[PenultimateManStanding]

Union Bank Of California has agreed to pay fines of $31.6 million for laundering cocaine money.. This raises some questions. It's a major theme for the likes of Ruppert and Savinar that laundering drug money is an important component of the American economy. My assumption has been that they are correct. But why then, was UBOC busted? If that money is so vital, then why would the Justice Department go after them? Something doesn't add up. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe some rogue prosecutors who aren't down with the program, maybe somebody didn't get paid off, maybe UBOC just isn't important enough and doesn't have the right connections. It could be that East Coast banks can get away with stuff that West Coast banks cannot.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')why then, was UBOC busted?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')why then, was UBOC busted?

[threadbear]

Perhaps their laundering techniques were just too blatant, PMS. Or maybe they were muscling in on some other bank's territory. You know, Banks 'n the Hood.

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')why then, was UBOC busted?

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')why then, was UBOC busted?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', ' ')
Some people and even some banks commit criminal acts. Some get caught and prosecuted. When the feds go after major drug cartels and dealer networks, they often try to trace and seize their bank accounts. Seems like the trail on one drug investigation led to your bank, and they got busted.

There is no big mystery in that.

[smallpoxgirl]

They have to enforce the laws once in a while or everyone would realize that the whole thing is a farce. Either because someone is too blatent in their corruption, or they anger the wrong powerful person, or just because of the caprice of the rulers, they are chosen as a sacraficial lamb. They are smitten by the government as a demonstration of law and order. It's the same reason the Enron executives are wearing orange jumpsuits while every other CEO in America is wearing a pinstripe suit and doing the exact same thing.

To quote Syriana: "What we are looking for is the appearance of due diligence."

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'T')hey have to enforce the laws once in a while or everyone would realize that the whole thing is a farce. Either because someone is too blatent in their corruption, or they anger the wrong powerful person, or just because of the caprice of the rulers, they are chosen as a sacraficial lamb. They are smitten by the government as a demonstration of law and order. It's the same reason the Enron executives are wearing orange jumpsuits while every other CEO in America is wearing a pinstripe suit and doing the exact same thing.

[threadbear]

You have to put on a real play, once in a while, after creating all the props, sets, and stages, that provide cover for the rotting, maggot covered mass of institutional crime.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'T')hat's pretty much my impression, too. Sorry you don't like Diana Krall, because otherwise we think along the same lines.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'T')hat's pretty much my impression, too. Sorry you don't like Diana Krall, because otherwise we think along the same lines.

[MattSavinar]

Probably the bank fucked up. 99/100 times, the prosecutors are doing their best to go after the bad guys. They have no idea how big and nasty the whole thing is simply because the bad guys are so sophisticated and well-funded that the laundering techniques are beyond the ability of the far inferior funded DOJ to track.

Now you may think "but the DOJ has so much money." Well however much they have the top drug cartels have 10x more. The cartels are laundering money using cutting edge tech from 2008 while the DOJ is using (for the most part) cutting edge tech from 1998 tech, if that makes sense. So the cartels run circles around the DOJ simply because they have so much more money and more advanced tech.

It's like when you hear about a big drug bust. It's always "this is so huge, the biggest in X years." But for every shipment that gets caught, 100 go through free and clear. Same thing for the money laundering end. Every once in a while somebody will get "caught." But for every $1 of narco-dollars that gets caught, $100 flow right in no problemo.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')why then, was UBOC busted?

[Angry_Chimp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')why then, was UBOC busted?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', '
')It's like when you hear about a big drug bust. It's always "this is so huge, the biggest in X years." But for every shipment that gets caught, 100 go through free and clear. Same thing for the money laundering end. Every once in a while somebody will get "caught." But for every $1 of narco-dollars that gets caught, $100 flow right in no problemo.

[Chesire]

Why did UBOC get "caught" who knows maybe it was just their turn

The indictments will continue until morale improves.

[lotrfan55345]

Hasn't cocaine/heroin/drugs that actually make a lot of $$$ use gone dramatically down these past few decades?

How do these cartels still make all this money...
Unless I'm missing something

[kadoomsoon]

It is hard to fathom motives.

[kadoomsoon]

Spend the cash while it is worth something.