$378 Billion for Drug Cartels from Wachovia, and No Charges!

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Now isn’t that a deceptive headline!

Because of course Wachovia charged the drug cartels a lot of money to launder $378 billion for them.

“No charges” only applies to the legal consequences of laundering $378 billion for drug-lords.

Wachovia admitted it didn’t do enough to spot illicit funds in handling $378.4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. That’s the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in U.S. history — a sum equal to one-third of Mexico’s current gross domestic product.

“Wachovia’s blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations,” says Jeffrey Sloman, the federal prosecutor who handled the case.

That sounds like a very serious crime to me, especially when you consider that…

Since 2006, more than 22,000 people have been killed in drug-related battles that have raged mostly along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border that Mexico shares with the U.S. In the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, 700 people had been murdered this year as of mid- June.

Wow.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the bankers who funded so many murders were charged as accomplices, and according to U.S. Code Title 18 Section 2(a)…

Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal.

Aid the offense, and you’re as guilty as a principal, which is to say…

The bankers are just as guilty of thousands of murders as the trigger-men.

But that’s only black-letter law, and for bankers, black-letter law is replaced by…

Hee-haw law!

For bankers, American law is just a pathetic joke!

After a 22-month investigation, the Justice Department on March 12 charged Wachovia with violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to run an effective anti-money-laundering program.

Five days later, Wells Fargo promised in a Miami federal courtroom to revamp its detection systems. Wachovia’s new owner paid $160 million in fines and penalties, less than 2 percent of its $12.3 billion profit in 2009.

If Wells Fargo keeps its pledge, the U.S. government will, according to the agreement, drop all charges against the bank in March 2011.  

No charges! Not for the bank, and not for any of the executives who laundered $378 billion for the drug-cartels!

Did they know what they were doing?

“As early as 2004, Wachovia understood the risk,” the bank admitted in court. “Despite these warnings, Wachovia remained in the business.”

From 2004 to 2010, more than 22,000 people were murdered by the drug-lords that Wachovia financed!

No charges! No law for bankers!

Hee haw!