http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/business/18launder.html
Wachovia and U.S. Settle a Money Laundering Case
By REUTERS
Published: March 17, 2010
MIAMI (Reuters) — The Wachovia Bank, a unit of Wells Fargo & Company, has agreed to pay $160 million to settle accusations that it laundered Mexican drug money.
Under the agreement, Wachovia will forfeit $110 million, representing the proceeds of illegal narcotics sales that were laundered through the bank, the United States attorney’s office in the Southern District of Florida said.
The bank will pay an additional $50 million fine to the Treasury.
(snip)
//
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E1D61E3BF933A25754C0A96E9C8B63&pagewanted=all
Wachovia hires a Treasury insider to lift it out of its banking woes
By Eric Dash
Published: July 10, 2008
From his perch inside the Treasury Department, Robert Steel has wrestled with the troubles plaguing America’s financial industry. Now he will confront those problems up close at the Wachovia Corporation, one of the nation’s largest banks.
On Wednesday, Wachovia ended its six-week search for a new leader when it named Steel, the under secretary of the Treasury for domestic finance, as its chief executive.
(snip)
Steel, a former vice chairman at Goldman Sachs, played a crucial role in formulating the Bush administration’s response to the running crisis in the mortgage markets. He also championed a controversial plan by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., a colleague at Goldman, to overhaul the financial industry’s regulatory apparatus.
(snip)
//
http://freerepublic.info/focus/f-news/1965976/posts
Duke bolsters legal team in fighting lawsuit (Duke Hires Jamie Gorelick)
The Herald-Sun (Durham) ^ | Feb 6, 2008 | By Ray Gronberg
Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 1:14:50 PM by Ken H
DURHAM — Duke University has added a former deputy attorney general of the United States to the legal team that will defend it against a federal civil-rights lawsuit filed by three members of the 2005-06 men’s lacrosse team.
Court papers filed this week indicate that Washington, D.C., attorney Jamie Gorelick will assist two Greensboro litigators in representing the school.
They’re also the attorneys of record for the Duke University Police Department, Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Steel, school President Richard Brodhead and numerous other university officials.
(snip)
//
wiki:
Robert King “Bob” Steel (b. August 3, 1951) is an American business leader and an expert on financial institutions and markets. In June 2010, he was named Deputy Mayor for Economic Development by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Previously, he had served as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance of the United States Treasury, as the last president and CEO of Wachovia Corporation, and as vice chair of Goldman Sachs.
(snip)
U.S. Treasury, 2006–08 ...
Wachovia/Wells Fargo, 2008–2010 ...
He is also a member of the Pew Charitable Trusts Task Force on Financial Reform, which advises the United States Congress on critical financial reform issues. In December 2009, he testified before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. House and Senate regarding financial reform.[40] He is also a member of The FDIC Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (ComE-IN), which focuses on how to improve underserved and low- and moderate-income consumers’ access to the financial mainstream.[41]
Although Steel was appointed to his Treasury post by a Republican president, he does not regard himself as an ideologue, and has been occasionally criticized for his political independence. For example, although Steel hosted fundraisers at his home for John McCain,[5] columnist Bob Novak complained that Steel is “no Republican,” citing that he had worked with Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin at Goldman Sachs and made campaign donations in 2002 to Democrats from his home state of North Carolina.[42]
Steel:
Kennedy School, 2004–06
From February 2004 to September 2006, Steel was a senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[21]
Auchi:
He was also Vice-Chair of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University from 1996 and 2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.isgp.eu/introduction.htm
At the time of the Oil-for-Food scandal it turned out that Nadhmi Auchi’s General Mediterranean Holdings
had a majority share in BNP Paribas (34), the bank that handled all of the Iraqi loans and has subsidiaries all over the Middle-East. Auchi is a member of Le Cercle and is up to his ears involved in illegal arms trafficking, British Intelligence, and the British throne itself. Look for his bio in the membership list of Le Cercle.
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‘Fast and Furious’ Linked to Immunity Deal Between U.S. and Sinaloa Cartel, Trafficking Defendant...
Sunday, January 01, 2012 5:44:39 PM · 149 of 156
hoosiermama to maggief
IIRC Cayman Islands is where CLintons were reported to have their hidden accounts.
Can we tie Auchi/Obama into Barclays?
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‘Fast and Furious’ Linked to Immunity Deal Between U.S. and Sinaloa Cartel, Trafficking Defendant...
Sunday, January 01, 2012 5:33:54 PM · 148 of 156
hoosiermama to maggief; thouworm
Here’s a blurb from CHicago thread:
“Antoin Rezko’s money man and “close friend” is London based Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi who is one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the corporate, banking, political and real estate world. It is Nadhmi Auchi who funded Antoin Rezko.”
Auchi funded BhO’s house in Chicago...etc etc etc
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‘Fast and Furious’ Linked to Immunity Deal Between U.S. and Sinaloa Cartel, Trafficking Defendant...
Sunday, January 01, 2012 5:31:22 PM · 147 of 156
maggief to thouworm
I see a pattern ...
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2006/06/22/Barclays-buys-Wachovia-unit-for-469M/UPI-69751151006554/
Barclays buys Wachovia unit for $469M
Published: June 22, 2006 at 4:02 PM
NEW YORK, June 22 (UPI) — Barclays Bank PLC is paying $469 million to Wachovia Corp. to buy the U.S. mortgage servicing business of HomEq Servicing Corp.
(snip).
It also said it sees the deal as an opportunity to “grow our existing U.S. mortgage securitization franchise.”
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‘Fast and Furious’ Linked to Immunity Deal Between U.S. and Sinaloa Cartel, Trafficking Defendant...
Sunday, January 01, 2012 5:14:59 PM · 145 of 156
maggief to hoosiermama; thouworm
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Goldman_Sachs
Exposing foreign institutions to subprime risk
Goldman Sachs used offshore tax havens, often in the form of secret deals run through the Cayman Islands, to sell its mortgage-backed securities to institutions worldwide, including European and Asian banks. In at least one such offering, as documented in a September 26, 2006 investment circular, Goldman Sachs pitched supposedly high-grade bonds backed by residential, commercial, and student loans, but the ratings of many of the mortgage securities hid their true risks and, in some cases, Goldman’s descriptions exaggerated their quality. The September 2006 offering, one of billions of dollars worth of such deals in 2006 and 2007, was made at a time when Goldman Sachs began to disengage from the subprime market. “One bond analyst who reviewed the 2006 Cayman deal dismissed it in a report to clients as ‘a not so cleverly disguised way for Goldman Sachs & Co. to unload its unwanted exposures to the subprime real estate market onto foreign investors.’”[25]
...
In his 2009 book, Too Big To Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves, Andrew Sorkin reports that same week Paulson was trying to convince Goldman to buy Wachovia.
Jim Wilkinson, Paulson’s chief of staff, realized that such a deal would be a public-relations nightmare at the worst possible time—just as they were trying to pass TARP. “Hank, if you do this, you’ll get killed,” Wilkinson frantically told his boss. “It would be f*cking crazy.” Paulson, he said, would lose credibility; he would be accused of lining the pockets of his friends at Goldman; the “Government Sachs” conspiracy theories would flourish.[117]
Throughout this time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, formerly a Goldman Sachs chief executive was aided in his administration of the Treasury Department by numerous advisers who also had personal ties to Goldman Sachs.[118]
...
Political appointees and figures
Robert Rubin, Former United States Treasury Secretary
John Corzine, Governor of New Jersey
Henry Paulson, Chief Executive, U.S. Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush
Robert Zoellick - United States Trade Representative (2001-2005), Deputy Secretary of State (2005-2006), World Bank President. 2007-
Reuben Jeffery III, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs (2007-)
Joshua Bolten, Bush’s chief of staff during the bailout
Mark Patterson, Obama’s Treasury chief of staff, former Goldman lobbyist
Ed Liddy, whom Paulson put in charge of bailed out insurance giant AIG, the former Goldman director
Neel Kashkari, Head of TARP
Gene Sperling, Deputy Dept of Treasury
Gary Genzler, CFTC Chair
Robert D. Hormats, Dept of State Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs (2009 -)
Phil Murphy, Democratic Party’s national finance chairman, represents the United States in Berlin [14]
Other notable Goldman alums: [13]
George Herbert Walker IV - member of the Bush family and current managing director at Neuberger Berman
Robert Steel - Chairman and President, Wachovia.
Jim Cramer, MSNBC Commentator
Michael Cohrs, Head of Global Banking at Deutsche Bank
Mark Carney, Current Governor of the Bank of Canada [92][93]
Malcolm Turnbull, Australian politician, currently the federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
John Thain,former Chairman and CEO, Merrill Lynch, and former chairman of the NYSE.
Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy twice (1996-1998 and 2006-2008) and President of the European Commission (1999-2004)[94]
Mario Draghi, governor of the Bank of Italy (2006- )[94]
Massimo Tononi, Italian deputy treasury chief (2006-2008)[94]
Former Goldman Sachs Employees Hired by the Obama Administration
Mark Patterson: former Goldman Sachs lobbyist, currently Treasury chief of staff; [119]
Gary Gensler: former Goldman partner, currently chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. [120]
Gene Sperling: former Goldman consultant earning $887,727 from the bank in 2008, currently Counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. [121]
Diana Farrell: former Goldman employee, currently deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council. [122]
Former Goldman Sachs Employees Hired by the Bush Administration
Joshua Bolten: former Goldman Sachs executive, Chief of Staff to President Bush.[123]
Henry Paulson: former Goldman Sachs CEO, appointed Treasury Secretary in 2006 on Bolten’s recommendation.[124]
Neel T. Kashkari: former Goldman Sachs investment banker, hired as Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability in 2006, headed the Office of Financial Stability during the financial crisis and given responsibility for TARP.[125]
Reuben Jeffrey: previously Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, worked for 18 years at Goldman Sachs, hired by Kashkari in 2008 as interim chief investment officer for TARP. [126] [127]
Dan Jester: former Goldman Sachs strategic officer, hired on contract to advise Henry Paulson during the crisis, advised on AIG, GSEs, TARP and other bailouts. [128]
Steve Shafran: former Goldman Sachs trader in Asian private equity, hired by Paulson to handle student loan and money market issues.[129]
Kendrick R. Wilson III: former Goldman Sachs executive, enlisted as unpaid adviser to canvass banks on reaction to Treasury initiatives during crisis.[130]
Edward C. Forst: former Goldman Sachs chief administrator, hired as advisor to Paulson during the crisis, became head of Goldman Sachs asset management division in 2010.[131] [132]
Robert K. Steel: former Goldman Sachs vice chairman, hired by Paulson Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance in 2006. [133]
Ed Liddy: former Goldman Sachs director, appointed by Paulson as CEO of AIG.[134]
Former Goldman Sachs Employees Hired by the Clinton Administration
Robert E. Rubin: former co-partner of Goldman Sachs, where he worked for twenty six years. Appointed by Clinton in 1993 to be first director of the National Economic and then appointed as Treasury Secretary, a post he held from 1995 to 1999. [135]
Former Government Officials Hired by Goldman Sachs
Richard Gephardt: Goldman Sachs lobbyist, former House Democrat Leader. [136]
Harold Ford Sr.: Goldman Sachs lobbyist, former Representative, (D-Tenn.). [137]
Steve Elmendorf: Goldman Sachs lobbyist, former deputy campaign manager for John Kerry and aide to Richard Gephardt. [138]
Kenneth Duberstein: Goldman Sachs lobbyist, Reagan White House chief of staff. [139]
Eric Ueland: Goldman Sachs lobbyist, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) chief of staff.[140]
Robert Zoellick: hired by Goldman Sachs as managing director in 2006, former US Trade Representative 2001 – 2005, Deputy of the US State State Department 2005 – 2006, , n became World Bank President in 2007. [141]
Goldman Sachs Connections with the Federal Reserve
William C. Dudley: former Goldman Sachs partner and managing director, hired by then President of the New York Fed Timothy Geithner to work at the New York Fed in 2007, became New York Fed’s President in 2009. [142]
Stephen Friedman: former Goldman Sachs chairman, appointed to the New York Fed in the category reserved for representatives of the public, chaired New York Fed, chaired President Bush’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Resigned from New York Fed in 2009 due to controversial purchase of Goldman Sachs shares. [143]
Gerald Corrigan: currently Goldman Sachs managing director, former CEO and President of the New York Fed from 1985 to 1993. [144] [145]
Other notable Goldman connections
South African officials
Prior to South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, Goldman Sachs trained ANC economists. Of those Goldman Sachs trained, Tito Mboweni became South Africa’s Reserve Bank Governor. On his retirement from the Bank Mboweni was hired by Goldman Sachs as an advisor. Lesetja Kganyagom, another Goldman Sachs trainee, is the director-general of the National Treasury. [146]
http://www.charlierose.com/download/transcript/10674
ANDREW SORKIN: You know, the fascinating part about Hank Paulson was
that he did see this coming. And, you know, the book starts the day after
Bear Stearns is sold to J.P. Morgan for $2 a share. I was on your program
and we talked about it.
And it becomes an inflection point for the rest of the story. And
there’s a very important meeting that happens about two weeks after that
transaction takes place where Hank is having his morning meeting with his
staff at 8:30 in the morning, everybody’s arrayed around the room, and he
says “Lehman Brothers may be insolvent, too.”
And that is really a moment where you realize, OK, you can start to
see how the dominos are going to play out. And that’s really how the book
is structured. You’re just watching the dominos go.
And he spends the next six months to his credit to some degree trying
to save Lehman Brothers in ways that we as the public at least never
appreciated.
CHARLIE ROSE: For example?
ANDREW SORKIN: He is — for example, behind the scenes he is calling
his friend Warren Buffett and saying, “Warren, you should think about
making an investment in Lehman Brothers.”
In fact, there’s a whole sequence over a weekend in March — this is
March of 2008. This isn’t over the summer, this isn’t a month or a week
before they went under. This is in March where they’re trying to get this
deal done.
He ends up directing one of his colleagues, Bob Steele, who later
leaves treasury to go to Wachovia, Bob Steele...
CHARLIE ROSE: He was formally with Goldman Sachs.
ANDREW SORKIN: Formerly of Goldman Sachs as well, and we can talk
about the Goldman Sachs in connection in a second. But Bob Steele was
making calls to Bob Diamond, the CEO of Barclays, to try to buy Lehman
Brothers not in September of 2008, but in April.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23788612/Break-the-Glass-Plan-for-the-US-Treasury-Dept-by-Neel-Kashkari
The Confidential “Break the Glass” Plan was written by the Treasury Department on April 15, 2008, five months before the near economic ..