My Parents and Sister are in Florida, too bad they aren't cops!!! --- so they too could be on the take?
On Saturday, January 2, 2016 at 5:51:23 PM UTC-6, brine wrote: > > My Parents and Sister are in Florida, too bad they aren't cops!!! > > On Sat, Jan 2, 2016 at 3:14 PM, Travis <[email protected] <javascript:>> > wrote: > >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/entire-florida-police-department-busted-for-laundering-millions-for-international-drug-cartels/ >> Entire Florida police department busted for laundering millions for >> international drug cartels >> >> The village of Bal Harbour, population 2,513, may have a tiny footprint >> on the northern tip of Miami Beach, but its police department had grand >> aspirations of going after international drug traffickers, and making a few >> million dollars while they were at it. >> >> The Bal Harbour PD and the Glades County Sheriff’s Office *set up a >> giant money laundering scheme* >> <http://pubsys.miamiherald.com/static/media/projects/2015/license-to-launder/index.html> >> >> with the purported goal of busting drug cartels and stemming the surge of >> drug dealing going on in the area. But it all fell apart when federal >> investigators and the Miami-Herald found strange things going on. >> >> The two-year operation, which took in more than $55 million from criminal >> groups, *resulted in zero arrests* but netted $2.4 million for the >> police posing as money launderers. Members of the 12-person task force >> traveled far and wide to carry out their deals, from Los Angeles to New >> York to Puerto Rico. >> >> Along the way, the small-town cops got a taste of luxury as they used the >> money for first-class flights, luxury hotels, Mac computers and submachine >> guns. Meanwhile, the Bal Harbour PD and Glades County Sheriffs were buying >> all sorts of fancy new equipment. >> >> Besides these “official” uses of the money, confidential records obtained >> by the Miami-Herald show that officers withdrew hundreds of thousands of >> dollars with no record of where the money went. >> >> *“They were like bank robbers with badges,” said Dennis Fitzgerald, an >> attorney and former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who taught >> undercover tactics for the U.S. State Department. “It had no law >> enforcement objective. The objective was to make money.”* >> >> The operation, which was not fully reported to federal authorities, >> funneled millions of dollars to overseas criminals and interfered with >> investigations being carried out on known money launderers. >> >> The *latest revelations* >> <http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article51698275.html> >> >> show that at least 20 people in Venezuela were sent drug money from the >> Florida cops, including William Amaro Sanchez, the foreign minister under >> Hugo Chavez and now special assistant to President Nicolas Maduro. >> >> They wired a total of $211,000 to Sanchez, even while the U.S. government >> was investigating Venezuelan government leaders involved in the drug trade. >> Instead of reporting their knowledge of Sanchez to federal agencies, the >> cops went on laundering money, taking their cut, and all the while aiding >> Sanchez in his machinations, which likely included political corruption. >> >> Four other Venezuelan criminals and smugglers were major recipients of >> the millions being wired from the Bal Harbour PD and Glades County >> Sheriff’s Office, including a figure tied to one of the largest drug >> cartels in the hemisphere. >> >> These actions violated strict federal bans on sending illegal money >> overseas, and the Florida cops never investigated the backgrounds of the >> people receiving their laundered drug money. >> >> *“I can’t think of a more podunk town than Bal Harbour — not in a bad >> way. But in the sense that these cops would have otherwise been stopping >> traffic or shooting radar,” said Ruben Oliva, who has represented alleged >> narco-traffickers since the 1980s. “In reality they were being launderers. >> The minute they started doing busts, it would have been over.* >> >> *“This is like a movie. You’ve got these guys and they’re flying all >> over. They’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m in the big leagues.’ I’ve seen every kind >> of law enforcement money-laundering investigations. I’ve never seen >> anything like this. It’s really one for the ages.”* >> >> After the Department of Justice busted the Bal Harbour PD for misspending >> seized money to pay police salaries, the Miami-Herald began deeper >> investigations and found a much bigger pool of money that was never noticed >> by the feds. Soon after that, the ambitious sting operation—which was >> really just a money-making scheme—began to fall apart. >> >> *“The Miami Herald gained unprecedented access to the confidential >> records of the undercover investigation, reviewing thousands of records >> including cash pickup reports, emails, DEA reports, bank statements and >> wire transfers for millions of dollars. The inquiry found:* >> >> *▪ Police routinely withdrew cash — thousands at a time — totaling $1.3 >> million from undercover bank accounts, but to this day there are no records >> to show where the money was spent. “In all my years of law enforcement, >> I’ve never seen anything like it,” Chief Overton said.* >> >> *▪ Bal Harbour officials say they cannot find receipts for hundreds of >> thousands in expenses, including five-star hotel bookings, dinners that ran >> up to $1,000 and scores of purchases like laptops, iPads, electronic money >> counters, flower deliveries, and even iTunes downloads.* >> >> *▪ While posing as launderers, police delivered nearly $20 million to >> storefront businesses in Miami-Dade to launder the money for drug groups — >> gathering critical evidence against the business owners — yet took no >> action against them. Years later, the businesses are still open, some still >> suspected by federal agents of laundering for the cartels.”* >> >> Cash deposits to SunTrust Bank *totaling $28 million* do not appear >> anywhere in police records. It’s no coincidence that the operation was >> launched “at a time law enforcement agencies across Florida were looking to >> boost their budgets during one of the state’s toughest economic periods.” >> >> *“We had to find a revenue stream,” said Duane Pottorff, chief of law >> enforcement for Glades. “It allowed us to have resources we wouldn’t >> normally have.”* >> >> Federal authorities and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have >> launched probes into the Bal Harbour police, which will surely confirm the >> rampant abuses of power. However, the fact that these types of shady >> operations, carried out with the help of agencies such as Immigration and >> Customs Enforcement, can occur at all is even more troubling. >> >> Government creates a black market of drugs and blood money through >> prohibition, then under the War on Drugs it grants itself the power to >> break the law and get involved in money laundering operations. While the >> professed goal is to “sting” the bad guys, government rakes in millions >> upon millions of dollars to further bolster its prohibition and war on >> drugs. >> >> The War on Drugs is the real scheme that should be investigated. >> >> *This story first appeared at The Free Thought Project* >> <http://thefreethoughtproject.com/small-town-cops-set-giant-international-money-laundering-scheme-rake-millions-illegally/> >> . >> >> >> >> >> >> >> __._,_.___ >> ------------------------------ >> Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> >> ------------------------------ >> >> >> Visit Your Group >> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaGV0YmxpBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTE3NTgyMDM-> >> >> >> >> [image: Yahoo! Groups] >> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlMzhqM2VtBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ1MTc1ODIwNA--> >> >> • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> >> • Unsubscribe <javascript:> • Terms of Use >> <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> >> >> __,_._,___ >> >> >> -- >> -- >> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >> >> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >> * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. >> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "PoliticalForum" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > > > -- > brine > http://brineb.blogspot.com/ > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
