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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Probers Want U.S. To Block Assets Of Cuba at UBS |
| 2005-10-16 |
| Congressional investigators probing whether the world's largest "wealth management" firm, UBS, may have laundered $5 billion in American currency for state sponsors of terrorism are pushing for the American government to block or seize any assets that may be held by the Castro regime at the Swiss bank's vault in Zurich, according to correspondence obtained by The New York Sun. The efforts are part of an ongoing probe into alleged money laundering by the Swiss bank that gained steam this week after Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican of Florida, announced that the House International Relations Committee will launch an investigation this session. In April 2003, American troops liberating Iraq found $762 million in American cash in hideouts belonging to Saddam Hussein. American investigators traced the banknotes to UBS and the Extended Custodial Inventory Program. The program, run by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in cooperation with international banks, allowed clients to exchange old banknotes for new ones. One condition of the program was that American currency neither be distributed to nor accepted from nations against which America maintains economic sanctions. It was in violation of those terms that UBS procured $3.9 billion in American banknotes for Cuba, $1 billion for the Islamic Republic of Iran, $30 million for Libya, and less than $1 million for Yugoslavia in transactions discovered by American investigators as they probed the mysterious Iraqi stash. UBS was sanctioned by the Swiss Banking Commission and the Federal Reserve, to which the Swiss bank paid a $100 million fine in May 2004. Cuba, Iran, and Libya appear on the State Department's official list of state sponsors of terrorism. As a result, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen has asked that regulatory agencies investigate the possibility of seizing or freezing any assets remaining in those accounts. EFL Lot's more details at link |
| Posted by:Javilet Glonter8595 |
| #4 It's not UBS's money, it belongs to those countries listed, and until it's frozen, it's not frozen - so they can move it out of those accounts at will. Additionally, the $100M fine to the Swiss Banking Commission (lol, parasites.) is undoubtedly only a fraction of the fee they received for converting $5B for the countries on the list. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-16 22:54 |
| #3 This is also probably the tip of an iceburg. I suspect this may turn out to be a BFD, though it may not get headlines. Follow the money. Deep Throat |
| Posted by: Hupavitle Threreng5712 2005-10-16 22:00 |
| #2 There are few entities in this world, including the flatulent UN, which can compare in arrogance to a major banking firm. Two of them are the Federal Reserve System and the Comptroller of the Currency. I'd be the Swiss Banking Commission is right up there, too. If UBS wants to keep doing business in the US, they will play ball with them. As I read this, UBS got $3.9 billion in currency from Cuba. Somehow we found out about this while we were tracing missing Iraqi cash perhaps in Iraqi records. Now the pressure is on UBS to come clean about what's in the vaults in Zurich and how it got there. Note that they have already paid a $100,000,000 fine to the Swiss Banking Commission and the Fed over this. If they don't come clean, the Feds are being asked to seize $5billion of UBS Cash. All of UBS's dollar holdings are at the Fed or other US regulated banks, so it's going to be hard for them to avoid having it frozen if the government chooses to go that route. Any dollars they deposit in a European bank end up getting deposited in an American bank where they can be found. So they can't remove them. It might also be hard to explain to all their customers who can no longer make dollar denominated transactions. I suspect UBS is trying to figure out how to explain to the US and Swiss regulators why they broke the agreement in such a fashion that results in fewer bank examiners coming over than if they stonewalled. In either case, they've going to have a lot of government snoops in their trousers for a while. |
| Posted by: Hupavitle Threreng5712 2005-10-16 21:58 |
| #1 Um, doesn't publicizing this guarantee that there will be nothing to seize? I know UBS from the IT perspective, though I'll have to skip the details in public, and they are quintessentially European in corporate culture. I would presume they find the little US politician's statements and accusations immensely amusing. I seem to recall that attitude prevailed in the UN before the OFF investigations started bearing actionable results, too. There are few entities in this world, including the flatulent UN, which can compare in arrogance to a major banking firm. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-16 19:51 |