- "WMR has learned from one of its sources in New
York that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York actively covered up massive
money laundering by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC)
United Arab Emirate branch through its branch in New York. The money laundering
consisted of questionable money movements through Dubai that involved individuals
linked to "Al Qaeda," including those connected to the 9/11 terrorist
attacks on the United States."
-
- We have now learned that the Federal Reserve Bank in
Chicago was made aware of possible terrorist-related money movements in
a Federal Reserve Board of Governors letter sent to all Federal Reserve
Banks a little over a month before the 9/11 attacks. The letter, dated
August 1, 2006, requested all cognizant Federal Reserve components, including
the bank's Financial Payments and Risk Analysis branches, to pay special
attention to Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) being submitted by component
banks.
-
- In fact, some Federal Reserve banks did notice something
very suspicious prior to 9/11. There was a dramatic downdraft in Federal
Reserve note currency holdings in July and August 2001 (this is referred
to as the M1 money supply). In fact, the decrease in Federal Reserve note
inventory was 35 percent, equating to billions of dollars. Essentially,
there was a run on cash at the banks in the months before 9/11, an event
not seen since December 1999, in the weeks before Y2K, and in January 1991,
prior to the commencement of Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf.
-
- In addition, there is also evidence that the run on cash
was masked by using Argentina, which was experiencing a banking crisis,
to evade detection by United States authorities. The spotlight on suspicious
cash transactions was Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) SpA of Argentina,
an Italian bank whose Atlanta branch featured prominently in the BCCI and
U.S. Iraq weapons transfer scandals of the 1980s. In January 2006, BNL
Argentina was acquired by none other than HSBC, the subject of attention
by UAE Central Bank authorities for suspicious transactions prior to 9/11.
In addition, Kissinger and Associates employed Timothy Geithner from 1985
to 1988. Geithner is now the ninth president and chief executive officer
of the Second District Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the entity that
stands accused of covering up information about suspicious "Al Qaeda"
money flows from the UAE, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia for possible terrorist-related
purposes prior to 9/11.
-
- "BNL was a client of Kissinger Associates. In addition,
the late Democratic Rep. Henry Gonzalez of Texas stated the following on
the floor of the House on April 26, 1991: "Henry Kissinger was a paid
member of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Consulting Board for International
Policy. Mr. Kissinger held this position during the height of the biggest
banking scandal in United States history-$4 billion in unreported loans
to Iraq by the Atlanta branch of BNL . . . Another interesting point to
note is the timing of Mr. Kissinger's supposed resignation from BNL on
February 22, 1991. That date is just days before the Justice Department
announced a 347 count indictment against the former employees of BNL after
an exhaustive 18-month investigation. This is quite a coincidence.
-
- BNL was actually a client of Kissinger Associates at
the same time BNL's former employees in Atlanta were providing Iraq with
billions in unreported loans. This solidifies Mr. Kissinger's link to BNL
and raises the question of whether Mr. Kissinger had knowledge of the BNL
loans to Iraq.
-
- As I stated last week, many Kissinger Associates clients
were doing business with the Iraqis as a direct result of the unreported
$4 billion in BNL loans to Iraq. Volvo, whose chairman serves on the Kissinger
Associates board of directors, was doing big business in Iraq and it was
the beneficiary of BNL loans.
-
- BNL was also the largest participant in the $5.5 billion
CCC program for Iraq. Between $800 and $900 million in BNL loans to Iraq
were guaranteed by the CCC. BNL was also the second largest participant
in the Export-Import [Eximbank] program for Iraq. Over $50 million in BNL
loans to Iraq were guaranteed by Eximbank. Through these programs it became
common knowledge in the export community that BNL was Iraq's prime banker
in the United States.
-
- I also reported last week that Mr. Lawrence Eagleburger
had ties to BNL. While he was serving as president of Kissinger Associates,
Eagleburger was a board member of a Yugoslavian bank that had a substantial
and even incestuous relationship with BNL. BNL was a main factor in the
growth of that Yugoslavian bank's operations in the United States.
-
- Despite the many linkages between Kissinger Associates
and BNL, Mr. Kissinger still maintains that he had no knowledge of the
$4 billion in BNL loans to Iraq.
-
- The fact that BNL was a client of Kissinger Associates
also solidifies the link between BNL and two very high ranking Bush administration
employees, NSC Director Brent Scowcroft and Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence
Eagleburger. Mr. Lawrence Eagleburger and Mr. Brent Scowcroft were both
high ranking employees of Kissinger Associates during the period BNL was
a client of Kissinger Associates. In other words, part of their paychecks
was derived from fees paid by BNL.
-
- The fact that BNL was a client of Kissinger Associates
also raises the question of how Mr. Eagleburger and Mr. Scowcroft reacted
to the BNL scandal once it became known to them in the fall of 1989. I
wonder if either thought it necessary to recuse himself from making decisions
on Iraq once the BNL scandal was uncovered?"
-
- Eagleburger is a member of the Iraq Study Group, replacing
Robert Gates, Defense Secretary-designate, who was CIA deputy director
at the time of the BNL loans to Saddam Hussein. Scowcroft is a close friend
of group chairman James Baker. There are still many questions about the
strange suicide death earlier this year of Phillip Merrill, the head of
the Eximbank under George W. Bush.
-
- We have also learned their was a dramatic spike in diamond
market transactions prior to 9/11. Diamonds have been used by "Al
Qaeda" and the Russian-Israeli Mafia to launder cash to evade detection
by financial surveillance authorities. Many of the diamond transactions
occurred in West Africa, a center for terrorist-related financing according
to a former chief of the Mossad, who spoke to the editor on background.
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