Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters, corrupt politicians

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

strogonoff wrote: post #16

radicaldreamer wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Post by barry-cotter » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 7:54 PM UTC

rich_sasha wrote: post #27

barry-cotter wrote: post #23

> This article is a bit difficult to understand; there's a mixture of actual money laundering with the non-crime of "a really bad person has a bank account". There's a difficult and IMO increasingly urgent question here, of whether the banking system is a utility or something else. There's no whistleblowers from the electricity company, even though it literally kept the lights on for murderers and traffickers. Nobody…

Whilst I agree with everything you say (quote?), you’re not meant to bank with unexplained or unsavoury sources of funds. Eg storing money you stole from your murdered is not better than money laundering. Iirc some of the CS clients fell into this category and the bank was very keen to not ask questions. I’m pretty sure there is a bank somewhere in the Alps where Kim Jong Un has a little bank account under an appropr…

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 7:56 PM UTC

ls15 wrote: post #28

umvi wrote: post #5

People 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…

The worst apples will always find a way to protect their privacy, while the innocent majority of people is having their privacy invaded against their best interests.

Post by anonymouse008 » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 7:59 PM UTC

vmception wrote: post #21

strogonoff wrote: post #12

Earlier 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.

Correct, I consider that cheap when HSBC subsequently laundered billions of dollars over the following decade after the PATRIOT Act. The same PATRIOT Act that wouldnt have flagged wire transfers the terrorists used even if it existed before 9/11. It's just an opportunistic data collection program on everyone else. With billions slipping through from any random branch manager at any bank anywhere, how many 9/11s is th…

Post by bostonsre » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 8:03 PM UTC

social_quotient wrote: post #26

nathanaldensr wrote: post #11

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.

Should it be limited to just elite or everyone all the way down? Not trolling you as it might sound but how do you draw lines between elite and not elite.