I commend the bravery of the leaker/whistleblower and hope they can maintain their personal safety. It's time to expose the evil amongst the elite--all the elite--once and for all.
Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
11–20 of 116 posts
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#12Money, liquidity, and fungibility is a public good, it has been (and still is) a waste of public and private resources to attempt to alter that reality. Although this isn't a popular or public opinion by the public or banks or politicians, it is also the reality for banks and their host governments, and all lip service otherwise is either a lie for data collection or simply fails spectacularly at actually preventing…
I believe KYC is a very good idea fundamentally, and I wish more banks took it seriously with their top customers as well (or more) as with the rest. It’s not in banks’ interests, of course.
And I disagree that terrorism is cheap. Preparation for 9/11 allegedly cost up to $500K. Bojinka plot used fair amount of financing as well. Maybe those couldn’t be caught via financial controls and KYC, or maybe they could.
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#13Money, liquidity, and fungibility is a public good, it has been (and still is) a waste of public and private resources to attempt to alter that reality. Although this isn't a popular or public opinion by the public or banks or politicians, it is also the reality for banks and their host governments, and all lip service otherwise is either a lie for data collection or simply fails spectacularly at actually preventing…
I believe KYC is a very good idea fundamentally, and I wish more banks took it seriously with their top customers as well (or more) as with the rest. It’s not in banks’ interests, of course. And I disagree that terrorism is cheap. Preparation for 9/11 allegedly cost up to $500K. Bojinka plot used fair amount of financing as well. Maybe those couldn’t be caught via financial controls and KYC, or maybe they could.
Expenses are interesting and add up rapidly (as any business owner knows)... 500k over two years for 20 people is only $1000/person/month and that has to account for all living expenses plus whatever else is required (flight training, cover identities, bribes, pay-for-play etc.)
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#14This whistleblower is taking substantial personal risk. The Swiss banking secrecy laws provide for 5 year prison terms for people leaking client-sensitive information and when I worked on sensitive things in Switzerland I had to sign a document setting out the penalties and saying that I understood that I was personally liable and could (and probably would) receive jail time for disclosing anything.
Considering the profile of the people exposed, shouldn't they be more concerned for their lives than prison?
Yes. It the reversal of this scene here from Morgan Freeman in Batman: https://youtu.be/1z6o1GIEsQE?t=50
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Inflation is too high currently (no surprise), so they need something to distract the masses with
So they can spend a warping 770 Billion a year on defense. How do you even sell that with so many people struggling in the US?
Being a cynic I would say you don't sell it (except maybe with the Russian situation) but just do it. Who should stop the US government from going forward with this?
I know, I am a cynic. But I once was (young and naive) a member of the German social democrat party. I visited the state convention for their youth members. It was a perfect politics simulacrum. With decisions being made, backroom deals (because we don't like the other people - even if their proposal was factually good). And so on.
The perfect training ground for young party "soldiers" streamlined to not show any sigh of a consciousness towards real problems. Just play the power game. Show how scrupulous you are without being obvious.
I left this rotten club behind (politics) and never looked back. Nowadays 20 years later the people back thrn being good at this game and aiming for the top posts in this youth org of the SPD sit at the center of power in Berlin in relevant positions.
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe KYC is a very good idea fundamentally, and I wish more banks took it seriously with their top customers as well (or more) as with the rest. It’s not in banks’ interests, of course. And I disagree that terrorism is cheap. Preparation for 9/11 allegedly cost up to $500K. Bojinka plot used fair amount of financing as well. Maybe those couldn’t be caught via financial controls and KYC, or maybe they could.
Expenses are interesting and add up rapidly (as any business owner knows)... 500k over two years for 20 people is only $1000/person/month and that has to account for all living expenses plus whatever else is required (flight training, cover identities, bribes, pay-for-play etc.)
Yes, of course the parent did not specify what they thought as “cheap”, I am only pointing out that it is apparently not as cheap as a couple of airplane tickets.
In other words, their point was that all you need is a desire to fly an airplane into a building, but my point is that you need that plus XXX kilodollars (spread over time or not). Reportedly, one of the 9/11 guys was wired $100k in one go[0]—these amounts could be noticed, but dealing with very profitable accounts one might just be too greedy for that.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_for_the_Septe...
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#17People on HN often dismiss the "nothing to hide" argument as invalid when it comes to strong privacy rights, but... the fact remains that those who very much want to hide their illegal activities and ill-gotten gains are first in line to the banks/services with the strongest privacy guarantees (swiss banks, cryptocurrencies, e2e chat apps, etc). It's a hard problem and I don't think saying "oh well, having human traf…
Do you use HTTPS? SSH? A password manager?
Everyone has something to hide -- it is a matter of how much and from who(m). In our world of Big Data/surveillance capitalism, I don't see how you could even argue against stronger privacy rights...
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#18covid ends. russia war begins. putin to discuss ceasfire. credit suisse expose. is there any connection between these events, or am i just taking the simulation hypothesis too seriously.
> is there any connection between these events, or am i just taking the simulation hypothesis too seriously.
While I don't know about the rest, Russia has been a neocon project for a long time. If Trump hadn't given them the shock of their lives by winning and then spent the next four years sucking all the oxygen out of Washington, Hillary would have granted their wish in 2017-18.
Putin is no saint. But I think he is vastly superior to his drunkard predecessor who let the country be looted by oligarchs.
It is also possible that this is a Wag the Dog situation.[1]
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#19People on HN often dismiss the "nothing to hide" argument as invalid when it comes to strong privacy rights, but... the fact remains that those who very much want to hide their illegal activities and ill-gotten gains are first in line to the banks/services with the strongest privacy guarantees (swiss banks, cryptocurrencies, e2e chat apps, etc). It's a hard problem and I don't think saying "oh well, having human traf…
[deleted]
Re: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Inflation is too high currently (no surprise), so they need something to distract the masses with
So they can spend a warping 770 Billion a year on defense. How do you even sell that with so many people struggling in the US?
We spend triple that on the social programs.