FYI, global mega-bank HSBC
just agreed to a 1.9 BILLION dollar fine.
Now why would you pay such a huge fine?
The NY Times says it was, “to
settle charges that the British banking giant transferred billions of dollars
for sanctioned nations, facilitated Mexican drug cartels to launder tainted
money and worked with Saudi Arabian banks with ties to terrorist organizations.”
This might seem hugely
significant. Certainly the bank wants
you to know that it is a different organization now, that the past mistakes
will never be repeated, etc. But ABC
News says, “Announcement of the immense
fine was overshadowed Tuesday by efforts to explain why, in one of the
clearest cases of criminal money laundering in recent memory, no one would be
facing jail time. Criminal conviction on money laundering violations would
have also forcibly prevented HSBC from doing business in the United States.”
No jail time, in spite of
the fact that the Mexican arm of HSBC funneled 7 billion dollars into the US
over the period of time the investigation covered. And the company won’t be barred from working
in the USA, in spite of the fact they clearly should be. Instead, they will pay the huge amount of 9%
of this years profit.
Yeah. That’ll teach ’em.
Or maybe it will teach the
whole world that if you have enough cash, you can do pretty much whatever you
want, including flaunting US law. Maybe
instead, it teaches the whole world that USA jobs at a foreign owned company
are more important than the lives ruined world over by terrorists and drug
lords. Maybe it will teach the whole
world that all they really need to do is slightly increase the price of selling
drugs and seeding terror to offset the cost of hiding their money laundering
better.
Nah. That’ll never happen. BTW, HSBC shares went up when the news broke today.
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