'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#2This is probably a much better source:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/founder-liberty-reserve-plead...
Thought Bloomberg is well known to quickly publish 2 sentence articles to get an entry in google for breaking news and then back fill the story as it gets more details.
If you haven't heard of the bank in question, Liberty Reserve was bank that was heavily used to launder black market money. You could open an account with an email address, and no other documentation, deposit bitcoins, and then pull out your holdings in the form of cash or gold.
I'm surprised it ran as long as it did, from 2006 to 2013. There was one of the bulge bracket banks, I think Goldman, who put out a note about the bank where they speculated that it was an CIA front for trying to track the flow of black market cash. I'll try and see if I still have the research note around.
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#3This is probably a much better source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/founder-liberty-reserve-plead... Thought Bloomberg is well known to quickly publish 2 sentence articles to get an entry in google for breaking news and then back fill the story as it gets more details. If you haven't heard of the bank in question, Liberty Reserve was bank that was heavily used to launder black market money. You could open an accoun…
It's very common practise to publish a brief version of the story if it's breaking news, many respected sites do it, TV news does its equivalent, etc.
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#4That heavy jail sentence while HSBC got a "slap on the wrist", paying their way out of a criminal indictment [1].
> The settlement, announced December 11, 2012, included a $1.256 billion forfeiture and $665 million in civil fines.
> It resolved charges accusing HSBC of having degenerated into a "preferred financial institution" for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, money launderers and other wrongdoers through what the U.S. Department of Justice called "stunning failures of oversight."
(...)
>The deferred prosecution agreement, known as a DPA, lasts for five years, and prosecutors may indict the bank if it violates the terms.
> Gleeson said "much of what might have been accomplished by a criminal conviction has been agreed to in the DPA," whose administration he will supervise.
> He noted having received requests from the public to reject the agreement because it did not hold HSBC criminally liable. He also read numerous editorials and columns suggesting, as one put it, that HSBC was "too big to indict."
[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-settlement-laundering...
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#5>Prosecutors in New York said the company operated as “the financial hub for cyber criminals around the world.”
Well fortunately for the cyber criminals, I have some great suggestions for alternative banking solutions. Plus! Your co-conspirators will almost definitely never face a day in jail. Think you will have to pay for expensive flights to Switzerland to open your account? Save some of that hard earned cash and just take a walk to your nearest high street.
HSBC 2012 - $1.9b fine for laundering Mexican drug money.
JPMorgan - $13b aggressive, irresponsible mortgage lending
Bank of America - $16b ditto
Libor rate fixing - $3b, multiple banks
Forex rigging - $2b, multiple banks
BNP Paribas - $9b, violating international sanctions
PPI - £23b, multiple banks
Around $240b worth of fines between 2009-2013. Some of which can be put down to incompetence. Most of which can be put down to outright criminal fraud.
Play it fair with sentencing please.
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#6This is probably a much better source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/founder-liberty-reserve-plead... Thought Bloomberg is well known to quickly publish 2 sentence articles to get an entry in google for breaking news and then back fill the story as it gets more details. If you haven't heard of the bank in question, Liberty Reserve was bank that was heavily used to launder black market money. You could open an accoun…
It's very common practise to publish a brief version of the story if it's breaking news, many respected sites do it, TV news does its equivalent, etc.
Publishing a fleshed out version of the story after doing the brief "BREAKING NEWS" one (like the NYT usually does, for example) is very different from backfilling the original brief entry, which is what commenter is accusing Bloomberg of doing.
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#7>Prosecutors in New York said the company operated as “the financial hub for cyber criminals around the world.” Well fortunately for the cyber criminals, I have some great suggestions for alternative banking solutions. Plus! Your co-conspirators will almost definitely never face a day in jail. Think you will have to pay for expensive flights to Switzerland to open your account? Save some of that hard earned cash and…
HSBC got slapped hard Wachovia laundered >100 billion and got slapped with 160 mil. fine
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#8That heavy jail sentence while HSBC got a "slap on the wrist", paying their way out of a criminal indictment [1]. > The settlement, announced December 11, 2012, included a $1.256 billion forfeiture and $665 million in civil fines. > It resolved charges accusing HSBC of having degenerated into a "preferred financial institution" for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, money launderers and other wrongdoers through what…
I haven't read the indictment in this case, but HSBC didn't merit jail time for anyone in the U.S. The DOJ had no evidence that anyone in the U.S. at HSBC actually knew about specific money laundering transactions. The charge was based on inadequate controls. That's the classic case for a fine as opposed to jail time.
It's not illegal for your bank to be used for money laundering. Every bank is used by money launderers. And every U.S. bank knows, in the abstract, its branches are used to launder money. Read the money laundering statue: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1956. It requires transferring money with either: a) intent to promote illegal activity; or 2) knowing that the transaction is designed to conceal unlawful activity.
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#9This is probably a much better source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/founder-liberty-reserve-plead... Thought Bloomberg is well known to quickly publish 2 sentence articles to get an entry in google for breaking news and then back fill the story as it gets more details. If you haven't heard of the bank in question, Liberty Reserve was bank that was heavily used to launder black market money. You could open an accoun…
Bitcoin was just staring out back then and was barely worth anything, also there was no Bitcoin deposit option one had to use exchangers back then, I lost 700 usd back then after getting paid for a design job,should have asked for bitcoin and be a millionaire now. Lr were more reliable than PayPal who hate freelancers.
Re: 'Black Market Bank' Co-Founder Budovsky Sentenced to 20 Years
#10>Prosecutors in New York said the company operated as “the financial hub for cyber criminals around the world.” Well fortunately for the cyber criminals, I have some great suggestions for alternative banking solutions. Plus! Your co-conspirators will almost definitely never face a day in jail. Think you will have to pay for expensive flights to Switzerland to open your account? Save some of that hard earned cash and…
Beat me to it. The problem these guys had is they are not paying protection money in the form of job offers to former regulators and politicians.
Banking needs a total reform and right now. These guys are circumventing our legal systems and our democracies. They are utter filth. Their rentier activity adds nothing and takes from productive work.