The Inmate’s Letter

Dear NEEDED Friend,

My name is Leonard Singleton. Very soon I will be released from prison. I have no family support, no friends, no money, and no home to return to. At the time of my release, I will be given $25 and a bus ticket and then released into the streets, homeless and alone. I was previously released under the same conditions, which resulted in my resorting to crime to provide housing, clothing, and food for myself.

Just as you are sick and tired of the crime, the criminals and being victimized, please believe me, SO AM I. I am desperately tired of robbing, stealing and victimizing people. I never wanted to be a criminal. I made a very serious mistake by getting involved with the wrong crowd, doing the wrong things. I lost my family, freedom, and integrity. I am ashamed of myself for disgracing, embarrassing, and hurting my family and innocent victims.

My pain and shame for the crimes I formerly committed, goes beyond remorse and a plea for forgiveness. I cannot change the past, but I do ask for forgiveness and an opportunity to live a better life. I am asking you to help me with a fresh, new start. I need your help for construction tools and equipment, housing, clothing, food, utilities, household items, etc. With this help, I can put a roof over my head. I can focus on and acquire employment, and begin building a decent life. PLEASE HELP ME. PLEASE. I have no one else to turn to.

If you try to understand my situation and need for your help, please address a donation, check, or money order.

Liberty Savings Bank

330 West National Road

Englewood, Ohio 45322-1496

I don’t know what else to write to persuade you to help me. I do pray, God will touch your heart, to let you know I am sincere and worthy of your generous support.

Thank you for reading my message, and thank you for giving me a second chance.

Sincerely,

Leonard Singleton

World banking system is a 'money launderers' dream'

(from Financial Times)

Report says the ease and speed of 'megabyte money' make it simple to conceal crooked cash, writes Ian Hamilton Fazey It was the biggest money laundering investigation in US history. Evidence had been gathered secretly over many months by undercover officers risking their lives. The suspects were lured to Las Vegas for a conference on money laundering. Then the police struck, arresting 22 banking officials from Mexico's largest financial institution, plus 14 alleged members of Mexican and Colombian drug cartels and another 70 linked to them. Seizure warrants were issued to recover $122m (£73m) from bank accounts in the US and Italy, to add to $35m seized so far. The operation so damaged confidence in Mexican banks that their shares fell collectively by 4% in panic selling.

But as Operation Casablanca struck its blow in the Americas, officials of the United Nations Drug Control Programme in Vienna were editing the final version of a report - to be released soon - that puts the US triumph into a gloomy perspective.

It says that at least $200bn of drug money is laundered every year, but with the illegal international drug trade valued at $500bn, this is probably a conservative, estimate. In a good year, up to $500m will be recovered through anti-money laundering measures an annual success rate of about a quarter of 1% of laundered funds. Operation Casablanca, with S157m, will probably make the year a good one, but hardly vintage.

The report has been prepared by a group of experts for a special session of the UN General Assembly on drugs in New York. With the growth of the international drug trade, more ill-gotten money is being laundered than ever, partly on the back of electronic banking and the increasing globalization and speed of operation of the international financial system.

Cashless transactions, electronic trading and computerized clearing mean that what the report calls 'megabyte money' can be moved anywhere with speed and ease. With 700,000 wire transfers worth $2,000bn every day, the report says it is "a reasonable guess that 0.05% to 0.1% contain laundered funds to a value of $300m". And even though half the total volume of transactions are bank-to-bank transfers of 'aggregate funds' for settlement or loans, the report says the 'complicity of corrupted hank employees' ensures these also contain laundered money. 'This system is a money launderer's dream.'

The one thing law enforcement officers have on their side is that criminals have to play by the rules of the system in order to use it. While it is impossible to spot transactions in progress once money is in the system, criminals have to risk exposure in putting it there. UN officials want the process made riskier.

At present, criminals reduce their risk by operating through offshore financial havens with lax financial regulation and poor banking supervision. They also hide behind banking secrecy, and disguise the ownership of assets by setting up shell companies and offshore trusts in jurisdictions where no questions are asked about shareholders and beneficiaries. Many accounts and trusts are known as 'walking" ones, where there is a standing instruction to move the accounts to another jurisdiction at the first sign of inquiry by the authorities.

UN officials accept that commercial confidentiality, legal tax avoidance and the easing of capital transfers at low or nil tax rates are legitimate reasons for bank secrecy and disguising corporate ownership, but they say the system is too lax in some places, allowing infiltration for illicit or nefarious purposes. 'One of the most striking things about off-shore financial centres is the enormous increase that has taken place in the number of banks.' says the report. Banks can be set up with relative speed and ease and a minimum of due diligence investigation, so long as they meet a basic level of funds, which can vary between one jurisdiction and another.

Exporting bulk cash, usually in $100 bills and sometimes carried under diplomatic cover, is the favoured method of getting deposits to banks where no questions will be asked. Casinos in off-shore centres are a favourite for converting funds: cash is exchanged for gambling chips, the launderer plays for a while at the tables then exchanges the chips back again. Instead of a cheque, some casinos offer immediate electronic transfer of 'winnings' to an offshore bank account.

Fraud

(from Financial Times)

Bre-X Minerals drama continues in the courts.

It is now some time since the Busang gold deposit was revealed as a hoax. Scott Morrison examines the effects on the mining industry and the legal battle still being fought by investors.

More than three years have passed since Bre-X Minerals' purported 71m ounce gold deposit in Indonesia was unmasked as nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

When the dust settled, the Canadian company's C$6bn (US$4.2bn) market capitalisation had been wiped out and Bre-X's worthless shares were de-listed.

The drama, which unfolded first in the jungles of Borneo and later on in stock markets in North America, is now being played out in courtrooms in Toronto and in a remote corner of Texas, where lawyers have launched lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages.

While there is little doubt that Bre-X perpetrated a massive scam, lawyers representing some 2,000 investors say the company and its directors are not the only ones to be held accountable. The lawsuits also allege that several brokerage firms issued false and misleading reports about the Busang deposit and profited from their association with the company. The plaintiffs' arguments, if they are successful, could set a chilling precedent for the entire brokerage industry.

In Canada, the efforts of investors to seek redress took a significant step forward in March when a judge ruled that plaintiffs could proceed with a lawsuit against Bre-X, its officials, engineering firms and brokerage houses. The defendants have said they will appeal the ruling.

The legal actions pit small investors against nine of the top brokerage houses in North America. The case alleges that brokerages were negligent in issuing misleading statements proclaiming the company's Busang gold deposits as the largest in the world, and that they also participated in 'a fraud on the market', a procedural doctrine under US law.

However, a renowned securities law expert in the US has said that extending responsibility for fraud to 'aiders and abettors' - in this case the brokerages that recommended Bre-X stock would prove difficult. The US lawsuit also alleges that Barrick, the Canadian gold producer that tried to negotiate a partnership with Bre-X, disseminated false statements or concealed materially adverse facts. Barrick claim it was prevented from (Ti losing the results of its due diligence because it signed a confidentiality agreement.

It is far from clear that plaintiff attorneys will succeed in their attempts to hold brokerages liable for the Bre-X fiasco. If they succeed, it would be the first time legislation against false advertising was applied to securities. Many observers say they have little choice other than to sue deep-pocketed brokerages that promoted the stock, because Bre-X itself is bankrupt and company insiders who profited from the fraud could not cover billions of dollars in claims.

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