Wells Fargo/Wachovia: Riding dirty with drug money.

Northside Storm · Apr 3, 2011

Sometimes, it's just too much.

How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs

As the violence spread, billions of dollars of cartel cash began to seep into the global financial system. But a special investigation by the Observer reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs

On 10 April 2006, a DC-9 jet landed in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, on the Gulf of Mexico, as the sun was setting. Mexican soldiers, waiting to intercept it, found 128 cases packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100m. But something else – more important and far-reaching – was discovered in the paper trail behind the purchase of the plane by the Sinaloa narco-trafficking cartel.

During a 22-month investigation by agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and others, it emerged that the cocaine smugglers had bought the plane with money they had laundered through one of the biggest banks in the United States: Wachovia, now part of the giant Wells Fargo.

The authorities uncovered billions of dollars in wire transfers, traveller's cheques and cash shipments through Mexican exchanges into Wachovia accounts. Wachovia was put under immediate investigation for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme. Of special significance was that the period concerned began in 2004, which coincided with the first escalation of violence along the US-Mexico border that ignited the current drugs war.

Criminal proceedings were brought against Wachovia, though not against any individual, but the case never came to court. In March 2010, Wachovia settled the biggest action brought under the US bank secrecy act, through the US district court in Miami. Now that the year's "deferred prosecution" has expired, the bank is in effect in the clear. It paid federal authorities $110m in forfeiture, for allowing transactions later proved to be connected to drug smuggling, and incurred a $50m fine for failing to monitor cash used to ship 22 tons of cocaine.

More shocking, and more important, the bank was sanctioned for failing to apply the proper anti-laundering strictures to the transfer of $378.4bn – a sum equivalent to one-third of Mexico's gross national product – into dollar accounts from so-called casas de cambio (CDCs) in Mexico, currency exchange houses with which the bank did business.

"Wachovia's blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations," said Jeffrey Sloman, the federal prosecutor. Yet the total fine was less than 2% of the bank's $12.3bn profit for 2009. On 24 March 2010, Wells Fargo stock traded at $30.86 – up 1% on the week of the court settlement.
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We might as end the facade---

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---or if we're going to be so hardass on users, why the f*** do we not have the political gump to throw the book and hammer on the biggest f***king facilitators of the international drug trade?!?!

Classic · Apr 3, 2011

Not surprising. Our banking and political mobsters make too much money off drugs being illegal. Teen I know gets caught with three ecstasy pill in the car he was a passenger in ( not his) and is facing distribution charges and years in prison. We catch one of the biggest banks facilitating the drug trade and they get a slap on the wrist. Count the cartel as part of the 1%.

thumbs · Apr 3, 2011

The justice department absolutely should prosecute the narco-bankers and their institutions as well. Domestic bank officers / board members would stop the practice if they were held accountable for illegal transactions -- not just with fines but with prison terms. However, our justice department will always look the other way -- these bankers are big time Democratic and Republican contributors.

rhester · Apr 4, 2011

Wall Street, Bankers, CIA have all been deep in drugs for years.

SamFisher · Apr 4, 2011

Great day for Wachovia.

They're also about to get slapped with an SEC suit for fraudulent CDO pricing.

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Wells Fargo/Wachovia: Riding dirty with drug money.

Northside Storm Contributing Member

Classic Member

thumbs Contributing Member

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