Jaw-Dropping Crimes of the Big Banks

https://i0.wp.com/farm8.staticflickr.com/7124/7534252614_dc24534f4a_b.jpg?resize=194%2C230These guys should get hemp rope first. After all, they own the politicians.

Washington’s Blog

Preface: Not all banks are criminal enterprises. The wrongdoing of a particular bank cannot be attributed to other banks without proof. But – as documented below – many of the biggest banks have engaged in unimaginably bad behavior.

You Won’t Believe What They’ve Done …

Here are just some of the improprieties by big banks:  

  • Engaging in mafia-style big-rigging fraud against local governments. See thisthis and this
  • Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details hereherehereherehere,herehereherehereherehere and here
  • Pledging the same mortgage multiple times to different buyers. See thisthisthisthis and this. This would be like selling your car, and collecting money from 10 different buyers for the same car
  • Committing massive fraud in an $800 trillion dollar market which effects everything from mortgages, student loans, small business loans and city financing
  • Pushing investments which they knew were terrible, and then betting against the same investments to make money for themselves. See thisthisthisthis and this
  • Engaging in unlawful “Wash Trades” to manipulate asset prices. See thisthis and this
  • Participating in various Ponzi schemes. See thisthis and this
  • Bribing and bullying ratings agencies to inflate ratings on their risky investments

The executives of the big banks invariably pretend that the hanky-panky was only committed by a couple of low-level rogue employees. But studies show that most of the fraud is committed by management.

Indeed, one of the world’s top fraud experts – professor of law and economics, and former senior S&L regulator Bill Black – says that most financial fraud is “control fraud”, where the people who own the banks are the ones who implement systemic fraud. See thisthis and this.

Even the bank with the reputation as being the “best managed bank” in the U.S., JP Morgan, has engaged in massive fraud. For example, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report today quoting an examiner at the Office of Comptroller of the Currency – JPMorgan’s regulator – saying he felt the bank had “lied to” and “deceived” the agency over the question of whether the bank had mismarked its books to hide the extent of losses. And Joshua Rosner – noted bond analyst, and Managing Director at independent research consultancy Graham Fisher & Co – notes that JP Morgan had many similar anti money laundering laws violations as HSBC, failed to segregate accounts a la MF Global, and paid almost 12% of its 2009-12 net income on regulatory and legal settlements.

But at least the big banks do good things for society, like loaning money to Main Street, right?

Actually:

  • The big banks have slashed lending since they were bailed out by taxpayers … while smaller banks have increased lending. See thisthis and this

We can almost understand why Thomas Jefferson warned:

And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies ….

John Adams said:

Banks have done more injury to religion, morality, tranquillity, prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they have done or ever will do good.

And Lord Acton argued:

The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.

No wonder a stunning list of prominent economists, financial experts and bankers say we need to break up the big banks.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/03/stunning-crimes-of-the-big-banks-updated-list.html

5 thoughts on “Jaw-Dropping Crimes of the Big Banks

  1. There’s no doubt that these bankers need to swing, but what about the kids they raised? Haven’t they been taught that profit is derived from the callous disregard for humanity and human suffering their parents display? Is it even possible that they’ll behave any better?
    These banking families have been a festering sore on the human race for many generations, and that’s why it’s important to make sure they’re stripped of all their wealth and that their kids are tossed into the street penniless, if they’re not hung alongside their parents.
    If they’re left with any wealth whatsoever, they’ll use it to ply the only trade they’ve ever known.

  2. Read _Snakes in Suits — When Psychopaths Go to Work_ by Paul Babiak and Robert Hare. Then bank management will become all too clear. There is a growing chorus of demands for routine testing for psychopathy for all persons in positions of authority or influence over public policy. Indeed, that is the only thing that can ever turn this around.

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