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In an attempt to pursue terrorists across the globe, the Obama administration has proposed legislation that will give spy agencies access to citizens’ finances. Currently, the FBI is the only agency that has access to these databases, but the plan will give the CIA and NSA the same access. So does this proposition take the war on terror too far? Private investigator Kenneth Cummins explains the legality of the legislation.

Snip... For example, if after the expiration of the Dodd-Frank Deposit Insurance Provision a depositor under the single ownership category has $500,000 deposited in a noninterest-bearing transaction account and $250,000 deposited in a certificate of deposit, or total deposits of $750,000, the depositor would be insured for up to $250,000 and uninsured for the remaining balance of $500,000. ...Snip

The latest executive order (EO) emanating from the White House October 9 now claims the power to freeze all bank accounts and stop any related financial transactions that a “sanctioned person” may own or try to perform — all in the name of “Iran Sanctions.” Titled an “Executive Order from the President regarding Authorizing the Implementation of Certain Sanctions…” the order says that if an individual is declared by the president, the secretary of state, or the secretary of the treasury to be a “sanctioned person,” he (or she) will be unable to obtain access to his accounts, will be...

Switzerland hit back Tuesday at a US presidential election campaign video that portrays the country as a tax haven. In the video, a character named Miss Swiss Bank Account describes the Republican candidate Mitt Romney as a "boss millionaire with accounts everywhere", the ATS news agency reported. The film gives "the impression that having a bank account in Switzerland is dubious in itself and its only aim is to hide money from the tax authorities," Switzerland's Federal Department for Foreign Affairs (DFAE) said. Switzerland's Washington embassy reportedly expressed its unhappiness at the clip to the Obama team, ATS said.

The 65 page indictment unsealed Wednesday outlines a massive conspiracy to defraud employees, IHOP corporate, investors, the Internal Revenue Service and federal, state and local law enforcement. Background Prior to 2003, Tarek Elkafrawi owned and operated two IHOP franchises; one in Decatur, Illinois and the other in Evansville, Indiana. During his time in Decatur, the indictment alleges, Elkafrowi began a social friendship with Autumn Lee Tangas, an employee of IHOP Corporate in Decatur. Between 2003 and 2006 Elkafrawi purchased, either entirely or in partnership with other investors, 6 other IHOP franchises. Those stores are located in Toledo (2), Holland, Findlay,...

Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided an Oklahoma car dealership that the government suspects may be one of about 30 such businesses in the U.S. involved in funding the terrorist group Hezbollah. DEA agents say the car lot of Ace Auto Leasing in Tulsa is part of a huge network that is selling cars and drugs -- and then using the money to support terrorism against the U.S., myfoxphoenix.com reports. During Friday's raid, agents could be seen carryout out filing cabinets and other items. They also questioned employees and took inventory. "They're making big time money and it's going right...

German banks are closing US customers’ investment accounts because they say financial reporting requirements by American authorities are just too onerous. According to the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) newspaper, HypoVereinsbank is the latest financial institution to tell US citizens and all its clients residing in the United States that it is closing their brokerage accounts. Deutsche Bank already made the move earlier this year and Commerzbank has said it is studying whether to do the same, FTD reported. Elsewhere in Europe, both the British HSBC and Credit Suisse have said they won’t take Americans’ investment business anymore. …

European banks are dumping clients with US citizenship due to a new American law meant to curb tax evasion. The law would require financial institutions around the world to report on certain client activities. Compliance, say many banks, is way too expensive. The idea was to ensure that US citizens were paying their taxes on investments made through overseas banks. The result, however, has been that Americans in Europe may have difficulties finding banks who want their business. According to a report in the Wednesday edition of the Financial Times Deutschland, several European banks have elected to no longer serve...

Man Pleads Guilty to Filing 250 Tax Returns for Dead People Riverside, Calif. (January 27, 2010) By WebCPA Staff A California man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. after he was accused of filing at least 250 tax returns of deceased individuals. Haroon Amin of Upland, Calif., pleaded guilty Monday to the charges. He was indicted, along with Ather Ali of Diamond Bar, Calif., in December 2008. The two were accused of filing the returns in 2002 and 2003 falsely stating that the deceased individuals earned wages from which income tax was withheld. The false returns claimed...

A brief report on Bank accounts of the heads of the Islamic republic of Iran in foreign countries: (With special thanks to one of the Green supporters who is working in on of Malaysia's Banks) 1- Gholam Hossein Elham: 25 M USD at Dubai, 13 M USD at Turkey, 17 M USD at Swiss, 0.7 M USD at Beirut 2- S.H. Panahian: 11 M USD at Islamic Bank of Sharjeh, 4 M EU at Malaysia, 3- Masoud Kazemi: 45 M EU Germany, 4.2 M USD at Dubai 4- Ali Hashemi Bahramani: 5.2 M USD at Kuwait, 11 M EU at...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, a dual national of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda’s...

ZURICH, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) called on Saturday for retaliation against the United States over a U.S. tax probe into the country's biggest bank UBS that threatens prized banking secrecy. The populist SVP, the country's biggest party, said Switzerland should not take in any detainees from the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which the Swiss government said last month it could consider to help shut the camp down.

Bank details sold Bank account details of thousands of computer users in Britain are being sold in Nigeria for less than £20 each. The BBC One programme Real Story discovered that fraudsters in Lagos are using personal information on the hard drives of second-hand PCs that have been exported for recycling.

Cybercriminals are surfing into online banks with you to steal your money. Password-stealing Trojan horses used to be all the rage. The software would nestle itself on a PC after opening a bad e-mail attachment or visiting a malicious Web site. But in response to the increased adoption of stronger authentication, cybercriminals are changing their tactics, according to Alex Shipp, a senior antivirus technologist at MessageLabs. "We have recently seen a move away from stealing user name and passwords," Shipp said during a panel discussion at the RSA Conference 2006 here on Thursday. The new "bank-stealing Trojans" wait until the...

I, Yassir Arafat, leader of the Palestinian people, being of corrupted mind and runty filthy little body do bequeath the following: To my wife Suha I leave all the jewelry, purchased with United Nations relief funds, stashed in safe deposit boxes throughout The Grand Caymans, The Channel Islands and the First Syrian Bank of Damascus. To the Mullahs' in Iran I leave the anthrax, nail-filled vests and detonators stashed away in the basement of my estate on the West Bank. I want the $880 million in cash hidden away is Swiss bank accounts to be divided equally between Suha and...