Posted on 06/04/2009 2:51:12 PM PDT by jazusamo
Sounds good to me. :)
1. Did John Murtha or any members of his staff look into the background of Bill Kuchera and Pete Whorley before doling out millions of taxpayer dollars in earmarks to Kuchera's businesses?
2. When did John Murtha first learn illegal drug money was used to float the startup of Kuchera's businesses.
3. What information did John Murtha forward to the Justice Deptment and the Defense Department to justify they were qualified to perform defense related work and obtain security clearance?
4. What was Murtha's justification over the years for providing taxpayer's money to Kuchera's businesses?
5. Did John Murtha alert major defense contractors that sub-contracted work to Kuchera of any information he had on the background of the Kuchera owners?
Excellent questions and ones I’m sure Murtha wouldn’t want to have to answer under oath.
Just hoping the investigators will give mind to questions like these.
Hard to follow because of so much corruption by Murtha...
This article certainly puts a different light on things!! I’m surprised at the Post-Gazette. They’re really staying on this story. Good for them, finally doing good reporting.
Of course this was a money-laundry. There's a zillion ways to conspire to launder money. Conspiracy counts alone might include mail fraud, electronic fraud, and accounting fraud.
There's so many other crimes being committed here it's not even funny. Can you say government fraud, multiple conspiracies, kickbacks, tax evasion (all of it to facilitate money laundering)? L/E might consider:
(a) conspiracy to defraud the IRS, and evade US banking laws,
(b) international money laundering,
(c) conspiracy to commit money laundering, and,
(d) aiding and abetting the preparation of false federal/state income tax returns.
Authorities might examine the company's receipts to falsely verify bogus charitable contributions (kickbacks) and multiple conspiracies and transfers of funds as part of a money-laundering conspiracy.
Government audits might show off-the-books bank accounts that were accessed solely by insiders, and that government-funds were used in various illegal schemes that might have integrated:
(1) money laundering,
(2) tax evasion (stolen money is taxable),
(3) violations of US banking and currency laws,
(4) conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
(5) commercial bribery in various financial schemes,
(6) establishing secret offshore bank accounts outside the purview of the IRS and US banking laws,
(7) fraudulent and casual accounting practices,
(8) non-existent financial oversight,
(9) having a hidden financial interest in companies faking business with Kuchera,
(10) putting phantom employees on the payroll (money laundering).
Kuchera may have routed the scheme through telephone lines with a maze of complex telecommunications' systems equipped with call-forwarding and voice mail systems, and numerous postal and commercial mail boxes..........and perhaps money-transfer systems that operate in ethnic enclaves and places like NYC's Diamond District.
Investigators may discover numerous falsified official documents.
Drug monies could have been disguised by re-routing through a network of domestic and international bank accounts using counterfeit checks.....opening commercial bank accounts in the name of bogus businesses and wire-transferring and/or depositing gov't checks into those accounts.
Kuchera’s phony checks could have had invalid bank routing numbers, forged endorsements, or been drawn on the proceeds of other counterfeit checks deposited in other bank accounts. Before banks discovered the fraud, the funds might have been transferred out of the accounts……probably offshore----leaving banks unable to recoup their losses.
State and federal tax authorities could have been swindled. In an international scheme with offshore ties, Kuchera, its co-conspirators or subsets of them, might have obtained hundreds of taxpayer identification numbers for phantom citizens with worldwide addresses, and used the information to evade US taxes and banking laws.
In a classic fraud, Kuchera and its co-conspirators might keep two (or more) sets of books.
Kuchera’s methods may have included limited-recourse loans to artificially inflate "asset value," to fraudulently borrow real money based on “assets” that didn’t really exist.
Absolutely, and there's several other normally liberal media doing some good reporting on this mess of Murtha's also. Makes you wonder who how high up the people are that want him out of the picture.
Thanks again for your posts, Liz. I’m sure many of the possibilities you list are in fact realities.
You are very welcome. Posted only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Looking at this case, I can easily envision typing 35 single-spaced pages of crimes.
The last 2 nights, CBS has actually done some reporting on this Murtha thing. I could hardly believe it. No, not one word about the terror attack in Arkansas.
Saw it-——CBS nailed Murtha but good. Amost as good as what CBS did to Sotomayor.
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