Of course, it is not just limited to the "peso exchange." Black market brokers deal in prodigious amounts of "black" currency all over the world (see below). Generally these brokers don't specialise but will deal in anything going from gold to emeralds to cigarettes and so on. The point is, if I can penetrate this market, collect info, meet and speak with participants - some operating at government level - then how hard could it be for the DoJ to do likewise? If they wanted they could stamp on it hard but choose not to do so for reasons we are all now very familiar with. Note that the following true example begins with a "trial" tranche of 30 million French francs. It is not unusual to see deals for billions of dollars and foreign currency equivalents thereof (dope is an international trade after all). David QUOTE: CASH TO CASH EXCHANGE ------------------------ B). Italian Lira/GBP/SPS exchange for French Francs Cash to Cash/St. Laurent Du Var, France. Procedures : 1). Buyer send LOI/Fee Protection acknowledging his understanding and acceptance of the Sellers procedures, in writing. 2). The trial tranche of 30 Million French Francs (6 Million Dollars equivalent) will take place in St. Laurent Du Var, in the Brinks Security House.....subsequent tranches may be in a Security House, of Buyers choice in a EEC country. Seller will not transact in Switzerland, Liechtenstein or Italy. 3). Buyer receives from Seller a transaction code for the exchange and is advised of the Address of the Security House and date for exchange. This is done...after proper paper work, by having a conference call between Buyer and Seller (No Mandates). Arrangements are made at that time i.e.; window time and date of meeting/transaction. If the French Francs are deposited in The St. Laurent Designated Security House by 10am....the day of the transaction (agreed upon by both parties), the currency of choice will be exchanged right away. If FF'$ are deposited after 10am....a delay of hours is possible. 4). The discount for the three offered currencies is: 20% Gross....14% Net. A commission of 6% is divided 3% to Sellers side (closed) 3% to Buyers side. Subsequent tranches may be more that 30 Million France and transacted in the Buyers location of choice....excluding the above stated locations the Seller will not deal in. Quantity and Location of exchange is mutually agreed upon in St. Laurent. If your buyer agree upon the following terms, procedures and commission structure than we'll start immediately to proceed. Please respond to the above and let me know if this procedure will work for you. The person we are dealing with now is a very nice and reasonable person and is easy to deal with. UNQUOTE ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________ THE SECRET GOLD TREATY exposes many of the darkest secrets that the financial elite prayed would never be made public. It unveils the shocking truth about gold looted during WWII and how immense quantities of this black market gold has been used as a secret funding back-bone for the CIA during the cold war. The books reveals the hidden history surrounding the ouster of Indonesia's President Sukarno and lays bare the reason behind Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos's sudden flight from office. THE SECRET GOLD TREATY takes you behind the black curtain of deniable covert operations and financial intrigue by banking cartels and powerful organisations of the financial elite. Above all, THE SECRET GOLD TREATY lays bare the most artfully protected secret of them all... that gold is not at all rare! BUY your copy today by visiting: http://www.solari.com/goldtreaty/ ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 7:53 AM Subject: [CIA-DRUGS] NYTimes.com Article: U.S. Companies Tangled in Web of Drug Dollars > This article from NYTimes.com > has been sent to you by Eben Rey [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > The list > > Well you guys are having some effect!! > > Eben > > Eben Rey > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ > > > Olympic Greats Photo Screensaver > > Download Olympic Greats Photo Screensaver > from NYTimes.com, featuring the unforgettable > Times's photos of past Olympic games. Enjoy these > images every day on your computer, absolutely FREE. > > http://www.nytimes.com/partners/screensaver/index.html?eta3 > > > \----------------------------------------------------------/ > > U.S. Companies Tangled in Web of Drug Dollars > http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/10/national/10PESO.html > > October 10, 2000 > > By LOWELL BERGMAN > > On a rainy day last June, a group of corporate executives gathered in > a conference room at the Justice Department for a meeting with > Attorney General Janet Reno and other top government officials. > > The executives represented some of the pillars of corporate > America Hewlett-Packard, Ford Motor Company, Whirlpool. The > session was not publicized because those at the meeting shared an > unlikely and potentially embarrassing problem: their companies, > they feared, were being singled out in the nation's war on drugs, > and neither they nor the government was quite sure what to do. > > With the intensifying federal crackdown on money laundering, > agents had been tracking drug money into the accounts of American > corporations and their distributors and dealers. In fact, federal > officials said, about $5 billion a year in Colombian drug money is > used to buy goods and services from cigarettes to computer chips > from American companies. > > What makes that possible is a system known as the black-market > peso exchange, a complex money trade that law enforcement officials > say has become increasingly important to the Colombian narcotics > trade. > > The system really a network of currency brokers with offices in > New York, Miami, the Caribbean and South America is essentially > an underground money market that lets the traffickers exchange > American dollars for Colombian pesos. Those dollars, which stay in > the United States, are then bought by Colombian companies that use > them to buy American goods for sale back home. > > But the government's efforts to seize that money have put it on a > collision course with corporations, which say they are victims with > no way of knowing that they and their distributors are being paid > with drug money. > > As they met on June 6, those executives, lawyers and law > enforcement officials found themselves grappling with a conundrum: > when does drug money stop being drug money? How far does a > company's responsibility go? > > The questions have been confronting law enforcement officials for > years. > > "What are we going to do?" asked Greg Passic, a former drug > enforcement agent who now advises the government on the economics > of the narcotics industry. "We've got the Fortune 500 involved in > our drug- money laundering process." > > For a long time, because of lax enforcement of United States > currency laws, the drug traffickers were able to launder billions > of dollars through American financial institutions. A crackdown in > the 1980's pushed traffickers to what they saw as a virtually > fail-safe system for getting back their profits the black-market > peso exchange. > > Their growing reliance on that system shows how deeply the drug > trade has become entwined in the legitimate economies of the United > States, Colombia and other nations. > > Colombian officials said that as much as 45 percent of their > country's imported consumer goods are bought with money laundered > through the peso exchange. > > On the American side, law enforcement officials said the exchange > has largely eliminated the trade deficit with Colombia. The market, > said the customs commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, "is the ultimate > nexus between crime and commerce, using global trade to mask global > money laundering." > > So far, no large American company has faced criminal charges. And > companies have almost always been able to prevent federal officials > from keeping money that has been seized. > > But in the last few years, as frustration has risen, the > government has taken a tougher line. There have been Congressional > hearings intended to put companies on notice by name. Prosecutors > have issued warnings and stepped up efforts to seize laundered > money. > > At the same time, the government has encouraged companies to > institute "know your customer" policies similar to those used in > the financial industry. The policies gave dealers and distributors > techniques for recognizing money laundering. Thus educated, the > government thought, the companies would be less able to argue that > they simply could not have known. > > In drawing the line between legitimate and illegitimate profits, > the government must not only prove that the money came from drug > deals; it must show that the recipient "knew or should have known" > its source. > > In the war on drugs, that line has proved very fuzzy. > > Trading > Dollars for Pesos > > Congress passed the first money- laundering laws in the early > 1970's requiring, among other things, that banks report any cash > transaction over $10,000 but the laws were loosely enforced. By > 1979, the Federal Reserve Bank in Miami had more cash than the > other federal reserve banks combined. > > It took the uproar over the cocaine epidemic in the early 80's for > banks to comply with the law. And with the resulting crackdown, > traffickers resorted to the black market, which for decades had > provided Colombian businesses with dollars at less than the > official exchange rate of 2,000 pesos to the dollar. The rate in > Colombia is fixed by the government. > > One peso broker recently agreed to describe how the system works. > > > The process begins when the broker receives a call from a > Colombian drug trafficker or his American representative. The two > negotiate an exchange rate for pesos, usually 30 percent to 40 > percent below the fixed rate. So $10,000 might be worth 12 million > pesos instead of 20 million at the official rate. > > The dollars are then delivered to the broker, who promises to > deliver pesos to the trafficker's bank account after the dollars > are sold to Colombian businesses. The dealer's insurance is the > broker's knowledge that to do otherwise would almost surely mean > death. > > The broker maintains several runners "smurfs," in law > enforcement lingo who deposit the cash into hundreds of United > States bank accounts in amounts of less than $10,000, to avoid > scrutiny. > > At the same time, the broker's office in Colombia negotiates with > business people there who want cheap dollars to buy everything from > consumer goods to helicopters. > > Usually, that exchange rate is 20 percent below market, so a > business owner in Colombia might pay 16 million pesos, instead of > 20 million pesos at the fixed rate, for $10,000. > > The pesos are then transferred in this example, 12 million pesos > to the traffickers' accounts. The broker keeps the difference, 4 > million pesos in this instance. Then at the businessman's > direction, the dollars in the American banks are used to pay for > American goods. > > The peso brokerage is one part of the process that supplies > Colombia with inexpensive goods from the United States and around > the world. Colombian authorities said the goods were often smuggled > into the country, costing Colombia more than $300 million a year in > tax revenue. > > Colombia has made collecting that lost revenue a priority. But the > black market has considerable appeal because it puts a lot of > inexpensive foreign goods on the Colombian market. > > The exchange has also increased American exports to Colombia. > > > "This is positive for U.S. business, there is no doubt about it," > said Mike Wald, who runs a consortium of law enforcement agencies > in Florida focusing on the peso exchange. "The Colombian, if he > pays less for his dollars, can buy more goods. That's a pretty > obvious economic fact. But we have to realize where this money > originates. It's drug money." > > Tangled With Drug Money > > Two companies that have turned up in the American government's > anti-laundering efforts are Phillip Morris and Bell Helicopter > Textron. > > Phillip Morris products in particular have been a major presence > in Colombia. Marlboro cigarettes are readily available at prices > investigators said indicated that they were bought with black > market dollars and smuggled into the country. > > Earlier this year, Phillip Morris was sued in the Eastern District > of New York by the Colombian tax collectors. The federal lawsuit > accused the company of being involved in cigarette smuggling and in > the laundering of drug proceeds. > > Phillip Morris has denied the allegations, saying that it did not > know its products were being exploited for money laundering. In > addition, without admitting wrongdoing, it recently signed an > agreement with Colombia, pledging to stop its products from > entering the black market or being used to launder money. > > In 1995, in Federal District Court in San Juan, Puerto Rico, > Phillip Morris's former distributors in northern South America were > indicted for laundering $40 million in black market pesos. > > A member of the defense lawyers said the money was used to buy > Phillip Morris cigarettes, liquor and other products for the > Colombian market. But the defense team member said the defendants > did not know that the money came from drug sales. > > Phillip Morris severed its relationship with the defendants in > 1998 and said it did not know that its products were being smuggled > or that black market money was used to buy them. > > In another case, Bell Helicopter is challenging the seizure of > $300,000 from its accounts, money, according to court documents, > that was generated by drug smuggling. > > It was part of more than $1 million that the United States > believed was supplied a peso-exchange broker to buy a Bell > aircraft. The helicopter was seized in Panama at the request of the > United States. > > The case has become a sore point for American law enforcement in > part because the helicopter was sold to a Colombian businessman > linked to the country's right-wing paramilitaries. > > Seeking Cooperation > > The deepening struggle between prosecutors > and business executives is what led to the meeting with Attorney > General Reno and other government officials, including Deputy > Attorney General Eric H. Holder and Deputy Treasury Secretary > Stuart E. Eizenstat. The companies invited were Hewlett-Packard, > Ford, General Motors, Sony, Westinghouse, Whirlpool and General > Electric Company, Treasury officials said. > > None of the companies returned phone calls seeking comment, except > General Electric and Sony. Sony said it would have no comment. But > General Electric's counsel, Scott Gilbert, said his company > instituted a strict compliance program five years ago, after > reports that its refrigerators were being used in money-laundering > operations. > > As part of its policy, Mr. Gilbert said General Electric warns > dealers to be aware of "red flags" a customer's lack of interest > in discounts, an unwillingness to give information about the > company, or unusual forms of payment like large amounts of cash or > checks written on the account of a third party. > > The new policy has cut sales of appliances to Latin America by > 23,000 units, or over 20 percent, said an executive at General > Electric. > > Alan Dooty, a customs official, said the companies had been > selected for the June meeting because their products had shown up > in the black market in Colombia. The exception was General > Electric, which he singled out as a "good citizen." > > Before the meeting, some of the companies expressed concern that > they would be punished. But once they arrived, Mr. Dooty said, they > were assured that the government was seeking cooperation. > > A follow-up session in July bogged down in legal murk. > > An > industry representative familiar with the meeting said: "The > Justice and Treasury Departments realized that they were trying to > identify drug money that had morphed, been transformed, in layers > of transactions involving distributors, authorized dealers, > financing arrangements with unregulated money lenders called > `factors' and the other realities of commercial life." > > More meetings are scheduled for this fall. > > > > > The New York Times on the Web > http://www.nytimes.com > > /-----------------------------------------------------------------\ > > > Visit NYTimes.com for complete access to the > most authoritative news coverage on the Web, > updated throughout the day. > > Become a member today! It's free! > > http://www.nytimes.com?eta > > > \-----------------------------------------------------------------/ > > HOW TO ADVERTISE > --------------------------------- > For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters > or other creative advertising opportunities with The > New York Times on the Web, please contact Alyson > Racer at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media > kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo > > For general information about NYTimes.com, write to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company > > > > > > > > -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/16/_/475667/_/971167949/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
