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MelissaB

(16,420 posts)
Fri Sep 7, 2018, 09:32 AM Sep 2018

Russia-Linked Money-Laundering Probe Looks at $150 Billion in Transactions

Source: Wall Street Journal

Transactions uncovered at Danske’s Estonian branch highlight the growing concern about illicit money flows from the former Soviet Union

Investigators at Denmark’s largest bank are studying around $150 billion of transactions that flowed through its Estonian outpost between 2007 and 2015 as part of an internal money-laundering probe, according to people familiar with the matter.

Much of that figure, which dwarfs Estonia’s total deposits, came from companies with ties to Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Danske Bank A/S has been criticized by its regulator for lax oversight of illicit money flows. The bank’s investigators haven’t determined if all $150 billion handled by non-Estonian entities should be deemed suspicious. But such a large flow of money suggests that roughly $8 billion of suspected money-laundering transactions previously reported by a Danish newspaper could grow higher.

... snip

Shell companies, including many registered in the U.K., controlled most of the accounts in question, and many of the accounts had links to people in Russia and former Soviet Union countries, people familiar with the matter said. The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority isn’t probing the bank, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/danske-bank-money-laundering-probe-involves-150-billion-of-transactions-1536317086



How do you spell mob again?
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Russia-Linked Money-Laundering Probe Looks at $150 Billion in Transactions (Original Post) MelissaB Sep 2018 OP
Kick dalton99a Sep 2018 #1
Russia - the Mafia State NewJeffCT Sep 2018 #2
Shell companies need to be regulated and info publicly available. LiberalFighter Sep 2018 #3
Oh no, we CAN'T have any of those mean icky ol' regulations! calimary Sep 2018 #6
republicans & evil empire* russians have the same sick values Achilleaze Sep 2018 #4
It's no wonder Muellers taking so long bluestarone Sep 2018 #5
Ohh, reminds me of this twice-busted Saipan casino - Leghorn21 Sep 2018 #7
And they are still pumping the $$$ into our system Cryptoad Sep 2018 #8
And this is sad, because most of this money belongs to the russian people, not the thugs ... SWBTATTReg Sep 2018 #9
Consider the origin of this money FakeNoose Sep 2018 #10

calimary

(80,700 posts)
6. Oh no, we CAN'T have any of those mean icky ol' regulations!
Fri Sep 7, 2018, 11:21 AM
Sep 2018

Free market-free market! Regulations BAAAAAAD. (Yeah. ‘Cause they make it harder for the wheeler-dealers to violate rules and cut corners and LOOT the joint!).

bluestarone

(16,723 posts)
5. It's no wonder Muellers taking so long
Fri Sep 7, 2018, 11:07 AM
Sep 2018

THIS IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That much money i'd say most of the congressional REPUBS are owned by RUSSIA!

Leghorn21

(13,520 posts)
7. Ohh, reminds me of this twice-busted Saipan casino -
Fri Sep 7, 2018, 11:39 AM
Sep 2018

- mass quantities of $$ flowing through a middle-of-nowhere establishment:

March 2017:

“Imperial Pacific has attracted broad attention in the gaming industry for the volumes being recorded at its Saipan casino, which are far larger on a per-table basis than those at the grandest resorts in Macau.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-14/saipan-casino-operator-is-said-to-be-raided-by-u-s-agents



March 2018:

Agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation visited an office belonging to the operator of a casino on the remote U.S. island of Saipan that has attracted attention for its huge revenues, according to a local legislator and residents.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-30/fbi-agents-visit-office-of-saipan-casino-run-by-trump-protege

Roll ‘em up, crime-busters!!!

Cryptoad

(8,254 posts)
8. And they are still pumping the $$$ into our system
Fri Sep 7, 2018, 11:40 AM
Sep 2018

paying $500 to people to attend a political rally, it doesnt take long to run up the totals

SWBTATTReg

(21,859 posts)
9. And this is sad, because most of this money belongs to the russian people, not the thugs ...
Fri Sep 7, 2018, 11:50 AM
Sep 2018

who via some trickery or game stole the money and ran off w/ it (when the Soviet Union went private, a lot of games happen when companies went private)...a terrible and sad situation for the Russian people, trapped by a leader such as Putin...

FakeNoose

(32,356 posts)
10. Consider the origin of this money
Fri Sep 7, 2018, 12:01 PM
Sep 2018

It was stolen from the Russian people. Most of the Russian citizens - those who aren't oligarchs - are living on beets and cabbages. They don't make a lot of money and they pay high taxes. They're barely in the middle class, if you can call it that.

Meanwhile the oligarchs pay no taxes and make obscene profits on their businesses but they have to hide their wealth so the Russian people can't see how rich they really are. That's why they have to take it out of their own country and hide it in foreign banks (or purchase property in safe foreign countries.) Half of their stolen profits are given to Putin along with their pledges of loyalty, and that's how they get the favors they enjoy. THIS is what the right-wing nutjobs want to have in the United States, and Trump is trying to make it happen!

If the oligarchs had invested this money in their own country, paid their fair share of taxes, and helped encourage a free enterprise economy, Russia would eventually become a great/awesome place to live. Instead they're trying their best to fuck up our country.

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