How much of economic meltdown is just Iran Contra, Continued?

[EFerrari]

You think we should "move on" and not prosecute the last batch of war criminals? Check this out:

Hissyspit posted this thread about Dennis asking, who told SEC to stand down?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3749851

It turns out that Bush's "intelligence czar" John Negroponte was authorized to approve SEC wavers (5/5/2006):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3749851&mesg_id=3750066

That would be John "Death Squads" Negroponte who never did a minute of time for his involvement in Iran Contra money laundering, drug running and war crimes:

From 1981 to 1985, Negroponte was the U.S. ambassador to Honduras. During this time, military aid to Honduras grew from $4 million to $77.4 million a year, and the US began to maintain a significant military presence there, with the goal of providing a bulwark against the revolutionary Sandinista government of Nicaragua, a Leftist party which had driven out the Somoza dictatorship but subsequently maintained a pluralist society and won overwhelming majorities in free and fair elections by international observers.

The previous U.S. ambassador to Honduras, Jack Binns (who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter) made numerous complaints about human rights abuses by the Honduran military under the government of Policarpo Paz García. Following the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, Binns was replaced by Negroponte, who has denied having knowledge of any wrongdoing by Honduran military forces.

In 1995, The Baltimore Sun published an extensive investigation of U.S. activities in Honduras. Speaking of Negroponte and other senior U.S. officials, an ex-Honduran congressman, Efraín Díaz, was quoted as saying:

Their attitude was one of tolerance and silence. They needed Honduras to loan its territory more than they were concerned about innocent people being killed.

Substantial evidence subsequently emerged to support the contention that Negroponte was aware that serious violations of human rights were carried out by the Honduran government, but despite this did not recommend ending U.S. military aid to the country. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, on September 14, 2001, as reported in the Congressional Record, aired his suspicions on the occasion of Negroponte's nomination to the position of UN ambassador:

Based upon the Committee's review of State Department and CIA documents, it would seem that Ambassador Negroponte knew far more about government perpetrated human rights abuses than he chose to share with the committee in 1989 or in Embassy contributions at the time to annual State Department Human Rights reports.<4>

Among other evidence, Dodd cited a cable sent by Negroponte, in 1985, that made it clear that Negroponte was aware of the threat of "future human rights abuses" by "secret operating cells" left over by General Gustavo Álvarez Martinez, the chief of the Honduran armed forces, after he was forcibly removed from his post by fellow military commanders in 1984.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte#Ambassador_to_Honduras_.281981.E2.80.931985.29

A lot of people noticed that Iran Contra criminals were all over the Bush Administration:

Extra! September/October 2001

Scandal? What Scandal?
Bush's Iran-Contra appointees are barely a story

By Terry J. Allen

Throughout the summer of 2001, the media were profligate with resources for the Chandra Levy story, excavating every corner of her and Rep. Gary Condit's past to unearth a prurient bounty of personal detail. That level of investigative vigor mighthave exposed far more vital information had it been applied to Bush's appointment of numerous Iran-Contra veterans to key posts.

But with a few admirable exceptions, news stories about Elliot Abrams, John Negroponte and Otto Reich have largely relied on past reporting and he-said, she-said soundbites by the usual supporters and critics, rather than in-depth investigations into their complicity in one of the bloodiest scandals of the past 20 years. And their guilt is based not on speculation or gossip, but on hard evidence that they aided torturers and death squads,circumvented Congress and the Constitution, and deceived the American people.

"President Bush," the Washington Post reported on March 25, "is quietly building the most conservative administration in modern times, surpassing even Ronald Reagan in the ideological commitment of his appointments, White House officials and prominent conservatives say."

It's not that Bush is whispering the names of nominees too softly for the press to hear. Rather, the reporting itself is, for the most part, quiet.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1076

I just don't think that many of us were paying attention to the financial aspect of their involvement while Bush handed Negroponte a blank cheque . . .

[EFerrari]

1. From Dennis's letter to SEC:

"If the SEC did indeed begin an inquiry in 2006 and was called off by another agency, our subcommittee will demand that the SEC reveal the name of that agency which told it not to enforce federal laws which protect investors," said Chairman Kucinich.

Negroponte was granted authority over wavers in May 2006; the inquiry was "called off" around October.

[Zhade]

2. Excellent post!

K/R

[EFerrari]

6. I hope someone that's better than me at running down money takes a look. n/t

[originalpckelly]

3. This is what happens when we let the rat bastards pardon themselves.

And get away. We must bring this shit to an end.

I think we the people may have to establish a non-profit private detective agency in order to more fully investigate the corruption of the US Government.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

114. These people are trying to get Attorney Generals to investigate:

Check out this page:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5121644&mesg_id=5121644
You can help by contacting your Attorney General, State or County, and asking for prosecution of the criminals.
ADW

[EFerrari]

4. The Stanford Group services in Latin America

The companies that are part of the Stanford Financial Group which are located in Latin America cover most of the spectrum of the financial industry, providing its clients in the region with a comprehensive breadth of private wealth management and investment services.

Services provided range from brokerage, financial planning and international investment services to commercial banking and fiduciary services.


http://www.stanfordfinancial.com/latin_america

They were just about everywhere but esp in Mexico and Venezuela and of course, in Antigua. :shrug:

[originalpckelly]

8. Have you been following my threads on this?

I think I've uncovered a whole rats nest of illegal shit, and more importantly bribery of American politicians.

I've been linking people in the Virgin Islands to certain politicians on the Way and Means Committee and Budget committee, these committees have jurisdiction over tax regulations. Well, it so happens that the VI offer massive business tax breaks for people who move their businesses down there.

I think they're are bribing the pols to keep the tax breaks flowing.

[EFerrari]

11. I have a mental block against financial transactions.

So, I'm afraid I haven't. Could I get a link to one of them? Thanks, Kelly.

[originalpckelly]

33. Yeah, here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5108873

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5102871

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5101662&mesg_id=5101662

Today I took a break after three days straight of looking through donations, trying to link people by this pattern I found that I believe indicates a fundraiser. When two people donate to a pols campaign on the same day, and live in the same place, I have previously observed that this was due to a fundraiser. Even people who live in different places, and where donations are clustered on the same day, it usually means a fundraiser. I say this because although it would not be out of the ordinary for someone to receive two donations on the same day, it would be unusual to rake in thousands of dollars on the same day without that being a fundraiser. The donations that are likely to randomly occur on the same day are the kinds of donations that probably wouldn't be reported in the Federal Election Commissions donation database.

[EFerrari]

34. Thank you!

[catzies]

86. Thanks for relisting those. I missed your 3rd link the first time around.

You are doing an absolutely awesome job on all this. :patriot:

[starroute]

32. Can you make anything of this story?

It's in Spanish, and not easy to follow even in Google's translation -- but it involves money that was misappropriated in Nicaragua in 2000, and was laundered first through Hamilton Bank (whose own money-laundering ways caught up with in in 2002), then went to a bank in Panama, then to one in Paris, and finally to Stanford International in the Virgin Islands.

I googled around and found other Spanish-language newspapers covering the same story, but nothing in English. If you've been chasing this stuff around, though, maybe it will make more sense to you than it does to me.

Original: http://www.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2003/marzo/05/nacionales/nacionales-20030305-09.html

Translation: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2003/marzo/05/nacionales/nacionales-20030305-09.html&ei=UHugSdf_A6GbtwfRtP2KDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Great%2BLambert%2BInc.%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DjI0%26sa%3DG

Orlando Gil and Jorge Chavez Montealegre Somoza, former president and former vice president of the Nicaraguan Institute of Insurance and Reinsurance (INIS) during the administration of Arnoldo Alemán, falsified documents and concealed information from the institution, to appropriate two million dollars transferred to a bank in U.S. Virgin Islands, according to documents held by the press. . . .

Three months after they appeared mysterious funds in the account of Inis in Hamilton Bank, June 16, 2000, Chavez moved Montealegre and two million dollars from Hamilton Bank to Bank Metro, located in Panama, there were transferred to Banquet Nationale de Paris, and subsequently the bank in the Virgin Islands. . . .

According to the document, "it was found that on orders from Chavez and Gil Montealegre Somoza closed the account and these funds were transferred through management checks of the Paris National Bank to an account of Stanfort International Bank, located in Virgin Islands St John's, Antigua, in the name of a company called Great Lambert Trust.

[originalpckelly]

35. I'm following this story from the perspective of public records from the FEC...

and then researching the companies of people I've linked together as attending fundraisers at the same time. I've found that most of these companies are in the Virgin Islands to receive tax breaks and have a history of questionable dealings.

[blm]

109. thankyou for doing the legwork on this....

.

[conscious evolution]

72. Any of these names familar to you?

HEALTH SYSTEMS SOLUTIONS INC
Michael Levine
Stan Vashovsky
KATZ STEVEN
Breiner Michael
Bowles Kathryn
ELANDIA INTERNATIONAL INC
Pete R. Pizarro
TEMARES MELVIN LEWIS
JAMES M. DAVIS

They all seem to be dumping shares of Stanford and companies owned in part by Stanford

[originalpckelly]

75. Where did this information come from?

[conscious evolution]

84. SEC filings

http://idea.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-idea?company=Stanford+International+Bank&match=&CIK=&filenum=&State=&Country=&SIC=&owner=include&Find=Find+Companies&action=getcompany

SEC Forms 3,4 and 5 are for reporting change of ownership.

[originalpckelly]

76. Health Systems Solutions Inc. Michael Levine has donated to Mark Warner...

and he donated to John McCain while as an executive of IDT, though they have different employer IDs, he registered with same name, same address.

Here is donation to Mark Warner:
http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?28020572816

Here is donation to John McCain:
http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?27990298281

You have to look for his name, it one of three of the donations listed in each of those pages. I'm sorry that it's not possible to link specifically to his individual donation by itself, but that's not how the records are organized.

[conscious evolution]

99. More names

Richard M Gozia

Richard Allen Oleksyk

Michael S. Hedge

J. Max Waits

FOREFRONT HOLDINGS, INC
DATREK MILLER INTERNATIONAL, INC
GREENHOLD GROUP INC

[Name removed]

92. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[epheidner]

130. Useful Hamilton

The Hamilton Bank failure in Florida is interesting for several reasons.
1) The lawyer that defended the 3 convicted managers of the Hamilton bank was nearly disbarred for an attempted cover-up. That lawyer was is Allen Stanford's personal lawyer and was recommended by Stanford to help write the money-laundering rules for Antigua.
2) The Hamilton bank failed for illegal loan deals with Russian banks, which the Stanford's lawyer helped to orchestrate.One of the Russian Banks was Gazprom, controlled by Khordorkovsky (a documented front man for the Rothschilds and Bush interests; another was a small Moscow bank whose CEO previous KGB agent).
3) The manager of the Hamilton bank, before moving to Miami, ran a bank in Panama for the Bush front man Lewis Galindo, and was a bank widely known to be laundering drug cartel money. He fled Panama during the US invasion and moved to Miami. No doubt that Stanford is linked in with some fairly well connected intelligence types. I have this all documented with public source materials if you need them. (contact [e-mail])

[malaise]

55. When the Venezuelans raided Stanford late last year

the charge was espionage. They claimed that Stanford staff was being paid by the CIA in Peru.
This is a good link
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2009/02/pirates-of-caribbean-stanford-drugs-and.html

[originalpckelly]

77. Oh wow! I am Sirprised yet again...NOT!

:P

We're going to find the tentacles of this scam wrapped around the neck of the American political establishment.

[EFerrari]

95. I'd completely forgotten that was Stanford.

Thank you for the link.

[malaise]

105. Anytime

:hi:

[blm]

126. Not your fault - it's not like corpmedia cared to discuss it as a topic.

.

[leftstreet]

5. K&R

[Earth_First]

7. We're going to have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission!!!

The TRC will make my 401(k) forget all it's troubles... :eyes:

[EFerrari]

18. And Lee Hamilton can be one of the co-chairs!

[omega minimo]

21. and then we'll know who killed Chandra Levy

:crazy:

How does the gang keep recycling themselves and get away with THAT?

[Baikonour]

9. We'll never know just how deep the rabbit hole goes. nt

[blm]

60. We will IF the books on BCCI are opened and a Dem president ALLOWS ACCESS and cooperation this time.

Imagine if Bill Clinton had sided with accountability instead of with the secrecy and privilege of Poppy Bush and his cronies back when they were at their most vulnerable.

Imagine NO Bush2. NO 9-11. NO Iraq war. A citizenry fully cognizant of illegal banking on a global scale.

[seemslikeadream]

10. What happens when unresolved scandals take a back seat to a domestic agenda?

What happens when unresolved scandals take a back seat to a domestic agenda?


http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

My book, Secrecy & Privilege, opens with a scene in spring 1994 when a guest at a White House social event asks Bill Clinton why his administration didn’t pursue unresolved scandals from the Reagan-Bush era, such as the Iraqgate secret support for Saddam Hussein’s government and clandestine arms shipments to Iran.

Clinton responds to the questions from the guest, documentary filmmaker Stuart Sender, by saying, in effect, that those historical questions had to take a back seat to Clinton’s domestic agenda and his desire for greater bipartisanship with the Republicans.

Clinton “didn’t feel that it was a good idea to pursue these investigations because he was going to have to work with these people,” Sender told me in an interview. “He was going to try to work with these guys, compromise, build working relationships.”

Clinton’s relatively low regard for the value of truth and accountability is relevant again today because other centrist Democrats are urging their party to give George W. Bush’s administration a similar pass if the Democrats win one or both houses of Congress.

Reporting about a booklet issued by the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank of the Democratic Leadership Council, the Washington Post wrote, “these centrist Democrats … warned against calls to launch investigations into past administration decisions if Democrats gain control of the House or Senate in the November elections.”

[blm]

87. Deserves to be posted every day at Dem forums, so Obama WH doesn't make same TRAGIC errors

in judgement that Clinton made when he sided with protecting the secrecy and privilege of Poppy Bush and the powerful elite.

[Zhade]

12. THIS IS IMPORTANT, PEOPLE.

Don't let it fall!

[seemslikeadream]

13. Hamilton said that he did not think it would have been 'good for the country'

http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/hamiltoniran-contra.htm

"......former Congressman Lee Hamilton, chairman of the House select committee investigating the Iran-contra affair, was shown ample evidence against Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, but he did not probe their wrongdoing. Why did Hamilton choose not to investigate? In a late 1980s interview aired on PBS 'Frontline,' Hamilton said that he did not think it would have been 'good for the country' to put the public through another impeachment trial. In Lee Hamilton's view, it was better to keep the public in the dark than to bring to light another Watergate, with all the implied ramifications. When Hamilton was chairman of the House committee investigating Iran-contra, he took the word of senior Reagan administration officials when they claimed Bush and Reagan were 'out of the loop.' Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh and White House records later proved that Reagan and Bush had been very much in the loop. If Hamilton had looked into the matter instead of accepting the Reagan administration's word, the congressional investigation would have shown the public the truth. Hamilton later said he should not have believed the Reagan officials. However, today, George W. Bush is considering appointing Hamilton UN ambassador."

[EFerrari]

14. What a corrupt bastard Lee Hamilton is.

I bet there are maggots in his ears.

[Baby Snooks]

68. But did Reagan really know?

Comments he made to people, particularly about Oliver North, led many to believe he knew very little about it. Either he was left in the dark or simply lied to. Not that the Bushes ever lie to anyone.

[blm]

70. I think Bush's dirty dealings is the main cause for Reagans' loathing of Bushes to this day.

Too bad Ronnie couldn't get a grip on what was happening under his nose and ended up a hapless bystander to the illegal operations - - strong leader, my ass.

[RaleighNCDUer]

96. He was dealing with Alzheimers from his second year in office -

it was Bush that was running things. Reagan, like his pal Charlton Heston with the NRA, was just a popular spokesman who knew how to deliver his lines. He was beyond any real comprehension of what the ramifications of his words were.

[bleever]

15. To the top of the Greatest page!

Zounds! Verily this post doth rock!

[EFerrari]

16. Is there a PDF genius around? I want to look at Madoff's client list

and figure out the distribution of their "locations". Anyone know how that can be done? For example, if I want to find out how many have Florida addresses or NYC addresses?

[Stephanie]

39. Beth, I looked at the file and it's text based - you can copy it out

Just select all, copy and paste to Word. The problem is it doesn't paste as a chart, so you can't sort unless you want to go through the whole thing, put in the tabs, and convert to table. But even if you don't do that it is searchable.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/madoffclientlist020409.pdf

[EFerrari]

40. Thanks, Steph. n/t

[Stephanie]

44. I converted it to a two column table sortable by zip code

It's crude but it will get you started. Emailing you at Yahoo?

[EFerrari]

50. Thanks so much.

:hi:

[Stephanie]

78. I sent it to you as a text file.

It needs a little more work.

[Stephanie]

48. It's a huge file, I'm having trouble emailing it

I can send it to you sometime during the week, but if you are reassonably comfortable with Word I can tell you how to do it yourself.

First go to the PDF and hit Control+A to select all the text, then Control+C to copy it. Paste it into your Word document. Then you need to do a find and replace to insert the tabs. For the find, in your searchbox put a Space (hit the spacebar) followed by five Digits (go into Special and select "Any Digit" five times - you are searching for the zip codes) followed by Space then Paragraph Mark (also under Special). So your search string will look like this:<first a space, then> ^#^#^#^#^# ^p>

In the Replace box you want Tab followed by Find What Text followed by Paragraph Mark (all under the Special tab). So your replace string looks like this: ^t^&^p

Run your Find and Replace. You should get a tab before each zip code. If you get double paragraph marks run another find and replace, to turn two paragraph marks into one paragraph mark. You might have to check to see if there are spaces in between the paragraph marks and include that in your search.

Now Select All, under the Table tab select Convert Text to Table, select Tabs so it gives you two columns. The file is extremely large so you may have to do this in sections. After each section, resize the columns so each section will be identically sized.

Once you have all the text in a table, add a Header row so you can sort. And that's it. Even when I resized it to 2 pt font to shrink the file it was still 184 pages, so I was having trouble uploading it to email. I can try it on the PC tomorrow if you can't make it work. This gives you a crude table sortable by zip code. It's a start.

[blm]

79. A few of us believe Madoff smells alot like Marc Rich....another operative working within the

finance industry, but......for what overarching purpose?

Ditto for Stanford.

[EFerrari]

102. They seem part of the alphabet soup to me. DEA? CIA? One of those.

Chavez raided Stanford last year on suspicion of spying for a station chief out of Peru. Of course, he was called paranoid at the time.

[blm]

106. BFEE loyalists within agencies like the CIA and DEA.

I think that is why agents loyal to the country were trying to counter them in 2002-3, and why Bush sent Goss in to purge the agency of any agent suspected of supporting Kerry and/or leaking information about the cooked intel books within weeks of the 2004 election. Another story buried by the corporate newsmedia.

[madokie]

17. death squad negroponte should still be incarcerated,

[EFerrari]

19. Instead, he facilitated Stanford and gawd knows who else.

:shrug:

[madokie]

29. Some of the shit he was doing in south america during reagans rein

should have been enough to lock him up for ever and then some.

[EFerrari]

31. But, we had to "move on".

:shrug:

[madokie]

41. Oh I remember that

tooo many times actually. this is why we have to stay on our congress critters this time no matter what it takes and or how long. If we do not prosecute some of these war criminals they we are really living a lie. I'm not ready to call it quits just yet, I'm only now starting to have grandchildren. I want for them to have a better world.

[omega minimo]

20. It's not April Fool's yet, IS IT

:freak: OMG

[EFerrari]

22. Bush gave the Iran Contra arm of the cabal a free pass to launder money.

Is that right?!

[omega minimo]

23. Stop reminding me

after trying so hard to quit badgering DU to splain how they fell for Raygun and how the Boomers went to sleep (the youngsters get a bit of a pass, but then they show up with squirrelly versions of "history" they learnt in acadeemia) and quit being pist that EVERYONE WHO WENT ALONG WITH REAGANISM created the fucked up future we live in now............. as if it HAD to get THIS bad to WAKE PEOPLE UP........

stop reminding me that the real pisser, the real unexplainable, inexcusable thing:

ALL THIS IS ALWAYS DONE RIGHT IN FRONT OF PEOPLE'S FACES.

It doesn't take a :tinfoilhat: if people would open their damn eyes.

:rant: :loveya:

[EFerrari]

26. The ex Minister of Defense for El Salvador was just picked up.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3752558

He would have been the guy that cooperated with Death Squads and the rest of the gang (eta) during the Dirty Wars in Central America. Torture, massacres, whatEVER.

Looks like they picked him up more to keep him under control than anything else because some of his/their victims just got a judgment and it would be inconvenient for him to go off the rez and rat out CIA, DEA, Reagan and ? :shrug:

It is right there in front of our faces and that's why Paul Thompson at The History Commons is a genius. He figured that out and that's how he's putting the Commons together -- out of the material right in front of us. :hi:

[omega minimo]

28. well thank you,

i feel better..........
:thumbsup:

[readmoreoften]

24. K&R for Gary Webb

RIP

[EFerrari]

30. I know they killed Gary Webb.

One of my professors used to go into "refugee camps" where the Miskitus were more or less imprisoned in Honduras with photographs. She was looking for Miskitu families that were told to evacuate because the Sandinistas were coming to kill them. Once they got to Honduras, they were prisoners.

They were also told that their family members, conscripted by the Contras, were dead, killed by the Sandinistas. So, she set out to find these families and show them their family members were alive and that it was okay to go home.

If these bastards could do that, they could do anything. What's killing one guy when you've killed a whole people.

[blm]

80. Yep - Gary Webb. How was he AND his information treated by the WH in 1996?

.

[Chemical Bill]

25. All of it.

While "Iran-Contra" (a misnomer as there is no proof that money from sale of arms to Iran bought arms for the contras, more likely drug money bought arms for both) was a continuation of the JFK assassination, which was a natural result of US businessmen (Prescott Bush, Watson from IBM, etc.) making money by arming Hitler. You can go back pretty far with this. There have always been people who try to rule the world. I love the apologists who say that J. P. Morgan probably didn't know that the Union rifles bought (as scrap) with his money and sold back to the Union army (as new) were defective.

Bill

[EFerrari]

27. I agree. And only use "Iran Contra" to make the question

sort of manageable.

My family is from El Salvador and everyone there knows a few families run everything and always have. We don't know that here.

[EFerrari]

36. seafan has a related thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5119012

[omega minimo]

37. speaking of perception management

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5107140

[tom_paine]

38. All of it. We surrendered our country to the Bushies when we let them get away with High Treason.

It was then that they knew they could get away with ANYTHING.

The last 8 years have borne them out fully. And the next time they see fit to seize power, probably in 4 years,will be either the Penultimate or Final Solution to the Liberal Problem.

[slipslidingaway]

42. Thanks K&R n/t

[Octafish]

43. Money to gain Power. Power to protect Money. Repeat...

Thanks for connecting the dots, EFerrari. They are not mere scoundrels, these corrupt officials, they are traitors.

Know your BFEE: Goldmine Sacked or the Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

Know your BFEE: The Corrupt Bastards Club… with Lipstick

I hope President Obama and AG Holder put these turds away and recover the loot. It's our children's and our children's children's future.

[EFerrari]

118. Thank you for stopping by, Octafish!

:yourock:

[hay rick]

45. Negroponte approving SEC waivers?

Learn something everyday. I was happier before I read this post. Thanks anyway.

[scarletwoman]

46. k&r -- I was trying to add a post to this thread about Danny Casolaro and the Octopus, but

my computer froze up while I was trying to get a link to work, and it's just too far past my bedtime to start over.

Thanks for your very important OP, I'll come back tomorrow and kick it again.

Good Night,
sw

[nolabels]

59. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter also proclaimed they would tough and strong reformers!

Somehow i think i have seen this movie too :shrug:

I've Seen That Movie Too

can see by your eyes you must be lying
When you think I don't have a clue
Baby you're crazy
If you think that you can fool me
Because I've seen that movie too

The one where the players are acting surprised
Saying love's just a four letter word
Between forcing smiles, with the knives in their eyes
Well their actions become so absurd

So keep your auditions for somebody
Who hasn't got so much to lose
`Cause you can tell by the lines I'm reciting
That I've seen that movie too

It's a habit I have, I don't get pushed around
Stop twinkling your star like you do
I'm not the blue print for all of your B films
Because I've seen that movie too
(snip)
http://www.eltonography.com/songs/ive_seen_that_movie_too.html

That was such a sloppy job they did on Danny Casolaro. I remember just a few days earlier listening to him on the radio, pretty sure he was not suicidal then or ever :shrug:

[leftofthedial]

47. cause? about 99%

effect? about 10%



but that 10% will be all that's left soon, and guess whose safe it will be in?

[bobthedrummer]

49. And that's what NO REAL PROSECUTION brought US...and the world eom

[L. Coyote]

51. They call it "The Enterprise"

[Solly Mack]

52. K&R

[H2O Man]

53. Nominated.

Thank you.

[malaise]

54. Excellent post

The criminals have been in charge for some time. They used the phrase 'national security to destroy individual lives, developing countries and our planet while they pushed drugs, guns and ponzi schemes.
Of course they have all amassed unbelievable wealth.

They should have been stopped years ago. Will they be stopped now?

[blm]

129. 'national security' is also the excuse some Dems hid behind as they continued to PROTECT BushInc

and all involved in their filthy deals. And some powerful Dems STILL do.

[scarletwoman]

56. morning kick (nt)

[conscious evolution]

57. IranContra Continued No

BFEE Continued is more apt a term to describe what is going on.
IC was just one chapter in a much larger story.

[blm]

61. IranContra was one aspect of BCCI - which also revealed Iraqgate, dirty S&Ls, and CIA drugrunning.

Open the books on BCCI and re-examine the list of characters and nearly every one pops up in the tragic events of 9-11, this Iraq war, the WalMartization of this country, and global banking chaos.

[conscious evolution]

63. The cast of charactors is the same,no doubt.

I wonder what other crimes they have committed that completely slipped under the radar.What we know about,i fear,is just the tip of the iceberg.

[blm]

64. Kerry would have opened the books on BCCI if he was in the WH - the powerful elite in DC knew that

and worked against him - including some powerful and wellknown Dems whose legacies would have suffered along with Bushes.

[conscious evolution]

65. Do you think there is

a possibility that hedge funds were the result of the exposure of BCCI as a criminal enterprise?

[blm]

67. You need to read this entire thread and Octafish's journals - a crime wave that set the stage for

today's global financial crises. What happens when manipulative thugs involved in BCCI's many crimes got away with serious crimes including the funding of global terror networks? Of course they INCREASE their power without the scrutiny. That's what happened in the 90s. Almost every one of them came back WITH bigger muscles.

[blm]

90. This list of Outstanding Matters and request for further scrutiny given to incoming Clinton WH

should give you an idea of how deep it goes - and these were just the unanswered questions....the entire report is a horrifying look into the Global Fascist Agenda, an agenda that included the growth of global terrorism and the Walmartization of our world economy.


From the Dec 1992 BCCI Report handed to outgoing and incoming administrations....

Matters For Further Investigation

There have been a number of matters which the Subcommittee has received some information on, but has not been able to investigate adequately, due such factors as lack of resources, lack of time, documents being withheld by foreign governments, and limited evidentiary sources or witnesses. Some of the main areas which deserve further investigation include:


1. The extent of BCCI's involvement in Pakistan's nuclear program. As set forth in the chapter on BCCI in foreign countries, there is good reason to conclude that BCCI did finance Pakistan's nuclear program through the BCCI Foundation in Pakistan, as well as through BCCI-Canada in the Parvez case. However, details on BCCI's involvement remain unavailable. Further investigation is needed to understand the extent to which BCCI and Pakistan were able to evade U.S. and international nuclear non-proliferation regimes to acquire nuclear technologies.


2. BCCI's manipulation of commodities and securities markets in Europe and Canada. The Subcommittee has received information that remains not fully substantiated that BCCI defrauded investors, as well as some major U.S. and European financial firms, through manipulating commodities and securities markets, especially in Canada, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This alleged fraud requires further investigation in those countries.


3. BCCI's activities in India, including its relationship with the business empire of the Hinduja family. The Subcommittee has not had access to BCCI records regarding India. The substantial lending by BCCI to the Indian industrialist family, the Hindujas, reported in press accounts, deserves further scrutiny, as do the press reports concerning alleged kick-backs and bribes to Indian officials.


4. BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar, and other major arms dealers. Sarkenalian was a principal seller of arms to Iraq. Monzer Al-Kassar has been implicated in terrorist bombings in connection with terrorist organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Other arms dealers, including some who provided machine guns and trained Medellin cartel death squads, also used BCCI. Tracing their assets through the bank would likely lead to important information concerning international terrorist and arms trafficker networks.


5. The use of BCCI by central figures in arms sales to Iran during the 1980's. The late Cyrus Hashemi, a key figure in allegations concerning an alleged deal involving the return of U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980, banked at BCCI London. His records have been withheld from disclosure to the Subcommittee by a British judge. Their release might aid in reaching judgments concerning Hashemi's activities in 1980, with the CIA under President Carter and allegedly with William Casey.


6. BCCI's activities with the Central Bank of Syria and with the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London. BCCI was used by both the Syrian and Soviet governments in the period in which each was involved in supporting activities hostile to the United States. Obtaining the records of those financial transactions would be critical to understanding what the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, Chernenko, and Andropov was doing in the West; and might document the nature and extent of Syria's support for international terrorism.


7. BCCI's involvement with foreign intelligence agencies. A British source has told the Bank of England and British investigators that BCCI was used by numerous foreign intelligence agencies in the United Kingdom. The British intelligence service, the MI-5, has sealed documents from BCCI's records in the UK which could shed light on this allegation.


8. The financial dealings of BCCI directors with Charles Keating and several Keating affiliates and front-companies, including the possibility that BCCI related entities may have laundered funds for Keating to move them outside the United States. The Subcommittee found numerous connections among Keating and BCCI-related persons and entities, such as BCCI director Alfred Hartman; CenTrust chief David Paul and CenTrust itself; Capcom front-man Lawrence Romrell; BCCI shipping affiliate, the Gokal group and the Gokal family; and possibly Ghaith Pharaon. The ties between BCCI and Keating's financial empire require further investigation.


9. BCCI's financing of commodities and other business dealings of international criminal financier Marc Rich. Marc Rich remains the most important figure in the international commodities markets, and remains a fugitive from the United States following his indictment on securities fraud. BCCI lending to Rich in the 1980's amounted to tens of millions of dollars. Moreover, Rich's commodities firms were used by BCCI in connection with BCCI's involving in U.S. guarantee programs through the Department of Agriculture. The nature and extent of Rich's relationship with BCCI requires further investigation.


10. The nature, extent and meaning of the ownership of shares of other U.S. financial institutions by Middle Eastern political figures. Political figures and members of the ruling family of various Middle Eastern countries have very substantial investments in the United States, in some cases, owning substantial shares of major U.S. banks. Given BCCI's routine use of nominees from the Middle East, and the pervasive practice of using nominees within the Middle East, further investigation may be warranted of Middle Eastern ownership of domestic U.S. financial institutions.


11. The nature, extent, and meaning of real estate and financial investments in the United States by major shareholders of BCCI. BCCI's shareholders and front-men have made substantial investments in real estate throughout the United States, owning major office buildings in such key cities as New York and Washington, D.C. Given BCCI's pervasiveness criminality, and the role of these shareholders and front-men in the BCCI affair, a complete review of their holdings in the United States is warranted.


12. BCCI's collusion in Savings & Loan fraud in the U.S. The Subcommittee found ties between BCCI and two failed Savings and Loan institutions, CenTrust, which BCCI came to have a controlling interest in, and Caprock Savings and Loan in Texas, and as noted above, the involvement of BCCI figures with Charles Keating and his business empire. In each case, BCCI's involvement cost the U. S. taxpayers money. A comprehensive review of BCCI's account holders in the U.S. and globally might well reveal additional such cases. In addition, the issue of whether David Paul and CenTrust's political relationships were used by Paul on behalf of BCCI merits further investigation.


13. The sale of BCCI affiliate Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) in Geneva, to the Cukorova Group of Turkey, which owned an entity involved in the BNL Iraqi arms sales, among others. Given BNL's links to BCCI, and Cukorova Groups' involvement through its subsidiary, Entrade, with BNL in the sales to Iraq, the swift sale of BCP to Cukorova just weeks after BCCI's closure -- prior to due diligence being conducted -- raises questions as to whether a prior relationship existed between BCCI and Cukorova, and Cukorova's intentions in making the purchase. Within the past year, Cukorova also applied to purchase a New York bank. Cukorova's actions pertaining to BCP require further investigation in Switzerland by Swiss authorities, and by the Federal Reserve New York.


14. BCCI's role in China. As noted in the chapter on BCCI's activities in foreign countries, BCCI had extensive activity in China, and the Chinese government allegedly lost $500 million when BCCI closed, mostly from government accounts. While there have been allegations that bribes and pay-offs were involved, these allegations require further investigation and detail to determine what actually happened, and who was involved.


15. The relationship between Capcom and BCCI, between Capcom and the intelligence community, and between Capcom's shareholders and U.S. telecommunications industry figures. The Subcommittee was able to interview people and review documents concerning Capcom that no other investigators had to date interviewed or reviewed. Much more needs to be done to understand what Capcom was doing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Oman, and the Middle East, including whether the firm was, as has been alleged but not proven, used by the intelligence community to move funds for intelligence operations; and whether any person involved with Capcom was seeking secretly to acquire interests in the U.S. telecommunications industry.


16. The relationship of important BCCI figures and important intelligence figures to the collapse of the Hong Kong Deposit and Guaranty Bank and Tetra Finance (HK) in 1983. The circumstances surrounding the collpase of these two Hong Kong banks; the Hong Kong banks' practices of using nominees, front-companies, and back-to-back financial transactions; the Hong Banks' directors having included several important BCCI figures, including Ghanim Al Mazrui, and a close associate of then CIA director William Casey; all raise the question of whether there was a relationship between these two institutions and BCCI-Hong Kong, and whether the two Hong Kong institutions were used for domestic or foreign intelligence operations.


17. BCCI's activities in Atlanta and its acquisition of the National Bank of Georgia through First American. Although the Justice Department indictments of Clark Clifford and Robert Altman cover portions of how BCCI acquired National Bank of Georgia, other important allegations regarding the possible involvement of political figures in Georgia in BCCI's activities there remain outside the indictment. These allegations, as well as the underlying facts regarding BCCI's activities in Georgia, require further investigation.


18. The relationship between BCCI and the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. BCCI and the Atlanta Branch of BNL had an extensive relationship in the United States, with the Atlanta Branch of BNL having a substantial number of accounts in BCCI's Miami offices. BNL was, according to federal indictments, a significant financial conduit for weapons to Iraq. BCCI also made loans to Iraq, although of a substantially smaller nature. Given the criminality of both institutions, and their interlocking activities, further investigation of the relationship could produce further understanding of Saddam Hussein's international network for acquiring weapons, and how Iraq evaded governmental restrictions on such weapons acquisitions.


19. The alleged relationship between the late CIA director William Casey and BCCI. As set forth in the chapter on intelligence, numerous trails lead from BCCI to Casey, and from Casey to BCCI, and the investigation has been unable to follow any of them to the end to determine whether there was indeed a relationship, and if there was, its nature and extent. If any such relationship existed, it could have a significant impact on the findings and conclusions concerning the CIA and BCCI's role in U.S. foreign policy and intelligence operations during the Casey era. The investigation's work detailing the ties of BCCI to the intelligence community generally also remains far from complete, and much about these ties remains obscure and in need of further investigation.


20. Money laundering by other major international banks. Numerous BCCI officials told the Subcommittee that BCCI's money laundering was no different from activities they observed at other international banks, and provided the names of a number of prominent U.S. and European banks which they alleged engaged in money laundering. There is no question that BCCI's laundering of drug money, while pervading the institution, constituted a small component of the total money laundering taking place in international banking. Further investigation to determine which international banks are soliciting and handling drug money should be undertaken.

[conscious evolution]

93. The tentacles of the octopus

sure do reach into a lot of peoples pockets.
poppadoc bush was right when he said the American people would string them up if their crimes came to light.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

110. Cynthia McKinney was interested in going after the BCCI

That was one reason she had to be discredited.

[conscious evolution]

119. No doubt about that

She first attracted the wrath of the octopus in the early ninties when she went after the kaolin companies in Georgia.The lawsuit that resulted in the redrawing of her district was initiated, iirc,by a kaolin industry retiree doing his masters bidding.
I think that was when she realized she was up against a far larger foe then she had imagined.For her to make a political comeback after that episode was an extremely couragous act and my hats off to her for doing so.

[Soylent Brice]

58. excellent. and this is exactly why these people

should never go unchallenged. they're like a cancer that just keeps coming back.

K&R

[blm]

62. The continuing CRIME WAVE of BCCI.....The BFEE's Global Fascist Agenda aka New World Order.

.

[mod mom]

66. Clinton's failure to act on Iran-Contra allowed this mess to happen.

Of course Republicans are to blame as well, but we know just how much we can count on them for oversight, but when "one of our own" (I use this term VERY loosely) was in power, this scandal should have been fully exposed so it wouldn't happen again. Instead we got bu$h 2.0.

How it's PAST time to learn from our mistakes. We must not allow these snakes to slither back into the tall grass ready to strike again sometime in the future.

Thanks for this post Beth! rec'd.

[Baby Snooks]

69. Don't forget the "Flying Nuns"

The Catholic Church forgot them when Negroponte was appointed by Bush. Perhaps the Catholic Church took the position the nuns were merely testing their faith by seeing if they could fly.

Never mind they were pushed out of the helicopters. And it wouldn't surprise me if Negroponte pushed them out himself.

And Congress sits by and says nothing. Perhaps they are afraid someone will push them out of helicopters.

[defendandprotect]

71. Interesting to think about . . .

unfortunately, we're living thru this --

However, the minute after the coup on JFK - actually the coup on a "people's government"

things began to change rapidly including in financial world. I recall hearing not

long after that banks were being made offers of take overs by Mafia like figures.

And, let's be clear, there is little difference between these elites and Mafia.

It was also the beginning of takeovers and people being let go.


In rethinking some of our past elections like Nixon/Humphrey, I question now whether

Nixon won or whether this was another steaal. In the case of Carter, that's a mixed

bag -- however, I was shocked a while back to find that his hostage rescue missions

which failed because the helicopters didn't have a piece of equipment which keeps sand

out of the engines -- and this operation was in the desert -- were headed up by OLLIE NORTH!!!

And, Secord, if I recall correctly!!!

[JDPriestly]

100. And, let's be clear, there is little difference between these elites and Mafia.

These elites learned their game from the Mafia. They used law enforcement to weaken the Mafia and took the Mafia's place.

[EFerrari]

113. My mom has always called them "the legal Mafia". n/t

[defendandprotect]

124. "Gangster capitalism" . . .

was an expression I heard today on WBAI!

Yes, it's hard to tell them apart --

but the elite have always known who the criminals are and have hired them --

obviously tho a lack of conscience is required the elites don't always have

the talents for picking locks and blowing up cars -- not to mention bringing

down planes!!

[blm]

125. The Mafia at its peak could only DREAM it had the reach and the viciousness of the BFEE.

.

[bbgrunt]

73. k and r. "move on"???? That group needs a name change.

[formercia]

74. Same old Gang

Stanford was protected because he's a Knight of Malta, just like Bush, North, Negroponte, Casey and a whole lot of others.
They're all part of the same gang and it's been going on a lot longer than Iran Contra.

[EFerrari]

98. Joe Cannon points out that Stanford was investigated for drug connections

twenty years ago. And despite those suspicions, the US government allowed him to operate two airlines between Florida and the Caribbean.

Oh -- and last year when Chavez had him raided on suspicions of spying for CIA out of Peru, everyone called Chavez an attention whore. Yeah, right.

[formercia]

101. He was a valuable asset

They allow him to make a little on the side....:rofl:

[EFerrari]

103. Most people only get a watch and a plaque.

lol

[Hannah Bell]

115. There are also rumors of drug laundering re the Madoff biz.

[blm]

116. It looks like they're more than just rumors, Hannah. And, given BFEE's record of drugrunning

that spans decades now, I'd say Madoff and Stanford are operatives for BFEE and its illegal fascist operations just like Marc Rich was during BCCI.

[ck4829]

81. K&R

[Dennis Donovan]

82. Kicking and recommending...

This is a very important story.:thumbsup:

[Spazito]

83. Wow, riveting thread to read!

Recommended, HIGHLY recommended!

[catzies]

85. This issue has been haunting me since good DUers started digging

:patriot: All good Duers. Fighting the good fight since 2001.©

[blm]

89. unfortunately there are others here determined to smear those who make note of connections

about the BFEE's illegal operations....'conspiracy theory nut' is the most common dismissal of these matters.

I notice those folks are avoiding this thread, so far.

[formercia]

94. The evidence is overwhelming

and the obvious damage, even more so. Let them hide their faces in shame.

[blm]

97. They won't. They are loyal more to certain persons than to their own right to open government.

They feel no shame.

[EFerrari]

112. The government is just a tool for those people, not a democratic expression.

Thanks for adding so much to the thread!

[conscious evolution]

120. I knew something was missing!

One thing about this group is anyone here can hand an apologists/muckraker their ass back on a platter pretty damned quick.

[blm]

127. heh...they avoid corruption threads when they know their heroes' names will pop up.

.

[AzDar]

88. K & R

:kick:

[Wetzelbill]

91. Watergate, S&L/Iran Contra/BCCI and now

They are all interconnected. Lots of the same players, same mindset, same ideology etc. You could even throw the Gingrich Revolution in there, but that's not necessarily a scandal in the manner of the others and it's also just a component of Movement Conservatism, which all of these players have an affiliation with.

[robertpaulsen]

104. Recommended!

Great connect the dots thread. Not sure if I have much to add other than my approval of your research!

[truedelphi]

107. May I add several points to the discussion

And Thank you, Ferrari, for posting this. I have K & R'ed.

The Clinton Administration backed off its investigation into the major Mexican drug cartels, when threats came about that would have imperiled US agents working in Mexico. (Please I am not trying to castigate the Dems - just to show what powers exist, when you have a nation beneath our border whose entire economy is from drug money and money sent back to it from within our borders.) The Clinton's at least tried to investigate Mexican drug cartels - something that the Bushies never "bothered" doing. (Where would said money streams have lead, Mr George W? WOuld there have been implications to your brother Jeb or to your father George Sr? Or possibly to both?)

On edit: Don't forget that the big drug cartels "clean"up one member of their family and then use that individual to BUY OUTRIGHT banks on both sides of the border, thus ensuring that the drug cartel controls a viable way to launder money.

Why do you think it is so important for the RW to control the discussion of money, banks, finances and etc.? While little low income people and the middle class are hauled into court for the "crimes" of planting medical marijuana in their backyards, the Big Time Players have entire buildings working 24/7 "laundering" the profits of the Big Boys Operations.

Hey, You in the American Public - ignore the man behind the curtain. Do NOT focus on him. He is not a part of the story, just becuase his hands are dripping with the blood of the small time Latino Farm worker and the blood of the honest police force (While all the others in office are corrupted, including so many of the police)

American Public: Do not focus on how much laundered money enters strange and fabulous business propositions and business schemes. And how much drug money props up the banks, from the Mid Eighties till now, until the wrong "bets," er investments were made and the whole House of Cards came falling apart.

I have heard rumors on RW sites that one reason that Elliott Spitzer was introduced to the Washington DC house of pleasure (frequented by Dick Cheney and other Bushies) is that it was important that the Establishment sully this man, so that he could not release what he was finding out about Madoff back in Spring of 2008.

Yes, right before he was about to pull the plug on Madoff, according to these rumors, Spitzer was outed as a money wasting, prostitute using He-Demon. And Madoff's schemes thus stayed under the radar until after the 2008 election. Don't forget, Spitzer was perhaps the only big time politician to take on the likes of Monsanto.

Leave Spitzer in Power, and you would have had the truth about genetically modified organisms reaching Obama. Eliminate him, and the seed ship known as Monsanto can sail on into the future, spewing its dark seeds forth towards the Fourth Horse of the Apocalypse, Famine...

[EFerrari]

108. Excellent point. They had to get Spitzer somehow and they did.

At least they didn't kill him. I guess we should be grateful for that.

[seafan]

111. Excellent thread, thanks. Mind-boggling connections. n/t

[bleever]

117. If Obama were to read just one DU thread, this might be the one.

Great contributions from lots of people.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Duende azul]

121. I finally did it. Rec´d a thread of yours without having read it before.

Hope that´s not against DU rules ;-)
But I feel pretty safe given the subject and your posting history.
Thanks for all your outstanding posts!

Now off to read.

[EFerrari]

122. Hey, Duende! This is a good thread because like Stone Soup

there were many fine contributions! DU strikes again!

:hi:

[chill_wind]

123. Excellent thread. Moving on without prosecutions

has been the proven blueprint for perpetual corruption, betrayal and increasingly malignant abuse of power and influence. Our eroded democracy can't afford one more chapter.

K & R.

[blm]

128. and now Stanford has OLLIE NORTH'S lawyer representing him? Heh - one CONTINUOUS CRIME WAVE

from BushInc. There other fixer on IranContra matters (like for operative Marc Rich), Scooter Libby, was unavailable.