-Caveat Lector- from; from:alt.conspiracy.princess-diana As, always, Caveat Lector Om K ----- Click Here: <A HREF="aol://5863:126/alt.conspiracy.princess-diana:33509">Scand al at the Queen's bank</A> ----- Subject: Scandal at the Queen's bank From: "Liberius" <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED] unet.cy</A> Date: Sun, 12 December 1999 06:04 AM EST Message-id: <ujL44.2809$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 'Coutts made $45m offer to pay off rabbi' The rabbi, the Queen's bank and the missing millions Tony Thompson, Crime Correspondent Sunday December 12, 1999 The Observer www.newsunlimited.co.uk Coutts & Co, personal bankers to the Queen, offered $45 million to a customer who had threatened to expose an alleged fraud and money-laundering ring operating within its New York branch, The Observer can reveal. The deal, which would have cancelled out an outstanding loan, was offered to businessman Rachamim Anatian after he claimed to have uncovered a range of illegal activities at the American branch. The branch was subsequently shut down with losses of $50 million and its activities are currently the subject of investigations by the Federal Reserve Bank and the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Coutts says the accusations are 'without substance' and denies any wrongdoing. In addition to the $45 million, Coutts, through its legal representatives, also discussed giving Anatian shares valued at up to $10 million to resolve the dispute which began when the bank allegedly backed out of an agreement to help Anatian establish a television shopping network by lending him $100 million. Anatian demanded that the bank fulfil its commitment or compensate him and threatened to go public on what he had learnt about the bank's operations. He claimed to have been sent to Monaco to attend a seminar organised by the bank where he was taught systems for concealing money abroad, evading taxes through fraudulent charitable contributions, and techniques that could be used for money-laundering. When Anatian refused to accept the settlement, Coutts sued him for the outstanding loan. Even after it began collection proceedings, Coutts remained willing to write off the loan. In a letter obtained by The Observer, lawyers acting for the bank write: 'Notwithstanding its decision to proceed to collect the debt owed to it, Coutts remains ready and willing to discuss a resolution which would not have an unduly harsh effect of Mr Anatian and his family.' Coutts won the case but Anatian is appealing. He is not the only person involved in legal action with the bank's New York branch. According to papers in two other cases filed at the US Supreme Court, between 1995 and 1997, staff at the branch are alleged to have taken kickbacks, signed up clients who were embroiled in major criminal trials, hired consultants with reputations for breaching banking regulations and made multi-million-dollar loans without adequate security. All the allegations remain unproved and are denied by Coutts. The closure of the New York branch was followed by the closure of branches in Beverly Hills and San Diego. At the time of the closure, a bank spokesman said: 'In the United States, there were a small number of significant problems and when we examined the operation we decided to close it down.' The investigation by the Federal Reserve Bank is understood to be focussing on the actions of four senior employees at Coutts New York, all of whom have subsequently had their contracts with the bank terminated. A Federal Reserve spokesman confirmed that generally such files would only be passed on if there was evidence of criminal activity. No charges have yet be laid. The four former staff, all of whom dealt with Anatian, claimed their actions were authorised by Coutts at the very highest levels. The bank claims they acted alone. One former Coutts employee, who asked not to be named but knew the four well, told The Observer: 'There is no doubt in my mind that when I left, they [the four employees] were taking on some business which was obviously very, very risky. I told them not to do it, that it would blow up in their faces, but they did not listen.' On termination of their employment, the four are understood to have been given indemnities in which Coutts agrees to cover the cost of any legal actions against them. The bank has provided them with funds to meet their 'living costs' for several months. Among the lawyers who represented Anatian in negotiations is Barry Slotnick, one of the most famous and respected attorneys in the United States who has represented the likes of actor Anthony Quinn and Mafia boss John Gotti. When details of the proposed settlement with Anatian were put to Slotnick, he told The Observer : 'I cannot confirm or deny any details of what was said. All I can confirm is that I had talks with the lawyers from Coutts about Anatian and that the discussions were labelled "settlement talks".' When it was put to the bank that they had offered to pay off the loan, a Coutts spokesperson told The Observer: 'That did not happen, we did not make any offer to do that. We deny the allegation.' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 Scandal at the Queen's bank Financiers advised wealthy rabbi to evade tax and launder cash in pursuit of $100m deal. Tony Thompson reports Sunday December 12, 1999 The Observer www.newsunlimited.co.uk Mario Economou sat at his desk with his head in his hands and began to sob. The thirty-something Vice President and Client Relationship Officer at the New York branch of Coutts & Co, probably the most prestigious private bank in the world, knew it was only a matter of time before his whole life came crashing down around him. For two years he had enjoyed everything the elite world of private banking had to offer - flying around the world to meet wealthy clients, $300 dollar lunches for two and regular dinners at some of New York's most expensive restaurants. But now that world was coming to an end. Three of his colleagues had lost their jobs in the midst of a scandal - and Mario knew he would be next. The seeds of disaster had been sown three years earlier when more than half of the senior staff at Coutts New York left en masse to join arch rival banking group Julius Baer. The staff took virtually all of their clients with them, representing business and deposits worth tens of millions of pounds. Almost overnight, the New York branch of Coutts went from being a major contender to fighting for its very survival. New customers were urgently needed and existing customers were encouraged to increase the amount of business they were involved in. Pressure for results came from the highest levels and the solution that a group of staff at the branch adopted was a radical one. Between 1995 and 1997, according to papers filed in three separate civil cases at the US Supreme Court, four key members of New York branch staff are alleged to have taken kickbacks, signed up clients who were embroiled in major criminal trials, arranged for customers to attend seminars where they were taught techniques of money laundering and tax evasion, hired consultants with reputations for breaching banking regulations and made multimillion dollar loans without adequate security. One former Coutts employee, who asked not to be named, told The Observer : 'There is no doubt in my mind that when I left, they were taking on some business which was obviously very, very risky. They became very aggressive in the search for business. I told them not to do it, that it would blow up in their faces, but they did not listen.' According to one of the civil cases, one customer who experienced the new aggressive tactics was Rachamim Anatian. An orthodox rabbi and entrepreneur, he had become wealthy after co-founding the USA Detergents company. Anatian had been wined and dined by the bank since 1993 and finally joined in 1995. Soon afterwards, Anatian set up his own television shopping network company, GSN, and began planning to expand. Coutts, eager for business, encouraged him and suggested that Anatian float GSN on the stock exchange. They pledged to provide 20 per cent of the capitalisation - around $100 million - to assist in a programme of purchasing television stations to secure a minimum audience for the shopping network. Had the deal gone ahead, the company would have been the ninth largest television company in the United States and would have given Anatian a personal wealth approaching $500m. At the time, Coutts had a loan limit of $14m per customer. In order to circumvent this, the bank, through Economou, suggested that Anatian set up seven separate trusts in Monaco. Each could receive a loan to the maximum lender limit and then Anatian could 'borrow' the money from the trusts to complete the business deal. A trip to Monaco was arranged and Anatian, along with his wife and three business colleagues, flew with Economou and three other Coutts workers. They were picked up at the airport by two Rolls Royces. After a short tour, each member of the party was booked into their own suite at the Hotel de Paris, one of the most exclusive hotels in Monaco. The seminar, given by an independent company hired by the bank, began the next day but was not what anyone had expected. It began with a discussion about basic money management but, according to Anatian, quickly moved on to discuss ways of evading taxes by using fraudulent charitable contributions. There was also discussion about disguising the origin of funds - money laundering - and hiding money overseas. Anatian was horrified and, once back in New York, refused to have anything to do with Monaco or moving money overseas. Economou was initially furious but eventually suggested setting up seven limited liability companies in the USA which Coutts used to issue loans totalling around $42m. Anatian expected the loans to be increased over time to reach the necessary $100m for a successful stock market flotation. The bank denies ever making such a commitment. However, affidavits obtained by The Observer show that the same four members of Coutts staff currently at the centre of the investigation did indeed repeatedly commit to the deal. Sources within the Lubavitch community, the ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish sect of which Anatian is a prominent leader, have also provided The Observer with a copy of a video of the Bar Mitzvah of Anatian's son. There Economou can been see taking the microphone and urging everyone to purchase shares in the forthcoming flotation and that their money is safe because Coutts is backing the deal. Economou also states that Anatian 'will be one of the richest men in America'. By the autumn of 1996, it was all starting to go wrong. Coutts refused to advance any more money, despite the fact that the only way for the outstanding loans to be repaid was for the stock market flotation to go ahead. Without the money to follow through, deals that had been signed to purchase TV stations began to fall through. Anatian's credibility suffered and the value of his shares in the TV company, which Coutts had used as security for the loan, began to plummet. The company was forced to shut down almost overnight leaving 350 unemployed. Anatian was left with an outstanding loan of around $45m - the total amount lent to all the companies. All his stock in USA Detergents and his fledgling TV station had been pledged to Coutts as security for the loan. Having stood on the brink of fantastic wealth, he now faced losing it all. Coutts began negotiating a settlement, offering to write off the loan and give Anatian back half his USA Detergents shares - a deal worth $55m. But Anatian, furious at having seen his TV company collapse, refused to accept anything less than all his shares in both companies and additional compensation of $25m. In a letter obtained by The Observer, Coutts admits that it: 'Remains ready and willing to discuss a resolution which would not have an unduly harsh effect on Mr Anatian and his family. We suggest that your clients and you reconsider the previous posi tions taken by them and commence negotiations designed to reach such an appropriate resolution.' By the time the Federal Reserve Bank began investigations, Anatian was still refusing to accept the offer. Coutts then did a U-turn and sued him for the outstanding loan. They won judgement in the case but Anatian is appealing. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve probe is examining allegations by the four key staff, all of whom dealt with Anatian, that their actions were authorised at the very highest levels of the bank. In an extract from a taped conversation obtained by The Observer , Economou tells Anatian: 'They [the bank] have to be very, very careful, as I will go to the newspapers and I will go to the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission, the body responsible for regulating the US stock market] and I will go to the Internal Revenue Service and I will go to every agency in this country if they decide to try and pin something on me that I was not even responsible for. 'It's insane. Everything I did was on the approval and information of the bank, not only in New York but with London too. They knew all along.' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 Queen's bankers in US fraud inquiry Tony Thompson, Crime Correspondent Sunday November 14, 1999 The Observer www.newsunlimited.co.uk Four vice-presidents of Coutts & Co, the private bank that counts the Queen and a host of celebrities among its clients, are the main focus of a two-year investigation into fraud and money laundering by United States authorities, The Observer can reveal. The four, who were discharged by Coutts in 1997, all worked at the New York branch, which was shut down in 1998 having recorded losses of more than $50 million. Between 1995 and 1997, according to papers filed in civil cases at the US Supreme Court, New York branch staff are alleged to have taken kickbacks, signed up clients who were embroiled in major criminal trials, arranged for customers to attend seminars where they were taught techniques of money laundering and tax evasion, hired consultants with reputations for breaching banking regulations and made multimillion dollar loans without adequate security. The investigation, by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and the Federal Reserve Bank, was sparked by the civil cases. All the allegations remain unproved and are denied by Coutts. The investigation began after one customer, Rachiam Anatain, claimed that Coutts had arranged for him to attend a seminar in Monaco where he was taught the tax evasion techniques which could be used for laundering cash. Coutts claims Anatain, who defaulted on a loan of more than $45 million, was attempting to defraud the bank. However, papers obtained by The Observer show that Anatain made his allegations several weeks before defaulting (though other matters were in dispute) and that Coutts had been attempting to reach an 'amicable settlement' with him. He was ordered to repay the loan but is now appealing. The four former staff, all of whom dealt with Anatain, claimed their actions were authorised by Coutts at the very highest levels. In an extract from a taped conversation obtained by this newspaper, one of them tells a former client: 'They [the bank] have to be very, very careful, as I will go to the newspapers and I will go to the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission, the body responsible for regulating the US stock market] and I will go to the Internal Revenue Service and I will go to every fucking agency in this country if they decide to try and pin something on me that I was not even responsible for. It's insane.' On termination of their employment, the four are understood to have been given indemnities in which Coutts agrees to cover the cost of any legal actions against them. The bank has provided them with funds to meet their 'living costs' for several months. A Coutts spokesman said contracts held with a number of ex-employees at the New York branch forbade him from commenting on them. Among the lawyers representing Anatain is Barry Slotnick, who represented jailed Mafia boss Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante. Speaking exclusively to The Observer, Slotnick said: 'We confirm the investigation is going on. Our case is that the whole scheme was dreamt up and implemented by Coutts employees.' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
