WikiLeaks promises to reveal Swiss banking secrets (IRS must be ecstatic at Assange's help)

CNN ^ | 01/17/2011 | CNN Wire Staff

[SeekAndFind]

A Swiss whistle-blower Monday handed over what he said were secret Swiss banking records to WikiLeaks, the website dedicated to revealing secrets.

Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer handed two discs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at a news conference in London.

WikiLeaks could release the secret Swiss banking records in "a matter of weeks" if it can process them quickly enough, Assange said.

Elmer said he would not reveal the names in the records and said he was unable to say how many people were involved.

He said about 2,000 clients' records were included, but that because of the way trusts and corporations are set up, he could not determine how many individuals were involved.

Elmer describes himself as an activist/reformer/banker.

"I think, as a banker, I do have the right to stand up if something is wrong," he said Monday, explaining why he was giving the documents to the website.

Elmer is due to go on trial Wednesday in Switzerland for violating the country's banking secrecy regulations.

He said he wanted "to let society know what I do know and how this system works because it is damaging our society in the way that money is moved" and hidden in offshore jurisdictions.

He began looking into the issue when he was a banker in the Cayman Islands, he said.

When he first looked into the problems of offshore banking he said it looked like "a mouse tail," but as he investigated in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland, it became a "dragon's tail," and finally a many-headed dragon.

[capydick]

I’m sure Bill and Hillary are worried.

[scooby321]

I bet the democrats and their friends are shaking in their boots.

Going to be funny them hiding assets and on the other hand wanting higher taxes.

[varyouga]

Dead men walking...

[Matchett-PI]

If anyone is dumb enough to actually believe that the Obama administration isn’t behind these “leaks”, they may be interested in that bridge in Brooklyn that’s for sale cheap.

Listen to Obama talking about closing offshore tax havens in his own voice in October _2008_ here: http://www.panamalaw.org/obama_and_the_tax_havens.html

<>

Rush “How Many Dems Evaded Taxes in Swiss Banks?” 2/19/09
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_021909/content/01125104.member.html

Stack of Stuff Quick Hits Page
February 19, 2009
Story #1: How Many Democrats Evaded Taxes in Swiss Banks?
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasRegulatoryNews/idUSLJ53205620090219

RUSH: This just in. The Obama administration is now going after Swiss bank accounts. “The curtain is being peeled back on the infamous secrecy of Swiss banks. The largest bank in Switzerland, UBS, agreed Wednesday to reveal the names of wealthy Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts to evade taxes. The change in policy is the result of UBS’ admitted role in conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. As part of the agreement, the bank will pay $780 million in damages, and also close all offshore accounts of its American clients. It is not clear how many names will be divulged, but the Feds have been looking into roughly 19,000 accounts, according to the New York Times. The deal could mark the end of Swiss banking as we know it, as many offshore clients may no longer trust the anonymity of the country’s banking system. Prosecutors suspect that UBS helped its American clients hide $20 billion from the government, or about $300 million a year in taxes, from late 2002 to 2007. UBS has admitted that some of its employees “participated in a scheme to defraud the United States” They didn’t volunteer here; they were forced to admit it.

Now, the thing I’m going to be looking for, how many members of the Obama administration, how many high-ranking Democrat, high profile Democrat or Democrat supporter’s names will be on the list of UBS account holders who tried to evade US taxes? We know that Tom Daschle tried to evade taxes. We know that Geithner didn’t pay taxes. This guy down in Houston, this Stanford guy, this guy was all over the Democrat Party. His level of fraud may be between eight billion and $50 billion. This guy had banks all over the world and clients were lined up at these banks to try to get their money out yesterday in the Caribbean, in Venezuela, Mexico City. They were shut down. This guy’s picture was taken with Nancy Pelosi at the Democrat convention. This guy underwrote some program they had that was chaired by Bill Clinton. Pelosi and Bill Clinton both praising this guy Stanford. The level of financial corruption that has become the Democrat Party is breathtaking. Even those who are corrupt and found guilty of it, some have ended up in Barack Obama’s cabinet.

But there was no anger from the Drive-By Media. There was just, “Their people are, too, important, Mr. Limbaugh. We can’t really get rid of Geithner and Daschle, he’s the only guy that knows what to do with health care; he wrote the book on it. We can’t get rid of these people; it’s too crucial of a time in America.” So now the Swiss banking industry probably changed forever, no secrecy, if Obama gets his way on this. It’s an all-out assault, folks. It is an all-out assault. But I just want to see, 19,000 accounts at the United Bank of Scotland. Well, wait a minute. I’m not right when I say United Bank of Scotland. Obviously I’m wrong. UBS is a Swiss bank. I take it back. I watch golf tournaments and I’m getting caught up with the confusing initials for a bank in Scotland. I apologize. I caught my own error. Note that none of my staff caught it, I caught it myself. As far as my staff concerned, I could be left out there dangling all by myself.

I don’t have a Swiss account, either, but 19,000 accounts in this Swiss bank, and will we find out if there are prominent Democrats among these people? ‘Cause you know there have to be. We know prominent Democrats evade taxes. They sit on Obama’s cabinet. This is not a stretch. It’s a good thing that Obama is going after these tax evaders, folks, I just have to tell you. I question, will Obama’s new attorney general be going after onshore tax cheats, like Geithner, Tom Daschle? Or will Eric Holder, the new attorney general, be a coward like the rest of us Americans, will they be going after Charles Rangel and his tax violations? Will you authorize that, Mr. Holder, are you going to chicken out going after Democrat tax cheats?

bttt

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I bet the democrats and their friends are shaking in their boots.

Going to be funny them hiding assets and on the other hand wanting higher taxes.

---

Well what can I say .... I won’t be surprised if I see conservatives and Republicans on that list as well...

THEY will be harrassed by the IRS first, before any Democrats. You can bet on that.

[Kenny Bunk]

Swiss bank accounts really haven’t been secret for decades. Secretive, maybe. Secure? No.

[Liz]

Swiss whistleblower to hand over offshore banking secrets...to WikiLeaks----will show “approximately 40 politicians” with offshore accounts.

Aha---pols offshore accounts---I knew Wikileaks would come in handy. Course, I'm not surprised in the least. Gangsters in govt have been been looting and pillaging the US Treasury for ages.

However, I nominate the Chi/mob now in the WH as the plus-perfect looting operation. Read on:

CIRCA OBAMA---The Con of the Decade
Of Two Minds Blog | 7/8/2010 | Charles Hugh Smith
FR Posted by delapaz

The Federal government could potentially inflate away these trillions in Treasuries, buy enough elected officials to force austerity so inflation remains tame. In essence, these private banks and corporations now own the revenue stream of the Federal government and its taxpayers.

Neat con, and the marks (us taxpayers) will never understand how "saving our financial system" led to their servitude to the very interests they bailed out. The circle is now complete: in "saving our financial system," the public borrowed trillions and transferred the money to private Power Elites, who then buy the public debt with the money swindled out of the taxpayer.

Then the taxpayers transfer more wealth every year to the Power Elites/Plutocracy in the form of interest on the Treasury debt. The Power Elites will own the debt that was taken on to bail them out of bad private bets: this is the culmination of privatized gains, socialized risk.

In effect, it's a Third World/colonial scam on a gigantic scale: plunder the public treasury, then buy the debt which was borrowed and transferred to your pockets. You are buying the country with money you borrowed from its taxpayers. No despot could do better. (Excerpt) Read more at oftwominds.com

==================================..

SO HOW DID GANGSTER GOVERNMENT SCAM $14 TRILLION BAILOUTS INTO THEIR POCKETS? Bernie Madoff used the time-tested Wall Street MO----creating a super-secret labyrinth of interrelated international funds, institutions and financial entities of almost unparalleled complexity and breadth......with assets and businesses in multiple places overseas that hid thievery, money launderering and tax evasion.

"Wall Street Rahm, take a bow" (/snix) (remember that Emanuel took contol of Dept of the Treasury activities when he went to the WH). Rahm also put his brother in charge of Obamacare, and Medicare/Medicaid billions.

<><> KEEP IN MIND Fannie/Freddie are the key criminal mechanisms of the criminal enterprise that is the thieving Democrat party and its minions. <><>

Rahm Emanuel was also appointed to Fannie Mae's board by Clinton----- Rahm's F/M financial activities were protected by Obama's refusal to release Fannie documents requested under FOIA.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Swiss bank accounts really haven’t been secret for decades

---

Makes me wonder why the rich even bother to consider Switzerland anymore.

This country’s parliament allowed itself to be bullied by the US government and capitulate.

I wonder what would happen to all other secret accounts the world over (e.g, Cayman, Belize, etc. ) if the US decides to bully them as well. If the Swiss can be bullied into capitulating, why not these little Islands?

[Liz]

Keep in mind Ohaha put VP Biden in charge of the $trillion stimulus, and that billions in $timulus are hidden in the states (convenient to wire-transfer offshore to numbered accounts). Read on.........

==================================================

"Hi there, Americans. Obama put me in charge of the trillion dollar
stimulus. My son and brother are gonna help me disperse the money. "

================================

Fraudster had links to offshore fund run by Bidens
Reuters on Yahoo | 2/23/09 | BY Ajay Kamalakaran

(Reuters) – A fund of offshore hedge funds run by two members of VP Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by offshore firms controlled by Texas financier Allen Stanford, charged by regulators with an $8 billion fraud, the Wall Street Journal said.

The Bidens $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and the offshore Stanford Financial Group entity headquartered in Antigua, and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund, the paper said. Stanford-related offshore companies marketed the Biden fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, the paper said, citing a lawyer for Paradigm.

Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president Biden's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden's brother, James, according to the WSJ. Paradigm's attorney, Marc LoPresti, who represents Hunter Biden and James Biden, as well as Paradigm, told the paper he did not know which Stanford entity invested the roughly $2.7 million.

Marc LoPresti, who represents Hunter Biden and James Biden told the paper the Bidens NEVER met or communicated with Stanford. (/snicker)

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

[elpadre]

I understand IRS does pay finders fees (whistleblower’s rewards)

maybe a good income for wickedleaks.

[JoeProBono]

Jan 17, 9:42 AM EST

Swiss bank UBS changes much-mocked dress code

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss bank UBS AG is revising its dress code after getting roundly mocked for suggesting employees wear skin-colored underwear and avoid garlic breath.

The bank said Monday it is whittling down its 44-page style guide to a more modest booklet that will concentrate on how to impress customers with a polished presence and sense of Swiss precision and decorum.

“We’re reviewing what is important to us,”

[SeekAndFind]

UBS was the first Swiss bank that cried uncle to the IRS and agreed to cooperate with revealing the bank accounts of American depositors in Switzerland.

I think they had no choice, it was either than or — we’re going to make it very hard for you to do business in the US of A.

[Liz]

Move over Switzerland. News reports indicate the tiny state of Delaware
beats Switzerland in a contest for the most secretive financial jurisdiction.

Wall Street’s Jon Corzine (ex-Goldman Sachs head) registered three private investment vehicles in Delaware before buying electing office in New Jersey with about $100M of his own money......first as US Sen then as Gov.

>> JSC Investments (Corzine registered Nov ‘99 w/ Delaware Div of Corp)

>> Wiley's (Corzine registered Aug ‘ 02 w/ Delaware Div of Corp)

>> East Beach (Corzine registered Oct ’04 w/ Delaware Div of Corp)

GOVT LOOTING ON A LARGE SCALE During the time Corzine was in office, he stationed Wall Street types in key govt jobs. The results? (1) several billion dollars disappeared, (2) several govt money pots went bankrupt, and, (3) the state pension fund lost about $40 billion.

Obama was a big help to Corzine’s reelection effort (/snix)......Obama have Corzine $17.5 billion federal stimulus for the reelection effort.

Obama and Biden were both heavily involved in NJ. But that flopped bigtime when the Dem-laden state elected a Republican. Here’s how Obama’s ill-fated campaign for Corzine went down:

OBAMA WAS DESPERATE FOR CORZINE TO WIN. Obama was heavly invested in the NJ gubernatorial race---one of only two statewide races. This was the first test for Obama's policies. Obama campaigned in NJ three times, Biden was here twice. Obama TV ads ran relentlessly on costly NY media.

Obama put the power of the WH political machine behind Corzine. The NY Times reported:
(a) every TV ad Corzine put on the air was screened by Obama's WH "geniuses."
(b) Corzine's aides gave the WH daily briefings.
(c) Obama’s pollsters took over for Corzine’s polling team, and,
(d) White House operatives were on the ground for internal strategy sessions.

Democrats rigged the election with latino votes (so they thought)
(e) White House operatives were orchestrating obscure pep rallies with Latinos (kept secret from voters),
(f) Corzine had a "Peruvian Pac" endorsing him.
(g) Corzine promised to give illegals ‘driving credentials’ & in-state tuition.
(h) Corzine sucked up to illegal immigrants and REFUSED to enforce current immigration laws
(j) Corzine's Blue Ribbon committee of Hyphenates used tax dollars to mine votes for Corzine.
(j) Also sucking up to illegals for Corzine was Sen Robert Menendez

OTHER SALIENT POINTS
>> Incumbent Corzine (the wealthy loser) outspent the winner Chris Chirstie about 4-1.
>> New Jersey has a huge Democratic registration.
>> Corzine bragged he had 20,000 paid union helpers to get out the vote.
>> There was a third party candidate siphoning off Republican votes.
>> Corzine had the power of incumbency.
>> Corzine had the power of a crooked Democrat Machine cooking the vote.
>> Ohaha hid $17.5 BILLION stimulus in New Jersey.Partly for Corzine's
reelection campaign. Partly to wire-transfer offshore into numbered accounts.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

As silly as it sounds on the surface, it would not be beyond the pale to imagine what Wikileaks is doing is actually, unintentionally or intentionally, a scheme by the US government.

To start with, there is the “Byzantine problem”.

The expression “Byzantine scheme” comes from the Byzantine court of the 1000 year long eastern Roman Empire. Intrigues within that court achieved such a staggering level of complexity, of favors owed, betrayals, politics and the struggle for power, that government at times almost came to a standstill, because nothing it did was based on the merits of the thing in itself, but only internal arguments.

And the same problem happens today in international diplomacy. There are so many lies, debits, credits, arguments and linkages that diplomacy sometimes grinds to a halt, even over petty things.

The US State Department and Intelligence community of 16 Agencies has made a point out of collecting vast amounts of information about who is doing what to whom. As such it is glaringly obvious to us what the big international logjams are.

Imagine the “clearing the air” effect of leaking a lot of that. If lies are known to be lies, then there is no reason to keep up the pretense that they are true. If a politician is horribly corrupt, to the point where it is harming his country, he needs to be removed.

This, and that, and that. Suddenly diplomacy gets a lot easier all the way around.

If the Wikileaks leak hadn’t happened, it might have been worth it to bring it about.

[MinuteGal]

If the names get out, there'll be a lot of biggie Wall Street operatives on the list.

Unfortunately, because of a century of socialist propaganda the lumpen masses tie Wall Street in with those heartless, rich, country club, big business, evil Republicans and conservatives.

So we will not come out unscathed.

Leni

[SeekAndFind]

I’ve asked this again and I’ll present it here...

The IRS is going to overreach when it tries to go after the money of Americans and Residents who have money overseas.

Consider the case of an educated immigrant who, before coming here, already had money stashed in a bank account in his home country ( e.g. Taiwan or China ). That money is making interest (income ).

He comes to the USA to work or study, eventually applies for and then becomes a US citizen, is the money that never made it to the USA TAXABLE?

Let’s say he had a joint account with his family overseas before coming to the USA, does the IRS legally have claim over the interest earned on that joint account?

If his father dies in China and leaves for him, a rental property in Shanghai as inheritance, is it subject to the death tax? Is the rental income subject to American tax jurisdiction?

[SeekAndFind]

Whistleblower Calls Swiss Banking System A “Fire-Breathing Dragon” While Handing Over Secret Data To Wikileaks

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rudolf-elmer-2011-1#ixzz1BJHBXJ5u

EXCERPTS :

At a press conference in London, whistleblower and former Julius Baer private banker Rudolf Elmer is announcing a brand new data dump he plans to hand over to Wikileaks.

It concerns the state of Swiss banking, and what he says is $20 trillion in assets currently being held in offshore accounts, some of which is hidden to facilitate criminal activity.

Says Elmer: “I started pulling on the tail of a mouse and it became a fire-breathing dragon.”

It will be sometime, if ever, before the documents see the light of day on the site.

[Liz]

It will be some time, if ever, before the documents specifying $20 trillion in offshore assets see the light of day on the web site.

Scoff---who needs documents?

As the CIA says, the crooks ALWAYS leave a paper trail.

We DO need laws that require public scrutiny of our elected representatives cell phone records, emails, snail mails, textings, wire-transfers and other electronic documents.

And when Wall Street types like Rahm Emanuel leave govt---we need to have a law that requires ex-govt employees to submit all of their communications records and electronic documents to the Congress, GAO, IRS, FEC, etc etc etc......

[SeekAndFind]

I believe though that most of these thousands of accounts are from rich people who are not in politics. They just want to protect their money from government “confiscation”.