[Dilbert San Diego]

Can I ask a stupid question ?? Why did we pay this in cash, in denominations from various countries currency?

If one country owes money to another country, don’t they settle up via wire transfers nowadays???

Sending bundles of untraceable cash seems very odd.

[Doogle]

You answered your own question...perhaps it wasn’t
a partial payment,but a ransom payment, they didn’t expect the public to find out

[unixfox]

Criminals ALWAYS use cash. Can’t trace it.

[Doogle]

.....so incredibly stupid Odungo put all overseas military personal in danger by paying a ransom....
4 Navy types were released on the day of transfer

[Hodar]

Not stupid question at all.

If Obama paid in USD$ that would be a felony. He paid in Euros, French Marc’s and other denominations. Untraceable and he hoped it would never be discovered.

It’s against US policy to give money to terrorists as if encourages more hostage taking. In other news, 2 more Americans were arrested yesterday.

[x]

The story going around is that sanctions meant Iran wasn't part of the ordinary financial system, so they had to use cash, rather than electronic transfers.

And they hate America, and don't want our dollars (though they do want money from us). Or they want euros in case the US puts restrictions on dollars later on. Or giving them dollars when the sanctions were still in place was against US law.

I don't know how valid any of those stories are. It still sounds really fishy. Cash transfers probably don't leave much of a paperwork trail. Euros may be harder to trace than dollars?

[jiggyboy]

I read in another article that there’s a prohibition on using “U.S. funds” to pay Iran for anything. So it had to be converted into something else, and not wired directly as dollars.

(Please don’t call it “money laundering”.)