Major documents that are housed within the Treasury Department’s, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, have been released. These files are not to be released, nonetheless, various news agencies and investigative journalists got their hands on them and have been going through them for over a year – connecting the dots and painting a picture. The story it tells is one where between 1999 and 2017, banks flagged over $2 trillion in suspicious activity transactions. The suspicious activity reports or SARs that are filed by banks and sent to FinCEN, are done so for the purpose of identifying and tracking illegal behaviors. These actions can range from the financing of terrorism, drug operations, Ponzi schemes, kleptocratic regimes, and the like. These documents will be on the level of previous releases, such as the Snowden files, Panama Papers, and various Wikileaks reports.
Pertaining to finance, this of course has a global reach and engulfs the largest banks in the world, which despite filing the SARs, are still able to collect fees off of these transactions, and rarely if ever have to pay fines. Further, executives and board members are rarely if ever held to account either criminally or civilly. And should fines be paid, then it’s the shareholders who flip the bill and not the managers who knew about these activities and/or allowed them to continue. It is no surprise that the Treasury Department is not pleased that some of these documents are likely going to be published, and express their concerns on how such a release can compromise national security and law enforcement interests. This is the typical line that is given from the government – “hiding” behind national security. There is no question that legitimate national security and law enforcement activities are of concern and should be. However, how many times have we heard this as justification from the government, only to learn that they did so to conceal wrongdoing within various departments and to infringe on the peoples’ Constitutional rights? If we’re supposed to be a government, of, by, and for the people, then how can the people make the right decision(s) in electing our political leaders, and focus on the most important issues, if the people are intentionally left in the dark?
This story will not go away anytime soon. However, what does come into question, is how much attention it will get on the mainstream media, within the Congress, within the White House, and within the public. So do not be surprised if there is an attempt to “sweep this under the rug.” Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Banks #Fraud #Bailouts #Debt #USA #Recession #BuzzFeed