DOJ Rolls Over and Wets on Itself

This HSBC thing has my gut in knots. I'm serious. It has literally made me consider retiring from WSO, not because any of you had anything to do with it, but because I'm so nauseated by the level of corruption in finance today and the utter impotence on the part of anyone in authority to apply anything resembling the rule of law against those clearly guilty of heinous financial crimes. From the feckless shitheels in the DOJ to the remorseless turds in the boardrooms all over midtown and The City, I'm starting to think I've just had enough of it. Watch this if you want to see where justice goes to die:

 

With all due respect (not at you Eddy but just in general), if you haven't done something somewhat questionable in your career and got away with it you will be stuck in life and people will shit on you. There are so many 'goody naïve' types out there, they just think money grows on trees.

 
karypto:
With all due respect (not at you Eddy but just in general), if you haven't done something somewhat questionable in your career and got away with it you will be stuck in life and people will shit on you. There are so many 'goody naïve' types out there, they just think money grows on trees.

Wow, really? So, if you're not unethical during the course of your career, you're not going to move up and people are going to try and screw you? What world do you live in? I suppose you're one of those "jaded naive" types who everyone hates, and blames their failures on absurdities like, "I haven't been making enough questionable career choices".

I really hope you're trolling because this is possibly the worst and stupidest post I've ever read on WSO.

"My caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested."
 
karypto:
if you haven't done something somewhat questionable in your career and got away with it you will be stuck in life and people will shit on you. There are so many 'goody naïve' types out there, they just think money grows on trees.

You've got to be kidding me. There's a pretty big difference between asserting yourself and laundering money for the cartels. What HSBC did is pretty cut and dry wrong.

 
karypto:
With all due respect (not at you Eddy but just in general), if you haven't done something somewhat questionable in your career and got away with it you will be stuck in life and people will shit on you. There are so many 'goody naïve' types out there, they just think money grows on trees.

Watch out guys, we've got a badass over here...

I don't know about you but I've never laundered drug money or bribed government officials. You're the naive one if you think they're necessary things to do to advance a career.

 

The government pissing and moaning about someone else cheating? This is hilarious. Can't expect justice from an unjust system.

You want to end corruption, theft and disregard of law by the government? Make it smaller and less powerful.

 
TNA:
The government pissing and moaning about someone else cheating? This is hilarious. Can't expect justice from an unjust system.

You want to end corruption, theft and disregard of law by the government? Make it smaller and less powerful.

+1. Amen.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
TNA:
The government pissing and moaning about someone else cheating? This is hilarious. Can't expect justice from an unjust system.

You want to end corruption, theft and disregard of law by the government? Make it smaller and less powerful.

We're actually looking to end corruption, theft and disregard of the law by HSBC and other financial institutions

 

Taibbi does yeoman's work on this stuff. Simply unreal. 99% of the media is completely useless on the topic.

The HSBC thing is so beyond belief insane. Laundering that kind of money for those kinds of folks is madness and so blatantly criminal. Nothing makes sense anymore.

 

I hope one day the government wakes up and realizes it is trying to fight a war that it created. You wouldn't need to launder money if there wasn't a "war" on drugs. And you wouldn't have a war on drugs if you didn't have an ever growing nanny state.

You fine banks and punish them in non criminal ways because there isn't one person to blame. HSBC is not too big to fail and has jack balls sway in the US. The US government has imprisoned a bunch of executives and financial players. This idea that banks have immunity is simply populace fodder.

Who at HSBC is going to go to jail for this? The CEO? The CFO? Money Laundering starts at the bank branch level and moves up. Banks have all kinds of systems in place to catch these things, but shit happens. So we will fine the fuck out of HSBC, use those fines to support US Government sanctioned criminality and so the world continues to spin.

This entire society is criminal and unjust. Banks fuck people over. People read the law and fuck banks over. Corporations get graft from the government. People get graft from the government. We borrow money from other countries and debase our currency when we repay them. We unlawfully invade other countries. We kill our own citizens. We tax others because they have more than the voting block that authorizes these taxes. On and on and on.

If you think we are living in some just work you aren't paying attention.

Now does this provide justification to break the law? No. I am not advocating that. I am simply dispassionate when people make an economic decision on the benefits of ignoring a law and then have to suffer the consequences. Does HSBC ignoring money laundering laws piss me off? About as much as people who jay walk.

 

Karypto, I didn't know laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for drug cartels and other organized crime groups was a 'questionable' decision. HSBC might as well fund Al Qaeda while they're at it

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win” - Sun Tzu
 

TNA, I'm not sure you've really read into this. This isn't nearly as nebulous as you make it out to be. Your insinuation that we should basically just accept this because the world is unjust is the exact reason why this shit continues to happen.

Also, if this were a case of welfare fraud or something related to that, there is no way in hell you'd be so non-chalant about it.

C'mon man!

 
TheKing:
TNA, I'm not sure you've really read into this. This isn't nearly as nebulous as you make it out to be. Your insinuation that we should basically just accept this because the world is unjust is the exact reason why this shit continues to happen.

Also, if this were a case of welfare fraud or something related to that, there is no way in hell you'd be so non-chalant about it.

C'mon man!

WSO is buggy today as my retort was never posted. Regardless, HSBC screwed up and is paying the price. They didn't get away with this. A $1.9B fine is substantial.

HSBC's Mexican unit screwed up and the US unit was understaffed. Life moves on. I don't know who besides local branch managers and Mexican bankers would be arrested for this.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/outrageous-hsbc-set…

It makes me sick to gaze up this trash publication, but I will do so for the sake of argument.

"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."

See, this is the trouble with money laundering. It has to be stopped at the local level. Since Mexico is a third world country, it wasn't. This would have been red flagged as SAR'd right away in the USA. Once it is deposited the bank relies on internal systems, reports and supervision to detect it, which is pretty hard. Add to that the US Division is being parred back and understaffed. Mistakes happen.

"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."

Who is going to be arrested for this? The DOJ is going to only go after upper level management which has nothing to do with money laundering detection. Also, this occurred in Mexico with a UK bank. Which jurisdiction will be involved. All a criminal investigation would do is destroy the bank and lead to a bank manager in Tijuana getting arrested.

Bank executives had nothing to do with this, but the sheeple demand blood from anyone with a suit. Nothing but populace trash.

The war on drugs is the real enemy and it has failed. The reason why it continues is because it is essentially slavery and reason to have a massive, military based police force.

Do I care? No. Drugs are legal for me (I don't do them anyway). If you are educated and have some money you wont go to jail. So poor, inner city minorities and/or white trash go to jail. Essentially disenfranchising them and economically neutering them. Add that to the list of things I care about, slightly below my toast being over browned and not being able to get OJ with extra pulp.

HSBC broke the criminal laws of a criminal government. Kind of like someone screwing North Korean tax collectors. Assholes fucking assholes. I have no doubt that $1.9B will go to some nefarious government program or something which infringes on our basic freedoms. Yippie.

 
TheKing:
TNA, I'm not sure you've really read into this. This isn't nearly as nebulous as you make it out to be. Your insinuation that we should basically just accept this because the world is unjust is the exact reason why this shit continues to happen.

Also, if this were a case of welfare fraud or something related to that, there is no way in hell you'd be so non-chalant about it.

C'mon man!

There is welfare faud everyday, no one cares about it and no one is going to jail over it.

Do people really take seriously a guy who, in an article ostensibly intended as a serious political commentary, called Paul Ryan "a self-righteously anal, thin-lipped, Whitest Kids U Know penny pincher who’d be honored to tell Oliver Twist there’s no more soup left"?

Taibbi has an obvious agenda (not saying that there's anyone in journalism without one), and he obviously has very little understanding of the topics that he writes about. Even my friends who enjoy the policital commentary in Rolling Stone regard Taibbi as a nutcase.

Like TNA says, there really isn't anyone in particular to blame for the HSBC mess, save for a few local bank officials, whose prosecution would only drive Taibbi even closer to insanity. Are we really supposed to believe that the ELT at HSBC was being bothered with the big-data suspicious transactions logs from a small Mexican bank that they acquired? Much less that they committed a criminal injustice by not detecting the laundering (which is obviously outside of their core competencies)?

The real injustice here is that the federal government presses so hard against drugs that money laundering is necessary, and then they fine banks billions for not picking up their mess. Newsflash: there is a multi-billion dollar market for illegal drugs in the United States. That money doesn't just disappear.

Logic informs us that money laundering is happening, and this is a fact of which we are all well aware. Far from being unconscionable, we willfully ignore this fact everyday, until it suits our particular political agenda because, SHOCK, a bank was implicated this time. The only difference in this case is that the laundering was obvious, and should have been detected by the regional bank branches quite easily. As for the billions of other dollars that are laundered every day - well apparently that's not a scandal.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
NorthSider:
TheKing:
TNA, I'm not sure you've really read into this. This isn't nearly as nebulous as you make it out to be. Your insinuation that we should basically just accept this because the world is unjust is the exact reason why this shit continues to happen.

Also, if this were a case of welfare fraud or something related to that, there is no way in hell you'd be so non-chalant about it.

C'mon man!

There is welfare faud everyday, no one cares about it and no one is going to jail over it.

Do people really take seriously a guy who, in an article ostensibly intended as a serious political commentary, called Paul Ryan "a self-righteously anal, thin-lipped, Whitest Kids U Know penny pincher who’d be honored to tell Oliver Twist there’s no more soup left"?

Taibbi has an obvious agenda (not saying that there's anyone in journalism without one), and he obviously has very little understanding of the topics that he writes about. Even my friends who enjoy the policital commentary in Rolling Stone regard Taibbi as a nutcase.

Like TNA says, there really isn't anyone in particular to blame for the HSBC mess, save for a few local bank officials, whose prosecution would only drive Taibbi even closer to insanity. Are we really supposed to believe that the ELT at HSBC was being bothered with the big-data suspicious transactions logs from a small Mexican bank that they acquired? Much less that they committed a criminal injustice by not detecting the laundering (which is obviously outside of their core competencies)?

The real injustice here is that the federal government presses so hard against drugs that money laundering is necessary, and then they fine banks billions for not picking up their mess. Newsflash: there is a multi-billion dollar market for illegal drugs in the United States. That money doesn't just disappear.

Logic informs us that money laundering is happening, and this is a fact of which we are all well aware. Far from being unconscionable, we willfully ignore this fact everyday, until it suits our particular political agenda because, SHOCK, a bank was implicated this time. The only difference in this case is that the laundering was obvious, and should have been detected by the regional bank branches quite easily. As for the billions of other dollars that are laundered every day - well apparently that's not a scandal.

I seriously doubt you actually read Taibbi if you take that view of him. Don't let your own political viewpoints cloud your judgement.

As for the rest of your post (and TNA's), I just frankly don't care about arguing about this shit anymore. It's tired me out beyond belief. I'm just thankful that Taibbi is out there doing the work that he does covering all of this stuff.

But, seriously...how does he "obviously have very little understanding of the topics that he writes about." Seriously. Please inform me.

 

When I think of a Mexican bank I think of a wobbly fan in some converted barn with one guy, sweating profusely, with an adding machine. We're not talking state of the art man.

And is anyone surprised Mexico is where this happened? Drug cartels run that place.

 

I love the righteous indignation the US government has with banks and drug money. Just wait 5 years when we legalize and tax drugs. I wonder if the government will issue an apology.

Also, keep in mind how much money the government makes off blood money in the form of alcohol and cigarette taxes. Pot, meet kettle.

 

King, what case would the DOJ have over UK HSBC executives. I mean do you really think the heads of HSBC knew about this shit? Mexican drug lords depositing cash in a Mexican bank?

The bank messed up and got fined. One of the largest fines ever. Case closed. Banks are important. Morons getting busted with a crack pipe are not.

We are not all equal. We are not all special. Some people have less value than others (myself included). Humans are essentially cattle with a voice box.

 
TNA:
King, what case would the DOJ have over UK HSBC executives. I mean do you really think the heads of HSBC knew about this shit? Mexican drug lords depositing cash in a Mexican bank?

The bank messed up and got fined. One of the largest fines ever. Case closed. Banks are important. Morons getting busted with a crack pipe are not.

We are not all equal. We are not all special. Some people have less value than others (myself included). Humans are essentially cattle with a voice box.

The moron with a crack pipe doesn't affect anyone outside of his local sphere of influence, which is likely miniscule. Meanwhile, a global investment bank is laundering money for drug cartels and terrorists. Who is doing more harm to society?

Real talk. The fact that you actively cheer for two sets of justice systems is incredibly depressing and indefensible from an intellectual point of view.

Lastly. You could absolutely have some heads roll at HSBC or any of the big banks. Someone will take their place, of course, but they'll take their place knowing that if they do insanely illegal and stupid shit that they'll face actual consequences as opposed to paying a fine that is akin to the cost of doing business.

 
TheKing:
The moron with a crack pipe doesn't affect anyone outside of his local sphere of influence, which is likely miniscule. Meanwhile, a global investment bank is laundering money for drug cartels and terrorists. Who is doing more harm to society?

Why does everyone keep making reference to HSBC as if the company were laundering money. Drug cartels laundered the money, HSBC failed to prevent it.

Lastly. You could absolutely have some heads roll at HSBC or any of the big banks. Someone will take their place, of course, but they'll take their place knowing that if they do insanely illegal and stupid shit that they'll face actual consequences as opposed to paying a fine that is akin to the cost of doing business.

Sure, you certainly could. But as TNA suggests above, the heads that would roll would be mid-level managers at best. More likely regional employees and branch managers who should have escalated these concerns to the corporate compliance departments. No one whose rolling head would satisfy you or Taibbi could be plausibly connected to this.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
Best Response

@TNA et al saying it's no big deal: why don't you read the facts before you blow it off? This went all the way to the top, and forget about the amount of money involved in the illegal transactions - just look at the sheer number of illegal transactions that the bank was made aware of years ahead of time and did nothing about. An HSBC clearing partner wired money into a 9/11 hijacker's account on September 5, 2011 for fuck's sake. These fuckers should be dragged through the streets, not be made to disgorge five weeks worth of revenues.

Watch this video and then tell me HSBC's CEO didn't know anything and isn't guilty of anything (and look at Breuer's face at the 2:30 mark when he knows he's been had):

 

So suppose I ran a company and one of my employes was selling drugs and got caught. Should I go to jail because I employed them? Same argument. What executive should be arrested and imprisoned because some Mexican bank teller was allowing this shit to go on?

When someone is caught laundering money it is easy to lay the blame on them. When someone within a company is doing it then it is a different story. Also, we put executives in jail all the time. Go tell Raj Rajaratnam that the US doesn't prosecute rich, financiers.

 
TNA:
So suppose I ran a company and one of my employes was selling drugs and got caught. Should I go to jail because I employed them? Same argument. What executive should be arrested and imprisoned because some Mexican bank teller was allowing this shit to go on?

When someone is caught laundering money it is easy to lay the blame on them. When someone within a company is doing it then it is a different story. Also, we put executives in jail all the time. Go tell Raj Rajaratnam that the US doesn't prosecute rich, financiers.

i don't think your analogy holds. in the case of employees selling drugs, that has nothing to do with the company itself. in a money laundering case, it has everything to do with what a bank does. and it's traceable - as in an executive could potentially figure out what is going on by looking at whatever bank records he needs to. if it's going on in his company, on his watch, and is actually involving his company, he is liable. not that other people aren't as well.

Remember, once you're inside you're on your own. Oh, you mean I can't count on you? No. Good!
 
snakeplissken:
TNA:
So suppose I ran a company and one of my employes was selling drugs and got caught. Should I go to jail because I employed them? Same argument. What executive should be arrested and imprisoned because some Mexican bank teller was allowing this shit to go on?

When someone is caught laundering money it is easy to lay the blame on them. When someone within a company is doing it then it is a different story. Also, we put executives in jail all the time. Go tell Raj Rajaratnam that the US doesn't prosecute rich, financiers.

i don't think your analogy holds. in the case of employees selling drugs, that has nothing to do with the company itself. in a money laundering case, it has everything to do with what a bank does. and it's traceable - as in an executive could potentially figure out what is going on by looking at whatever bank records he needs to. if it's going on in his company, on his watch, and is actually involving his company, he is liable. not that other people aren't as well.

i'm sure there are tons of laws and whatnot and technical ways of saying what i just said, but my best guess as to why an executive is liable, in total layman's terms, is what i wrote above

Remember, once you're inside you're on your own. Oh, you mean I can't count on you? No. Good!
 

HSBC had a shitty compliance protocol. Wow. Lets arrest people. You have a global bank with major operations in developing nations. Shit is going to happen. Only reason the criminal enterprise called the US Government is pissed is because they didn't get their cut.

And HSBC does business with Iran? Wow, who cares. It is a global bank. Iran is only OUR public enemy.

"HSBC didn't do the money laundering." Bang. Done.

 

Could someone please lay out the "facts" for me. I've followed this story since it broke, since I am a former HSBC employee. I've read the wiki, the globes account, Taibbicats write up and now this thread. Lay out these juicy facts were the CEO is having dinner with Escobar and driving him to the bank to deposit this illegal cash.

You have a bank operating around the world. Maybe, just maybe, the CEO wasn't getting briefed on some shitty Mexican branch taking large sums of Peso's in.

 

Yeah, I agree. If a bank teller was doing it knowingly and the branch manager was helping hide this, it would be criminal. But the top executives of the firm? You would have a thin case at best.

We put Tyco people in jail. Enron people. We put Raj in jail, Maddof. The government loves going after people like this. But a UK bank, with criminal behavior starting in Mexico, involving Caymen Islands. No way the DOJ is going to get a case on anyone but low level people.

This is why they didn't press charges. It is easy to bust a little person. Much harder to tie a case to an exec of a global bank.

End of the day the USA simply cares about being paid off. This idea that the DOJ is about justice is comical. HSBC got caught, they paid, case closed.

 
TNA:
Yeah, I agree. If a bank teller was doing it knowingly and the branch manager was helping hide this, it would be criminal. But the top executives of the firm? You would have a thin case at best.

We put Tyco people in jail. Enron people. We put Raj in jail, Maddof. The government loves going after people like this. But a UK bank, with criminal behavior starting in Mexico, involving Caymen Islands. No way the DOJ is going to get a case on anyone but low level people.

This is why they didn't press charges. It is easy to bust a little person. Much harder to tie a case to an exec of a global bank.

End of the day the USA simply cares about being paid off. This idea that the DOJ is about justice is comical. HSBC got caught, they paid, case closed.

Echo this. The chances of suspicious bank statements making the desk of the CEO of a multinational bank are next-to-zero. There's no doubt there were complicit lower-ranking people in the organization and inadequate controls, but it likely stops there. I highly doubt the CEO of HSBC was presented a strong case representing that there was near certainty of drug cartels laundering money through the bank and he simply brushed it off with the explanation, "That might cost us a tad of revenue, let it pass."

Let's also keep this in context: the DoJ isn't punishing HSBC for money laundering, they are punishing them for failing to prevent money laundering. The US Government puts laws into place re: laundering, then leaves the enforcement up to banks, who are swimming in regulations. Shouldn't come as any surprise that these things occasionally bubble up to the surface, given that we know money laundering happens everyday.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 

having done some forensic work on a different UK bank, years ago, they were fined heavily for DELETING transaction histories of known drug barons, weapons dealers and terrorist operatives. I understand that you need to operate an account for these people, closing their account is nothing short of tipping them off. However complicit behaviour in enabling them to do their **** and hindering the state? Rot in hell whoever did that.

 

The endless critique of the 'revolving door' also puzzles me. It's been a long-established tradition in the US that experts in the private sector eventually, or at some point in time, lend their hands to government and relinquish higher paying jobs for the betterment of society. Now these acts are so viciously scrutinized that we're probably going through a government finance brain drain without even realizing it.

 
econ_guru:
The endless critique of the 'revolving door' also puzzles me. It's been a long-established tradition in the US that experts in the private sector eventually, or at some point in time, lend their hands to government and relinquish higher paying jobs for the betterment of society. Now these acts are so viciously scrutinized that we're probably going through a government finance brain drain without even realizing it.

100% agree. Why should it be surprising or nefarious that one of our country's top ranking corporate prosecutors came from a corporate law firm? Where else would he/she come from? The model of solely promoting lifetime civil servants assumes that you can obtain all the knowledge necessary and beneficial to perform these duties working only for the government, which is a stretch.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
econ_guru:
The endless critique of the 'revolving door' also puzzles me. It's been a long-established tradition in the US that experts in the private sector eventually, or at some point in time, lend their hands to government and relinquish higher paying jobs for the betterment of society. Now these acts are so viciously scrutinized that we're probably going through a government finance brain drain without even realizing it.

Completely agree. I see no problem with someone regulating the very same industry that made them wealthy. Doesn't seem like a conflict of interest problem at all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

 
FrankD'anconia][quote=econ_guru:
The endless critique of the 'revolving door' also puzzles me. It's been a long-established tradition in the US that experts in the private sector eventually, or at some point in time, lend their hands to government and relinquish higher paying jobs for the betterment of society. Now these acts are so viciously scrutinized that we're probably going through a government finance brain drain without even realizing it.

Completely agree. I see no problem with someone regulating the very same industry that made them wealthy. Doesn't seem like a conflict of interest problem at all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture[/quote]

Oh come on. Why is everyone always arduously pursuing every last "conflict of interest"? Now having experience in the field you are regulating is off-limits if you volunteer to take a huge pay cut and represent the government?

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 

You guys are missing the point on the revolving door justice problem. It's not people going from Wall St. to regulation that's the problem, it's people going from regulation back to Wall St. A lot of regulators don't want to bring cases because they want to go back and work for the same firms they're supposed to be regulating.

 
stanvalchek:
You guys are missing the point on the revolving door justice problem. It's not people going from Wall St. to regulation that's the problem, it's people going from regulation back to Wall St. A lot of regulators don't want to bring cases because they want to go back and work for the same firms they're supposed to be regulating.

That's a problem of government, and the only solution is to reduce its sphere of control. A limited government could do this country a world of good.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
NorthSider:
stanvalchek:
You guys are missing the point on the revolving door justice problem. It's not people going from Wall St. to regulation that's the problem, it's people going from regulation back to Wall St. A lot of regulators don't want to bring cases because they want to go back and work for the same firms they're supposed to be regulating.

That's a problem of government, and the only solution is to reduce its sphere of control. A limited government could do this country a world of good.

We can and should limit government, but there still needs to be some one to police the finance industry, just as every other industry is policed. The current system we have does a piss poor job. A perfect example is that they couldn't bring a case against Madoff, who was pretty obviously a scam artist.

Why not put in the SEC contract a non-compete clause that says you can't go back to work at any of the firms you'll be overseeing for 10 years? You might lose out on some talent, but it would probably weed out people who wanted to improve their resume and would not deter people who were truly interested in public service as a career.

 

Government creates the problem and the solution is always more government t. I love it. The DOJ won't take down HSBC because it is tbtf, a concept created by an expansive nanny state.

And money laundering wouldn't be an issue if there was never a war on drugs.

Reduce federal power and influence and problems will disappear.

 

Not sure the rationalization. Do you really thing the DOJ could make a case against a higher up at HSBC considering the jurisdictions and other elements? Furthermore, they were fined a record amount.

I just don't see the outrage. If anything I am more pissed at the USA and our bullshit laws.

 
Edmundo Braverman:
Don't even bother, King. The day is coming when, in the absence of real justice, street justice will be meted out to these types of people.

I never thought I'd live to see the day where I'd welcome the destruction of my chosen field just to see the cancer cut out of it.

I am still waiting for someone to explain to me a criminal case. A bank was negligent in monitoring something. Wow. Lets send the CEO to jail for 10 years. Makes tons of sense.

Good luck getting a CEO or any upper level management for a conglomerate if you are criminally charging them for actions of far removed subordinates.

 

1) A person getting busted with a crack pipe is directly to blame. Easy case. A bank with multiple jurisdictions is not. Hence why the crack head gets jail time and HSBC gets a fine. I have no doubt there are criminal cases against the branches in Mexico. Maybe the Mexican bankers who set up the Caymen accounts. Possibly the midlevel people who should have caught this. But upper level people?

Plain fact is 1) there is no criminal case and 2) if there was it would be tough at best. The were lax and got fined. Case closed.

2) I do not support two levels of justice. I never said bankers or execs should be immune. I simply stated that cases are easier when you have direct evidence. If the CEO of HSBC was personally laundering money I would call for jail. That is not the case.

This is nothing more than populace bullshit. The DOJ couldn't make a case and got a massive fine instead. Life moves on.

Why shocks me is you cannot see the complexity of bringing a case against upper level management in an issue that involves Mexico, US, Caymen Islands and the UK, where the evidence is that they were understaffed or improperly monitoring money laundering and expect some form of conviction.

The US government has every incentive to arrest bankers. It is popular fodder. The retarded masses would gleefully cheer anyone in a suit being strung up and god knows this administration would love to feed into the class warfare it loves to drum up.

Morally, I couldn't care less. Drug laws are bullshit. The USA trying to force its backward and obtuse world view on global entities is disgusting. The DOJ (an oxymoron if I ever heard one) got $2B and walked away. I am sure that money will be used to drone strike a Pakistani family or something.

 
TNA:
The US government has every incentive to arrest bankers. It is popular fodder. The retarded masses would gleefully cheer anyone in a suit being strung up and god knows this administration would love to feed into the class warfare it loves to drum up.

Totally agree. I'm very skeptical that the DoJ had some excellent case against a bank exec that they shoved under the rug to protect some friends.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 

When the mindless masses don't get their way lets resort to violence. God forbid they tried to understand the complexity of law or anything.

And damn those evil bankers. I mean yeah, they kicked ass when janitors could buy homes or when people emptied their home equity to buy LCD TV's and shit. But when reality crashed down, boy did they suck again.

I wonder if people who were frugal. Who put 20% down. Who didn't milk their home equity, I wonder if they hate bankers like everyone else.

 

NorthSide, stop man. We all know the global head of one of the largest banks, with operations in like 80 countries, personal received a report from Mexico indicating money laundering and then called up Escobar and said "yo bro, I got this". The DOJ just wants to ignore it because it is in bed with the banks.

Obama and the head of HSBC are smoking cigars now, in Mr. Monopoly outfits, talking about putting their back on the working man. We need an uprising...

And if anyone thinks an uprising in the USA is going to go Les Mis style, let me remind you that the people who own the arsenals are religious, southern militants. Socialism isn't going to be rolled out.

 
TNA:
NorthSide, stop man. We all know the global head of one of the largest banks, with operations in like 80 countries, personal received a report from Mexico indicating money laundering and then called up Escobar and said "yo bro, I got this". The DOJ just wants to ignore it because it is in bed with the banks.

Obama and the head of HSBC are smoking cigars now, in Mr. Monopoly outfits, talking about putting their back on the working man. We need an uprising...

And if anyone thinks an uprising in the USA is going to go Les Mis style, let me remind you that the people who own the arsenals are religious, southern militants. Socialism isn't going to be rolled out.

+100

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
TNA:
And if anyone thinks an uprising in the USA is going to go Les Mis style, let me remind you that the people who own the arsenals are religious, southern militants. Socialism isn't going to be rolled out.

And if you think the system can't be brought down without a single shot being fired, you've got your head in the sand. Anonymous just hacked the Fed for fun last weekend.

The old saying used to be that you could steal a hell of a lot more with a briefcase than you ever could with a gun. Imagine what's going to be done to some of these losers with a few keystrokes.

 
Edmundo Braverman:
TNA:
And if anyone thinks an uprising in the USA is going to go Les Mis style, let me remind you that the people who own the arsenals are religious, southern militants. Socialism isn't going to be rolled out.

And if you think the system can't be brought down without a single shot being fired, you've got your head in the sand. Anonymous just hacked the Fed for fun last weekend.

The old saying used to be that you could steal a hell of a lot more with a briefcase than you ever could with a gun. Imagine what's going to be done to some of these losers with a few keystrokes.

Whatever. This is besides the point. Glad you are now supporting anarchy.

Since you are so sick because of this and support both physical and information based retribution, I would like to hear your case laid out for how the DOJ was going to get criminal charges. I've read all I can on this so maybe you have some inside memo or something that is causing this outrage.

Myself and NorthSide have rather deliberately laid out why we don't think there is a criminal case. I'd like to hear the counter.

 

We went after Raj and put him in jail. We put Maddof in jail. We are ridding SAC hard. Everyone loves busting financiers. If there was a case we would use it.

And HSBC has dick presence in the USA. This isn't Jamie or Lloyd pulling this shit. HSBC is a Asian/UK/Developing market bank. They pulled out of the US after Household collapsed. Sold off the a vast majority of their retail branches. Mainly wealthy and international customers now.

 
TNA:
Good luck getting a CEO or any upper level management for a conglomerate if you are criminally charging them for actions of far removed subordinates.

I don't see much difference between that and making CEOs and CFOs sign off on financial statements under SOX. The intention there wasn't to get them to start writing the financials themselves. It was to get them to install efficient internal controls and hire competent, ethical people- because THEIR ass is on the line if they don't. This whole "wth you want me to do? I can only do so much" mentality is EXACTLY what is wrong with Wall Street. These guys make millions of dollars a year and putting them in charge of making sure no bullshit is going on under their watch is somehow "asking too much".... unbelievable. If they don't like the liability A) fix the situation (the whole point here) or B) don't take the damn position.

 
FrankD'anconia:
TNA:
Good luck getting a CEO or any upper level management for a conglomerate if you are criminally charging them for actions of far removed subordinates.

I don't see much difference between that and making CEOs and CFOs sign off on financial statements under SOX. The intention there wasn't to get them to start writing the financials themselves. It was to get them to install efficient internal controls and hire competent, ethical people- because THEIR ass is on the line if they don't. This whole "wth you want me to do? I can only do so much" mentality is EXACTLY what is wrong with Wall Street. These guys make millions of dollars a year and putting them in charge of making sure no bullshit is going on under their watch is somehow "asking too much".... unbelievable. If they don't like the liability A) fix the situation (the whole point here) or B) don't take the damn position.

You are correct, but accurate financials and money laundering starting at a Mexican bank branch is a little different. Furthermore, while you point is a good thing to debate going forward, it isn't in effect now and wouldn't impact the case of the government.

And SOX is for all companies, not just financial ones. So lets not make it out that only banks suck ass.

Plain fact is everyone loves a bank when they want something and hates them when they are told they can't have something. A child's mentality.

 

Are we talking about the same DOJ that brought down Kim Dotcom? Oh wait, I forgot. An agency is only incompetent when it isn't punishing people XYZ is against.

This jokers are a collection of ass clowns. Been ass clowns since Reno sent SWAT in to get Elian Gonzalez. The same retards who burnt down the Branch Davidian compound. And the same retards who busted Kim Dotcom for bullshit charges and are now seeing their case crumble. Oh wait, the same morons who fucked up Fast and Furious.

The real outrage is the $27B per year (or in Obama math - $2.7T over 10 years) we spend to have these morons do anything but hand out justice.

 
TNA:
Myself and NorthSide have rather deliberately laid out why we don't think there is a criminal case. I'd like to hear the counter.

Well I already laid out mine. Point blank- to make a point. Like Eddie said "you could steal a hell of a lot more with a briefcase than you ever could with a gun." Not just that, but you don't even get punished anymore by the former (insert inevitable Madoff, Raj counterarguments here... despite these being a couple examples out of LITERALLY thousands). If you don't see a problem with some dude being treated like a criminal for robbing 20 bucks from a convenience store, while these manchildren in suits get away with this bullshit with a fine and slap on the wrist- then I really just don't know what to tell you. Again, I'm not saying the guys at the top are completely aware of what is going on at the low levels. What I am saying, is that when they ARE responsible for what goes on down there, the questionable shit WILL die down. Now of course we could just let this one go and say "we'll start enforcing that next time". OR we can realize how thoroughly shitty finance has become and stop kicking the can down the road. At the end of the day, I guess what I'm saying is that finding this to not be a big deal that should be punished is EXACTLY what the problem is.... and sure as shit a good way to ensure it continues

 
FrankD'anconia:
TNA:
Myself and NorthSide have rather deliberately laid out why we don't think there is a criminal case. I'd like to hear the counter.

Well I already laid out mine. Point blank- to make a point. Like Eddie said "you could steal a hell of a lot more with a briefcase than you ever could with a gun." Not just that, but you don't even get punished anymore by the former (insert inevitable Madoff, Raj counterarguments here... despite these being a couple examples out of LITERALLY thousands). If you don't see a problem with some dude being treated like a criminal for robbing 20 bucks from a convenience store, while these manchildren in suits get away with this bullshit with a fine and slap on the wrist- then I really just don't know what to tell you. Again, I'm not saying the guys at the top are completely aware of what is going on at the low levels. What I am saying, is that when they ARE responsible for what goes on down there, the questionable shit WILL die down. Now of course we could just let this one go and say "we'll start enforcing that next time". OR we can realize how thoroughly shitty finance has become and stop kicking the can down the road. At the end of the day, I guess what I'm saying is that finding this to not be a big deal that should be punished is EXACTLY what the problem is.... and sure as shit a good way to ensure it continues

In a criminal case you need to prove the person committed the crime or knew about it or aided in it. How are you going to convict an upper level manager of a global bank of this when it happened in 3-4 different jurisdictions.?

How is this point being missed.

 
<span class=keyword_link><a href=/company/trilantic-north-america>TNA</a></span>:
In a criminal case you need to prove the person committed the crime or knew about it or aided in it. How are you going to convict an upper level manager of a global bank of this when it happened in 3-4 different jurisdictions.?

How is this point being missed.

It isn't being missed. I believe the fundamental difference between our stances is that you seem completely sold that they "didn't know", while I'm calling bullshit because they knew they could easily hide behind the whole "how was I supposed to know?". AND quite clearly it would work on people. A quote (kinda long but very relevant to my point):

"One of the reasons why we have a criminal justice system, of course, is to deter criminal behavior. If you know that you will be punished for putting your hand in the cash register at your local supermarket (or illegally stripping out information from a monetary transaction that identifies the source nation as Iran), you are less likely to do so. But if the government offered a blanket waiver from criminal accountability for a certain group -- let's say all left-handed people over six feet tall or a handful of banks deemed so large and so significant that their indictment could destroy the global financial system -- we would expect that those exempted would no longer be deterred from committing criminal acts. And although lefty giants may otherwise lack a predisposition for boosting cash, in recent years the largest banks have demonstrated an unbridled zeal for pushing the boundaries of the law as part of their relentless pursuit of profits. DOJ's actions with regards to HSBC are beyond unfair: They are downright terrifying for weakening the general deterrence for megabanks, both foreign and domestic, which could rationally interpret yesterday's actions as a license to steal."

 

It isn't what you know or don't know, it is what you can prove in a court of law. If the DOJ could have proven this they would have.

Did they know? I doubt it.

"Federal agents would ultimately home in on $500 million that had moved from HSBC Mexico to HSBC's operations in the United States, according to the confidential investigative records."

So we mock the $1.9B settlement as only 5 weeks of HSBC revenue, yet we expect the head of HSBC to know about $500MM over nearly 2 years? C'mon.

The bank fucked up. Had lax monitoring. Pays the fine. Were they actively involved in this? No. Some shitty Mexican unit fucked up. Mexico is run by drug lords. How did we think this wasn't happening.

 

HSBC tracked three wire transfers totaling around $10,000 of suspicious activity to catch Elliot Spitzer (who IRONICALLY was against the bank during his term)... yet they were incapable of catching $60 trillion of suspicious activity that they were earning billions of $s on?

"The DOJ has become HSBC.... get paid enough and you will turn a blind eye".

 
FrankD'anconia:
HSBC tracked three wire transfers totaling around $10,000 of suspicious activity to catch Elliot Spitzer (who IRONICALLY was against the bank during his term)... yet they were incapable of catching $60 trillion of suspicious activity that they were earning billions of $s on?

"The DOJ has become HSBC.... get paid enough and you will turn a blind eye".

In the US we have SAR and CTR. You put 10K in the bank, you get a CTR. You put 3K in the bank 3 times and then 1K, you get a SAR.

Catching shit in the US is a lot easier since bank tellers are trained for this stuff. Some dude depositing $50K in a backpack wouldn't fly in the US.

 
FrankD'anconia:
HSBC tracked three wire transfers totaling around $10,000 of suspicious activity to catch Elliot Spitzer (who IRONICALLY was against the bank during his term)... yet they were incapable of catching $60 trillion of suspicious activity that they were earning billions of $s on?

"The DOJ has become HSBC.... get paid enough and you will turn a blind eye".

CEOs didn't catch Spitzer transactions, a local employee in the US filed a SAR per the standard rules, and it was sent to the government (as is protocol for SARs), who then tracked Spitzer. Just as you'd never praise the CEO of HSBC for catching Spitzer, you'd never blame him for not catching him.

The $60 trillion number is absurd. That's the aggregate volume of all HSBC transactions that they were charged with "failing to oversee". The amount of money related to drug cartels is a MUCH MUCH lower number. Be serious.

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 

North, stop. Too much common sense and logic. Bankers must pay. Blame them for everything and find an excuse to kill them.

Dude, I remember back during the run up. BoA bankers would break into peoples homes, water board them, force them to take the equity from their homes. People who wanted to put 20% down were forced to spend the money on coke and stripped, while buying homes more than they could afford, all under duress.

Those evil bankers. Who all kept their jobs and massive bonuses and havent seen layoffs or cut backs. Those evil bankers who work in the highest taxed state and city, who pay nearly 40% or more of their income in taxes, funding NYC for others.

Those evil rich people who pay nearly 90% of all the taxes. God damn them. Lets kill them all so the 50% who pay nothing can run the country and raise taxes on the 3 rich people not killed. Oh the Utopia.

 

I disagree with the RMBS comment. Sure no one forced people to mortgage their homes, but the bankers sure as hell could have not extended the credit in the first place. That said, I will now end my presence in this thread with what we DO agree on (or at least I think we do): 1.) This HSBC case will go no further. It ends at the fine... always will 2.) For this reason nothing will ever change (a shame, but the case nonetheless) 3.) Bankers lose their jobs in recessions too 4.) Far too many people in this country don't pay taxes and last but not least 5.) Two people on planet Earth believe the HSBC execs knew nothing about this, and they are both ironically located in these thread (don't be mad).

That is all. Good day gents.

 
FrankD'anconia:
5.) Two people on planet Earth believe the HSBC execs knew nothing about this, and they are both ironically located in these thread (don't be mad).

I don't mean to berate your point of view here, I really don't. But this is insane. There's absolutely no way that the CEO of a multinational bank spends his days perusing transaction logs trying to identify suspicious transactions where the local employees failed to escalate and make an SAR. He has people working for him who have people working for them that (didn't) take care of that.

That you believe Stephen Green, after working for 15 years at HSBC, as the CEO of a multinational bank booking ~$80 bn in revenue, personally reviewed a report that demonstrated there were obvious money laundering activities for which the bank would not submit SARs and he just decided, "Oh, aren't we making a couple million on the interest for this money sitting in our retail accounts?? Don't report it, they'll never catch us!", shows your naivety.

I suppose you also believe that Mills Dillard performed blood alcohol tests on the crew of the Exxon Valdez before they set sail and thought, "Would we have to hire another ship captain for $50k/yr if I fire this guy?? Forget it, he's good-to-go!"

"For all the tribulations in our lives, for all the troubles that remain in the world, the decline of violence is an accomplishment we can savor, and an impetus to cherish the forces of civilization and enlightenment that made it possible."
 
FrankD'anconia:
5.) Two people on planet Earth believe the HSBC execs knew nothing about this, and they are both ironically located in these thread (don't be mad).

Okay, way off point, but seriously, that's not ironic. There's absolutely nothing ironic about two guys on a finance site believing a banker may not be guilty. Don't be that guy who tosses around "irony" and "ironic" incorrectly.

Also, a "factoid" is not a "little fact". I know that hasn't come up, but I hate it when people misuse "factoid", whose actual definition is "an item of unreliable information that is repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact". Ironically, "factoid" being defined as a "little fact" is a factoid.

"My caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested."
 

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