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Are_we_sure ago

FBI Director Comey was board member of HSBC

Do you know anything about corporate governance? Do you know what board members do? Do you know how board members are different from executives? Do you know why it's important to have board member independent of executive leadership?

Clinton foundation received up to $81m from clients of controversial HSBC bank

So what? Do you really think a charity is involved in bank's activity because somebody who donates to them banks there?

Your boom is pretty much a fizzle.

neptunium1 ago

Lol. Your presence here says it all.

FBI’s Comey has a history as a political and corporate fixer

Comey was first appointed to the Justice Department by the Bush-Cheney administration. After they had launched the second Iraq war and committed billions to it, he was hired as consigliere and chief fixer by defense giant Lockheed Martin LMT, -1.90% . (Oh, and Lockheed has now deleted the web page announcing the appointment. How cute. Alas for them, the page has been archived.)

Why would a defense contractor in Washington give a top job to a hack with no knowledge of engineering or defense work, and no military experience? You got it.

For most of those years, Lockheed — and Comey — successfully hid how much he earned. But in 2009, due to some oversight, they had to disclose it in a public filing. His pay for that year alone? Try $6.1 million. No, really....

...In March, 2013, Comey was even hired as a board director by global investment bank HSBC. This was just three months after the bank had been whacked by the U.S. Justice Department for a staggering $1.3 billion for international money laundering, and faced criminal charges as well.

Yes, really. Just three months.

Why would a global investment bank, which desperately needed to launder its reputation in Washington, hire a political hack with no expertise in international banking? Yep. You got it.

And it's not my BOOM, it's Harry/Q.

septimasexta ago

You forgot to add that LORETTA LYNCH was one of the federal attorneys who gave HSBC a nice monetary fine SLAP ON THE WRIST (no jail time for Mexican drug cartel money laundering). She and Comey were rewarded with FBI Chief and Attorney General!

"“Today we announce the filing of criminal charges against HSBC, one of the largest financial institutions in the world,” said U.S. ATTORNEY LYNCH. “HSBC’s blatant failure to implement proper anti-money laundering controls facilitated the laundering of at least $881 million in drug proceeds through the U.S. financial system. HSBC’s willful flouting of U.S. sanctions laws and regulations resulted in the processing of hundreds of millions of dollars in OFAC-prohibited transactions. Today’s historic agreement, which imposes the largest penalty in any BSA prosecution to date, makes it clear that all corporate citizens, no matter how large, must be held accountable for their actions.” "

"According to court documents, from 2006 to 2010, HSBC Bank USA severely understaffed its AML compliance function and failed to implement an anti-money laundering program capable of adequately monitoring suspicious transactions and activities from HSBC Group Affilliates, particularly HSBC Mexico, one of HSBC Bank USA’s largest Mexican customers. This included a failure to monitor billions of dollars in purchases of physical U.S. dollars, or “banknotes,” from these affiliates. Despite evidence of serious money laundering risks associated with doing business in Mexico, from at least 2006 to 2009, HSBC Bank USA rated Mexico as “standard” risk, its lowest AML risk category. As a result, HSBC Bank USA failed to monitor over $670 billion in wire transfers and over $9.4 billion in purchases of physical U.S. dollars from HSBC Mexico during this period, when HSBC Mexico’s own lax AML controls caused it to be the preferred financial institution for drug cartels and money launderers.

A significant portion of the laundered drug trafficking proceeds were involved in the Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE), a complex money laundering system that is designed to move the proceeds from the sale of illegal drugs in the United States to drug cartels outside of the United States, often in Colombia. According to court documents, beginning in 2008, an investigation conducted by ICE Homeland Security Investigation’s (HSI’s) El Dorado Task Force, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, identified multiple HSBC Mexico accounts associated with BMPE activity and revealed that drug traffickers were depositing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bulk U.S. currency each day into HSBC Mexico accounts. Since 2009, the investigation has resulted in the arrest, extradition, and conviction of numerous individuals illegally using HSBC Mexico accounts in furtherance of BMPE activity.

As a result of HSBC Bank USA’s AML failures, at least $881 million in drug trafficking proceeds – including proceeds of drug trafficking by the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and the Norte del Valle Cartel in Colombia – were laundered through HSBC Bank USA. HSBC Group admitted it did not inform HSBC Bank USA of significant AML deficiencies at HSBC Mexico, despite knowing of these problems and their effect on the potential flow of illicit funds through HSBC Bank USA."
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/hsbc-holdings-plc-and-hsbc-bank-usa-na-admit-anti-money-laundering-and-sanctions-violations