Bitcoin Forum

Bankers, gangsters, is there a difference?

Thus, anyone complaining of BTC money laundering should first compile a few trillion dollars' worth of solid evidence or else stfu.

HSBC, the British banking giant, will pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering probe by federal and state authorities in the United States, a law enforcement official said Monday.

source (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g8pWBWM-__xZiKLNJdCo-evrvm4w?docId=f4c9570869cd48a5b034b457c9f12708)

Bankers, gangsters, is there a difference?

If you've ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you've ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or "drug paraphernalia" in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me.

Breuer this week signed off on a settlement deal with the British banking giant HSBC that is the ultimate insult to every ordinary person who's ever had his life altered by a narcotics charge. Despite the fact that HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels (among others) and violating a host of important banking laws (from the Bank Secrecy Act to the Trading With the Enemy Act), Breuer and his Justice Department elected not to pursue criminal prosecutions of the bank, opting instead for a "record" financial settlement of $1.9 billion, which as one analyst noted is about five weeks of income for the bank.

The banks' laundering transactions were so brazen that the NSA probably could have spotted them from space. Breuer admitted that drug dealers would sometimes come to HSBC's Mexican branches and "deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, in a single day, into a single account, using boxes designed to fit the precise dimensions of the teller windows."

This bears repeating: in order to more efficiently move as much illegal money as possible into the "legitimate" banking institution HSBC, drug dealers specifically designed boxes to fit through the bank's teller windows. Tony Montana's henchmen marching dufflebags of cash into the fictional "American City Bank" in Miami was actually more subtle than what the cartels were doing when they washed their cash through one of Britain's most storied financial institutions.



Though this was not stated explicitly, the government's rationale in not pursuing criminal prosecutions against the bank was apparently rooted in concerns that putting executives from a "systemically important institution" in jail for drug laundering would threaten the stability of the financial system. 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.

Too much negativity associated with bitcoin, at least from my perspective.  For all we know, the blocks we solve could come from a bad source or help 'negative' computations.

Weird...

Too much negativity associated with bitcoin, at least from my perspective.  For all we know, the blocks we solve could come from a bad source or help 'negative' computations.

Weird...

The largest banks have become too big to prosecute because of the impact criminal charges would have on confidence in them, Britain’s most senior bank regulator has admitted.

And not one bankster has gone to prison.

“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.”

Translation: "We are profoundly sorry; for having been caught".

"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."

Translation:  "Keep it up.  There will be no repercussions".

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-12/hsbc-mexican-branches-said-to-be-traffickers-favorites.html

Saying that isn't really a logical argument on bitcoin being used to launder money. You are basically saying, well they also launder money which doesn't change the fact that btc can be used to clean dirty fiat. But any medium of exchange can be used to launder funds.

Don't get me wrong, not saying it should negatively affect bitcoin as currency but argument wouldn't fly on anyone with a brain

Dude with a hat goes up to other dude with a hat.
"Dude! You're under arrest!"
"Why ?"
"You're wearing a hat!"
"Get bent."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDO6HV6xTmI  ;)

Bankers, gangsters, is there a difference?

And on the BBC today - UBS now fined $1.5B.
Wow. How much have banks paid in fines this week?
Almost $4 B... I'd say it's getting kind of expensive to be a Bankster but we all know this just means they raise fees and beg the govt for more funny money.