The Media Freedom Foundation » Mile

Wachovia Bank Laundered Money for Latin American Drug Cartels

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:31:52 +0000

Between 2004 and 2007 Wachovia Bank handled funds totaling $378.4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses acting on behalf of drug cartels. Wachovia conceded it didn’t do enough oversight in processing the $378.4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. The transactions amount to the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in U.S. history.

Between 2006 and 2010, over 22,000 people have been killed in drug-related battles that have raged mostly along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) Mexico-U.S. border. Illegal narcotics cost the U.S. economy $215 billion annually.

Martin Woods, who directed Wachovia’s anti-money-laundering unit in London from 2006 to 2009, left the bank after Wachovia executives disregarded documentation he produced showing drug dealers were channeling money through Wachovia’s branch network.

The case of Wachovia is not exceptional; it is just one of the U.S. and European banks that have been used by the drug cartels to launder money. Since the early 1990s, Latin American drug traffickers have gone to U.S. banks to launder their dirty cash, says Paul Campo, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s financial crimes unit.

Sources:

Article Title: American Banks ‘High’ On Drug Money: How a Whistleblower Blew the Lid Off Wachovia-Drug Cartel Money Laundering Scheme, AlterNet, November 1, 2011.
Author: Clarence Walker
URL:http://www.alternet.org/story/151135/american_banks_’high’_on_drug_money:_how_a_whistleblower_blew_the_lid_off_wachovia-drug_cartel_money_laundering_scheme>.

Article Title: The Banksters Laundered Mexican Cartel Drug Money, Economic Populist, June 29, 2010.
Author: Robert Oak
URL: http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/banksters-laundered-mexican-cartel-drug-money.

Article Title: Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal, Bloomberg, June 29, 2010.
Author: Michael Smith
URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html>.

Student Researcher: Alysha Klein, Florida Atlantic University
Faculty Advisor: James F. Tracy, Florida Atlantic UniversitySimilar Posts:

Secretive Arms Tycoon Behind New Uranium Mine

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:09:17 +0000

James Neal Blue, who helped devise the Predator unmanned aircraft that are in use in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is the director of a company that bought the Four Mile uranium mine in Australia. Blue is the chairman of Quasar Resources, which is affiliated with General Atomics, a major United States weapons and nuclear energy corporation. General Atomics reportedly holds $700 million in Pentagon contracts. The Four Mile mine is located next to the Beverly Uranium mine, with is owned by another affiliate of General Atomics. Environmental groups in Australia are worried about the environmental standards that the government has set for the mine, as there is not requirement for the company to ever clean up the radioactive trail that is expected to flow around the water supply. In his Forbes profile, it shows Blue’s primary job is as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Oceanic Exploration Company, but he is also listed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for General Atomics as well as a couple other similar positions. This story is relevant not only to people in Australia but also the U.S. and the world because this kind of connection seems to suggest that our government is still making nuclear weapons.

Sources: “Secretive arms tycoon behind new uranium mine.” Ben Cubby, Sydney Morning Herald, July 16, 2009.

http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id=634532

“James Neal Blue.” No author, Forbes, 2009.

http://people.forbes.com/profile/james-neal-blue/59511

Student Researchers: Colin Doran, Ryan Huffman, Mikey Hemkens

Faculty Instructor: Kevin Howley, Associate Professor of Media Studies, DePauw University

Evaluator: Jeff McCall Professor of Communications, DePauw UniversitySimilar Posts:

Secretive US Arms Tycoon behind New Uranium Mine in Australia

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:40:21 +0000

A US mining company is threatening the sacred lands of Aboriginal peoples in Australia. In the outback of the Southern Australian Adelaide and Flinders Ranges, the United States weapons and energy producing giant: Quasar Resources is venturing with Alliance Resources to mine over 3.9 million tons of U308, also known as yellowcake or depleted uranium from the newly discovered Four Mile Mine. Quasar is controlled by billionaire James Neil Blue, who holds over a billion dollars in Pentagon contracts for energy and weapons manufacturing. Blue was instrumental in designing the unmanned Predator aircraft currently being used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The local communities, traditional owners, and Adnyamathanha Aboriginals are outraged with the Australian government, stating that their voices haven’t been heard during the negotiations for the Four Mile uranium mine, and that Quasar Resources and the Government are simply ignoring their cultural and health concerns. The other uranium enriched Beverly Mine, located next to the Four Mile Mine has already had a recorded 59 spills of radioactive material since the past decade, according to the South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Resources. Mining U308 is highly dangerous and can cause dermatitis, renal damage and acute necrotic arterial lesions and death.

Title: Secretive US Arms Tycoon behind New Uranium Mine in Australia

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald 7/16/2009

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/secretive-arms-tycoon-behind-new-uranium-mine-20090715-dllw.html

Author: Ben Cubby

Student Researcher: Eric Herbert

Faculty Evaluator: Irv Peterson, ENSP

Sonoma State University: Sociology of Media, Fall 2009

Instructor: Peter Phillips, #04Similar Posts: