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FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

nytimes.com

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Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#331

Post by 542354234235 »

pjc50 wrote: post #262
saghm wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that you can just ask for $40M in gold bars as a CIA agent and they don't have a better way of figuring out if you pocketed it than looking for it later (and apparently taking a while to think of checking his home?)

Probably a mini Iran-Contra. Get approval for paying $40m to [SECRET] to carry out acts of pro-US terrorism. Steal the gold. Tip off the enemies of the group so they fail/are killed/arrested. Then report to your superior that the mission was a failure due to enemy action.

Or get approval for $5m, run operation for $2m and pocket the rest. Operation has provable, demonstratable effects, and the falsified payoffs are mixed in with the real ones. If people check up on you, you can point them to assets still on the books to confirm a payoff or funding for equipment. Rinse and repeat. Its just embezzlement, but in an environment where the assets are supposed to not be traceable. Rinse and repeat.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#332

Post by [deleted] »

jack_pp wrote: post #293
lab14 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you see smart people all over the world talking to imaginary, supernatural, all powerfull beings asking for favors via prayers, like that would have any effect on their lives.

Newton believed in God, ask an LLM what famous scientists believed in God, take a step back and ask if you think you are smarter than those people.

[deleted]

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#333

Post by Tangurena2 »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #283
Tangurena2 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whenever you say "nobody would be that stupid" you have to pause and take a deep breath and realise that however dumb something is, there are for sure people who are stupid enough to do it. Long ago, I graduated from a police academy. One of the things taught was that crooks, while clever at finding ways to make money, are rather unclever ("stupid" if you will) at performing that task. Which is why so many are caug…

I think we often underestimate the intelligence of the criminal population for two main reasons. 1. The dumbest ones are most likely to be caught and have their stories told. 2. Law Enforcement often gets frustrated at chasing the smarter ones and use illegal methods catching them and the real story doesn’t come out in court.

The really smart ones leave people wondering if a crime really happened at all. It doesn't even need to be Oceans 11/12/n++, it can be simply "are you even sure the money is missing?"

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#334

Post by rbanffy »

hypeatei wrote: post #238
e40 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vetting has been put on hold in cases where there are labor shortages. Don’t remember where, but I read an account of a military guy applying to ICE and they did no vetting at all, and had he accepted the jobs with a sizablebonus (he did it to see what their process was) he would have been deployed without training. At the time the source and person seemed credible. This is what happens when a new administration fire…

DHS is not the same as the CIA. The former is heavily politicized and the latter kinda just does its own thing and I'm pretty sure they haven't paused vetting (ICE agents don't require TS/SCI clearance like CIA officers)

All you need to join ICE is being a certified neonazi, so background checks would only jeopardise that policy.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#335

Post by NuclearPM »

jack_pp wrote: post #293
lab14 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you see smart people all over the world talking to imaginary, supernatural, all powerfull beings asking for favors via prayers, like that would have any effect on their lives.

Newton believed in God, ask an LLM what famous scientists believed in God, take a step back and ask if you think you are smarter than those people.

It made more sense to believe this stuff back in the 1600s.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#336

Post by rbanffy »

thephyber wrote: post #244
rbanffy wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it still vets them. This is very odd.

Does it? He is accused of fabricating his educational credentials. Either this guy is fantastic at lying or the orgs where he worked are falling flat on due diligence.

One thing I was reminded by a friend is that exposing his fabrication would make that information useless. As long as the person who knows it wasn’t involved in the vetting process, they now have leverage over at least two people.

As someone said, all spies are bastards.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#337

Post by stickfigure »

jack_pp wrote: post #293
lab14 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you see smart people all over the world talking to imaginary, supernatural, all powerfull beings asking for favors via prayers, like that would have any effect on their lives.

Newton believed in God, ask an LLM what famous scientists believed in God, take a step back and ask if you think you are smarter than those people.

Newton spent more of his life working on alchemy than math or physics. Shall we all start searching for the Philosopher's Stone? Why not?

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#338

Post by 542354234235 »

rbanffy wrote: post #329
jagged-chisel wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out the Cirrus Vision. About $3 million. Very decent jet. Seven people, easy to fly, nifty safety features.

The Vision is tiny. It doesn’t even have a bedroom. Not even a single bathroom.

That is an "its technically a jet" jet, not a jet that anyone would picture in their mind if you told them "I own a private jet".

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#339

Post by Ntrails »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #283
Tangurena2 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whenever you say "nobody would be that stupid" you have to pause and take a deep breath and realise that however dumb something is, there are for sure people who are stupid enough to do it. Long ago, I graduated from a police academy. One of the things taught was that crooks, while clever at finding ways to make money, are rather unclever ("stupid" if you will) at performing that task. Which is why so many are caug…

I think we often underestimate the intelligence of the criminal population for two main reasons. 1. The dumbest ones are most likely to be caught and have their stories told. 2. Law Enforcement often gets frustrated at chasing the smarter ones and use illegal methods catching them and the real story doesn’t come out in court.

> Law Enforcement often gets frustrated at chasing the smarter ones

and gives up, moving on to easier prey - and ideally getting them to plead to the other crimes I can't solve as part of a nice plea deal. Great for the stats.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#340

Post by mullingitover »

NuclearPM wrote: post #335
jack_pp wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Newton believed in God, ask an LLM what famous scientists believed in God, take a step back and ask if you think you are smarter than those people.

It made more sense to believe this stuff back in the 1600s.

It also made sense to say you believed in God, because if you did anything else people would do things like burning you alive. Even now, although it’s not usually as violent religion is frequently very coercive.
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