A treaty was signed between Ukraine and the USA which plainly states that Ukraine will assist in any investigation that may lead to criminal activity. There certainly is nothing that is impeachable to ask Ukraine to investigate Biden, which has long been considered a very strange conflict of interest.
In the real world, company directors would agree to do business with an American firm and request something personally in return like a family trip to Disneyland. In the real world, anyone in the private sector would be prosecuted for what Biden did with his son. It is called the Foreign CorruptPractices Act. There is absolutely no way I could agree to even pay for a trip or anything with the director of a foreign company we deal with even as a courtesy. It is presumed to be a bribe.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a United States law passed in 1977 that prohibits US firms and individuals from paying bribes to foreign officials in furtherance of a business deal. The FCPA places no minimum amount for a punishment of a bribery payment.
In 2010, the SEC’s Enforcement Division created a specialized unit to further enhance its enforcement of the FCPA, which prohibits companies issuing stock in the US from bribing foreign officials for government contracts and other business.
If I got a family member a job with a country or company that I was doing business with, I would AUTOMATICALLY be prosecuted by the SEC. So why is Joe Biden above the law?
The mere fact that the Democrats are yelling impeachment over this issue confirms that the entire Russian nonsense failed. This is by no means an impeachable offense. In fact, anyone else in the private sector would be in prison for what Joe Biden & his family did. Hillary met with donors from Ukraine to buy influence. She denied ever meeting them but her emails showed she did. They were both deeply involved in Ukraine.
The natural response is being played out now. The State Department is stepping up its investigation of Hillary’s emails concerning the ties to Ukraine. If the Democrats want to play with fire, Trump has a book of matched that could bring down the entire barn. It looks like the 2020 elections will be a knock-down, drag-out fight to the bitter end.
The mysterious “whistleblower” case now looks like a coordinated Democrat effort to block any investigation of presidential candidate Joe Biden for corrupt pressure on Ukraine to drop the investigation of Burisma, an energy company operating in the country, on which his son Hunter Biden was a board member.
In March 2016, then Vice-President Joe Biden warned Ukraine that $1 billion in loan guarantees would be withheld by the U.S. unless they replaced Viktor Shokin, the prosecutor general who was investigating Hunter Biden. Ukraine did remove Shokin, and the prosecution was dropped. It looks like a clear case of a quid-pro-quo.
However, as things are starting to shake out, the current obfuscation to protect Joe Biden is President Trump asking Ukraine’s new president Volodymyr Zelensky to take another look at the issues surrounding the former government’s decision to fire the Ukrainian prosecutor. This is presumably the call concerning to the whistleblower. To wit, democrats see this as Trump asking Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election.
Washington Post – A whistleblower complaint about President Trump made by an intelligence official centers on Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter, which has set off a struggle between Congress and the executive branch.
The complaint involved communications with a foreign leader and a “promise” that Trump made, which was so alarming that a U.S. intelligence official who had worked at the White House went to the inspector general of the intelligence community, two former U.S. officials said.
Two and a half weeks before the complaint was filed, Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian and political newcomer who was elected in a landslide in May.
That call is already under investigation by House Democrats who are examining whether Trump and his attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani sought to manipulate the Ukrainian government into helping Trump’s reelection campaign. Lawmakers have demanded a full transcript and a list of participants on the call. (read more)
Three Democrat-controlled house committees – Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Government Reform – have announced that they will investigate whether a host of ethical and legal rules have been violated.
From the Independent: […] The house committees’ chairs say they will scrutinise a telephone call between the US president and Mr Zelensky on 25 July, during which Mr Trump allegedly told the Ukrainian president to reopen the Biden investigation if he wanted to improve relations with the US.
They claim that Kurt Volker, the US special representative for Ukraine, was told to intercede with President Zelensky by the White House, and they are looking into the activities of Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer.
Mr Giuliani urged Mr Zelensky soon after his election to focus on the Biden case, but the Ukrainian president is said to have refused, protesting that he did not want to get drawn into American internal politics.
This led to Mr Giuliani cancelling a trip to Kiev, saying he felt that he would be “walking into a group of people that are the enemies of our president … in some cases the enemies of the United States”. (more)
The District Attorney in Manhattan, Cyrus Vance, Jr., subpoenas eight years of Trump federal and state tax returns as part of a criminal probe into hush money payments allegedly made to Stephanie Clifford, AKA porn actor Stormy Daniels. Will the New York D.A. succeed where Congressional Democrats have failed? If the investigation concerns a 2016 election cycle payoff, why subpoena records dating back to 2011? And when will President Trump keep his campaign promise to voluntarily release his tax returns?
Mercedes Stephenson from Global News has done some excellent follow-up coverage on the arrest of RCMP Intelligence Director Cameron Ortis. Mr. Ortis is facing seven serious charges of intelligence violations including obtaining information to pass to a “foreign entity.” The intelligence compromise is the biggest scandal in “a generation”.
New evidence shows the arrest was a result of a 2018 international intelligence operation that targeted the encrypted communications service known as “Phantom Secure”.
A man named Victor Ramos was the CEO of Phantom Secure, an enterprise that provided encrypted communication devices to criminal agents involved in drug smuggling, money laundering and human trafficking.
Ramos was arrested by United States FBI officials in Washington State. Ramos gave the FBI information about intelligence for sale that was coming from a source deep inside the Five-Eyes intelligence apparatus. That information led to RCMP Director Cameron Ortis.
The scale of the compromise is still being analyzed. Ortis was director general of the National Intelligence Coordination Centre in Canada. In essence, Ortis was the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence (James Clapper/Dan Coats); and had access to the most sensitive intelligence information amid the entire Five-Eyes network that includes: Canada, The United States, The U.K. Australia and New Zealand.
(Global News) […] “By virtue of the positions he held, Mr. Ortis had access to information the Canadian intelligence community possessed. He also had access to intelligence coming from our allies both domestically and internationally,” RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said Monday.
The charges have “shaken many people throughout the RCMP,” she said in a statement, adding the police force was “assessing the impacts of the alleged activities as information becomes available.”
“We are aware of the potential risk to agency operations of our partners in Canada and abroad and we thank them for their continued collaboration. We assure you that mitigation strategies are being put in place as required.”
[…] From his position as director general of intelligence in Ottawa, Ortis would have been able to access almost any sensitive information he wanted.
This could include the force’s blueprints for covert operations worldwide, as well as the identities of undercover officers, police agents working within transnational crime groups, officers from Five Eyes partners used in RCMP probes, and even witnesses relocated to other countries.
“He could have passed on our methodologies, our tactics, and our whole covert infrastructure,” Majcher said. “If it is true that he is dealing with some of the worst people in the world, they will be looking for what do the police know, how do they do stings on us?
“The damage he has potentially done could be quite massive and it could be generational.” (read more)
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton discusses the IG report on James Comey’s activity during the 2016 election including the motives behind the soft-coup attempt:
Former FBI Director James Comey gets busted by a new Inspector General report from the Justice Department, for taking home classified documents related to President Trump. The report says Comey knowingly violated FBI rules and his employment agreement, setting a bad example for 35,000 Bureau staffers. So far, no criminal charges. Bill Whittle says this story is much worse than it looks.
QUESTION: Dear Mr. Armstrong, Thank you for everything you do so well.
My question to you is, “Do you agree that absolutely anything paid for using collected/extorted tax dollars is socialism?”
Thanks in advance.
Dave
ANSWER: No. Building roads, schools, and infrastructure is not socialism. You cross that line when you engage in class warfare. This often starts with promises to treat people differently under the law based solely upon their status or income, and “redistribute” their wealth as if it were a charity. This violates the Equal Protection of the law and Obamacare was a good example. The Supreme Court upheld it as a TAX rather than as advertised. It was to punish the youth for not buying insurance they did not need nor could afford to lower the cost for others.
Social Security is another example. They rob people of their income under the pretense that they will provide for you in your old age, then lower the benefits and keep raising the age qualification. They then seize your income and buy only government bonds, denying the average person the right to invest. They blame the “rich” for everything, but the “rich” get rich NOT by wages but by investment. So they deny the lower classes the right to provide for their own future and deny them the right to invest.
Socialism is when they tax people under the pretense of helping in a way that goes beyond the common needs of society. Once you move beyond the infrastructure that is a common function to allow for commerce, you then begin to approach the Marxist theory which has been proven time and time again to fail. Self-interest is critical and government will NEVER act in the self-interest of others, only itself.
The government should be the unbiased arbitrator standing between people like King David judging which of the two women the child belonged to. As soon as the government has a stake in the game, courts became corrupt.
Our own conviction rate is nearly 99%. Even Adolf Hitler had a conviction rate of about 90% at his notorious People’s Court under Roland Freisler (pictured in the center) who was the most bloodthirsty of all the head judges to rule that court. Even Wikipedia writes:
“The number of death sentences rose sharply under Freisler’s stewardship. Approximately 90% of all proceedings ended with sentences of death or life imprisonment, the sentences frequently having been determined before the trial. Between 1942 and 1945, more than 5,000 death sentences were handed out, and of these, 2,600 through the court’s First Senate, which Freisler headed. Thus, Freisler alone was responsible, in his three years on the court, for as many death sentences as all other senate sessions of the court together in the entire time the court existed, between 1934 and 1945.”
Our conviction rate today of about 99% in federal court has surpassed the most notorious court Hitler maintained in determining if you were Jewish or any part thereof which had a 90% conviction rate. That is not something we should be proud of. There can be no liberty when the courts are controlled by the government. Socialism ends up being the excuse used to exert power and nothing mor
In a rather curious and quirky interview, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne describes a related aspect to the DOJ/FBI operations against candidate Donald Trump in 2016.
Byrne enters the story due to his romantic relationship with Maria Butina, a person charged by Robert Mueller as being a Russian intelligence operative. In/around 2015 Byrne met and started a relationship with Butina, and later was enlisted by the FBI for assistance in their investigation of her. [Sara Carter Backstory Here]
Mr. Byrne now describes all of that FBI activity as somewhat of a political espionage operation to spy on several 2016 candidates, collect dirt, and seemingly gain operational leverage. WATCH:
Research indicates the modern political exploitation of the NSA database, for weaponized intelligence surveillance of politicians, began mid 2012.
The FISA-702 database extraction process, and utilization of the protections within the smaller intelligence community, was the primary process. Start by reviewing the established record from the 99-page FISC opinion rendered by Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer on April 26th, 2017; and explain the details within the FISC opinion.
I would strongly urge everyone to read the FISC report because Judge Collyer outlines how the DOJ, which includes the FBI, had an “institutional lack of candor” in responses to the FISA court. In essence, the Obama administration was continually lying to the court about their activity, and the rate of fourth amendment violations for illegal searches and seizures of U.S. persons’ private information for multiple years.
The key takeaway from these first paragraphs is how the search query results were exported from the NSA database to users who were not authorized to see the material. The FBI contractors were conducting searches and then removing, or ‘exporting’, the results. Later on, the FBI said all of the exported material was deleted.
Searching the highly classified NSA database is essentially a function of filling out search boxes to identify the user-initiated search parameter and get a return on the search result.
FISA-702(16) is a search of the system returning a U.S. person (“702”); and the “16” is a check box to initiate a search based on “To and From“. Example, if you put in a date and a phone number and check “16” as the search parameter the user will get the returns on everything “To and From” that identified phone number for the specific date. Calls, texts, contacts etc. Including results for the inbound and outbound contacts.
FISA-702(17) is a search of the system returning a U.S. person (702); and the “17” is a check box to initiate a search based on everything “About” the search qualifier. Example, if you put a date and a phone number and check “17” as the search parameter the user will get the returns of everything about that phone. Calls, texts, contacts, geolocation (or gps results), account information, user, service provider etc. As a result, 702(17) can actually be used to locate where the phone (and user) was located on a specific date or sequentially over a specific period of time which is simply a matter of changing the date parameters.
And that’s just from a phone number.
Search an ip address “about” and read all data into that server; put in an email address and gain everything about that account. Or use the electronic address of a GPS enabled vehicle (about) and you can withdraw more electronic data and monitor in real time. Search a credit card number and get everything about the account including what was purchased, where, when, etc. Search a bank account number, get everything about transactions and electronic records etc. Just about anything and everything can be electronically searched; everything has an electronic ‘identifier’.
The search parameter is only limited by the originating field filled out. Names, places, numbers, addresses, etc. By using the “About” parameter there may be thousands or millions of returns. Imagine if you put “@realdonaldtrump” into the search parameter? You could extract all following accounts who interacted on Twitter, or Facebook etc. You are only limited by your imagination and the scale of the electronic connectivity.
As you can see below, on March 9th, 2016, internal auditors noted the FBI was sharing “raw FISA information, including but not limited to Section 702-acquired information”.
In plain English the raw search returns were being shared with unknown entities without any attempt to “minimize” or redact the results. The person(s) attached to the results were named and obvious. There was no effort to hide their identity or protect their 4th amendment rights of privacy:
But what’s the scale here? This is where the story really lies.
Read this next excerpt carefully.
The operators were searching “U.S Persons”. The review of November 1, 2015, to May 1, 2016, showed “eighty-five percent of those queries” were unlawful or “non compliant”.
85% !! “representing [redacted number]”.
We can tell from the space of the redaction the number of searches were between 1,000 and 9,999 [five digits]. If we take the middle number of 5,000 – that means 4,250 unlawful searches out of 5,000.
The [five digit] amount (more than 1,000, less than 10,000), and 85% error rate, was captured in a six month period.
Also notice this very important quote: “many of these non-compliant queries involved the use of the same identifiers over different date ranges.” So they were searching the same phone number, email address, electronic “identifier”, or people, repeatedly over different dates. Specific people were being tracked/monitored.
Additionally, notice the last quote: “while the government reports it is unable to provide a reliable estimate of” these non lawful searches “since 2012, there is no apparent reason to believe the November 2015 [to] April 2016 coincided with an unusually high error rate”.
That means the 85% unlawful FISA-702(16)(17) database abuse has likely been happening since 2012. (Again, remember that date, 2012) Who was FBI Director? Who was his chief-of-staff? Who was CIA Director? ODNI? etc. Remember, the NSA is inside the Pentagon (Defense Dept) command structure. Who was Defense Secretary? And finally, who wrote and signed-off-on the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment?
Tens of thousands of searches over four years (since 2012), and 85% of them are illegal. The results were extracted for?…. (I believe this is all political opposition use; and I’ll explain why momentarily.)
OK, that’s the stunning scale; but who was involved?
Private contractors with access to “raw FISA information that went well beyond what was necessary to respond to FBI’s requests“:
And as noted, the contractor access was finally halted on April 18th, 2016.
[Coincidentally (or not), the wife of Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson, Mary Jacoby, goes to the White House the next day on April 19th, 2016.]
None of this is conspiracy theory.
All of this is laid out inside this 99-page opinion from FISC Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer who also noted that none of this FISA abuse was accidental in a footnote on page 87: “deliberate decisionmaking“:
This specific footnote, if declassified, would be key. Note the phrase: “([redacted] access to FBI systems was the subject of an interagency memorandum of understanding entered into [redacted])”, this sentence has the potential to expose an internal decision; withheld from congress and the FISA court by the Obama administration; that outlines a process for access and distribution of surveillance data.
Note: “no notice of this practice was given to the FISC until 2016“, that is important.
Summary: The FISA court identified and quantified tens-of-thousands of search queries of the NSA/FBI database using the FISA-702(16)(17) system. The database was repeatedly used by persons with FBI contractor access who unlawfully searched and extracted the raw results without redacting the information and shared it with an unknown number of entities.
There is little doubt the FISA-702(16)(17) database system was used by Obama-era officials, from 2012 through April 2016, as a way to spy on their political opposition. Quite simply there is no other intellectually honest explanation for the scale and volume of database abuse that was taking place.
When we reconcile what was taking place and who was involved, then the actions of the exact same principle participants take on a jaw-dropping amount of clarity.
All of the action taken by CIA Director Brennan, FBI Director Comey, ODNI Clapper and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter make sense. Including their effort to get NSA Director Mike Rogers fired.
Everything after March 9th, 2016, was done to cover up the weaponization of the FISA database. [Explained Here] Spygate, Russia-Gate, the Steele Dossier, and even the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (drawn from the dossier and signed by the above) were needed to create a cover-story and protect themselves from discovery of this four year weaponization, political surveillance and unlawful spying. Even the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel makes sense; he was FBI Director when this began.
The beginning decision to use FISA(702) as a domestic surveillance and political spy mechanism appears to have started in/around 2012. Perhaps sometime shortly before the 2012 presidential election and before John Brennan left the White House and moved to CIA. However, there was an earlier version of data assembly that preceded this effort.
Political spying 1.0 was actually the weaponization of the IRS. This is where the term “Secret Research Project” originated as a description from the Obama team. It involved the U.S. Department of Justice under Eric Holder and the FBI under Robert Mueller. It never made sense why Eric Holder requested over 1 million tax records via CD ROM, until overlaying the timeline of the FISA abuse:
The IRS sent the FBI “21 disks constituting a 1.1 million page database of information from 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The transaction occurred in October 2010 (link)
Why disks? Why send a stack of DISKS to the DOJ and FBI when there’s a pre-existing financial crimes unit within the IRS. All of the evidence within this sketchy operation came directly to the surface in early spring 2012.
The IRS scandal was never really about the IRS, it was always about the DOJ asking the IRS for the database of information. That is why it was transparently a conflict when the same DOJ was tasked with investigating the DOJ/IRS scandal. Additionally, Obama sent his chief-of-staff Jack Lew to become Treasury Secretary; effectively placing an ally to oversee/cover-up any issues. As Treasury Secretary Lew did just that.
Lesson Learned – It would appear the Obama administration learned a lesson from attempting to gather a large opposition research database operation inside a functioning organization large enough to have some good people that might blow the whistle.
The timeline reflects a few months after realizing the “Secret Research Project” was now worthless (June 2012), they focused more deliberately on a smaller network within the intelligence apparatus and began weaponizing the FBI/NSA database. If our hunch is correct, that is what will be visible in footnote #69:
How this all comes together in 2019
Fusion GPS was not hired in April 2016 to research Donald Trump. As shown in the evidence provided by the FISC, the intelligence community was already doing surveillance and spy operations. The Obama administration already knew everything about the Trump campaign, and were monitoring everything by exploiting the FISA database.
However, after the NSA alerts in/around March 9th, 2016, and particularly after the April 18th shutdown of contractor access, the Obama intelligence community needed Fusion GPS to create a narrative that could: (A) justify surveillance and spy operations; and (B) be used as an insurance policy in the event they needed to remove President Trump.
Fusion GPS gave them what they needed by creating the Steele Dossier.
That’s why the FBI small group, which later transitioned into the Mueller team, were so strongly committed to and defending the formation of the Steele Dossier and its dubious content.
The Steele Dossier contained a cover-story and justification for the pre-existing surveillance operation; and the justification for a special counsel investigation.
The corrupt DOJ and FBI group needed Fusion GPS to build a narrative for them to use, ie. ‘the insurance policy’ (Mueller). Fusion would provide information to the FBI through the laundry system using Christopher Steele. Fusion also sold the Russia narrative to the media.
After the 2016 election, former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer Dan Jones paid Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS to keep up appearances thereby creating the foundation for Robert Mueller to be appointed.
Normally, I would not credit anything an Attorney General ever had to say about any case. However, Attorney General William Barr said Saturday: “I was appalled to learn that Jeffrey Epstein was found dead early this morning from an apparent suicide while in federal custody.” The only reason I credit his statement is the fact that he has consulted with the Inspector General about an investigation after Epstein allegedly hanged himself and was found in his jail cell early on Saturday.
Barr continued to say: “Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered. In addition to the FBI’s investigation, I have consulted with the Inspector General who is opening an investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Epstein’s death.”
The FBI is questionable and only the Office of Inspector General can be trusted to investigate anything (see an investigationby OIG into the FBI).
Any investigation should NOT BE limited to the claimed suicide of Epstein. The OIG should investigate the MCC and how it is used as a tool by the DOJ to abuse prisoners all the time to ensure they retain their 99% conviction rate with the 1% being simply dead.
Another inmate who spent time in the hole told the NY Post it is impossible to hang yourself in one of those cells. There is nothing to tied sheets to and the ceiling is very low. It is not high enough to hang yourself. The lights are on 23 or 24 hours a day. The frosted glass windows offer no view of the outside world. Even the slot on each cell door is kept shut, meaning that inmates see little beyond their solitary cell.
The conspiracy spin is in full force that the Clintons were behind this one which is yet another in a long list of mysterious deaths. However, only some of the names have been unsealed so far. Prince Andrew was named in court documents unsealed from an alleged Epstein victim who claimed he trafficked her to wealthy men including Prince Andrew, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Wall Street billionaire Glenn Dubin, and foreign heads of state. (The men deny these allegations.) The speculation is that there are other high ranking members of Congress who also might be linked. Obviously, there may be a lot more people interested in his silence than just the Clintons.
The alleged victims no longer get their day in court to testify. So if they were going to describe events at Epstein’s trial, forget that. There will be no trial without charging others. So it would be very interesting if the OIG really investigated the MCC.
Oliver Brown worked in MCC and had the courage to come forward to testify what really goes on in MCC. He appeared in the movie even after the FBI visited him two days before the taping demonstrating that the government was tracking the movie crew. Mr. Brown submitted a declaration under oath that the courts simply passed over to protect what goes on in MCC. He declared:
“I believe that in or about early 2001, though I can no longer be sure of the exact date, I was informed by Mr. Marvin Owens, staff attorney for the MCC, of a conversation he had with an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Owens informed me that, because Mr. Armstrong held a unique status of civil condemnor, the MCC and USAO could not decide what to do with him. Mr. Owens informed me, in words or substance, that it was decided that, despite the lack of sufficient evidence against Mr. Armstrong to prove a conviction, Mr. Armstrong should remain at the MCC in civil contempt until he relented, gave in or simply broke down and admitted to the crimes he was accused of.”
It took a lot of courage for Mr. Brown to come forward, but nobody would investigate what took place and certainly, no newspaper will ever report the abuse of human rights taking place in MCC.
Here we had exculpatory evidence withheld from the court and a whistleblower coming forward from inside MCC and my requests to the Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General for an investigation of the tactics employed in MCC have simply been ignored. For this reason, I have little hope that there will EVER be an investigation into what is taking place in the American legal system. William Barr may be shocked, but who will ever carry out an investigation that would discredit the Justice system?
It will take an avalanche of letters from everyone to the White House before a real investigation will ever be carried out. I will be glad to testify if they ever have the guts to really investigate behind the curtain.
Malaysia filed criminal charges on Friday against 17 current and former directors at subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) following an investigation into a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal that led to the demise of state fund 1MDB. Those charged include Richard Gnodde, chief executive of Goldman Sachs International, Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and a former director at Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, and Michael Sherwood, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group. Each charge carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and a penalty of at least 1 million ringgit ($239,000).
An Alibaba spokeswoman said the company was aware of the charges against Evans and would continue to monitor the situation. UAE filed suit against Goldman Sachs where they announced: “This action seeks redress for a massive global conspiracy on the part of the defendants to defraud and injure plaintiffs,” said the lawsuit, which also named former executives from IPIC and its subsidiary Aabar Investments.
The U.S. bank has been under scrutiny for its role in helping to raise $6.5 billion through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the subject of corruption and money laundering investigations in at least six countries. It has been alleged that $2.7 billion of the proceeds were diverted and the offering statements filed with the regulators contained statements that were false, misleading or involved material omissions.
The SEC previously charged Goldman Sachs with fraud back in 2007, but of course, did nothing criminal because Goldman Sachs controls the SEC. Now the top adviser in the SEC is Alan Cohen who was head of Global Compliance and would have signed off on the Malaysian deal.
The rumor mill has been hot concerning Malaysia and Goldman Sachs for the past two years. As it was turning into a criminal investigation Lyod Blankfein coincidently decided to step down last year at age 63. That was announced last March when he said he would step down by the end of the year. Then in July 2018, Blankfein said his goodbyes. The London Financial News claimed it was an emotional departure.
Was it really a coincidence that Blankfein stepped down which appeared to be running for the exit door and then within three months the news breaks that he was deeply involved in the corruption scandal in Malaysia. As Bloomberg wrote: “Years before Goldman Sachs Group Inc. arranged bond deals now at the heart of globe-spanning corruption probes, the firm’s then-CEO Lloyd Blankfein personally helped forge ties with Malaysia and its new sovereign wealth fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter.”
Blankfein’s replacement did at least apologize for the conduct but continued to defend the firm.
The US Department of Justice charged the former Goldman bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, as well as Malaysian financier Jho Low in this matter. Malaysia’s new charges were brought under a section of the Malaysian Capital Markets and Services Act that holds certain senior executives responsible for offenses that may have been committed by the firm. What everyone is waiting for is the indictment of Alan Cohen, the former head of Global Compliance since it is normally the compliance officer who does down for the firm. This time, Alan Cohen is at the top of the food chain in the SEC which will result in a major scandal for the Trump Administration.
“The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi wrote back in July 2009. He is correct, the truth about Goldman Sachs “is that it’s everywhere.” Taibbi’s now-famous phrasing captured Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s (GS) ubiquity which is very hard to deny.
Normally, if a banking firm is charged criminally, it loses its license. That is not the case for Goldman Sachs which many call “Government Sachs” on the street. They have walked on water in the United States and have been also known as the “untouchables” in finance.
Goldman Sachs said the Malaysian charges were misdirected. “We believe the charges announced today, along with those against three Goldman Sachs entities announced in December last year, are misdirected and will be vigorously defended,” a Goldman Sachs spokesman in Hong Kong said.
Goldman Sachs tried to pretend that they were afforded no opportunity to dispute the charges in advance. “Under the Malaysian legal process, the firm and the individual entity directors were not afforded an opportunity to be heard prior to the filing of these charges, which do not affect our ability to conduct our current business globally,” they said. But in the United States, a grand jury is also secret and the target does not get a notice to dispute the charges either.
Goldman Sachs has been charged for omitting material facts in the bond offerings, among them that Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho was the operator and key intermediary for 1MDB. Low has been described by Malaysian and U.S. authorities as to the central player in the 1MDB scandal. He has denied wrongdoing and his whereabouts are unknown.
The fees that Goldman received were far above the norm. Dealers were not allowed to compete in bidding for the conversions of currencies.
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Centinel2012 