Sam Bankman-Fried Charged in New York & Arrested in the Bahamas


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re-Posted Dec 12, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Sam Bankman-Fried of cryptocurrency giant FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, has been arrested in the Bahamas on criminal charges, the Bahamas Attorney General’s Office announced Monday. The arrest “followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition,” the office said.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

He will be held at MCC, the same dungeon in which Jeffrey Epstein supposedly committed suicide. WIth his connections with all the Democrats, this is going to be interesting to see if he too suddenly commits suicide.

Bill Barr is Contributor to Bari Weiss Twitter File Release Website


Posted originally on the CTH on December 12, 2022 | Sundance 

I’m not going to write extensively about this because I respect your intellectual ability to see the obvious.  Questions have been raised about why the Twitter File releases appear to have been structured in a fashion to protect government interests.

Well, the new Bari Weiss website that was set up to launch as an exclusive outcome of the Twitter File release, includes a current contributor and former 2020 control officer of the DOJ who would have facilitated the DHS/FBI contact with social media; the stuff that is transparently missing from the Twitter File releases.

SOURCE ]

Yes, former AG Bill Barr is a content partner with Twitter File narrative engineer Bari Weiss.  Gee, I wonder how that happens?

Oh look, and what a coincidence… they are both promoting Ron DeSantis.

Wait… Elon Musk is also promoting Ron Desantis… and Mr Musk is simultaneously promoting the Bari Weiss website that promotes Ron DeSantis… and contains Twitter File releases that are conspicuously missing the discussion angle of FBI influence in the 2020 election… Almost as if… wait, nah, that would be conspiracy talk.  Just ordinary coincidences everywhere, for sure.

Day Before Congressional Testimony, Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested in the Bahamas Awaiting Extradition Request from U.S. DOJ


Posted originally on the CTH on December 12, 2022 | Sundance

The timing is transparent, given all of the political donations organized by FTX Cryptocurrency CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for politicians, mostly Democrats, in office.

On the day before he was scheduled to give testimony to congress, a testimony likely to be entertaining with representatives asking specific questions about political contributions by the known fraud MBS to other specific members of congress, the cryptocurrency executive is arrested in the Bahamas.

(Via Daily Mail) – Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO of FTX, has been arrested. 

The crypto billionaire, 30, was arrested in The Bahamas – where he has been hiding out since his $32 billion empire came crashing down last month – and he is now facing criminal charges in the US.

American prosecutors have filed the unspecified charges against the FTX founder, and are ‘likely to request his extradition.’  

In a statement, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said: ‘The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law. 

‘While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere.’  (read more)

New Infographic Giving Context for U.S. Financial Aid to Ukraine – The Zelenskyy Clearing House Sweepstakes


Posted originally on the CTH on December 12, 2022 | Sundance 

United States is spending in Ukraine.

Each dot in the video represents $100,000.00 as outlined.

The source for the graphic data is the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  Just hit play:

Visualizing U.S. Aid to Ukraine from Will Geary on Vimeo.

Former DNI John Ratcliffe Discusses Corrupt Deep State DNI Election Official Shelby Pierson Meeting with Twitter and Social Media


Posted originally on the CTH on December 12, 2022 | Sundance 

Former Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, appeared on Sunday with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the Twitter file release that pertained to his former office and the contact between DNI election official Shelby Pierson and Twitter executive Noel Roth. {Direct Rumble Link}

DNI Ratcliffe does not use Shelby Pierson’s name within his comments, but refutes her action as described within the release by Matt Taibbi.  WATCH:

.

Within the Twitter file release, you will find Twitter’s lead censor, Yoel Roth, meeting with an official from the U.S. Dept of National Intelligence (DNI).  From the testimony of FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan, we know that official was Shelby Pierson.  Chan was speaking under oath in an ongoing first amendment lawsuit against the Biden administration for manipulating and censoring speech on social media.

To see the connective tissue between the events in 2011 (Egypt) and the events a decade later in 2020 (USA), it is worth noting a discussion that took place in early 2020 between Shelby Pierson and former CIA Director Mike Morell.

Mike Morell was made CIA Director after General Petraeus was removed in 2012 by then DNI James Clapper at the behest of President Obama.  With his new position, Mike Morell was the Obama official who gave testimony to congress about CIA operations in/around the Libyan Benghazi compound attack on 9/11/11.  Morell was put into this position to protect Hillary Clinton and President Obama for the crisis they created in Libya, the covert arms sales to Libya, and ultimately the Benghazi attack that stemmed from State Dept and CIA efforts to retrieve those illegal weapons.

During the 2016 Presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Mike Morell was a key voice helping to frame the narrative that Russia was planning to interfere in the election.  Morell, no longer in government and working for Clinton, was another 2016 vector seeding the Trump-Russia narrative to the media while Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele worked outside sending various files to FBI allies to assist the fraudulent framework.

Mike Morell is a key Clinton/Obama loyalist and tool of the national security state.  Morell is now a CBS intelligence analyst and contributor.

Back to Shelby Pierson….  In early January 2020 Ms. Pierson and Mr Morell were discussing the upcoming presidential election from the perspective of how the U.S. Intelligence Community would be engaged.  Emphasis mine:

(Via CBS) – In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Shelby Pierson, a career intelligence official recently named the Intelligence Community Election Threats Executive within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Pierson details past, present and future election security threats facing the U.S., and explains how the intelligence community has partnered with other government agencies to boost visibility into foreign interference efforts.

She explains how the threat landscape has broadened since 2016, and tells Morell what new vectors foreign adversaries may consider using in 2020. Pierson also offers new insights into Russia’s systematic efforts to interfere in the 2016 and 2018 midterm elections. This is the latest installment of a continuing series on “Leadership of the IC,” featuring currently-serving senior leadership within the U.S. intelligence community. (link)   

Keep in mind, Shelby Pierson is the key official from the ODNI office, talking to FBI liaison Elvis Chan about frameworks for social media censorship and the specific needs of the U.S. government in October 2020.  At the same time, it is Shelby Pierson who is coordinating withe Twitter Executive Yoel Roth.

I urge readers to read the full CBS transcript above get a sense Ms. Pierson from the context of her conversation with fellow traveler Mike Morell in January 2020.

Then, not coincidentally, we go to the CTH archives from February 2020:

February 23, 2020 – […] Sending shockwaves through the intelligence community, it was reported yesterday that newly appointed Acting DNI Richard “Ric” Grenell asked the intelligence community, specifically including Shelby Pierson, to produce the underlying intelligence within the briefing she gave to the House Intelligence Committee.

Well, what do you know…. All of a sudden today, anonymous intelligence officials are reporting to CNN that Ms. Pierson “overstepped” her position, was “misleading” in her briefing, and “mischaracterized” the underlying intelligence.   Imagine that.

Washington (CNN)-The US intelligence community’s top election security official appears to have overstated the intelligence community’s formal assessment of Russian interference in the 2020 election, omitting important nuance during a briefing with lawmakers earlier this month, three national security officials told CNN.

The official, Shelby Pierson, told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election with the goal of helping President Donald Trump get reelected.

[…] “The intelligence doesn’t say that,” one senior national security official told CNN. “A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it’s a step short of that.

[…] One intelligence official said that Pierson’s characterization of the intelligence was “misleading” and a national security official said Pierson failed to provide the “nuance” needed to accurately convey the US intelligence conclusions.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where Pierson is a senior official, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. (more)

Why would Shelby Pierson and Joseph Maguire intentionally blindside the White House?

The briefing was obviously spun by HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff and democrats on the House intel committee; and there was no intelligence presented during the briefing to support the claims made by Pierson, Democrats and media. (2020 LINK)

What you see now surfacing is evidence of the framework of 2020 election manipulation from the DNI office.  That government manipulation later manifests in the public-private partnership between the U.S. government and Twitter, as highlighted in the releases of the Twitter files.

Maker of Electric Jeep Vehicles Closing Illinois Plant and Moving to Mexico


Posted originally on the CTH on December 11, 2022 | Sundance 

Stellantis is a multinational automaker contracted for the electric version of the Jeep Cherokee.  Citing high costs to produce electric vehicles, on Friday Stellantis announced a decision to idle the Belvedere, Illinois plant starting on Feb. 28, 2023, and notified 1,350 workers of the layoffs.

(Via Fox) […] “This difficult but necessary action will result in indefinite layoffs, which are expected to exceed six months and may constitute a job loss under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. As a result, WARN notices have been issued to both hourly and salaried employees,” it said. “The company will make every effort to place indefinitely laid off employees in open full-time positions as they become available.”

Today The Daily Mail is reporting that production of the electric Jeep will take place in Mexico.

Hundreds of workers are expected to be laid off when automaker Stellantis closes an assembly plant in northern Illinois early next year, citing the challenge of rising costs of electric vehicle production.

The company, which employs about 1,350 workers at the plant in Belvidere, Illinois, said the action will result in indefinite layoffs and it may not resume operations as it considers other options. 

Stellantis said the industry ‘has been adversely affected by a multitude of factors like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the global microchip shortage, but the most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related to the electrification of the automotive market.’

The Belvidere plant, produces the Jeep Cherokee SUV, will be idle starting on February 28, 2023, Stellantis said. The plant in Toluca, Mexico will now produce the vehicles. (read more)

One aspect of this move that deserves additional attention is the U.S. and Canada focus on new energy policy, against the backdrop of Mexico telling the Biden administration the USMCA partner was going to continue development of traditional oil, coal and natural gas energy production.

Should Mexico continue to maintain a more traditional energy policy, they will likely create a greater cost incentive for all manufacturers.  With electricity rates skyrocketing in the U.S. and Canada, any energy dependent manufacturer would see an additional advantage to production in Mexico.

It will be worthwhile watching this dynamic closely and seeing what type of pressure the Biden administration will apply to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador to fall in line.