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Bin Laden 'share gains' probe
"Bin Laden is thought to have indulged in stock market speculation in the past.

According to reports in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he used a Milan brokerage to invest in European markets.

The name of the broker has not been released, the newspaper added.

It said that European authorities were investigating possible financial links to Bin Laden in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Monte Carlo and Cyprus, where Bin Laden's organisation is reported to have had a base, with a company, offices and staff.

Italy's stock market authority, Consob, said it was investigating suspicious share movements on the day of the attack, as well as the previous day."

Bin Laden link to European arrests
"MILAN, Italy -- The "nerve centre" of an armed Islamic group intent on carrying out attacks across Europe has been uncovered, Italian police have said."

Bin Laden associate arrested in Spain - June 22, 2001
"Mohammed Bensakhria, 34, an Algerian, was apprehended around midday on Friday as he left a telephone calling center in Alicante in southeast Spain, the Spanish Interior Ministry said in a prepared release."

Bin Laden Tries to Buy Weapons
"MADRID, Spain (UPI) – A Syrian businessman said Monday that he turned down an offer by Saudi dissident and suspected international terrorist Osama bin Laden to purchase weapons on his behalf, and informed the Spanish authorities about the request.

...The newspaper said the arms deal was set to be covered by financial investments in a gold mine in Argentina. It quoted al-Kassar's assistant as saying that the company representing bin Laden was the British "Imperial Consultdad" company, which owns a bank in the Caribbean nation of Grenada."

Germans probe suspicious stock sales
The German agency's statement came amid market rumors that Osama bin Laden may have tried to profit from stock trading ahead of last week's attacks. Published reports have said European and U.S. investigators were checking movements in stock of three big European reinsurance companies — Germany's Munich Re, Switzerland's Swiss Re and AXA of France."

Germany's Munich Re
Switzerland's Swiss Re
AXA of France
CDFI and BCCI - Alamo-Girl

South Shore Bank in Chicago in the 80's caught the eye of the Clintons for their lending to run-down neighborhoods. Jan Piercy, Hillary's roommate from Wellesley College, joined Shorebank as a top executive in 1984. The Clintons and Shorebank established the Southern Development Bankcorp in Arkadelphia in 1986. Hillary Clinton and Mack McLarty were on the board. It was formed with an investment from Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the Arkansas teachers pension fund, and a state corporation established by Governor Clinton. The bank and its subsidiaries used the Rose Law Firm. After Bill Clinton was elected president, the 1994 Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act created something called the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), which was to be run by Treasury and which was to give $37 million to community development banks and nonprofit groups.
Shorebank got $4.5 million, the largest, Southern Development got $2 million, two other institutions related to Shorebank -- Kentucky's Louisville Development Bankcorp got $2.3 million and Douglass Bancorporation of Kansas City, Kansas -- got $1.9 million. The four institutions got about one-third of all the money. In routine investigation it was noted that these four institution's evaluation forms were uniquely undated and were all handled by Steve Rohde personally and the applications were all prepared by Shorebank. An Ernst & Young examiner wrote, a senior CDFI official "instructed reviewers to emphasize positive information for those being 'passed' and to emphasize negative information for those 'failing.'"

BANK OF CREDIT AND COMMERCE INTERNATIONAL (BCCI)
Pakistani banker Agha Hasan Abedi founded BCCI in 1972, it was incorporated in Luxembourg and expanded rapidly. By the early 1980s BCCI had become the preferred bank for such customers as the CIA, Colombian drugs cartels, arms smugglers and various third world dictators. By the mid-eighties, there was gathering evidence of financial irregularities, corruption and criminal involvement - an investigation ensued.
In December 1992, shortly after Clinton was elected, the Committee on Foreign Relations - US Senate produced a report that pointed out specific problems in the investigation and gave 20 specific areas which needed additional investigation (summarized below) The disposition of these issues is unknown. All that has come to the attention of this list is one settlement for $5 million in February of 1998.
- The extent of BCCI's involvement in Pakistan's nuclear program.
- BCCI's manipulation of commodities and securities markets in Europe and Canada.
- BCCI's activitites in India, including its relationship with the business empire of the Hinduja family.
- BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar, and other major arms dealers.
- The use of BCCI by central figures in arms sales to Iran during the 1980's
- BCCI's activities with the Central Bank of Syria and with the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London.
- BCCI's involvement with foreign intelligence agencies
- The financial dealings of BCCI directors with Charles Keating and several Keating affiliates and front-companies, including the possibility that BCCI related entities may have laundered funds for Keating to move them outside the United States.
- BCCI's financing of commodities and other business dealings of international criminal financier Marc Rich.
- The nature, extent and meaning of the ownership of shares of other U.S. financial institutions by Middle Eastern political figures
- The nature, extent, and meaning of real estate and financial investments in the United States by major shareholders of BCCI. BCCI's shareholders and front-men have made substantial investments in real estate throughout the United States, owning major office buildings in such key cities as New York and Washington, D.C.
- BCCI's collusion in Savings & Loan fraud in the U.S. The Subcommittee found ties between BCCI and two failed Savings and Loan institutions, CenTrust, which BCCI came to have a controlling interest in, and Caprock Savings and Loan in Texas, and as noted above, the involvement of BCCI figures with Charles Keating and his business empire. In each case, BCCI's involvement cost the U. S. taxpayers money. A comprehensive review of BCCI's account holders in the U.S. and globally might well reveal additional such cases. In addition, the issue of whether David Paul and CenTrust's political relationships were used by Paul on behalf of BCCI merits further investigation
- The sale of BCCI affiliate Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) in Geneva, to the Cukorova Group of Turkey, which owned an entity involved in the BNL Iraqi arms sales, among others.
- BCCI's role in China. As noted in the chapter on BCCI's activities in foreign countries, BCCI had extensive activity in China, and the Chinese government allegedly lost $500 million when BCCI closed, mostly from government accounts. While there have been allegations that bribes and pay-offs were involved, these allegations require further investigation and detail to determine what actually happened, and who was involved.
- The relationship between Capcom and BCCI, between Capcom and the intelligence community, and between Capcom's shareholders and U.S. telecommunications industry figures.
- The relationship of important BCCI figures and important intelligence figures to the collapse of the Hong Kong Deposit and Guaranty Bank and Tetra Finance (HK) in 1983. The circumstances surrounding the collapse of these two Hong Kong banks; the Hong Kong banks' practices of using nominees, front-companies, and back-to-back financial transactions; the Hong Banks' directors having included several important BCCI figures, including Ghanim Al Mazrui, and a close associate of then CIA director William Casey; all raise the question of whether there was a relationship between these two institutions and BCCI-Hong Kong, and whether the two Hong Kong institutions were used for domestic or foreign intelligence operations.
- BCCI's activities in Atlanta and its acquisition of the National Bank of Georgia through First American.
- The relationship between BCCI and the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. BCCI and the Atlanta Branch of BNL had an extensive relationship in the United States, with the Atlanta Branch of BNL having a substantial number of accounts in BCCI's Miami offices. BNL was, according to federal indictments, a significant financial conduit for weapons to Iraq. BCCI also made loans to Iraq, although of a substantially smaller nature.
- The alleged relationship between the late CIA director William Casey and BCCI.
- Money laundering by other major international banks. Numerous BCCI officials told the Subcommittee that BCCI's money laundering was no different from activities they observed at other international banks, and provided the names of a number of prominent U.S. and European banks which they alleged engaged in money laundering.
"The BCCI was trying to buy hidden control of American banks to build its global empire and also to wield influence for its Arab patrons."
The Reputed Cocaine Bank Money Laundry Wizard For George Bush Family Arrested In Chicago
"Harris Bank also has secret and dummy accounts of reputed terrorist OSAMA BIN LADEN. His concealed accounts are reportedly jointly with SHARON PERCY ROCKEFELLER, top official in Washington, D.C. of PBS, and her family. She is the wife of U.S. SENATOR JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 4th (D., West Virginia). Her family reportedly are in the construction business with bin Laden. [President Clinton says he cannot "find" reputed terrorist bin Laden's accounts to freeze them. Really?]
In October, 1998, we confronted top officials of Harris Bank in Chicago with their secret accounts of the mysterious 50 million dollars of federal agency funds originally parked with Household Bank which merged with Harris Bank. The funds, belonging to Joseph Andreuccetti, were secretly transferred without his permission to Little Rock, Arkansas, to try to cover up the embezzlement of Madison Guaranty S & L, for which Bill and Hillary Clinton are subject to federal criminal prosecution for stealing bank funds.
REPUBLIC NATIONAL BANK OF NEW YORK: The bank is a reputed money laundry for smuggled gold as used by the intelligence agencies, such as the American CIA. The principal owner of the Bank, Edmond J. Safra, was murdered in December, 1999."
S&L fraud suspect found dead; Suicide possible in Corson case
New York City's anti-terrorism efforts go high-tech - June 7, 1999