Rush: I'm No Money Launderer

NewsMax ^ | 11/19/03 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

America's number one talk radio host Rush Limbaugh catagorially denied on Wednesday an ABC News report that accused him of "laundering money" to bankroll his addiction to painkillers.

"I am no money launderer," Limbaugh said at the top of his broadcast.

"I know what this is? I know where this comes from," the top talker told his audience. "This is not a leak. This is the purposeful release of false information."

More . . .

[longtermmemmory]

Sidney Blumenthal or the lawyer who is representing the maid. Both have media ties.


ABC should do a VERY public retraction.

[WackyKat]

Not being a great fan of Rush I don't deny that there were plenty of excuses, however seeing you are the one in the know, how about you spell out all the facts pertaining to the charges.

As you have probably been in your underground bunker for the last few months and have not had access the the news, I will tell you now that Rush admitted on national radio that he is a prescription drug addict.

I guess you think "the Anti-Rush conspirators" were behind that , too.

[BlazingArizona]

If the Clintons were structuring money would you support them?

If John Gotti was structuring money would you support him?

If Martha Stewart was structuring money would you support her?

In opposing "structuring" as a crime, hell yes in all three cases. Investigate these people for what actual crimes they may have committed, not for the phony crime of banking without filing a federal report.

[Frank_Discussion]

Legal drugs bought illegally don't cost one man $10K a day, unless he is a pusher himself. He may have been buying them in the parking lot, but I don't expect the withdrawals to be the financing. I am betting he was merely doing what many rich folks do, keeping cash on hand and never incurring new debt. Pay with cash when you can, and it's real hard for debt to eat your money away.

If he was avoiding the feds by staying under the limit, good. He earned the money, he's the steward of it.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Why?

[onyx]

Some bozo wanted to argue with me this morning --- claiming that Rush could have found a doc to write him scripts. I asked, "why would a medical doctor risk his license to practice medicine to write a RED FLAG script?"

[jbstrick]

It's really none of our business. He walks into a bank writes a check. they give him $$$. Who cares.

My parents have friends who write checks like this all of the time. The bank tells them to try and keep it below 10,000 if possible.

[longtermmemmory]

stucturing is an issue for the bank NOT rush. Besides the activity has to be suspicious, a 9000 dollar paycheck is not suspicious.

bet the left coasties do the same thing with their private bankers.

There is NOTHING underhanded or odd here. The bank was operating under the exemption for not reporting transactions by known parties or "reason to know" not laundering.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

You're right - 20 years ago, he might have found one (think Dr. Nick, Elvis' personal pill pusher), but now, its a helluva lot more difficult to find somebody willing to take that risk.

[veronica]

I heard Rush discuss all this in my car this AM, and it was riveting, and his explanation was clear and simple and helpful.

It made me so angry though, that he is being targeted this way. But as he said, it comes with the territory.

I only hope though, that when all the truth comes out, Rush can sue the SOB's at ABC who slimed him over this.

[T.Frost]

You are exactly right. I've looked through this thread and seen the same hypocrites decrying the gov't intrusion into 'private' areas while simultaneously standing firmly behind the drug war and the Patriot Act. You don't get to have it both ways.

These laws are on the books for a reason. Unless you don't want them applied to mobsters, drug cartels, and terrorists, don't protest when they are applied (correctly) to your hero.

[Orangedog]

We're all dancing around the elephant in the room, trying to ignore it AGAIN! Welcome to the war on drugs. That's where the $10,000 limit and the structuring nonsense come from. And once again we have the shocked voices of people crying foul because the rules of the drug war can be selectively applied...DUH! This is the point in the thread where the ass-clowns come in and start with the 'Loserdopian' BS...when someone points to the damned big-ass elephant in the room and says "hey, there's your problem...quit ignoring it!" It's not about the drugs...never has been, never will be. It's about power and control. Rush was probably not doing anything illegal with the money he was taking out of the bank. Just like I wasn't either with the cash that I bought a used car with last year. It was none of the government's damn business until they cooked up this BS war on drugs as an excuse to violate the privacy of as many people as humanly possible.

Well, if you like the drug war, you have nothing to complain about when it snares someone you like, and yes, that includes Rush. The laws were written to be selectively enforced. But no one around here has a real problem with that as long as the people on the receiving end of these laws has a (D) next to their name.

[Servant of the 9]

All this stuff about your money being your own busines is nonsense. THis is how they fight the drug war, which from what I gather, most freepers support.

This is how they lose the Drug War. All they are doing is teaching people hatred fear and contempt for the government.
One more great evil atributable to the War On Drugs.

So9

[WackyKat]

If John Gotti was structuring money would you support him? If Martha Stewart was structuring money would you support her? Or would you wonder for what purposes they would be withdrawing $400,000 in increments just under the $10,000 reporting limit?

Apparently, some people here believe that special "Rush provisions" have been written into state and federal statutes, allowing Mr Limbaugh to conduct activities that would be illegal if done by ordinary folk

[Bernard Marx]

Most banks though, internally track cash activity of over $5,000 to see if people are trying to stay under the radar.

Big Brother came under cover of darkness. He wears a banker's reassuring smile. Don't know if you're old enough to remember the real America but this ain't it. The Police State is progressing nicely. Somewhere Stalin is smiling.

[discostu]

Everybody who has enough money to should structure it. The $10,000 law is one of the grossest violations of the 4th ammendment this country has seen, it's sick and should be abused through every means available. It's a law that presumes anybody with money must be guilty of something and seeks to gather evidence against them without any form of warrant.

[onyx]

A pharmacy wouldn't (couldn't) fill large quantity scripts regardless.

[alnick]

You know, I can see using the pattern of withdrawals as a tool to look closer at a person's activity, but the mere act of withdrawing one's own money, no matter what the pattern of withdrawal, is not criminal.

[Edit35]

Rush should have just done a one-time $ 300,000 withdrawel, and to hell if it was reported.

For a man with as much money as Rush, it probably would have attracted less attention than doing 30 or 40 transactions for $9,900.

Prosecutors are obviously trying to connect this money to his drug problem, since I think they would have found it extremely hard to convict Rush for using drugs in FLA based on the testimony of a shady housekeeper who had reasons to lie just to get herself out of trouble.

Hopefully Rush did not give this money to this freakin housekeeper to get him pills. If so, that could be an opening for these overzealous prosecutors.

[Mad Dawgg]

"because IF HE DID IT to avoid attention from the feds, it's wrong..."

I hope you are kidding. Because how ever much money you withdraw from the bank is not anyone's business. The Feds have said if someone does withdraw 10k or over they are to be notified. And now the feds say well if you withdraw 9900 we want to know also. Where will it stop.

Let's just cut to the chase and make all bank transactions fill out paperwork that goes directly to the feds and reports every cent.

Now do you feel better?