over). In the mean time it's both a negotiating tactic and, it seems, a possibly meaningful dent in the necessary cash on hand to continue military operations.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could use it off-set the cost of the mission, but somehow I doubt that's a legal possibility.

[eleny]

7. Offsetting the mission costs is what I hope will happen

[aquart]

16. I wouldn't say no to some thanks from a grateful nation.

Are there billion dollar bills?

[dipsydoodle]

9. Refunding the cost of the fly zone.

.

[yellerpup]

12. I don't know who it will go to

but it belongs to the Libyan people. IMO

[bengalherder]

13. To Libya.

I cannot believe the people here calling for this money, stolen from the libyan citizens by a dictator whom our governments armed with weapons which he has used to kill his own, to be turned over to the US, etc. So you want them to be penalized for their budding democracy, to have to start from scratch and risk having the world Bank, IMF, etc be able to step in and fuck them twice?

Jeesus, with peace-loving liberals like you we don't need neocon assholes.

[no limit]

15. I just saw that on Hardball that it would go to the Libyan people. Which would make sense...

...but that assumes one thing, that Gaddafi is removed from office and someone else takes over. What if that doesn't happen?

[Lars77]

20. It goes back to Libyan state when Ghadaffys regime is gone i assume nt

[al bupp]

21. Article, sir, states...

that it will be held, and turned over to the opposition should they prevail. If they do not, then another decision will no doubt have to be made. In any event, it was the right thing to do, and accomplished on an impressive timetable.

[ananda]

2. Which banks I wonder . . . .

nt

[KamaAina]

4. "the bank holding the bulk of the Libyan assets, which Treasury officials have declined to identify"

Quelle surprise. :eyes:

Any guesses?

[Poll_Blind]

5. I could be wrong, but my gut tells me it's a name we'll all recognize.

PB

[WhiteTara]

8. mine tells me it won't be a name we know at all

but some obscure bank with oodles of money from people just like Kadifi.

[Kber]

6. I believe Bank of America is sufficiently evil

but maybe that's just because I used to have one of their Visa cards and the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Vinnie From Indy]

10. Wonder how much of that 29.7 billion has BushCo/Cheney fingerprints on it!

These dictators like to get paid for their work.

[Iterate]

14. Actually, you're not far off.

After 2003 G had loads of contracts with neocon think-tanks, PR firms, and advisory groups; some of them set up sovereign trust funds, some provided security training (including the brigades now being accused of crimes against humanity), and some flew in people like Richard Perle for meetings and consultation. It was downright incestuous.

[Wait Wut]

11. !??!!!!?!!!

I just had to swallow my lunch a second time.

Hopefully, this news can somehow get through to the Libyan people that still support this pile of crap.

[thelordofhell]

17. And yet it's not even half of what Mubarak got out of Egypt

[starroute]

18. If you google around, there's interesting details from a few weeks ago

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41754177/Libya_Placed_Billions_of_Dollars_at_US_Banks_WikiLeaks

Libya's secretive sovereign wealth fund has $32 billion in cash with several U.S. banks each managing up to $500 million, and it has primary investments in London, a confidential diplomatic cable shows. . . .

LIA, the umbrella body for Libya's sovereign funds managing oil windfall revenues, is estimated to manage assets of around $70 billion with stakes in European bluechips such as Italian bank UniCredit and British publishing group Pearson. . . .

LIA, through its African investment arm, has placed several hundred million dollars of its assets with London-based FM Capital Partners, created by former Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan asset manager Frederic Marino in 2009.

The cable said that LIA controlled at least seven subsidiary operations.


http://www.economist.com/node/18335210

Dalia Advisory Limited has predictably banal origins—its ancestor entity was registered in July 2009 on behalf of Instant Companies Limited of Bristol. Yet its directors are prominent Libyans and its stated purpose is to advise the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the country’s sovereign-wealth fund, which is tasked with investing Libya’s savings abroad. The LIA is thought to have some $50 billion-70 billion of assets under management and owns several stakes in big European firms including 3% of UniCredit, Italy’s biggest bank, and 3% of Pearson, a media group that is a part-owner of The Economist. . . .

Yet whether funds can be prevented from disappearing in the chaos of a government collapse is debatable. The bulk of the LIA’s assets, say two foreigners who served on its international advisory board, sit in cash and liquid assets. These may be harder for Western governments to identify. Another observer, Peter Cole, a political-risk consultant with experience in the region, reckons the LIA also has big investments in Africa. There, sanctions may not be imposed or fully enforced.

[Iterate]

19. I'm getting the impression that entire careers will be spent

tracking down these funds, and a few more careers spent hiding them. Good finds (even if you do say it was easy).