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Here are just some of the improprieties by big banks:
Funding the Nazis
Laundering money for terrorists
Financing illegal arms deals, and funding the manufacture of cluster bombs (and see this and this) and other arms which are banned in most of the world
Launching a coup against the President of the United States
Handling money for rogue military operations
Laundering money for drug cartels. See this, this, this, this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis)
Engaging in mafia-style big-rigging fraud against local governments. See this, this and this
Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here
Manipulating gold prices … on a daily basis
Charging “storage fees” to store gold bullion … without even buying or storing any gold . And raiding allocated gold accounts
Committing massive and pervasive fraud both when they initiated mortgage loans and when they foreclosed on them (and see this)
Pledging the same mortgage multiple times to different buyers. See this, this, this, this and this. This would be like selling your car, and collecting money from 10 different buyers for the same car
Cheating homeowners by gaming laws meant to protect people from unfair foreclosure
Committing massive fraud in an $800 trillion dollar market which effects everything from mortgages, student loans, small business loans and city financing
Manipulating the hundred trillion dollar derivatives market
Engaging in insider trading of the most important financial information
Pushing investments which they knew were terrible, and then betting against the same investments to make money for themselves. See this, this, this, this and this
Engaging in unlawful “frontrunning” to manipulate markets. See this, this, this, this, this and this
Engaging in unlawful “Wash Trades” to manipulate asset prices. See this, this and this
Otherwise manipulating markets. And see this
Participating in various Ponzi schemes. See this, this and this
Charging veterans unlawful mortgage fees
Helping the richest to illegally hide assets
Cooking their books (and see this)
Bribing and bullying ratings agencies to inflate ratings on their risky investments
Violently cracking down on peaceful protesters
Originally posted by tothetenthpower
So people always question what's wrong with big banks and how we allowed them to become so powerful, well part of that is because of instances like these ones.
Source
The source contains links to the various 'sources' which prove the points. Some of it is just plain fact, others perhaps a bit spurious in nature.
Here are just some of the improprieties by big banks:
Laundering money for drug cartels. See this, this, this, this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis)
My question is, can anybody debunk some or all of these claims? I would really interest me to see what is myth and what is truth.
Thoughts ATS?
Yes, already had thoughts on this, and so have others. There is no debunk in the case of HSBC who effectively laundered drug money, be it having been profit or finance. Man, all they got was a slap on the wrist fine, and NOBODY went to Gaol/Jail. The fine meant feck all. The little dealer guy on the street, (whom I don't have much sympathy for, but could also be a victim) goes straight to the poky. So much crap.
Sorry I had to cut most of your post in reply, I would have preferred to keep it all.edit on 15-3-2013 by smurfy because: Text.
Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I'll add my thought and link contribution for additional data to ponder on this topic.
Derivatives: The Unregulated Global Casino for Banks
If you haven't seen that particular display, it's one to take your breath away. Keep in mind, of course, all the gold ever mined on this planet, in recorded history ...amounts to roughly 7-8 trillion dollars if somehow it could all be accounted for and accumulated, which of course it can't be. I'm not sure we even have the trees sufficient to make the proper paper in the quantity required for a physical production of the final totals at that link, are you?
The banks would have a lot of explaining to do if we were in a position to even ask politely if they may please consider it. Isn't that the problem? We can't even ask politely like Little Boy Oliver asking seconds, let alone demand accounting to what has happened and been done as it needs to be, IMO.
Originally posted by Rob37n
I may get slaughtered for this but...well I don't see the problem. What do you expect banks to do with our money? They make massive profits from these activities, and someone has to to do it. The criminals know they can trust the banks, and the banks skim off their profit. That way they can pay their ordinary customers a little interest on their savings, and the bankers themselves can live the lifestyles enjoyed by the drug dealers, arms dealers, and so on enjoy, and the criminal element know that their financial dealings are secure so there is less bloodshed at this end of the business. It also suits governments to allow this to go on, important leaders are guaranteed jobs with banks when their political careers come to an end as non-executive directors, turn up five times a year, collect a huge cheque, pay some nominal tax on it, and everyone wins. The entire business world is corrupt, always has been been, all the markets are rigged, all the deals are crooked. The big issue is that until the intervention of the internet it was easy to keep it all under wraps, but the internet allows information to escape and it can't be recalled, so the difference is that now we find out what is and has been going on, and a lot of people don't like it, but sadly it's what makes the world go around. I admit if I could get on the gravy train that exists to fund all these terrible things I would do so in an instant, but I am not the right sort of chap, and I'd get eaten alive. So like many of us I despair at the state of the world, come on here to complain about it, and then go back to the grind of struggling to get by like the bulk of us on here.
Originally posted by FissionSurplus
reply to post by Rob37n
Slaughtered for your opinion? Not at all. I pity you.
To accept criminal activity which rewards lawbreakers and rips off honest citizens...to admire it and wish that you too could ride the gravy train to Money Town.....to say that this type of crap is "what makes the world go round", and do so with apathy.....Wow. Just, wow.
Your moral compass is broken, just like the criminal banksters you admire. Rush right down and apply to be a low-level lackey for your overlords. They won't eat you alive. Toadies are useful in the short term.
The cycles of boom and bust, the misery and financial disasters they cause, the wars that are financed, the government regulators that are paid off, the representatives of the people who are corrupted by their influence, are just some of the fallout from the cancer that is the big banks. Not to mention stock market manipulation the world over, causing people to lose money because the manipulation makes no sense. How many retirement accounts have they decimated?
I for one do not accept this as "normal". Like any deadly parasite, they will kill their host, and then move on to the next victim. Because we're on life support in the west, most of the bankster at the higher levels are retiring and moving far away from the scenes of the crimes. Like rats leaping off a sinking ship. Doesn't look like a gravy train ride as much as a flight from justice.
Originally posted by Rob37n
reply to post by FissionSurplus
You wonder why I feel so fed up with the system? The deeper you dig the worse it gets. Corruption and crime is endemic to our way of life, the higher up you look the worse the level of corruption and crime. The higher up you look and find issues then the less likely anyone is to do anything about it. I wonder if we're not living in the end times of our civilization, like the collapse of the Roman Empire, the corruption and effete leadership indulging in orgies of excess while everything falls down around their ears.
edit on 15/3/1313 by Rob37n because: Added the bit about the star for the guy with the cool avatar.