Web Site Cites Bush-Riggs Link

[seemslikeadream]

By Kathleen Day
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 15, 2004; Page E02


A political Web site written by a Democratic operative drew attention yesterday to the fact that President Bush's uncle, Jonathan J. Bush, is a top executive at Riggs Bank, which this week agreed to pay a record $25 million in civil fines for violations of law intended to thwart money laundering.



Jonathan Bush, who is a major fundraiser for his nephew, was appointed in 2000 to run Riggs Investment Management Co. His association with Riggs began when he headed J. Bush & Co., a New Haven, Conn., company he created in 1970 and built to offer advice on money management.

Riggs bought J. Bush & Co. in 1997 to help create a one-stop financial outlet offering a range of services, from insurance to securities trading and investment advice. News reports at the time said investment bankers estimated the purchase price, which was not disclosed, as $5.5 million.

The headline posted yesterday on the Web site, www.davidsirota.com, reads, "Bush's Uncle Is Executive At Bank Fined for Laundering Saudi Money."

more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28396-2004May14.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. PRESIDENT BUSH'S UNCLE IS A CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT RIGGS BANK

PRESIDENT BUSH'S UNCLE IS A CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT RIGGS BANK
According to the nonprofit Texans for Public Justice, Jonathan Bush is the President and CEO of Riggs Investment Management - a major arm of Riggs Bank. He is also the uncle of President George W. Bush. The President "credits the investors sent his way by this banker uncle as a key to his 'success' in the Texas oil industry in the early '80s." According to Public Citizen, the uncle Jonathan was a Bush Pioneer, having raised more than $100,000 for his nephew in 2000.

more
http://www.davidsirota.com/

[seemslikeadream]

3. Riggs fails to detect, report suspicious cash transactions

Riggs fails to detect, report suspicious cash transactions

The Federal Reserve ordered Riggs International Banking Corp. to hire an outside consultant to conduct a thorough review of the bank's transactions.

BY CHRISTINA HOAG

[e-mail]


BANKING

Riggs Bank has been fined $25 million by the Treasury Department for failing to detect and report tens of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions by foreign governments, particularly Saudi Arabia and Equatorial Guinea.

On Friday, the Federal Reserve ordered Riggs' Miami operation, Riggs International Banking Corp., to hire an outside consultant to conduct a thorough review of the bank's transactions and money-laundering controls.

The McLean, Va.-based bank said last month that it planned to shutter the 24-year-old Miami subsidiary, located at 800 Brickell Ave., ``to significantly reduce its risk exposure.''

Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also ordered the bank on Thursday to adopt new anti-money-laundering controls including implementing internal audits and ensuring competent management.

In a statement, the bank said: ``Riggs is 100 percent committed to fulfilling all of our regulatory responsibilities and to doing our part to protect the financial system, and we will hasten our efforts toward these goals.''

The Treasury agency found that Riggs had violated the Bank Secrecy Act on numerous occasions


more
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/8670766.htm

[Octafish]

6. "Pioneers" and "Rangers" raised almost $300 M for Chimperror.

Tha's a lot of knockin' around money. What do you suppose they expect in return? Will they survive Chimpageddon?

Pioneers Fill Campaign War Chest, Then Capitalize

By Thomas B. Edsall, Sarah Cohen and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 16, 2004; Page A01

First of two articles

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- Joined by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and a host of celebrities, hundreds of wealthy Republicans gathered at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge here in the first weekend in April, not for a fundraiser but for a celebration of fundraisers. It was billed as an "appreciation weekend," and there was much to appreciate.

As Bush "Pioneers" who had raised at least $100,000 each for the president's reelection campaign, or "Rangers" who had raised $200,000 each, the men and women who shot skeet with Cheney, played golf with pros Ben Crenshaw and Fuzzy Zoeller and laughed at the jokes of comedian Dennis Miller are the heart of the most successful political money operation in the nation's history. Since 1998, Bush has raised a record $296.3 million in campaign funds, giving him an overwhelming advantage in running against Vice President Al Gore and now Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). At least a third of the total -- many sources believe more than half -- was raised by 631 people.

BIG SNIP...

"This is the most impressive, organized, focused and disciplined fundraising operation I have ever been involved in," declared Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, who has been raising money for GOP candidates since 1980. "They have done just about everything right."

For achieving their fundraising goals, Pioneers receive a relatively modest token, the right to buy a set of silver cuff links with an engraved Lone Star of Texas (Rangers can buy a more expensive belt buckle set). Their real reward is entree to the White House and the upper levels of the administration.

CONTINUED...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29142-2004May15.html

[seemslikeadream]

8. Octafish help me make sense of it all

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x557727

How big was BCCI, how much money?

[NMDemDist2]

2. laundering SAUDI money? wow big shock there huh? n/t

[seemslikeadream]

4. I think it might be a bit more than money laundering

n/t

[NMDemDist2]

5. saudi money for Bush, maybe some cash for wahabi's too? n/t

[LittleApple81]

7. Democratic operative... why don't they call the repugs "operatives"?

But anyway, he is the guy that appears by phone on Al Franken's show. He always has some repug dirt to discuss.

[President Jesus]

9. Jonathan Bush's campaign cash...in detail 1993-2004

From Connecticut:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CT&last=Bush&first=Jonathan

From New York:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=NY&last=Bush&first=Jonathan

[Democat]

10. Matt Drudge is a Republican Operative!

Have they ever called him that, why do they say this guy is a "Democratic Operative"?

[Disturbed]

11. The Bush Crime Family

These folk make the Cosa Nostra seem like small timers.

[neverforget]

12. Corruption in the Bush family?! I'm shocked!

[goclark]

13. Al Capone is a wimp

compared to the Bushco Family.
There is absolutely no end to their crimes.

Let's see,who in the family is not a crook?
What jail could hold them?


--- Silence---

[Moderator]

14. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=556939